Back in 2013, I decided to live without a DVR. At least, for one day. Even back then, a lot of people had moved away from live TV. So I decided to try it. I wrote:
You can read all my experiences here. Without the ability to pause, I needed to plan things better, perhaps not gulping down massive amounts of fluid before sitting down to watch an hour of entertainment. I came to both love and hate commercial breaks, and I remembered why it was that I was so entranced with a DVR in the first place.
It’s funny, I do love old TV shows but I didn’t always watch them as intended. A lot of times old TV shows are found on streaming apps now, and you don’t see commercial breaks. You also don’t wait an entire week before you watch another episode. That’s how old shows were designed, and if you binge any show made in the 20th century it becomes pretty obvious that there are some flaws in that logic.
As part of that 2013 experiment, though, I got more familiar with the subchannels I had available to me. Watching subchannels, which are almost exclusively available on over-the-air TV, is a lot more like watching old TV. The picture isn’t as clear, there are plenty of commercial breaks, and you get different shows one after another. You don’t watch ten episodes of the same thing straight.
The wonderful thing, though, about a life without a DVR, is the sense of serenity. The pace of old television shows was designed for six breaks an hour, and you couldn’t change that. Today we tend to avoid breaks and power through on everything. Sometimes it’s just fun to turn on the TV and see where life takes you. It’s a great opportunity to destress and really get to know the world “in real time.” Honestly, there are so few opportunities we really have to do that, and sometimes… it’s kind of nice.
The first DVRs came out 25 years ago. They were revolutionary, to say the least. The ideal of pausing live TV was impossible before that, and it changed our relationship with video. This was before YouTube, in fact before most streaming video was possible. Watching something on your schedule had been possible with VCRs, sure, but watching just 15 minutes behind or pausing for an important moment wasn’t.
But today, is a DVR still important to us? It’s true that more people than ever stream programming. Live TV services like DIRECTV Stream will let you pause live TV easily, and you don’t need a DVR in your home. SVOD apps like Netflix and Max let you choose what you want any time. For an increasing number of people, that’s just the default way of watching TV.
A DVR still won’t let you keep your recordings forever, because in most cases they’re tied to the hardware. You can’t move them off the device so if the hardware fails you lose it. But, in today’s world where content disappears from major streamers every week, a DVR will let you keep something for a lot longer. It’s still relevant, and it’s still a great way to watch TV.
If you’re ready to upgrade to a DIRECTV or DISH DVR, call the experts at Signal Connect! We’re here for you during East Coast business hours. Call 888-233-7563. Or, if it’s after hours, fill out the form below. We’ll get right back to you!
The post THROWBACK THURSDAY: A day without a DVR appeared first on The Solid Signal Blog.
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Knowing that you can’t pause really makes you focus on the TV. I wasn’t inclined to touch my phone, not even once, and I found myself entranced with every moment whether important or not, treasuring it as if it were a sunset I would never again witness. This is how I remember watching television in my youth, I realized. This is how television was meant to be watched.
You can read all my experiences here. Without the ability to pause, I needed to plan things better, perhaps not gulping down massive amounts of fluid before sitting down to watch an hour of entertainment. I came to both love and hate commercial breaks, and I remembered why it was that I was so entranced with a DVR in the first place.
TV the way it was intended
It’s funny, I do love old TV shows but I didn’t always watch them as intended. A lot of times old TV shows are found on streaming apps now, and you don’t see commercial breaks. You also don’t wait an entire week before you watch another episode. That’s how old shows were designed, and if you binge any show made in the 20th century it becomes pretty obvious that there are some flaws in that logic.
As part of that 2013 experiment, though, I got more familiar with the subchannels I had available to me. Watching subchannels, which are almost exclusively available on over-the-air TV, is a lot more like watching old TV. The picture isn’t as clear, there are plenty of commercial breaks, and you get different shows one after another. You don’t watch ten episodes of the same thing straight.
A time saver, but a stress creator?
The wonderful thing, though, about a life without a DVR, is the sense of serenity. The pace of old television shows was designed for six breaks an hour, and you couldn’t change that. Today we tend to avoid breaks and power through on everything. Sometimes it’s just fun to turn on the TV and see where life takes you. It’s a great opportunity to destress and really get to know the world “in real time.” Honestly, there are so few opportunities we really have to do that, and sometimes… it’s kind of nice.
Is a DVR still relevant?
The first DVRs came out 25 years ago. They were revolutionary, to say the least. The ideal of pausing live TV was impossible before that, and it changed our relationship with video. This was before YouTube, in fact before most streaming video was possible. Watching something on your schedule had been possible with VCRs, sure, but watching just 15 minutes behind or pausing for an important moment wasn’t.
But today, is a DVR still important to us? It’s true that more people than ever stream programming. Live TV services like DIRECTV Stream will let you pause live TV easily, and you don’t need a DVR in your home. SVOD apps like Netflix and Max let you choose what you want any time. For an increasing number of people, that’s just the default way of watching TV.
A DVR still won’t let you keep your recordings forever, because in most cases they’re tied to the hardware. You can’t move them off the device so if the hardware fails you lose it. But, in today’s world where content disappears from major streamers every week, a DVR will let you keep something for a lot longer. It’s still relevant, and it’s still a great way to watch TV.
If you’re ready to upgrade to a DIRECTV or DISH DVR, call the experts at Signal Connect! We’re here for you during East Coast business hours. Call 888-233-7563. Or, if it’s after hours, fill out the form below. We’ll get right back to you!
The post THROWBACK THURSDAY: A day without a DVR appeared first on The Solid Signal Blog.
Continue reading...
