Ok can someone tell me how to pause/rewind live tv

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Somedevildawg

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Feb 2, 2012
5
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Georgia
Hello to all, I was a cable customer until 4 years ago when I switched to dish, I have been pleased for the most part. So the other day I'm in SAMs club and the salesman starts the sales pitch for direct. He tells of the higher quality, more sats in orbit, the new rf remotes on the new system, the small size of the new recievers, more channels, yada yada, what he fails to tell me is that while watching live tv I can no longer pause/rewind live tv unless I am watching the tv with the dvr receiver. Don't know about you guys but I use that feature every day, it is an absolute deal breaker for me, I will be forced to switch back to dish. System has been installed about 10 days now, haven't disconnected my dish service yet. I thought that newer equipment would bea good thing but now it seems I've lost functionality for the sake of having hd at all tv's (I have 6). The additional channels, nice remotes, slick little boxes, etc. Don't mean anything to me if I can't pause/rewind live tv, called direct, they told me to hit the record button, wtf, really? This system has got to go, what say you. Dish says their new system will be out soon, wonder if they will go the same way, crazy stuff. Thanks to all
 
I say you did very little research if you didn't know you needed a DVR to pause and rewind live tv. That said, if you've got the whole home DVR system, just hitting the record the button for the show you're watching doesn't seem like such a horror to me.

I think you're looking for an excuse to go back to whatever you had but you're going to be looking at one hell of an ETF if you do so I strongly suggest you get used to it.
 
Welcome to SatelliteGuys! It's too bad you didn't join us before you signed up. It's not DirecTV that's the problem, it's the equipment that you got from DirecTV that seems to be the problem. Just like Dish Network, not all of DirecTV's receivers are DVR's (Digital Video Recorder). You can't pause a receiver that doesn't have a hard drive in it and only DVR's have hard drives in them. It sounds like like not all of your DirecTV boxes are DVR's. Go back to the guy you bought them from, and explain that you need DVR's for all of your TV's. You need receivers that have a HR in the reciever model number, such as HR-24. Now that you already had the eqipment installed and you are ten days into your contract, it's not so easy to cancel withought paying a termination charge.
 
You can only rewind and pause live TV with a DVR and that is the case with all providers.
 
Yes I will admit that I didn't do my homework, and yes I also know that you have to have a dvr to record, that being said; this guy never said a word about losing that feature! Probably the most important, its a feature that I use at least 5 times for the 2 - 3 hours a day I actually get to watch tv. Hitting the record button is as silly as it sounds, I have had dvr's for over 8 years or so no problem on how they work, but this system was touted as the best, very high capacity, can record from any room back to the common dvr, can play back in any room from the common shared dvr, he'll you can even go from room to room if the notion strikes you and watch the program all over the freaking house if you felt so compelled to do so, after which you need to get your head examined, but don't Try to pause or rewind live tv! Again I went in to buy a tv, guy sold me on this equipment, did I research, no but I can tell you for the last 8 to 10 years I have been able to rewind / pause live tv, this system should be no different. I understand what you are saying about the dvr's at every location, every location that I want to be able to pause/rewind, in the process of calling direct tonite, just kinda sux that this info wasn't forwarded to the consumer, surely he has heard this complaint before, hard to do business with people who don't tell the whole story, and by this I mean my salesman, money wasn't an issue I would've bought the additional dvr's. And I don't give a damn if I ever go back to dish but they were always good to me, no complaints, just kinda got sold a bill of goods that's all. Sorry for THE RANT!
 
Yes I will admit that I didn't do my homework, and yes I also know that you have to have a dvr to record, that being said; this guy never said a word about losing that feature! Probably the most important, its a feature that I use at least 5 times for the 2 - 3 hours a day I actually get to watch tv. Hitting the record button is as silly as it sounds, I have had dvr's for over 8 years or so no problem on how they work, but this system was touted as the best, very high capacity, can record from any room back to the common dvr, can play back in any room from the common shared dvr, he'll you can even go from room to room if the notion strikes you and watch the program all over the freaking house if you felt so compelled to do so, after which you need to get your head examined, but don't Try to pause or rewind live tv! Again I went in to buy a tv, guy sold me on this equipment, did I research, no but I can tell you for the last 8 to 10 years I have been able to rewind / pause live tv, this system should be no different. I understand what you are saying about the dvr's at every location, every location that I want to be able to pause/rewind, in the process of calling direct tonite, just kinda sux that this info wasn't forwarded to the consumer, surely he has heard this complaint before, hard to do business with people who don't tell the whole story, and by this I mean my salesman, money wasn't an issue I would've bought the additional dvr's. And I don't give a damn if I ever go back to dish but they were always good to me, no complaints, just kinda got sold a bill of goods that's all. Sorry for THE RANT!

Difference is, you only have 1 DVR in the system, so you only have a Hard Drive on the main one, so you only get the funtions on the one with the HD.

This is a GREAT reason to NOT go with that set up.
Personally, I have 4 HD DVRs, If you have a DVR in the system theres NO reason to not have all of them be DVR's as you only pay for the DVR functions per account, not each DVR.

Also this is a much simpler set up.
 
Did you ask if you could pause/rewind live tv. You claim that this feature is a deal breaker...if so, it should have been the first question.

How did you pause and rewind live tv without a DVR?
 
The price is the same for a dumb box or a DVR. If you are going to pay the $6 mirror fee you might as well get the DVR even if you have no plans to use it. Hope you can get it resolved with them at a reasonable price.
 
