Posted by Mike Redrobe on 10/31/48 11:30

Ian wrote:
> Roobarb wrote:
>> I am confused about the time slip feature on DVD RAM machines.
>>
>> As I understand it, a Sky+ box allows one to pause and rewind live
>> tv. How does it do this, does it 'record' the programme you are
>> watching into a buffer? How far back can you go?
>
> Sky+ is a hard drive recorder and uses disc space to record the
> programme you are pausing.

Its there before you pause, its always recording the current channel
on a half hour loop.

> When you rewind/catch-up you are playing
> the recording. All time-slip systems, whether using DVD or HDD, rely
> on their ability to play sections of a recorded file that is still
> being recorded, i.e. is incomplete. How far back depends. I don't
> own a Sky+ but believe it will buffer an entire program, if you
> pause, up to about an hour, something like that. So it isn't a
> buffer as such, it is the recording medium you would use for any
> recordings.

It *is* a buffer, since it is erased by itself as needed. You'll always
have the last half an hour to rewind to .

Hard disk versions operate like this, DVD recorders need you
to press

>> As for time slip, if I am watching a programme and want to rewind it,
>> I presume this is not possible unless I have actually told the
>> machine to record it, but then I'd need to delete it from the disc
>> after i have watched it if I have no need of it again?
>
> Pressing time-slip to pause a recording begins a recording. You can't
> rewind before that point, obviously.

You can with hard disk based systems. They are basically always
recording the last half hour. No button pressing needed.

--
Mike

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