Dual tuners, prioritizer and recording

[Mark20]

I may be missing something here but I thought the R15 would record SL's that occurred at the same time if both tuners were available.

I have SL's set up for Eureka (all episodes) and Dirty Jobs (first run only) with Eureka the higher priority. They collided at 9 PM last night and the To Do list said that Dirty Jobs would not be recorded due to Eureka's higher priority. With two tuners I didn't think this would be a problem until it ran into a third program at the same time and then the prioritizer would take over. I haven't checked what is on the DVR yet, so the To Do list could have lied to me or since the receiver was on one tuner was dedicated to the currently tuned channel leaving only one free.

In the past I've had something recording manually while watching another channel and a warning come up that a scheduled record would have to override what I was watching or be cancelled.

[qwerty]

No, you should be able to record two shows simultaneously, as long as you have both inputs connected to the receiver. Did you install it yourself? If so, you didn't use a plitter on the input cables, did you? That won't work.

Go in to setup and run the system test and see if both tuners check OK.

I've had similar problems where it "loses" one tuner. In my case, both tuners showed OK in the system test. It eventually cleared by itself. Maybe you're having the same problem.

[Mark20]

Checked that. Didn't go through all the transponders on the second tuner, just two or three but enough to know a signal was coming down from the dish. I'll double check the status & system screens tonight.

I'll have to look at what's on the hard disk when I get home. The receiver was off at 9 so it definitely had both tuners available.

From the R15 manual:
You can record up to two programs at once if you’ve connected both inputs on your DIRECTV Plus Receiver. However, if a program you select to record confl icts with another recording, you will be notified of the conflict at the time and given a choice of which recording to cancel.

So why do they give themselves an out in the 2nd sentence? Can it not fire off two recordings at the same time? Maybe setting one to record a minute or two early would be the solution?

[MattWarner]

My R15 has no problems recording two things at once. In fact, last night it recorded House AND Reaper at 9PM. I also have Dirty Jobs set to record, so it showed the conflict and grabbed the Dirty Jobs repeat at midnight (or 1am.. can't remember which).

So, yes, as long as both tuners are connected and working, you can record two things at once.

Triple check signal strength on both tuners... If they are good, then reboot your box. I seem to remember the fact that if it boots up with only one tuner connected, it will never look for the other one.

-Matt

[Mark20]

I verified I can record two programs at the same time with two manual recordings and (separately) one SL at the same time as one manual.

I played with the start times and set Eureka to start one minute early and now I see both it and Dirty Jobs in the To Do list with everything good to record.

What this tells me is that the prioritizer/scheduler can only handle one program at a particular start time. Interesting that the software doesn't wait until the execution and check if a tuner is available and then finalize the decision.

[qwerty]

What this tells me is that the prioritizer/scheduler can only handle one program at a particular start time. Interesting that the software doesn't wait until the execution and check if a tuner is available and then finalize the decision.

That's incorrect (at least when it's working properly). I have many SL's that fire for shows that are on simultaneously.

I suspect that you experienced a problem similar to the one I described earlier. The R15 will act as if it's only got one tuner and will not let you use both tuners at the same time. It later clears by itself and works normally.

Also, the software should check the availability. If I select something to record from a search, it will present a conflict dialogue if I already have two things scheduled for that time.

[uslimey]

Well I was happy this morning. Have The Office set up as SL on NBC and have always manually set The Office on BBCAmerica. Discovered that both are now set as SLs.

Sue

[ThomasM]

I verified I can record two programs at the same time with two manual recordings and (separately) one SL at the same time as one manual.

I played with the start times and set Eureka to start one minute early and now I see both it and Dirty Jobs in the To Do list with everything good to record.

What this tells me is that the prioritizer/scheduler can only handle one program at a particular start time. Interesting that the software doesn't wait until the execution and check if a tuner is available and then finalize the decision.

That's not true. I have about 20 "prioritizer" prime time shows set to record every week and 4 out of 5 nights it has to record two of those series link shows at the same time. It does so with no problem. Have you set up a bunch of extended recording times? In other words, told the prioritizer to begin any shows early or keep recording after the program guide stop time? Have you inadvertently changed the "record defaults" to do this? If you ask it to record 2 shows at once and a third show overlaps by even one minute, one of your two shows will not record at all.

[Mark20]

Ah, that may be it. I lost the last minute or so of a show I manually recorded recently since the channel was off by a minute or so in relation to the guide. I added a minute or two to the end time of the shows in the SL just in case. Eureka is going through a lot of the first season back to back and that may account for it.

D'Oh! That fixes it. Now the To Do list shows two recordings scheduled for the same time.