DVR - Is it worth it?

[radwife]

Do you have DVR? Do you think it's worth it? It would be an additional $10 a month with Comcast. I like the idea of being able to watch the shows I like when I want then being able to fast forward the commercials, but for an additional $10 on top of an already expensive Comcast bill I'm not sure.

[scrub-jay]

DH and I tend to watch Hulu.com for most of our shows. If we miss one, they tend to be online for free (with maybe a commercial or two).

DH found a computer cable for $5-10 online that connects my laptop with the TV and we watch our favorite shows in the living room, curled up together with snacks. (yes, we usually watch ALL of them at once!)

We thought about getting DVR, but decided that we would just keep doing this instead. But that being said, I've known many people who swear by their DVR...we are just playing it cheap!



-C

[poky]

For a comcast-brand DVR, it's probably not worth it. My many-years-old TiVo with the lifetime service (so no monthly fee)? Absolutely totally completely worth the upfront cost. Love love love my TiVo.

[bokelley]

We do the Hulu thing as well... Too cheap to pay an extra 10 bucks a month... Hulu has most things, but not everything.

[Pollyanna]

We have had comcast DVR for the last three years. It is the BEST $10/month we have ever spent. LOVE it and have never had a problem. One of my fav things to do is pause live TV. If I'm in the middle of watching an interesting interview that I don't want to record I just pause the TV go about my business and come back to it when I get a chance. Stop thinking and call your cable provider!

[Tenacious_D]

We love it! Well worth the 10 bucks for us.

[Deebs]

We have Dish here (with DVR, but it's not the same as with cable) and really miss our cable DVR. Go for it. In addition to recordings, there are many programs and movies available "on-demand" that are included in your price.

[ladymoreta]

We also have the TiVo with lifetime subscription, and I love it. It's super easy to use, and even when we're watching shows "live" we like to pause it for a few minutes so we can fast-forward through commercials. I get so annoyed watching commercials now.

It definitely changed the types of shows we watched, too. We used to just watch whatever was on, even if it wasn't that entertaining. Now we can watch shows we like when we want. I wouldn't say we're watching any more TV than we used to, but it doesn't feel like we're watching as much bad programming.

Usually we have the TV on when we're both on our computers, so sites like Hulu don't always work for us. It's great for shows we actually sit down and watch, but it's not as good for just having background noise.

[Pollyanna]

For those of you who watch shows on Hulu, how do you watch comfortably? Just doesn't seem like a bunch of fun to pull two chairs up to the computer to watch a TV show. Even using a laptop doesn't seem enjoyable. Maybe I'm missing something?

[Chrisada]

We always use our DVR. If I want to watch a show but can't bec. the kids are too noisy or whatever, I just DVR it and watch it at night.

[spotty_dog]

For those of you who watch shows on Hulu, how do you watch comfortably? Just doesn't seem like a bunch of fun to pull two chairs up to the computer to watch a TV show. Even using a laptop doesn't seem enjoyable. Maybe I'm missing something?

We watch the laptop in bed, or with our new entertainment system setup, we plug the laptop in to the 47" LCD flat screen with 5.1 channel surround.

[Pollyanna]

We watch the laptop in bed, or with our new entertainment system setup, we plug the laptop in to the 47" LCD flat screen with 5.1 channel surround.

Very nice!!

[scrub-jay]

For those of you who watch shows on Hulu, how do you watch comfortably? Just doesn't seem like a bunch of fun to pull two chairs up to the computer to watch a TV show. Even using a laptop doesn't seem enjoyable. Maybe I'm missing something?

DH bought a $5-10 cable that connects the laptop to the big screen, so we watch it on the TV while sitting on the couch in the living room. We have a mac laptop and DH has created a setup where his ipod touch works wirelessly as a remote to operate the laptop which is setup to the computer. *shrug*

Before he bought that cable though, we did watch it on the computer and you are right - very uncomfortable.



-C

[Auspicious]

We have DVR on our dish service. Ours is only $5, but I would pay $10 easily.

I would look into TiVo vs. DVR, but I would never go back to live TV. DVR has completely changed the way we watch TV. Recording multiple channels at once, recording all "new" episodes in a series but skip reruns, skipping all commercials, jumping back a few seconds if you missed something and need to hear/see it again, and especially pausing. We pause all the time to talk to each other--rant about what Jon Stewart is saying or ask where we've seen that character before. It's a whole other activity from watching regular TV.

[houseelf]

I love, love, love my DVR, but we waited until the last two years of training to splurge on cable and this fabulous feature. Once you get a DVR, it's hard to go back.

Kelly