A PVR is a box, or a function inside a TV box, that records television programmes onto a disk — not onto tape. You can pause live TV, record a show while you are out, and watch it later. The letters stand for personal video recorder. In Britain people said PVR a lot when Sky+ and similar boxes became common. In the US, and in Taiwan too, people more often say DVR (digital video recorder): same kind of machine, different letters. It took the place of the old VCR, which used cassette tapes you could hold in your hand. Younger people who only stream may never need the word. Though actually, many TVs now hide the same job inside an app, so the separate box is already starting to feel old.