If TV is not your thing, don't TIVO. If there are shows that you like so much that you want to watch every week as soon as they come on, DVR's are liberating. We actually spend less time in front of the TV than without a DVR (comcast's fyi) because we watch on our schedule.
Buffering is really a great convenience if you can't understand what someone is saying, if a phone call interrupts your viewing. Unless you never want to watch live-broadcast again, buffering is just a much better way to watch TV. I can't wait until the same technology shows up in radio - especially car radio, I will never miss the DJ's announcement of a song title again (curse you, WPFW!) b_s-wilk <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > The question is how you track shows, I suppose you can > use a free programming service (MythTV?). The other advantage > of DVR's that cannot be oversold is the buffering of your current viewing. > > I hope this does not offend anyone but TIVO (DVR's in general) is > the surest sign I can remember of the upward progress > of human civilization. The surest sign of downward regress is a civilization that's too damn lazy to look things up and keep track of them. I get two Sunday papers--Delaware and Philly. Both have good TV listings. I have DirecTV which has a guide where I can look up programs on screen or online; I can set reminders for autotune; I can find rebroadcasts from the on-screen guide. I miss a movie on HBO [well, I cancelled HBO since I can get a Real Time podcast]? It will be on Showtime or Starz or TNT later. And if there are movies I want to watch, but missed, or aren't on TV at all, I can use Blockbuster's online/in-store service. IFC and Sundance send me monthly listings. I could subscribe to others, however there aren't that many hours in a day. I have lots of other things in my life. It's no big deal if I miss a show. I like television, but don't need a service to record shows that I probably won't have time to watch anyway. When we go away, we put our satellite TV and broadband service on hold, instead of recording missed favorites. I don't need to come home to a drive full of movies that will be repeated anyway, especially when it's too pleasant outdoors to be stuck indoors with the tube. People who have more time for TV and can't be bothered to look up or keep track of programs may have a reason for TiVo. My friend Kurt set up MythTV and doesn't have time to watch most of his saved programming. He hasn't touched it since he got Blockbuster Online. And when he quit, they offered a $3 discount, so he signed up again! Betty ************************************************************************ * ==> QUICK LIST-COMMAND REFERENCE - Put the following commands in <== * ==> the body of an email & send 'em to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <== * Join the list: SUBSCRIBE COMPUTERGUYS-L Your Name * Too much mail? Try Daily Digests command: SET COMPUTERGUYS-L DIGEST * Tired of the List? Unsubscribe command: SIGNOFF COMPUTERGUYS-L * New address? From OLD address send: CHANGE COMPUTERGUYS-L YourNewAddress * Need more help? Send mail to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ************************************************************************ * List archive at www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ * RSS at www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.xml * Messages bearing the header "X-No-Archive: yes" will not be archived ************************************************************************ ************************************************************************ * ==> QUICK LIST-COMMAND REFERENCE - Put the following commands in <== * ==> the body of an email & send 'em to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <== * Join the list: SUBSCRIBE COMPUTERGUYS-L Your Name * Too much mail? Try Daily Digests command: SET COMPUTERGUYS-L DIGEST * Tired of the List? Unsubscribe command: SIGNOFF COMPUTERGUYS-L * New address? From OLD address send: CHANGE COMPUTERGUYS-L YourNewAddress * Need more help? Send mail to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ************************************************************************ * List archive at www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ * RSS at www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.xml * Messages bearing the header "X-No-Archive: yes" will not be archived ************************************************************************
