# How do you pause and then play on another TV?



## ToBeFrank (May 15, 2009)

I keep seeing the DirecTV commercials saying I can pause a movie and continue watching it on another TV. I have yet to figure out how to do this. The only thing I can do is play a recording, stop it and then resume it on the other TV. Am I missing something?


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## Go Beavs (Nov 18, 2008)

I don't think you are missing anything. That's the way I do it. Just replace the word "Pause" with "Stop" and it's basically the same thing.

Is it working for you?


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## Drucifer (Feb 12, 2009)

ToBeFrank said:


> I keep seeing the DirecTV commercials saying I can pause a movie and continue watching it on another TV. I have yet to figure out how to do this. The only thing I can do is play a recording, stop it and then resume it on the other TV. Am I missing something?


No pause.

It is stop.

There is a thread on this somewhere here about those commercials.


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## Bofurley (Oct 11, 2006)

I just stop and then go into the other room and click play it starts playing where I left of. No big deal or problem.


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## Drucifer (Feb 12, 2009)

Bofurley said:


> I just stop and *then go into the other room and click play* it starts playing where I left of. No big deal or problem.


No. It's back to the PlayList and highlighting the program before hitting Play.

The Play only thing may work if there's only one DVR in your MRV Network, but I have three. So I'm unable to verify that without pulling the plug on two of my DVRs.


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## Jasqid (Oct 26, 2008)

I just use the RESUME in the playlist option. (Stop an episode in the livingroom, go up to bed. Hit the List button, nav down to the show, select it, and then RESUME on the left.)

The commercial makes it look easier than it really is. ... Not that its hard... just that there is more buttons to be pressed.


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## JonW (Dec 21, 2006)

ToBeFrank said:


> I keep seeing the DirecTV commercials saying I can pause a movie and continue watching it on another TV. I have yet to figure out how to do this. The only thing I can do is play a recording, stop it and then resume it on the other TV. Am I missing something?


Technically speaking it can be done, and I've been doing it since long before "multi-room viewing" was added as a feature.

Just run a cable from your DVR to your other TV, and carry your RF remote in to the other room.


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

JonW said:


> Technically speaking it can be done, and I've been doing it since long before "multi-room viewing" was added as a feature.
> 
> Just run a cable from your DVR to your other TV, and carry your RF remote in to the other room.


Yeah, but that commercial is pointed right at MRV customers. I can't do it and I don't believe it can be done without stopping the program completely and then moving to another room and starting the HR in that room, going to list and then the show and hitting either Resume or Play (which might start at the beginning of the recording). Resume is the best way to do it, but walk to the next room slowly or you're liable to get the white circles with the red line which means that the previous HR hasn't completely shut down the recording.

Rich


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

Drucifer said:


> No. It's back to the PlayList and highlighting the program before hitting Play.
> 
> The Play only thing may work if there's only one DVR in your MRV Network, but I have three. So I'm unable to verify that without pulling the plug on two of my DVRs.


Wouldn't you think they'd be able to get their own commercials right?

Rich


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## Richierich (Jan 10, 2008)

Jasqid said:


> I just use the RESUME in the playlist option. (Stop an episode in the livingroom, go up to bed. Hit the List button, nav down to the show, select it, and then RESUME on the left.)
> 
> The commercial makes it look easier than it really is. ... Not that its hard... just that there is more buttons to be pressed.


How hard is that? Of course you have to Pause it or Stop it on the TV you are watching on.

Then you go upstairs or wherever and Select the Recording again from the UPL and then Select Resume and you are back in business.

Not real hard for me!!!


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## Drucifer (Feb 12, 2009)

rich584 said:


> Wouldn't you think they'd be able to get their own commercials right?
> 
> Rich


I'm pretty sure that those that approve commercials don't honesty know their products. They're only interest in the ad putting their company into a good light. They'll let someone else worry about the facts.


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## Beerstalker (Feb 9, 2009)

The commercial is poorly worded and confusing. You can not pause the recording at all, doing so will either cause it not to resume correctly in another room, or not be available to play at all if it both rooms are trying to stream from a third room.

The correct way to do it is to hit stop before you leave the room. You then bring up the recording list in the other room, find the same recording and highlight it, and then either hit play, or click on it and scroll down and tell it to resume. I personally use play as it is usually quick are will resume in the correct place unless something else screws it up.

Obviously I understand the commercials not going into the specifics and spelling it all out like I just did. However, I feel that using the word "Pause" makes many people believe that they can hit the pause button on their remote, and it will all work ok. This is not true.

