Hanford Lemoore and I were both early employees of ReplayTV. Hanford writes about how he became a DVR user more than a year before any were available commercially, and how he has now gone DVRless for over year.
I watched very little television before using a DVR. I would set my VCRs to record the few shows I watched, such as Babylon 5 and the Simpsons. I did not like trying to view programs when the network aired them, and I *never* did any channel surfing. At one point I had a roommate who liked to leave the television on all the time, and that drove me nuts. I don’t want it on unless there’s something specific that I want to watch.
With a DVR, I found that I watched a lot more television, because it was so much easier to find and record interesting programs. Eventually, I cut my viewing habit back down to a few shows a week, currently Heroes, My Name is Earl, and the Simpsons. I now use a Linux system running MythTV as an HD DVR. However, I actually most commonly watch the shows with a friend at his house, partly because he has a nice large screen HDTV but mostly because it is just more fun to watch the shows socially.
When I do watch TV shows or DVDs at home, I just watch them on my PC, with a 21-inch LCD monitor. The 41-inch rear-projection TV I bought nearly ten years ago hasn’t seen any use in the last two years. I’ve offered to give it to friends, but they don’t even want it.
Television watching habits, with or without a DVR
Hanford Lemoore and I were both early employees of ReplayTV. Hanford writes about how he became a DVR user more than a year before any were available commercially, and how he has now gone DVRless for over year.
I watched very little television before using a DVR. I would set my VCRs to record the few shows I watched, such as Babylon 5 and the Simpsons. I did not like trying to view programs when the network aired them, and I *never* did any channel surfing. At one point I had a roommate who liked to leave the television on all the time, and that drove me nuts. I don’t want it on unless there’s something specific that I want to watch.
With a DVR, I found that I watched a lot more television, because it was so much easier to find and record interesting programs. Eventually, I cut my viewing habit back down to a few shows a week, currently Heroes, My Name is Earl, and the Simpsons. I now use a Linux system running MythTV as an HD DVR. However, I actually most commonly watch the shows with a friend at his house, partly because he has a nice large screen HDTV but mostly because it is just more fun to watch the shows socially.
When I do watch TV shows or DVDs at home, I just watch them on my PC, with a 21-inch LCD monitor. The 41-inch rear-projection TV I bought nearly ten years ago hasn’t seen any use in the last two years. I’ve offered to give it to friends, but they don’t even want it.