# 612 Picture in Picture?



## BillM (Apr 27, 2005)

I recently upgraded from a 508 to a 612 receiver. I also have a 622 in another room. While I get that the 612 is a single room receiver with a dual tuner, I don't understand why you can't do PiP and swap tuners via the remote, which I do all the time on my 622 in "single mode". To me, single screen/single mode multi tuner operation should be the same on both models, and the differences should only be around the number of TV's one can hook to the device. What am I missing?

Bill


----------



## n0qcu (Mar 23, 2002)

The 612 uses a different chipset that does not have the capability to do PIP & that is most likely why you cannot swap tuners either.


----------



## tampa8 (Mar 30, 2002)

Yes, you can switch to any of the three tuners. The 612 is a single output receiver, there is no PIP, and you can not connect to two different TV's and get two different programs at the same time.

You can however record up to three programs at one time, and watch any one of them.(Thus switching between tuners) If you are recording only one satellite channel, you can watch that, or one of the other tuners.(One other satellite, one OTA)


----------



## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

This is why it is cheaper/easier to get a 612 than a 622... because it has some fewer features.

No PiP or direct swap... but what you can still do is go to the EPG and pick a different channel to change to as long as you have another tuner not recording something.


----------



## tampa8 (Mar 30, 2002)

Or use the previous channel button....

You can also go to the DVR, choose from anything there, or choose one of the up to three channels recording, and watch it live, or go back and watch from the begininng...... There really are several alternatives.


----------



## BattleZone (Nov 13, 2007)

PiP requires TWO video decoder chips. "Duo" receivers have to have two of these chips because they are designed to serve two TVs simultaneously when in Dual Mode.

Solo receivers, like the 612, only have one video output, and thus only one video output processing chip. Without the second decoder chip, there's no way to decode the second video stream, and thus, no PiP.

And before you ask, the reason they don't put two decoder chips in every receiver is cost. Dish makes *millions* of these receivers, so saving $10-15 per receiver adds up to a lot of money. And given that PiP consistantly ranks as a LOW priority in subscriber surveys, they don't have any pressing need to spend that money for so little return.


----------



## tampa8 (Mar 30, 2002)

BattleZone said:


> And given that PiP consistantly ranks as a LOW priority in subscriber surveys, they don't have any pressing need to spend that money for so little return.


Lol, when that feature first came out it was a must have. Now, I probably would rarely if ever use it.


----------



## BattleZone (Nov 13, 2007)

And that's why it's extremely rare to have PiP built into TVs today, and those few that have it usually require one of the feeds to be the TV's tuner.


----------

