[jcrash]

Ok, I got my 721 in yesterday and hooked it up last night. I was forced to get it as I recently got a letter from DISH saying my out of area networks were going to be cutoff because my locals are now available. So, we would miss a show whenever two shows we wanted to see came on at the same time.

Overall, I'm very happy with the unit after the first couple hours use. It is fast and finally I have a menu option that hides channels I don't subscribe to (Top 100 Package here)


My questions:

1) This is an upgrade for me from my Dishplayer. How do we check the listings for say, Sunday at 9pm on Wednesday? Must we scroll all the way to Sunday in the guide?

2) I only experimented briefly with recording two shows at once, but I couldnt get it to work. Here is what I did -
- tuned to a show
- hit record
- chose manual stop
- hit PIP
- hit swap
- tuned to a different channel
- hit record
- chose manual stop

At this point the first show was already stopped somehow but the second was still recording - and I tried this sequence twice. What am I doing wrong?

3) Where is a list of bugs? I want to know all the "known issues" so I can avoid as many as possible.

thanks,

 

[Patrick G.]

As far as your #2 question goes, take the 2 "chose manual stop"s out of the list and you are fine.

 

[jcrash]

Hmm...

So, I cannot record 5 minutes in the middle of a program? Is this a bug? Could you explain what that option is good for then?

Well, the reason we picked "choose manual stop" is that whenever we chose one of the other two options the screen remained up - i.e. we didn't actually start recording. The only way to get the little screen listing the three manual recording options to go away was to pick "chose manual stop." Maybe this was related to the fact that we didnt have a 7 day guide yet, I don't know. I'll test again tonight.

 

[Kagato]

question 1. While in the guide you can use the 30 second skip forward and back buttons to go move one day at a time. While not as slick as Tivo's GUI, it certainly is better than holding the forward arrow.

 

[jcrash]

Thanks, Kagato. Now, if they will just patch the bug where you lose program names for timers and recorded programs, my wife might just let me live! :lol:

 

[DarrellP]

Jcrash, to move forward less than a day (or more than 24 hours), key in the number of hours you want to move ahead; i.e.:10 (or 100) then press Select. But you have to be fast or it will try and tune to channel 10 or the closest thing to it.

 

[jcrash]

Thanks for the added info - just to make sure - everyone else has the bug where it doesnt save the program name, right?

 

[lordgarth]

Jcrash, First I do not have the program names in the pvr listing, but they are in the descriptions of each recording. I don't know if this is a bug or just dumb design that I hope is fixed soon. Secondly as for your having to select manual stop. I had this same problem, where that was the only way to actually get the 721 to start recording. I fixed it by going into the menu and choosing to reload factory defaults. My settings were gone, my recordings stayed but most importantly the record functions started to work as they should.

:lg:

 

[DmitriA]

How do you hide channels you don't subscribe to? (I assume you didn't mean the favorites option).

That irritates the hell out of me - that in searches and favorites when you are selecting channels to add, there is no differentiator between the channels you have and don't have. On all the other receivers, the unsubscribed channels are in red - here they are all the same color. :bang

 

[TomCat]

Mine are red.

 

[Doug E]

I have 721. I have options when pressing the guide button to show my favorites, ALL channels, and JUST the ones that I subscribe to.

 

[DmitriA]

Yeah. I know. But what about the channels that show up in the search results and in the screens where you setup the favorites? Are the channels you are not subscribed to in red there?

 

[Bill Simonsen]

Originally posted by Kagato
question 1. While in the guide you can use the 30 second skip forward and back buttons to go move one day at a time. While not as slick as Tivo's GUI, it certainly is better than holding the forward arrow.

Am I going to hate the 721 after having a TiVo for 3+ years? And, is there any way you can get both tuners' signals out of the unit and to, say, PIP on another set, or another DVR, or- whatever? TYIA

-Bill

 

[jcrash]

Whats the big deal about non subscribed channels in searches? How often do you search? Just hit the guide button more than once when in normal guie to cycle through your favorites list and the ALL channels and SUBSCRIBED channels list.

As for your question, Bill - you'll be sure to be amazed at the speed of the onscreen guide. It is literally lightening quick. You'll have to get used to setting your own timers though. And no, you cannot send the two tuners to two different tv's no matter what. The signal is integrated to PIP INSIDE the receiver.

 

[DmitriA]

Originally posted by jcrash
Whats the big deal about non subscribed channels in searches? How often do you search?

Every week to record movies with my favorite actors. It irritatest the hell out of me that I have to cycle through like a 100 results when half of them I don't even subscribe to and I have to look at each channel number to figure out whether I actually have that channel or not.
501 shows them in red for god's sake - why can't 721 do the same?!

