FriendBurst Blog

I could not interact with television without a Digital Video Recorder. A DVR. I had a Tivo box back when they were relatively new in the early 2000’s because even then, I recognized how much these storage devices could improve our experience with television. My wife at the time wouldn’t let me just buy one; I had to beg and plead in order for her to buy me one as a reluctant Christmas gift. A week into owning one, she was hooked too.

The free DVR that comes with my cable subscription is not as awesome as Tivo was (primarily in that Tivo has the ability to analyze what you like to watch and then record things that it thinks you will like), but still, the concept of actually sitting through and watching commercials is not something I have had to deal with for a decade. For those of you who still haven’t got a DVR, it’s like you’re watching black and white TV.

There are a few downsides to DVR viewership. One is the out-of-control subscription. You can tell your DVR to record every episode of your favorite show, excluding repeats. This is a nice feature, except that I have learned that some networks have made SO MANY episodes of certain shows that they will quickly fill up your hard drive space.

For example, right now, I have 28 unwatched episodes of “TruTV Presents World’s Dumbest” on my DVR. Apparently, 50% of the programming time on TruTV (formerly CourtTV) is dedicated to this one show. Now, obviously, I think this is a good show, otherwise I wouldn’t allow this. Tonya Harding, Danny Bonaducce, Todd Bridges, Judie Gold, Daniel Baldwin and Leif Garret criticizing ridiculous RL videos? How could one not love that? Who better to comment on how ridiculous the world is today than it’s most ridiculous celebrities? But I only have 18% of my DVR space left, which the machine always reminds me whenever I set it to record something new.

What I worry about now is that some of my really old recordings will be deleted because I negligently let my DVR fill up. For example, I have 3 iconic movies that I’ve never seen (Taxi Driver, Juno and Iron Man) that I recorded in the last couple months that I keep thinking I’ll get around to watching, but given that I’m not much of a movie guy (two hours is too long for me to sit and watch one thing), it hasn’t happened.

See, that’s the downside to a DVR. It imposes a TO DO LIST on your television watching. I’ve got this list of programs (daily recordings include The Daily Show, Colbert, Maddow and Hardball) that if I don’t address on a daily basis, soon builds up to uncontrollable back up! Then I feel guilty for having to delete potential entertainment that, due its news-driven timeliness, becomes outdated and useless.

So.. Do you have a DVR? What is on your subscription list? If you don’t have a DVR, what’s stopping you? Get one today!