DirecTV HD DVR question

[Bruce]

Thinking about going to D* ( have Comcast now), and the one thing I love about the Motorola's HD DVR is the dual HD tuners.

Can I, for example, record 1 show in HD while watching the other show in HD, like 24 on Fox at 9pm and Heroes on NBC also at 9pm.

Just found out this was no go with E*'s unit, hope D* has a better answer....thanks.

 

[rad]

First of all, not sure who told you that E* DVR's only do one recording at a time. The original DVR's (501/508/510) did only one but all the currently released ones can do two concurent DBS streams or three if one of them is an over the air digital channel.

As for DirecTV, all their DVR's can record a max of two channels, either DBS or digital over the air if a HD DVR. In addition if you have a HD DVR you can record a 3rd stream from the video on demand function.

And for both, yes you can record something while watching another program.

 

[Bruce]

First of all, not sure who told you that E* DVR's only do one recording at a time. The original DVR's (501/508/510) did only one but all the currently released ones can do two concurent DBS streams or three if one of them is an over the air digital channel.

As for DirecTV, all their DVR's can record a max of two channels, either DBS or digital over the air if a HD DVR. In addition if you have a HD DVR you can record a 3rd stream from the video on demand function.

And for both, yes you can record something while watching another program.

I don't think you are getting my question, if I am recording one show in HD will I be forced to watch the other show in SD that is on at the same time.

 

[rad]

I don't think you are getting my question, if I am recording one show in HD will I be forced to watch the other show in SD that is on at the same time.

The Dish HD receivers have a more that allow you to connect a SD TV via coax and have the DVR provide content to both the HD (TV1) and SD (TV2) sets. I think you'll still be able to record something in HD while also watching something recorded in HD on TV1.

 

[dcowboy7]

can i piggyback a question as well:

people always say how 1 minute gets cutoff at the beginning and end of shows at times....so can i set the dvr to instead of telling it to record the show can i manually set it to just tell it to start recording 2 minutes (8:58) before the show starts and stop recording 2 minutes after the show ends (10:02) ?

 

[Bruce]

The Dish HD receivers have a more that allow you to connect a SD TV via coax and have the DVR provide content to both the HD (TV1) and SD (TV2) sets. I think you'll still be able to record something in HD while also watching something recorded in HD on TV1.

And again I don't care about that, all I care about is that while I am recording a HD program, will I be able to watch a program in HD that is on at the same time, I knew that E*'s units would not be able to do that which is why I posted this in the D*'s forum.

If not, then I am amazed that Comcast's units ( and record two different shows in HD that are on at the same time) can do that and Satellite's units cannot.

 

[iwc5893]

With D* you can record one show in HD and watch another in HD, and I assume it's the same with E* as well.

 

[rad]

With D* you can record one show in HD and watch another in HD,...

Not accurate, with the HR2X STB's you can record two HD shows concurrently while watching a third HD show.

 

[rad]

And again I don't care about that, all I care about is that while I am recording a HD program, will I be able to watch a program in HD that is on at the same time, I knew that E*'s units would not be able to do that which is why I posted this in the D*'s forum.

If not, then I am amazed that Comcast's units ( and record two different shows in HD that are on at the same time) can do that and Satellite's units cannot.

OK, you can watch one HD channel while recording another HD channel with the D* units. You are also incorrect that that the E* units don't allow for that and was trying to point that out but I guess you don't care that you're working with incorrect information. If you don't believe me ask the question in the E* forums.

 

[Bruce]

OK, you can watch one HD channel while recording another HD channel with the D* units. You are also incorrect that that the E* units don't allow for that and was trying to point that out but I guess you don't care that you're working with incorrect information. If you don't believe me ask the question in the E* forums.

That is what the dealer told me when I was about to sign up ( going for the HD only pack), I asked him if he was for sure, he then called tech support at Dish and they confirmed it, I got back to work, called Dish, asked for tech support and they said while recording one show in HD you cannot view another show in HD that is on at the same time....true or not?

I know you can record a show in HD while watching another recording in HD, that is not my question.

 

[rad]

That is what the dealer told me when I was about to sign up ( going for the HD only pack), I asked him if he was for sure, he then called tech support at Dish and they confirmed it, I got back to work, called Dish, asked for tech support and they said while recording one show in HD you cannot view another show in HD that is on at the same time....true or not?

I know you can record a show in HD while watching another recording in HD, that is not my question.

As I said, ask your question in the E* forum. What you said might be true if you have the DVR configured to support a TV2, but if you're congfigured for TV1 mode only then you should be able to record one program while watching another.

 

[Bruce]

As I said, ask your question in the E* forum. What you said might be true if you have the DVR configured to support a TV2, but if you're configured for TV1 mode only then you should be able to record one program while watching another.

Going to do so, if true then I feel bad for Dish to have so many clueless folks working for them, from the Dealer to two different folks in the tech department.

 

[Rey]

I don't think you are getting my question, if I am recording one show in HD will I be forced to watch the other show in SD that is on at the same time.

you can record 2 hd channels while watching an hd recording on the vip 622 or 722 from E. or record three hd channels at once 2 sat and 1 ota

 

[dcowboy7]

can i piggyback a question as well:

people always say how 1 minute gets cutoff at the beginning and end of shows at times....so can i set the dvr to instead of telling it to record the show can i manually set it to just tell it to start recording 2 minutes (8:58) before the show starts and stop recording 2 minutes after the show ends (10:02) ?

anyone know ?

 

[Rey]

anyone know ?

i know you can do this on E because i currently have this as the default setting. 2min earlier and 2min later. and i have sports events set at up to an hour extra just in case of overtimes and other circumstances.

as far as D i believe you can't set this as a default for all future recordings but you can manually do this for every scheduled recording.

 

[harshness]

And again I don't care about that, all I care about is that while I am recording a HD program, will I be able to watch a program in HD that is on at the same time, I knew that E*'s units would not be able to do that which is why I posted this in the D*'s forum.

I guess we're not getting through to you. The E* HD DVR allows you to watch a recorded HD program while recording up to three other HD programs. The information you got was bad. You cannot watch two HD programs IN HD (one gets down-converted) live, but you couldn't do that with your Comcast DVR either.

The D* receiver can view only one program at a time whether it is recorded or live. In the extreme, you can watch one recorded program and record two new programs, all in HD, simultaneously.

For what you were paying monthly for one Comcast HD DVR, you could lease two or three HD satellite DVRs.

 

[raoul5788]

anyone know ?

Yes, you can adjust the starting times of your recordings. You have a choice of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 10 minutes early. The ending times can be changed by 1, 2, 5, 15, 30, and more minutes late.

 

[dcowboy7]

Yes, you can adjust the starting times of your recordings. You have a choice of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 10 minutes early. The ending times can be changed by 1, 2, 5, 15, 30, and more minutes late.

ok....thx

 

[iwc5893]

Can I, for example, record 1 show in HD while watching the other show in HD, like 24 on Fox at 9pm and Heroes on NBC also at 9pm.

Not accurate, with the HR2X STB's you can record two HD shows concurrently while watching a third HD show.

It was accurate to the OP's original question.

 

[Bruce]

You cannot watch two HD programs IN HD (one gets down-converted) live, but you couldn't do that with your Comcast DVR either.

ummm...yes I can, I can record one in HD and while recording, watch the other show live, I can flip between tuners if I wish, the Comcast DVRs always has dual tuners running live in HD(or SD if you wish).

I feel like I am getting different answers, does the D* or E* provide the same thing as the Comcast boxes-watching one live HD program while recording another live HD program at the same time?