# How to record shows?



## smackboy1 (Oct 9, 2006)

Sorry if this seems a little remedial, but I just had the ViP622 installed and the wrong manual was in the box. I have not a clue how to use the DVR function. Tech support helped a little and their sending me a replacement.

But in the meantime, I could use a few tips. I come from using a TiVo 2 so I'm going to try to use the 622 in a similar manner.

How do I set up a "Season Pass" on the 622 so it records all the new episodes of the Wire only on HBO HD? The tech said to have it record off only 1 channel (and not have it record the Wire across all the HBO channels, SD and HD) is to set up a Manual Timer. But it sounds like a programmed VCR where it won't adjust if the show is pre-empted or moved.

Does DishPass work like a "Wishlist" whereby it searches across all channels for the title, keyword, etc and will record it?

Thanks. It's frustrating. I know what I want the DVR to do, but I can't figure out how to do it.


----------



## RWATTS (Sep 27, 2006)

The quickest way to do what you want is to activate the guide and find The Wire on the HBO HD channel and press the select button on the remote. This will bring up several options. Move the cursor to New Only and you should get what you want.


----------



## CABill (Mar 20, 2005)

DishPASS is like a wishlist and uses all channels (but has a check box to restrict to a single channel). 

The Guide is quickest if you know when something is on, but another method would be to hit # / Search in the lower right of the remote and enter "Wire", cursor Right and Select Search. Cursor down through the list of times (HBO is in preview so it will list extra copies for a subscriber) until you reach the HBOHD match and hit Select (or Record) there. Any timer created EXCEPT DishPASS will only occur on the channel used to select it from a list, Guide, ...


----------



## smackboy1 (Oct 9, 2006)

CABill said:


> DishPASS is like a wishlist and uses all channels (but has a check box to restrict to a single channel).


Is there a difference between setting a DishPASS on a single channel and just creating a timer for a show on a single channel?

Are the timers "smart" i.e. will they automatically record a different showing of the Wire in HD if I set the DVR to record a higer priority conflicting show in HD?

Another question: I set up some timers and in the Daily Schedule I see some shows with a "2". I think it means DVR2, what is the difference between DVR 1 and 2?

Also, does the "New Episodes" switch work? I set up a New Episodes timer for the Unit, but it skipped it. It's a new episode, am I missing something?


----------



## RWATTS (Sep 27, 2006)

smackboy1 said:


> Is there a difference between setting a DishPASS on a single channel and just creating a timer for a show on a single channel?


I don't think there is any difference.



smackboy1 said:


> Are the timers "smart" i.e. will they automatically record a different showing of the Wire in HD if I set the DVR to record a higer priority conflicting show in HD?


Yes, it will search for the next showing.



smackboy1 said:


> Another question: I set up some timers and in the Daily Schedule I see some shows with a "2". I think it means DVR2, what is the difference between DVR 1 and 2?


That means it is recording using tuner #2. It just means that any live TV viewing while this recording is taking place will be via tuner #1.



smackboy1 said:


> Also, does the "New Episodes" switch work? I set up a New Episodes timer for the Unit, but it skipped it. It's a new episode, am I missing something?


Check to see if the info for that show was listed correctly as the current date. If it listed a date prior to that show it may not recognize it as new and ignore it.


----------



## CABill (Mar 20, 2005)

RWATTS covered the stuff, but with DishPASS, you don't have a choice of New episodes - it is All episodes that match.

You'd be better served to think of TV1 and TV2 as OUTPUTs and not Tuners. There isn't a 1-1 correspondence. It isn't easy to give specific answers to some things because how it behaves may depend on whether you are in Single or Dual mode, and if Dual, how you have other things (Record Plus). My experience would be Dual mode almost exclusively and wouldn't apply the same if you were in Single mode.

Hit DVR until you see the Daily Schedule. If something is going to be Skipped, it will list a reason. My WAG as to why it skipped a New might be because it was a duplicate. That need not mean it was already recorded. If you pick some show that is on twice (DISE and DISW might work well), whichever you setup first will make you skip the second timer (New, Once, ...) and the Daily Schedule should say "This is due to record on channel xxx tonight at 10PM" or the like. If some show satisfies a DishPASS that was created before you found it in the Guide to select as a New, it would skip the New Timer in favor of the existing DishPASS event. "New" need not mean "unrecorded". Must the same as a TiVo's equivalent - Original Air Date is within a week of today, there isn't an entry in Daily Schedule indicating it WAS recorded or is due to be recorded (1st one in wins).


