mtnagel said:First off, if you want to switch around between more than two things, this is not for you and if you don't want to record those two things, then this is not for you.
Now that that is out of the way, I've done some experimentation on this since the workaround in the Tips and Tricks thread never worked for me. The key issue is being able to switch back and forth between two shows that are recording and always being able to go back to where you left off. This is how I watch two football games on Sunday when both of my teams are playing at the same time. The problem is that sometimes when I would switch, the recording would start back at the beginning and I'd have to try to find out where I was. I started creating bookmarks, but that was annoying.
The problem is there are many ways to try to do this and it seemed like it mattered if I was in the middle of a recording or if I was caught up to live, so I tried to be as detailed as possible in my experimentation. I've been PM'ing Craig (of the Tips and Tricks thread) about this, but I figured we should get some other people to try this out to make sure what I've said works.
So, I tried my tests on what I figured were all the combinations of being in the middle vs being at live when you want to switch and between pressing LIST, BACK, or STOP. This is what I found. Note that for my tests, I set up the recordings beforehand by going into the guide and hitting record on each program before they came on. I did it on two local HD channels, but neither show was in HD. I assume this doesn't matter, but I wanted to list it just in case.
To test what happens when you are in the middle of a recording and you want to switch, this is what I did
• Set up two programs to record beforehand.
• Start playing one of the recordings by hitting LIST and highlighting the first recording and pressing PLAY.
• To test when you are in the middle of a recording, I hit the 30 second skip 4 times, so I was 2 minutes in.
• Press PAUSE, then LIST or BACK (or just STOP instead of PAUSE, then LIST or BACK), then highlight the second recording and press PLAY.
• Again, to test when you are in the middle of a recording, I hit the 30 second skip 4 times, so I was 2 minutes in.
• Press PAUSE, then LIST or BACK (or just STOP instead of PAUSE, then LIST or BACK), then highlight the first recording and press PLAY.
This maintained the position every time I did it.
Note that pressing LIST puts the selection at the top of your list. Pressing BACK puts the selection on the last thing you pressed play on as does pressing STOP, but by pressing STOP, it starts playing live tv on one of the channels at the top. Not really the ideal thing if you are not caught up to live and are switching between two games as you may hear the score.
Now, I tested what happens when you are caught up to live, and by caught up to live, I mean pressing and holding the 30 sec skip button for 3 seconds, so you are "near" the end, but then FFing a couple times to live
• Set up two programs to record beforehand.
• Start playing one of the recordings by hitting LIST and highlighting the first recording and pressing PLAY.
• To test when you are caught up to live, I held down the 30 second skip so it jumped to almost live, then I hit FF 3 times to until it stopped and then pressed FF a few more times to makes sure I was actually at live.
• Press PAUSE, then quickly LIST or BACK (or just STOP instead of PAUSE, then LIST or BACK), then highlight the second recording and press PLAY.
• Again, to test when you are caught up to live, I held down the 30 second skip so it jumped to almost live, then I hit FF 3 times to until it stopped and then pressed FF a few more times to makes sure I was actually at live.
• Press PAUSE, then LIST or BACK (or just STOP instead of PAUSE, then LIST or BACK), then highlight the first recording and press PLAY.
This started the first recording at the beginning instead of maintaining the position every time I did this.
I also checked what happens when you catch up to live and then do the 6 sec jump back a few times, it did maintain that position when pressing PAUSE and then LIST or BACK, but not when pressing STOP. I'm not sure why the difference, but that's what happened in my tests.
Also note that I tried this after both shows were done recording and the position was maintained when using PAUSE then LIST or BACK or just STOP. I probably wouldn't need this much, but it might be handy if I wasn't home to see either game and I didn't hear either score.
So, in summary, it looks like if you are in the middle of a recording, it doesn't matter if you press PAUSE, then LIST or BACK or just STOP, but if you are caught up to live, you should either use the skip few times or just pause it and wait a bit before using the PAUSE, then LIST or BACK.
If someone would like to try this to confirm it, I would appreciate it.
tonyd79 said:If any D* folks are reading this...this is NOT a solution. It is a painful workaround for a key missing feature.
Not bashing the OP. You found a way to live with the bad decision D* made on a key feature, but don't cheer this like it is a wonderful thing. Gee, my SA8300 does the same thing. It is NOT a workable dual buffer replacement.
Not bashing you, but is it the fact that you have to actually record the shows or is it that you can't jump around to more than 2 things? Or is it something else?tonyd79 said:If any D* folks are reading this...this is NOT a solution. It is a painful workaround for a key missing feature.
Not bashing the OP. You found a way to live with the bad decision D* made on a key feature, but don't cheer this like it is a wonderful thing. Gee, my SA8300 does the same thing. It is NOT a workable dual buffer replacement.
I agree. This is not a solution. All this is is playing back two shows. I could play back two movies the same way. This is not the same by any stretch of the imagination.tonyd79 said:If any D* folks are reading this...this is NOT a solution. It is a painful workaround for a key missing feature.
Not bashing the OP. You found a way to live with the bad decision D* made on a key feature, but don't cheer this like it is a wonderful thing. Gee, my SA8300 does the same thing. It is NOT a workable dual buffer replacement.
C'mon, let's be real here. This is no different than watching two pre-recorded shows in a leapfrog fashion. That's all it is. Watch one for awhile, then go to the list and play another. Then go back to the list and watch the first.Milominderbinder2 said:Good job. It works. I would like to add this at the end-
To delete the two recordings this creates:
Press LIST DASH-DASH to delete the first entry
DASH-DASH to delete the second entry
...
However Matt has found the only reliable way that this is even remotely possible.
