With all my Christmas money, I've decided to finally make the purchase I've been waiting for: a DVR. But between Best Buy, TiVo, and DirecTV, I feel I'm not getting all the answers I want. One place says one thing, another place says another, all the information is just meshing together.
Basically, here's my situation. We have DirecTV service in the living room and one of the bedrooms. This is the standard one LNB sat. dish. Now, if I order the DirecTV DVR 70 hour, can I record one show and watch one live show, or just record one and not watch another? Because DirecTV keeps telling me I need a dual LNB to record two shows at once and watch one recorded, but I don't know if that means I can record one show and watch one live. I really don't want to have to install a whole new dish just to be able to watch and record at the same time.
Now, with our cable internet we receive free basic cable for the other two TVs in the house. The DVR is going in one of these rooms without the DirecTV receivers. So I was going to purchase another receiver for $50 and the DVR for $150 with $100 rebate, so the total would only be $100 for receiver and DVR. But again, I don't know what I can do with only one LNB.
Or, I can go with a Tivo brand DVR and using my cable TV I know there's a trick with the RF and composite inputs that I can record and watch one live show at the same time. This would cost me $150 for the 80 hour box and $150 for a year subscription.
I also read somewhere that you can connect both a cable source and DirecTV source to the same standalone Tivo and get both programming at the same time. Does this enable me to record more or watch more because I have seperate sources?
Now, another feature I like with Tivo brand is the TivoToGo / USB functionality. I really like the idea of recording shows and then burning them to DVD on my computer, saving the cost of having to buy seasons of shows when I can just record and burn them myself. I really haven't seen any testimonials, is it a good quality? I know the DirecTV DVR doesn't have the exact TivoToGo feature, but does it have something similar?
I know this is a lot of newbie type questions, but I've been going back and forth between brands and companies, and I just can't get a straight answer. I appreciate any help offered.
Basically, here's my situation. We have DirecTV service in the living room and one of the bedrooms. This is the standard one LNB sat. dish. Now, if I order the DirecTV DVR 70 hour, can I record one show and watch one live show, or just record one and not watch another? Because DirecTV keeps telling me I need a dual LNB to record two shows at once and watch one recorded, but I don't know if that means I can record one show and watch one live. I really don't want to have to install a whole new dish just to be able to watch and record at the same time.
Now, with our cable internet we receive free basic cable for the other two TVs in the house. The DVR is going in one of these rooms without the DirecTV receivers. So I was going to purchase another receiver for $50 and the DVR for $150 with $100 rebate, so the total would only be $100 for receiver and DVR. But again, I don't know what I can do with only one LNB.
Or, I can go with a Tivo brand DVR and using my cable TV I know there's a trick with the RF and composite inputs that I can record and watch one live show at the same time. This would cost me $150 for the 80 hour box and $150 for a year subscription.
I also read somewhere that you can connect both a cable source and DirecTV source to the same standalone Tivo and get both programming at the same time. Does this enable me to record more or watch more because I have seperate sources?
Now, another feature I like with Tivo brand is the TivoToGo / USB functionality. I really like the idea of recording shows and then burning them to DVD on my computer, saving the cost of having to buy seasons of shows when I can just record and burn them myself. I really haven't seen any testimonials, is it a good quality? I know the DirecTV DVR doesn't have the exact TivoToGo feature, but does it have something similar?
I know this is a lot of newbie type questions, but I've been going back and forth between brands and companies, and I just can't get a straight answer. I appreciate any help offered.