Recording strategies

[Rupp]

Guys,
I've been recording HD TV for the last month in anticipation of getting the HD100. Now that I have it, I have a question about watching live TV. I use the HVR1600 for my HD recordings. My question is if I have a TV show scheduled to record I can't watch live TV right? I would need another tuner card to do this right? What happens if you select Watch live TV during a recording?

* essentially the same question; merged *

[paulbeers]

Well the 1600 is a dual tuner (HD and SD) right? so as long as you were recording HD and tried watching SD, you should be okay. Otherwise Sage will warn you if the action (watching tv) is going to interupt a recording, so as long as you don't ignore those warnings you should be fine.

[Rupp]

I have a recording strategy question. Say I want to be able to skip commercials when watching Lost. Can I have Sage setup to record lost and then start watching the recording while it's in the recording process? Another way to ask is, does Sage allow the ability to watch an in progress recording?

[stanger89]

Doesn't matter if the file is being recorded or not as far as Sage goes, so yes, you can watch something currently recording. That's all live TV is.

[Addict]

Originally Posted by Rupp

I have a recording strategy question. Say I want to be able to skip commercials when watching Lost. Can I have Sage setup to record lost and then start watching the recording while it's in the recording process? Another way to ask is, does Sage allow the ability to watch an in progress recording?

Absolutely, without question, 100%.

I'll take it a step further for you --> You can even have the commercial-skipping add-on software run while the show is recording... So, once it detects commercials, you'll see it immediately in the interface...even if you're in the middle of watching the show.

[GKusnick]

Originally Posted by Rupp

Another way to ask is, does Sage allow the ability to watch an in progress recording?

That's exactly what Live TV mode is in Sage. There is no separate Live TV buffer; it's just an unscheduled recording that you happen to be watching at the same time.

Caveat: this does not work with MPEG1 format, which can't be played back until the whole file is written. So if you're recording analog TV at one of the low quality settings that use MPEG1, you won't be able to timeshift while the show is still in progress. But at MPEG2 quality or better, it just works.

[Rupp]

So my plan is to auto start Lost at 8:00PM then halfway into the show select the file that is recording and watch it. Sound right?