After a long absence, I have returned to blogging... I have been thinking lately that I don't know if the DVR has been a blessing or a curse for my wife and I. As much as I love all things media, I still have some reservations over going completely tech or letting it consume us. Of course I say this as I am typing on my laptop after watching a movie on the Blu-ray player on a HDTV. However, I don't have a smart phone and I haven't given up wearing a watch although from what the people on the radio say the watch is obsolete. The Ipod, I own is over 4 years old and my wife has used it more than I have and the only reason we got it was because I signed up for new services at my bank and got it free.
However, lets get back to the DVR. I had been previously exposed to DVRs a few years ago a person I knew had and it swore by it. I was shown the features and their library of recorded shows. I wasn't too sure about it. Call me old fashioned, but I enjoyed going through my non-labeled VHS tapes to find one I could use to record or 'tape' a show that I was going to miss. Thankfully, I did have somewhat of system that I separated the non-labeled tapes for causal programs from the collection of non-labeled Star Trek episodes so I wouldn't erase the important stuff. A geek has to have priorities. I still couldn't imagine why people would want to lose the VHS tapes. That changed in November 2009.
When we moved into our house and got local cable we went with the package that included a DVR. After using it for the first time and being able to set series recordings and two shows at the same time on two different channels. It was mind-blowing. How could have we gone without it for so long. There were a few times that we had to use the VCR in another room to record a third program. I still found a use for the old girl!
The downside as probably many DVR users know is that you start recording shows and other crap, that you probably would never have even thought of recording before having the DVR. More than likely shows that you would never have recorded before if you would have just stuck to the VCR. The end result of this DVR bliss is having 40% or more of used space for movies, tv shows missed from the past few weeks and whatever else you felt like recording; for example "Must Love Cats" on Animal Planet or one of the many Hitler 'specials' on History.
Then you get side-tracked with all of the other "new" shows that you now like watching and all the previous shows you have recorded just sit in their little digital waiting room in the DVR memory hoping you have the memory to sit down and finally watch them. With the VCR if you only had one or two tapes you had to watch what you recorded in a more timely manner before you had to tape something else.We still have some of the 'Freaks and Geeks' episodes recorded from late December when IFC ran an all day marathon that haven't been touched yet. You get my point.
Perhaps it is a sign of me not wanting to completely change; although the DVR has gotten us to move away from using and buying VHS tapes (if that is even possible in 2011) and it is a green thing to do-which I like. There is just something about pushing the buttons on that VCR remote to set your recording and give those extra minutes, before and after the show, because for some reason the time on the VCR would slow down or speed up without it being touched.
I say all this with tongue firmly planted in cheek. I did enjoy using the VCR and the last time I used it was almost a year ago and now it is sitting in a box in our crawl space hoping that someday it will be called upon again. Sadly, though its days are numbered...literally. The last time I was going through the options of setting a recording I noticed that the VCR will only go up to December 31, 2013. So take that Mayan Calendar! So even the machine or the company that made it gave it a specific end date of when it will stop being useful. I only thought food and milk had an expiration date. Thank goodness that the programs on the DVR don't have an expiration date because, I know we won't get to everything until this summer...or so I hope.
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