SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) -- Eight years ago, Anthony Wood decided that he didn't want to miss another second of Star Trek, so he set to work designing a digital VCR that could search for programs and record them on a computer disk.
This week the first personal video recorder is rolling out for consumers. For $500 to $1,000, viewers get on-demand programming from a black box that sits on their television set and collects shows based on their individual taste.Want to see every show coming through your television about bananas? Beer? Starring Doris Day? Just program your television and watch away.
"Up to now, we've all been slaves to television schedules, but with personal television, viewers are now in control," said Wood, the Star Trek junkie who is now CEO of Replay Networks Inc., one of two companies offering the systems.
Similar to the established WebTV, ReplayTV and TiVo, a device made by a company also named TiVo, store programs on an internal hard disk for viewers to watch when they're ready. In addition, the systems give viewers the power to pause, rewind and "instant replay" live television.
Both devices connect to a telephone line, which downloads commands from the personal video recorder companies to the set-top boxes.
Replay will cost $699 for six hours of recording time; more storage costs more. TiVo, which is shipping the first models this week, will cost $499 plus $9.95 a month for 14 hours of programming.
Analysts say the systems are going to change the way people watch television.
By 2004, 14 million television viewers will be using personal video recorders to control their programming, estimates Forrester Research analyst Josh Bernoff.
Forrester Research also predicts that in just two years, the systems will store 24 hours of video and cost less than $500 each.
One thing the systems won't do now is filter out the $60 billion worth of television advertisements broadcast each year.
"Technologically it's possible, but it's not particularly a good idea if you want to be a part of the entertainment industry," said TiVo vice president Ed MacBeth.
But Forrester Research predicts that too will change.
"By 10 years from now, personal video recorders will penetrate four out of five homes and overall TV ad viewing will be cut nearly in half," said Bernoff. "With its advertising base gutted, television will turn upside down."
David Coursey, a promoter and review of high-tech products, said the systems have "created a great deal of buzz in the industry and among consumers."
"On-demand viewing is likely to change dramatically the way television content and advertising are created and delivered," he said.