522 PIP vs 721 question

IIRC, this is a 721-only feature. I find this very useful, and is the sole reason I am hesitant to upgrade my 721. I don't understand why this would have been dropped.

I know this answer wasn't very helpful, but nobody else was answering, and this was a good opportunity for a soapbox-style post. BTW, if you are looking to sell that 721, let me know.

You can PAUSE and swap... you just do not see the transparent icon.

So the minimized one stays paused? if so, thats good news

what is a transparent icon? On my 721, I can pause a channel, pretty much indefinitly (usually no more that 20 hours) and leave it in the lil PIP window. If thats what your talking about. I know of no way to minimize the pip window any smaller than the smallest size and still keep the channel paused.

what is a transparent icon? On my 721, I can pause a channel, pretty much indefinitly (usually no more that 20 hours) and leave it in the lil PIP window. If thats what your talking about. I know of no way to minimize the pip window any smaller than the smallest size and still keep the channel paused.

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Yes, that is what I am talking about. On the 721 you have a 2 hour pause buffer. On the newer boxes it is 1 hour. It is called MicroPip on 721.

On the 721... the tuners are used as resources and are only opened when need... like when you open PIP.

On the newer boxes... There is no MicroPip because the tuners are always open for both tvs... or in Single User Mode... it is always open for MAIN and PIP. So, you always have a playback/delayed buffer. Even if you do not have PIP open.

1. Hit PAUSE.
2. Hit Swap.
3. Hit Swap again and you will see that your program you hit PAUSE on will be still paused.

OH. So the newer versions of the 721 dont give you an actual PIP window? Its sortof there but you just dont see it. That might get confusing.

ANd w/ my 721, if I hit pause, then hit the 'flip back button', it will hold that pause continuously until the buffer fills up, which could take 20 hours or more. If I just hit pause, it will start playing the video (whether in main or PIP) after 2 hours.

try it!

OH. So the newer versions of the 721 dont give you an actual PIP window?

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Not a new version of 721... newer receivers on the new architecture... like 322, 522, 622, 722, etc.

Yeah, it will PAUSE forever, but only has a 2 hour buffer. It starts trimming when it hits 2 hours, otherwise it would fill up the hard drive.

UGAChance said:

Not a new version of 721... newer receivers on the new architecture... like 322, 522, 622, 722, etc.

Yeah, it will PAUSE forever, but only has a 2 hour buffer. It starts trimming when it hits 2 hours, otherwise it would fill up the hard drive.

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THanks for the tip. I just found this out myself yesterday when playing around with the 522. Had a 622 for quite a hwile now and never realized it could do that. It is not documented in the manual.