What kind of channel surfer are you?

[yoda313]

Are you a rapid response channel surfer? Or do you actually take the time to use the program guide or tv guide to see what's on first?

Or do you have everything recorded first and rarely watch live tv?

I'm basically 1/3 live tv, 1/3 recorded tv, 1/3 dvds. I generally don't watch a whole lot of live tv except sports. Also I don't record a whole heck of a lot. Though I do come close to filling up my hd dvr sometimes (dual tuner hd ). I also watch a lot of dvds -

How about you? Do you burn out your remote control batteries frequently???

[Baldrick]

My Logitech Harmony remote is on fire.

I watch most live tv, SPORTS and news. And some series like Seinfeld, Frasier, Scrubs, CSI when I flip around.

[edDV]

About half of my TV is pre-recorded* favorite shows. Of the rest half is News/Stocks (cnbc/pbs/fox/cnn). Remainder is scanned to see who/what is on (e.g. HD cable channels, Leno, Letterman, movies, Sundance, IFC ...).

* I mostly use TitanTV as my program guide, then program BeyondTV or MCE to record.

[gadgetguy]

Not really much of a surfer. I do occasionally surf, but more often I check the the program schedule at TVGuide.com. If I don't see anything worth watching (which is often), I pop in a DVD of either a movie or one of the many TV shows I've recorded or purchased.

[Constant Gardener]

Except for news and DVDs, I watch things I've recorded. Commercial? Click-click-click(n) and on with the show. I find channel-surfing quite unproductive.

[Number Six]

I very rarely flip channels blindly - Way too much garbage to drown in ! I will scan through the on screen channel guide for something interesting, and if nothing catches my attention, then I will watch something that I already recorded on the DVR. If all else fails, then I will watch my Prisoner DVD's .

[usually_quiet]

I only do a little channel surfing. Most of the time I use the TV Guide Channel. I also use tvguide.com or titantv.com on my computer, and my CECB's program guide.

I watch live TV more than I time-shift. I can ignore commercials, but often I use commercials breaks as an opportunity to do some small chore.

[edDV]

If all else fails, then I will watch my Prisoner DVD's .

I pull a DVD at random from my Avengers "Complete Emma Peel Mega Set" DVD boxset purchased at Costco.

[cd090580]

I don't watch much TV.

There is no more interesting programs. Most of them are now crappy real tv

[awhite2600]

I find channel flipping too slow with digital cable. It takes a second or two for the next channel to start. Not like the old days of analog cable where your could flip through channels at a rate of 3 or 4 a second. Surfing through HD channels is even worse on my DLP TV. If I change from a channel at 720p to one at 1080i my TV takes 2 or 3 seconds to switch resolutions.

I normally bring up the guide and "surf" from there.

[SingSing]

My Logitech Harmony remote is on fire.
I watch most live tv, SPORTS and news. And some series like Seinfeld, Frasier, Scrubs, CSI when I flip around.

Do you get these programs live in Sweden? Australia does, and it messed me up big time when I was sent down under. It is strange to get David Letterman in the afternoon, and Oprah at night. Plus Christmas in Summer special.

[solarfox]

Put me under "other", in that I never channel-surf. The television is only turned on when I have a specific thing that I want to watch; I watch it, and when it's over, I turn it off. I can't stand people who insist on jumping from channel to channel...

(...then again, I can't stand people who insist on having the TV on as background noise, either. Either watch it, or turn the flippin' thing off!)

[yoda313]

TV on as background noise, either. Either watch it, or turn the flippin' thing off!)

????

Ahh come on that's how I get a 1/5 of my tv viewing in. I've got the HISTORY CHANNEL on in the background now for a UNIVERSE show I've seen before (on a physical tv not a tv tuner card by the way).

[usually_quiet]

Put me in the "listens to TV" category too. I frequently listen to TV news and talk shows instead of watching. I've considered getting a radio that can receive TV audio, but that option won't work after the analog shutoff date.

[TJK1911]

I'm amused by the fact that there appears to be no demand for "on demand."

Most of my watching is stuff recorded on the DVR, to be watched when I have the time. Rarely do I turn on the TV just to see what's on, and I use the on-screen cable guide rather than actually flip through channels. If Mythbusters or Dirty Jobs is on, I'll usually watch it.

[freebird73717]

I watch recorded stuff. Tivo is pretty much the only way I watch tv now. No commercials to have to deal with that way. Watch what I want when I want.

[yoda313]

I'm amused by the fact that there appears to be no demand for "on demand."

Yes that is a bit odd on a tech heavy website like this.

However perhaps my phrasing of using it as your main viewing choice has skewed the results a bit.

That might be an intersting side poll. How much does the average tv user watch on demand material.....

[usually_quiet]

I don't think it's odd that more people here aren't mentioning it. There is no geek appeal in using a service like that.

However, somebody must be using on-demand. Every time I channel surf on a TV with a QAM tuner, there are some on-demand channels in use. They are probably being watched by some more of those darned folks who have lives, ones who want instant gratification without the bother of DVD rentals/purchases, cableco DVRs, TiVos, or DVD recorders.

[edDV]

They need an on-line guide for OnDemand content. I find it slow to dig through menus with the remote.

[yoda313]

What I like about the on deman from COMCAST is they have a G4 section. I can catch a bunch of the game reviews I might have missed. Also some of the game trailers are in HIGH DEF which look really good.

I agree with you eddv - the menu layouts for on demand are not very intuitive. My main gripe with COMCAST On Demand is that after you play a video you end up back at the main screen. Than I have to find my submenu all over again - ARGHH!!!

[edDV]

What I like about the on deman from COMCAST is they have a G4 section. I can catch a bunch of the game reviews I might have missed. Also some of the game trailers are in HIGH DEF which look really good.

I agree with you eddv - the menu layouts for on demand are not very intuitive. My main gripe with COMCAST On Demand is that after you play a video you end up back at the main screen. Than I have to find my submenu all over again - ARGHH!!!

They have no "favorite" preferences either. You need to navigate from the top each time.

[yoda313]

Yeah that would be a good idea eddv. If you could list your most used menus and just hop there. We should suggest these to comcast.com and see if anybody cares.

[Xylob the Destroyer]

with a new puppy that needs almost constant supervision, not watching much TV lately...
If she's not going on the carpet, she's tearing something apart. Can't wait until she starts getting her "adult" teeth...