All DirecTV needs to do is get rid of the work pause in the commercials, and I think 90% of the confusion would go away.


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## ToBeFrank (May 15, 2009)

Ok, I was correct that the stop/resume was the only way to do this. However, this doesn't work with live tv since it is not a recording. The commercial makes it sound like this is possible so I personally feel the commercial is misleading.


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## trh (Nov 3, 2007)

I wonder how much grief this commercial is causing DirecTV? On their site, they have a 4-page answer on how to stop a recorded show in one room and watch in another. *FAQ Answer*


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## Davenlr (Sep 16, 2006)

Just seems a lot longer a process that the guy on TV who hits PAUSE, the then PLAY when he gets to the new room 

My parents saw the commercial and tried it, and it never worked. When I went over there for dinner, they asked me why I signed them up for that extra $3 when it doesnt work. I had to show them how to do it.


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## CCarncross (Jul 19, 2005)

rich584 said:


> Wouldn't you think they'd be able to get their own commercials right?
> 
> Rich


What company actually hires a marketing dept. that actually has accurate advertisements or even knows what the heck they are doing anyway?


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

richierich said:


> How hard is that? Of course you have to Pause it or Stop it on the TV you are watching on.
> 
> Then you go upstairs or wherever and Select the Recording again from the UPL and then Select Resume and you are back in business.
> 
> Not real hard for me!!!


But, don't you get sick of misleading commercials, not that I watch many of them, but....?

Rich


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## Richierich (Jan 10, 2008)

rich584 said:


> But, don't you get sick of misleading commercials, not that I watch many of them, but....?
> Rich


No, because I have 7 DVRs with Remotes that have a 30 Second Skip Button that works quite well for me!!! 

Bt the way, what are Commercials??? :lol:


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

CCarncross said:


> What company actually hires a marketing dept. that actually has accurate advertisements or even knows what the heck they are doing anyway?


I dunno. I'm surprised I even saw the commercial in question. I have no idea how they make the commercials, but wouldn't you think there'd be some oversight by D*? Kinda like the "oversight program with the 'refurbishing' contractor"......:lol:

Rich


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

richierich said:


> No, because I have 7 DVRs with Remotes that have a 30 Second Skip Button that works quite well for me!!!
> 
> Bt the way, what are Commercials??? :lol:


I really don't remember what caused me to watch that particular commercial. Like you, I rarely watch commercials. I gotta admit, when I go to someone's house and they don't have a DVR, I do get a kick out of some commercials....:lol:

Rich


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## sonofcool (Dec 23, 2007)

I wind up just powering off the TV & VCR (sometimes pausing first) in the first room then resuming in room two. Never realized the commercial was misleading because I do pause and then resume and assumed when they said movie that it was recorded. I see now how it can be misleading.


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## cartrivision (Jul 25, 2007)

Of course this would be rather simple to fix. Right now the DVR software saves a new resume point whenever the playback of a recording is stopped. They just have to modify the software to also save a new resume point whenever the pause button is pushed to pause the playback of a recorded program.

The other simple fix to to have the commercials say something that matches what the software currently does such as "you can stop the payback of a program in one room and continue watching it in a another room".

I predict they will do neither, and instead spend money on calls to customer support where they will tell the confused customers what they have to do in order to continue watching a program in a different room.


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## veryoldschool (Dec 10, 2006)

ToBeFrank said:


> Ok, I was correct that the stop/resume was the only way to do this. However, this doesn't work with live tv since it is not a recording. The commercial makes it sound like this is possible so I personally feel the commercial is misleading.


It's a commercial, not instructions on how to do it.
Yes, it could be worded better, and I for one, pointed this out to the marketing manager.
The ad is to get an idea across, which it does.
Maybe I'm just too jaded, as I tend not to believe any commercial because, well... "it's a commercial".

YMMV [Oh yeah, that too came from one]


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## RunnerFL (Jan 5, 2006)

cartrivision said:


> Of course this would be rather simple to fix. Right now the DVR software saves a new resume point whenever the playback of a recording is stopped. They just have to modify the software to also save a new resume point whenever the pause button is pushed to pause the playback of a recorded program.


This wouldn't fix it at all. You still have to stop the recording in the first room to even be able to play it in a second room.


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## RunnerFL (Jan 5, 2006)

veryoldschool said:


> Maybe I'm just too jaded, as I tend not to believe any commercial because, well... "it's a commercial".


Same here. Nothing is ever as easy as the commercial makes it out to be, ever.


