# Managing Recordings on Multiple DVRs



## dlambermont (Jan 4, 2007)

Just added an HR34 to my existing HR20-700 and HR23-700 (and one H23). I see some of you have WAY more DVRs that that. Just wondering how you manage your recordings on multiple DVRs? It would be great to have a one-stop-shop for setting up/managing series recordings, viewing available disk space, etc. I'm guessing nothing like that exists?


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## Steve (Aug 22, 2006)

dlambermont said:


> Just added an HR34 to my existing HR20-700 and HR23-700 (and one H23). I see some of you have WAY more DVRs that that. Just wondering how you manage your recordings on multiple DVRs? It would be great to have a one-stop-shop for setting up/managing series recordings, viewing available disk space, etc. I'm guessing nothing like that exists?


Unfortunately, not. You can remotely schedule (blindly) from a PC or mobile device, but to check or manage a DVR's To Do Lists, Histories, or Series Managers, you have to be physically sitting in front of that DVR.


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## dpeters11 (May 30, 2007)

One way to help is to organize boxes by network. Like one DVR for fox and abc, another for NBC and CBS etc. Same with cable channels.

But yeah, a unified todo list and series manager would be useful.


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## dlambermont (Jan 4, 2007)

Thanks. No magic way to do it then. The only strategy I've come up with so far is to keep "kid shows" on one DVR, daytime shows on a second, and primetime stuff (where conflicts are more likely) to the HR34.

I used to duplicate some recordings on two DVRs as a pseudo "backup" strategy. Got tired of seeing the dupes in the list view. That would be another nice feature - if there is a dupe, just show the one on the DVR you are viewing, hide the rest.

Wonder if there are (or could be) APIs to allow a unified management interface to be added to the iOS app? I have actually found setting up recordings from the iPad to be much easier than using the receiver and remote. Being able to see the series lists and todo lists from that app would be sweet.


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## Diana C (Mar 30, 2007)

I have a spreadsheet, where I keep track of what programs are recording on which DVR at what times. I keep a printout in the remote caddy in the family room and check it before I add a new SL entry (and note it on the printout which I then use to update the file).

What can I say...I work with computers all day.


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## Holydoc (Feb 18, 2008)

I record the major networks on one, the other shows on the second, and any conflicts on the third.


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## armophob (Nov 13, 2006)

Titan25 said:


> I have a spreadsheet, where I keep track of what programs are recording on which DVR at what times. I keep a printout in the remote caddy in the family room and check it before I add a new SL entry (and note it on the printout which I then use to update the file).
> 
> What can I say...I work with computers all day.


That is the only way I can keep up as well. A different tab in excel for each dvr.


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

Titan25 said:


> I have a spreadsheet, where I keep track of what programs are recording on which DVR at what times. I keep a printout in the remote caddy in the family room and check it before I add a new SL entry (and note it on the printout which I then use to update the file).
> 
> What can I say...I work with computers all day.


I just look at the paper every morning and pick a random HR to record whatever is new (at this time of the TV season), then I record the same program on a couple other random HRs. If there's a conflict, I just pick another HR.

I had logs, Excel spreadsheets, tried all kinds of things when I was using 12 VCRs and I got sick of that. We had racks full of recordings all over the house. The DVRs fixed all that. MRV fixed it even better.

Rich


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## hdtvfan0001 (Jul 28, 2004)

I commend those with innovative or organized ways to manage those reams of recordings. 

It does pose a logical question thought...with that much content recorded....when the heck do you have time to actually view it all? :eek2:


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## kosh56 (Sep 30, 2007)

Titan25 said:


> I have a spreadsheet, where I keep track of what programs are recording on which DVR at what times. I keep a printout in the remote caddy in the family room and check it before I add a new SL entry (and note it on the printout which I then use to update the file).
> 
> What can I say...I work with computers all day.


Ugh, they really need to address this. The day I have to work that hard to watch TV is the day I might as well move to online viewing and leave the DVRs behind.


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## RunnerFL (Jan 5, 2006)

Here's how I do it....

Pre-HR34:

HR21 #1 - FOX, CBS, Showtime
HR21 #2 - NBC, ABC, HBO
HR21 #3 - USA, TNT, Discovery, History, BBCA, Misc
HR21 #4 - Movies + OTA Backups
HR24 - NASCAR Races (Not Saved), Comedy Central, Animal Planet, XD, SyFy, BBCA

Post HR34:

HR34 - ABC, NBC, FOX, CBS, SHO, HBO, MAX, BBCA, History
HR24 - COM, Animal Planet, XD, SyFy
HR21 #1 - USA, TNT, Discovery, Misc
HR21 #2 - NASCAR Races (All saved)
HR21 #3 - OTA Backups
HR21 #4 - Movies

All of them have 2TB drives (some internal, most external) except my HR34 which has 9TB.

