As long as you have dual tuner you can watch live and record another channel at the same time. Basically the # of tuners = number of channels you can watch or record at the same time, plus you can watch a recording without interfering. With a single tuner you can watch a recording while the tuner records another program. With Dual, you can watch a recording and record 2 other programs all at the same time.

Regarding your recording time it depends on 2 things: The harddrive size of the unit and the quality of the programs you record.

HD programming will take about 4 times as much room compared to SD recording. So if you're recording old MASH reruns record the SD channel to save space. The basic numbers are 4GB = 1 hour HD = 4 hours SD.

The DVR will report how much space you have used/left as a %. For example it might say 24% full. If you take note of the % after you record or delete programs you'll get a good idea of how much space you have. I happen to know the size of my DVR drive, but even if I didn't I know that two hours of HD programming takes up about 5%.

On my DVR I have two options when I set a recording, the default is "keep until space is needed" or you can set it to "Keep until I delete". When you finish a recording the box prompts you to delete or keep it.

As far as padding goes, my box is smart enough to recognize "live" events (sports mostly) and will ask if I want to pad 30 minutes when I set the recording, otherwise you can pad recordings by going into their settings. However, it goes by what the guide says, so if there is any programming changes it won't make any adjustments unless the guide is updated with the right info. For example, it will find Survivor if CBS switched it to a different night that week, but it won't adjust for a baseball rain delay.


Also, the box records everything as you watch it to a buffer. So you can pause and rewind live TV even if you didn't tell it to record the program. The buffer is cleared when you change the channel. If you have dual tuners and a Swap button on your remote, then you can pause one channel, swap to the other tuner to watch another channel, and then swap back and continue watching the first channel. I sometimes do this on Sunday to watch two football games at the same time.

EDIT: Don't forget about the 30 second skip button. Some DVRs come with this already on the remote. I had to look up a special code to program my remote. It's very useful for skipping commercials.

^ thanks wm.

was a dual tuner something i should have asked for from rep or is it something simple that the installer can just do with wires when he/she is here? i'm actually not sure if it will go in SD or HD room. rep said they will bring both Thurs.

are most DVR's dual tuner capable?

Dual tuners are becoming the norm, but I don't know enough about DirectTV's equipment.

That's the case when combining a separate DVR (Tivo) with a cable box. If you had a Comcast DVR you would be able to record two channels at once.

As has already been written, recording two channels at once is not an issue with a DirecTV dual-input DVR.

Oh, and Scott, you won't be "taping" anything, because there is no tape involved!

This is the DVR you want from DirecTV for HD. DirecTV's website has the answers to all your questions.

^ thanks. just not sure if it will go in the HD room or den with SD yet.

Since you have DirecTV you should look into the Whole Home DVR. Basically it allows you to watch your recorded shows anywhere in the house.

I have it and it is *very* cool. You can have multiple DVRs on on the system (which allows you more recording time and the ability to record more than 2 shows in the same time slot) or you can hook it up with just one HD DVR and just receivers in the other room(s).

well, i got the reciever and service for free and really only reason i am getting now, don't want to push the limits, but perhaps in the future if i decide i want to pay more.

I think all of DirecTV's DVR's are dual tuner capable. But to activate it, you MUST have two separate coaxial inputs directly from the dish. You can't use a splitter like you can with cable/OTA. The technician should take care of this, but something to double check in case they try to skimp.

Do dvrs from satellite providers require a landline for the setup?

I don't know if it's always been this way, but I had a satellite/DVR put in a few months ago and don't have a landline.

yep. i kept telling my mom for years to get one. she said they didnt need it and it wasnt worth the 5 bucks a month. so i finally bought her a tivo with a year subscription. unfortunatly it was only a single tuner for satellite. so after the year was up she got a dual tuner box from directv. she loves it and pretty much only watches stuff recorded.

This is what I need but DirecTV is not available in my area. We have the PVR in the family room but there are many times where I want to watch a recorded show in the bedroom.

When I originally got the PVR, Mrs. ElementZ said it was stupid, a waste of money, etc...The content on said PVR is probably 80% hers. We both can't live without it.

this is great to for when you turn on your tv and a show has already started on the channel it was sitting at. you can just rewind to the beginning. or depending on how much space you have on the hard drive you will be able to rewind up to a few hours and watch whatever was on earlier.

On my TWC DVR, I have the option to either "keep until I delete" or "save x number of episodes", where x can be set to 1, 2, 3, or 5. That way you can automatically record things like game shows, but not have them clog up the DVR. For example, my GF loves watching re-runs of The 100,000 Pyramid from GSN, but doesn't watch them every day. I set the DVR to keep the past five episodes, so the DVR automatically deletes the oldest recording as soon as the newest one starts.

