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Why Americans Don't Buy DVD Recorders
Ant writes "CNET News.com reports on the reasons behind the unpopularity of DVD recorders in the US. The devices, which have seen heavy support in Europe and Asia, fall flat in the United States. The biggest reason is the penetration of Cable television. With cable, the same show can appear on a channel several times. In Europe and Japan, viewers need to grab copies of shows when they can, as it could be some time before the episode is broadcast again. TiVo also took off more rapidly in the States and elsewhere. TiVo is also one of the reasons selling TVs with embedded hard drives in the States remains a challenge."
"...With cable, the same show can appear on a channel several times...."
Yes, let's explore that shall we? I've got over 100 channels and what do I get to pick from!?
COMEDY CENTRAL: 4 hour block of South Park
BRAVO: 4 hour block of Project Runway
A&E: 4 hour block of CSI
CARTOON NETWORK: SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS....SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANT....SPONGE...BOBBBBBB...SQUARE PAAAAANTS!!!!!
A goal is a dream with a deadline
Given that most major network shows, sporting events and movie channels are now in HD, having a standard-res recorder is virtually useless for me for the purposes of archiving shows and events. It looks like the old-style DVD to CDR rips used to back in the day.
Compared to Blu-Ray or HD-DVD, the difference is astonishing. Given that series disks for weekly shows and movies are coming out in one or the other (or both) formats now, it's just easier to purchase the disks and watch them in the preferred format -- and oh, save a lot of time by so doing.
That doesn't mean I wouldn't like to have a 1080p capable DVDR for live events, because rarely if ever are they played back in situ.
So you are saying you can't get off your butt to change DVDs after watching 6 hours of video? You poor SOB.