Why does my TIVO Dual Tuner switch channels to record while I'm watching live TV?

Question

There are times when I'll be watching a channel and my Tivo will start recording a Season Pass show on another channel without disrupting the current show I'm watching. However, there are times that I'll be watching a show and a dialog will pop up saying like "The TIVO service needs to change to channel 8 at 9:00 p.m. to record 'The Office'." for one of my scheduled Season Passes and I have to click OK to switch or click no to stay on my current channel & cancel the recording on the other channel.

Why does this happen? If I want to have 2 shows recording at once, do I have to be watching one of them live? For instance if I want to record "Friends" on channel 29 and "Wife Swap" on channel 7, can I set those to record at the same time while watching "George Lopez" on channel 19? Or must I be watching either Friends or Wife Swap in order for both of those shows to be recording at the same time?

Answer 1

There are only two tuners, so no matter what you can only have two things going, whether it is recording on both, in which case you can't be watching another non recording channel or not recording on either.

The tivo is programed kind of as if the two tuners do not know what the other is doing, so the dialog pops up when the tuner you are watching is being told to change channels to record, but it doesn't come up if the tuner you are not watching needs to change channels.

One good thing I found was worth knowing is you can press "live tv" to switch between tuners.

Answer 2

If you are recording two shows at the same time period and watching TV through your TiVo, then you'll have to be watching one of those shows on Live TV. Your TiVo will be tuned to one or the other channel. If you want to watch something else, then you need to have your TV hooked up so that you can watch TV without it going through your TiVo.

If you are watching a show on Live TV before those recordings start, then you can finish watching it or even pause and go back on it. You can do that with that show until the other shows finish recording.