[RACJ2]

I'm really enjoying the features of the HR34 and glad to once again have PIP. It's one of the reason I decided to upgrade to it. Two of my flat screen TV's can actually do PIP w/o an HR34 and I used it quite a bit when I had cable and a cable card to feed the PIP. When I switched to DIRECTV, I didn't want to pay extra for 2 more DVR's to feed the PIP on both TV's, so I've been without it for a few years. From prior experience, I'm quite familiar with what you could do with PIP. So here are some items that would be nice enhancements to the HR34 PIP feature:

• Buttons on the remote or discrete codes we can use for third party remotes - PIP On/Off, Move PIP location, PIP/POP. I've created macros on my AR remote for PIP On and Off, but it takes so long with so many right arrow commands.
• PIP Sound - In between periods of an NHL game, I like to watch another live game on the large screen and listen to the commentators comments of the other game between periods. No way to listen to the sound in the PIP, so POP is the next best alternative.
• PIP while viewing a remote recording - Sometimes I want to monitor a live NHL game and watch a remote recording. Found out when viewing a remote recording, PIP will not work.

Those are the main things I would like to see. Would anyone else like to see any of these features or do you have have anything to add?

 

[Chuck W]

All 3 sounds great to have but #1 is an absolute must. I am getting mine installed on Monday and I could not believe they don't have a discrete command to access PiP. I was thinking they would just use the yellow button or something like that.

I've been trying to think of a 100% reliable macro to set up but I can't because it matter whether the channel banner is visible or not. If it's not, my though of macro works great but if it's already on screen, then it fails because it will turn off the channel banner.

 

[Drucifer]

I would like PIP to be able to mix LiveTV and DVR Playbacks

 

[naijai]

I would like PIP to be able to mix LiveTV and DVR Playbacks

PIP already does either 2 live shows, 2 recorded shows or mix of both

 

[Drucifer]

PIP already does either 2 live shows, 2 recorded shows or mix of both

Two liveTV, I can do. The other are a solid no. I get bonked trying to setup PIP while watching a recording (PIP is grayed out) and an error message when in liveTV trying to setup a recording for in PIP.

 

[Garyunc]

How about a swap option?

 

[nsykes]

Totally agree. One of the main reasons I got the HR34 was for PIP but it is so clunky.
Agree that they should just make the yellow button the on/off.
Sure am hoping that there are some sortware enhancements on the way to make this a better experience.
Its kind of embarrassing actually.
Was showing a buddy that uses PIP a ton on cable and needless to say they weren't impressed.

 

[naijai]

Two liveTV, I can do. The other are a solid no. I get bonked trying to setup PIP while watching a recording (PIP is grayed out) and an error message when in liveTV trying to setup a recording for in PIP.

Ok worked for me 2 weeks ago but seems to be gone now
I know I had 2 recordings using PIP. Oh well hope it's added back

Update:
Tested it and PIP does work on recorded shows but only shows recorded on the HR34, will not work for shows on other receivers. I would assume this would be since the receiver has to switch to the deca to stream the show and switching from the tuners/hard drives which the PIP uses.

 

[RunnerFL]

How about a swap option?

You can swap between the two "pictures" by pressing the down arrow.

 

[RACJ2]

Hopefully they will make some of the improvements to PIP that are listed above. Having macros on my AR remote to do PIP On, PIP Off and PIP Menu helps, but it's still clunky. Currently I'm using PIP for monitoring live tv until a commercial ends, but not using it as much as I would, if it had all the features I mentioned.

In the meantime, I connected an old pc to my 19" lcd that is set up next to my 50" plasma. Since the HR34 has 5 tuners, I start recordings for games I want to monitor and use DIRECTV2PC to view them on my 19" lcd. That way I can use 2 tuners on the HR34 to do everything I need to w/o having to add a second DVR. I have audio feeds going from my HR34 and pc to my receiver, so I can listen to sound on either tv. Another option I have is to use my laptop with DIRECTV2PC to watch a third game or instead of using the pc/19".

It works, but I would prefer that I could do everything easily with the PIP on the HR34.

 

[RACJ2]

All 3 sounds great to have but #1 is an absolute must. I am getting mine installed on Monday and I could not believe they don't have a discrete command to access PiP. I was thinking they would just use the yellow button or something like that.

I've been trying to think of a 100% reliable macro to set up but I can't because it matter whether the channel banner is visible or not. If it's not, my though of macro works great but if it's already on screen, then it fails because it will turn off the channel banner.

On the macro question, you could use "Exit" as the first command, then the yellow button and a series of right arrows. Or just press exit to clear the banner and have the macro start with the yellow button.

 

[Chuck W]

On the macro question, you could use "Exit" as the first command, then the yellow button and a series of right arrows. Or just press exit to clear the banner and have the macro start with the yellow button.

Yea, forgot about the Exit command. I just wish they would either add the discrete code or just use the Yellow button. Right now, the Yellow button is just a duplicate of the Info button, so why not.

 

[Drucifer]

Forget the green, yellow & blue color buttons. They're being retired because the RVU standardize remote lacks them.

 

[David Ortiz]

Forget the green, yellow & blue color buttons. They're being retired because the RVU standardize remote lacks them.

It's entirely possible that the green, yellow, and blue buttons will be repurposed for the HMC. PIP is available only on the TV directly connected to the HMC. RVU clients can't do PIP, so they wouldn't need to have these color buttons on their remote controls. We'll just have to wait and see.

 

[RACJ2]

The color buttons on the remote are used for so many things on different menus, I can't see how they could drop them. How would you skip forward and back 12hrs in the guide? Delete programs from the Playlist? Jump to a future date and time in the Guide? Delete a series links? Doesn't seem possible that they would change how all these items work, so they can eliminate buttons.

 

[RunnerFL]

The color buttons on the remote are used for so many things on different menus, I can't see how they could drop them. How would you skip forward and back 12hrs in the guide?

Left and Right buttons.

Delete programs from the Playlist?

Red is not going away, the new remotes have red just not green, yellow and blue.

Jump to a future date and time in the Guide?

That remains to be seen.

Delete a series links?

Red

 

[Drew2k]

On the macro question, you could use "Exit" as the first command, then the yellow button and a series of right arrows. Or just press exit to clear the banner and have the macro start with the yellow button.

If you are watching a recording from the playlist you wouldn't want to have EXIT as the first step in a macro - it will kick you out of playback to live TV (assuming no graphics are on screen).

 

[TheRatPatrol]

Like I've said before, here is where the PIP buttons should have been on the remote, along with a move button.

 

[Garyunc]

You can swap between the two "pictures" by pressing the down arrow.

Thanks Runner!! That helps.

 

[Chuck W]

Left and Right buttons.

To skip ahead 12 hrs? Then how would you move to just the next program? Or are you saying they should o away with jumping ahead 12 hrs and just make up scroll thru each program one by one? I hope you are not saying that.

Sorry, but with all this added functionality Directv is cramming into their DVRs, tha LAST thing they should be doing is REMOVING buttons. They should be creating a more intuitive remote design and that includes more buttons, in a better design.