Let's see. Stop>>down arrow>>Play on the HR20.iacas said:and it's nowhere near as easy as switching between the tuners on a TiVo.
Don't forget it could be STOP -> Up Arrow (instead of Down Arrow) -> PLAY on the HR20Xaa said:Let's see. Stop>>down arrow>>Play on the HR20.
Pause>>Down Arrow>>Play on the TiVo.
How is it not as easy? Same number of key strokes.
You're welcomeMilominderbinder2 said:Matt deserves a thank you.
- Craig
How do you use dual buffers that's different than watching two shows? And, correction, it's watching two shows that are recording (yes it works on recorded shows), but obviously, most of the people clamouring for dual buffers want to watch two things that are currently recording. And don't forget, this gives you unlimited buffering time since you are recording them. With TiVo, you could only be behind 30 minutes if you weren't recording them. Of course, with TiVo, I always was recording them also, so it basically accomplishes the same thing for me.iacas said:C'mon, let's be real here. This is no different than watching two pre-recorded shows in a leapfrog fashion. That's all it is. Watch one for awhile, then go to the list and play another. Then go back to the list and watch the first.
The real reason I think the testing was important was the weirdness of what happens when caught up to live. You're right, a DVR should work like this in that if I stop playing a recording and switch to another recording, it should always remember my position. BUT, when I was doing this the past few weeks with football games, it wasn't always remembering my position, so that's why I figured I needed to test out all the combinations to see why sometimes it would remember my spot and other times it would take me back to the beginning. I figured it was useful if there were other people out there that were experiencing the same thing. Maybe I shouldn't have called it a workaround for dual buffers, but for me it is. If TiVo-like dual buffers never get implemented on the HR20, I won't care, because now that I know what to expect when I do this on the HR20 (though I think the weirdness of the behavior when you are caught up to live should be fixed), I think it will make watching two football games easier and more enjoyable instead of sometimes being taken back to the beginning and having to try to figure out where I was or using bookmarks, which added more clicks to the process.iacas said:This isn't a "solution" or a tip or a trick - it's the way a DVR works. It plays back what you tell it to play back. I could watch 5 minutes of Desperate Housewives, 5 minutes of Grey's Anatomy, and keep skipping back and forth doing the same thing.
Isn't that the point, to play back two shows? Remember I said if you want to jump around to more than two shows, this wouldn't work (or at least not work easily, but if you want to jump around to more than two shows, I'd get two or more DVR's, so you can actually watch 4 or more games and not miss anything, but I digress).iacas said:I agree. This is not a solution. All this is is playing back two shows. I could play back two movies the same way.
Uh, let's see:Xaa said:Let's see. Stop>>down arrow>>Play on the HR20.
Pause>>Down Arrow>>Play on the TiVo.
How is it not as easy? Same number of key strokes.
There is no doubt that true Dual Buffers is the most-requested feature. I have faith that the DirecTV Engineers are doing what they can to address this issue. Hopefully after OTA goes live this will become a priority.iacas said:Uh, let's see:
a) not forced to record two shows on the TiVo (this is two things: you have to both start recording and then delete the recordings, plus you have to have the space on your hard disk to record, say, two four-hour-long HD football games).
b) TiVo "dual buffers" work across show changes
I am in total agreement with this statement. It should be in the Tips document.Milominderbinder2 said:I disagree that this should not be a tip. People should be allowed to decide for themselves if this helps them.
You're right about A. But let me stress this again. The only time I ever use dual buffers is to watch 2 football games that I have already set up to record. This is how I did it on my Directivo too. I realize that people will use dual buffers differently, but I clearly stated in the first line of the first post that this is not for you if you don't want to record the two shows.iacas said:Uh, let's see:
a) not forced to record two shows on the TiVo (this is two things: you have to both start recording and then delete the recordings, plus you have to have the space on your hard disk to record, say, two four-hour-long HD football games).
b) TiVo "dual buffers" work across show changes
But Craig, I think it's important to include something about when you catch up to live. To me, it works as everyone should expect it to when you are in the middle of a show, but if you are caught up and you try to jump to the other and you come back to the first and it didn't maintain your pause position, then people will complain that it doesn't work.Milominderbinder2 said:I for one kept having intermittant success with other approaches until Matt experiemented and found this workaround for the HR20.
Here are the keystrokes I will show in the Unofficial Tips & Tricks version 2.9:
While in a program, Click the ® RECORD button to begin recording.
Press GUIDE twice to go to the Guide. Find the second program.
Click the ® RECORD button to begin recording the second program.
Repeat these steps below to go back and forth between the programs:
- Press ll PAUSE to pause the program where you are.
- Press BACK then ▲Up or ▼Down arrow to the other program & click Play.
When you are through, you can keep the two programs or delete them. To delete the two recordings:
- Press LIST then - DASH twice to delete the first entry.
- Press - DASH twice to delete the second entry.
This is no where near as nice as my TiVo's Dual Buffers. TiVo lets me just hit PREV to toggle back and forth. Real Dual Buffers is so important to users that they rated it more important than any other feature including OTA in the Wishlist Survey.
I disagree that this should not be a tip. People should be allowed to decide for themsleves if this helps them.
Matt, thanks again for helping us.
Take care,
- Craig
Murphy's Law Corollary: If you light a candle the darkness will curse you.
I have to wonder if D*TV is even seeing the Survey? Can anyone confirm they are taking this into advisement.brott said:I haven't tried it, but this likely a usable solution. However, I agree with others that this is NOT a real solution. The DVR should do the work for me. I've seen it work before, so I know it can be done. If I had this feature, I would be EXTREMELY happy with HR20. This is the one feature that I would most certainly like to have.
