Questions regarding DVR with TiVo

[Jinx66]

I am not very knowledgeable at all when it comes to technology, so please excuse me if I say anything wrong or if any of my questions are too confusing.

I went to Best Buy today to look into finding a way to tape with my DirecTV. We have three DirecTV boxes in our house. One on each floor. We would love to be able to add on the DVR feature to our main tv on the first floor.

We had a man from DirecTV come to the house a few months back who told us that we could not have the DirecTV DVR with TiVo. Apparently, we would need a new satellite dish that would have an increased amount of outputs (?). We were told that due to the architecture (?) of the house, the DVR would not be an option. I don’t understand why this is not possible. At Best Buy today, I talked with an employee who explained that the DVR box basically replaces the regular DirecTV box. Is this correct? If this is so, then why would we need a new satellite dish? I would think that you could just pull the one box out and replace it with the DVR box.

The employee at Best Buy did tell us that we needed to watch what we taped. We could not watch a different program while taping. If we wanted to tape and watch a different program, then we would need a new dish. Is this correct? What exactly does this new dish do that the old one would not be able to?

In conclusion, is it even worth buying the DVR with TiVo if we will not be able to record anything except what we are watching? There would really be no point to it because we would be seeing the television program that we want to record.

I hope that I have made some sense. I am just so confused about all of this. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

 

[dodge4322]

Jinx probably the reason why you need a new dish is so that you can have more outputs so you can hook up more recievers. The tivo is a dual tuner receiver and it uses 2 outputs from the dish. Maybe that is why the installer said you cant have a tivo is because he could not get another wire from the dish to the tivo reciever. You can hook the reciever up I believe to just one input from dish and you would only be able to watch what you record. But the guy from best buy was wrong, if you get the second line from dish you would be able to watch something else why you record something else. IMHO I would probably go with the dvr from direct instead of the tivo (you want have the tivo service charge just a dvr service charge).

 

[Jinx66]

Thank you for your reply!

I have been attempting to find some kind of a diagram to see for myself what the setup should look like. We would like to keep the 1st and 2nd floor directv boxes, but get rid of the third in our basement. From what I understand, we already are using a multiswitch so that we can get a connection for the third box. Is it possible to use the multiswitch to work our dvr? I guess that my main question would be: Is there really no other way to install our dvr to the 1st floor television without having to run another wire?

 

[Jimbo]

Jinx66,

Is there really no other way to install our dvr to the 1st floor television without having to run another wire?
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If you want to be able to record something other than what you are watching, you will need the 2nd line into the back of the recorder .....

Sounds like you are in a split level house, can you run a new line from multiswitch to rear of 1st floor unit ?
Can you go across the basement and run the line to 1st floor that way ?

I have done a lot of creative wiring, but without being there to look in over, kinda hard to give wiring advice.


Jimbo

 

[Jinx66]

The reason we cannot run a second wire is because our room is on a stone slab. We have been told that it cannot be done. Thank you so much for your time though. I really appreciate it.

 

[peterl1365]

The reason we cannot run a second wire is because our room is on a stone slab. We have been told that it cannot be done. Thank you so much for your time though. I really appreciate it.

Well, it's not pretty, but you could always run the additional line(s) on the outside of your house, thereby bypassing the stone slab.

In the meantime, the DirecTV DVR with Tivo will work just fine with one line. While it can only record one show at a time, it does allow you to watch a previously recorded show while the current show is being recorded. In other words, you can watch the 6 O'clock news while you're recording the 7 O'clock news. You can't do that with a VCR.

And the Tivo can be set up to record things automatically, with little or no intervention from you. Eventually, you just start watching everything on a delayed basis and not worry about what's currently recording.

With that said, having the ability to record two channels at once is one of the best things about dual-tuner DVR's. You won't have to decide between Survivor and Apprentice, for example. Just record them both and decide when you want to watch each, skipping commercials along the way.

 

[dodge4322]

Hey Jinx is the wall the tv on a outside wall or a interior wall?

If it is on a interior wall you fish a cable threw the ceiling if you know what you are doing. I would find someone who is able to wall fish and has the equipment.

If it is a outside wall then it can be really difficult if not impossible but hey nothing is impossible as long as they make sheet rock compound to fix the holes.

If there is a floor above it then you can still go up to the attic but it is quit abit of work and could cost you probably a couple hundred bucks to just run one wire.

You could think about dishnetwork if you want a dvr their receivers are able to combine the 2 wires down to 1 and then split back out with specials splitters.

 

[peterl1365]

You could think about dishnetwork if you want a dvr their receivers are able to combine the 2 wires down to 1 and then split back out with specials splitters.

As much as it pains me to even suggest it, cable is an option as well. Their DVR's run off a single coax without the need for any special hardware.

I still think you can find a way to run the coax outside the house, as long as you don't mind the appearance. Unless your house is set into a hillside or something.

 

[Jeff T]

Most of the time if you upgrade with D* they will install the second line and dish free. They should know the equipment that you have. Call them and make sure you tell them you want dual tuners.