DISH Network DVR questions

[ProudGrandma]

Right now we have DISH, but not a DVR. We are considering upgrading, but I have a few quesitons.

 

1) is the cost $7 per TV per month, or is it $7 for all TVs in your home per month

 

2) if we have multiple TV's hooked up, can the shows that are recorded on TV #2 be watched on tv #1 and vice versa?

 

3) can we watch something different on the TV we are recording a different channel on?

 

4) what other features does a DVR offer besides simply recording a show when you can't watch it now?

 

5) can I watch Netflix at the same time as recording on the same TV?

 

6) I also need to know how many hours I can record?

 

7) when I am watching back, is there a easy way to skip commericals?

 

8)Can the shows be watched more than once or are they automatically erased upon watching?

 

[TravelingChris]

I can answer some of these since we had a Dish DVR from 1999 to 2003, when we moved to Belgium. I won't answer some because the technology probably improved since 2003. #3- yes, that is one of the really good things about a DVR.

5) Yes, you can watch Netflix while the DVR is recording since the DVR does not mean your tv has to be on. #8. yes, you can watch it as much as you want as long as you have it recorded. DVRs have systems to decide which recording will be deleted if you are running out of space. For a show you want to watch again and make really sure it isn't erased, you have to set the setting to do not erase.

 

We don't have DISH anymore- since we moved back to the US, we first lived in an area where hurricanes happen regularly enough that we didn't want anything on our root for which we would be responsible, and then the last two houses have been in the woods, so no good reception would be possible.

[Forget-Me-Not]

1. I think this varies by area and contract

 

2. Yes. Once it's recorded it goes into your "bank" and you can watch it on any TV serviced by that box.

 

3. On mine, the TV has to stay on the channel it's recording or you disrupt the recording. HOWEVER you can watch anything already recorded. TVs can record while they're off, so you can set something to record on TV 2 if you aren't using it and watch anything you want on TV 1.

 

4. Ours keeps a short-term recording of anything you're watching live (1 hour HD or two hours SD). So if you miss something, you can rewind back, pause, FF. Often if we are watching live TV, we will pause the show for 10-15 minutes so we have time built up to FF through commercials.

 

5. Yes, you can use auxiliary devices (Roku, Blu-ray player, gaming systems, etc) while the TV is recording.

 

6. This will depend on your system. I think on ours we get 100 HD hours and 200 SD hours, for a total of 300. Dish will let you hook up an external hard drive to increase your capacity, but we have never done it. The device has plenty of memory for our use, even with eleventy-billion kid shows recorded :D

 

7. Super easy. We use the "jump" buttons. Forward jumps 30 sec and backward jumps 10 sec. Usually 4-5 jumps to get through a commercial break, maybe one backward jump to fine-tune it to the beginning if the new segment.

 

8. They can be watched as many times as you'd like. There are a lot of settings and options in this area. You can protect something with a pass-code so it stays on the system indefinitely. Or you can set the DVR to keep only X amount of episodes of a given show. For example, my 4 yo likes Team Umizumi, and I have it set to tape all, but I don't want 50+ episodes clogging up my hard drive. So I tell it to keep, say 5, at any given time. Then, when it records a sixth one, the oldest in the group is automatically deleted. That way they rotate. You can set it to tape all shows, just new shows, just once (like a movie), etc. If you hit your hard drive capacity, it will delete the oldest non-protected shows first.

 

HTH! We love DVR, especially the ability to skip commercials!

[Photo Ninja]

Some of the answers vary depending on which DVR you get. We had one DISH DVR that worked two tvs, meaning we could watch what is recorded on either tv, watch one tv and record with the other, or watch both tvs with different shows on each. We could also record on both at the same time, but still watch anything recorded or watch a DVD or Netflix. Different DVRs have different storage content, but there is plenty.

 

As others said, you can choose to keep what you have recorded or you can erase the shows. You can watch the recorded shows as many times as you want to. Skipping commercials is something we do constantly. We also like that we can pause a show we are watching live, then come back after whatever made us stop watching and continue on from that point, and just skip commercials, even though we were not recording the show.

[MomtoCandJ]

Man you all are making me want a DVR now, oh well we can't afford it right now anyway :(