http://www.teevee.org/archive/2001/07/18/index.html

I have 78 channels on my "basic" cable, but luckly live near a Hollywood Video so I can rent DVD's because 98% of the stuff on TV does not captivate me. Yet, I clearly remember when the fuzzy reception of ABC and NBC was enough (CBS was too fuzzy and FOX didn't exsist.) What happened? Has the entertainment become so diluted that you must actively search/filter for the good stuff?

What form of electronic entertainment do you use most? Do you believe in DirectTV, you pray to the TiVo gods, do worship at the house of Digital Cable?

-- Anonymous, July 18, 2001

Answers

Of my 78 channels, at least a dozen are in languages other than English. I have no use for channels like QVC, or PAX, and whatever channel it is that continuosly plays "Son of the Beach" and "Zena" over and over.

I looked into getting DirectTV but the thought of 100 channels was more oppressive than impressive. I need about 10 channels: The major 3 networks, HBO, A&E, History, TNT, and maybe a few others... there's just a plethora of crap out there.

-- Anonymous, July 18, 2001

I have rabbit ears.

But next fall things get hairy ... I have class during both Passions and Angel on Mondays, and I can't tape both. Man, I might need TiVo. Damn.

-- Anonymous, July 18, 2001

What you need is another $79 VCR, chica.

-- Anonymous, July 18, 2001

Oh. Well, all right. That would work, too.

-- Anonymous, July 18, 2001

See, TIVO is evil. You don't think you need it and then you get it and you can't imagine life without it. Rather like managable hair I would imagine.

We watch a lot of shows that conflict with each other so the combination of TiVO on switch A, VCR switch B, tv switch C has enabled us to watch what we want (generally) when we want.

Like this past spring. Friends, Survivor, Gilmore Girls all at the same time. Friends is the reason we met, I still am in love with Matthew Perry, and I'll watch it until the last, dying, sucky death. How can anyone not watch Survivor? Gilmore Girls is just plain good, entertaining, well written, well acted TV. So, the TiVO recorded Gilmore Girls, the VCR recorded Survivor, we watched Friends.

This fall Buffy goes up against Gilmore Girls. Now I don't have to choose.

I'm not so into the "TiVO finds out what you like and records shit for you." We disabled the auto-record because it eats up precious space. And when your husband insists on seeing Law & Order everytime it is on, on every channel, you need a lot of space because it's on A&E every day, TNT some days, NBC some days, sheesh. And now there is the "2 episodes of WKRP" every day obsession he has.

-- Anonymous, July 18, 2001

"TiVO on switch A, VCR switch B, tv switch C"

Is the quality of programming worth that complexity?

One of my closest friends doesn't even have a t.v. While I'm not a total junkie (or at least no admitting to it), I can't understand how people can get up in the morning and -not- turn on CNN or Headline News to see if China has nuked Washington yet...

-- Anonymous, July 18, 2001

I think they'd cover that on my.yahoo if it happened.

-- Anonymous, July 18, 2001

See, I'm afraid of TiVo. Really afraid. I don't watch television at all, because I mostly forget when things are on. TiVo, TiVo wouldn't let me forget. TiVo would follow me around the house, kicking me, making me watch all the things it worked so very hard to impress me with by recording, and then I'd feel all obligated, and then I'd get into it, and then I'd record everything that everyone ever talked about being sort of good, and then I'd never, never, never leave the house or read or write ever, ever again, and that would be a really bad thing.

Deathly afraid.

Also, how stupid am I to pay for cable television when I don't actually turn on the television?

-- Anonymous, July 18, 2001

i have rabbit ears. my boyfriend doesn't even have that--his TV is used solely for DVDs and videos.

i miss a few things on cable: comedy central (daily show, strangers with candy (RIP), space ghost, kids in the hall), cartoon network (powerpuff girls, dexter's lab), and the multitude of reruns availabile on various channels (law and order, x-files). but the combined hassle of rearranging my living room to get the TV close to the cable hookup plus paying >$50 month is too great.

