DVR = Amazing, time saver or waster?

[insertNameHere]

I love how technology has made it to the point I can easily avoid the restrictions network TV tries to place on my life. I can work during prime-time and not worry about missing good shows, just go home and have the added benefit of skipping commercials and saving time.

However, I don't know if i save time, since i watch more TV. But I do love the technology to the point I bought a dedicated computer to use as a DVR, due to the annoyance of timewarner making it difficult/impossible to upgrade your DVR or transfer shows if needed replacement unit. Also figured in the long wrong it was better than Tivo which also has monthly fees and restrictions.

anyone else feel that the technology has changed their life?

[HYHYBT]

I don't even *have* TV anymore: I have an old Mac Mini at Dad's house which records anything I know about in advance and want to watch. I copy stuff off it maybe once a week, and wind up deleting maybe half of it unwatched. Unlike a VCR, there's enough space to record, oh, on that one, about 30 hours without running out of space and I don't wind up keeping a program I didn't want just because it happened to be between two I wanted to save. And I'm not tempted to flip on the set and watch whatever's on; if I do watch something, it's because I specifically want to. Plus, no cable bill.

If I want to keep something, I can just snip out the commercials and whatever (without dubbing, which isn't worth the time and loss of picture quality) and export the show to a plain video file.

Yes, I watch a bit more TV than I had been, measured in official program length... but still not nearly as much as I did up to, say, 2000. And what I do watch takes less time.

There *is* one disadvantage, and that doesn't apply to most people because of digital broadcasting. Analog static confuses the blank out of it, and there's something about the wiring in Dad's house that introduces it. Sometimes not enough to notice, sometimes not enough to matter... but some days, especially on low-numbered channels, enough that the result is unwatchable. Whereas with a VCR, the limit is how much static you're willing to put up with (which varies by how much you wanted to see the show, or how far along in it you already are before it starts), with the DVR it's more concrete: past a certain level, it simply breaks up and starts skipping time. That wouldn't apply if the incoming signal were digital, of course; but sticking with analog cable makes sense in a house with analog TV's and a couple who prefer using VCR's, so long as it's still available.

[insertNameHere]

have you considered an in line amplifier to boost the signal? Ideally, one that could be installed on the main cable line before you split it to TVs, although you have to be careful if you have a cable modem and make sure the amp has a return path or to be on safe side, split signal 2 ways, 1 to amp and rest of TVs, 1 to cable modem. That is the setup I use, as being 150ft from the road I'm already getting half the signal due to cable loss.

I love being able to skip commercials, of course sometimes I miss them for hearing about other shows I might want to watch and some are funny, but I just got done watching Justified and noticed a few 4minute breaks.

Also, to bad you said Mac, I found a great program called remote potato, that works with windows media center so I can schedule recordings from any computer.

[telecom_goddess]

I just want to say that I love my dvr and it's definitely a time saver for me. I use it to capture shows I would normally miss and watch at my leisure. It's the best thing ever.

[Evandril]

Any good sources for turning a computer into a DVR? My Wife 'n me just got a couple new computers for ourselves...and our old computers would work well as DVRs, methinks

[Ghel]

I love my DVR. I've been catching up on the reruns of all the Mythbusters episodes I've missed.

[insertNameHere]

Any good sources for turning a computer into a DVR? My Wife 'n me just got a couple new computers for ourselves...and our old computers would work well as DVRs, methinks

Well it depends on what the specs are. I have a Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-950Q it a USB tv tuner that requires at least a 2.8GHZ for analog TV. and can only watch one program at a time. Also, it helps to have at least Windows Xp Media center edition, but windows 7 works much better... I wanted to use linux however I found out my tuner is not one that is easily compatible

WinTV-HVR-2250 is what I am thinking of upgrading to because I bought a new computer to use just as a DVR, it has the PCI-express that I need. With the advantage of having hardware encoding and being able to setup 2 recordings at the same time. So I can actually watch one program while recording another.

So it is possible with lower specs, if you get the right card to have no problem using older hardware. Also, they make a few linux distributions specifically for the task that run a program called MythTv. Which are called MythBuntu, LinHES (formally KnoppMyth). sure there a few others. The nice thing is how easily it is to backup your old shows, install a second harddrive. and in my case have a full blown quad core to do whatever you fell like

[HYHYBT]

have you considered an in line amplifier to boost the signal? Ideally, one that could be installed on the main cable line before you split it to TVs, although you have to be careful if you have a cable modem and make sure the amp has a return path or to be on safe side, split signal 2 ways, 1 to amp and rest of TVs, 1 to cable modem. That is the setup I use, as being 150ft from the road I'm already getting half the signal due to cable loss.

I love being able to skip commercials, of course sometimes I miss them for hearing about other shows I might want to watch and some are funny, but I just got done watching Justified and noticed a few 4minute breaks.

Also, to bad you said Mac, I found a great program called remote potato, that works with windows media center so I can schedule recordings from any computer.

I can do the same through the TitanTV website, so long as the show's still an hour in the future as that's how often the computer checks.

I'm using an EyeTV 200; it was used when I got it and cost as much as the new ones, but I needed one that worked through firewire, not USB, because the computer I was using it with at the time had the older, slow USB ports. And for some reason, firewire devices are horribly scarce.

[Mytical]

Both. I can watch TV when I want (working third shift I would miss a lot of my favorites)..but because of it I record a LOT of shows I normally would miss..so end up watching way too much TV.

[boringscreenname]

My husband and I love our DVR. I work full-time, and he works part time, plus I work 3rd shift and we have two kids so we don't really have a lot of time to watch tv. It's nice to be able to watch the shows we enjoy on our time, plus we can watch our favorite shows together. So it's a definite time and sanity saver for us.

[Andara Bledin]

When I move, we're going to get satellite with a DVR again.

So many shows I'd like to watch before they show up with Netflix.

^-.-^

[blas87]

I'd give anything to have a DVR, but I'm not sure how it would work because I only have basic cable (not even 70 channels anymore thanks to Charter repeatedly taking channels off the basic package and putting them on the extra package), and no digital cable or anything like that. My cable is included in my rent, so it's foolish to spend the money on digital cable.

But as I was saying, working night shifts and blanket overtime for years on end at times, I'd give anything to be able to try new shows, and be able to record stuff that's on while I'm asleep in the evening, or is on while I'm busy getting ready for work.

As of right now, all I watch is a couple of soaps in the morning before bed, and the news, TMZ, or stuff on the E! channel before work.

[Mytical]

Blas..unless they have stopped selling it Tivo might be your answer.

[telecom_goddess]

I disagree about digital cable being foolish. Basic cable is included in my rent now too but I pay extra for digital and hdtv and all that, it's worth it to me. And for the dvr from the cable company.

But in Blas's case ya Tivo might be the way to go they are seperate from the cable/sattelite companies.

[blas87]

It's simply not worth it to me because I'm not around often enough to watch everything on it. And I can't see upgrading just to watch one or two shows that only go for a few months a year on HBO or Starz.