I keep a spreadsheet that is setup so that each DVR has its own sheet and on that sheet are the SL's for the DVR. I keep track of what is airing, what is on hiatus but returning and what is on hiatus but may/may not come back. The spreadsheet is setup in "Numbers" on my Mac and shared in the iCloud so my iPhone and iPad have updated copies.

Knowing what nets are on what units makes it easy to schedule a recording using the iPhone or iPad app.


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## RunnerFL (Jan 5, 2006)

kosh56 said:


> Ugh, they really need to address this. The day I have to work that hard to watch TV is the day I might as well move to online viewing and leave the DVRs behind.


It's not hard work at all. It's being organized. Once you're organized life is easy.

Work smarter, not harder.


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## hdtvfan0001 (Jul 28, 2004)

RunnerFL said:


> It's not hard work at all. It's being organized. Once you're organized life is easy.
> 
> Work smarter, not harder.


All quite true and commendable efforts.

I share your passion for organization.

But in this household...and despite having multiple HD DVRs including an HR34...the day we need a spreadsheet to manage our recording plans is the day my wife moves out.


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

hdtvfan0001 said:


> I commend those with innovative or organized ways to manage those reams of recordings.
> 
> It does pose a logical question thought...with that much content recorded....when the heck do you have time to actually view it all? :eek2:


I gather you aimed that post at me? I don't actually watch D* content that much. I prefer NetFlix and it's streaming British content. But my wife likes D* and has hammered me for even suggesting that we switch to streaming content. Whoops, looks like you aimed at *RunnerFL* and not me. Sorry. Where does he get the time?

Rich


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

hdtvfan0001 said:


> All quite true and commendable efforts.
> 
> I share your passion for organization.
> 
> But in this household...and despite having multiple HD DVRs including an HR34...the day we need a spreadsheet to manage our recording plans is the day my wife moves out.


I don't think you really need to be as organized as some are. Not that there's anything wrong with being organized. We've got the UPL and that's a data base type of feature. It's all _we_ need. I kinda got sick of Excel after teaching so many classes for Excel use. I read every manual of every new version for several years. My wife is a real power user of Excel and uses it in her work, I don't think she'd appreciate spreadsheets after going thru that VCR nightmare.

Rich


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## hdtvfan0001 (Jul 28, 2004)

Rich said:


> I gather you aimed that post *at me*?


Nope. The ability to actually watch hundreds of programming hours that continuously grows would seem to be a challenge for almost anyone.


Rich said:


> I don't think you really need to be as organized as some are. Not that there's anything wrong with being organized. We've got the UPL and that's a data base type of feature. It's all _we_ need. I kinda got sick of Excel after teaching so many classes for Excel use. I read every manual of every new version for several years. My wife is a real power user of Excel and uses it in her work, *I don't think she'd appreciate spreadsheets after going thru that VCR nightmare*.


Same here.

We're not into stockpiling recordings to the point where they can't be watched within a reasonable timeframe. In some cases, certain major event recordings may be "saved" for future viewing and re-viewing, but those are the exceptions by far. That's perhaps the only segway on the original topic here...since most of those preferred "major event" recordings tend to be 3,4,5, or more hours in length, having the storage to retain them (and better yet...the ability to archive them in the event of hard disk failure) would be nice.


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## Drucifer (Feb 12, 2009)

dlambermont said:


> Just added an HR34 to my existing HR20-700 and HR23-700 (and one H23). I see some of you have WAY more DVRs that that. Just wondering how you manage your recordings on multiple DVRs? It would be great to have a one-stop-shop for setting up/managing series recordings, viewing available disk space, etc. I'm guessing nothing like that exists?


I assign Channels to DVRs and I assign by Genre to DVRs.

And yes, all multi-DVR users have been waiting years and, even more so now since MRV, for DirecTV Network functions. Just having H2x functions on HRxx would be a nice beginning.


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## Drucifer (Feb 12, 2009)

Titan25 said:


> *I have a spreadsheet*, where I keep track of what programs are recording on which DVR at what times. I keep a printout in the remote caddy in the family room and check it before I add a new SL entry (and note it on the printout which I then use to update the file).
> 
> What can I say...I work with computers all day.


I use Google Doc SS so I can access from anywhere.

As for handy, I use Flickr. I save 4x3 images of SS for each DVR and stored 'em on Flickr. Flickr can be access via TVapps.


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## Bill Broderick (Aug 25, 2006)

Titan25 said:


> I have a spreadsheet, where I keep track of what programs are recording on which DVR at what times.


