"DVRs are digital video recorders. These are boxes with internal hard drives. Your tv programming comes into these boxes, gets recorded and instantly plays back," says Stacy Genovese, Engineering Director, Good Housekeeping Institute. "So if you leave the room, you just press pause so the playback function is stopped, but the recording is still going. You can also rewind if you want to watch a scene again and pick up where you left off."

TiVo is sold as a “stand-alone” box that can connect to your cable or satellite provider. Direct TV offers receivers with its own DVR system built in. And Dish Network has its own DVR system built into some of its receivers as well. Now, all of these “subscription-based” systems have easy-to-navigate menus for recording one program while you watch another.

But what about those “basic” DVR recorders with no monthly fee? "Some of them you even have to be on the channel that you want to record which doesn’t give you a lot of flexibility," explains Genovese. "The ones from your service provider are the easiest to use because they come to your house, they set you all up, the DVR is internal to your set top box, and you’re good to go." Many cable companies offer DVRs as well.

A final note: And Good Housekeeping liked TiVo’s “Kid Zone” feature—it lets parents pre-approve Television playlists for children. To learn more, check out the February issue of Good Housekeeping or visit www.goodhousekeeping.com.