I channel surfed years ago, but it's been about five years now, I think, since I sat down in front of a tv with any regularity without a specific reason - ie, election coverage, the last oscars, or a baseball game with thirdsun. We watched a little bit of the olympics, too, but not much. TV is just not a part of our daily routine.

How do I watch TV? Through Netflix or if it's very new then downloaded via torrents. I would pay for new TV shows in HD with no DRM, but not as much as the current market price is. My argument is I wouldn't watch them otherwise so I'm not depriving the content creators of income. If anything this makes me more likely to buy box sets which they get more from anyway.

For media in general it's still Netflix for movies, and frankly youtube for misc stuff. I also love stuff like the BBC's Planet Earth (on blu-ray!)

When I watch normal TV at a friend's house I literally feel dumber due to ads. :/

I never channel surfed. If I'm going to watch a show, I don't want to miss any of the content. Same goes for books; I'll read one fiction work at a time, and I have a hard time "giving up" on a book.

I got one of the first Series2 TiVo units, so it's been about 10 years that I've had a DVR. It didn't change how much television I watch; instead, it ensures that I'm not watching crap (i.e., the best thing that happens to be on at the time I want to watch it).

check post #9. Back in the day I used to channel surf by pulling a chair up beside the set (the old Qazar with the works in the drawer!) and turn the dial between the stations during commercials.

Later on, my parents got a "remote" channel changer, that was a box attached to the tv with a long, long cord that was tucked under the broadloom so that the box was on the coffee table. The slider on the box changed the channels up and down the cable selection that Rogers had back in '77 or so. I perfected the art of channel surfing back then, much to my sibling's chagrin.

Now I am quite adept. Last night for example, I watched 1) the Leafs/Senators hockey game on HD Sportsnet (ch 502), The Commitments (Dublin blues band) on CHCH (ch11), Cake Boss on TLC (ch 34) & a movie on my Blueray (Star Trek). I had to start the movie because at one point in my surfing I hit the dreaded black hole: a commercial on all channels simultaneously. And I didn't want to catch any of the American Idle or the infommercial for the Big Boss Grill.

The surfing required 2 remote controls.

I used to watch Adult Swim. I no longer watch anything. I have the latest Harry Potter DVD playing non stop. Sometimes I switch to hear the news or weather. Sometimes I put in Shawshank Redemption. I hate TV. George Lopez in particular.

Leto... you rock. That's some awesome TV watching skills. At my best I can watch three things, but if the DVD player comes on, I am going to stay with it. You are a master.

I miss channel surfing. It's one of the things I miss about having cable. On a daily basis I don't miss it so much, but I miss it a LOT when I'm sick. Having to queue stuff up to watch is just beyond me when I'm ill. I want to veg out to Food Network or the Travel Channel.

thanks man! There are times when I lose the thread. Such as when I hit up against a quality sit-com. That '70's Show is deadly for that. That Kitty just cracks me up. She can drink with me any time (I wonder if she wears a thong?). Another show that catches my full attention is George Stroumboulopoulos' mini series called Love, Hate & Propoganda on CBC.

But I deem such experiences to be serendipidous and since television is disposable entertainment, it is a net zero loss.


/ by the way, I can't recommend Strombo's offering enough. Please all, take a look at this 6 part documentary series about the role of propoganda in WW2:

Love, Hate and Propaganda - Documentaries | CBC


catch it on that link if you can.

I point my eyes toward the LCD monitor/TV.
In preparation I DL from forums what I want to see & hear. I use the WD media center to play media or a DVD (etc.) player with USB input.

I don't really watch TV. Sometimes I go several days without even turning on the TV. I watch programs, but I don't "watch TV." I will watch a ball game, local or national news, The Weather Channel when I'm on the road, sometimes CSI or some other cop show. History channel, Discovery Channel, food shows sometimes, especially when traveling, altogether, probably not more than two or three hours a week on average, and I haven't even heard of most of the shows talked about here. I just hate it when I'm at a party (or some other gathering) when all anyone wants to talk about is TV shows, because I feel completely left out. I don't know the shows, the stars, don't know...:shakehead: like I'm some kind of pariah because I'n not into TV. I feel like I'm the squirrel watching the lemmings go by.
All in all, I'm usually happier reading or listening to music.

I never surf, especially now that the stations seem to have coordinated so their twenty minutes or so per hour of commercials.

