MUMBAI: One of the major technological innovations sweeping the US television landscape is that of the digital video recorder (DVR). This allows viewers to view a programme later if they are watching another show or are doing something else.

Now a study has stated that the use of DVRs in America is expected to more than quadruple in the next four years.

The Yankee Group, a Boston-based communications research firm has predicted that the number of homes equipped with digital video recorders will grow from seven million at the end of this year to 33.5 million by the end of 2008.

A report in CNN added that Yankee has identified TiVo and Echostar as the dominant manufacturers of the machines. The DVR allows for recording to be done on a hard drive rather than a tape.

Aditya Kishore who wrote the report added that a significant percentage of people with DVRs record most of the television they watch and view it later. This allows them to skip ads.

Yankee has also mentioned NDS, Scientific Atlanta and Motorola as other companies that make DVRs. Yankee made its estimate based on the number of stand-alone digital recorders or those built into television cable boxes or satellite equipment. It did not include the number of PC-based recorders.