I came in here trying to decipher between Dish Network and Direct TV... and from what I can gather is that both have it's supporters (Currently a COX cable customer if that is relevant). From what I can gather... Dish has a few more HD channels at this moment in time, Direct TV has the sports programming packages... and HD programming is supposed to increase for both providers... possibly/likely flip flopping on who has more.

I was at a county fair in LA, talked to the Dish Rep and was impressed. I signed up as I have not been happy with my cable programming. I have had time to back out, but after doiung the research I find that both services are going back and forth, and as I am not one to get too easily bothered by either service and their merits (don't care for the sports packages), I am fairly certain I will be happy with either Dish Network or DirecTV over Cable... and as I am already signed up, I am going to go with Dish Network, especially since it had the higher rated DVR on CNet.


Anyhow, this may not be the right forum for this, but I am confused on how the hardware packages work... specifically the DVR's. I have 2 HDTV's, two normal TV's. I think both Dish and DirectTV operate in much the same manner.

I understand that the two TV's share a DVR? How exactly does this work? I am totally confused on this subject. I believe I am going to get one HD-DVR, and one standard HD-DVR. Will I be able to use my DVR on both of my HD TV's (in HD)? Are their limitations as to what I can record at any one given time on BOTH tv's?

Example: is it possible to record a baseball game and watch a live movie on one of my HD TV's. Then on the other HD-TV I want to watch a tv show and record a football game.

Is that possible?

Or am I only able to watch TV on the 2nd HD TV not hooked up directly to the DVR? Recording issues aside, can I watch recorded programming at all from the HDTV that is not directly hooked up to the DVR?

Or do I have to use the external memory for any DVR stuff on the 2nd HDTV?

I came in here trying to decipher between Dish Network and Direct TV... and from what I can gather is that both have it's supporters (Currently a COX cable customer if that is relevant). From what I can gather... Dish has a few more HD channels at this moment in time, Direct TV has the sports programming packages... and HD programming is supposed to increase for both providers... possibly/likely flip flopping on who has more.

I was at a county fair in LA, talked to the Dish Rep and was impressed. I signed up as I have not been happy with my cable programming. I have had time to back out, but after doiung the research I find that both services are going back and forth, and as I am not one to get too easily bothered by either service and their merits (don't care for the sports packages), I am fairly certain I will be happy with either Dish Network or DirecTV over Cable... and as I am already signed up, I am going to go with Dish Network, especially since it had the higher rated DVR on CNet.


Anyhow, this may not be the right forum for this, but I am confused on how the hardware packages work... specifically the DVR's. I have 2 HDTV's, two normal TV's. I think both Dish and DirectTV operate in much the same manner.

I understand that the two TV's share a DVR? How exactly does this work? I am totally confused on this subject. I believe I am going to get one HD-DVR, and one standard HD-DVR. Will I be able to use my DVR on both of my HD TV's (in HD)? Are their limitations as to what I can record at any one given time on BOTH tv's?

Example: is it possible to record a baseball game and watch a live movie on one of my HD TV's. Then on the other HD-TV I want to watch a tv show and record a football game.

Is that possible?

Or am I only able to watch TV on the 2nd HD TV not hooked up directly to the DVR? Recording issues aside, can I watch recorded programming at all from the HDTV that is not directly hooked up to the DVR?

Or do I have to use the external memory for any DVR stuff on the 2nd HDTV?

I would suggest you start here:
http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=94818

The Vip722 is great!

Anyhow, this may not be the right forum for this, but I am confused on how the hardware packages work... specifically the DVR's. I have 2 HDTV's, two normal TV's. I think both Dish and DirectTV operate in much the same manner.

I understand that the two TV's share a DVR? How exactly does this work? I am totally confused on this subject. I believe I am going to get one HD-DVR, and one standard HD-DVR. Will I be able to use my DVR on both of my HD TV's (in HD)? Are their limitations as to what I can record at any one given time on BOTH tv's?

Example: is it possible to record a baseball game and watch a live movie on one of my HD TV's. Then on the other HD-TV I want to watch a tv show and record a football game.

Is that possible?

Or am I only able to watch TV on the 2nd HD TV not hooked up directly to the DVR? Recording issues aside, can I watch recorded programming at all from the HDTV that is not directly hooked up to the DVR?

Or do I have to use the external memory for any DVR stuff on the 2nd HDTV?

Lots of questions. Answered in order:

Dish offers the option of having 1 HDTV and one SDTV or Analog TV connected to 1 HD-DVR. DirecTV does not to my knowledge. This works by letting each TV have access to 1 tuner at a time. The 622/722 can record 2 satellite channels and 1 OTA channel simultaneously. Also, it can playback 2 recorded shows at the same time, one on each TV.

If you want to run 2 HDTVs, you will need 2 HD-DVRs. You can then run your other 2 normal TVs off the second output on each HD-DVR.

In your example, you cannot do that without 2 HD-DVRs.

To watch recorded content, HD or otherwise, the TV in question will need to be connected to a DVR.

The external Hard Drive will only expand the capacity of an existing HD-DVR. It cannot be used to playback recordings on another receiver (yet anyway).

In short, if you get DISH with your 4 TVs, you will need 2 VIP722 receivers at a minimum to watch recorded content on all the TVs.

For DirecTV, you would need 2 HR20 HD-DVRs and 2 R15 DVRs to do that.

Hope this is helpful.

Ted