# Roamio Plus Toggle Between 2 Tuners?



## Rootwitch (May 24, 2006)

Coming from a S3HD Tivo, it was nice to toggle and pause between 2 shows / tuners - letting the buffer build on one tuner while watching the other ~ Once a commercial starts, pause - click Live TV to click over to the other tuner, etc. 

Just got the Roamio Plus with 6 tunes - Is there an easy way to toggle between 2 shows / tuners, without having to hit the Live TV button multiple times to zip past the tuners I'm not interested in? I know about the Info > Down Arrow > Right Arrow > Down Arrow to directly select a different tuner - But that's a lot of steps too... Is there a way to toggle?

Thanks in advance.


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## markp99 (Mar 21, 2002)

On my XL4, while watching a program on Tuner1:

1. Press Right Arrow to get program info
2. Press Arrow Down to see what's happening on the other tuners
3. Press Arrow right to then scroll thru and select another tuner

Guessing it will be similar on the Roamio. Much faster than toggling thru Inputs one-by-one.

Edit: I guess you already know this approach. Sorry


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## Rootwitch (May 24, 2006)

Ugh... That's a lot of clicking, compared to:

1. Pause
2. Live TV
3. Play


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## PHeadland (Mar 29, 2005)

The "enter" button on the bottom right corner of the remote toggles between the two most recent tuners.


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## Rootwitch (May 24, 2006)

PHeadland said:


> The "enter" button on the bottom right corner of the remote toggles between the two most recent tuners.


Thanks - I'll try that when I get home... I could see this being a MAJOR issue for The Wife if she had to go through multiple steps to toggle between What Not To Wear and Friends....


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## jrtroo (Feb 4, 2008)

For my education, why would you need to do this? Why not just record them both and watch without all of the interruptions and flipping around?


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## Rootwitch (May 24, 2006)

For those times we're just watching "junk tv". So, after work we'll dial in TBS on one tuner for Seinfeld reruns - pause it (letting the buffer build), switch over to the other tuner and dial up Fox for Big Bang Theory reruns - Watch BBT until it goes to commercial break - Pause - Switch back to TBS, FF through commercial and watch Seinfeld until the next commercial break - Rinse, and repeat. It's basically just our routine we've adopted so we never have to sit through commercials.


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## markp99 (Mar 21, 2002)

Rootwitch said:


> For those times we're just watching "junk tv". So, after work we'll dial in TBS on one tuner for Seinfeld reruns - pause it (letting the buffer build), switch over to the other tuner and dial up Fox for Big Bang Theory reruns - Watch BBT until it goes to commercial break - Pause - Switch back to TBS, FF through commercial and watch Seinfeld until the next commercial break - Rinse, and repeat. It's basically just our routine we've adopted so we never have to sit through commercials.


This. Or watching Baseball and Football at the same time.


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## lpwcomp (May 6, 2002)

jrtroo said:


> For my education, why would you need to do this? Why not just record them both and watch without all of the interruptions and flipping around?


I do this all the time during the NFL season. I do record the games but I use "live" TV to swap tuners between CBS and FOX when they are showing games at the same time.

One reason I record the games even when watching like this is that it is too easy to accidentally change the channel and lose the live buffer.


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## Rootwitch (May 24, 2006)

lpwcomp said:


> One reason I record the games even when watching like this is that it is too easy to accidentally change the channel and lose the live buffer.


LOL! Lost the live buffer quite a few times... Dog steps on the remote... sitting on the remote... clumsy handling of the remote...


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## markp99 (Mar 21, 2002)

Rootwitch said:


> LOL! Lost the live buffer quite a few times... Dog steps on the remote... sitting on the remote... clumsy handling of the remote...


Ugh! Dropping my remote from the chair almost always will flip a channel change!


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## mattack (Apr 9, 2001)

Rootwitch said:


> For those times we're just watching "junk tv". So, after work we'll dial in TBS on one tuner for Seinfeld reruns - pause it (letting the buffer build), switch over to the other tuner and dial up Fox for Big Bang Theory reruns - Watch BBT until it goes to commercial break - Pause - Switch back to TBS, FF through commercial and watch Seinfeld until the next commercial break - Rinse, and repeat. It's basically just our routine we've adopted so we never have to sit through commercials.


Suggestion -- just hit record, so you don't accidentally change channels and lose your buffer.

or instead, don't watch reruns, they're usually hacked up (tons cut for more commercial time) anyway!

