Videotaping with satellite TV

[rissole]

This will probably seem like a silly question to some of you, but I'm not sure what the answer is.

My father recently got satellite TV. He's been complaining that you can't pre-record programs from multiple channels. He said that you have to set the satellite receiver to a particular channel, and then that's the only one you can record from (until you manually change it later). I know nothing about satellite TV myself, because I've never had it. But surely there's some way to pre-record from multiple channels? Otherwise, why would anybody want it? :) Thanks for any help.

[Grace]

It depends on the receiver box you have. There are ones that can split the signal, thus allowing you to record one channel and watch another, but most basic models don't have that capability. He needs to contact his satellite service for a receiver upgrade. It may or may not cost money.

We have Dishnetwork and upgraded to a Digital Recording Receiver box. It has 25 hours of recording time, thus no more need for videotapes. We love it. It cost $200. It is only capable of recording one channel at a time though. The receiver box that would allow us to record one channel and watch another would have cost nearly $500, so we decided against it. But when we get our basement remodeled, and put a brand new TV downstairs, we're going to put our current receiver downstairs on the new TV, and buy the upgraded one for our upstairs TV. Hopefully it will have come down in price by then! :rolleyes: Good luck.

OK, I just re-read your question, and my answer didn't quite answer you. It sounds like the VCR cannot interract with the satellite receiver box to tell it to switch channels. That is something I don't know much about. But I can tell you our Digital Recording Receiver can do this no problem. On the Guide where you see what's on TV, all you do is press the record button for the shows you want recorded. No setting the start/stop times, channel, etc. The receiver does all the work. You just can't record two things at the same time, but you can record as many shows in succession on as many different channels as you want.

Hopefully someone who is VCR savvy can help you with your real question though.

[jmarie]

My daughter does tech support for Dish TV. I have forwarded your question to her. I will let you know as soon as I hear from her.

[Grace]

Joyce's (Jmarie) daughter just sent me the following email - Rissole's email isn't listed in his profile. She gave me permission to post it here on the board for her. I think this the right answer, Rissole! :D I still think he should get a Digital Recording Receiver from his satellite provider - soooo much easier than a VCR! No tapes to deal with! And soooo easy to program.... OK - commercial over - here's Jorie's (Jmarie's daughter) response!

Hi! My mom is a frequent on the cooking light website and she came across your post about your father having satellite tv and only being able to record 1 channel at a time. The reason is this. With regular cable, you actually change the channel on the tv when you want to change channels. So ABC might be on channel 9, while ESPN might be on channel 37, while HBO might be on channel 49. When you record those channels on your vcr, you set the vcr to the channel that you want to record, so if you want to record HBO, you set the vcr to channel 49. However, when you have satellite, your tv has to stay on the same channel all the time, either channel 3 or 4. It's the satellite receiver that you actually change channels on when you want to watch a different station. So while you may want to record HBO which is channel 300 on the satellite receiver, your tv is still on ch 3 or 4. So when you set your vcr to record, you have to record on the channel that your tv is on instead of the channel that your receiver is on. I hope this makes some sense, if not, email me back and I'll try again. :)

Jori

PS: My mom's name on the cooking light website is jmarie.

[HUNGRY!]

Grace, is your digital recorder $200 a month or a $200 flat fee? I would love something like that. It sounds like a great option.

[Sarah]

My reciever is the same as your dad's. But I find that if I want to tape, I'll look for when the show is on one of the other feeds in the middle of the night and tape then. It doesn't interrupt my watching when I'm home, and I can still see things from both channels. Maybe not a perfect solution, but it works for me.

Sarah

[Grace]

Hungry -

The receiver cost $200 one time. There are no monthly fees for it - TIVO is the company that charges a monthly fee (or an annual fee or whatever it is). I got my Digital Recording system directly from DishNetwork (my satellite provider) and they don't have any extra fees. Just a one time purchase of a receiver box that has the capability to record digitally.