-- Anonymous, July 18, 2001

Obviously whether the quality of television is worth all those switchs is a matter of personal taste. I didn't even mention the Playstation 2 impact on all those switches and plans.

We are entertainment junkies and I am not ashamed to admit it though I think _r slightly is. My entire job centers around movie trailers (the previews before a movie). I am a sucker for good tv and an even bigger sucker for bad tv because it's so much fun.

It's not all junk TV though. I watch a ton of gardening and cooking shows. _r salivates for Antiques Roadshow.

Some people like camping. Others like wine tastings. We watch TV, together, with the entire Mystery Science Theater 3K taunting and mocking for most shows.

-- Anonymous, July 18, 2001

I can really, really empathize with Jen's fear of TiVo. Being a gadget junkie, I'm tempted to take the plunge. But I, too, can feel the hot breath of TiVo on the back of my neck, ready to take me from some productive task or other, fling me onto the La-Z-Boy and pour the equivalent of molten steel into my eyes. For hours at a time.

And when you think of how often TV shows are re-run (throughout the regular season AND all summer), do we really need this?

-- Anonymous, July 19, 2001

Perhaps if I had TiVo, I would not have dropped my Topics in Society class that was on Thursday nights last quarter.

Nah... I couldn't stand not being *right there* when Jerri finally got the boot.

-- Anonymous, July 19, 2001

TiVo will turn you into a TV Junkie. But it's the greatest thing since the internet for sure.

We're actually planning to "hack" our TiVo soon with the help of one my coworkers so that we can save even more television!

Colleen

-- Anonymous, July 19, 2001

We have digital cable with tons of channels. But all we ever watch are sports, the Sopranos, and Antiques Road Show. I swear to god.

Sometimes I hear about interesting documentaries on HBO or things on PBS, and I tape them for future watching, but that's about it.

My husband is intrigued by TiVo but not enough to get it. I'm not sure what he'd use it for. I'm not sure our ancient TV could even use it. We don't rent movies, we don't have a DVD player, we don't even GO to movies in theaters.

TV & electronic entertainment isn't a big part of our lives, I guess.

-- Anonymous, July 19, 2001

TiVo is, my God, the most wonderful invention known to man, better than the heart-lung machine, better than Liquid Prell (sorry, 2000 Year Old Man moment), but when you get it you can never move from in front of the TV ever again, ever ever ever, because if you don't watch the things you TiVo, you won't have room to TiVo more things.

I think that it was invented by the aliens to take over our brains one by one, so that the entire world will be unattended as we sit in front of the TV watching i>thirtysomething or Behind the Music or Bravo Profiles, eyes slowly revolving.

And we won't care if they take over the world, as long as our TiVo service doesn't get interrupted.

-- Anonymous, July 19, 2001

I have an antenna (rabbit ears sounds so white trash), but I mostly watch Disney videos. The only show I hafta watch is Battledome. Once my lil' angel figures out that cable is the reason mommy's tv gets the Disney channel and daddy's doesn't, I may have to cough up my forty bucks a month. But it'll be ok, cuz ESPN2 shows bowling. I wish ABC wouldn't have dropped coverage of the PBA. Why'd they do that? Me and the other two guys who watched were pretty ticked when they did. That sounds like a good forum topic.

-- Anonymous, July 19, 2001

I have an antenna (rabbit ears sounds so white trash)

Do you mean the thing that goes on the roof? Then you're okay. If you mean the thing that goes on the back of your TV that you have to fiddle with in order to see what color Buffy's hair is this week, then you have rabbit ears, and there ain't no sense acting all uppity about it.

-- Anonymous, July 19, 2001

"I have an antenna (rabbit ears sounds so white trash) "

What Beth said (hey, I can suck up... it's still the birthday week).

