The ShowStopper itself is a large box, and I wonder if the size of the box is really necessary. Looking at the photo of the innards of the ShowStopper , you'll see a TV Tuner , a modem and a hard drive alone with various output connectors and the main board.

The ShowStopper fits easily in my home entertainment center on its own shelf and is about the same size as my Panasonic DVD player. In fact both my Panasonic DVD player and ShowStopper are 17” wide.

Once I had the ShowStopper on the shelf, next came the wonderfully fun process of hooking everything up. The manual covers almost every conceivable combination of equipment that you may have, except of course, my own scenario-- hooking up a DVD player, a VCR, and the ShowStopper to my TV.

Because the ShowStopper uses MacroVision copy protection, you can't daisy chain your DVD through the ShowStopper and then to the TV. Since my TV didn't have an S-Video input, my only option was to get a video switch selector which lets you use 3 different inputs to your TV. Each piece of equipment is connected separately to the TV so that we will have maximum clarity, with the drawback being you have to manually select the VCR, DVD or the ShowStopper using the switch. In addition to all this, you also need to connect the A/V Out of the ShowStopper to the A/V In on the VCR so you can save your shows to tape.

While it actually didn't take as long to connect everything as it did to write it up, anyone who uses a cable box or satellite dish will need to perform an extra step using the “IR Blaster” which will allow you to operate that cable box via your ShowStopper remote control. Again, if you have any familiarity with hooking up a VCR, this really shouldn't be a tough job.

In addition to all of this, you also need to have a telephone connection. If you don't have a phone jack near your ShowStopper, you have lost about 90% of the system's functionality. Many of you that have satellite dishes or digital cable will already have a phone jack, but in my situation I had to do some creative wiring.