Newbie questions!

[nwflyboy]

So I'll probably call tomorrow to place my order. Since I'd like to support this excellent forum, I'll probably call the DishStore guys (unless someone can give me a good reason to order through someone else). As best I can tell, price, hardware, extra goodies, etc. will all be the same regardless of who I order through (right?), except through these guys I'll get an extra rebate (in my case, a VISA gift card for $125, since I'm going to order the Top 200 package) - and help support the forum - a nice win-win.

Running through my hardware setup one last time, here's what I think I'm looking at:

TV#1 (downstairs, family room): This is a new HD TV. I want the DVR on this.

TV#2 (upstairs, bedroom): This is an SD TV, and probably will not be upgraded anytime soon (the wife says one new TV is plenty). We do not want/need the ability to record here, but do want to be able to play back content recorded on TV#1 downstairs.

TV#3 (upstairs, office): This is a small, SD TV. It will not be upgraded. I do not want/need to record or play recordings here. It just needs a signal.

Plugging these options in to Dish's website, it appears to want to give me:

• One 622/722 HD Duo (2TV) DVR (I assume this gets attached to TV#1, with an extra feed to TV#2)
• One 301/311/311k/381 SD Solo (I assume this gets attached to TV#3)

Does this make sense based on my diagram? I know I could ask for other configurations (several folks have suggested alternatives here) but I'd prefer to minimize how many miles of cable get run around/across/through the house, and honestly we're not likely to ditch either of the two analog, SD TVs upstairs.

Right now we have coax cables coming in from 3 different points in the house's exterior walls: the two upstairs TVs have pretty simple cables that come in through holes near the TVs. The downstairs TV is fed via coax cable that comes up through a hole in the living room floor. That's fine. That cable is run in from the outside of the house into the basement (unfinished, some of which has easy access but some of which is an uncomfortable crawl squeeze through a crawl space), then it comes up through a small hole in the living room floor (behind our entertainment center).

Currently there is no cable running from the room that has TV#1 in it to the room with TV#2 in it, and I'm not looking to drill any more holes in the house. I'm certainly not looking to have visible cables running around.

I'm assuming that there will need to be a cable running from TV#1 up to TV#2 - at least if I want to be able to watch recordings from the DVR on the TV upstairs. How is that going to work? Will there essentially be two cables running into TV#1 - one that brings the signal in from outside (following the old coax routing?), and a second cable coming out of TV#1, going back outside the house, then routed up the exterior and then back in the house to feed TV#2? How big (fat) are these cables? I haven't been bothered by single feeds of coax, but would rather avoid doubling the size of the cable holes in walls. How good are these guys about sealing the holes?

Sorry if I seem to be obsessing over details, but I don't want there to be any surprises, any excessive/unsightly cabling, or damage to the house. I do want as simple, clean an installation as possible.

Many thanks again for the help - this is a great resource.

 

[dare2be]

I'm assuming that there will need to be a cable running from TV#1 up to TV#2 - at least if I want to be able to watch recordings from the DVR on the TV upstairs. How is that going to work? Will there essentially be two cables running into TV#1 - one that brings the signal in from outside (following the old coax routing?), and a second cable coming out of TV#1, going back outside the house, then routed up the exterior and then back in the house to feed TV#2? How big (fat) are these cables? I haven't been bothered by single feeds of coax, but would rather avoid doubling the size of the cable holes in walls. How good are these guys about sealing the holes?

I believe I can answer this. The TV2 feed from the TV1 receiver can be backfed from the receiver thru the existing coax that will be sending the satellite feed from the dish to the receiver, so ideally, you won't need any new cables fed through walls or floors, except for maybe some extra diplexer/combiners in the basement/outside/directly hidden behind TV1. If you give the tech the constraint that no new cables be fed through the walls or floors or ceilings, I'll bet they'll be able to accomodate.