Plus, it's not really white trash unless the "ears" are fortified with aluminum foil. If fact, if there's foil anywhere in your house besides the kitchen (i.e. the windows) chances are you're surfing this down at the Technical College that Bubba dropped out of, and I'm probably related to you. (but only by marriage)

-- Anonymous, July 19, 2001

Generally speaking, I hate TV. Oh, I watched Dr. Who when I was a kid, and Twin Peaks in high school, but I didn't even own a set in college and never missed it.

Then I moved in with a guy who watches TV. Not too much, by American standards, but a hell of a lot more than I do. Watching TV bugged me. Flipping channels bugged me. Sitting in front of the set without a clear goal to watch a particular very good program bugged me.

Last Christmas, I got guy-who-watches-TV a TiVo. He got me hooked on Babylon 5, the sneaky bastard, and gave the TiVo a bunch of thumbs-up on nature shows so it began to record Big Cat Diary, which I also turned out to enjoy. I have to say, this thing revolutionized our perception of TV. There's no such thing as "watching live TV" or "channel surfing" now (though you CAN do both if you like). We sit down and pop up a list of programs that have been recorded and choose what we want to watch (without commercials, without screwing around with tapes, etc). Our TiVo holds about 18 hours of stuff on decent quality, and it automatically records the shows we have a 'season pass' for. Sure, many shows are rerun a zillion times, but with TiVo you can watch it ANY time you want, and you don't miss any due to schedule changes and such. (And then I got hooked on Battlebots and Junkyard Wars too. Argh!) It's a hell of a lot easier to program than a VCR, too -- the VCR's interface looks ungodly primitive to us now. TiVo is awesome. And we've only got basic cable -- I can't imagine managing satellite tv without this sort of interface.

Except this week, the damn thing's broken. We are reduced to watching normal TV while we're swapping it for a refurbished unit. Normal TV sucks. It's just not worth the effort. And you can't even rewind the good bits! I miss Big Cat Diary, but without TiVo knowing which episode is which I can't tell when to watch. The 2am one is probably the episode I haven't seen before...

In short, TiVo good. Though it will sneakily addict you to at least a couple of TV shows, even if you hate the stuff. It's a small price to pay to never have to watch your boyfriend channel-surf again.

-- Anonymous, July 19, 2001

My TV at work has foil on the antenna thingie. But that's the only way I can get Passions.

-- Anonymous, July 19, 2001

That's ok Beth... since you live in Sacremento there really was never a question as to the crimson shade of your neck.... just one of those understood things.

-- Anonymous, July 19, 2001

Yeah, well, at least SacrAmento rednecks can spell.

-- Anonymous, July 19, 2001

My TB stays off most of the time. When it is on, it's to watch a specific show -- most likely X-Files, South Park or Conan O'Brien -- or a movie on DVD or VHS. Sometimes something on The History Channel or re-runs of sitcoms that I've always enjoyed.

I have a basic cable package, and I make use of it, but 99 percent of it goes unseen. Frankly, there's just not much on that can really hold my attention, and very few series that I'd develop a habit of watching every week. I briefly considered getting a satellite system or expanding my cable package, but I don't really see a point in paying even more money for TV I wouldn't watch.



-- Anonymous, July 19, 2001

Just a couple of points of information:

Netflix.com is a kickass DVD service. Three movies mailed to you as many times as you want during a month for 20 bucks. No late fees, and I've rarely been unable to get the movie I want.

Satellite is almost always cheaper than cable. More channels that I want for less than the cable company.*

*disclosure: I've not had cable or satellite for six or seven years.

-- Anonymous, July 19, 2001

My TV is broken. I can't even watch the Passions tape from today, much less the DVD Kymm got me or the video I got from Mar. I'm in despair.

