ReplayTV developer goes PVR cold turkey

When you first describe a PVR to someone, it's hard to convey how much it changes the way you watch television. "So it's like a VCR," they usually say. But of course, it's much more than that.

Hanford Lemoore worked on the first ReplayTV, and he estimates that he'd probably been using a PVR in his home longer than just about anyone. Lemoore had a ReplayTV unit in his house for a year before they hit the market.

But when his hard drive died a year and a half ago, he unplugged his ReplayTV and decided to see what life was like without a one.

Tuns out it wasn't the recorded programming that he missed th emost. It was the interactive program guide. Lemoore found that his chronic channel surfing had completely disappeared and he had no interest in watching programs unless he knew what was on first. Of course, satellite and digital cable services usually include program guides, but the second thing Lemoore found was that he wasn't interested in appointment television anymore.

The thing is, he concludes that PVRs are a stop gap measure until networks figure out how to deliver programming to consumers anytime they want it. What a PVR lets you do is record scheduled programs and watch them anytime you want. But eventually, he figures, any program will be available on-demand at any time over the internet.

But I'm not sure what he's waiting for. Most digital cable services include on-demand programming. If he'd rather get his content on the internet, he can stream videos from most network websites or download shows from iTunes or Xbox Live Marketplace. Sure, it's not perfect, but if you're going to give up your PVR and then complain about scheduled television, I say either give up TV entirely or find a plan B.