The WOW! Buzz

After reading Rex’s articles about past technologies that were ahead of their time, it got me thinking.  Entertainment is a huge part of our lives and technology through the years has allowed it to become more and more important.  Let’s go back 35 years ago.  Betamax was introduced by Sony.  For those of you who don’t know what Betamax aka Beta’s are, do a search for it.  It was a smaller version of VHS tape, slightly different technology but similar.  As we know, they lost the war to VHS which became a standard in most homes in the 80’s and 90’s.  There was a lot of buzz about the VCR and VHS tapes because it allowed you the ability to record a show, watch it back and fast forward through the commercials.  There was no way for programmers to prevent consumers from watching the commercials.  I still have a VCR in my home but we don’t use it anymore unless we want to pull out a VHS movie that we don’t have on DVD. 

Even though I love watching DVDs, the one technology that I couldn’t imagine not living without is my DVR (Digital Video Recorder).  The DVR has revolutionized the way I watch TV.  I never have been big on devoting hours in front of the TV.  The DVR allows me the ability to watch TV on my time.  I can set up series recording for my favorite shows, fast forward through commercials, rewind when I need to and pause the show when I need to step away from the TV.

For those of you still relying on a VCR to tape your shows, I encourage you to give the DVR a shot.  Once you’ve tried it, you won’t go back.  Just like technologies of past, isn’t it all about making your life easier?