I use a Homeworx dvr. Have to supply my own USB hard drive and deal with a goofy interface (not that you'll see it just for pausing live TV), but otherwise it works well. It can buffer live TV for a decent amount of time too.
No, where did you see that? It isn't constantly buffering live TV though. What I do is pause and go fix a drink for a few minutes and that gives me ample ability to fastforward commercials. I'm actually not completely sure about how rewinding works on live TV, since I almost exclusively let it record my normal shows for later.
Edit: from one of the Amazon reviews:
"It does let you pause live TV (temporarily recording to the hard drive just like the DVR does). However, unlike the DVR, this unit does not automatically record anything so if you missed something and want to see it again, too bad - unless you had previously entered into "Timeshift" mode by pressing Pause. Therefore, assuming you have enough hard drive capacity, it's probably best to press Pause then Play at the start of watching anything to let the thing start saving to the hard drive- then you will be able to Rewind, Pause and Forward through content that was buffered. (all the more reason you should use a big hard drive and not USB stick). While in Timeshift mode, you cannot change channels until pressing Stop."
That's true, but is as simple as hitting pause, I don't really think of it as a special mode.
I have a HomeWorx HW180STB and it worked great. I have an old HDTV without an internal receiver. I have only used it to watch over the air sports (otherwise I use Netflix).
I haven't tried the pausing TV (or recording TV) yet. I think this coment will inspire me to try out the recording and pausing.
http://www.amazon.com/Mediasonic-HW-150PVR-HomeWorx-Converte...
I bet you could get quite a ways with a 16 gig flash drive on there too, if you don't want to save recordings.