VCR recording - old school

[ott70]

Hello, new here at the site. I did some searches of posted information, but can't seem to find the answers I'm looking for. I just recently upgraded to the Dish after continuing frustration of dealing with Comcast and their crooked ways.

Old setup:
Three TV's (bedroom, front room, rec room)
Bedroom: VCR, DVD player
Front room: VCR, DVD recorder
Rec Room: Surround sound system

New setup w/ Dish:
Bedroom: 625 dual DVR (TV1), VCR, DVD player
Front room: 311 receiver, VCR, DVD recorder
Rec room: 625 DVR (TV2), surround sound system

Each TV has its own line running to it from the sat dish per the installer.

So my crux is in the old days I could watch a live program and record a different program via the VCR's and DVD recorder. I wouldn't quite say I'm a TV junkie, but I definitely have one or two nights of network TV where I will be recording at least two shows in the same time slot. Worse yet, this upcoming Thursday night season will probably have me recording three shows at once (CSI, Supernatural, and The Office). I can get around this if I'm home, but no guarantees of that.

And to add to the issue, I have two teenage boys in the house that will probably want to flip on the TV.

Now that I've joined the DVR era, it is a neat little recording tool. I used it well today during the NFL games when I had to jump up and do some things for a little bit. The downside of the DVR that I have noticed so far is its inability to record one show while I watch another at the same time (non-recorded show). Maybe I'm missing something here, but that's how I understand it.

I have also noticed so far that the VCR is only going to record off the channel 3 input, so I see no current advantage of having the DVR and VCR in the same loop.

So what don't I know? Educate me, please. Can I still use the VCR's and DVD recorder to record separate programs while watching a different program? Would a splitter of some type solve this? Or is this a weakness in the whole satellite/DVR system -- or maybe a weakness in my setup due to not understanding the full power of my system?

Thanks in advance.

[jsk]

The 625 has two tuners, so your options are:

* Watch two different shows on TV1 & TV2
* Record one show on TV2 (and watch a DVR event) while watching another on TV1
* Record two different shows on TV1 & TV2 while watching two different DVR events on your two TVs.

The fact that you have a 311 also means that you could record a show using your VCR as well. The 311 can start and stop a recording with most VCRs (but probably not your DVD Recorder). You can look at the manual for instructions on how to set that up.

I have a 522, so I'm not sure if it is called the same thing on the 625, but you should enable "Record Plus" off of the "Preferences menu" and set TV2 as the preferred recorder. If you have one program set to record, it will record it on TV2 and you can watch something on TV1.

Since you have two teens, you might want to upgrade your 311 to the 322 which has two tuners and you could run the second tuner to another TV. That would require at least one (if not two) more line(s) run into another room.

[Marriner]

my guess is that you will use your vcr(s) much less now that you have the dual tuner dvr. I would hook up the dvd recorder to the s-video output of your 625 and use it to archive shows that you want to watch later. The dvr is so easy to use and much less hassel than using external recording devices. I don't even have a vcr hooked up anymore since i have my dvrs

Enjoy your new setup

[koji68]

It sounds like you didn't have cable boxes before and you were using the VCR/DVDr tuners to record something while watching something else.

This way you could watch 3 different programs at the same time and record 2 other programs.

You had 5 independent tuners. 3 total for each one on the TVs and 2 more for the recording devices.

With the setup that you have now. You only have 3 independent tuners. 2 in the 625 and 1 in the 311.

To duplicate what you had before, you'd need another 625. The you could watch a program and record another program in each of the TVs connected to the 625s and watch a program with the 311 that you could record with the VCR or the DVDr. This will eliminate the need for one of the external recording devices.

I hope this helps.

BTW:

:welcome_s