Can I get an explanation of tuner usage?

[gadgtfreek]

I currently have an HR34, which has 5 tuners all the time, regardless. I find myself recording two locals and two national channels at the same time quite often.

I'm a little confused on how the Hopper works, because ive not kept up at all. If you sign up for primetime anytime, does it just record everything from 7pm cst to 10pm cst on the big four, and then you weed thru and delete what you dont want? It also appears that primetime anytime shows are only available for 8 days, unless you mark them? I generally stay two weeks behind so I cant be held to a schedule if you know what I mean? Am I able to go in the next day, delete what i dont want to watch from the previous nights recording, and mark what I want to keep "forever"?

Just reading the site, it looks like I can record all 4 networks, and two more of my choosing at any time in the 7-10 range. Anything Im missing?

Thanks.

 

[gadgtfreek]

OK, I found this



Seems like I just would need to go in and "save" the ones I want to watch, and keep more than 8 days. Will leaving the others alone allow them to auto delete after 8 days? So the only timers Id have to set are CW, and any national?

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Bingo.

 

[gadgtfreek]

Then you just enable the commercial skip and anything it records in PTAT, the commercials are gone?

Crazy. How the heck do they record all those shows when tuners are limited?

I told my boss, been a dish sub for 3 years, he needs to call in and get a Hopper.

 

[mdram]

2 networks would be caught by ptat, but the 2 nationals would use the other 2 tuners, leaving none for live viewing
you may want to think about 2 hoppers

or if you like directv add an hr24

 

[gadgtfreek]

2 networks? Would it not record all 4 networks on 1 tuner, leaving tuner 2 and 3 for two other channels, like CW and Syfy for example?

 

[mdram]

2 networks? Would it not record all 4 networks on 1 tuner, leaving tuner 2 and 3 for two other channels, like CW and Syfy for example?

yep, but that it, nothing else viewed live or recorded. thats why i would go with 2 hoppers

 

[gadgtfreek]

Gotcha.

Could I watch a recorded program from a previous night while PTAT is recording the Big 4 and the other two tuners are recording off two other channels?

Our situation is we record a LOT, and watch them later, but we only watch on one tv except for college football. So someone wanting to do something in another room is not gonna happen.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Gotcha.

Could I watch a recorded program from a previous night while PTAT is recording the Big 4 and the other two tuners are recording off two other channels?

Yup.

 

[mdram]

should be able to


the only question i would look into is what if sports causing things to run over,
does ptat run longer in this event?

 

[gadgtfreek]

Yup.

Perfect.

Recording PTAT covers a lot of my conflicts, a lot of those cable shows can be caught the second time at 2300 or 0000. So setting up tuners like that avoids conflict anyways. Im usually recording 2-3 network shows, and one cable show at a time. And like I said, our M-F night consists of turning everything on about 1800, watching 3-4 shows recorded from other nights, then going to bed. No live tv, other than Thu night college football, and I can work around that if needed. The fact PTAT only takes up 1 of the 3 tuners solves a lot of problems, and is quite neat.

 

[JM42]

Could I watch a recorded program from a previous night while PTAT is recording the Big 4 and the other two tuners are recording off two other channels?

Yes, and you can also watch any of the currently recording programs, whether PTAT or conventional. The PTAT programs and recordings are fully accessible during the PTAT window - they are not in any sort of penalty box until the PTAT window is over. If you come in late and want to go back to the begining of a show you can hop onto the tuner and rewind back to the beginning, or just find the program in the DVR listing and select "Start Over."

 

[gadgtfreek]

Thanks. In the beginning, I thought the PTAT shows had to be watched within that 8 day window, I did not realize you could save them and watch and delete whenever you wanted to.

 

[JM42]

Thanks. In the beginning, I thought the PTAT shows had to be watched within that 8 day window, I did not realize you could save them and watch and delete whenever you wanted to.

You don't have to go in after the fact to save the PTAT recordings. If you have a timer set for "Modern Family" it will record as part of PTAT, and will be automatically saved. I generally review things in the morning for the upcoming evening. If there is something I think I may want to watch, I set the timer for it then and don't have to worry about saving it later from the PTAT folder.

PTAT has allowed me to try out some shows that I would have never ordinarily set a timer for. Some I have gone back to, others remain orphaned.

 

[gadgtfreek]

Thanks. I see myself just using PTAT as a set it and forget it, without worrying with all those big 4 timers. I can go in every day or two when i get home and save the ones I want. Makes it easy. We have about 36 timers right now, and Id say 20+ are Big 4.

 

[gadgtfreek]

One more on PTAT after I did some reading on old posts. So basically the 1 tuner records the whole transponder at once, where your HD locals are, then the Hopper breaks em apart into episodes?

Im still surprised they are able to record a whole TP with one tuner.

 

[KRUZNBY]

One more on PTAT after I did some reading on old posts. So basically the 1 tuner records the whole transponder at once, where your HD locals are, then the Hopper breaks em apart into episodes?

Im still surprised they are able to record a whole TP with one tuner.

Yes. On caveat is that if there is a loss of signal during PTAT, it's highly likely that all of your recording will be lost from that PTAT session or defaulting to only recording one of the network channels (ABC for me).

 

[gadgtfreek]

Ouch.

 

[dhageremtp]

I bought a battery backup unit for my hopper, that way if there is a power bump or loss of power I can still record my shows. I only keep the hopper plugged into it. I mainly did that for the summer storm season where power loss happens most commonly. Might be something to consider.

 

[gadgtfreek]

Thanks. Ive kept my DVR on an UPS for years, currently have one that will keep the directv box going almost 2 hours. So is the PTAT glitch due to a power loss, or if it losses SS during a rain storm it will also crash all your recordings that night?