Why are the live buffers not the same?

[dishcomm]

along with everyone else, I dont see your point here. just start recording both (two buttons!) then if you insist on sitting paused on it, go to the DVR menu, select the recording you just started and sit paused on it. I have no idea what this "hassle of recording" you speak of is.

And when you talk about watching both shows at once, swapping between the buffers....you realize if you just record both, watched one at a time skipping commercials, it takes the EXACT same amount of time to watch both?


Please explain why recording is so hard..? Takes about 1 second to start a recording

he believes he is "saving " space on the hard drive by not hitting the record button...
Everyone is entitled to their picadillos.
Quite frankly this is much ado about nothing and this dopey thread should be closed and stored in the 10th sub basemment of some unused building in Washington DC behind a door marked "never open"..
In other words, this thread is a waste of good bandwidth..

 

[chainblu]

Having both a 625 and a 622, there are times when I wish the 622 had a 2 hr buffer. I know I can just press record (and I do), but they might as well remove the "Record Entire Event" option since, more often than not, I'm already out of the 1 hr buffer.

 

[DishSubLA]

Let's not forget that TiVo Series 3, HD, and HDXL only give you a 30 minute buffer.

 

[Centex]

Well I will take Mondays for example,we like Antiques Roadshows and Heroes that both come on at 8PM PST so I live buffer both channels PBS&NBC.Watch Roadshows first because of no commercials then after Roadshows is over switch tuner to CBS because we like the Big Bang Theory that comes on at 9:30 PM PST .Then go to the tuner that has NBC rewind live buffer start watching Heroes while FFWing through commercials.After getting through watching Heroes go to the CBS tuner rewind live buffer then watch Big Bang Theory while of course FFWing through commercials.This can be achieved because I have 2-120 minute live buffers on the 625.I reserve my recording space for movies I like to record.

But I also can see if I know I won't be home to record such programs see to me having the longer live buffers gives me(the operator) another option than just to record a program(s).Having live buffers is like adding space to your hard drive because you don't have to record every program.

P.S. I also could not do this with just 2-60 minute live buffers.

Not to belabor the point, but is your hard drive so full that you can't just record them? It seems to me that you are dramatically missing the point of having a DVR, or of the DVRs capabilities. It would be like waking up at 5:00 a.m. every day to set the alarm to go off at 6:00.

You can set the 625 so that it only has the latest episode in the hard drive. My wife and I like to watch the NBC news. It is set to record every day, and dump yesterday's episode. That way, we only have the one latest episode of the news at any one time. It is a "set it and forget it" type deal.

The purpose of live buffers is not to act as a second hard drive, the point of live buffers is to stop what you are doing to get a snack or go to the bathroom (or swat flies, as we were invaded yesterday ). Something else to consider, the live buffers live somewhere, and that somewhere is on the hard drive of the machine. Add 2 hours of HD live buffer, and you necessarily reduce the number of hours that the machine can record on the hard drive, and AFAIK, the live buffers take up more space than recorded programs, it is not 1:1.

 

[Jhon69]

Let's not forget that TiVo Series 3, HD, and HDXL only give you a 30 minute buffer.

Wow still only 30 minutes? that's what my HR10-250(DirecTivo) has and that's really sad.

 

[Jhon69]

Not to belabor the point, but is your hard drive so full that you can't just record them? It seems to me that you are dramatically missing the point of having a DVR, or of the DVRs capabilities. It would be like waking up at 5:00 a.m. every day to set the alarm to go off at 6:00.

You can set the 625 so that it only has the latest episode in the hard drive. My wife and I like to watch the NBC news. It is set to record every day, and dump yesterday's episode. That way, we only have the one latest episode of the news at any one time. It is a "set it and forget it" type deal.

The purpose of live buffers is not to act as a second hard drive, the point of live buffers is to stop what you are doing to get a snack or go to the bathroom (or swat flies, as we were invaded yesterday ). Something else to consider, the live buffers live somewhere, and that somewhere is on the hard drive of the machine. Add 2 hours of HD live buffer, and you necessarily reduce the number of hours that the machine can record on the hard drive, and AFAIK, the live buffers take up more space than recorded programs, it is not 1:1.

With all due respect I believe that to just record only is losing sight of what a DVR's capabilities can be unless that swap button on the remote control is there for looks.

And yes I record just don't like to record stuff with commercials kinda of a pet peeve of mine.

Don't know how much space dual live buffers take but I know MPEG4 dual live buffers would be less space than MPEG2 dual live buffers like my 625 has.

Just think if you had to swat flies and you have a ViP DVR at 1:01 of a paused program you would need to find something else to watch cause your live buffer is gone!.

 

[TheKrell]

Don't know how much space dual live buffers take but I know MPEG4 dual live buffers would be less space than MPEG2 dual live buffers like my 625 has.

