Newbie Order, how does this sound?

[Fateswarning]

I have three TVs.

One in the living room, one in the master bedroom and one in the kids room.

I need at least one DVR and I would like to be able to pause live TV in the master bedroom. To do this, it sounds like I am going to need two DVRs.

So, I am thinking about going with either: 1) one Home Media Center and one HD DVR and an HD receiver or 2) just two HD DVRs and one HD receiver.

It is going to cost me $99 for the HMC and $99 for the HD DVR or just $99 for two HD DVRs.

Two HD DVRs would give me the capability of recording four shows at once and 400 hours (SD) each, which would be plenty for me. Other than the high capacity and capability of recording multiple shows, are there any other benefits to having the HMC?

Any thoughts or comments would be appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[jcrandall]

I would recomend the HMC for $99, and get two free HD receivers. The HMC can record 5 things at once, and is easier to manage than balancing two different DVRs. Also is a 1TB hard drive, the HD-DVRs are 500GB, so you'd get the same amount of recording capacity.

Either way you can get two HD receivers free. I don't know that you can get two HD-DVRs free, I think it is $99 for the second. Again I'd get the HMC instead.

Pretty good offer right now, $35 for first year, $60 for second year (choice xtra), and free Sunday Ticket for 2012, free premiums for 3 months.

Remember to use a referral and save $10 for the first 10 months too, makes it $25/mo to start.

Advanced receiver fee is $10/mo if you use auto billpay. (HD, DVR, Multiroom fees).

 

[Fateswarning]

Thanks for the advice. The only thing is I would really like to be able to pause live TV in the MB.

As far as internet apps and VOD can you do the same thing with the HD DVR as the HMC?

 

[jcrandall]

As for recording on an HD box (non-dvr), hit record, it will immediately start recording to the HMC, then hit list, play, pause.

VOD and apps work the exact same on both HDDVR and HMC (though some apps like Pandora are still in development on the HMC, but should be up and running in the next month or so).

 

[JM42]

As for recording on an HD box (non-dvr), hit record, it will immediately start recording to the HMC, then hit list, play, pause.

Don't do this. It is annoying as hell, you have to start recording before you know you need it. You can't just randomly hit pause. Phone rings - you have to fumble with the remote. Something distracts you and you miss something - you can't skip back unless you started the recording before the distraction.

At minimum get two DVRs. If I were ordering new I would definitely get the HMC and an additional DVR for at least the master. It will be worth the extra $99.

 

[Fateswarning]

Don't do this. It is annoying as hell, you have to start recording before you know you need it. You can't just randomly hit pause. Phone rings - you have to fumble with the remote. Something distracts you and you miss something - you can't skip back unless you started the recording before the distraction.

At minimum get two DVRs. If I were ordering new I would definitely get the HMC and an additional DVR for at least the master. It will be worth the extra $99.

Okay, thanks. Even though it's $99 up front and $8 per month, it would be worth it to be able to pause live.

What about "balancing" two DVR's as jcrandall mentioned?

I have two now but they are not whole home types, they are stand alone models. Whould having two whole home types be confusing?

 

[JM42]

Okay, thanks. Even though it's $99 up front and $8 per month, it would be worth it to be able to pause live.

What about "balancing" two DVR's as jcrandall mentioned?

I have two now but they are not whole home types, they are stand alone models. Whould having two whole home types be confusing?

The monthly should be the same for any of the whole home configurations. The only additional cost of the HMC is the up front fee.

The management issue is not that big a deal to me. You should be able to access all recordings from each location. Setting which DVR to record to is the biggest issue. With the HR34 I would take the approach that all "planned" recording gets set up from the HR34. The occasional items that get set up on the bedroom DVR can probably live there for a long time before you need to worry about clean up.

 

[jcrandall]

I have an HMC and an HD-DVR that i use pretty much for myself, the rest of the family shares a HD-DVR.

I put all shows I watch on the HMC. The HD-DVR is set to only record live sports using boolean search strings.
Makes it easy to manage my recordings having everything sourced to the HMC.