In an age where we have Netflix, Hulu and other websites that let you stream movies, why do cable/dish providers even bother with DVR machines? Seems like all that stuff, especially the recently-shown programming, should be in the company’s memory and available for streaming–that’s basically how you watch TV anyway isn’t it? To some extent it already is available for streaming with ‘On-Demand.’
I magine that you mean what we call in the UK a PVR (Personal Video Recorder). This enables time shifting, which we use a lot to avoid watching the advertisements and clashing programmes.
It is true that a lot can be downloaded or streamed after transmission, but not everything, and not straight away. In any case many people do not have ‘smart’ TVs that can show programmes that are streamed, and many don’t have a fast enough broadband connection anyway.
If I want to watch a baseball game that starts at 7:00 p.m., I’ll set the DVR to record it and start watching sometime after 7:30 or 8:00. Then, I can fast forward through the commercials and catch up to live time by the end of the game. Similar for things like the Daily Show, which I believe is available on the internet the next day. I want to watch it on the same day it comes out, but I don’t want to be committed to be in my seat at 8:00 p.m. to catch it. DVRs are useful for many things like this. So useful, in fact, that I don’t use Netflix or Hulu anymore.
While you can watch some recent material “on demand” the fast forward does not work and you often have to watch all the commercials (Fox makes you watch everything). The reason for the dvr is to skip commercials. I suspect if they could get away with it, the cable providers would indeed get rid of dvrs, but people demand it.
The OP has a good point. I used to use my PVR all the time, and now use it seldomly because of services like Netflix on my smart tv. Given a choice I would love to have one master repository of all the tv shows and movies out there that I could stream on demand. But that is not likely to be a sustainable business model, and Netflix may not be a sustainable business model. It may splinter into many competing business like cable did. Then, instead of dealing with all the different services to find your show, it may again make sense to keep a copy of your favorites on your PVR.
CITY TV in Toronto, for example - has their recent episodes (last 2) available for viewing. But… if you watch on an iPad or Mac, you cannot stream some shows with Airplay to Apple TV and my big screen. (“Sorry, contractual obligations…yada yada”)
Until the internet content is as simple, freely and flexibly available as bradcast - the simplest hassle-free way to get recent content is via DVR/PVR. Broadcast is basically an array of scheduled streams that can be captured by your PVR without hassles, limitations, etc. (Usually!).
I do have a proxy service that lets me pretend I am in the USA for location-restricted content; I have AirParrot which will mirror my PC onto Apple TV; but the video is still not smooth and I don’t have a simple remote to control thePC from the TV in the other room.
There’s always this or that that makes the internet not quite as simple as regular TV.
My DVR lets me record stuff to a hard drive located in the set-top box itself and then play it back. What you’re proposing sounds like a network DVR, in which the programs are stored in the cable company’s servers. There are advantages. For one, the set-top box can be cheaper, as it doesn’t need a hard drive. Second, the overall storage requirements are less as multiple viewers can all watch the same recorded program. However, my set-top box has two tuners, so I can watch a recorded show from the hard drive while two programs are being recorded. If I’m watching something On-Demand, I can only record one program, as the On-Demand service uses one of the tuners.
Because I’m an absent-minded “professor”. I see a program’s coming up I’d like to watch, set the DVR to record it, and then I’m surprised a few days later to see something enjoyable. I enjoy Netflix and Hulu, too, but then I’m shopping for something good. Oh, and the zip-thru-the-commercials thing.
I forgot that - in fact I have three tuners. Two on the PVR and one on the HD TV. I can watch a high def show on the TV while recording two on the PVR at the same time. Not that it often happens that there are three programmes worth watching at the same time.
I record everything I watch as I have no interest in commercials or wasting time while they drone on and on hawking either products or services I have no interest in.
I thought a DVR was pointless, too, until I got one. I thought it would be a burden to have shows piling up that I then needed to watch… but it’s very liberating, as I no longer need to be on the spot when something I like comes on.
I set from the menu to record shows I like and then forget about it. When I feel like watching something, I go to the list to see what’s waiting for me, and then watch, stop for a while, fast-forward through commercials, etc. I can delete or save.
When I movie I like comes on, I record it and save it and it stays in my list. I’ve watched a couple of my favs The Uninvited and *Casablanca *over and over again.
