Last time you watched Live TV?

[panteragstk]

The last time I watched live TV was at a bar when monday night football was on and I only have ota. Stupid abc and their decision to move monday night football to espn.

[Brent]

At home I NEVER watch true liveTV. Closest I come is with sporting events where it is still ever-so-slightly delayed due to the way DVRs work.

But I have watched liveTV sometime in this past year thanks to my inlaws - it was against my will though

[sic0048]

I'm watching a lot right now since it is college football bowl season. We generally start the game a little late, or grap snacks during the game, but by the end we are generaly watching it is real time.

Outside of sports, I watch very little live TV, but the kids do come down and watch PBS Kids before going to school a lot of mornings. I think Curious George is on that 1/2 hour.

[Serra]

I'll watch news live or slightly delayed. Sometimes I catch up in football games, so that is live, but usually, I pause and run off and do something.

I don't want commercials, so I pause if they come on and then skip them when they are over so I don't have to adjust my volume.

[stanger89]

I was going to say, when I initially saw this thread I thought to myself, "when was the last time" isn't really the pertinent question, it would seem more important to know how often, or better yet what percentage of one's viewing is live. Though the discussion has sort of gone that way anyway.

If Sage is available the only thing I ever watch truly live is the News.

Originally Posted by IVB

Hmmm, typing out this definition makes me realize how I may have been incorrect in my initital thinking. And I meant 'live TV' through Sage, not directly via STB to TV. Do any of us have that? (well, i guess valnar must).

There's two dimensions to this, I had originally only thought of #1:

1) Do you know what day/time TV shows are broadcast? If you jump in 5-15 mins into a show, then should it be considered Live TV?

I guess I choose the somewhat 'simple' definition. If you have to pick the show from the guide because no recording has been started, that's "Live TV". If you can pick it from your recordings list then effectively it's not "Live TV" (the grey area is when you pick a recording before it's over and "catch up" by skipping commercials).

About the only time I ever do that, pick something that's not a recording from the guide, is if I'm checking out tuners or something.

What I have done, with relative frequency in the past is start watching a set of shows shortly after they aired. I'd usually time it so I'd finish the set about live, but would skip all the commercials. Personally I don't consider that "LiveTV".

[mistergq]

We probably watch live tv during week nights when network recording is going strong. As someone else put it, old habits die hard. But most of the time, we are pulling off the recorded list.

I also disagree with the definition if you are pulling from recorded tv, and you can either catch up, that is live tv in my humble opinion.

[MeInMaui]

My family watched live TV over the weekend while I rebuilt the server. They would have lynched me if it had taken any longer. You try telling a 3-yr old that she can't watch her favorite episode of Dora until you are finished.

Aloha,
Mike

[reggie14]

Whenever this topic comes up, and I see all the people saying they never watch live TV, it always makes me wonder: do you guys have a really large number of favorites, or do I just watch too much TV?

I have about 14 hours of favorites per week, although since the seasons don't completely overlap a heavy week probably "only" has about 7-8 hours of favorites recordings. There are some additional manual recordings, but not a lot. I usually don't want to devote a couple hours during a weeknight towards movie watching, so I don't watch a lot of movies.

But, I like background noise as I'm surfing, checking e-mail/Facebook, etc., so I often look through the program guide for something vaguely interesting to watch and I'll turn it on. As long as I'm just reading I keep the TV going, but if I have to write something I'll generally pause it.

So, do I have much higher TV consumption than many of you, or do you guys fill in that time with lots of favorites and manual recordings?

[IVB]

The answers here do surprise me, I figured a lot less LiveTV watching (ie, surf through to find something to watch).

Originally Posted by reggie14

Whenever this topic comes up, and I see all the people saying they never watch live TV, it always makes me wonder: do you guys have a really large number of favorites, or do I just watch too much TV?

I have about 14 hours of favorites per week, although since the seasons don't completely overlap a heavy week probably "only" has about 7-8 hours of favorites recordings. There are some additional manual recordings, but not a lot. I usually don't want to devote a couple hours during a weeknight towards movie watching, so I don't watch a lot of movies.

But, I like background noise as I'm surfing, checking e-mail/Facebook, etc., so I often look through the program guide for something vaguely interesting to watch and I'll turn it on. As long as I'm just reading I keep the TV going, but if I have to write something I'll generally pause it.

So, do I have much higher TV consumption than many of you, or do you guys fill in that time with lots of favorites and manual recordings?

Given that I have tons of hard disk space, I have tons of favorites. TONS. Odd stuff like the patently unrealistic CSI franchise, 10 simpsons at any time, Everybody Loves Raymond, Seinfeld, strange Discovery Channel stuff, History Channel stuff, etc.

And, if there's nothing in my favorites recorded that I want to watch, I watch Hulu. I just finished my 3rd SG:1 episode tonight, although I was typing on the laptop nearly the whole time. I never hunt&peck for something to watch, cuz I can't stand commercials and having to wait for them.

Every so often, I go through and delete a bunch of stuff to clear up space, but thats typically when new episodes of my true favorite shows are on regularly.

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by reggie14

But, I like background noise as I'm surfing, checking e-mail/Facebook, etc., so I often look through the program guide for something vaguely interesting to watch and I'll turn it on. As long as I'm just reading I keep the TV going, but if I have to write something I'll generally pause it.

So, do I have much higher TV consumption than many of you, or do you guys fill in that time with lots of favorites and manual recordings?

That's when I turn on music.

[GKusnick]

Originally Posted by stanger89

That's when I turn on music.

Same here. I never use TV as background noise. When I watch TV, the primary focus of my attention is on the TV. If I run out of recorded programs that can hold my attention that way, I pop in a DVD, queue something up on Hulu or Netflix, or turn off the TV and do something else.

[MitchSchaft]

I do the same thing Reggie does! I havent listened to much music this past year for some strange reason.

[toricred]

I've got easily 200 hours of favorites in any given week. While first runs are airing it is much higher. Of course that is for the 5 members of the house but at least half is for me.

[nick_l]

Originally Posted by reggie14

Whenever this topic comes up, and I see all the people saying they never watch live TV, it always makes me wonder: do you guys have a really large number of favorites, or do I just watch too much TV?

Personally I dont know how many hours a week I record but generally there is an average of 40 shows recorded in a 24 hour period. I always have something to watch.

The trick, in my opinion is:
1. have lots of storage.
2. record anything you have even a passing interest in.
3. (This is the tough part for many people) DON"T feel obligated to actually watch everything you record. From talking to friends and acquantences I've found this is actually a problem for many people. They have some sort of need to make everything neet and tidy, to finish a job, so to speak. "well I recorded it, so I must watch it".

Just let the things you don't get to go away. With todays Tv programming model, you can be almost guaranteed that it will come back around.

Thats what I do anyhow,
Nick

[GKusnick]

Originally Posted by nick_l

The trick, in my opinion is:
1. have lots of storage.
2. record anything you have even a passing interest in.
3. (This is the tough part for many people) DON"T feel obligated to actually watch everything you record.

This is pretty much my strategy as well. As the start of the fall TV season, I set up favorites for a lot of programs that seem like they might be interesting, many more than I actually have time to watch. By January I've sampled at least one or two episodes of most of them and have a pretty good idea of which ones I like. I can then nuke the turkeys to free up space, and start the cycle over again with the mid-season replacements.