 

[Mr Tony]

the setup looks perfect.
dare answered the info on the cabling

One 301/311/311k/381 SD Solo (I assume this gets attached to TV#3)

I dont know if Dish still installs 311's. They might give you a 211 which is a HD reciever (same $7 extra receiver fee as the 311 but is HD)

Pray they dont give you a 381...they are J U N K...I owned one when they were a 811 (same unit just different number) and it has lots of issues

 

[bigbyrd4]

If it were me, I would have TV#3 get its programming from the Duo DVR on TV1 and get either a 211 for TV2 or a single receiver DVR for that TV. That way you can watch something on TV2 while the Duo is recording 2 programs. You will find that you will easilly have two things recording at the same time, especially in September when all of the new shows start up. With a 211 on TV2 you can pay a one time fee of $40 and hook an external hard drive up to it then you will have another DVR in the bedroom. Also, with a 211 on TV2 you can watch HD programming on that TV when you buy a new one later on without any new hardware or anything. This should be the same cost (except for the one time $40 fee) since the 211 is counted as another receiver and not another DVR.

 

[Mr Tony]

I've mentioned that before too but the OP wants to see stuff directly from the main DVR

 

[bigbyrd4]

I've mentioned that before too but the OP wants to see stuff directly from the main DVR

Yep, I saw that. I just wanted to make sure he knew that if the main DVR was recording two things he (or his wife) won't be able to watch anything except what is recording on that tuner or something that is already recorded. With the 211 in the bedroom he can watch whatever he wants to independent of the main DVR. Since the OP is not familiar with the DISH DVRs he may not understand all of the things that can and will come up.It's all good!!!

 

[dwarren2]

I would go with the 722 for TV1 and the home distribution from that to tv2. I would get a 211 for tv3 and add an ehd for a 1 time fee of $40 to give it dvr funstionality. Not necessarily for recording but to be able to pause/rewind/skip. And if the OP ever decides to upgrade to a small hdtv, he's all set.

 

[dwarren2]

Yep, I saw that. I just wanted to make sure he knew that if the main DVR was recording two things he (or his wife) won't be able to watch anything except what is recording on that tuner or something that is already recorded. With the 211 in the bedroom he can watch whatever he wants to independent of the main DVR. Since the OP is not familiar with the DISH DVRs he may not understand all of the things that can and will come up.It's all good!!!

The OP wants to be able to watch what is recorded on the dvr in the bedroom as well as the living room. That means the bedroom tv must be hooked up to the dvr.

 

[KKlare]

Consider you have 2 outlets on the single RF cable from a 722--you pick the channels. So if all TVs are not watching different things and there are not new recordings, you may get by with just the 722. Then all sets can access the recordings without a second box. It depends on how your household works. It's nice to have an independent tuner for the remote, but just saying you can save.

-Ken

 

[nwflyboy]

OK, so my installation was done today and I've been enjoying things for the past few hours. But I'm still a little unclear on a couple aspects of the DVR.

There's a 722 on TV#1, with TV#2 fed from that. Let's leave TV#3 out of things for now (it has a 211 but isn't part of the mix here).

It appears that using the DVR (which is located next to TV#1), I have the choice to "send" the recording to either TV#1 or TV#2 - although I think that once you set up a recording (a "timer" in the vernacular) so it's set to send the recording to one TV or another, I can't seem to change the destination (have to delete the "timer" then create a new one and can set the destination then?).

I set up a bunch of recordings, not sure if they were set up for TV#1 or TV#2. When I tried to change the channel on TV #1, I got the warning that the recording would be canceled if I proceeded. I had expected that I would be able to make a recording while watcing a different channel on that TV. Maybe I "sent" the recording to the wrong destination?

So let's say I only want to record one thing at a time. I want to watch TV#1, and the wife wants to watch TV#2. Neither of us want to watch the channel that's being recorded (and neither wants to watch recorded shows) - we each want to watch live TV on both TV#1 and TV#2, but also record a program at the same time. I assume this is possible, correct? Assuming it is, which TV do I "send" the recording to to allow that?

Sorry if I seem confused, I am - maybe I'm just dazzled by having so many channels to pick from.

Thanks.

 

[Mr Tony]

When you set up a recording you have the option to have it record on tuner 1 or tuner 2. Most folks have it set for TV2. I know there is an option in the menus for "record plus" which means when you set up a timer it automatically records to TV2 unless there is already a program set to record. Then it would record on TV1

So let's say I only want to record one thing at a time. I want to watch TV#1, and the wife wants to watch TV#2. Neither of us want to watch the channel that's being recorded (and neither wants to watch recorded shows) - we each want to watch live TV on both TV#1 and TV#2, but also record a program at the same time. I assume this is possible, correct?

no. The DVR can only support 2 channels at one time. So if you are recording something on TV2 that tuner cannot change the channel. Conversely if you set it to record on TV1 then you can't change the channel.