----------



## smackboy1 (Oct 9, 2006)

Here's a stupid question, what is Dual Mode? Here's another: can I be recording one HD show and simultaneously be watching a different HD show? Can I be recording both HD shows?


----------



## boylehome (Jul 16, 2004)

smackboy1 said:


> Here's a stupid question, what is Dual Mode? Here's another: can I be recording one HD show and simultaneously be watching a different HD show? Can I be recording both HD shows?


Dual Mode puts the 622 in a two receiver mode. TV2 is it's own entity but shares resources with TV1. Favorites, Locks, and other things in Dual Mode are separate from TV1. You can record 3 HD shows and watch one in HD on TV1 at the same time. While the three tuners are recording HD programs, TV2 can watch an HD or SD program in SD only.


----------



## tnsprin (Mar 16, 2003)

> Originally Posted by smackboy1
> Is there a difference between setting a DishPASS on a single channel and just creating a timer for a show on a single channel?
> 
> I don't think there is any difference.


Dishpass can match on more criteria then just the title. Also some options don't exist with dishpass.


----------



## smackboy1 (Oct 9, 2006)

Thanks everybody for the help. I'm getting the hang of this and pretty impressed with the ViP622 and and HD so far. What I'm not impressed with is the Dish tech support I spoke to. They don't really seem to know anything about how to use the 622 and gave me a bunch of wrong information that got me really confused. One told me that the 622 has only 1 HD tuner and if I record a show in HD, I wouldn't be able to watch a second show in HD. Another told me that the only way to advance the Guide is to keep pressing the Browse button and go 30 minutes at a time until you get to the day you want (or your thumb fell off). A third told me there was no way to record shows on only 1 channel, that creating a Timer for All Episodes would literally record all episodes of a show appearing in the Guide. Morons.


----------



## JSIsabella (Oct 20, 2006)

Now I am a bit confused.....

I was under the impression that there were only two tuners in this unit. You can record two programs and watch a program already recorded at the same time. That is straight from the 622 manual.

So how is boylehome recording three and watching a fourth at the same time?

BTW, my unit is in single mode all the time, if that makes a difference....


----------



## Ron Barry (Dec 10, 2002)

Because he has his OTA hooked up. If you have an OTA antenna, You can record 2 Dish HD/SD streams and an OTA stream while watching a recorded HD/SD stream. Now for the mind blowers. IF you are in Duel mode, you can then watch a 5th recorded stream. Pretty cool....


----------



## JSIsabella (Oct 20, 2006)

My OTA is hooked up.

I have to go and try this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks!


----------



## kevreh (Oct 18, 2006)

This thread has been a little more insightful than the manual. Thing I can't figure out... when I'm watching & recording a show, and change the chanel, a prompt asks me if I want to stop recording. Is there something you need to do to watch one channel and record another?

I'm in dual mode right now...

Thanks


----------



## JSIsabella (Oct 20, 2006)

If you mean that you are watching/recording one OTA HD program, and then switch to another OTA HD program, then that is correct, because the 622 can not handle two OTA HD programs at the same time, as far as I can figure it out.....

And I tried recording two sat programs and an OTA at the same time - it all did work! It is pretty impressive.


----------



## Mark Lamutt (Mar 24, 2002)

Guys, read the 622 review that is stickied at the top of this forum, and then read the 942 review that I wrote (I believe it's linked from the 622 review). We spent a great deal of time writing all of this up in a much easier to understand format than the manual presents. 

Better yet, here's the link to the 942 review directly: http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=39968


----------



## smackboy1 (Oct 9, 2006)

I'm a little confused about setting up timers, particularly for shows on HBO e.g. the Wire, where they rebroadcast the new episode during the week and sometimes they rebroadcast a series of earlier shows in marathons:

All Episodes

I think this means it will record "repeats and first run" episodes. I don't think it will record a duplicate of an episode already recorded on the DVR. Did I get this right? What is the "look back period" before the DVR will record a duplicate of an episode it once had in memory? 

Weekly

This seems to record 1 episode at a fixed time each week regardless of being a repeat or first run. What happens if that fixed time gets skipped because of a higher priority timer, does the DVR know to automatically record the episode at a later date?

Priority

How good is the priority system alerting me that there is a conflict which I need to fix. Is there a circumstance where a show will get skipped because of a conflict without me knowing?

Clipping Shows

If there is a conflict because a show timer runs 1 minute into another show's timer, is there a way for show 2 to automatically be partially recorded?

