I've seen mentioned in a couple of forums recently that HDD/DVD recorders have not been successful as a concept in the US market. I admit that I am (to use the UK term) gobsmacked by this, since I own one myself here in the UK and would never consider going back!

I've only visited the US a couple of times, but both times I've been struck by the excessive amounts of advertising on TV. Surely there are US viewers who find this as annoying as I do?

Now one of the advantages of an HDD recorder is that you can set it to record all your favourite shows, meaning you can then watch them when you want to - and when you do you can simply fast forward through the ad breaks.

The other advantage to an HDD recorder is that you don't need to look for tapes or disks and find free space on them! Just tell the device to record and it does. When you've watched the show you just delete it or dub it to DVD if you want to keep it.

Now, I don't doubt that these features would be attractive to US users as well, so I'm curious as to how come HDD/DVD recorders could possibly fail in the US?

PVRs have dominated here. With built in program guides recording can be done with the touch of a button. PVRs record directly from the source, no digital to analog back to digital, so quality is better, at least with satellite PVRs, I don't know about cable.

The HDD recorders (ummm ever heard of TiVo) were basicly invented in the US. They're in just about every home in some form or another! TiVo's headquarters are two towns over from where I live.

Also AT&T's UVerse is IP TV that streams directly to HDD box, no real cable or satellite needed.

What people were you visiting in the US that didn't have this wonderful technology??

There are several reasons, IMO.
1. Many people can't figure out VCRs much less DVD Recorders.
2. Many people don't care about archiving the programs they record.
3. Pressed DVDs are usually available within a short while and offer higher quality & bonus features.

There aren't enough good shows worth recording, especially with the move to reality based programming in the early 2000s. And the better series (House, Lost, The Office, Curb Your Enthusiasm, etc) are all released in DVD format at the end of the season.