Two Tuners Isn’t Enough

I have an HD DirecTV TiVo in the bedroom. It’s been great, and I love TiVo and the ability to watch things when I want. I don’t often watch anything live. In fact, even sports I typically start recording and then watch the recording. Partially to get through things quicker and not watch so many timeouts and non-action plays, but also since I might walk away and finish it later.

My device has 750GB of space, which is a lot, and it has two tuners. So I can record two shows at once, or watch one while I record another. Or I can record two and watch a third recording. That sounds like a lot, but I’m finding it’s not.

“Saving Grace” is a show I enjoy. I’ve gotten a little hooked, and I was looking forward to the last season. I got an episode a few weeks back and was trying to find time to watch it, but I haven’t seen anymore come up in the list. I thought perhaps there were some production issue and searched for news, only to find I’d missed two episodes.

I was wondering what was wrong and went through the programming to figure out why. It’s because there are three shows I already record on Monday nights, and one of them bumped Saving Grace from the list. Since they’re shows (Two and Half Men, Rules of Engagement, The Big Bang Theory) that Tia and I both watch, I don’t want to bump them.

The same thing has happened on Tuesday. Wipeout is starting up and it’s bumped up against Glee and Justified. So I’ve moved Justified down the list, lower priority, and I’ll have to follow it online.

I hadn’t worried much about Hulu or watching things online, but I think this is something more providers should consider and work with people to get them shows when they want them. Heck, if I could get more shows delivered to me TiVo, not my computer, when I wanted to watch them, even if it were after the release date for the show, allowing me to get all the “good” shows that I think are good, I’d even let them prevent me from skipping commercials. I’d still need to pause, but I think all providers would be better off.

I know I’d watch more shows.