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Dual Tuner Question

961 views 13 replies 10 participants last post by  JSkip 
#1 ·
I had a new dish and an HR20 installed yesterday. My old receiver was a Tivo unit.

I have 2 lines feeding the DVR. With my old Tivo unit, I could toggle between the two signals using the down arrow button, therefore watching 2 shows.

How can I switch between the two signals with the HR20? The D* techs can't answer this question.

Thanks
 
#3 ·
matto said:
they can't answer because its not possible. the box is too braindead to let you do such a simple and logical operaton. sorry to be the bearer of bad news.
I would say DirecTV decided they would rather have 1 90 minute live buffer than 2 30 minute buffers. While I disagree with this decision I don't think it is because the box is "braindead." That said there is a work around to watch 2 shows and jump back and forth between them. Take a look at the unofficial tips and tricks post at the top of this forum.
 
#5 ·
Unless they could offer two 90 minute buffers I doubt they will ever do it.

I have to wonder if D* will ever make the switch to dual buffers. For the average viewer (those mostly not in this forum) they know about the 90 minute buffer. What happens to all of these people when they wake up one day and they have only a 30 minute buffer. They will call D* and the CSR will explain that they have made a switch in the software so that you can now buffer two shows for 30 minutes (maybe 45?) each just like in the olden days of Tivo. The person calling could care less about the Tivo days and just wants their 90 minute buffer back.

How do you expalin that to people expecially when you never wanred them about it?

Thoughts
 
#6 ·
Mixer said:
Unless they could offer two 90 minute buffers I doubt they will ever do it.

I have to wonder if D* will ever make the switch to dual buffers. For the average viewer (those mostly not in this forum) they know about the 90 minute buffer. What happens to all of these people when they wake up one day and they have only a 30 minute buffer. They will call D* and the CSR will explain that they have made a switch in the software so that you can now buffer two shows for 30 minutes (maybe 45?) each just like in the olden days of Tivo. The person calling could care less about the Tivo days and just wants their 90 minute buffer back.

How do you expalin that to people expecially when you never wanred them about it?

Thoughts
I don't know. 90 mins is a long time to buffer. The only place I could see it comming in handy is for a football game or other sports program. I guess I could see your point because D* largely targets sports fans. If this is their first DVR and have had no experience with TIVO then they may complain.:sure:
 
#7 ·
I personally would rather have two 45 minute buffers than one 90 minute buffer but think of all the people that would see it as breaking something instead of giving us aold Tivo users our dual buffers back.

I hope that they do switch to dual buffers I miss it a lot on my downstairs TV. Luckily can still do it upstairs.

I just think D* has too many things to fix to worry about something that is not losing them new customers.
 
#8 ·
The steps for watching two live shows at the same time are detailed in the HR-20 Tips and Tricks. If you did not have Dual Live Buffers, you would not be able to record two programs at once.

I also wish this were as simple as on my TiVo but the Dual Live Buffers feature does exist and can be used. The only positive for doing this with the HR-20 is that you are no longer bound by 30 minute buffers, just the capacity of your receiver.

I know some have gotten programmable remotes that allow them to assign multiple keystrokes to one key so that they can easily switch between two live programs.

Take care,

- Craig
 
#9 ·
Mixer said:
I just think D* has too many things to fix to worry about something that is not losing them new customers.
I agree that they have larger issues right now than dual buffers, but I disagree that its not losing them customers. I know a large number of people that aren't ordering the HR20 just because of the dual buffers issue. Once they go to MPEG4 fully and the HR10 is rendered inoperable for HD, this will become even more of an issue, especially because Dish Network has an HDDVR receiver that allows for dual buffers.
 
#10 ·
First things first. Welcome to the forum! :welcome_s

The HR20 doesn't have dual buffers (yet) but there is a workaround available as shown below. If you haven't already, be sure to take a look at the excellent "Tips & Tricks" document as written by Milominderbinder2 HERE.

WATCH TWO SHOWS AT ONCE - The trick is to temporarily record both…
While in the first show, click the ® RECORD button
Press ll PAUSE before you leave a show so it will not play without you.
Press GUIDE twice to go to the second program
Click the ® RECORD button to begin recording the second show
Press LIST and then press SELECT to select the other show
Press ll PAUSE before you leave a show so it will not play without you.
Press LIST and then press SELECT to select the other show
Now that your shows are set up, Press ll PAUSE and then PREV to go back and forth between the programs.

Hope this helps.
 
#12 ·
I think the "they can only offer 1 buffer because it's 90 minutes" & "one longer buffer is better than 2 shorter ones" arguments are absurd. These things have enough hard drive space that we could (and should?) have two 90 minute buffers. This thing can store hundreds of hours of SD programming and quite a bit of HD as well - even more now that MPEG 4 is being used.

So I really don't buy hard drive space/buffer length as a valid excuse.

They made a choice, either purposely or naively - neither of which is justifiable, to only give us one live buffer. (Many people assume it was so one tuner would always be free for on-demand ppv recording.) Hopefully they will listen to their customers and change it - but even if they do, I have a feeling it's pretty far down their list of priorities right now.

Now that my ranting is over, I must admit that I am pretty happy with the rest of the HR20. Give me dual live buffers and I will be pretty much content - I haven't had many problems with actual operation at all. Knock on wood.....
 
#13 ·
Mixer said:
I just think D* has too many things to fix to worry about something that is not losing them new customers.
I know of at least one customer who sent hers back immediately after finding out you couldn't toggle between the tuners. However, that is definitely the exception. It does however contribute to the overall negative feelings about the unit.
 
#14 ·
Thanks for the info. I must admit, I really do miss having the dual buffer capability. I used it all the time to with my Tivo unit.

I don't need the buffers to be more than 30 minutes either. I wouldn't think adding this would be a big deal.

It will take me a while to get comfortable with the HR20. But, life goes on, at least I have HD capability for the first time!!!

J
 
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