Guide Data

How often does the Guide Data get updated? How well does the DVR deal with last minute schedule changes, premptions and sporting events that run overtime?

Live TV Buffer

OK, this has nothing to do with timers, but I noticed that if I switch from channel to channel directly, I lose the live buffer from the previous channel. But if I do a PIP and swap, I can simultaneously be running 2 channels with their own individual buffers. Is there another way to keep 2 live buffers running without going through the PITA of PIP? What is the max buffer time? It's great for simultaneously watching 2 sports events, or 2 news events and skipping all the commercials.


----------



## Mark Lamutt (Mar 24, 2002)

smackboy1 said:


> I'm a little confused about setting up timers, particularly for shows on HBO e.g. the Wire, where they rebroadcast the new episode during the week and sometimes they rebroadcast a series of earlier shows in marathons:
> 
> All Episodes
> 
> I think this means it will record "repeats and first run" episodes. I don't think it will record a duplicate of an episode already recorded on the DVR. Did I get this right? What is the "look back period" before the DVR will record a duplicate of an episode it once had in memory?


Correct. If the epsiode exists on your hard drive, or I believe was recorded in as far back as your recording history goes (7 days or 9 days I think), then the duplicate won't get recorded.



smackboy1 said:


> Weekly
> 
> This seems to record 1 episode at a fixed time each week regardless of being a repeat or first run. What happens if that fixed time gets skipped because of a higher priority timer, does the DVR know to automatically record the episode at a later date?


Weekly timers will have their times adjusted up to 5 hours either direction (I think) if their times change, but i don't believe the 622 will record the episode at a later date if it gets skipped by priority. You need to use a NEW epsiodes timer for that to happen.



smackboy1 said:


> Priority
> 
> How good is the priority system alerting me that there is a conflict which I need to fix. Is there a circumstance where a show will get skipped because of a conflict without me knowing?


If you see red X's next to a show, that means it's going to get skipped unless you do something about it. Most of the time when you first define your timer you'll get warned about priority conflicts, but there are times that a conflict can occur after timers have been defined. To catch those, you need to keep an eye on your Daily Schedule to see what is being recorded and being skipped.



smackboy1 said:


> Clipping Shows
> 
> If there is a conflict because a show timer runs 1 minute into another show's timer, is there a way for show 2 to automatically be partially recorded?


Not directly if you're using pad time options other than the default of 1 min before and 1 min after. If you are using the default pad times, then the timers will be adjusted to record both back to back shows.



smackboy1 said:


> Guide Data
> 
> How often does the Guide Data get updated? How well does the DVR deal with last minute schedule changes, premptions and sporting events that run overtime?


Every night during the daily update at least. Last minute schedule changes usually aren't caught if they are made the same day. If they are made the day before, they usually are caught. Sporting events are automatically set to record 60 minutes long to account for overtime.



smackboy1 said:


> Live TV Buffer
> 
> OK, this has nothing to do with timers, but I noticed that if I switch from channel to channel directly, I lose the live buffer from the previous channel. But if I do a PIP and swap, I can simultaneously be running 2 channels with their own individual buffers. Is there another way to keep 2 live buffers running without going through the PITA of PIP? What is the max buffer time? It's great for simultaneously watching 2 sports events, or 2 news events and skipping all the commercials.


No, there's no way of preserving both buffers without doing the PIP/Swap. You could record both programs and swap back and forth that way, though. Max buffer time is 60 minutes per tuner.


----------



## smackboy1 (Oct 9, 2006)

Thanks for the help Mark. I didn't realize the reviews were so comprehensive, I'm reading them now. Good stuff, they are like FAQs.


----------



## Mark Lamutt (Mar 24, 2002)

That's why we wrote them that way, so they'd be useful for more than just "this is a great receiver, go buy it".


----------



## smackboy1 (Oct 9, 2006)

I thought I had everything down but something I can't figure out happened. I set a timer to record "America's Dream 18: Arnold Palmer". I don't know whether it's a one off special or a series, so I set it to record "All Episodes". The timer literally is recording every episode in the guide which are all duplicates. I changed the timer to record "New Episodes", same thing, it's recording every episode in the guide. Obviously I only want it to record the show if it is different, but not knowing if it is a monthly series or whatever makes it difficult to set a timer. Am I doing something wrong or the Guide data screwed up?

Just like last week I programmed a timer for New Episodes of the Unit, but the timer skipped the new show this week as a duplicate (which it was not). Is the Guide data trustworthy in general or is it better to err on the side of caution and just record All Episodes to be safe?