I too use a spreadsheet. Each season, I check The Futon Critic for the upcoming TV Schedule and put it into a spreadsheet. I assign the programs in the spreadsheet to the various DVR's.

I try to avoid putting all network programming onto a single DVR because there is usually only one showing of network shows. So, unexpected conflicts end up being resolved by one show never getting recorded. So, I spread network shows across my DVR's and give them the highest priorities in the list so they take preference over cable shows, which will be more likely to be replayed later that same night.


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## spartanstew (Nov 16, 2005)

My wife and I record all of our shows on the HR34 and the kids have all of their shows on an HR21.

The other DVR's (2) are simply used for MRV and have empty playlists.


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## hdtvfan0001 (Jul 28, 2004)

Drucifer said:


> I assign Channels to DVRs and I assign by Genre to DVRs.





spartanstew said:


> My wife and I record all of our shows on the HR34 and the kids have all of their shows on an HR21.
> 
> The other DVR's (2) are simply used for MRV and have empty playlists.


I think both of you have a nice "system" in place for your households.


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## Steve (Aug 22, 2006)

Bill Broderick said:


> I try to avoid putting all network programming onto a single DVR because there is usually only one showing of network shows. So, unexpected conflicts end up being resolved by one show never getting recorded.


Like others, I solve this by _only_ recording CBS and NBC on one HR24, and only recording FOX and ABC on another HR24.

Two big advantages to this approach, IMHO, if you have enough DVRs to do this with:

I can schedule network shows remotely with complete confidence I won't have a conflict.
I get the maximum pre- and post-padding on each recording, because the DVR scheduler "overlaps" padding for consecutive recordings on the same channel.
Of course, this is only possible thanks to MRV, since it really doesn't matter in which room a recording actually lives. Before that, I had to keep a spreadsheet as well, along with anticipate in which room I might want to watch a show.

A third HR24 is used to record PBS and all the cable shows. PBS gets highest priority, and the cable shows are set lower. I rarely see a conflict on that box, if ever, because the first-run cable shows normally air more than once.

I also have an HR34 to record dupes of most of my important shows. I've got an AM21 attached to it, so I record OTA dupes of CBS and NBC shows on it. The HR24 that records FOX and ABC has an AM21 as well, so those shows get recorded OTA on that box, with SAT back-ups on the HR34.


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## hdtvfan0001 (Jul 28, 2004)

Steve said:


> Two big advantages to this approach, IMHO, if you have enough DVRs to do this with:
> 
> I can schedule network shows remotely with complete confidence I won't have a conflict.
> I get the maximum pre- and post-padding on each recording, because the DVR scheduler "overlaps" padding for consecutive recordings on the same channel.
> Of course, this is only possible thanks to MRV, since it really doesn't matter in which room a recording actually lives.


I hadn't actually considered those added benefits of that approach before, but they are great points. Thanks for sharing.

A bunch of you folks seem to have this figured out quite nicely and also without major time invested in managing it all. Kudos.


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## rsblaski (Jul 6, 2003)

I generally record NBC, HBO and Fox on DVR 1, ABC, CBS And Showtime on DVR 2, and spread the rest around on my HR34 and another DVR in a spare bedroom if needed.
However, since I've gotten an Asus tf700, I just use the DirecTV app to schedule new series or onetime recordings. I simply schedule them to record on all the DVR`s "if possible". I find this much easier than to have to go to another DVR if i find a conflict. The next time I check an individual dvr, I just delete what doesn't belong on that DVR`s series list.
I would still prefer being able to manage all my DVR`s series lists from one location, however.


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## armophob (Nov 13, 2006)

I guess now all we have to do is share spread sheets when we want to see what we are all watching these days.


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## inkahauts (Nov 13, 2006)

I think at a minimum, if you have multiple dvrs but no hr34, then I'd use one of two methods:

1. specific channels to certain dvrs. example for someone in LA with 2 dvrs: 2 (cbs) and 4 (nbc) and all cable channels up to 245 on one unit and then put 5 (wb) 7 (abc) 11(fox) and all cable channels 246 and up on the other.

2. all stuff for one person on one dvr, and all stuff for the other person on another dvr, assuming no overlap. If there is overlap, then you designate one dvr to have all series that would overlap.

If you have an hr34 and other dvrs I'd put everything on the hr34 that is a series. Then put all my sports on other dvrs. Also might use other dvrs for other people with non overlapping shows.

In a perfect world, I'd have three hr34s. One for all my series, one for half my sports and all my random discovery channel type shows, and one for the other half of my sports and movies and autorecords based on people.


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## RACJ2 (Aug 2, 2008)

It would be nice if there was a master schedule for multiple DVR's and it was smart enough to schedule across DVR's. Although since I added my HR34, I schedule almost everything on it. With 5 tuners, I never have a conflict. And for storage, I only have the original 1TB internal drive in mine. Guess I don't record as much as some you do.

