Has the DVR Improved Your Life? How?

I don't know how I lived without it! Between work, kids, girl scouts, PTA, etc..I'd miss everything i want to watch. Not to mention being able to fast forward through commercials!

Yes, I haven't watched a commercial...in I don't know how long. But besides not watching a commercial, you can watch shows much faster without commercials.

I also like the convenience of watching shows around my schedule vs the cables schedule.

Yes, now I don't have a whole mess of VHS tapes laying around that I will never watch. Now they are just on a hard drive. Out of sight, out of mind. :)

Seriously though when all 600 stations have nothing on, which happens more than it should, it is nice to have something we like on DVR.

What the DVR has done for us is actually opened up our time. You know those shows you can't miss? Guess what, now you can. They will record, and my husband and I can watch TV together now. We bond over the shows we like to watch. Before we'd record on VHS, which was a pain. Also, I don't watch any of my shows while my kids are awake. I don't have to worry about missing something because they're too loud or distracting. I watch after they're in bed. It actually makes me a bit happier and less stressed. I can decompress while watching my favorite shows uninterrupted and without guilt that I should be with my kids.

LOVE our dvr!!!! Its just so convenient. I initially got it because my son loves wrestling and he will be starting school soon so no more 10 pm monday nights. When cable company knew I was thinking about it he waived our fee for 6 months sooooo it doesn't hurt to ask ;)

I love our DVR. We watch what we want, when we want to. I can record programs for my kids that are educational that they actually like. We can fast forward through commercials, so when we are watching as a family we no longer get "I want that" from our kids regarding things they have only seen on commercials. We can pause the show for kids to go to the bathroom, get something from the kitchen, etc. We do the same when it's just my husband and I.
The only drawback to the DVR is that sometimes shows are scheduled at the same time so you can't watch them all. Our DVR will let us record 2 at the same time, but sometimes there are 3 at once. And the cost. I'm seriously considering switching to hulu plus and netflix via our xbox 360 when our current contract runs out.

I would be tempted to say yes because I get my tv watching done in half the time without commercials. But what do I do with that extra time? I watch more TV, because there is always something on. Remember the good old days when you couldn't find anything worth watching, so you'd turn off your t.v. and do something else. Something very revealing happended to me last week. Our cable box broak. We had no TV but DVD's all week. And what did I accomplish? Made dad thoughtful gifts for fathers day, read some books, acctually did my bible study, listened to posdcasts of thoughtfull and meaninful topics, had more sex with my husband, spent more time going out of the house with our children in the evening. So has it really improved my life? I guess not. But it sure feel like it when you can pause live tv, or have all your favorite ready and waiting for you when you have time, not just when they air. Yes its better, but inevitably leads to more tv watching.

LOVE our DVR! we have 2! You don't have to watch commercials, because you can just fast forward through them. You can watch all your shows with out missing any. I would not know what to do without it! I highly recommend it!

Considering I turned Joyce Meyer on at 9am and have had it paused for hours, I'd say yeah. I don't know when I'll get back to her.. I'm actually going to try during nap time. Only I have 5 little boys in the house today and only 1 is sleeping. The other 4 have no desire at all and by the time they get tired, the first one will be up. I absolutely love that if I have the energy to get up early I have something. If I have kids that go home early or I'm able to stay up late I still have something.

I love it!! We tape almost everything and watch later because I don't like most of the commercials. Some of the commercials that come on during family shows are just ridiculous so we skip them. My kids know how to skip them if I am not in the room.

Get a DVR!! My husband and I joke that it is our best "marital aid." ;) Here's my list of why I LOVE ours:
1) We don't like the same shows so it allows us to trade off who gets to watch what they want and whose show gets recorded and neither of us is resentful about missing our shows.
2) If we need to have a conversation we can do so anytime, just press pause in the show or record and watch it later. We are each others' first priorities and now we can act like it since we never miss a crucial part of a show.
3) NO commercials! :)
4) We can go to bed whenever we want, and go to bed together (we don't have TV in our bedroom). Without a DVR I'd be staying up late to watch my shows and my husband would be annoyed always going to bed alone.
5) We never have to worry about being home at a certain time to watch a show, we can just go about our lives and the DVR automatically records everything we want to watch.

We use Verizon and I love it, I can manage my DVR online or from my phone so I never have to worry about missing a show. Go for it and get a DVR! :)

Yes, it definitely has made a huge difference for me. I just recently got one and I LOVE it!!! I really don't didn't watch tv alot (that's why I had put it off for so long), but it's nice now being able to watch some tv after the kids go to bed and skip all the commercials. IMO that's the best part :)

I never have to watch another commercial gain *sigh, smile*
It is the greatest invention of the millenium. It is a busy parents best friend. We need to decompress during the week. So, we DVR our faves. When the kids are in bed, we snuggle down and watch tv... did I mention no commercials?
Yes, I get more sleep and it doesn't take as long to watch a tv show once you fast forward through the commercials. HIGHLY recommend it!

