In-home observations and depth interviews are used to assess the role of the digital video recorder (DVR) in the home and audience behaviour while watching television with a DVR. Attention to the set, activities while viewing, selectivity and preparatory activities before watching television were examined. DVR owners perceive that media decisionmaking roles traditionally made by networks and advertisers have been extended to the household level. Viewers consider the DVR to be an important technology and are highly engaged in the programmes they watch, but their attention to advertising is severely limited.