# Old bug they tried to fix?



## lpickup (Jul 12, 2005)

Here's another grievance--this is an old bug that it looks like they tried to fix but failed:

Whenever I had two recordings going but was watching a pre-recorded show, after I hit STOP, I would get a warning screen to the effect that both tuners were in use and it couldn't return me to the channel I was watching. That's all well and good, but the only choices it gave me were to stop one of the recordings! I found that I could cancel out of that page eventually after several keypresses get back to the DVR list to erase the program I just watched and move on to another, which is all I wanted to do in the first place.

Well, at L219 it looks like they attempted to make this a bit cleaner. Now when I hit STOP, it comes up with a message that both tuners are in use so it will direct me to one of the recording tuners. Fine with me, I'm just going to watch another pre-recorded program anyway. The problem is that after I hit okay, I then get the original warning screen anyway about having to stop a recording because there are no tuners available! Nice try, but no dice!

I didn't want to necessarily submit this as a BUG REPORT yet because I'm a bit unsure of the expected behavior. Clearly the behavior is not what I want, but maybe (even though I really hope not) it is what is intended.

Comments?

...Lance


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## lujan (Feb 10, 2004)

As I understand it, the 921 should have 3 tuners available. I've had the same trouble that you report. There should be two satellite tuners and one OTA tuner available, but I get this warning when I'm only using two tuners, one satellite and one OTA. Somethings changed since the 921 first came out because in the beginning I was able to use all three tuners at once. Mark, can you explain it once more because I'm sure I've read the explanation before.


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## lpickup (Jul 12, 2005)

You're problem sounds more serious! If you're only using 1 sat and 1 OTA tuner and you still get the complaint (unless you were previously on a different OTA channel than what is now recording), then that is a big problem!

In my case I'm not using OTA at all. I truly am using both sat tuners at once and the receiver wants to go back to a third sat channel. I realize something has to give, and I'm certainly okay with that. Shunt me to one of the recording channels--I don't even need a popup to tell me that, just do it. But fine, I'll live with a popup telling me it's going to a different channel so long as it continues whatever operation I was doing at the time (erasing a DVR program). My complaint is that even though it tells me it's going to take me to one of the recording tuners, it really doesn't and comes up with that screwy "which recording do you want to stop" popup, and this basically interrupts whatever I happened to be doing at the time.

...Lance


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## David_Levin (Apr 22, 2002)

You're never supposed to be able to use all 3 tuners at once. The 921 only supports two streams to/from the hard drive. There has been a bug that allowed watching a 3rd if it was an analog OTA (which is never streamed to the hard drive anyway).

So, yes, if two recordings are in progress, something has to give.

I agree that we don't really need a warning before "joining" a recording in progress. But, how many people actually WANT to join an in progress timer?

My preference would have been a return to the PVR event screen, and a blank Preview window.


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## lpickup (Jul 12, 2005)

David_Levin said:


> My preference would have been a return to the PVR event screen, and a blank Preview window.


I'll second that. This would be the ideal behavior IMO.

...Lance


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## DonLandis (Dec 17, 2003)

David explained it correctly. On the more technical side of things- consider you have 3 tuners but only two pipes to route the digital signals. Therefore only two of those tuners can be routed at the same time. Analog video never sees the digital routing so it could be accessed if you had OTA analog station active. 

And, being able to access all three tuners at once was never a feature of the 921, was never in the specs and never claimed to be available even before it was released for sale. 

BTW- since the HDTIVO also uses the same routing of digital signals it, too, can only process two digital channels at the same time and it does have 4 tuners!


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## Ron Barry (Dec 10, 2002)

David_Levin said:


> You're never supposed to be able to use all 3 tuners at once. The 921 only supports two streams to/from the hard drive. There has been a bug that allowed watching a 3rd if it was an analog OTA (which is never streamed to the hard drive anyway).


I am pretty sure you can record two streams while watching an already recorded stream from hard drive. I read the above statement and the to/from gives the impression that you can't do this. Just wanted to through this point out for clarification because that is my understanding of the stated functionality of the 921 and I believe I have done this more than once.


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## lpickup (Jul 12, 2005)

Yes, you are allowed to record 2 while watching 1. A better way to describe the limitation is a max of 2 write to and 1 read from the drive. 

