Question about Dish's HD DVR

[Bruce]

I asked the same question in D*'s forums.

Thinking about leaving Comcast and going to either D* or E*.

The one thing I love (and one of the only things) about Comcast's units is the ability to record one show in HD while watching another show in HD that is on at the same time ( for example, Monday's at 9pm-24 is on Fox, Heroes is on NBC), can Dish's units do that and/or record two shows in HD at the same time...also this has nothing to do with OTA, just the signal from the Satellites.

I have had one dealer and two Tech Support folks from Dish tell me that while recording one show in HD I would have to view the other show in SD...true or not?

 

[r_childress]

You can record an HD show on TV2 while at the same watching and recording an HD show on TV1.

 

[papayazz]

I asked the same question in D*'s forums.

Thinking about leaving Comcast and going to either D* or E*.

The one thing I love (and one of the only things) about Comcast's units is the ability to record one show in HD while watching another show in HD that is on at the same time ( for example, Monday's at 9pm-24 is on Fox, Heroes is on NBC), can Dish's units do that and/or record two shows in HD at the same time...also this has nothing to do with OTA, just the signal from the Satellites.

I have had one dealer and two Tech Support folks from Dish tell me that while recording one show in HD I would have to view the other show in SD...true or not?

I watch and record all the time. YES...you can record and watch in HD.

 

[stardust3]

They can record 2 shows (dish) at once, but........ 1 hd and 1 sd. Somebody correct me if I'm wrong, I am 99% sure this is accurate.

 

[Bruce]

They can record 2 shows (dish) at once, but........ 1 hd and 1 sd. Somebody correct me if I'm wrong, I am 99% sure this is accurate.

That was what I was told (by Dish themselves), if wrong I will go with them, if not I will go with DirecTV since their boxes will allow it.

 

[CRFTony]

With my VIP622, I can watch/record 2 HD shows at once. For instance, tonight I'll be watching LOST and recording ER which air opposite each other. I have no OTA.

 

[stardust3]

That was what I was told (by Dish themselves), if wrong I will go with them, if not I will go with DirecTV since their boxes will allow it.

I just tried recording 2 hd shows at once on my 722 rec and it will let you do it. It works like a champ when set up in single mode. When in dual mode it wants to record all hd to tv1 even though in preferences it I have tv2 set up as my recording preference. I should have tried this before posting, sorry.

 

[Peter Parker]

you can record 3 HD shows at once. Of course this is only true if one of the three is an OTA channel and the other two are delivered via satellite.

BTW you do not record by TV1 and TV2 you record using 3 separate tuners. It is very easy to get the two concepts confused.

 

[stardust3]

you can record 3 HD shows at once. Of course this is only true if one of the three is an OTA channel and the other two are delivered via satellite.

Tell me how please, I would sure like to try this out. I am using ota with my 722.

 

[David_Levin]

You can DEFINATELY record two HD shows at once. Or record one and watch another HD channel.

The confustion is coming from the fact that besides having two SAT HD tuners, the 622/722 also has two TV outputs. TV1 is HD/SD and TV2 is SD. The TV2 output is composite or RF. It was watch a Hi-Def channel, but it'll be down-rezzed to SD.

TV1 and TV2 can watching different programming, but each can suck a tuner and this will restrict what you are trying to do. I operate my 622 in "Single" mode. In this mode the TV2 output is a copy of TV1. Both Tuners are always available to TV1.

ADDITIONALLY, the 622/722 can use the OTA tuner to record a 3rd HD stream AT THE SAME TIME. So, with an OTA antenna hooked up you can record 3 hi-def channels at the same time. There is no Cable or DirecTV PVR that can do this. This is a great feature to have with the padding required by todays network programming.

Here's one more feature that ONLY the Dish PVR has. You can use a standard USB2 hard drive to archive events from the interal drive. You can use as many archive hard drives as you want (unlimited storage -> kids, movies, TV, etc)

The Direct PVR can use an external hard drive, but is REPLACES the internal drive (programs and timers on that drive are not visable when the external drive is in use). It is difficult to create themed archival drives.

 

[grodd]

I asked the same question in D*'s forums.

Thinking about leaving Comcast and going to either D* or E*.

The one thing I love (and one of the only things) about Comcast's units is the ability to record one show in HD while watching another show in HD that is on at the same time ( for example, Monday's at 9pm-24 is on Fox, Heroes is on NBC), can Dish's units do that and/or record two shows in HD at the same time...also this has nothing to do with OTA, just the signal from the Satellites.

