So I'm sure this has been posted before, but I couldn't find it. I am new to the DVR game, and believe me, I've got this thing working overtime. I have what I assume is a standard setup - I can record 2 shows at the same time while watching 1 of those 2 shows (or something else that has already been recorded). I have an issue that I can't seem to figureo out. I tried to record Private Practice the other night while recording Kitchen Nightmares - both run from 9-10. When I selected PP to record, it said there was a conflict with South Park and Life... both of which are on at 10, so there should be no issues. When Kitchen Nightmares was over we switched to Life and tried to set it to record, but there was still a conflict with PP... Apparently PP runs a little long - Do they do this on purpose to make us watch it live vs. recording it? My problem is that I can adjust my DVR to start and stop late or early, I can only do it in 5 minute increments! Why isn't there a 1 minute option?

I'm on a Fios HD DVR - sorry I'm at work so I don't have the model number.

This also happened last night recording The Office. It ran from 9-10 but conflicted with Sunny in Philly and Ace of Cakes, both of which started at 10.

Can't help with the DVR quetion, but the time creep thing ticks me off. ABC seems to be the worst offender. I always thought they did it on purpose to trick you into watching the next show. There is no commercial break between the end of the 9pm show and the begin of the 10pm show. The 'no break' will sucker you into not switching channels. By the time you realize "Hey!...it's 10:05!!" you have started watching the ABC show and you have missed the critical first 5 minutes of whatever is on the other networks. You switch to the other network anyway, just in time to catch the end of the opening credits music, then to commercial. Now you can either watch 3 minutes of commercials or switch back to ABC, having now missed only 10 seconds of the ABC show. Quite clever.

Are you absolutely sure that they were done by 10? Some shows run over a minute.. Major pain in the ass.

I would recommend a second DVR. I know.. it sounds wasteful.. I was resistant when I got my first Tivo. I had to use my bedroom VCR to record conflicts.. someone on the Directv Tivo forum reminded me that it wouldn't cost me anything more a month to have a second Dtivo. They were charging me $$ for the second and third units anyway.... I waited until they were offering a free unit to existing customers. Now, I have three.
Two Tivo's and one Directv units. And I can't live without any of them... Sad.. very sad.

The Office was scheduled for 61 minutes this week. This has been typical for the last several seasons: shows in primetime do not start on the hour. It's really to keep you on the channel you're watching. I don't think you can do much about it with the DVR you have.

But, with the way cable repeats stuff, you shouldn't have any problem getting a later showing of something like Sunny.


TiVo plug: TiVo has conflict management and you can cut off a minute either from the end of one or the beginning of another in your Season Passes.

I work for Cox, so I can shed some light on your issues. First off, when a show is recording it sometimes stops at 30 seconds into the next time frame, so that can occassionally, but not always, affect future recordings. Secondly, set the start/stop time accordingly. I know you can do it in smaller increments with Cox, not sure who you're using. When you first tell it to go over/under, and you hit the right/left key to increase/decrease time intervals, it will automatically go to 5 minutes. But on Cox DVR's if you hit the back button it will go to 4 min, 3 min, etc. So try setting it to end a minute early or go over by a minute or two. Your DVR should be equipped with 2 tuners so that you can record 2 shows at once while watching a third that has been pre-recorded.

I hope some/any of that helps. Let me know if you have any other questions and I'll see what I can answer.

Wow, I have two DVR's and can't figure anything out seriously. I've just been suffering with missing my shows.

My DVR gives me the option of manually setting a recording... meaning instead of using the guide I can manually tell it to record NBC from 8:00-9:00pm regardless of what is on. Or 7:42-9:13pm for that matter. And it records said item as one unit regardless of how many shows pass through that time period, labeling it 'Recording - Channel 7 - Thursday - 8pm-9pm' or something to that effect.

I'll play around with it and hopefully I can come up with a happy medium. I haven't missed anything that I really cared about as of yet.

I could order another DVR, but I think its another $5 a month... I'll have to look into it. Not really that much in the scheme of things.

Hey, with Verizon Fios, I know that I can order a package that lets me watch recorded programs with a non-DVR box in the house, but I wonder if I had multiple DVRs in the house if I could watch something recorded on one of them on the other one?

No.