...Lance


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## lujan (Feb 10, 2004)

Thanks to all for clearing this up.


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## AVJohnnie (Jul 27, 2004)

Isn't the problem something more like:

You're tuned into and watching TVFN on 110.
A timer fires to record TNTHD on 9420._ (So far, so good)._
You get a little tired of watching "Goals for Grub" re-run #42 and decide to bring up the PVR list, pick something already recorded and start watching it._ (Still, so far, so good)._
Now another timer fires to record HBOFM on 305_ (Still going good though&#8230_
Now your PVR show ends and you decide to "Cancel" out of the PVR functions._ (Uh oh, now you've got trouble&#8230;_
...'cause at this point the 921 wants to put the last channel you were actively viewing up on the screen which was TVFN on 110 - but&#8230; it can't do that, both tuners are busy recording HBOFM and TNTHD.

BUT..., had one of the tuners been recording TVFN instead&#8230; No problems, no worries&#8230; No fouls, no errors...

Or something like that&#8230; :scratch: 

_Edit ---_

Oops&#8230; forgot another possible scenario. If when you finish watching whatever PVR recorded event it was, you decide to erase it (from the "STOP"ed event item menu) &#8230; Ooh - You're in the same world-of-hurt because now the higher level events menu wants to put that last active "Live" channel (110, TVFN) in the preview window (and as we know, that's an uh oh too 'cause it ain't available, any more, is it&#8230


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## David_Levin (Apr 22, 2002)

Ron Barry said:


> I am pretty sure you can record two streams while watching an already recorded stream from hard drive. I read the above statement and the to/from gives the impression that you can't do this. Just wanted to through this point out for clarification because that is my understanding of the stated functionality of the 921 and I believe I have done this more than once.


OOps, yes, you are absolutely correct. I was not clear there.

Thanks


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## SimpleSimon (Jan 15, 2004)

lpickup said:


> Yes, you are allowed to record 2 while watching 1. A better way to describe the limitation is a max of 2 write to and 1 read from the drive.
> 
> ...Lance


 Actually, you can record 2, and watch 2 (SD-only) by using PiP.

It's a little tricky to make it happen, but it works.


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## lpickup (Jul 12, 2005)

AVJohnnie said:


> Isn't the problem something more like:
> _...very nicely worded description of the problem snipped..._


Johnnie, you summed it up just about perfectly, especially the edit part which is the typical case for me.

I only bring this up because it appears they tried to "fix" the issue by bringing up a pop-up window that basically says, sorry, I can't take you back to TVFN so I'm directing you to HBOFM instead. However, after you hit okay you find out it doesn't really do that and instead asks you which timer you want to stop recording, HBOFM or TNTHD.

I want to make sure Dish doesn't think that this problem is solved, because it's not. They only got half way and in the process created an additional keystroke for me to hit!

...Lance


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## AVJohnnie (Jul 27, 2004)

lpickup said:


> I want to make sure Dish doesn't think that this problem is solved, because it's not. They only got half way and in the process created an additional keystroke for me to hit!


Maybe the Eldon bunch is using one of those visual code development platforms :computer: to do their support releases - Yup, one of those MS-like visual platforms (that seem so backwards :roundandr from the way I learned to code many, many ages ago :bang ) - You know, the new type of platform that makes you draw the pretty GUI first :new_color, then _someday_, when you're not feeling quite so artistically :new_smiliinclined, you finally get around to actually coming up :scratch: with some code :contract: that makes the GOO do something worthwhile. I think in this particular case, that the _someday_ just hasn't happened yet. :righton:


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## SimpleSimon (Jan 15, 2004)

AVJohnnie said:


> Maybe the Eldon bunch is using one of those visual code development platforms :computer: to do their support releases - Yup, one of those MS-like visual platforms (that seem so backwards :roundandr from the way I learned to code many, many ages ago :bang ) - You know, the new type of platform that makes you draw the pretty GUI first :new_color, then _someday_, when you're not feeling quite so artistically :new_smiliinclined, you finally get around to actually coming up :scratch: with some code :contract: that makes the GOO do something worthwhile. I think in this particular case, that the _someday_ just hasn't happened yet. :righton:


 Good post!. :lol:


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