The rising popularity of digital video recorders is often said to spell doom for television viewing because the technology lets viewers skip ads. However, a new study by market research firm Knowledge Networks shows that DVRs appear to be replacing DVD viewing, not television.

More than 90% of people surveyed in May of this year said they typically watch TV during the prime-time hours of 8pm to midnight, a rate similar to what the company found four years ago. But 19% of respondents now have DVRs – five times the proportion in 2004.

About 4% of respondents said they watched TV outside their homes this year, down from 7% four years ago, perhaps due to the increase in high-definition programmes and channels. Some 28% said they owned an HDTV set. Knowledge Networks noted that more than one in 10 viewers watched an HD programme in any given prime-time hour.

The number of viewers who tune in during prime-time for a specific show rose - to 48 per cent in 2008 from 41 per cent in 2004. At any given hour, 8% of recorded content being viewed came from the DVR, up from 4% four years ago, the survey said. The rest of recorded content came from DVDs and videocassettes.

"Increased DVR usage seems to come at the expense of watching purchased video," said David Tice, director of The Home Technology Monitor at Knowledge Networks, who noted that DVD sales have been falling for several years.

Knowledge Networks recruited 814 randomly selected people ages 13 to 54 by phone. They responded to questions in an online survey. The survey had a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points. (The Canadian Press).

Story filed 03.11.08