Yep we have one. DH tried it a couple years back and says he would NOT be without it now.
He pauses things all the time and records things. I love that we can watch the news and some of the stories make us say whatttt? So we can rewind and rewatch. You can set it to record, deliberately sit down to watch your favorite show 15-20 minutes later and then fast forward thru the commericals and be done watching in less time.

We have one through Comcast, our cable company. I think we started out paying $5 a month, now it is around $9. I love it. Before we retired, we used it to record programs that came on after our early bedtime, now we use it because sometimes there are two programs we like on at the same time. Also, for recording favorite shows when we are out of town. I think it is well worth the money.... but I am not techno-savvy and always had trouble taping to the VCR.

June

Ooops! We pay $9/month thru the cable company.

Oh yes, forgot one important thing (at least to DH).... you can fast forward through the commercials!!!!

Our original Dish Network DVR was free - no monthly subscription.

We upgraded to a HD-DVR a few years ago. Love it! It is around $7/month. It holds a ton of programming though - and I can record 3 shows at the same time. Never thought I would do that, but we do all the time. All the good shows are on at the same time, of course.

We couldn't live without one now (well... maybe, but we wouldn't want to!)

We have an HD-Tivo. We LOVE our Tivo -- it's super simple to use, and can record two shows at once. And when it has free space, it records things that it thinks we might like, based on what we've recorded in the past (so it knows we like sci-fi shows, and history shows). I don't remember what it costs us per month...like $9, I think?

We tried the DVR that came free with our cable subscription, but it was nowhere as user-friendly as Tivo. We returned that the day we got it, and ran out and bought a Tivo instead.

We've had DirecTV HD-DVR for over a year. Easy to use. Holds a ton of hours. DH sets it to record things we might miss while we're in Hawaii for a month. We watch a lot of PBS; this way we can skip the 'beg-a-thons'. Ours can record two programs at one time, or one if you are watching another channel at that time.

Love mine - I never watch real time tv anymore, not even the evening news - if it isn't pre recorded I;m not interested - I no longer have the patience to sit through commercials. I also like that you can go back and more closely examine what was said or done.

I went and switched out the cable box for a DVR player. DS absolutely INSISTS that we will love it, just as y'all have above. Can you imagine this--the cable co. wants $16 a month for this box!? DH talked them into a trial at $6 a month for 3 months. Sheesh.

There is no way I'm going to pay $16. Is TIVO another box or in place of the cable box?

Thanks all.

Well, you're not going to want to give it up after you've tried it. I can't remember how many times my husband and I have said, how did we ever live without it?

We record everything. There is a set up to record an entire first run season of a specific show, so you don't have to worry about setting it up to record every episode. We have about a dozen shows set up on a season record. It skips episodes which are repeats.

I also like the pause feature. If I'm watching something, be it live or recorded, and I need to go put the laundry in the dryer or get something to eat, I just hit pause and everything stops until I get back and restart it.

Very cool.

We've only had it a month but we love it and have used it a lot more than I thought we would. It's free for us for a while, then I think it's $5 a month, or something like that.

Have it. Love it. Best thing since sliced bread.

Linda

We use ours much more that we ever imagined.

One NEGATIVE about having a DVR. I catch myself in the truck on the way to town, half-listening to the radio, and sometimes think, "Oh, I'll just back it up and listen to it again." Same thing happens in real conversations. Bottom line: DVR is addictive.
:-)

Oh my gosh okwriter - I thought I was the only one that did that!! I find myself longing for a radio dvr - LOL!!

Ok - I am so glad to read these posts. I thought I was quite crazy for loving my DVR so much :)

I am not the only one!!

With our DVR - we can also watch 2 different programs off of it at the same time - on different TV's. It has TV1 and TV2. TV1 is our living room TV, and TV2 is our bedroom and kitchen TV. I like that feature also.

I'm with everyone else - love it. We almost never watch a program that isn't on DVR anymore.

Ours costs $15. I've thought of switching to Tivo, which has a similar monthly fee but offers more services, but you have to buy your own DVR, and I'm not sure we'd use the other services enough to make it worthwhile.

Can people buy their own DVRs? It would have to be some kind of box which is also a cable box, I guess. Really--$15-$16 a month is a bit much. That would be approaching $200 a year by the time the cable co. tacks on all those taxes, fees, etc.

I don't think there is much out there that is not subscription based.

I have heard of computers used as DVR's. Not sure of the specifics - you would need the right software, etc., and a video capture card.

I think Windows Media Center has some DVR capabilities.

I don't think they would have the ease of use that commercial DVR's have - but if you are into the challenge of it - it might be a fun project.

Here is a link that might be useful: Windows Media Center Wiki

The cable box on our main TV has a DVR in it for downstairs, which we had no idea how to us. So I bought a DVR at Nebraska Furniture Mart for my TV upstairs in my computer room. This one is all mine, and I set it up each week to record the shows I want. It was in the $250 vicinity.

When my son moved back, he rewired the cable box on the big TV and now that DVR actually records like it's supposed to. The cable guy had set it up all wrong, we thought we were just too 'technically challenged' to figure it all out.

Yes, we have one through Dish Network. Not sure if or how much we pay for it, hubby takes care of that. But we LOVE it! I can't stand to watch "live" TV any more - best part of DVR is buzzing right through the commercials.

We have two, one on the main TV and one in DS's room so we can record twice as many shows. We have had one for years through Dish. We pay a monthly fee but can't remember what it is. I think it's $5 a month to get the service. We just recently upgraded to new ones that hold twice as much. We bought them outright. The old one was a TIVO, which was a few years old, and was getting flaky.

I guess that sounds like we watch a lot of TV, but actually we don't. We only watch a couple of shows a night, but can't catch them all without the DVR because they come on at the same time. I like the fact you can zap through commercials or back it up if you miss something. I can back up on Live TV too in case I have to go out of the room when watching a show. And set up a show for a whole season and don't have to remember when it is on because it gets it automatically. And I like watching what I want when I want and not being stuck to the Networks schedules.
Clare

I have one from Comcast for about $9 a month. I agree with the person who said it's the best thing since sliced bread. Love it.

I don't pay for cable and won't pay for it anymore and I was hoping you could just outright buy a DVR machine like you could a VCR. With this analog to digital switch my VCR will be rendered useless for recording and I am going to miss it because I record something almost every night because the show conflicts with something else.

I'm kind of PO'd that they didn't make the digital boxes compatible with the VCR's that most of us already own. I can't record a channel with a . in it like 7.1

Anne

We have one free for a year after signing up for Verizon Fios. I don't know how much it will cost a month after this year is up.