Actually, Rhonda and I now TiVo everything we watch. I was curious what it does to our TV habits, because it's basically the same idea as DVD, just free.
We've gone from 3-4 hours of TV a night to 1-2 hours. I was surprised. Essentially, there are a couple of reasons for this:
1) no ads (an hour show is 45 minutes unless it's on HBO) 2) no delayed start time (if we sit down for an HBO show at 6:45, we're done at 7:45, not 8:00, since we start when we want and don't have to wait for the show to start if we're early 3) less crap
This last point deserves some mention. I think I just have lower standards for TV when it's being broadcast. If there's a show that's crappy on TiVo, I just stop watching it or delete it. I would probably sit through the whole thing if it were being broadcast, because hey, what else is there to do?
I think TV on DVD transforms television watching into an intentional experience rather than passively sitting back and letting the TV entertain you. That could be frustrating if I had gone through my TiVo or netflix collection and had nothing else to be intentional about. But hell, that's when you run to Blockbuster if you really need something brain dead to watch right this second.
I am in favor of this transition. Now we just need to figure out how to make this into an economic success. I still say subscriptions (like Netflix) are the way to go for entertainment, rather than per-viewing expenses.
Free except for the price of cable/satellite. I'm seriousl considering what sort of education/equipment we could get with that $50/month. I love the TiVo but especially with the all the control that is being stripped away from me on the DVR (this was interesting thank God I have an honest to God TiVo). I am all over Television as an intential act, and I think TiVo and netflix are making that much more of a reality.
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further observation
Date: 17 Feb 2005 20:46 (UTC)We've gone from 3-4 hours of TV a night to 1-2 hours. I was surprised. Essentially, there are a couple of reasons for this:
1) no ads (an hour show is 45 minutes unless it's on HBO)
2) no delayed start time (if we sit down for an HBO show at 6:45, we're done at 7:45, not 8:00, since we start when we want and don't have to wait for the show to start if we're early
3) less crap
This last point deserves some mention. I think I just have lower standards for TV when it's being broadcast. If there's a show that's crappy on TiVo, I just stop watching it or delete it. I would probably sit through the whole thing if it were being broadcast, because hey, what else is there to do?
I think TV on DVD transforms television watching into an intentional experience rather than passively sitting back and letting the TV entertain you. That could be frustrating if I had gone through my TiVo or netflix collection and had nothing else to be intentional about. But hell, that's when you run to Blockbuster if you really need something brain dead to watch right this second.
I am in favor of this transition. Now we just need to figure out how to make this into an economic success. I still say subscriptions (like Netflix) are the way to go for entertainment, rather than per-viewing expenses.
Re: further observation
Date: 18 Feb 2005 02:39 (UTC)