Last night, nearly a month after it was ordered, my PVR satellite receiver came in to replace my old, minimalist receiver. My brother and parents both have PVR receivers, and I finally decided to switch as well.

All I can say is that it rocks. After setting things up, the first thing I did is browse through the program guide and find shows I wanted to record while I was sleeping or at work. Next, I found movies I wanted to record. Then I found primetime shows that I wanted to record and set a weekly timer for them. Finally, I set up the PVR to record the news so that, whenever I wake up, I can start the morning news from the beginning.

There's a few downsides. If the volume is low/muted, you can hear the hard drive spin. It also spins when you're browsing through the program guide; browsing through the guide with my old receiver was faster. Finally, the remote control doesn't support as many functions for my stereo that my old remote control did, so I'll have to have the original stereo remote kicking around too. The receiver itself is quite a bit larger as well...I might have to pack up my NES/SNES/Genesis to make room.

But those are all moot when you look at the big picture. Simple recording of shows and the ability to pause / rewind live TV. With these features, it's going to be awesome watching hockey this season.