Deftones

Taken from DBSTalk.

http://hr20.dbstalk.com/docs/Fall%20...rst%20Look.pdf

Basically, you have to hit the down arrow twice to activate the feature if you want to do it on both tuners, but to switch between you just keep hitting down. Not quite as simple as Tivo, but a welcome addition, nonetheless.

The Cow

Thanks for posting this, I had no idea it was coming. This sounds useful for football season.

Groucho

It's about time.

bootsy

Can someone explain to me what this does and how do I know I have it on my receiver. I have an HD DVR and tried hitting the down arrow and it does nothing.

emachine12

Like the Tivo and the DirecTivo, let's say are watching a program and it goes to commercial, you can actually switch to the second tuner and watch another program with both being live.

Its great for sports and other programming like awards shows since you can keep it on one tuner and switch to the other tuner. You then switch back to the first tuner and can utilize all the functions like rewind so you can catch back up with the program you switched away from.

The way most DirecTV DVRs are now is that the second tuner is not accesible to the user. You would lose your place in the program you switched away from because you have to change the channel. The only workaround to actually use the second tuner is to record one program, start it up, switch channels, then hit previous. Of course, this workaround does not take into account overtime in games or programs that run over the alotted time. So good luck trying to catch up with an Angels game that goes into overtime because you forgot to pad the recorder thanks to that TNT weekend movie was so much more exciting.

With the second tuner available to you now, you don't have to use the record feature nor do you have to use hard drive space.

Generally with an upgrade like this, you get a message from DirecTV. Otherwise, press Menu then System Info and check the software date. Any date prior to August 22nd means the new software has not been installed.

collven

Wow. DirecTV is just now getting this? I've had it on my cable DVR since I first got the service, several years ago. It is nice to have.

Septemberbaby

Here's a decent demo explaining how to do it:

Directv Double Play

IDrinkMolson

Now, if we can just add over 50 season passes, I'll be happier.

cpgator

Cool news!

Deftones

you may not have it yet. it's a national rollout, but it's staggered. you should have it within a few days, at most.

fujishig

So where's my DirecTIVO, darnit? I've been holding off upgrading my second HD receiver to a DVR because of it...

In other sports-related DirecTV news, looks like they'll be dropping VERSUS. I just got DirecTV in this past year, and was excited to finally be able to watch the one USC game a year they put on this channel, and it looks like that isn't happening this year. Argh.

Jadzia

This is what I want.

I personally don't see much use for the dual buffers. If there are two shows I am watching and I don't want to miss anything, I would just record them and switch back and forth that way.

If you accidentally switched to another channel you would lose anything in the other buffer, so it seems to too risky to rely on it for something you really want to see. (I don't know how many times I have picked up the remote and accidentally hit the 7 key or something, causing it to change the channel and I need to switch back.)

Deftones

Probably 2nd Quarter 2010. It's not likely to be a badged Tivo box. It'll be a DirecTV box with Tivo software.

cleaver

I'm going to watch so much fraking football this year.

smashthesymbols

I really hope that doesn't happen. It's going to suck to lose all that hockey.

Red Dog

This is getting plenty of discussion over at dbstalk.com. We'll see how long the dispute lasts. Texas plays Wyoming in 3 weeks on VS and heads will roll in Texas if they miss a Longhorns football game on TV.

innocentfreak

50 series links is one of the main reasons I never upgraded to HD on DTV. I record a ton of TV and it would have required too many of their DVRs to replace my Directivos. In the end I dropped to Fios for Tivo HD but I am still keeping my eye out for what the new Directivo brings.

rfduncan

Wake me up when they release the new DirecTiVo HD in 2010. Then I'll rejoice.