This is true, but only when comparing apples to apples. In other words, you need to compare mpeg-2 SD to mpeg-4 SD, or mpeg-2 HD versus mpeg-4 HD. The 625 can only buffer mpeg-2 SD, and that's only 544X480i. The VIP receivers have much larger SD mpeg-2 OTA signals to buffer, and then there's the HD broadcasts. In the worst case scenario, OTA MPEG-2 HD 1920X1080i, your buffer for a 2 hr program would be quite significant.

 

[Jhon69]

This is true, but only when comparing apples to apples. In other words, you need to compare mpeg-2 SD to mpeg-4 SD, or mpeg-2 HD versus mpeg-4 HD. The 625 can only buffer mpeg-2 SD, and that's only 544X480i. The VIP receivers have much larger SD mpeg-2 OTA signals to buffer, and then there's the HD broadcasts. In the worst case scenario, OTA MPEG-2 HD 1920X1080i, your buffer for a 2 hr program would be quite significant.

Yes that's true.I guess I will never know why Dish changed their live buffers from
2 hours on the 625 to 1 hour on the ViPs?when the 2 hour seems so perfect for what I use them for.

And it seems alot of the users are set and satisfied to"record only" if it's over 1 hour.


Is that what Dish's SD programming is 544x480i?.I thought it looks a heck of alot better than DirecTV's SD programming.

 

[whatchel1]

Less recording time on HDD

Yes that's true.I guess I will never know why Dish changed their live buffers from
2 hours on the 625 to 1 hour on the ViPs?when the 2 hour seems so perfect for what I use them for.

And it seems alot of the users are set and satisfied to"record only" if it's over 1 hour.


Is that what Dish's SD programming is 544x480i?.I thought it looks a heck of alot better than DirecTV's SD programming.

It has been explained that to have 2 hr buffers would give us less recording time. So what's not to understand?

 

[TheKrell]

Is that what Dish's SD programming is 544x480i?.I thought it looks a heck of alot better than DirecTV's SD programming.

Yes. I've pulled broacasts directly off the internal disk on my 625, and I can attest to that fact. But I've never had DirectTV, so what I'm about to say is hearsay. I think their SD broadcasts are 480X480.

 

[Jhon69]

It has been explained that to have 2 hr buffers would give us less recording time. So what's not to understand?

It's hard to understand when you have such a great design as I believe the 625 is, Dish changed the features and made their product less competitive compared to their competitors(mainly DirecTV).Here's my own opinion how I rate features on the ViPs:

1.You can record what? 3 or 4 programs at once?.Rating: Excellent.

2.Dish's ability to be able to run 1 cable into the home and support 2 TVs,that's how they did my 625 setup?(because the switch is in the LNB).Rating: Excellent.

3. To be able to choose Single or Dual Mode.In Single Mode you can swap tuners,have PIP/SplitScreen(see what's on which tuner).
In Dual Mode provide true MRV(with RG6 coax) to the second TV(be able to view recordings or select programs to watch from the channel guide) using the second tuner.
Rating: Excellent.

4. Have the ability to only pause for 1 hour and have 2-60 minute live buffers(or maybe more in OTA?).
Rating: Poor(should have at least 2 -90 minute buffers(no timeout feature),(2-120 minute buffers would be the best).

And I know there are ethernet features(which can put more icing on the cake,or problems).

And that is how I see things and I am sure people will chastise my opinions but these items are how I see the best and the worse so far from Dishnetwork.So.........Flame on!?.

 

[KAB]

It's hard to understand when you have such a great design as I believe the 625 is, Dish changed the features and made their product less competitive compared to their competitors(mainly DirecTV)

I was almost ready to switch to D*, but their DVR's are several notches below E*'s. So, I wholly disagree with your blanket statement.

 

[FitzAusTex]

I'd vote for longer than 60 minutes. Far too many times I pause at the start of a show, get way distracted with other things (for an hour) and end up missing the first few minutes of a one hour show as the buffer starts moving the show forward. TWC had 90 minutes (or two hours), and it worked well for me (although that was about that only thing I really liked about their DVR compared to E*'s). (and yes, I know how to record things...)

 

[sam_gordon]

I'd vote for longer than 60 minutes. Far too many times I pause at the start of a show, get way distracted with other things (for an hour) and end up missing the first few minutes of a one hour show as the buffer starts moving the show forward. TWC had 90 minutes (or two hours), and it worked well for me (although that was about that only thing I really liked about their DVR compared to E*'s). (and yes, I know how to record things...)

I can see someone getting distracted for an hour a couple times, but "too many"? Oh well. In an ideal world, sure I'd like longer live buffers. But, what if it comes at the expense of hard drive time/space? I personally would rather have more space for recording.