Tuesday, February 03, 2009

DVRs

When I lived in Daytona Beach I had cable TV. I had a TV in another room that had both a VCR and a DVD player in it and if I needed to watch something I would record it and watch it later. I had two or three tapes that I had labeled as "Daily Tape." This meant that it was OK to tape over and over those programs, nothing was a keeper on those tapes - they were just for the day.

I have never subscribed to NetFlix. I think I still have a video card with $2 on it. We just never rented movies either. We did however, have every channel known to mankind. (Except those adult channels) I taped and watched and taped and watched or I just taped and recorded over it!

My sister also lived in Daytona for a little while and when she got her own place, she signed up to get a DVR for the first three months for free...which of course she loved and so she paid for it the rest of her stay.

When Tom and I decided to move to Jacksonville my sister said to me - Just do it. Just get the DVR right away. She also told me, "it will change the way you watch TV."

Oh, I had no idea.

The DVR and I have this love affair.

It can pause. When the phone rings, just pause the TV. If you pause long enough, you can then forward through those annoying commercials for the rest of the show.

However, what I do most of the time now is I record everything and watch it later, so I can forward through all of the commercials all the time. I can hardly stand to have commercials babbling at me, singing to me, lecturing me or trying to get me to talk to my doctor about a new drug.

I record anything that sounds even remotely interesting on the DVR and then later I go through and delete them. It's just so easy and painless.

If I were still on the video tape routine of taping my shows, I'd be really upset this summer. This new digital broadcasting that was supposed to go into effect the middle of February would mean that you could no longer use video tapes to record programming. You can only use digital recording to record digital images. Which I don't totally understand, but I'm so happy that I got in the DVR bandwagon (thanks Hillary!)

I have found a problem with the DVR.

I now want to rewind everything. Telephone conversations, the radio, personal conversations - I want to pause and rewind.

I'm thinking that the radio DVR is coming soon. I'm not the only one who wants to rewind the radio, I just know it.

If you rely on video tapes to record your shows - you may want to look into the DVR.
If you have a DVR, don't you just love it?
If you don't have a DVR and don't use video tape - I'm so happy for you. This must mean that you don't watch much TV. Bless you.

Have a fabulous week!
Kristin

5 comments:

Unknown said...

Okay...you know you're the one who got me convinced to go the DVR route, right?

Well, now I'm completely unhappy anytime I have to watch or listen to (as I more often use TV for background noise) something that I can't fast forward or rewind.

So complete is this addiction in my brain, that I reach for rewind with disturbing frequency when I'm in the car. Part of this is due to having the radio control buttons on the steering wheel (which I also love) but it's also because that same darn thumb that controls the remote at home now longs please my mind with rewind and fast forward regardless of the audio/visual stimulation.

You're right...it's can't be long. PLEASE! :)

"J" said...

You are such a TRIP!!! =) In a good way!!!

We don't have DVR but we really don't watch that much TV so no biggie to us!!! Mr. "S" brother on the other hand could NOT live without it!!!! I think he records every freaking football game played on TV!!! When we were staying with him in Ohio...that is alllllllllllllllllllllllll we watched.....every night!!!! CRAZY!!!! His wife is also in love with DVR she records all her shows and watches them while he is at work and she is at home with the kids!!!! It works for them!!! I don't know if it would work for us?!?!? We don't really care much for TV!

Anonymous said...

I watch very little TV. We have basic cable only because we get no reception without it. I love Netflix. I like to pick my own movies when I want to see them; I also will watch TV series on Netflix (now watching The Wire). It's pretty cheap, movies arrive the day after ordering, and I can now watch some movies online free. I did watch TV all day and night long for a week after 9/11, and I watched from 8 a.m. till midnite this Inaguration Day.

Kristin - The Goat said...

Rachel, yes, I certainly did tellyou over and over and over again that a DVR was in your future. I reach for the remote to the radio all the time -- I don't have a remote, though LOL

J - You don't need tv, you've always got something going on!

Marg, you and my mother - you are both so alike. LOL I like to watch whatever comes on the movie channels or whatever I've got on my DVR!

jb said...

I wish we would up grade to DVR...you know how it goes in my household...we will finally sign up for DVR just when the tv begings to broadcast directly into our own brainwaves...LOL!
I always LOVE to watch tv with you, cannot wait to do it again sometime!