I'm not sure how we survived without a DVR! We can fast forward through through the commercials so a 30 min show only takes 20 mins to watch and you can pause it when you need to for potty breaks or whatever. I can limit which shows my kids watch by taping only the ones we actually like them watching. I can tape shows that are on before we wake up or after we go to bed so we can watch them at a civil time. We like to tape a lot of shows off the History and Science channels that we watch as a family for the kids' school lessons. It's nice to watch them on our time with the appropriate teaching materials on hand.
I love our DVR!

The DVR has definitely improved my life. I get to watch my favorite shows on my time. Also, I'm often so tired I can't watch an entire show in one sitting. A normal 1 hr show takes at least 2 sittings, sometimes 3! I only watch 2 or 3 shows normally, but at least I get to watch them.

Love it!! I don't know how we ever got along without one. Now if we could just pause and rewind our radios in our cars, that would be AWESOME!!

No commercials and watch whenever you want is great. But another thing my husband and I like is never having to remember when the show is on or what channel it's on. Once you select a show and choose to record all episodes (or all new episodes), it just does it automatically! Sometimes we look through the list and say, "Hey look! There's a new Hawaii Five O!" We set ours to record "How I Met Your Mother" on three different channels (which was three separate selections) and caught up on the first five seasons. So nice to have something to watch together when the kids are in bed.

LOVE the DVR! Because I hate commercials and feeling chained to the TV. Bonus is to be able to tape a cool movie when the kids are visiting Dad and be able to enjoy it with them later.

I only have access to a DVR right now b/c I am at my in laws and it is great but sucks too! Problem is that you think well I'll just DVR it and then you realize you are DVRing EVERYTHING and you just can not keep up.
So, the DVR makes it better/yet complicated too!

DVR has been wonderful.....

It allows me to watch a show WHEN I want and not be forced to sit down and watch it RIGHT THEN...

My boys love to watch some shows that I approve of, Star Wars, Warriors...and this allows us to record them for them to watch...

Downfall? You're still watching TV.....:)

We love our dvr. I rarely watch tv, much less catch things at their regularly scheduled times, but it is nice to know they are recorded when I have some time/inclination to catch up on some of my favorite shows. It has also been valuable for our kids' sake. We record some of their favorite shows, so if they want to watch a particular show we have it when we want it. We think it is a great addition since we are paying for cable anyway. Good luck!
P.S. Fast forwarding through the commercials is also a nice feature. My husband has gotten to the point where he won't even watch his shows at the regular time, just so he can skip through commercials/ slow parts of a show. LOL
A.

Like others said...if you like TV and want to watch shows, you can skip thru commercials, hit the potty or the door if the bell rings, grab the kettle corn from the microwave or get another glass of water when YOU want to, rather than when the commercials come on. We set ALOT of shows to record. Some we watch as a family (me, teen dd and hubby), others are just for some of us (hubby might record guy car stuff, and dd and I might record Glee!, etc). Some shows we get to, others we delete, but our TV's, hubby's Xbox and our DVR (for 2 TV's) and our satellite boxes are a big way we choose to spend some entertainment dollars. We LIKE TV. We don't have the movie channels but when they have the free weekend preview events of them (like they did last weekend), my daughter sets it up to record a bunch of stuff! Transformers 2, Up, Cars..LOL...we like cartoon movies and sci-fi/super hero stuff!

Works great to have those on the DVR when she does teen gatherings!

It's WONDERFUL! Now, on the rare occassion that we watch something live, we refer to it as "watching TV live like animals!" It's so great to be able to skip commercials (such a time suck and they encourage you to spend $). We just set it and go. We never worry about when shows come on or on what channel. We can completely control what our kids watch and when. I love being able to watch several episodes of the same show back to back so I can see what happens! 30 minute sitcoms are now 20-22 minutes. I could go on and on - we love our Tivo! The only "negative" is it can be hard to keep up with what new shows are coming on and what movies are coming out but the internet and friends solve those problems!

OMG YES!!!! I love knowing that I don't have to stay up to watch a show or stay home for that matter. It's great being able to record some of my child's favorite shows for those meltdown moments too! I've had a DVR for almost 10 years and I would never be able to go back. It's my favorite (and must have) electronic right behind the computer and TV. I have yet to find a drawback. I love being able to watch what I want when I want rather than be a slave to my shows.

Yes go for it!
Earlier when I was free , I had to surf channels looking for something interesting to watch. I would be so bored at the end of it if there was nothing good on TV. And I would have wasted my time doing nothing. Now I just record all my fav shows(you can set it so that it records future episodes as well if it occurs at the same times every day/week) . So now my free times are more fun because I get to watch something that I like everytime.
Best part - watch TV after my son goes to bed without any interruption from him . I have stopped watching the show live for a long time now. Even if my fav show is on when I am watching tv , I still wait for it record so that I can skip all the commecials. Also coming back home from a vacation looking forward to see all the episodes I have missed back to back!