I do have some duplicate series set up on my HR22. Most of the time, I only add a recording to it, if I'm in that room and I see an ad for a program I want to watch. Since you can't schedule to a remote DVR from another DVR (which I wish was an option), I set it up on the HR22. Occasionally I'll use the app on my phone to set it up remotely to the HR34 instead.


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## RunnerFL (Jan 5, 2006)

RACJ2 said:


> It would be nice if there was a master schedule for multiple DVR's and it was smart enough to schedule across DVR's.


No thank you. I don't want my DVRs to do my thinking for me. We'd wind up with series episodes spread all over the place.


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## Steve (Aug 22, 2006)

Per the thread starter's original post, I just now finished remotely setting up a bunch of Series Links for my mom, a FiOS TV subscriber. Using her account log-in from my house, I had web access to both her multiroom DVRs, and I was able to see and delete from her playlists, TDL and series manager, as well as search and schedule recordings either DVR. Piece of cake.

Just like DirecTV WHDVR service, she has two DVRs and one STB, and can see any recording from any location.

I attached some screen shots of the Web UI I was working with below.


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## Steve (Aug 22, 2006)

RunnerFL said:


> No thank you. I don't want my DVRs to do my thinking for me. We'd wind up with series episodes spread all over the place.


With MRV, I personally could care less which box a show was on. That said, I expect a collaborative scheduler would have an option to pin a recording to a particular DVR at the time you set up the recording, so if you did care, it wouldn't be an issue.

Not to belabor this, but the real value of collaborative scheduling to me is that all recording management can be centralized. Without leaving my seat, I was just able to manage both my mom's DVRs 3 miles from my home, but if I want to delete a Series Link from my own Family Room HR34, I now have to walk down two flights of stairs to do it.


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## Bill Broderick (Aug 25, 2006)

RunnerFL said:


> No thank you. I don't want my DVRs to do my thinking for me. We'd wind up with series episodes spread all over the place.


I disagree. Other than when I'm trying to clear out a hard drive on a specific DVR, so I can replace it, without losing anything that I want to keep (which I'm currently in the process of doing), I couldn't care less which DVR a show gets recorded on. I'd love to have the option for a DVR network smart enough to resolve conflicts by recording something on a different DVR than the one on which it was scheduled.


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## Mike Bertelson (Jan 24, 2007)

This is how I do it. I export the grid from Wikipedia into Excel. Color coded by DVR.

Mike


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## rbpeirce (Feb 24, 2006)

I really like the spreadsheet idea and I plan to implement it when I get home.

The two things I do now is to put network shows on one DVR and cable shows on the other with exceptions for when I get three in one ares. I also alphabetize the shows in the priority list, since priorities shouldn't be an issue. That way I can easily find shows as needed.

The one problem I have is getting rid of discontinued shows. Some shows have a nasty habit of re-appearing after you have decided they have been canceled. Others never re-appear yet stay in the list until I run out of space and have to get rid of something. Any solutions for that?


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## armophob (Nov 13, 2006)

rbpeirce said:


> Any solutions for that?


I use The Futon Critic.


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## RunnerFL (Jan 5, 2006)

Steve said:


> With MRV, I personally could care less which box a show was on.


Until you've lost a box and find out that episodes 2, 4 and 9 of a show you watch were on that DVR instead of all together with the other episodes because you let the DVR decide where to record them.


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## RunnerFL (Jan 5, 2006)

Bill Broderick said:


> I disagree. Other than when I'm trying to clear out a hard drive on a specific DVR, so I can replace it, without losing anything that I want to keep (which I'm currently in the process of doing), I couldn't care less which DVR a show gets recorded on. I'd love to have the option for a DVR network smart enough to resolve conflicts by recording something on a different DVR than the one on which it was scheduled.


As I replied to Steve... You wouldn't like it so much if this "smart" scheduler put episodes of shows all over the place and now you've lost a DVR.

I want things to record on the DVR I tell them to record on, not somewhere out of my control.


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## RunnerFL (Jan 5, 2006)

Here's my spreadsheet. Pretty simple.

EDIT: Well I guess the system won't accept .numbers files. Oh well...


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## rbpeirce (Feb 24, 2006)

Thanks. I added Futon Critic to my reading list. Now I need to figure out how to use it.


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

RunnerFL said:


> As I replied to Steve... You wouldn't like it so much if this "smart" scheduler put episodes of shows all over the place and now you've lost a DVR.
> 
> I want things to record on the DVR I tell them to record on, not somewhere out of my control.


