Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)Here's some info from someone who had this for 13 months.
This DVR has two modes. In Single Mode, the same video is shown on both TVs at the same time. Use this if you only watch one of the sets at a time, or if you don't have a TV2 plugged in, or if the person watching TV2 just wants to watch whatever the other person has on. You can use Picture-in-Picture in this mode, and do whatever you want as far as using the tuners to record.
In Dual Mode, each TV can operate independently, and each TV has only one tuner at its disposal. When you schedule a recording, you can choose which tuner records it (so you'd select either the TV where you'll be watching it live, or, the TV where you *won't* be watching something else live). In this mode you can also watch two separate recorded shows on the two TVs, or two separate live channels, or a combination one recorded show and one live channel.
There are three different ways of scheduling recurring recordings: Dish Pass, regular scheduling, and Manual. The most important thing to know is there's a limit on how many scheduled recordings you can have (300 if i remember correctly) so keep tabs on that when you read this. Dish Pass searches titles and descriptions for what you specify, and records it whenever it sees a match on any channel. Regular scheduling works a bit differently, and is probably more appropriate for most needs. Regular scheduling can record a particular Title, either on any channel, or one specific channel:
All Episodes - Records anytime that show comes on
New Episodes - Records only episodes that aren't reruns
Weekly, Mon-Fri, Daily etc. - records during whatever timeslot you say ONLY IF THAT SHOW IS ON.
This last one is best for most shows that come on multiple times a day, for example, if you only want the show recorded in one particular timeslot instead of all of them (e.g. I only want my Seinfeld reruns recorded at 5pm, not at 10 or 12:30).
And Manual Recording - You can set a schedule (either one-time or recurring weekly, or daily, or mon-fri etc...) and that way it will record WHATEVER is on during that time period, instead of recording only if one particular show is on.
*****
VERY IMPORTANT
*****
If you record shows that come on all the time, it's very important that you don't use "All Episodes" for those! For example, It will find about 50-60 episodes of Seinfeld within the upcoming 14 days or so and this takes up 50-60 slots in your 300 limit that I mentioned above! You will find yourself being told you have too many recordings scheduled or something, and won't be able to add very many recordings. Instead, record a show like that once or twice a day (use two separate timers if necessary, there's no limit that I know of on number of timers), then you will have like 10-15 coming up. Much better.
The good things about this DVR:
* Never fails to record shows. I never missed a scheduled recording the whole year (though I did once lose all my recordings when I had a hard drive crash--Dish replaced my DVR in about 5 days or so).
* Robust options and settings. Dig deep into the menus and get things set up just the way you like it.
* Priorities lets you decide what shows are can't miss (one-time recordings, first-run programs) versus shows you don't care about but record just in case you need something to watch (e.g. syndicated shows etc).
* Very responsive and fast
* Monthly $5.99 DVR fee--lower than TiVo ($13) or what Comcast charges ($10) for their junky thing.
* 30-second-skip-forward button--that you DON'T have to hack to enable like certain other (*cough* Comcast!) DVRs. Nice.
* 2-TV support on one box as described above means you have access to the same library of recordings from both TVs. Sweet.
* Big 100-hour capacity.
* Smart enough not to record an episode you already have of a show.
* Lets you "Edit" in batch mode--so you can select 20 shows and delete, or protect, them all at once.
* Lets you rename shows. Especially great for Manual Recordings.
The things I wished were better:
* No way to get your recordings off there, except in real-time using a VCR or set-top DVD recorder.
* Sound cuts out for about 0.5 seconds when you unpause. You end up just always having to hit "skip back" (that's 5 seconds back) when after you unpause. Still pretty annoying. This was with both the original and my replacement, so I know it's not just a defect.
* 300 upcoming scheduled programs limit - before I figured out just what the limit was (the error leads you to believe you are trying to make too many TIMERS when it's absolutely NOT that. It's how many PROGRAMS are set to be recorded in the upcoming couple weeks that's limited). Once I figured this out I was able to work around it (and optimize my drive space usage in the process) by reducing my use of "All Episodes" and "Dish Pass" so I'm not recording so many throwaway programs.
That's all I can think of for now. For what it's worth, when I moved I was forced to switch to cable, and bought the LG LRM-519 (which I'll review here eventually)... It doesn't have any of the bad things about this one, but it lacks a LOT of the good things about this one. It's a trade-off! If I ever find the perfect DVR I'll let you know.
Click Here to see more reviews about: DISH Player-DVR 625 - DVR / Satellite TV receiver - Dish Network - 100 hour(s) - DISH network
Product Features Independently watch and record programming on two TVs Convenient On-Screen Caller ID with history Record up to 100 hours of standard definition On-screen Electronic Program Guide (EPG) with easy access to program listings and information for up to 9 days Single Mode: Picture-In-Picture (PIP) available on any TV.Dual Mode: View separate programming on 2 televisions Technical Details Model: 625
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