question about the Motorola DCT6412

[yehaww]

I've been searching the forums and haven't really found an answer, so I apologize if this has been asked before.

I recently got this box. I actually have Time Warner cable, but they gave me a Comcast box, as there was a recent shift from C-TW. Anyway, my question is about the DVR. When I schedule recordings in advance, I have no problems recording 2 shows at once. But I have problems when I'm watching live tv and want to record a show and change channels. For instance, I'm watching bowl games right now. I had the unit scheduled to record 2 bowls that were on at the same time. When I turned the tv on, it was in the middle of recording the 2 games and the tv just happened to be on ESPNHD which was one of the channels I was recording. When I try to change the channel to watch another game, it tells me that I have to cancel the recording. Why can't I record shows and watch another channel?

Another way this happens is that, say I'm watching espn and as I'm scrolling through the guide, I realize that there's a game on FSW I want to record. If I hit the 'record' button when I have the fsw channel highlighted, it'll record the show, but it will also take me to that channel and when I try to leave it to go back to ESPN, it will cancel the recording.

So ultimately, my question is, how do I record 'on the fly' while watching a different channel than the one that's being recorded?


Also, edited to ask, how does one use the PIP function I see on the remote? The manual that came with the box is ridiculous.

 

[Chris Freeland]

To watch 2 shows that you are currently recording and switch back and forth between these 2, just use the small swap button on the bottom of your remote, same goes for recording and watching on the fly, once you do the swap, you can change channels all you want as long as you are only recording 1 show. The only way to watch a 3rd live show wile recording 2 shows at once, is if you have your cable that comes out of your wall run into a splitter or distribution amp with the one cable out going directly to your TV and the other cable running directly to your DVR/STB, this way you can watch any of the analog channels directly off the tuner on the TV wile your DVR is recording 2 more channels. With a 3 or 4 way splitter or distribution amp, you can also run coax cable to your DVD-R and or VCR and record a 3rd and possibly 4th show on your recording devices wile watching a 5th show. If you are going to split your cable output to more then 2, you are better off investing in a distribution amp, this is what I do.

I have a 4-way RS distribution amp, I only use 3 outs, 1st out to my TV, 2nd out to my DVR/STB 6412 and my 3rd out to my DVD-R and I have capped the 4th out. Occasionally when their is a conflict when trying to record a 3rd show, I will record that 3rd show on my DVD-R and this will allow me to watch a 4th show directly off my TV.

 

[yehaww]

Thanks Chris. The swap seems to do the trick. I don't think I need to get into 3rd or 4th feeds. Just knowing how to get off a recording channel to watch something else is HUGE!

Here are a few more:

So how do I get the PIP working?

When watching a recorded show, how do I fast forward through large chunks of time? I reprogrammed my remote to do the 30 second skip thing, but is there a way to manually move the time slider to move ahead faster than just fast forwarding? Say I recorded a football game and I just want to get to the second half. Is there an easy way to do this?

 

[Rob O]

So how do I get the PIP working?

When watching a recorded show, how do I fast forward through large chunks of time? I reprogrammed my remote to do the 30 second skip thing, but is there a way to manually move the time slider to move ahead faster than just fast forwarding? Say I recorded a football game and I just want to get to the second half. Is there an easy way to do this?

As far as I know the PIP does not work. The Moto box is not set up for it. I could never really figure why they waste money on a remote that has these buttons since nobody can use them (maybe I'm wrong, anyone that knows otherwise, please share!)

As far as a better way to fast forward, I don't know about that either. Seems that there should be some way to go forward by time, but alas the only way I know how to do it is to just use fast forward as high as it will go. When I use the 30 sec skip too many times, my box tends to freeze or drop audio, so I stay away from that unless skipping commercials.

 

[dishrich]

As far as I know the PIP does not work. The Moto box is not set up for it. I could never really figure why they waste money on a remote that has these buttons since nobody can use them (maybe I'm wrong, anyone that knows otherwise, please share!)

The problem is NOT with the Moto box, it is with whatever guide software is deployed on it. Moto boxes do support different guide providers, which is dependent on which one that particular cable op uses.

The TV Guide software does not support the PIP, the Passport software does.
Either one is supported by the Moto's.