All the spreadsheets and other methods are worthless if a DVR fails, unless you've got multiple DVRs backing them up, I think. Now, if we could use any HDD recorded within an account on any HR within that account, losing a DVR wouldn't be so catastrophic as it is now.

Rich


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## Steve (Aug 22, 2006)

Ya. My ideal set-up would be a 5-6 tuner diskless set top box connected to fault tolerant networked attached storage. In that scenario, the recordings would be encrypted to my account and not a particular STB.


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## Diana C (Mar 30, 2007)

Steve said:


> Ya. My ideal set-up would be a 5-6 tuner diskless set top box connected to fault tolerant networked attached storage. In that scenario, the recordings would be encrypted to my account and not a particular STB.


I think this is the ultimate solution for storage mangement and recording scheduling. I have a ZyXEL NAS that routinely manages to support 300Mbps across the LAN. If I could put one of these guys on the net with 2 3TB drives in RAID 1 configuration, I'd have the same amount of diskspace I have now, spread across 3 DVRs, but it would be fault tolerant. And if the encryption was tied to my account, instead of the devices, I could record and playback from/to any device or TV. The throughput of the device is even sufficient to easily handle 8 recording streams and 4 playback.


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## Drucifer (Feb 12, 2009)

Steve said:


> Per the thread starter's original post, I just now finished remotely setting up a bunch of Series Links for my mom, a FiOS TV subscriber. *Using her account log-in from my house, I had web access to both her multiroom DVRs, and I was able to see and delete from her playlists, TDL and series manager, as well as search and schedule recordings either DVR.* Piece of cake.
> 
> Just like DirecTV WHDVR service, she has two DVRs and one STB, and can see any recording from any location.
> 
> I attached some screen shots of the Web UI I was working with below.


Nice, but will DirecTV ever do it for their customers?

According to a few members here, DirecTV does not have the resources.


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## RunnerFL (Jan 5, 2006)

Rich said:


> All the spreadsheets and other methods are worthless if a DVR fails, unless you've got multiple DVRs backing them up, I think. Now, if we could use any HDD recorded within an account on any HR within that account, losing a DVR wouldn't be so catastrophic as it is now.
> 
> Rich


Bingo!


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## RACJ2 (Aug 2, 2008)

RunnerFL said:


> No thank you. I don't want my DVRs to do my thinking for me. We'd wind up with series episodes spread all over the place.


Like I said, for me I wouldn't really need it. Although, if you had WHDVR and a master integrated recoding list. Would it really matter which DVR it was recorded on? You would just select the episode and it would go pull it from the DVR it was recorded on. Sounds better then using manual spreadsheets?


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## Steve (Aug 22, 2006)

Titan25 said:


> steve said:
> 
> 
> > My ideal set-up would be a 5-6 tuner diskless set top box connected to fault tolerant networked attached storage. In that scenario, the recordings would be encrypted to my account and not a particular STB.
> ...


What puzzles me is the technology for this approach exists today, and since this is such straightforward and seemingly cost effective way to go, I wonder what we're missing, since no MSO I know of has anythng like this in place, AFAIK? :scratchin


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## inkahauts (Nov 13, 2006)

Security and Hollywood.


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## Steve (Aug 22, 2006)

inkahauts said:


> Security and Hollywood.


Maybe for appearance only, tho. Since MRV, aren't the current HR2x's encrypted DLNA servers anyway? If so, couldn't a conscientious hacker get at the recordings now, if he or she really wanted to?


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## Diana C (Mar 30, 2007)

Steve said:


> Maybe for appearance only, tho. Since MRV, aren't the current HR2x's encrypted DLNA servers anyway? If so, couldn't a conscientious hacker get at the recordings now, if he or she really wanted to?


I don't think so...they function as DLNA clients (sort of) in that they can play some audio and video from another server (PC), but they will only deliver video to a DirecTV2PC client...you can't play anything through media player.

The security answer doesn't hold water...it is no less secure than an external drive attached to the DVR. It is just a drive at the end of an Ethernet cable instead of a SATA cable.


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## RunnerFL (Jan 5, 2006)

RACJ2 said:


> Like I said, for me I wouldn't really need it. Although, if you had WHDVR and a master integrated recoding list. Would it really matter which DVR it was recorded on? You would just select the episode and it would go pull it from the DVR it was recorded on. Sounds better then using manual spreadsheets?


Yes, it would matter. Again, if your recordings are all over the place and you lose a DVR you're screwed. Unlike most everyone else I don't watch things when they air. I save some shows for when the season ends and I can watch all the episodes back to back. I'd HATE it if some of those episodes were no longer there because some stupid "master integrated recording list" decided it would spread episodes out over my system.

