Let’s have a show of hands here. How many of you folks actually own a DVR device and have actually recorded hundreds upon hundreds of hours of video on it, only to not find the time to watch all those backlogged shows? I know that more people will nod their heads in agreement to this statement than not, since one of the main reasons you got the DVR in the first place is because you are already hard pressed for time to catch up on your favorite shows. I say get a DVD box set instead – at least you don’t have to worry about wondering which show to delete once the hard drive gets full. I don’t think this will be a problem with the SnapStream Television Search Appliance though – this DVR is capable of recording up to 10 TV channels simultaneously, storing a whopping 2,300 hours of programming on its 1.5TB hard drive (which can be further expanded).

While having 10 tuners and tons of storage space is any geek’s wet dream, what makes the SnapStream DVR all the more compelling is its search interface. Unlike other DVRs, this device is capable of storing the closed captioning signal – where available – as a stream of text. This text can then be searched by the user, just like how you look for something within a database. Assuming there are no spelling errors from the live TV events, such an ability gives the user just about the freedom to flag any shows where certain keywords appear, and is smart enough to even send an e-mail alert when this happens. Programs you choose can be stored onto DVD-R discs in standard MPEG-2 format, making it viewable on virtually any other media player.

You will have to dig deep though as the Enterprise 10-channel system retails for $15,000. Should you not have enough cash to pick that up, there is always the four-channel unit that goes for $6,000.

Source: Ars Technica