The digital video recorder (DVR) is a wonderful invention, but it gets spoiled when you actually can't use it to record your shows because someone else in your household is monopolizing all the storage. This grave problem has almost reached epidemic proportions, according to a new nationwide survey by Verizon, which found that more than half of DVR users have a hog in their home.

Verizon conducted a survey online of about 1,000 U.S. adults who use DVRs across various TV providers, asking them a wide range of questions about DVR use in their household, including who uses the DVR the most.

What they found was terribly troubling. About 54 percent of DVR users reported that they have a DVR hog in their house. You know that person (perhaps it's you!): always stuffing up the DVR with the dozens of shows they want to record regularly and/or the special events or sports they want to hold on to for seemingly the next several years.

The survey found that "my significant other" was the chief offender in DVR hogging (at 21 percent) when it wasn't the person actually surveyed -- "Me" was the most common answer to who hogs the DVR, at 25 percent. Roommates and children accounted for about 21 percent of DVR monopolists, put together.

Still, there's always some aspect of your home entertainment system that could be better. A full 78 percent of DVR users wanted more storage capacity (surprising it's not 100 percent) and a majority of users wanted more features like the ability to record more channels at once or fuller live-TV control using the DVR.

Since this is a survey by Verizon, the company touts its FiOS Quantum TV DVR service, which allows users to record up to 12 shows at once, control live TV from any TV in the home, and has storage for up to 200 hours of HD programs. The service was in beta trials in North Texas and Harrisburg, PA., but Verizon is now rolling out FiOS Quantum TV in several more markets over the next few months.

Of course, if you're not a Verizon subscriber, there are some DVR options that can solve the DVR hogging epidemic -- or simply allow everyone in the house to be a DVR hog as well. For example, DISH Network's Hopper with Sling allows for 500 hours of HD recording, and with Sling functionality, it lets you watch TV on iOS or Android devices, or the web. Other devices from DISH, like the "Super Joey" Hopper add-on launched last month, can record 8 channels at once.


DirecTV's

Plus HD DVR allows for PC/TV functionality, and its Whole-Home DVR adds multiroom capability, though it only allows for 100 hours of HD recording. Third-party TiVo has of course always been a go-to DVR maker, and it remains at the cusp of DVR technology -- if you can afford it. The TiVo Roamio Pro, for example, works on Verizon FiOS, and features a 450 hours of HD storage, six tuners, downloading and streaming functionality to iOS devices, and expansion to other rooms via the TiVo Mini extender. But its $600 plus $15 per month (or $500 for lifetime service), so it's not in everyone's price range.

Other TiVo boxes are less expensive now, and could still take your hoarder's load off your DVR. The TiVo Premiere is a more basic box, but allows saving programs to PC or burning them to DVD, alleviating the DVR hogging situation. It's available online for around $200 (still, with a monthly fee) and works with lots of TV services, so that's a possibility for the spendthrift who were nevertheless hit by the DVR plague.