Thursday, April 16, 2009

Life Before DVR

I try to, but just can't imagine life before we had DVR. HOW did we suffer through all those drawn out shows with all those PAINFUL commercials?! I guess we had to go pee, fix our popcorn, or check our email in 3 minute spurts of time. How crazy was that?!
The other day I was doing the dishes and for some reason started thinking about DVR (digital video recorders) and how they have changed our lives. And I got to wondering, when are the ad campaigns going to catch up with this technology? Ever since I've had a DVR, (which has been about a year or so) I've wondered when it was going to "hit the fan" so to speak. I mean, do people realize that nobody's watching those commercials anymore? Well, I know some people are, because plenty of people haven't caught on to the NEED for their own DVR, but eventually, it's going to happen. Advertisers will know that they are wasting money on television ads that no one is watching. And here's my thought. Why not just create a simply "billboard" style ad where the screen says exactly what you want the viewer to get from the ad, and if the viewers fast forward through it, they can still read the ad! I'm such a genius!
Many of my friends say that DVRs are too expensive. I say, they are crazy! As a matter of fact, they are wrong. If I were to sit down and calculate the amount of time I have saved by fast forwarding through commercials, I would come out way ahead. After all, time is money, especially when you are self-employed. And the convenience of being able to record your favorite shows and watch them when you want...you can't put a price on that. I don't even know when most of my shows come on. I check my "list" to see what's recorded and watch them- or not. Sometimes I save shows until the weekend or for a time when I know I won't be as busy.
And if you are a fan of American Idol you HAVE to have a DVR. I don't listen to half of what Ryan says, and the day that someone gets booted...YOU can wait until "after the break" but many times I fast forward all the way to the end. (Though last night I did watch Jennifer Hudson and Miley Cyrus perform. Is it just me or did it look like Miley was just starting out in the biz? She looked so nervous and unsure of herself, I couldn't believe it. And her annunciation...HORRIBLE.) Anyway...if you are one of those who thinks paying extra for DVR with your dish service is "too expensive" I beg to differ. It is well worth it and before long, you will be wondering how you went so long without it!
P.S. I finally got an Mp3 player for Christmas and don't know how I put it off so long. I can carry my music with my anywhere I go!!!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I love my DVR too. It is one of the best things ever invented. Being able to fast forward through commercials has eliminated a whole lot of the "I want that toy" conversations we used to have if I ever let my girls watch Saturday morning cartoons.

We're now looking into the tuners that would get radio and TV sent straight to my computer so we can check out some stuff that is not available in our area and not be as limited to how many shows we can record at one time. With 4 people who all like different things and everything seeming to be on at the same time it can be tough to only be able to record 2 shows at a time.