Survey: DVRs now more important than blood, breathing

How much do you love your TiVo (or other DVR)? If you're like most people, apparently an awful lot: 81 percent of DVR owners polled said they can't live without the devices. Seriously: TiVo trumps life.

In a massive survey from pay TV provider and DVR maker NDS, which polled DVR owners in the U.S., the UK, Italy, and Australia, owners ranked their DVRs as the third-most indispensable household item they owned, after the washing machine and the microwave. Compared to other personal technology items, the DVR came second only to the mobile phone in a rating of devices they "can't live without."

Conceivably, that means the DVR is actually considered more important by its owners than the television itself, without which the DVR would be useless. (In reality, the TV was not one of the choices in the poll.)

Naturally, as it's a study sponsored by a company that makes this stuff, the numbers are quite glowing regarding DVR tech. But these numbers look wilder than sheer boosterism alone could explain: 81 percent said the DVR has improved family life. 79 percent said that a DVR has improved their relationship with a partner. Can TiVo alone be saving the marriages of the world? In case you missed it, divorce rates are on the decline. Coincidence!?!?

Other data points in the study looked at TV viewing habits in general. Some additional fun facts:

• > 57% of American DVR owners watch more than three hours of live or recorded TV daily.
• > Male DVR owners watch more recorded TV on average than women (2.2 hours vs. 2.0 hours).
• > British DVR owners reportedly watch the least TV per day (3.7 hours), while the Americans watch the most at 4.7 hours a day. Americans in their 40s watch a whopping 5.4 hours a day.