----------



## Mark Lamutt (Mar 24, 2002)

The guide data for The Unit this week was screwed up from Tribune. That's why I always check my Daily Schedule daily and compare it to the listings from TitanTV. About 95% of the time the Dish schedule is correct, but there are times that it's not.

And the reason that your timer for America's Dream is recording every epsiode is once again bogus guide data. In this case, though, it's a lack of guide data - the guide data for each epsiode is completely the same. That's a provider problem (whatever channel you're recording supplies their programming data to Tribune, who supplies it to E*. If they don't supply the data, then the 622 doesn't get it. So, in this case, the 622 errs on the side of caution and records the event even though it's a duplicate because it has no way of knowing that it is a duplicate.


----------



## Rob Glasser (Feb 22, 2005)

Mark Lamutt said:


> The guide data for The Unit this week was screwed up from Tribune. That's why I always check my Daily Schedule daily and compare it to the listings from TitanTV. About 95% of the time the Dish schedule is correct, but there are times that it's not.


You mean it's not a re-run tonight? If so thanks for the heads up. I noticed it was set to skip last night when I was reviewing my schedule for the week.


----------



## smackboy1 (Oct 9, 2006)

Rob Glasser said:


> You mean it's not a re-run tonight? If so thanks for the heads up. I noticed it was set to skip last night when I was reviewing my schedule for the week.


Ooops, my bad, it is a rerun tonight. Thought it was a new episode; brain fart


----------



## Jolard (Feb 14, 2006)

Generally the timer is pretty good, but there are some shows which do a very poor job with their guide data. Honestly it is a show (network) problem, not a Dish one, since Dish can only work with what they get. 

The biggest offenders for me are The Daily Show with John Stewart, and The Colbert Report. Both of these seem to have the same guide data every episode, so some days I will end up with 4 episodes of each recording, even though I have the timer set up as New. I am thinking of simply changing the timer to a Timed (i.e. start at this time, end at this time) kind of timer, since the New one doesn't work. 

That said, the vast majority of the time the guide is great, and I haven't had any problems.


----------



## lujan (Feb 10, 2004)

I never have a problem with "The Daily Show" because I set it up as a daily event (M-F) and it just has the show crossed out on Fridays because it doesn't air on Fridays.


----------



## Mathew (Aug 29, 2006)

I'm not intending to hijack this thread but I've got a recording question too. I've recently switched from Comcast HD dvr to DishHD dvr and either I'm not doing something right or there's a feature I greatly miss. 

That feature being the ability to hit record at any point during a show and the dvr will record the entire buffered show from the moment I started watching. 

Currently the dvr will only record LIVE t.v. from the moment I hit the record button. 

I have had "some" luck with rewinding the program to the beginning and hitting record but this is definately hit & miss - sometimes it will record from the buffer and other times it won't. 

For example: Today I was watching a cooking show and halfway through a recipe decided I wanted to record the show. On my Comcast box I could just hit record and get the entire show. With Dish I rewound to the beginning of the recipe and hit record but alas...it only recorded the LIVE signal from the moment I hit record. However, there have been occasions where this trick has worked for me. 

So is this normal or is my VIP screwy? Am I screwy? Thanks for the help!


----------



## CABill (Mar 20, 2005)

If I rewind to the point I want to start the recording, I've never had it fail to record from that point forward - unless I try to get tricky and tell it to use the "other tuner". That will get you just live point forward.

Instead of backing up, select Options and check "Record Entire Event". There are circumstances where "Entire" is not a choice. Like when you paused and are running behind live and the live event has switched to something else and you've backed up before it. W/o Options or picking the Other output, starting the Recording gets you everything from the current point through Live immediately and you can just hit Stop if that's all you wanted.


----------



## Mathew (Aug 29, 2006)

Hey, Thanks so much for the info.! Today I DID tell it to record to the other tuner so that makes sense.



CABill said:


> If I rewind to the point I want to start the recording, I've never had it fail to record from that point forward - unless I try to get tricky and tell it to use the "other tuner". That will get you just live point forward.
> 
> Instead of backing up, select Options and check "Record Entire Event". There are circumstances where "Entire" is not a choice. Like when you paused and are running behind live and the live event has switched to something else and you've backed up before it. W/o Options or picking the Other output, starting the Recording gets you everything from the current point through Live immediately and you can just hit Stop if that's all you wanted.


----------