I'll take my spreadsheets over a "master integrated recording list" any day. Make fun of me and my spreadsheets all you want.


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## spartanstew (Nov 16, 2005)

I would think, in the scenario RAC suggests, episodes of a particular series (SL) would all be on one DVR.


Even before I got my HR34, I never had spreadsheets or anything. I set up recordings on the main DVR. If I tried to set up a SL and there was a conflict, I just set that one up on a different DVR. Didn't matter to me what network it was or what type of show it was. I had SL's spread across three different DVR's and most of the time I had no idea which DVR I was even watching from. A master recording list could do the same thing. Find a spot for the SL and put it on that DVR (with all episodes of that show there as well).


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## RACJ2 (Aug 2, 2008)

RunnerFL said:


> Yes, it would matter. Again, if your recordings are all over the place and you lose a DVR you're screwed. Unlike most everyone else I don't watch things when they air. I save some shows for when the season ends and I can watch all the episodes back to back. I'd HATE it if some of those episodes were no longer there because some stupid "master integrated recording list" decided it would spread episodes out over my system.
> 
> I'll take my spreadsheets over a "master integrated recording list" any day. Make fun of me and my spreadsheets all you want.


First off, I apologize that the way I worded my post may have been misinterpreted. I wasn't making fun of you or your spreadsheets at all. I was merely saying that if I could be automated, it would sure be better then spreadsheets.

And now that you explained how you record a seasons worth of programs on the same DVR and then watch a whole season, I can see why you said what you did. I watch programs from week to week or maybe up to 3 episodes back to back. So that's why I can do all my recording on my HR34. We just have different needs.


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## Drucifer (Feb 12, 2009)

spartanstew said:


> I would think, in the scenario RAC suggests, episodes of a particular series (SL) would all be on one DVR.
> 
> Even before I got my HR34, I never had spreadsheets or anything. I set up recordings on the main DVR. If I tried to set up a SL and there was a conflict, I just set that one up on a different DVR. Didn't matter to me what network it was or what type of show it was. I had SL's spread across three different DVR's and most of the time I had no idea which DVR I was even watching from. A master recording list could do the same thing. Find a spot for the SL and put it on that DVR (with all episodes of that show there as well).


I can imagine what your sock draw looks like.


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## spartanstew (Nov 16, 2005)

Not sure how that even relates, but which one?

I have one drawer for black socks and another for white.


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## Bill Broderick (Aug 25, 2006)

rbpeirce said:


> Thanks. I added Futon Critic to my reading list. Now I need to figure out how to use it.


These are the pages that you want.

Current Season Guide

and from that page, you can get to "When does (insert show) return" page.

I don't bother keeping inactive shows on my DVR's from season to season because it's usually easier to start from scratch when setting up a new season, rather than trying to force specific shows to remain on the same DVR that they were on last year. So, as soon as a show is over for the season, I delete it from my schedule, as well as my spreadsheet. The exceptions are the shows that have a "mini-season" with only a month or two of downtime between "mini-seasons" (USA has been doing a lot of this). For those shows, I won't delete them until all of the "mini-seasons" are done.


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

RACJ2 said:


> Like I said, for me I wouldn't really need it. Although, if you had WHDVR and a master integrated recoding list. Would it really matter which DVR it was recorded on? You would just select the episode and it would go pull it from the DVR it was recorded on. Sounds better then using manual spreadsheets?


We do have the Unified Playlist (UPL) that does exactly that. It acts as a data base. I have a huge UPL and I don't bother with worrying about what's where.

Rich


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## TomCat (Aug 31, 2002)

Titan25 said:


> I have a spreadsheet, where I keep track of what programs are recording on which DVR at what times. I keep a printout in the remote caddy in the family room and check it before I add a new SL entry (and note it on the printout which I then use to update the file).
> 
> What can I say...I work with computers all day.


I have a similar system. I have 4 DVRs in one room (no WH for me). I have a colored sticker on each; red, blue, green, yellow, and corresponding stickers on their respective remotes, and on the remote for my HDMI switcher which feeds two TVs in that room.

I use Numbers (spreadsheet) on a MacBook Air, and rows for programs sectioned into days of the week and columns for DVRs, appropriately color-matched. When I record a program on Red, for instance, I increment that cell by one, which means I have a running total of how many eps of any program I have on any DVR. When I delete, I decrement the cell total. This means I can also use the spreadsheet functions to tell me how many hours of recordings I have and how much space I have (developed during the Tivo era when there was no space meter). I use further tweaks to indicate which eps would be next in play order and which DVRs to increment for that night's record schedule, should I need to record eps of the same show spread over multiple DVRs for whatever reason. Half-hour shows need a separate section to keep the math right.

