TV on command

Just a couple of days ago I wrote about our new foray into DVR-dom. I promised to write more if I became addicted. Well, I'm not quite addicted, but we're quickly getting used to watching TV on our own schedule rather than based on what network programmers think is best for us.

Let's begin at 6:30pm. My wife has a slew of Indian soap operas which she needs to watch everyday. Although they are repeated throughout the day, the shows can take up a good portion of the evening. Inevitably, I start complaining about the shows since as far as I'm concerned, they're all the same load of crap. Anyways, they're programmed into our DVR and recorded everyday. My wife loads up the first one and proceeds to watch all of her shows while I occupy myself with other things. Since she can forward through all the ads, she's done amazingly fast.


Next comes Desperate Housewives. Talk about soap opera! I'm not into this show as much as my wife, but I'll watch it when it's convenient. We didn't get a chance to watch it on Sunday because we were busy, Well, with a DVR, it's always convenient. So we watch the show while getting things around the house done. If we miss a bit, no worries, just rewind. Another show finished in 2/3 of the normal running time.

Of course, while watching "Housewives", we realize that 24 is coming on. We've never watched this series until this season, but after only 2 episodes, we're hooked. But since the DVR is recording 24 in the background, we can finish up "Housewives" then start up 24. Even though the DVR is still recording the tail end of 24 for that night, we can just start at the beginning and catch up. 2 hours of 24 finished in 1.5 hours. Nice.

So let's add it up...2 hours of Indian soaps, 1 hours of Housewives, and 2 hours of 24...that's 5 hours of running time. It took less than 4 hrs to watch it all...without an arguing, without any sitting around watching the same old ads. Very cool.

You're probably thinking it may be cool, but 5 hours of television a night?? Well, safe to say, we don't normally watch that much TV, but the DVR is paying off on those nights when there are several things one or both of us would like to watch. Obviously, I'm on my way to addiction. Any seasoned Tivo or ReplayTV users, let me know if you have hints to avoid the addiction while still enjoying the utility of such a device. :)