[macnews]

I am a DirecTv subscriber but seriously looking at Dish.

The 625 DVR is very interesting and I like the one box option for two TVs. My question that I can't seem to get a straight answer on is how this can work in my home and what I can/can't record.

My potential set up is like this:

one 625 in dual mode to run 2 TV's in different parts of the house, with getting local channels over the sat recvr.

My question is can I be watching ABC on one TV, History Ch on the other TV and recording Discovery channel on the DVR?

I have been told no, if I am watching two shows I can't record a third on the DVR. I would need to stop watching one and record one.

I have been told yes, but it is a work around. The work around is to turn off one TV. Start recording Discovery channl on the DVR and then watch the History channel on that same TV. I then can go to the second TV and start watching ABC (again, from the sat recvr) where upon I will be presented with an error meeage saying it can't record. If I just ignore the error message I can watch whatever I want to on the second TV, just no live rewind. Yet, at least I get to record 2 shows from the other TV set.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[garys]

What you are stateing is correct. Only way to record two shows and watch a third with one 625 is the third show has already been recorded. Dual tuner receiver is just that - two tuners, what you seem to want is three tuners, you can buy a second single receiver and hook that into the system, ebay sells some for around $50.00. There would be a $5.00 a month additional receiver charge.

 

[skyviewmark1]

My question is can I be watching ABC on one TV, History Ch on the other TV and recording Discovery channel on the DVR?
!

The Real short answer is.... NO. One Recording can only take place on one tuner. The 625 has two tuners. So therfore it can record two programs only at one time. You could go with a 622 and an OTA Antenna and you would be able to record 3 separate things, as long as one was on the OTA Tuner. 622 has two satellite tuners and one OTA Tuner.

 

[macnews]

Thank you for those who have responded!

The issue isn't that I need to be recording three things at once - at least I don't want to intentionally. Let me see if I can better explain it....

I was told that the DVR automatically records what ever you are watching. So if I am watching two different shows I can't record another show I want to watch later. Great example of this is on Friday night when we have friends come over. We stick the kids in one room watching toon disney or some such. The adults then watch bravo in the other rooom. My problem is I am a scifi fan so I have to record Stargate/Atlantis/BSG, etc. on the other channel.

What I have been told is I can't do this because the DVR would automatically be recording Toon disney and Bravo since those are being watched on the TVs.

I understand I have 2 tuners so I can't record a third show. BUT, can I trick the DVR? Since the kids really could care less (they are 4 and 6) about a DVR commercial skip or any other features, can I have it record SciFi channel and Bravo and then turn on Toon disney? One person told me this was possible, I would just get an error message saying it can't record Toon disney - which I don't care anyway.

Can anyone else verify this? If not, then I may need two seperate boxes.

As a side note - I am not going to go with anything OTA. One of the reasons I am switching to Dish is I can't get locals on DirecTv - they are offered but long story. So I am looking forward to a nice clear channel on all my locals.

 

[robert koerner]

My experience has been that once I got the ability to record what I was interested in, I stopped watch "live" broadcasts.

So with the 522/625 you can record two shows at once and watch what has been recorded for entertainment.

With the exception of the few "major" networks, everything seems to be repeat broadcasted many times.

So, your kids can watch cartoons live, you can watch what you have recorded from Bravo, and be recording something else.

It takes a while to get used to the idea that you no longer have to watch anything when it is broadcasted. And, you can record things you might be interested in, and just delete them if they aren't interesting, and move onto something that is. Or just stop the program, and go back later and finish it.

I watch something interesting during the national news broadcasts, and record both NBC and CBS broadcasts. When they are done, I watch one, skip the boaring parts, and then scan the second one for anything not covered in the first.

Bob

 

[macnews]

My experience has been that once I got the ability to record what I was interested in, I stopped watch "live" broadcasts.

So with the 522/625 you can record two shows at once and watch what has been recorded for entertainment.

With the exception of the few "major" networks, everything seems to be repeat broadcasted many times.

So, your kids can watch cartoons live, you can watch what you have recorded from Bravo, and be recording something else.