Now I want a way to take those digitally recorded movies and transfer them to DVD's......anyone seen a system that can do that??!! :D

[Lil'Jmarie]

hey guys. i'm jmarie's daughter, i work for dishnetwork and thought i'd answer a few of the questions you have. Right now, if you want to buy a digital video recorder (dvr), the model we sell is called a 510. it's got a 120 gb hard drive and can record up to 100 hours. you have to watch what you're recording unfortunately. the receiver costs $299 new, unless you take advantage of one of our promotions which you may or may not be eligible for. i'm not quite sure who determines eligibility, i just have my computer tells me. right now, they're running a special where you can get one of these 510's for $99, but you have to commit to 2 years of at least the america's top 50 programming package. if you break that 2 year commitment, you have to pay a $240 cancellation fee. If you're what we consider an exclusive customer (again, i don't determine eligibility), you can get the 510 for just $149 with no commitment. with this receiver though there is a fee to use the video-on-demand (the hard drive to record), but the fee depends on the programming that you have. if you subscribe to the america's top (at) 50, that fee is $9.99/month. if you subscribe to the at100 or the at150, the fee is $4.98/month. and if you subscribe to the america's everything pak (at150,hbo,cinemax,starz,showtime) there is no fee. we do have 2 other models in the 500 series, a 501 and a 508. these are still on sale at your local retailer, they cost the same, $299, but there is no way to get them cheaper unless you can strike a deal with the retailer. the 501 model rcvr has a 40 gb hard drive and record up to 35 hours of programming, and the 508 model has an 80 gb hard drive and can record up to 60 hours. we also have a model called the 721 which is also sold exclusively through retailers. this is the receiver to get, it has 2 satellite inputs so you can watch one live program while recording another or you can record 2 live programs at once, or you can use the picture in picture option on the receiver and watch 2 live programs at once. it also has a 120 gb hard drive and can record up to 90 hours. this receiver is kind of pricy though, goes for $599. but the 501, 508, and 721 are grandfathered in from having to pay the video-on-demand fee because they were released before the fee was made mandatory. so this is it, if you have any questions just post it and i'll try to answer it. :)

[rissole]

Thank you so much for your help Grace, Sarah, jmarie, and Lil'Jmarie!! BTW, I noticed that you are the newest member of this board, Lil'Jmarie!! :) I really appreciate all of your help, and thanks for going into such detail, Lil'Jmarie. I am printing out this thread right now, and am going to show it to my father, whom I'm planning to visit next week. Maybe his life will be a little brighter with this information. :)

Thanks again! :)

[jmarie]

Lil'Jmarie!

Hey you guys! I would like to introduce you to my favorite daughter, Jori! :D Isn't she just the sweetest? We met Jori in a neighboring town tonight, for dinner! She is really sick with a cold...feel better sweetie!
MO

[rissole]

Originally posted by jmarie
Lil'Jmarie!

Hey you guys! I would like to introduce you to my favorite daughter, Jori! :D Isn't she just the sweetest? We met Jori in a neighboring town tonight, for dinner! She is really sick with a cold...feel better sweetie!
MO

Yeah, I hope Jori feels better soon!

[Lil'Jmarie]

Originally posted by jmarie
Lil'Jmarie!

Hey you guys! I would like to introduce you to my favorite daughter, Jori! :D Isn't she just the sweetest? We met Jori in a neighboring town tonight, for dinner! She is really sick with a cold...feel better sweetie!
MO


funny, last time i checked, i'm your only daughter.;)

[Lil'Jmarie]

i'm glad i could help rissole. i hope your dad is enjoyinig his dish, i know that if i could have dish in my apartment, i'd be sitting here watching it right now. if he needs any help, just tell him to email me or you can get ahold of me. my email address is jori_nichole@yahoo.com. :)

[Kayaksoup]

I've been lurking and gleaning info, so I guess I owe you a thanks tooo:D
And a welcome of course.:)

[Lil'Jmarie]

no prob kayak, i'm just here to help. like i said before, you have any questions about satellite, i can answer it. if not, i can find out from work and let you know within 24 hours. :)