I also created a grid program in Omnigraffle that keeps a record of every ep of every show, with date represented by columns, a page for every day of the week. This way I know if I have seen a particular ep already (I grey it out once viewed). This comes in handy if CBS decides to throw us a 2009 ep of CSI; I just refer to the history and see if its greyed out on my 2009 version. Since I double-record most stuff, I use a field color and a border color to represent the two DVRs any ep will be recorded on. Every ep is represented by its own little tile that I can move around snapped to the grid, and I end up with columns of tiles representing a season of each program, each tile representing an ep and its location representing its original air date. Over that is a transparent block that covers just the future dates that are not available in the schedule as of yet, which I resize as that day becomes available. Over the years I have tweaked this system a lot, and I am using lots of 3D shading to make it very attractive, rather than just sparse spreadsheets.

I have yet another grid in Omnigraffle that represents air time vs channels, again with a page for every day of the week. That is used to predict and resolve recording conflicts, but only when necessary. Very handy.

The whole shebang takes a couple of hours a week to manage, but I do it while I am watching the news shows on Sunday mornings, so I really don't waste any time with it. Entering the ep titles is the most cumbersome part.

I plan to move it all to the iPad as soon as the software is capable.


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## inkahauts (Nov 13, 2006)

spartanstew said:


> Not sure how that even relates, but which one?
> 
> I have one drawer for black socks and another for white.


!rolling

Actually, your method surprises me. I find it very easy to just stick to recording certain networks on certain dvrs to be the easiest method to avoid conflicts, as stations like to change times shows are on and can create conflicts latter on, where as if you stick to certain networks on certain dvrs, that issue should not arise across three dvrs ever for network shows, and cable shows repeat enough it shouldn't be a problem for them either.


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## inkahauts (Nov 13, 2006)

Titan25 said:


> I don't think so...they function as DLNA clients (sort of) in that they can play some audio and video from another server (PC), but they will only deliver video to a DirecTV2PC client...you can't play anything through media player.
> 
> The security answer doesn't hold water...it is no less secure than an external drive attached to the DVR. It is just a drive at the end of an Ethernet cable instead of a SATA cable.


I have always thought the reason we can't move hard drives around is security. How do you tie everything to an account number and not a access or RID number? What if someone could figure out how to spoof that? That's the issue I am talking about, and it would be prevalent in a NAS type device situation as suggested.

I am not saying I wouldn't like that process, I am just saying I wonder if its something they'd ever even consider, if they can even get past the impracticality of its use for their average customers.


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## RunnerFL (Jan 5, 2006)

inkahauts said:


> How do you tie everything to an account number and not a access or RID number?


You could ask that same question in reverse as well. How do you tie everything to a RID/Access card and not an account number? Tying it to one number would be just as easy as tying it to another.



inkahauts said:


> What if someone could figure out how to spoof that?


Again, same could be said in reverse. What if someone could spoof a RID? We all know an access card can be spoofed, look back at the HU card days.

A number is just a number whether it be account number, RID, access card or phone number. When you're generating a pgp key you can use anything for a passphrase, this would be no different.


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## inkahauts (Nov 13, 2006)

"RunnerFL" said:


> You could ask that same question in reverse as well. How do you tie everything to a RID/Access card and not an account number? Tying it to one number would be just as easy as tying it to another.
> 
> Again, same could be said in reverse. What if someone could spoof a RID? We all know an access card can be spoofed, look back at the HU card days.
> 
> A number is just a number whether it be account number, RID, access card or phone number. When you're generating a pgp key you can use anything for a passphrase, this would be no different.


I am under the impression that the rid and access card numbers are "hard coded" into the physical chips on the card and Receiver, and can't be changed without physically changing their chips, that's why they in part can't be spoofed is my understanding. There is no way to do that with an account number, as those have to change when DVRs are activated and deactivated. This is my thought process on this. I don't know if that's the case, but it was explained to me that way long ago and it did make some sense at the time, although I don't remember all the reasoning behind it anymore, just the overall concept.


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## RunnerFL (Jan 5, 2006)

inkahauts said:


> I am under the impression that the rid and access card numbers are "hard coded" into the physical chips on the card and Receiver, and can't be changed without physically changing their chips, that's why they in part can't be spoofed is my understanding. There is no way to do that with an account number, as those have to change when DVRs are activated and deactivated. This is my thought process on this. I don't know if that's the case, but it was explained to me that way long ago and it did make some sense at the time, although I don't remember all the reasoning behind it anymore, just the overall concept.


Hard coded or not, it's just a number. The access card can be spoofed and has in the past. I don't see why you can't spoof a RID either, it's just a number. Not sure why you think it needs to be a "hard coded" number though, a number is a number. They could encrypt the recordings on any drive with any passphrase, why not use the account number?


