my friend had this question, so i have no clue about it.

He has 2 TVs and he wants to record a show. He wants to be able to let someone in the other room watch the show that has been recorded while he can still watch whatever he wants on his TV. Is this possible with one DVR box?

If you buy another DVR box it's around 12-15$ a month i think.

4/24/2009 1:11:50 PM

I'm not even sure you could do this with 2 DVR boxes (if we're talking about the standard TWC or TiVO boxes).

Do these boxes have any way to share the data? Regarding doing it with one box, the standard DVR does not have multiple outputs, and even if it did, I don't think it would give you live cable and recorded cable on different outputs. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

The way I would do it (and will when I have enough money) is to have a HTPC at each TV connected to NAS or a file server in the basement so that there is one repository for video files but multiple viewing stations.

4/24/2009 1:17:49 PM

You can do this with the Dish Network DVR. I'm not sure about others.

4/24/2009 1:29:25 PM

your box can only do 2 things at once.

Here are your options:
A) record show 1 while watching* show 2.
B) record show 1 and record show 2, but if you want to watch tv it has to be show 1 or 2. If you want to watch show 3 you'll have to stop show 1 or 2 from recording.

* it doesn't matter if the show you're watching is live or has already been recorded.

That doesn't necessarily mean you can send two different signals out of the box though (which is what he wants). While I know there are 2 tuners in the box, i'm not sure if there are two outputs. If there is only 1, then it is definitely not possible. And my bet is no, since i've never seen a "tuner2" option on the remotes or anything.

^^ what? It wouldn't be an issue if he had 2 boxes. Each person could record and watch whatever they wanted. There'd be some overlap I'm sure. But it's not like they would be watching the same recording of say Lost, they'd each have their own recording of it. There's no need to share data. An additional hd dvr box is like 7.99/mo. I just ordered one for my roommate's room.

4/24/2009 1:42:09 PM

I thought you could watch a recorded show while two others record. In fact, I'm pretty sure you can.

4/24/2009 1:47:54 PM

not in my experience. I thought so as well but recently tried. I'm fairly certain i wasn't able to.

nm, according to time warner's website you can watch a recorded show while 2 others record. Maybe I just had a problem or don't recall correctly

[Edited on April 24, 2009 at 2:16 PM. Reason : .]

4/24/2009 1:53:02 PM

But on a different TV?

4/24/2009 3:08:46 PM

you can do this with 1 dvr and 1 standard set top box with U-Verse.

4/24/2009 3:12:29 PM

A vip622 (Dish Network though) would do what he needs... I think (I have one but don't use the dual mode).

Quote :

"Unlike any other non-Dish DVR we know of, the ViP622 has what Dish calls a dual mode to feed two televisions. There's a second, entirely separate set of AV outputs on its back panel, which send video and audio to a secondary standard-def television (TV2) in addition to the main HDTV set (TV1). Aside from saving multi-TV households from having to buy or rent another box, the TV2 option allows a viewer on the secondary television to watch any of the recorded shows on the ViP622's hard disk (HD programs are downconverted to SD for display on TV2). In dual mode, the ViP622's three tuners are split among the two TVs: TV1 gets the OTA and one satellite tuner, while TV2 gets the second satellite tuner."

http://reviews.cnet.com/digital-video-recorders-dvrs/dish-network-vip622-200/4505-6474_7-31778299.html

[Edited on April 24, 2009 at 3:33 PM. Reason : ]

4/24/2009 3:33:32 PM

That's pretty sweet. I still like my file server idea better, but that's cool.

4/24/2009 3:49:22 PM

^ how much is that going to cost though if you don't have the parts sitting around, not to mention the know how.

An additional dvr is like $8/mo.

A lot of DVRs have 2 outputs. I can't say for sure without knowing what this person has. Look on the back of the box, there will be a Video out and there may be a Video Out 2. That output will send out what ever the secondary tuner is doing.

see page 12:
http://www.cisco.com/web/consumer/support/userguides2/4004007.pdf

If you do the same thing but hook it up to a TV instead of a vcr, you'll get the show on the tv.

Again, it depends on the the actual model he has. And he would have to run a cable directly from the box to his tv (that's obvious right?).

Personally, I don't know why you would really want to do this. At least not at the cost of having cables run through my house/apt. I have 4 roommates (5 of us total) and we never have trouble recording the shows we want and watching them. But that's not going to work for everyone i guess. And if it ever was a problem, I'd pay the 8 additional dollars to have my own box.

[Edited on April 24, 2009 at 4:24 PM. Reason : .]

4/24/2009 4:00:55 PM

But the recurring cost of my solution is $0/month. You're right about the parts, knowledge, and initial cost, though. That's my dream setup.

I honestly didn't know that most dvrs had two outputs. Maybe I should look at the back of mine sometime. Not that I have two tvs within cable length of the dvr. Yet.

4/24/2009 4:32:01 PM