My DirecTv DVR is advertised as being able to watch one show and record another...?

Question

It worked this way for over a year. Suddenly I try to record the Amazing Race and watch 24 and it is telling me that i would have to change the channel to make that happen? Can someone please tell me what is going on here? All help is appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

Potential causes could be that one of the coax cables running from your dish to your receiver is bad, that something is up with the multiswitch (the piece at the dish that the coax line connects to), that a cable is loose, or that something is wrong internally with your box.

Try this, sometimes it'll fix your problem right away. Unplug your receiver, then unplug  your sat-in cables. Give it about 15 seconds, then ONLY plug the receiver back in. It will go through its startup process, then it'll say Searching For Satellite Signal (771). Plug in the cables to Sat In  and check your dvr functions again.

If that doesn't work then call 1-800-531-5000. The technical CSRs have a long string of troubleshooting steps that they will walk you through to figure out the cause and get it fixed for you.

Answer 2

Hit the info button when that hapens and see if it is already recording a season pass show or something scheduled. Has happened to me a few times and that was the cause. It will also say it needs to change when I have told it to over ride another scheduled program.. somehow it thinks it still has to change channels. I say ok and it never changes.

Hope this is it.. or at least helps!

Answer 3

Your problem is that you have two channels you can record on and both are already in use. What the DVR is trying to tell you is that you need to stop one of those recordings to add another.

I have a cable company DVR and it does the same thing.

Answer 4

That happens when it is recording two channels at once.

If you want to record two channels at the same time (count overlap times too if you set it to start early or end late) you will have to watch one of them, or watch something you recorded earlier.

You only have two tuners available.

Answer 5

Your dvr must support 2 tuners meaning tv 1 tv2.you will be to record on both tv 1,2 plus watch one or the other as they are being recorded and pausse rewind as well and watch recorded chanel while the other two are recording . you 'll be able to watch live on one tv 1 while recordin tv 2 or watch tv2 while recording tv 1.

However if you only have one tuner, you either watch what is being recorded or a recorded channel.