Do (can?) they keep track of what people record off their tivos/dvr's, in order to tabulate show ratings, or is it all still done by the antiquated Nielson Family nonsense?

That "antiquated Nielsen nonsense" does track a percentage of DVR users; roughly the same percent of overall DVR users. It's still considered the most accurate way of measuring viewership.

I think Tivo does track info on what their users are watching, thus how they're able to announce things like what shows have the most season passes, or that Janet Jackson's wardrobe malfunction at the Super Bowl was heavily rewatched:
http://news.cnet.com/2100-1041_3-5152141.html?hhTest=1

Still, DVR users are not a good representative sample of overall viewership, and thus using just DVR user data isn't going to be as accurate a poll as what Nielsen does.

[Getting on soapbox]Nielsen ratings are a bunch of BS. Quality shows have been cancelled based on what they "perceive" or represent as the "American family". TiVo/DRV do not really factor into their ratings.[Getting off soapbox]

Why the networks or their advertisers still consider this system a worthwhile investment that they should pay to receive is anyone's guess!

I'm not sure what you mean by what you wrote. Nielsen doesn't try to pass of any one demographic as the "American family." Rather, a "Nielsen Family" can be any household with a TV, randomly selected in order to be representative of all the different demographics in America.

From
http://www.nielsenmedia.com/nc/porta...00880a260aRCRD
Nielsen TV families are a cross-section of households from all over the United States. We carefully draw our samples in a way that offers every American household with a television an equal chance of being selected.

That used to be true, but Nielsen does track DVR usage nowadays, and offers three different forms of its ratings: Live, Live + Same Day DVR (viewing a DVR program the same day it recorded) and Live + 7 Day DVR.

http://www.nielsenmedia.com/nc/porta...00ac0a260aRCRD
http://tvbythenumbers.com/2008/06/23...r-viewing/4208

It's really up to the networks now to utilize whichever version of the ratings they want.

The networks need some sort of poll of overall viewership in order to sell advertising, and Nielsen offers the best and most accurate poll available.

Funny this should come up. We're actually doing the Nielsen diaries right now for the rest of this week. There is a special column for DVRs. You fill in the time and date when the show originally aired, but you tell them when you actually watched it.

It would be more convenient if it were an online form instead of a paper booklet, but hey, anything I can do to make sure that some of my favorite shows are counted.

Edit: Watching rebroadcasted (UNIHD) Jericho episodes now. Anything to help!

Statistics....its not voodoo.

That's true... voodoo is easier and easier to believe in

Like most science, statistics doesn't require faith, just understanding.

Can I quote you on that?