Does a DVR Boost Viewing Hours or Not?

[Suhit Gupta]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/31/technology/31drill.html?ex=1311998400&en=57b5c35297d5f99a&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss' target='_blank'>http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/31/technology/31drill.html?ex=1311998400&en=57b5c35297d5f99a&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss</a><br /><br /></div><i>"It seems that adults in households that have digital video recorders watch less TV than adults in the general population, according to a recent analysis by Mediamark Research, an audience-measurement firm. That finding, which comes from in-home interviews conducted by Mediamark with 26,000 adults between March 2005 and May 2006, seems to conflict with the contentions of the major broadcast networks. Researchers for the networks told advertisers in November that people in households with a DVR watched 12 percent more hours of TV a day than those without. Those researchers had argued that that tendency counterbalanced the possibility that DVR users would skip past ads. David F. Poltrack, chief research officer for CBS, said the Mediamark numbers were unreliable, because they were derived from people’s often-low reports of their own TV watching. The figures suggesting that adults who use a DVR watch more television come from Arbitron’s 2,000-person machine-recorded survey in the spring of 2005, but it covered only the Houston market."</i><br /><br />I really do feel that my TV watching has increased since getting a DVR. Without one, I was more tempted to stop watching TV when there was nothing to watch and when I was bored of channel surfing. However, now that I have a DVR, I end up recording enough stuff that it fills up those times when there is nothing to see on TV. Do you guys find this to be a tendency as well?

[Jason Dunn]

Since getting a MCE and 26" LCD TV in my office, I now watch waaaay more TV than I used to. And that's not really a good thing. ;-)

[that_kid]

Ever since I installed SageTV I've been recording mor shows but the problem is that I'm not watching all of them. With the ability to schedule recordings no matter where I am I seem to be archiving more than I watch. Funny thing is I seem to placeshift more, when I'm actually at home I don't turn the TV on at all.

[Gordo]

Definitely watch more TV with PVR.

In the winter time I am able to record multiple shows at the same time, and then time shift them. In the summer I can record the shows I wasn't interested in, or didn't have time for in the winter. I also download shows for watching in the summer.

[Felix Torres]

Serial shows like Battlestar Galactica, the 4400, etc, that run in short blocks, I record and accumulate until I can sit down and watch them back-to-back-to-back. Much like buying the dvd set, but a whole lot cheaper.
DVRs change viewing habits and in the process most people do end up watching more stuff, instead of watching reruns or rentals.

Simple question: does having a DVR lead to *less* rentals?
It does for me.

[xycury]

I've been using my MCE for about 1yr 1/2 almost 2. And i've accqumulated probably close to about 1000 hours of yet to be watched television.

I think DVRs have ended the channel surfing, but i think instead of watching more TV, i'm watching more quality of shows i'd like to watch.

Almost always something good to watch later, when i'm done doing everything else, let me enjoy tv even more.

Tv doesn't rule my life, i don't have to watch shows when they happen, and I feel that I get more done now then ever.

Overall i think i do watch more shows, more tv because i'm less fed up with watching.

Channel surfing is just rediculous now, and watching anything live is barbaric! :lol:

I'm trying to turn my gf over to the lighter side of television, but i think with her habbits of reality tv, she'll need a SANs to hold all that data. 8O

Real problem is how can i get MCE to view shows from remote networked drives. Moving +1GB files across the network is getting old fast.

[sojourner753]

I'm trying to turn my gf over to the lighter side of television, but i think with her habbits of reality tv, she'll need a SANs to hold all that data. 8O


I'm there with you. I my HD would have quickly filled up with Laguna Beach, Real World, etc.. except I enforced a 3 episode per title limit. So if she let them stack up too much they started falling out the other end.

Most serial recordings I set to keep at most 3 episodes. I don't think I've had one drop off on me yet. Though I may increase BattleStar Galactica just in case.

In answer the original post, I think I do watch more TV. Before Heighliner (my SageTV PVR), I missed the shows I wanted to watch all the time. Especially season openners. Now I just set the recording, and watch them when I get a chance to sit down.

As for Season openners, I don't have to worry. Every now and then I check the recent recordings to see if anything turned up.

[leslietroyer]

I watch more. Before if I knew I would miss the last 10 minutes of a show to pickup/drop off kids here and there, I would often not watch the show. I hate being frustrated at not knowing the end.

I hope/think that I'm probably watching the same # of hours, just skipping the 20% of time that is occupied by comercials,

Les

[Crocuta]

I definitely watch less. Before, I would watch both based on that 'now' is when I want to watch a show (even though there's nothing really good on), and based on this is such a good show that I'll watch at an inconvenient time to see it. Now Tivo just stacks up the things I like and I watch them when I want. The result for me is that I'm much more discriminating about what I watch. I don't get in the habit of watching crappy stuff just because it's on at a convenient time. We have the keyword 'pilot' as a permanent watch list item, so we tend to get the first episode of most new shows. We usually watch that, but a show really has to catch our interest for us to add it to the season pass. And that's all fine with me because I'm pretty busy with other aspects of my life. It turns out that there's enough good stuff on to meet my TV needs without having to compromise on quality, now that I can save it up and watch whenever I want.

[Damion Chaplin]

Definitely more, 'cause I just can't stay up very late. Getting up at 5am every morning means I pretty much have to sleep by 10pm. Which, of course, means I miss a lot of good TV that they play late. With the DVR, I record them and watch them the next evening. Without the DVR, they wouldn't be watched at all.

[bradleyh]

I definitely watch more TV because of my (Echostar-provided) DVR. It is not just the time saved because of commercial skipping. Fortunately, (like previous posts) it seems to be more TV that that I want to watch, rather than what is on at the current time.

If I find an interesting show, I will record it each time it is on, even though I would not have made time to watch it live. For example, I probably would not have committed to a full season of LOST (not able to watch each week due to travel, kids, etc.) but I recorded every episode this year. I saved them all, and watched them in 4 or 5 hour blocks over the course of a weekend.