digital voice recorder

Though it's idling now, the market for digital video recorders will rev up to more than 20 million customers by 2005 as the technology is integrated into satellite receivers and cable set-top boxes. The Boston-based research firm sees promise for digital voice recorders as more companies in the sector integrate their products with other systems for broadcasting TV signals. digital voice recorder technology uses hard drives rather than videotape for recording. Viewers can program systems to anticipate and record shows that interest them based on previous viewing activity and to fast-forward past unwanted advertisements when replaying shows. Consumers haven't exactly rushed to get hold of digital voice recorders. A year ago, the industry envisioned booming sales, but fewer than 350,000 units have sold over the last one and a half years, the report said. In contrast, about 1.75 million direct broadcast satellite (DBS) units were sold in their first year and a half of availability.