About a month ago, we (finally) got a digital video recorder. And just as I’d heard from others, it has revolutionized our television watching. I normally only watch television after about 9:00 p.m., and usually there isn’t anything on at that time that particularly interests me. Well, not any longer. I’m currently recording Futurama, Good Eats, Monk, Stargate Atlantis, Frontline, and other individual shows and movies.
But the biggest change is with the children. Anytime they sit down to watch TV, something that they want to watch–and that we approve of–is on. Samuel has not even thought about the shows we would prefer he didn’t watch.
Hannah, my little tech clone, took to the DVR immediately. After a couple of tutorials on how to keep from filling up the entire hard drive with her shows (and thereby causing other family members’ show to be deleted), she and I are co-existing with it quite well.
For me, the biggest challenge so far is allowing shows that I haven’t watched to be deleted. I feel like I am obliged to watch everything that I record.
Our cable provider, Cox Communications, charges us $11/month extra for the DVR, and so far it has more than paid for itself. We haven’t rented a single DVD since we got it. The kids tend to rent older movies, and those are shown on TV regularly, so the kids have watched quite a few movies. I watched The Big Lebowski last night, but I have to say that the version that was edited for broadcast left something to be desired. I may have to rent it so I can get the original expletives.
Categories: Personal