February 20, 2007
How do you TiVo?

Dwight has a question for all you TiVo and TiVo-like users:


So how about you? Like commercials or hate 'em? If you own a DVR, do you watch the ads or zap through them? If you like them, 'fess up: Have you ever gone back to watch one over again?

I still watch some TV in real time, usually but not always sporting events, so seeing some commercials is inevitable. When I'm watching something that the TiVo has recorded, though, I zap away. I will sometimes stop and look at an ad that catches my eye, but usually just to satisfy my curiosity about its subject matter. Well, okay, I'll watch promos for upcoming shows sometimes, too. But generally speaking, I zap. To me, one of the huge benefits of TiVo is being able to watch an hourlong show in less than 45 minutes. I'm all about saving time.

On a related note, when I first got the TiVo, it had an effect on how I listened to the radio. I kept wanting to hit a back button so I could hear the song title and band name if I missed it, or to take a shot at finally figuring out what some tricky lyrics were. I was always disappointed that my car stereo didn't let me do that.

Oh, and now that I have an iPod, I almost always do the podcast version of "Wait Wait Don't Tell Me" - as with hourlong TV shows, it's a nice tidy 45 minutes, and there's no annoying public radio stuff. Not quite TiVoing, but close enough.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on February 20, 2007 to TV and movies
Comments

I bought a Tivo box with a 3 year pre-paid ticket last month when I moved up to Cambridge (so that works out to about 8.25 a month then).

I'm dealing more with the problems of having too much to watch because it can record two things at the same time. I rarely watch comercials (I doubt I'm going to see any political ones for a long time which is about all I will actually seek out). The only time when I leave them on is if I need a potty run or I'm doing something in the kitchen.

Posted by: Karl-T on February 20, 2007 7:14 AM

On things I've recorded (Scrubs, Daily Show, Colbert Report, Iron Chef America, Good Eats and some sports), I usually zip through the commercials unless I see one of those Mac-PC commercials which are just great.

I still watch a lot of things live like sports and use the DVR to go back and look at big plays again, then fast forward to catch up.

Posted by: Patrick on February 20, 2007 1:08 PM