 

[Bill Simonsen]

Originally posted by jcrash
[B
As for your question, Bill - you'll be sure to be amazed at the speed of the onscreen guide. It is literally lightening quick. You'll have to get used to setting your own timers though. And no, you cannot send the two tuners to two different tv's no matter what. The signal is integrated to PIP INSIDE the receiver. [/B]

Thank you- bear with me here, living on an island in Maine, there is no place near where I can touch and look at sat systems, so I am woefully ignorant....
Right now I have cable and, like most cable users who don't require boxes, I have the signal sent everywhere in the house except my wife's sewing machine, and I'm thinking about that <g>.
Here comes satellite, and now I have to worry about PIP on two TV's, getting signal to a VCR (actually, scratch that- I haven't recorded off-air on that for years). Using various wired or wireless methods, I figure that having the signal from two receivers, and being able to send that signal to either of two TVs at any time, would provide said PIP, yes? (*Without* the 721 in the picture). IOW, if receiver A is on channel 176e18, I can also send that channel wherever I want, including, say, Video 2 on a TV in the other room?
Now the 721 comes in- I can take the signal from this and send it to, say, a TiVo in the other room? See what I'm getting at? (If I had nightmares about satellite TV, they would be of two TV's with PIP, a couple of VCRs, a couple of PVRs, the Sony Dolby Digital audio receiver with all the inputs and outputs- video, video, all over the place, all of Dan Rather. 30 images of Dan Rather on various TVs, recording his face on two PVRs and two VCRs, saying the same thing- even the pocket TV in the closet starts blaring Dan Rather on the 6:30 news. Jesus, I need a drink now. TYIA for any help, anybody...

-Bill

 

[jcrash]

I guess i don't get what you are asking. Sure you COULD send the signal to a VCR, but that's a step in the wrong direction, IMHO. Similarly, sending it to a TiVo would result in some amount of picture quality loss due to the analog to digital to analog conversion.

The 721 has 90 hours capacity (approx). If you need more than that, well, have you ever heard the saying your eyes are bigger than your stomach? Same principle would apply. Sure some people record music channels (don't ask me), or like to keep whole seasons of shows on the drive - but most people use it for timeshifting which means they watch the show and delete it.

Do you split your cable and take it to each room, or do you send the tuned signal from one cable box to all rooms? If it is the former you will need a receiver for everyroom to emulate that behavior, if it is the latter, then you will continue to function as usual, but you might need some type of amplifier if you split the receiver out too many times or send the signal too far.

I have a switch - rather old tech called SW64 - that allows me to have up to six different receivers (I think) - or receiver inputs (721 takes 2). The switch is in a closet upstairs and all satellite coax runs to every room run from that closet. There is also a cable-TV run from another location which goes to some rooms. Thus, in the den and gameroom, you'll find 4 coax, with 3 in the master bedroom.

Make sense?

 

[jannlinder]

Bill,

Your answer is a simple NO. The 721 shows PIP ...BUT on only ONE OUTPUT. therefore any sets plugged in get the same signal even though there are multiple satellite inputs. There are two (not including one SVHS) video outs on the back, but they mirror whatever signal the main screen is putting out.

What you are asking SHOULD be easy (can you say PVR 522?) but has not been done yet...it is called a video server and should work like so:

Put it in a closet. hook up the ONE output of this imaginary box to your cable outlet....the SAME cable outlet that feeds all your sets in the house.

This ficticious box would have 4 sat. inputs and would feed out 4 different videos on 4 different channels (say, 3,4,5,6) then depending on what you wanted to watch, you would turn the tv to channel 3 (for instance), grab the remote for channel 3 and tune the video server to whatever sat channel you wished. that channel would feed a video signal to all tv's in the house tuned to channel 3.

Again, this is ficticious....however, here is a formal notice that I am calling this imaginary box my own, therefore if someone wants to build it, they pay me a royalty.

but, then again, who would deal with actual TV SIGNALS coming to the set via COAX..:ewww: :shrug:.i wouldn't---too used to SVHS and HD, I guess...

(grins)

Jann

 

[LadyTalia]

[No message]

 

[Bill Simonsen]

>>>Bill,

Your answer is a simple NO. The 721 shows PIP ...BUT on only ONE OUTPUT.<<<<

Thank you- I looked at my message of yesterday and it looks like it was typed in by a drunken monkey. What you describe is what I am asking about. Go on the assumption that while there are two TVs, and two receivers, only one will be in use at a time. Therefore, I'm sitting in bed watching TV using 301 receiver. Other TV is off- so using UHF remote, I can take signal from 721 in other room and send it ti PIP in bedroom, yes?
Fast forward to tne next day, watching HBO in living room. I can take picture from 301 in bedroom, put it into AV 3 on the living room Sony TV, and put that in PIP, right? So you've got the main signal here, than PIP from second tuner of 721, and whatever else I can send from bedroom receiver- yes?
It would help if E* even spoke about the 721 on their web site, but they don't even mention it, as of last night. I know about supply problems, but that is ridiculous. Anyway, thanks again for your help. I have to have this all decided and paid for before the installer will even sked me...

-Bill