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

cartrivision said:


> Of course this would be rather simple to fix. *Right now the DVR software saves a new resume point whenever the playback of a recording is stopped*. They just have to modify the software to also save a new resume point whenever the pause button is pushed to pause the playback of a recorded program.
> 
> The other simple fix to to have the commercials say something that matches what the software currently does such as "you can stop the payback of a program in one room and continue watching it in a another room".
> 
> I predict they will do neither, and instead spend money on calls to customer support where they will tell the confused customers what they have to do in order to continue watching a program in a different room.


Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. And I use the same method each time. Especially annoying on sports programming.

Rich


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

veryoldschool said:


> It's a commercial, not instructions on how to do it.
> Yes, it could be worded better, and I for one, pointed this out to the marketing manager.
> The ad is to get an idea across, which it does.
> Maybe I'm just too jaded, as I tend not to believe any commercial because, well... "it's a commercial".
> ...


It must drive people who don't know about the forums crazy....:lol: First time I saw it, I had to play it back a couple times just to be sure I was seeing what I was seeing.

Rich


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## Drucifer (Feb 12, 2009)

RunnerFL said:


> Same here. Nothing is ever as easy as the commercial makes it out to be, ever.


Is it the same with RVU?


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## RunnerFL (Jan 5, 2006)

Drucifer said:


> Is it the same with RVU?


That I am not sure of. With 3 streams on the HR34 I don't think you'd have to stop it on unit 1 to continue on unit 2 unless pause doesn't mark your spot in the recording.


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## cartrivision (Jul 25, 2007)

rich584 said:


> Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. And I use the same method each time. Especially annoying on sports programming.
> 
> Rich


I've never had it not work if I actually stopped the playback before trying to resume in another room. I don't try to resume in another room a whole lot, but if the resume point weren't being properly saved, I would think that I would see resume problems when stopping and resuming the watching of a remote recording from the same remote DVR. I do that a lot and have never had a problem where it didn't resume playback at the point where it was previously stopped.


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## Mike Bertelson (Jan 24, 2007)

cartrivision said:


> Of course this would be rather simple to fix. Right now the DVR software saves a new resume point whenever the playback of a recording is stopped. They just have to modify the software to also save a new resume point whenever the pause button is pushed to pause the playback of a recorded program.<snip>


That's not such a simple fix. In fact it's likely not possible. Since the current DVRs can only stream one MRV session at a time you couldn't try to pickup in another room until the current one has stopped.

It has to be stopped, not paused...unless there is some way of getting around the one MRV session limitation. Ignoring the one session limitation, in your scenario you're asking the DVR to output two streams of the same recording.

Mike


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## Diana C (Mar 30, 2007)

Drucifer said:


> I'm pretty sure that those that approve commercials don't honesty know their products. They're only interest in the ad putting their company into a good light. They'll let someone else worry about the facts.


There is a saying in the software business that applies here as well:

*Never confuse selling with implementation.*


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## ToBeFrank (May 15, 2009)

veryoldschool said:


> The ad is to get an idea across, which it does.


The ad is to get people to sign up for DTV. Making it look like it does more than it does is advantageous to DTV, and in my opinion, misleading.


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## sigma1914 (Sep 5, 2006)

ToBeFrank said:


> The ad is to get people to sign up for DTV. Making it look like it does more than it does is advantageous to DTV, and in my opinion, misleading.


Yeah, I'm still waiting for the robots to battle in my home. Very misleading. 

I see your point, though.


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## veryoldschool (Dec 10, 2006)

ToBeFrank said:


> The ad is to get people to sign up for DTV. Making it look like it does more than it does is advantageous to DTV, and in my opinion, misleading.


You seemed to have clipped out the part of my post where I agreed and told the manager of marketing the same thing.


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## JMII (Jan 19, 2008)

ToBeFrank said:


> The ad is to get people to sign up for DTV. Making it look like it does more than it does is advantageous to DTV, and in my opinion, misleading.


Agreed.

I have MRV and know what they are talking about, but the commercial skips over all the details. As someone who has worked in marketing it does not surprise me at all. In addition to the "Never confuse selling with implementation." the other saying we used was "Never confuse the customer with details". That is why there is also a tiny, hidden disclaimer somewhere, like in car ads because in order to get the payments they advertise you have to jump thru too many hoops. The car ad is just designed to make you think "hey maybe I can afford a new car" and thus get into the dealership.


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## Chuck W (Mar 26, 2002)

If they wanted to stay somewhat true to the commercial, they could program it so say one of the COLORED buttons when pressed(or maybe held down for 3 seconds to prevent issues), resumes the last played item in the MRV chain.

Just a thought.


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