Pausing live TV is one of the most revolutionary things to ever hit television. Things that used to annoy you - like your parents calling in the middle of your favorite TV show, or waiting for a commercial to go to the bathroom or get seconds of dinner - no longer bother you. One of the few upsides to Navigator (the new software on the TWC DVR) is that it caches two live channels, so you can move back and forth between live football games without actually taking up space on the DVR.

As others have mentioned, "neartime" viewing is also great. My GF's best friend is an older lady who doesn't have a DVR. They were both big fans of 24, and the friend would call my GF after an episode aired to talk about it. We'd normally order some Chinese at 7:45, go pick it up at 8:00, and start watching the show at 8:15. This allowed us to skip the commercials but end at the same time as my GF's friend.

Well, TWC has a "Start Over" feature (no DVR needed, just a digital cable box) that allows you to do the same thing on many (but not all) channels.

They also have a new service called "Signature Home" that allows you to go back and watch shows from 2-3 days ago. In fact, the new service also has a whole-home DVR that allows you to record up to 150 hours of HD material. I need to check and see if they've rolled the new DVR out to "regular" users yet!

That's the biggest benefit in my eyes. My wife used to constantly interrupt my shows. She would watch 90%, then decide she wanted to talk to me during the last 10%. Used to cause huge issues. Now it's a thing of the past. If she wants to talk, I just pause. And everyone is happy.

Well, not totally happy. She still answers her phone and talks while I'm trying to watch things. Pausing doesn't help when you're sitting staring as a paused screen for 20 minutes. I once asked her if I should just take the 56" set, surround sound, receiver, DVR, etc. to the other room so she could answer her phone. She didn't see the humor. Or get the point that she should get off her ass and take her call elsewhere!

just got my DVR hooked up. yay!

in the first second when the guy said just pick a show and hit the "record" button once. then, hit it twice to record the whole season...what?? unbelievable.

it is a dual tuner. he even said because there was no coax input that my PiP wouldn't work and that he tried with other customers, but i was able to do something simple and it works (i think bc i was still able to hook up VCR to TV using Line 1).

can't believe i lived without it for so long. and all for free. me happy!


edit...i just rewound live tv. wow. wish i didn't have to work ever.

Recording a Series? (DirecTV- not sure if provider matters)

I am pretty sure the answer is no, but...

with a synidcated show like:
Family Ties on the Hub.
i want to tape every show that plays at 2:00am & 2:30am.

now the same 2 shows also play at 8pm and 8:30. the series also has some eps on the weekend that are repeats from the week.

1) besides going to each show for the 2 weeks that DirecTV can show, is there an easier way to record the whole series so that it only records at 2am to 3am?

i tried to record the whole series and just "First Run" but because none are first run and they repeat, it was going to record all Family Ties episodes at all times.

i believe this answer is no easy way.


Also,

with a show like The Soup...i want to record all first run episodes for the entire series, but the guide info for a show like this doesn't show any program detail, except for air date.

2) will this just record at the original 10pm est time slot and not the repeats of it that continue until the next week?

i believe the answer is yes, it will record just the "first run".

thanks in advance for help.

My DVR (TWC), and Tivo, have three options for series recordings: "First run only", "First run and repeats" and "all (with duplicates)". The first two options will not record the same episode for 1 month. So if it records an episode of Family Ties on Monday then you delete it and that same episode plays on Saturday the DVR won't record that episode again even though it doesn't currently have a copy of the episode.

It's possible that the guide said it was going to record all those episode, but once it got a copy of an episode it would remove that particular episode from the recording schedule. I would try it and see. Same for #2.

got it. thanks.

you, sir, need a tivo HD. or just go with the comcast box. but to me, comcast box = evil, so i'm stick by my tivos.

plus you'll get shelf space back. no need for the comcast box anymore!

ha ha ha! are we married to the same woman? good god!

i just did all my shows for the season, Conan, etc... literally took minutes.

my VCR...i would have had to (like i did each week and only a couple days at a time bc cable box never registered more than 2 days) set the channel, then depending on repeat or first run delete or add, changing the time, day, tape speed!!!!!!! adding a minute to start, a minute at end just in case...always such a process. then, watch it as grainy VHS crap.

i simply can't wait to actually see a show i recorded in clear digital...the build up is intense!

wait, hold the phone...DirecTV people...

one thing i liked about the old antiquated receiver i had was that i could set the box to tune to a channel and particular show and it would go there.

now, all i have is the option to record it even if i don't want to. will it just go to that channel anyway or will it stay on whatever channel the receiver is on and just record without it going to channel.

i just want to be able to go to a show without record. is that possible?