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## unixguru (Jul 9, 2007)

Drucifer said:


> Nice, but will DirecTV ever do it for their customers?
> 
> According to a few members here, DirecTV does not have the resources.


But they have the resources to put into Genie Recommends 

Which looks to me to be mostly another way to pump PPV. At least with Genie one doesn't have to look at it. The number of PPV ad lines in the guide is getting out of control...

Therein lies the problem... no extra revenue from managing programming via the internet. Oh, wait a minute, they could just add yet ANOTHER fee like HD, WH, ... :nono2:


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## Richierich (Jan 10, 2008)

hdtvfan0001 said:


> I commend those with innovative or organized ways to manage those reams of recordings.
> 
> It does pose a logical question thought...with that much content recorded....when the heck do you have time to actually view it all? :eek2:


I have 7 DVRs with 14 Terabytes of Recording Capacity on them so Yes I do Record a lot of stuff. I do not have time to view all of the recordings but after a week or so I do Routine Maintenance and Delete those Recordings I do not want to view or keep.

It is an ongoing process so that you can free up space on your DVRs and get rid of dated recordings that you didn't have time to watch such as football games that are interesing such as Oregon but I am not in the West so the ACC and SEC are a higher priority but I still have my eye on Oregon as my FSU Seminoles are right behind them.


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## Drucifer (Feb 12, 2009)

unixguru said:


> But they have the resources to put into Genie Recommends
> 
> Which looks to me to be mostly another way to pump PPV. At least with Genie one doesn't have to look at it. The number of PPV ad lines in the guide is getting out of control...
> 
> Therein lies the problem... no extra revenue from managing programming via the internet. Oh, wait a minute, they could just add yet ANOTHER fee like HD, WH, ... :nono2:


DirecTV should be able to add lots of ads to online PlayList and Series Manager, so it could pay for itself if they care to even take a look at providing this service.


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## TomCat (Aug 31, 2002)

Richierich said:


> I have 7 DVRs with 14 Terabytes of Recording Capacity on them so Yes I do Record a lot of stuff. I do not have time to view all of the recordings but after a week or so I do Routine Maintenance and Delete those Recordings I do not want to view or keep.
> 
> It is an ongoing process so that you can free up space on your DVRs and get rid of dated recordings that you didn't have time to watch...


This is a new era that we as DVR owners (lessees?) had to wait a decade for, which is enough space to record whatever we want, and watch it whenever we want.

Not that many years ago we were driven by limited space. The DVR was supposed to free us from the playback schedule and allow us to watch indiscriminately, but with limited space, we had to manage the space carefully, and that meant watching shows actually earlier than might be convenient, deleting shows we really might want to keep, missing recordings because we just didn't have the space, watching your second or third choice program instead of your first choice at the moment because you needed to free space on that particular DVR, etc.

So having the luxury of too much space, rather than not enough, has been exceptionally liberating; it took a very long time to get to here.

I have 8 TB on 4 DVRs. You are kind of out in the weeds if you want to do more than that, per DVR at least. I still have to manage it, but things are much better than they were just a few years ago.

Now if we could just perfect unified playlists and HDD backup issues. Double recording and keeping a spreadsheet or other method are the workarounds that currently address those problems, but not all that easily or elegantly. WH seems not all that great either.

I think one great stab at a solution is Hopper technology; I'm just not desperate enough to abandon DTV to get it.


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## RACJ2 (Aug 2, 2008)

Rich said:


> We do have the Unified Playlist (UPL) that does exactly that. It acts as a data base. I have a huge UPL and I don't bother with worrying about what's where.
> 
> Rich


Right, we have a UPL. I was talking about when setting up a recording. The unified scheduler would go out and find an open tuner, that doesn't have a conflict, on any DVR and sets it up to record. Maybe it checks the current DVR first and if there are conflicts, it checks a second DVR, etc.

And the scheduler would warn you if you are setting up the same program to record a second time. And if you still ask it to set it up to record a second time, it knows to use a different DVR. Since you would be doing it for a backup to the original recording.

And as I have already mentioned, my HR34 with 5 tuners and 1 TB drive works for all my recording needs. So I wouldn't even need this, but some posters have said they would.


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## TXD16 (Oct 30, 2008)

Unified management is long, long overdue, but, unfortunately, the fact of the matter is that DIRECTV will be pushing to their generally semi-technology-literate customers a sever/client product, the HR34 and C31, which will likely serve the masses quite well. Those same masses are simply not going to know any different nor are they likely to request anything other than what they are being served.

The rest of us? We will need to continue to be the squeaky wheel and request (as in contacting DIRECTV) unified functionality or it simply ain't gonna happen.


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