# Recording advice using the 811



## bpatrick100 (Aug 1, 2006)

I live in a brand new condo community which hired a company called Fusion Broadband (recently change their name to Pavlov Media) to handle the video for all the buildings. The idea is that Pavlov gets has a dish network dish somewhere grabbing content, coupled with an antenna somewhere grabbing local hd content, and they mix the two signals down the line which comes out of my wall into my 811 which is running in QAM mode. They've told me that the dvr's that dish network sells will not work with this configuration. I'm unable to get dish network or directv on my own, because my balcony faces the east. I'd like to know what my options are in terms of setting up a dvr/pvr to record *all* of my content, not just standard def. There must be something I can do. p.s. I can't get Comcast/Adelphia cable, because my association won't allow them to run their cable on the property. Any advice/ideas are appreciated - Thanks


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

bpatrick100 said:


> The idea is that Pavlov gets has a dish network dish somewhere grabbing content, coupled with an antenna somewhere grabbing local hd content, and they mix the two signals down the line which comes out of my wall into my 811 which is running in QAM mode. They've told me that the dvr's that dish network sells will not work with this configuration.


The ViP622 is not QAM capable. James Long mentions the Q Box in this message:

http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=54763

This sounds like your best shot for a ViP622. I can find no mention of this magic box on the commercial website.


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## Jason Nipp (Jun 10, 2004)

It was discussed on a previous Charlie or Tech Chat where they were going to release an device that would allow a Pocket Dish to act as a real time DVR. 

From memory, it sounded like the device would allow the Pocket Dish to work with almost any dish receiver, SD or HD, in fact I thought the example used was a pocket dish and 811. YMMV, ICbW.


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## Michael P (Oct 27, 2004)

An 811 in QAM mode??? I was not aware that an 811 could run in QAM. IIRC all E* receivers with OTA ability use ATSC.


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

Jason Nipp said:


> It was discussed on a previous Charlie or Tech Chat where they were going to release an device that would allow a Pocket Dish to act as a real time DVR.


The Pocket Dish doesn't do HD, but it would work for SD with a QAM enabled receiver.


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

Michael P said:


> An 811 in QAM mode??? I was not aware that an 811 could run in QAM. IIRC all E* receivers with OTA ability use ATSC.


The OTA tuner is indeed ATSC, but the satellite tuner of the 811 can be switched to QAM mode for Multi-Dwelling Unit (MDU) use. In an MDU scenario, QAM is used to distribute the satellite signal as opposed to the standard multiswitch scheme.


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## Jason Nipp (Jun 10, 2004)

Michael P said:


> An 811 in QAM mode??? I was not aware that an 811 could run in QAM. IIRC all E* receivers with OTA ability use ATSC.


Yes, the 811 has a user selectable MDU QAM mode. This feature was introduced in firmware revision P2.85, ~ January of 2005.

It is also note worthy that the 811, has both an Analog (NTSC) and Digital (ATSC) OTA tuner. It also has 2 upconverting Composite Inputs.


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## chrisk (Jun 6, 2004)

Buy a Pioneer DVDR like the 640. This DVDR can be controlled by your 811 to record video to the hard drive. You set the 811 to use Pioneer VCR IR codes and it wil stop and start the DVDR. You will need to leave the DVDR on since the 811 only starts and stops the recording. I also understand some of the newer Panasonic DVDR's (EM55 or 75) can work with the 811. With these you set the 811 for "EXT" when crating a recording.


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## bpatrick100 (Aug 1, 2006)

Excellent - I will look into this. Will I be able to record HD content? And will I be able to pause/rewind live tv realtime, or is this only good for a recording content and watching it later? Thanks for the reply


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

bpatrick100 said:


> Excellent - I will look into this. Will I be able to record HD content? And will I be able to pause/rewind live tv realtime, or is this only good for a recording content and watching it later?


None of the good stuff comes with standalone recorders. You can record the HD content in SD for what it is worth. Hooking up an SD recorder to an HD tuner doesn't make it an HD recorder.


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## bear paws (Jan 11, 2006)

harsh said:


> The ViP622 is not QAM capable. James Long mentions the Q Box in this message:Thats wierd, so most subs that live in fairly modern apts/condos, like I guess 50% of the population, can't use a DVR if the management chooses E*? Man, they [e*] really knows how to spoil your corn flakes.
> 
> Bear!


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## Cholly (Mar 22, 2004)

harsh said:


> None of the good stuff comes with standalone recorders. You can record the HD content in SD for what it is worth. Hooking up an SD recorder to an HD tuner doesn't make it an HD recorder.


True enough. However, if you get an upconverting DVD recorder that records on DVD-RAM, you can connect the recorder to the S-Video output of the 811. Widescreen programs will play back in letterbox format. You won't get true HD, but it'll be at least DVD quality. I have used a TiVo series 2 DVR with my 811 that I had in my previous home and it worked quite well. I also have recorded from the 811 to a Panasonic DVD recorder -- once again, it's letterboxed and you lose the Dolby digital audio, getting just stereo. I suggest an upconverting recorder because it will improve the PQ somewhat, and one that has DVD-RAM capability means you have media that has 8 hour capacity and can be used over and over.


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## bpatrick100 (Aug 1, 2006)

Thanks Cholly - Can you recommend a specific make and model of an upconverting dvd recorder which I should use with the 811?


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## Jason Nipp (Jun 10, 2004)

Samsung has one, I think Toshiba does also but not positive on that.


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