Timeshifting is the technique of recording television/satellite/cable transmissions etc for later viewing. Timeshifted content can be viewed as long as days, months or years later, or as soon as a few minutes behind actual broadcast time, to provide a buffer for fast-forwarding through commercials. It requires a PC with a TV tuner card and capable software or else it requires a dedicated set top box capable of doing this, termed a Personal Video Recorder (abbreviated PVR) which records to an integrated hard drive. TiVo makes a recordable device capable of timeshifting. In addition, the name TiVo has become a major descriptive term for PVR machines in the same way that Hoover has become a major descriptive term for anything that sucks like a vacuum cleaner.

The Sky Plus service in the UK allows you to timeshift. Time Warner Cable, DirecTV and other US cable or satellite subscription services offer PVR set top boxes for an additional monthly fee.

Aside from starting to watch recordings before they are finished, you can also pause live TV, rewind it and so forth, and do all the things a regular VCR can do.