Re: Motorola Tuner Swapping vs Comcast
spacedebris
Master - Level 2

Oh, I dont doubt you that it works for you. Problem is that it doesnt work on my boxes. I just tried and this is exactly what I did.

turned on channel 51 to TNT, used the remote typed in channel 5 (local CW channel). Then hit last to go back and forth between channel 5 and 51. Each and every time I change to the other channel. (using the last button) the buffer is empty.

I did this about a dozen times.  A couple of times, I waited a couple of minutes before hitting last. A couple of times I waited 10 minutes. Once I waited half an hour. I did it by hitting pause then last. I also did it by just hitting last without hitting pause. In each and EVERY case. there was no buffer prior to the picture showing up on the screen.

Now if I hit record on one, then turn to the other and hit last. It works fine. But this defeats the purpose.

Believe me, I fully understand that this works for some people. But for me and many of my neighbors, it does not. Now I do have one neighbor that it does work on. We even swapped our boxes (mine to his house and his to my house) His worked in both locations. mine did not. We have exactly the same model number and version (6416-2) and we even got them at roughly the same time and our serial numbers are fairly close. But mine do not have 2 live buffers, mine only have one live buffer and one record buffer. I dont know why it seems that some have dual live buffers and others do not, but as far as my neighbors and I can see there is no obvious difference. When I talked to my friend at Verizon, he says that according to the information provided to him by Motorola, the DVR's are not supposed to be able to swap tuners. Now true or not, it is what I experiance. So if it works for you, great. But for a lot of us it doenst work and we cant find out why some do and some dont. And to top it all off, I have two dvr's. One is the older 6416 that I have had for a couple years, and one is a fairly new 7216 and they both do the same thing. Its a mystery to me.

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Re: Motorola Tuner Swapping vs Comcast
Keyboards
Master - Level 3

Back on an older version of the IMG there was a trick that sometimes fixed the no buffer issue (I used to do this on my 6416-2 when it stopped buffering both tuners).

  1. Pick any channel and start recording
  2. Tune to another channel and start recording
  3. Stop the recordings on both tuners (using the LAST button to switch between recording channels)
  4. Wait a few minutes for the buffers to accumulate (they are cleared when a recording is stopped)
  5. Now see if using the LAST button gives you buffering on both tuners

The recordings only need be a few seconds and this should not have to be done every time.  Like I said, this used to work in the past, but no guarantees.  If not, I am out of ideas.

Re: Motorola Tuner Swapping vs Comcast
bnglbill
Enthusiast - Level 3

You may want to try rebooting your stbs. Swapping tuners should definitely work but the stbs are so flakely that it doesn't work reliably and kind of comes and goes. Rebooting helps for a while before it goes flakey again. Crap, half of the time the last button doesn't even work at all or changes the channel and info but not the picture. I really hope they get these boxes stable soon or switch to another vendor other than Motorolla...

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Re: Motorola Tuner Swapping vs Comcast
Justin46
Legend

@Keyboards wrote:

Back on an older version of the IMG there was a trick that sometimes fixed the no buffer issue (I used to do this on my 6416-2 when it stopped buffering both tuners).

  1. Pick any channel and start recording
  2. Tune to another channel and start recording
  3. Stop the recordings on both tuners (using the LAST button to switch between recording channels)
  4. Wait a few minutes for the buffers to accumulate (they are cleared when a recording is stopped)
  5. Now see if using the LAST button gives you buffering on both tuners

The recordings only need be a few seconds and this should not have to be done every time.  Like I said, this used to work in the past, but no guarantees.  If not, I am out of ideas.


Thaks Keyboards, I knew there was a "trick" I had used the two or three times mine stopped buffering but I could not remember what it was. This is a very good suggestion to try; it fixed the issue for me every time I used it (haven't had to use it in several years now though).

__________________________________
Justin
Verizon FiOS TV, Internet, and phone
QIP6416, IMG 1.6.2, Build 08.58
Keller, TX 76248

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Re: Motorola Tuner Swapping vs Comcast
underwhelmed
Newbie

It seems the DVR is a step backward from Comcast.  We were original TIVO users.  The only reason we went to the comcast dvr is our tivo died (only broadcast in b&w).  We signed on with the DVR offered by comcast, our only choice at the time.  It wasn't perfect but we found that they definitely improved their customer service as well as technical performance over the years. When we switched to Fios, we presumed that since it was NEW that all the equipment would be new, all the features would be as good as comcast.

Having to remember which channel is on to figure out which one you DO NOT want to watch is backwards and very frustrating.  We have lost the 'bubble' too many times to count (we've only had this since april) because we stupidly use the channel up/down button . Wouldn't it make more sense to change the channel you are watching, not the one you are NOT watching?  Additionally, the forward/backward jump is horrible. With comcast we knew we could do 2 arrows ahead, and use the backward button to get  the recorder to stop  right where we wanted.  We have found no such trick on fios.  Recording is more cumbersome, and it's frustrating to click on a station, only to realize it's not one you subscribe to, and then lose the bubble of a show on the channel you weren't watching prior to checking the guide. There is no 'rolling' bubble unlike what we had with comcast (so when I turn the tv on, I instantly have a bubble from the two channels being 'recorded' in the DVR memory).

And I know this is not the right forum, but the free content on verizon compared to the the free stuff on comcast is abysmal.  The commercials being shown by Comcast are absolutely true.  I don't know if we can wait for Verizon to get their TV act together before we get fed up.  Between the remote issues, missing/losing programs we want to watch, having 2 minute programs we don't care to watch and numerous billing issues, as much as I would hate to go back to comcast, verizon will leave us no choice if you don't get the equipment in use that will be as good or better than comcast.  And savings - there aren't any over comcast - at least not with the plan we signed up with. 

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Re: Motorola Tuner Swapping vs Comcast
CapnTrips
Contributor - Level 3

I'm not going to address your comments one-by-one since everybody's entitled to their own opinion.  I agree that the DVR performance - particularly the IMG and the Media Manager - is a significant detractor.  However, i still give the overall weight of the argument to the HD quality, content and number of channels, and in this area, FiOS clearly comes out ahead.  The negatives are not of SUCH concern (although they are indeed significant) that I would drop FiOS because of them.

That said, I will dispute ONE of your assertions, and that is that the buffer is not recording while the DVR is in standby.  When I turn on my DVR, I can always immediately rewind the curent channel up to an hour or so (if there were no other recordings prior to that).  If there was a recording, then that last recorded channel has continued to maintain its buffer, so it's "saving" whatever it's tuned to all of the time, regardless of whether the box is on or not.

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