For a reasonable monthly fee we enjoy cable TV with a DVR in our household. It allows us to record up to 80 hours of television, including two shows simultaneously. When we made the jump from no DVR to DVR we noticed our viewing patterns shifted dramatically, if predictably. Now we spend more time in front of the TV, but we watch fewer different shows. Now we spend zero time watching shows of marginal interest (why we ever watch marginally interesting shows is an altogether different topic) and instead watch only the three or four shows we like best (Bones (Natalie only), Good Eats, Basketball, Football, and Mixed Martial Arts, if you must know). If you were to ask us how much more we prefer to watch our favorite shows compared to everything else, we'd tell you that we vastly prefer it, that the DVR has made our TV experience way better than what it was. All of this is, I'm sure, familiar to anyone experienced with the relevant technology. However the DVR is evolutionary not revolutionary. Anyone with a VCR could have programmed it to record whatever they wanted 25 years ago, all the DVR does is make the process of recording a little simpler. Instead of inserting a blank tape and ensuring your VCR clock is synchronized with the TV schedule you now just press a button. It's a savings of maybe 20 minutes up front (to learn how the clunky VCR works) plus 2 minutes per show to put the tape in and hit record. So my VASTLY different viewing experience could have been had all along with just a small investment of my time.
So what to make of all this?
Possible conclusion 1: My time is so valuable that even a 20 minute difference is worthwhile.
Possible conclusion B: I don't really prefer any one show to another as much as I had thought. If I really enjoyed one show so much more than whatever is being broadcast the moment I would have been recording on my VCR all along.
Possible conclusion 1 is straight out. If my time really were that valuable I wouldn't be sitting in my underwear in front of the TV at all. Much less telling everyone about via blogger. B is probable, but doesn't seem to capture the whole dynamic. Just thinking about it makes we want to cancel my cable subscription and spend a little more time with my stack of unread books, which has grown considerably since (a) I discovered a very nice used bookstore nearby and (b) visited my parents while my dad is in full book liquidation mode. Of course I won't do that, instead I'm going to go watch (a DVR'd episode of) The Ultimate Fighter to see if a member of the blue team or the red team gets eliminated this week.
2 comments:
Sounds like you're really getting into shape for your Appalacian Trail hike with Bob ! Do you have a portable DVR thingy so you won't miss any shows while on the trail?
Just wondering.
Hi Lamberts! I just re-found your blog.
I think DVR saves a lot more than 20 minutes. You save 20 minutes per hour by eliminating commercials. Plus you streamline your TV viewing. I always have 1 or 2 of my favorite shows on the DVR at any given time. That way when I have 20 minutes free or need to decompress for a minute, I have something ready that I actually enjoy watching. It's better than surfing with the remote, taking 20 minutes to scroll through 500 channels and realizing there's nothing on. Plus, I can program my DVR through the Verizon website or even my iPod Touch! Still.. we giving it up in August when our contract is up. I think Netflix will make us even more efficient TV watchers ;)
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