Kenster:
What you are thinking of as "VCR-like" is actually a characteristic of Cable TV (and Antenna).
Satellite requires a "tuner" for each channel being viewed. Almost all satellite receivers, whether they have a PVR inside or not, only have one "tuner", so they can only be used on one channel at a time.
The two satellite providers have the following products that have two tuners instead of one:
DirecTV - DirecTiVo; UltimateTV
Dish Network - DishPVR 721 (in final testing, due soon)
However, there are certain advantages to having two separate satellite PVR receivers, rather than one with two tuners.
If you have several family members, note that only one program at a time can be VIEWED on a two-tuner receiver. This is because they only have one set of outputs. If someone is using it to watch a live program, then you can't also watch a recorded program on its hard disk.
If instead you have two single-tuner PVRs, then two different programs can be watched by two different family members at the same time.
Also, note that with a single-tuner PVR, you CAN watch a RECORDED program while another program is currently recording. And, frankly, when you have PVRs, you will find that you don't watch anything live any more, because if you watch the recording (even 15 minutes later) - you can fast forward through all the commercials.
I have two 501s and I find that having two separate boxes that can show two different programs to two different people is invaluable. For example, my son comes home from school, finishes his homework, and then wants to see some cartoon show (that he has seen 20 times before). Since I have two 501s, he can watch his program, while my wife and I watch the news (or listen to one of the music channels) in another room. This is not possible with just one of the two-tuner models.
PS I also own a standalone TiVo. I use this mainly for its WishList automated search, which of course, does not work without the listings subscription. If - as mentioned above - you don't subscribe to the TiVo service, you don't have any of TiVo's unique features, so I don't see the point of using an unsubscribed TiVo with satellite.