To the people with no DVR (cartoon, commercial, television, cost)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
How do you survive the commercials?
It is getting so ridiculous, they are taking up more and more time in a show that I have vowed never to buy anything that most are advertising. It is even getting to the point of getting angry to have to stop and fast forward!
At this time I can still afford to pay for the DVR to record but when the day comes that I can't, I really wonder how a person can survive sitting through endless commercials or will we be forced to just quit watching TV?
I remember when there would be a few commercials then back to the show but now they are bordering on torture!
I really feel like writing to the networks to say I will never buy anything you are advertising because you are driving me crazy with your endless commercials.
Sorry for the rant but really want to know how to survive them without a DVR.
Hey I know how you feel. Just the other night I was FFW thru a recording and I looked over at hubby and said look at how long these commercials are its like 5-8 of commercials- a 1 hour show is really like 40 mins which kinda sucks! Then when I watch shows on demand some of those shows have the FFW disabled so i just mute the tv and do something else in the mean time. I love my DVR I have 2 and I get the most out of them
Well, I doubt people will totally stop watching television due to commercials.
Ah! The old days! I was brought up in a time when we had perhaps five total television stations (in Fort Worth): the three major networks, and a few locals.
No remote controls. I still recall when my uncle (a doctor) got a tv with a remote control, back around 1965 I guess. It was wonderful! Channel surfing was born! Although, again, with few stations to surf.
Remember when television sets had various knobs named 'horizontal', 'bright', 'contrast' and 'vertical'? The vertical button was especially important, since at some times the picture would start rotating downward a frame at a time (I hope I am explaining myself well). The vertical knob was used to stop the rotation; sometimes the best you could do would get 'most' of the picture on the screen, with the lower frame up an inch or so from the bottom.
When the Beatles appeared on the Ed Sullivan show 50 years ago, one had to turn on the television early (ours still needed to warm up for a minute; no such thing as 'instant on'), turn to the NBC station, and then get the picture right, in anticipation of the program.
One television of ours had a common problem: if you wanted channel 4, for instance, you would turn the knob to '4' (I believe it had a total of 13 numbers), but the tv set was not exactly 'set' right for receiving the channel 4 signal: one had to slightly turn the knob until the channel appeared, and then hope it 'stayed' and did not bounce back. Back in those days it was common to have some cartoon in the newspaper speak to the frustration of dealing with television sets.
Of course, all television stations quit broadcasting around midnight. I think there was some half-hour show after The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, and then, off air. Most stations had some picture up saying 'off air', although some just allowed 'snow' to rule the waves. I believe most stations began again at 6 a.m.
It does make me appreciate the modern television set. At Walmart the other day we were looking at sets. They had a dandy 47-inch, internet ready tv for $600.00. That was the price back then for a small cabinet television set, back when $600 was a lot of money. They were indeed an investment.
I agree. Even for must-watch TV, I wait long enough to have a buffer so I can FF thru the commercials. BTW, the running time for commercial TV is 23 minutes for a half-hour show, and 42 minutes for an hour show. Sometimes these can vary, but those are the standards the networks aim for.
It's hard to complain about the commercials though, as that's what paying a significant part of the network's bills. And really, to hit FF is no big deal. The problem is more people are moving to DVRs. I read it's now well over 50%, so the big four are going to have to figure out other ways to make money as commercial rates drop (although they haven't dropped yet). Retransmission fees are one way, and must-see live events are another (think Sound of Music type events). You will also see sports becoming even more important, as that's one of the few broadcasts most people tune in to watch live, so both ratings and ad dollars are huge.
I have four TiVos, and a total of 14 tuners (6/4/2/2). On those rare occasions I'm watching TV and not in front of a DVR, I find it incredibly painful, and muscle memory has my fingers pressing the buttons on an invisible remote.
Just for the record. EACH show that I record on my VCR lasts about 45 minutes. That means that there are about 15 minutes for EACH show. That is the way that it has been for a really long time. Someone has to pay for the shows to make it on the air.
In other words, the commercials are NOT endless. They just seem that way at times.
I often wonder who's buying all the stuff in the commercials. I know I'm not.
Flo, and the gecko, and the Swiss kid on the Toaster Strudel commercials drive me nuts. I'm not buying. The commercials for the newest prescription medication that advises me to "tell your physician about any conditions you have" - WTH? - doesn't he/she already know!? After telling me what it can do, the voice-over proceeds to advise me of the 20 or so things this wonder drug can cause, not the least of which is "risk of stroke or death". Let me not forget the amazing gadgets that cost $10. and if I call right now, I can get a second one free! (Just pay shipping and handling. HA!)
By the time the string of commercials ends, I've forgotten the plot of the show they interrupted!
I don't have a DVR, yet, but once warmer weather arrives I won't care much since I'll spend more time outdoors. But I'll surely be ready to have a DVR or TIVO or whatever those gizmos are called before I spend another snowy winter without one.
Channel surfing, going to the bathroom, talking to others, browsing the web on my phone ... those are the main ones.
Pretty much. I'm not going to pay more for a DVR, and since I don't have one I guess I don't know what I'm missing. So during commercials I put the laundry in the dryer or get a glass of water or I just sit there and watch them until the show comes back on. It's not really that big of a deal.
No recording devices here. I'm not into TV enough to spend money on extras. Commercials are simply a cross I have to bear, I guess. I hate them, but obviously not enough to spend money on what I consider tech trinkets.
Like above, I go to the bathroom, take the dog outside for a potty break, get something to eat, blow my nose, scratch my ass, knit, just basically shut out the noise.
I noticed when they did The Sound Of Music last year, the 2.9 hour show ran 4 hours. That's a buttload of commercials. Yes, it's noticeable. There are at least 6-7 minutes of non-stop commercials that separate the nightly news from Letterman/Kimmel/Whatever. Disgusting.
But you live around them. And learn to hate them. In my house, they're definitely wasting their money. I couldn't tell you the most recent commercial I saw.
How do you survive the commercials?
It is getting so ridiculous, they are taking up more and more time in a show that I have vowed never to buy anything that most are advertising. It is even getting to the point of getting angry to have to stop and fast forward!
At this time I can still afford to pay for the DVR to record but when the day comes that I can't, I really wonder how a person can survive sitting through endless commercials or will we be forced to just quit watching TV?
I remember when there would be a few commercials then back to the show but now they are bordering on torture!
I really feel like writing to the networks to say I will never buy anything you are advertising because you are driving me crazy with your endless commercials.
Sorry for the rant but really want to know how to survive them without a DVR.
Easy for me
I don't watch television, no dvr, no commercials, no problem and nothing to "survive".
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
). Retransmission fees are one way, and must-see live events are another (think Sound of Music type events). You will also see sports becoming even more important, as that's one of the few broadcasts most people tune in to watch live, so both ratings and ad dollars are huge.
