January 19, 2006 – 10:31 am
Following up on my comment from this post, about not seeing American Idol last night, I realized that there are very few TV shows for which I actually make an effort to see every episode. I do like the tryout shows for American Idol (and none of the episodes after that part), but I don’t go out of my way to see them, or even bother to set them up to record on the DVR, which just goes to show that I really don’t care about them.
Probably the only shows I will make an effort to watch (or at least record on the DVR) are Lost, the Office, and Survivor (when it’s on). Even the Office I forgot about last week. I could set up the DVR to just always record those shows weekly, but I haven’t even bothered to do that.
For any other TV watching I do, I will just see what’s on at the time. If there’s a poker game, I will probably watch that. Otherwise I’ll check to see if there’s any other shows I like and if not just turn it off.
I guess my point is that the DVR is supposed to radically change your TV watching habits, but for me it hasn’t much. Maybe part of it is that I’m not that into TV in the first place. I always mean to sit down and set up recording for the shows that I would like but don’t watch often (Letterman, etc.) even if I never get around to watching them (just setting them to delete if there is no more free space), thereby making full use of the DVR by being able to watch something I actually want to see at any time of the day I choose to watch it, but it’s just not a big priority for me.
Also, I think with the availability of shows on bittorrent, it makes it easier to not even worry about planning to record the shows, because if you miss them, it’s no big deal because you can just download them that night or the next day.
December 2, 2005 – 8:21 pm
So far the only item on it is the Hauppauge PVR 350, the foundation of a good MythTV system.
Not that I necessarily expect anyone to buy this for me, but I’m going to force myself to wait until after Christmas anyway, at which point I will get it one way or another.
I’m moving this discussion to a post to facilitate more conversation.
Dave Z: Re: 30 days. I think you can catch a repeat of it, check your cable schedule.We should watch it together/at the same time and take notes for a online � discussion “.
JB: I already downloaded it yesterday within about an hour of noticing that I missed it. Thanks to bittorent!
Dave Z: I dont understand why you dont think it’s wrong to use copyrighted material without permission, am I missing something? I know I have used material.
JB: By downloading a show that was on TV, it’s no different than if I had recorded it on my VCR (or Tivo) when it was on. It’s not like I would have payed them money either way.
Of course, the downloaded copies usually don’t have commercials, but when you record the show you usually skip those anyway. I’m sure the ridiculous DMCA has something to say about it, but then again the people behind it would also want to prevent you from doing things like recording shows on your own VCR/DVR, fast-forwarding, etc.
What does everyone think?
I got this same comment recently on two of my posts in which I suggested some new functionality for DVRs; just thought it was interesting. There is an actual ebay auction on it, but it sure looks like a lame scam to me.
MFFIP, Inc. announces the sale of a US Utility Patent Application designated DVR001. The disclosure includes innovations in the DVR field. Bids are being accepted on eBay, item number 5981167951.
With most cable companies now offering broadband internet over their cable system, DVRs should come with built-in bit torrent clients that you can use to go back and get shows that you forgot to record when they were on.