It takes a while to get used to the idea that you no longer have to watch anything when it is broadcasted. And, you can record things you might be interested in, and just delete them if they aren't interesting, and move onto something that is. Or just stop the program, and go back later and finish it.

I watch something interesting during the national news broadcasts, and record both NBC and CBS broadcasts. When they are done, I watch one, skip the boaring parts, and then scan the second one for anything not covered in the first.
Bob

This is something I have considered as well. Certainly possible this will be the case most nights. Still, is what I proposed possible?

 

[garys]

It is not a question of 'recording' but of the tuners being in use. The way around this is to record ToonDisney sometime previous as to free up that tuner for your SciFi recording. While you watch a previously recorded program/s, the tuner is then free to record while this is going on. Also note that many of the primetime SciFi programs are rebroadcast later that same night.

 

[macnews]

It is not a question of 'recording' but of the tuners being in use. The way around this is to record ToonDisney sometime previous as to free up that tuner for your SciFi recording. While you watch a previously recorded program/s, the tuner is then free to record while this is going on. Also note that many of the primetime SciFi programs are rebroadcast later that same night.

Ok, I don't know how else to put this and I don't want to sound ungrateful but no one is directly answering my question.

I don't care what I need to record the situation is:

I have been told that with the two tuners if you are just WATCHING tv (nothing recorded, nothing I want to record for later, just have the tv on and turned to a channel) the 625 reciever will automatically record whatever is playing - wether you want it to or not.

Thus, if you have 2 different tvs connected and are watching two different shows on both tvs the 625 DVR will automatically record both shows.

The question then is: Can I make the 625 DVR NOT automatically record at least one show by the method below -

I have been told this is possible, but this was by a sales person. The process he mentioned was to go to one tv, start recording one channel and then watch another. Then go to the second tv and start watching any channel. He tells me an error message will pop up saying it can't record the live tv (or something to that effect) and you just click OK and can start watching.

Does that work?

 

[AKDishuser]

Ok, I don't know how else to put this and I don't want to sound ungrateful but no one is directly answering my question.

Macnews, let's think about this in terms of WHERE the image you see on your TV comes from. There are two basic sources: 1) off the hard drive of your DVR, or 2) from a broadcast via a tuner. Agree?

For source #2, you say you have two tuners on your 625 system. (You also have separate OTA tuners in your TVs, of course, but it doesn't sound like you plan to watch OTA broadcasts.) Now, even though Dish's receivers automatically record satellite broadcasts to the HD of your receiver through "buffering" as you watch a show, this doesn't magically add a third tuner to your system. When you watch "live" TV via a Dish tuner and DVR setup, you are actually seeing a feed that is a few seconds delayed. The signal comes through your antenna and cable to the box, is recorded to a TEMPORARY file on your hard drive, and then played back to you almost simultaneously. As you must know by now, when you change channels or turn the system off this temporary file disappears. Also, the temporary live TV file only holds about a hour's worth of information. If you want to keep what you're seeing, you have to reverse back to the beginning of the show in the temporary file and then hit the "record" button.

If you have two TVs and two tuners, at any given time you have only two opportunities for watching and/or recording live broadcasts. If there are three shows on Dish at the same time that you want to either watch or record, you simply cannot do this. "Turning off" the automatic buffering in the live feed system would simply mean you are watching the broadcast totally in synch instead of a few seconds after it happens, and that you would lose the option of recording it permanently. It would be more like watching an OTA broadcast without a DVR. Again, I repeat, it would NOT add a third Dish tuner to your system.

Repeat after me: if I have TWO tuners I can only watch or record TWO shows that are broadcast at the same time.

If I were you, I would make the kids watch pre-recorded cartoons and use your tuners for the show you want to watch and record!

 

[macnews]

AKDishuser -

I do agree about the two basic sources. I also understand you can not, in anyway, add a third tuner to the system.

Thank you for answering my question. Not sure I totally understand it all - a bit better now but it will be something I will have to experiment with.

Thanks to everyone who posted. Each post was helpful!