# Moved from TIVO to Dish Network 625



## Nifty-Stuff (Jan 16, 2006)

Hello Everyone!

This is my first post so please excuse me if I'm duplicating what many have probably already been said. I thought I'd throw together my first week's experience with the Dish Network 625 after moving over from Tivo.

Background: We've had the Series 2 Tivo made by Toshiba, the SDH-400 (the one with free basic service) for the past year. We've been very happy with it. Tivo has converted us to the world of DVR and we realize now we'll never go back to non-recorded TV. The only problems were: (1) We needed a second DVR unit for my parents and (2) We didn't want to shell out the extra $13 a month for the rest of the features like "Season Pass" or "Wishlist". 

We opted to upgrade our 2 Dish Network receivers for a dual tuner DVR receiver, the 625 model. We were already paying an extra $5 a month for the second receiver, so upgrading to the 625 meant simply adding an extra $5 a month for what turned out to be two DVR units with full functionality (not the watered down "Basic" service we were getting with our Tivo).

A few instant things we've noticed over our first week:

Pros to Dish Network's DVR over the Tivo:

• Overall, cheaper for more features.
• Better / seamless integration since the receiver and DVR are made to go together.
• Better quality recordings (we were getting about 80 hours of low quality on the Tivo and about 100 hours of good quality on our Dish Network DVR).

Cons to Dish Network's DVR compared to Tivo:
(Disclaimer: A lot of these are nit picky items that we probably just need to adapt to)

• It seems to take way more button presses to get the same tasks done.
• After watching / deleting a recorded show on Dish you are brought back to the top of the list of recorded shows. With Tivo you were put back in the same position on the list as you were before. 
• When you leave a recorded show for live TV and then go back to the recorded show it doesn't seem to remember your position (where you left off) and you have to FF to find your spot. 
• Speaking of FF, one of Tivo's coolest functions we miss the most is this: During FF when you hit play it automatically skips back about 5 seconds since 99.99% of the population (and technology) won't react fast enough once you reach the spot you want. 
• Tivo was always recording 30 mins worth of any show no matter what (until you changed the channel). So far it seems that no matter what we do, when we are watching something live on Dish, then go to recorded shows, and then go back to "live tv" there isn't any history of the live show that was playing during the time we were watching recorded shows. With Tivo we could go back to live TV and watch the last 30 mins of whatever channel was on. 
• We haven't found a way to search for a show (and all episodes) without going through the process of setting up a recording. 
• When pushing record on an item in the guide the default is to record all instead of just the single occurrence. 

As I mentioned, it has only been a week, so we're still learning all the ins and outs. I'm especially interested in learning all the secrets and shortcuts (tips and tricks) of using this unit.

I look forward to your thoughts and comments!


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## JohnL (Apr 1, 2002)

nifty-stuff.com said:


> Hello Everyone!
> 
> • It seems to take way more button presses to get the same tasks done.
> • After watching / deleting a recorded show on Dish you are brought back to the top of the list of recorded shows. With Tivo you were put back in the same position on the list as you were before.
> ...


Nifty stuff,

If you are watching a prerecorded show and stop the recording or drop out back to live TV, the next time you bring up the recorded show from the DVR list, there is an option to resume and it will resume from the point you stoped. This will not work if the show was recording at the same time you were watching it.

Fast Forwarding is not the same on the Dish DVR as the Tivo, but the standard Tivo doesn' t have the 30 second skip ahead feature. I find the 30 second skip forward much easier to manage than fast forwarding, for skipping commercials.

Newer Dish DVR's like the 625 has a 2 hour pause Buffer not a 30 minute one on the TIVO although the buffer will get flushed if you jump from LIVE TV to a recording and back. The only option is to press the record button before jumping to a prerecorded show.

If you wish to do a search, press the "#" at the bottom on the remote at any time and the search option will come up on the screen.

When Pressing record the default, when in the EPG, is to record all epsiodes, but you can select other options although it would be nice for Dish to let users be able to change that default.

John


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## jwest (Jan 21, 2006)

JohnL said:


> When Pressing record the default, when in the EPG, is to record all epsiodes, but you can select other options although it would be nice for Dish to let users be able to change that default.


I just got my 625 yesterday so I don't have a ton of experience with it yet, but it appears to default to 'All' if the show is a series and 'Once' if it's a movie. My guess is that the same logic would hold for other non-episodic shows as well. Pretty clever and intuitive, if you ask me!


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## obrienaj (Apr 8, 2004)

Dish DVRs (at least my 510) give an option to record a show : Once, weekly, daily, Monday-Friday. My Time WArner Cable DVR provides options to record all episodes of the show at the time slot on the channel or ALL episodes regardless of time , on this channel. Dish auto erases when room is needed , unless "protected". The cable DVR does not auto erase , it will however erase based on things like the number of episodes recorded before an erase, or a certain time frame in days.

Dish's fastest forward/rewind speed is 300Xm my cable DVR is just 12 X Yuk! Dish has the 30 second skip my cable DVR does not allow this. Dish DVR skips backwards for 10 seconds, while the cable just skips back 8 seconds. Dish pause.skip forward,back, are almost instant, there is an annoying lag and brief blank screen when doing this on the cable DVR.


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

The newer E* DVRs (like the 625) have 'name based recording' where you can subscribe based on show title and new. E* is still working on bringing this feature to the 501/508/510.


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## fwampler (Dec 2, 2005)

James Long said:


> The newer E* DVRs (like the 625) have 'name based recording' where you can subscribe based on show title and new. E* is still working on bringing this feature to the 501/508/510.


 The way my 625 handles name-based recording is terrific. Worth the price of the upgrade alone.


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## Nifty-Stuff (Jan 16, 2006)

Well, of all the problems we are having, this one is bugging us the most:

• After watching / deleting a recorded show on Dish you are brought back to the top of the list of recorded shows. With Tivo you were put back in the same position on the list as you were before. 

I can't imagine anyone not wanting the system to return you to the position you were at before... they really need to shoot out an upgrade for this!


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## phat_b (Apr 19, 2005)

Nifty-Stuff said:


> ... they really need to shoot out an upgrade for this!


Be careful what you wish for, you might get it. Their upgrades are famous for introducing new bugs. The one that's eating me right now came along some time in spring of '05. I've been complaining to them for four months about it and still don't have any indication that they even intend to fix it.


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