I have had one dealer and two Tech Support folks from Dish tell me that while recording one show in HD I would have to view the other show in SD...true or not?

I record and watch HD at the same time often. In fact I can record 3 channels (with the OTA) in HD and still watch HD on the DVR. Dish did a great job with the DVR.

 

[David_Levin]

I just tried recording 2 hd shows at once on my 722 rec and it will let you do it. It works like a champ when set up in single mode. When in dual mode it wants to record all hd to tv1 even though in preferences it I have tv2 set up as my recording preference. I should have tried this before posting, sorry.

If we want to faily compare the 622 to the DirectTV PVR, we should stick with single mode where all tuners are available to TV1. The Direct PVR does not support 2 TVs.

Obviously, there are only two sat tuners. If you're using 2 TVs in dual mode and each is using a tuner then there's no tuners left for the timer that's trying to fire.

I never use dual mode, but I believe there's a feature called "Record Plus". This must be turned on to allow TV1 to borrow the TV2 tuner if operating in Dual Mode (the feature has no effect in Single Mode).

 

[ClevelandRob]

Tell me how please, I would sure like to try this out. I am using ota with my 722.

If you receive stations via OTA on your box, you can record something on the OTA in HD, something on Tuner1 in HD and something else on Tuner 2 in HD. You can then watch any recorded event on TV1 and another event on TV2.

5 things at once... Not bad from one box!

 

[David_Levin]

3 at once

Tell me how please, I would sure like to try this out. I am using ota with my 722.

There's no big trick here. Set up 3 timers with 1 (and only 1) set on an OTA channel (like 7-1). The other 2 timers must be sat channels. All can be SD or HD.

As I mentioned, this will not work if TV2 is sucking a tuner. Best way is to stick with single mode. You can still watch a copy of TV1 on the TV2 outputs (you must enable the "duplicate" function).

I believe it will also work in Dual mode if "Record Plus" is enabled and TV2 is not watching live TV.

PS: I was thinking that one of the updates might have gotten rid of the "Record Plus" option -> it's on all the time? I don't remember since I don't use Dual Mode.

 

[David_Levin]

Stardust,

I'm not at home, but just played around with the interractive menus at:
Tech Portal : 722

So "record plus" is Menu-8-6.
Double check that you have Activation=Enable and Preference=TV2.
Additionally, like I said, make sure that TV2 is not watching live TV (a recorded event is ok).

 

[gqmagic]

You can record 2 sat channels (9420 & 9424) and 1 ota (cbs) at the same time.

You can also watch a recorded show while the recording is taking place.

This on a 622 & 722

 

[stardust3]

This has been a very informative thread, I hope Bruce has a enough info to make his decision. I have learned how to use my 722 to its maximum ability. I was making the mistake and using it in dual mode, now it is in single where it will stay. I have 2 tv's I use from this receiver but never use both at the same time. So having it in the single mode makes no difference for me. Thanks for all the info, and Bruce I apologize if I in way hijacked this thread.

 

[Chena]

to record one show in HD while watching another show in HD that is on at the same time

It looks like people have answered your question that yes you can, but you might also want to check out some of the temperature threads about the boxes. You should get a little fan to provide extra cooling for the box. I use alittle usb fan to provide extra air flow to keep the temperatures lower inside the receiver.

 

[stardust3]

Stardust,

I'm not at home, but just played around with the interractive menus at:
Tech Portal : 722

So "record plus" is Menu-8-6.
Double check that you have Activation=Enable and Preference=TV2.
Additionally, like I said, make sure that TV2 is not watching live TV (a recorded event is ok).

No changeable options when in single mode. But is in enable and record preference on tv2.

 

[albie1200]

It looks like people have answered your question that yes you can, but you might also want to check out some of the temperature threads about the boxes. You should get a little fan to provide extra cooling for the box. I use alittle usb fan to provide extra air flow to keep the temperatures lower inside the receiver.

I am starting to think the heat issue can be a box by box type thing. My parents just went from D* to E* and their box runs noticeably cooler than mine does. So much so it feels cooler then mine with the laptop cooler. Granted my box is in more of a confined space, but not by that much. I am waiting about a month to see what his counters say about the HDD heat range. Mine is like 120 high, 90 low and like 115 avg from what I can remember. When I had no cooler it was like 138 high!