Update

Did you ask if you could pause/rewind live tv. You claim that this feature is a deal breaker...if so, it should have been the first question.

How did you pause and rewind live tv without a DVR?

No I didn't ask that ? Like I said I've been doing that for years, would not of thought to ask that ? Because it seemed so simple. I mean they have some hocus pocus way of allowing the dvr to play and record from all over the house, surely it would do the same for live tv.....it won't. I called direct told them I wanted to cancel, they agreed to send me additional dvr's at no charge:D. Guess they didn't feel like it was worth losing a customer over, so kudos to direct, I'm happy they are happy and I will pay them about 1600 a year for service, but I will be able to rewind/pause live tv, it's crazy stupid that the other system setup wouldn't do something as simple as that, ain't like that feature just came about last year, I would bet I'm not the only person sold this setup to be pissed about that. All is well now though, thanks for the replies.
 
No I didn't ask that ? Like I said I've been doing that for years, would not of thought to ask that ? Because it seemed so simple. I mean they have some hocus pocus way of allowing the dvr to play and record from all over the house, surely it would do the same for live tv.....it won't. I called direct told them I wanted to cancel, they agreed to send me additional dvr's at no charge:D. Guess they didn't feel like it was worth losing a customer over, so kudos to direct, I'm happy they are happy and I will pay them about 1600 a year for service, but I will be able to rewind/pause live tv, it's crazy stupid that the other system setup wouldn't do something as simple as that, ain't like that feature just came about last year, I would bet I'm not the only person sold this setup to be pissed about that. All is well now though, thanks for the replies.

As mentioned before, if you have a DVR, you can do that .... that works with ALL Providers, you obviously had DVR's with DISH, weather you knew it or used it or not.

If you had not had DVR's with DISH, you would not have been able to Pause Live TV with them either.

DVR's are still optional with most providers, typically, once you have had a DVR you don't go back.
 
The price is the same for a dumb box or a DVR. If you are going to pay the $6 mirror fee you might as well get the DVR even if you have no plans to use it. Hope you can get it resolved with them at a reasonable price.

the price up front usually isnt though ;)
 
No I didn't ask that ? Like I said I've been doing that for years, would not of thought to ask that ? Because it seemed so simple. I mean they have some hocus pocus way of allowing the dvr to play and record from all over the house, surely it would do the same for live tv.....it won't. I called direct told them I wanted to cancel, they agreed to send me additional dvr's at no charge:D. Guess they didn't feel like it was worth losing a customer over, so kudos to direct, I'm happy they are happy and I will pay them about 1600 a year for service, but I will be able to rewind/pause live tv, it's crazy stupid that the other system setup wouldn't do something as simple as that, ain't like that feature just came about last year, I would bet I'm not the only person sold this setup to be pissed about that. All is well now though, thanks for the replies.

did you ask if they were hd-dvrs they are sending?
 
Damn it, no I didn't ask if they were hd, if they are not they will get some back when installer gets here to do install! Like I said before, I have had dvr's for as long as they Have been available, this whole ordeal was an effort to get hd to all sets, nothing more or less. The diff with this system is that you do have a dvr and it will record and playback from anywhere in the house, it just doesn't constantly record what you are watching, like standalone dvr's will do, not sure how that's going to work for anyone who has had dvr's for any length of time and is use to being able to rewind/pause live tv. It's like "one small step for direct, one giant leap backwards for the consumer" sure hope they send me hd boxes, thanks again
 
In this guys defense I can see this happening as I personally did something just as stupid as the Orig poster. Two years ago I bought a brand new Jeep Patriot. After signing all the paperwork and they gave me the keys and I way ready to drive away but I was missing something. I ask where is the key fob you know the thing that unlocks the doors? Guess what? Yep that is right it did not come with one. I was floored as every car I had owned for the past twenty years came with one. It never even crossed my mind that cars were still made in 2009 that did not come with remote unlocking doors. So I can see how a non techie signing for "Whole Home DVR" can think you should be able to pause live tv on any tv.
 
Talked to the salesman who sold me the system today, he said he was sorry for the misunderstanding, that he probably didn't explain that to me, like I said he explained how anyone in the house could record and playback and all the benefit of higher capacity, more channels, more sats orbiting, etc. Just forgot to mention "oh btw you are going to lose your ability to rewind/pause live tv. Like I told him, he knew I could do that because he knew exactly what system I had in place, he agreed said he was sorry, diRect hopefully will send out hd dvr and all will be good, btw I thought all cars came with the keyless entry nowadays as well! Thanks again, hopefully this solves my problem, I'm confident it will, hopefully a lesson learned by the salesman as well, again in the next 3 years I stand to pay direct 4800 $ for programming, they too will be happy!
 
It seems as though you were making many assumptions.

As someone already said, you should have asked the questions instead of assuming.
 
Some here may not realize that Dish has several HD non DVR receivers that could be turned in a DVR by just adding an EHD and without any additional monthly charge. I used to have one myself. Did the OP have say a Dish ViP211 with an owned EHD attached to it? That receiver works this way. You just can't watch one show while recording another with this set up. Dish DVR's have multiple tuners so you are paying for that for the premium DVR service.

That was one of the better parts to Dish service. The worst parts of Dish service is them dropping channels due to disputes. No NYC RSN's with Dish so that's why I am here.
 
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