Almost never forget. Time Warner’s new software makes precise fast forwarding and rewinding more difficult than it used to be (it always over or undershoots) so sometimes I let it play through without bothering.
What’s *really *embarrassing is grabbing the remote, intending to pause real life.
It was at the end of a very sleep deprived week. :o
My problem is trying to fast forward the radio…and wondering why my car key fob doesn’t unlock the door to my house.
30-sec skip is heaven, I would never forget to use it on my DVR. Sometimes I have my hands full or something and can’t get to the remote, but that’s a different issue.
My mom almost never ffwds through commercials when she watches things she’s taped (usually reruns of shows she’s already seen) on her VCR. I’m like “FAST FORWARD IT! Why are you watching these annoying commercials?” 
I’m so used to FFing through commercials that I get insulted and angry when I can’t. I don’t watch a lot of live TV any more…
I was brought up to despise ads–in my family, everyone dove for the mute button as soon as they started.
I voted other. I almost never forget (does letting it just drone in the background while I’m surfing count?), but I will occasionally spy something really weird in a commercial and say “what the? Oh, THAT I’ve got to see, what are they selling there?” and I’ll rewind and check it out.
I will also stop for California Cow commercials. What? They’re cee OOOOOt!
Heee…I haven’t done that yet, but I’ve halfway reached for the remote with the momentary intention of muting my young cockatiel. She has THE most annoying “pay attention to me” call.
Fastforwarding through the commercials is my main motivation for using my DVR. More often than not, I’m usually home when the show is aired, but I deliberately choose not to watch the first 30 or so minutes, that way, I can FF through the commercials.
Meanwhile, during those 30 minutes, I’ll catch up on things around the house like laundry, dishes, yardwork, or what have you.
I also.
I don’t even have a DVR, but I’ve been forgetting to FF some of the time since the VCR days. Or worse, forgetting to pause out the commercials when I’m recording something, or forgetting to unpause when the show comes back on.
I haven’t seen this technology on DVRs, but I remember having a program on my computer that would automatically remove the commercials. No fast forwarding necessary. Unfortunately, I found the program right as my TV tuner was starting to mess up, so I didn’t get to give the feature a full test. But the little I used it for seemed to work, although it might miss a commercial or two.
Nowadays I tend to watch things online, which means I have to put up with the one commercial per break. But that’s still a lot better than actual TV.
I don’t think any commercial DVR’s can automatically skip commercials. To do this you need to roll your own.
You need a PC, and to be fair the set-up is not trivial (But a fun project to play with linux and there is a ton of support)
I love my mythtv with HDPVR recorder and 2TB of storage. Although I just looked at my DVR stats, and I clearly record way more programs than I ever watch:
Number of shows: 141
Number of episodes: 5776
First recording: Monday January 2nd, 2006
Last recording: Saturday May 29th, 2010
Total Running Time: 4 years 4 months 25 days 23 hrs 48 mins
Total Recorded: 6 months 13 days 12 hrs 22 mins
Percent of time spent recording: 12% … yikes I hardly ever watch TV… honest
No, but you can find ways to program commercial DVR remotes to do 30-second skips. I have a Comcast Motorola DVR, and found a site on the Internet with instructions on reprogramming the remote.
On the rare occasion that I watch something live, I hit the pause button and go take a shower, or do laundry, or mow the lawn. Then I come back 20 minutes later and watch so I can skip over the commercials.
The DirecTV DVR has “30 second slip” which allows you to FF 30 seconds with one button press (or 3 minutes with 6 presses). It FFs at a rate of 30 seconds every 6 seconds.
I understand there’s a way to hack the box to make it skip, but it voids the warranty and might violate the DirecTV TOS.
My DVR doesn’t have a skip 30 sec button, but it has 4 FF speeds and on the third, it goes through a 3 minute commercial in 7 seconds. I have a pacemaker set to 60 and I just count to 7 heartbeats.
The only thing I watch usually are curling and baseball and, when watching live, I often watch my own replays just so I can FF through the commercials.
The only time I “forget” to FF is to go pee or if I fall asleep. Usually the higher volume of the commercials wakes me and I then FF.
As I say in post 36, it may still be possible to program your remote to have a 30-second skip, even though it doesn’t come with such a button.
Missed the edit window - I meant post 32.
If I’m not paying attention, I’ll forget to do it. I also try to FF live TV after watching something recorded. During NASCAR races, I usually FF until I see it’s a yellow flag, then back up and keep doing that until about 10 to go.
If for some stupid reason I find myself watching a show that hasn’t been recorded, I’ll hit the pause button and go do something else for 30 minutes just so that I can come back and watch it without commercials.