To record a video or audio program when it is broadcast and watch it at a later time. The 1970s ushered in the era of timeshifting with the VCR, which was followed by the digital video recorder (DVR) in the late 1990s. A podcast is a type of timeshifting, except that the audio recording is already made, and the user only has to download it (see podcast). See DVR and VCR. Contrast with placeshifting.