-- Anonymous, July 19, 2001

We bought a TiVo for my parents for Christmas. Thought it was so neat, we went out & got a Replay machine for ourselves (diffs incl. no thumbs up/down; no hokey "blip" sound, 60 hrs space instead of 30, AND access from anywhere via internet if I forgot to program it for something (now, how sad is THAT??))

The plusses include (almost) no more surfing (those flickering lights from the set drove me crazy - Japanese animation had nothing on my "other half"!!), with the channel guide & search there’s no need for a TV Guide (it's amazing how many shows &/or movies are on @ weird times), instant replay is phenomenal in so many situations, and the "pause" feature is great if I need to take an important phone call but I still want to pay attention & savor Jerri finally being kicked off the island (we ALL need to watch a little mindless trash now & again.....) I can watch a saved show while taping a different show being broadcast (the reverse - watching a show currently being broadcast and taping a different show at the same time - requires a switch or multi-station tuner).

The recording quality is light-years away from VCR recordings, and my "media clutter" has been reduced significantly as all recordings are stored right on the hard drive. I do not have to change tapes/search for the "right spot" on the tape, or even search for the correct tape/buy and I don’t need to STORE all those tapes until we get around to watching them. (There is still the option of archiving recorded shows to VCR tapes from the Replay if you wish.)

A "down" side is I am definitely more "hooked" on TV than I was - I certainly look at the set more than I ever did before (he, on the other hand, was already a full-fledged addict!). I too have become addicted to lots of home & garden shows, the history channel (3 daughters currently serving in the military helped contribute to this, tho), the learning channel, and at times even Antiques Roadshow, Junkyard Wars and Battlebots. Yet I would have to say we do not watch any more hours of TV; we just watch more interesting TV and more shows in less time (due to skipping the commercials).

I also enjoy what we do watch so much more. With Replay (or TiVo, etc), I have found that we are more likely to "experiment" with what we view. As a result, we have seen some truly wonderful shows that I would probably never have bothered to watch before (he seemed to rarely stop "surfing" to actually "watch" anything). I have learned so much from numerous documentaries that I sometimes wonder if perhaps I slept through most of my school days, including college!

-- Anonymous, July 20, 2001

Don't despair, Bubba...uh, I mean Beth. Passions ain't much to miss (girl, you need to get yourself some GH!)

The witch and the midget will wait for you.

-- Anonymous, July 20, 2001

I got enamored with TiVo, but I don't have a phone line (I only use a cell phone), so I was out of luck.

Then I found out that Dish Network has a box now that lets you do most of the same stuff TiVo does (I think it uses a variation of Ultimate TV), so I'm switching from digital cable to that. It costs about the same.

I'm don't watch a LOT of TV, but I have stuff that I watch regularly and I hate messing with tapes and my VCR. I always run out of tape, or don't have a tape handy or set the wrong speed. Basically, I have issues with tape. I don't listen to cassettes anymore, so why should I be beholden to it for video.

Samsung signed a deal with AOL TIme Warner to produce set top boxes with TiVo capabilities, so it probably won't be long before digital cable subscribers will start being offered new TiVo cable boxes. We'll all be TiVing soon. (those that have TV and cable, at least..)

-- Anonymous, July 20, 2001

I think that last past answered my question. For Tivo a phone line has to be plugged into the transmitter permanently, correct?

-- Anonymous, July 20, 2001

Not necessarily permanently. It calls in once a day to get the latest programming updates. It generally calls around 2 - 3 a.m. and it can tell if you are on the phone and will try again later. In theory you could have one line that you pull out of your phone and plug into TiVo just before you go to bed and switch back when you get up. It's easier just to get a connector for your outlet that lets you plug in two physical lines that use the same number and plug one into the TiVo.

What really sucks for us it that our cable provider is also our ISP so we have to have our computer within 50 feet of our TiVo. With the cable box, TiVo, VCR, Playstation 2, computer and 2 phone lines there are so many wires in our living room it's like living in Radio Shack.

-- Anonymous, July 20, 2001