There are some reruns I like to have a collection of on hand to watch when I need cheering up, so I have it record *Wings *and Will & Grace and keep only 10 episodes. I can tune into those whenever I want.
When you set it to record only “first-run” episodes, you don’t have to worry about missing one of your favorites. I have it record my favorite cooking shows on PBS on Saturday afternoon (Lydia’s Italy, Essential Pepin, and America’s Test Kitchen) and then when I get up from my Saturday nap with the doggies, I watch them and delete them.
If I start watching a movie late at night and get sleepy, I hit *record *and go to bed and watch the rest of it the next day. For that matter, if anything comes up (phone call, invitation you can’t turn down, house on fire) while you’re watching something, just hit *record *and get back to it later.
If I see a movie on another station that looks interesting, but I want to watch something else, I hit *record *on the movie and then check it out later or the next day.
It’s a very useful device and way more convenient than searching online or “on demand” for something you might not be able to find. I’m liking it 1,000% more than I ever thought I would.
This, DVR is very useful for sports and other live broadcasts that will never be available for streaming or download.
Now I feel a bit silly for not having done this yet, particular since the rampant vapid stupidity of most commercials does very bad things for my blood pressure. However, there’s something I’ve noticed since moving to Columbus and getting one of their proprietary boxes (I was on RCN, with a TiVo): I can’t pause during live sporting events, or at least I can’t pause during the Reds games on FSN Ohio. Why in the world is this a thing? I just wanna go take a leak or step out on the balcony for a smoke or to tend the grill or whatever. Heavens forfend I miss precious commercial minutes when I fast forward to catch up.
Not only do a large percentage of Americans not have broadband, but a significant number don’t even have access to it.
Cable provides zillions of shows that aren’t available for streaming. Movies are a tiny part of what’s offered on television. And computer screens are not substitutes for 50" plasmas. If you want to watch everything on a decent screen you require a DVR.
This.
One obvious answer is: because they are the cable/dish provider. They make money from TV subscribers. Many of the subscribers also use the same provider for internet access, but it’s still a separate service at additional cost.
Thirded.
I fill my DVR with programs I don’t get OnDemand. Netflix is good for series I might have wanted to watch but didn’t, but it has a significant delay and some programs never make it to streaming. As I don’t have a laptop hooked up to my TV, Hulu is out and I’m not paying for HuluPlus. My networked DVR allows me to watch recorded programs on any TV with a cable box. The DVR lets me pause live TV, replay live TV if I miss something, time shift live TV so that I can FF the commercials (but only on the TV with the DVR).
The networks don’t allow this. They control tightly what appears on demand.
We recently dropped DirecTV for streaming Netflix/Hulu/Amazon etc (via Roku) and the thing I miss about not having a DVR is being able to watch shows 15 or 30 minutes after live broadcast and fast-forwarding through commercials. Now, usually, I have to wait until the next day to watch network shows and they usually have limited, but unskippable, commercials.
Also some broadcast shows are not free via streaming. For example Hulu charges $1-$3 to watch shows from networks like ABC or CBS, if I remember correctly. I know that I was paying a couple bucks to watch Nashville the next day if I missed it when it was broadcast over the air.
I’m not complaining too loudly though because I’m still saving about $75 per month over DirecTV or cable.
I like On Demand, but use it only for shows that aren’t as important to me, or if I forget/fail to record something on the DVR. As has been pointed out, On Demand has only limited programming available (no “How I Met Your Mother” on my system), and only the most recent shows. Sometimes I’ll have six or more weeks of a show piled up on the DVR – you can’t go watch them On Demand. One of the biggest annoyances to me is the 24 hour watching time. I like to watch T.V. in the morning before work, but if I’ve watched only half the program (say some 2 hour reality show episode), and I don’t get back to it until the following morning, I have to start from scratch, and on some networks, there is no way to FF. These same issues apply to watching streaming media – even if I did have a TV capable of receiving it.
I admit that for shows where the system works well (The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, for instance), I don’t bother with the DVR anymore. But for many of the things I watch, it’s still the most convenient way to put TV on my schedule.
And when watching live TV, the 30-seconds-back button is great for those “What did he say” moments.