This is a comical question.:lol::lol: Do I free up time by more efficiently using the most time frittering device that humanity has thus far come up with? I find plenty of time to do other things by hitting the OFF button.

Lindy

A few years ago I was sitting in a booth at a Bob Evans restaurant somewhere in Indiana. The family in the booth behind me were talking about a lunar eclipse that was going to take place that evening, and a middle school age boy said something like "Cool! Will it be on TV?" I thought that was funny. Funny and sad at the same time.

On my way to school this morning, I remembered that I have taken to watching what I call 'bad television' while I do my pedicures - which I take my time on and are fairly involved. They usually last 1 1/2-2 hours. While doing them I will either watch Project Runway on dvd or turn on the tv and watch the crappiest thing I can find such as a daytime talk show, one of the million and a half 'crime' shows in syndication or a Lifetime channel-type movie. You can always count on one of those being on some channel at just about any time of the day.

i'm with you on that one, my schedule doesn't allow for me to watch prime time shows, that and i don't have cable. with hulu, and other streaming sites, it's just easier for me to lay in bed after work and watch some TBBT on the computer.

plus i can pause it to run to the loo.

As far as channel surfing is concerned, we can say I do that. I cannot sleep without the TV on so sometimes I either get up in the middle of the night and flip through channels or do it till I doze off under the covers.

Hmmm, that explains why I often dream about the Orek vacuum cleaner and other various paid programming that air at around 4-6AM.

Just to update this thread a little bit...

I recently read an article that suggested local TV newscasts are still profitable in the US.

I am trying to envisage a delivery system for local television news that does not come from a local broadcaster. The Internet just seems too broad for this sort of thing, though I suppose if you have enough of your audience able to access your content via the Internet, there doesn't seem to be anything to prevent you from being a locally produced and focused video news source.

As long as your advertisers can make the switch with you, there's no reason you can't be the San Jose Mercury of Video News. Much cheaper than paying for a broadcast license and maintaining a transmitter.

How long before this happens?

That's what I do too. The downside is that I spend more time watching TV than I'd like, because it doesn't seem to drag on and on.

How has it changed?

Within days of getting a hard-drive recorder, my TV watching dropped by 90%. I was no longer going to 'miss' things. Now I had them on 'tape', everything else I could do became more interesting or important. I 'had' the programs there for when I wanted to watch them .. and that never happened.

I cancelled my cable account and maxed out my internet speed. Anything I want to watch, I can download ... and I forget to do that too.

Incidentally, whilst thinking of myself as 'sophisticated' when It comes to watching adverts, i had been TOTALLY 'blindesided' by the TV channels' SELF-Advertising

"Sci Fi has got a GREAT CHISTMAS in store for you with more SEASON PREMIERES than in any other year" etc ... I actually bought into that excitement. I look back and shudder. It was a baby's dummy/comforter for any strands of loneliness I might have had in the dark of the night when nobody can here me going "Hmmm I'm a bit lonely"

:)

90% of my non-sports viewing is now via DVR. I have 6-8 shows that I like to catch each week. They are all set to record on the DVR and I usually watch my favorite 3-4 within a day or two, the rest whenever I'm bored and can catch up. Far better than having to mess with VCR tapes.

It also amazes me how I could stand watching regular SD shows on relatively tiny TVs (especially sports) just a few short years ago. 3-4 years ago the "big" TV was 36" and the other one was 30". Now the "little" TV in the bedroom is a 50" plasma and the "big" one is 60". :lol:

I don't watch much TV, but when I do it is mostly something recorded on the dvr. I use the same dish for tv and internet access and they are different satellites, so I can only do one or the other at a time. Of course sometimes I am parked in a location where my dish can't "see" the DirecTV sat.

Sometimes, when I turn in for the night, I'll set a few movies to record for later viewing. I have a couple of hundred hours of movies and documentaries on the dvr that I haven't watched yet, and room for only a hundred hours or so more.

Same here- apart from one or two shows I enjoyed when I was younger, I wait for an entire series to come out on DVD and then watch it by borrowing it from someone else.

My TV watching is totally time-shifted to the DVR. I have a couple of shows I record on a regular basis or if I hear about something at work like the Charlie Sheen interviews. I rarely, if ever, surf the channels. It's a wasteland.

i watch zero tv but if i had it my way i would defenitely channel surf to find what i want as long as it didnt interrupt the james bond maratons on TNT