Recording...

Start Time, Stop Time

When I want to record an episode of The Daily Show, all I have to do is press one button.  When Burn Notice returns this summer, I don’t have to lift a finger because I pressed a few buttons and recorded the entire series, 3 years ago.  DVR has made life so much better and has made something already awesome – watching television – even more awesome.  If you were born after 1989, there is a chance that you don’t totally understand the impact of DVR.  You probably can’t truly appreciate this “NASA-like” leap in technology.

It’s because you never had to program a VCR.

For those who have, programming a VCR is truly an art form.  The amount of skill and precise techniques could make a Boeing engineer blush.  First off, you had to literally find the show you wanted to record.  There was no digital screen that allowed you to see what was coming up next; you had to grab your TV Guide (remember that?) and search.  The TV Guide was the Google for TV shows.

Once you found your show, you had to make sure your VCR was set up correctly.  The channel on the back of the VCR had to correct because if your TV was set to channel 3 and your VCR channel 4, you would get an entire hour of static.  You also had to line up the clock on your VCR with that of your cable box.  You would routinely see VCR programmers standing in front of their TV’s trying to press the “set clock” button on their remotes at the exact second the clock on the box hits 8:46.

After the clock is set, you had to record your show.  Rookie programmers set their VCR’s to record at the exact times that the show comes on, only to see their Law & Order episode get cut off just before the court verdict is sent down.  You may know your machine or that particular channel well enough to get the times right on the money but a conservative estimate for a 9:00pm start is to have the VCR record from 8:59pm to 10:03pm.

Finally comes the tape.  There’s absolutely no skill needed if you’re tearing the plastic off a new Maxell or TDK 120 minute tape but the magic happens when you have to start midway through.  Sometimes you didn’t get an opportunity to watch that episode of Married with Children before Martin comes on and you have pick up where you left off.  VCR veterans didn’t need to use the display timer or “do math”, we could simply look at the 1.42 inches of tape on the left side and say, “yep, I can get my show AND still have room for Boy Meets World.”

So the next time that you – and I’m talking to you, post-TGIF children – pause your live TV and program all of the Jersey Shore episodes in 20 seconds, just know that a lot of blood, sweat and tears have gone into what you now take for granted.  And to all of my people out there who know the pain of having their VCR chew up your tape before you know what happens on New York Undercover, put your remotes in the air and toast…

To that little red light.