 

[osu1991]

If you were both wanting to watch live tv at the same time and record something, then you should have had a 612 installed on the bedroom tv and run the tv 2 output of the 722 to your office.

 

[TNGTony]

If you have an OTA module and an antenna, you could watch an OTA channel while recording two other channels, or you can watch two recordings while recording two other programs from statellite and 1 or 2 other OTA channels at the same time.

 

[nwflyboy]

OK, I think I have (at least part of it) figured out.

It appears that whichever TV is the "recipient" of the recording, that TV must watch either what's being recorded, or something else that was previously recorded.

It also appears - and this is a surprise - that you can not designate which TV is the recipient of any specific recording - that is, you just say "send 'em all to TV#1 or TV#2", you can't send record one program to TV#1 and another to TV#2. This seems like a significant limitation that I was not expecting.

Now, I don't have a problem with being limited to recording one thing at a time. But if the above is all correct, then I'm disappointed. I want to be able to just select a bunch of things to record, and want to be able to watch live TV on both TV#1 and TV#2, and not worry if a recording is happening at the same time on either. If I understand things correctly, if there's a recording taking place, then on one TV or the other we won't be able to watch live TV. Ouch.

Am I missing some trick here, or is this really a limitation with my setup?

Thanks.

 

[osu1991]

You got the basics of it. Satellite is not like cable. You are limited by how many tuners are in the receiver. 2 satellite tuners and 1 Over the Air ATSC tuner. Therefore if a tuner is being used to record something, then you can't use it to watch live tv. If you have an antenna and can receive locals with it, then you could record network programming on the antenna and use the satellite tuner to view the satellite programming on tv 1. Whatever tv you set the timer on is what tv tuner it will record on, unless you go into the menu's and enable Record Plus and set it to record to a specific tuner, either tuner 1 or tuner 2. To enable Record Plus select menu>preferences>record plus

 

[nwflyboy]

"Record Plus" is on, I did find that setting, thanks. But it appears to be a global setting - not a per recording setting, correct? Can you switch that for each timer you set up?

 

[osu1991]

Its global

 

[KKlare]

You should know the little button next to the power button behind the front door is single/dual mode.
In dual (user) mode TV1 and TV2 record and play for separate TVs.
In single (user) mode the recorder will switch to the unused tuner as needed by recordings.
But it will not switch in the middle of a program. It will warn and do the recording.
Dual mode will try to lay out recordings to not conflict.
Dual mode is perfect for a single TV with lots of recordings going on.
Single mode enables 2 users but does restrict their recording vs. watching.
-Ken

 

[dare2be]

First of all, set as many of your network television timers to the OTA channels if you have them, that will free up both sat tuners for TV1 and TV2 live viewing. Secondly, set Record Plus to the tuner you use the least for all other non-OTA channels' timers (or Dish Pass - All Channels timers). I have a ton of timers set up based on keywords so I have a daily regimen of resolving duplicates and setting priorities of my scheduled recordings. Sometimes I will switch the Record Plus from one tuner to the other on the fly in order to swap the tuner that a particular upcoming recording will record to, if I am watching live tv on the tuner that is about to fire (this usually requires skipping the upcoming recording, setting record plus to the other tuner, and then restoring that recording). Once you have built up your DVR list of recordings, you'll find yourself watching a pre-recorded DVR title when you have both tuners recording something. It will get easier to deal with the more you get used to it.

Another thing: I think you said you have the 722, not the 722k, correct? First of all, you can't watch live tv on the OTA channels on TV2, and IF you set up a Dish Pass timer while you are on TV2, using the TV2 remote, that timer will NOT search the OTA channels. To avoid this problem, make sure to set up all your timers from TV1.

 

[dwarren2]

Many people are confused by the terms TV1 and TV2. As far as recording, they should be Tuner 1 and tuner 2. Each tuner is an HD tuner as is the OTA tuner.Usually tuner 2 is the default for the first recording. Then there is TV1 and TV2 outputs. Any recording made by a tuner is accessible from both outputs. The TV1 output will be HD while the TV2 output will be down converted to SD. Once you start a recording on any tuner, you can then go to the DVR function and watch that recording.