(OK, once in a while I watch a rerun, and I did record a bunch of runs of the 2nd season of Scandal on BET or something.. I'm hoping those aren't too hacked up, as I lost a drive that had the original airings on tehm..)


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

mattack said:


> Suggestion -- just hit record, so you don't accidentally change channels and lose your buffer.
> 
> or instead, don't watch reruns, they're usually hacked up (tons cut for more commercial time) anyway!
> 
> (OK, once in a while I watch a rerun, and I did record a bunch of runs of the 2nd season of Scandal on BET or something.. I'm hoping those aren't too hacked up, as I lost a drive that had the original airings on tehm..)


If you have Netflix, Season 2 of Scandal is available for streaming.


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## decaf4 (Mar 18, 2004)

Thank you Pheadland! Enter button does it! This was driving me crazy. I use it in the morning to flip between local traffic and weather and national news (skipping commercials) before I go to work.i set it to record briefly in the morning so those two channels are tuned to before I get up so they will have buffer in the morning.


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## simon7 (Mar 26, 2008)

PHeadland said:


> The "enter" button on the bottom right corner of the remote toggles between the two most recent tuners.


Awesome, thanks for this great tip. Restores some functionality I was worried I lost in the upgrade. :up:


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## psmith1234 (Oct 3, 2010)

I did not know about the enter button for toggling. However hitting the Live TV button repeatedly will toggle through all of the tuners, one on each hit.


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## lpwcomp (May 6, 2002)

It's actually the "Enter/_*Last*_ button. If the last thing you did while watching "Live" TV was switch tuners, it will indeed switch back. If the last thing you did was change the channel on that tuner, it will change it back. Changing the channel will also swap tuners if another tuner is already on that channel.


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## 4mula1Z (Sep 5, 2014)

Rootwitch said:


> Ugh... That's a lot of clicking, compared to:
> 
> 1. Pause
> 2. Live TV
> 3. Play


Nope, that only takes to "live" on the current tuner.


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## 4mula1Z (Sep 5, 2014)

Rootwitch said:


> LOL! Lost the live buffer quite a few times... Dog steps on the remote... sitting on the remote... clumsy handling of the remote...


Nope, if you accidently "change the channel", just change back, and the buffer is still there. Unless you are recording on all 6 tuners at that moment.


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## astrohip (Jan 7, 2003)

4mula1Z said:


> Nope, if you accidentally "change the channel", just change back, and the buffer is still there. Unless you are recording on all 6 tuners at that moment.


Not true. When you change the channel, that tuner changes channels, so the buffer is lost. However, if you are recording that channel, then of course the buffer is still there.


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## lpwcomp (May 6, 2002)

4mula1Z said:


> Nope, if you accidently "change the channel", just change back, and the buffer is still there. Unless you are recording on all 6 tuners at that moment.


This is true only if one of the other tuners was already set to the channel you accidentally changed to. Otherwise, it changes the channel of the current tuner and the live buffer is voided.


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## astrohip (Jan 7, 2003)

Rootwitch said:


> Ugh... That's a lot of clicking, compared to:
> 
> 1. Pause
> 2. Live TV
> ...


Not true either. That switches to the next tuner.

Where are you getting your info?


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## senorgregster (Nov 12, 2005)

I started to struggle with tuners last week. Only 3 appear? when I hit info and go down to tuners and I can't seem to make my last two channels appear on the list of used tuners. Any ideas?


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## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

senorgregster said:


> I started to struggle with tuners last week. Only 3 appear? when I hit info and go down to tuners and I can't seem to make my last two channels appear on the list of used tuners. Any ideas?


What model TiVo do you have? And are you viewing the "Info" tuner listing from the TiVo DVR or from a Mini?


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## PSU_Sudzi (Jun 4, 2015)

It's only 3 clicks to get to the tuners from the info window--right arrow, down arrow, then pick the tuner.


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## rainwater (Sep 21, 2004)

PSU_Sudzi said:


> It's only 3 clicks to get to the tuners from the info window--right arrow, down arrow, then pick the tuner.


Yes, it isn't hard. And once you do that to switch to another tuner, the Enter button will switch back and forth between the two. So you really only have to do it once.


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## senorgregster (Nov 12, 2005)

krkaufman said:


> What model TiVo do you have? And are you viewing the "Info" tuner listing from the TiVo DVR or from a Mini?


I have the Roamio. There are 4 tuners showing now a few days later. 3 are the same channel which I've not seen before but honestly I don't use this method too often as I'm a >95% recorded content person. This was happening with the main TiVo. I have two minis. One has been unplugged for about a month the other very active but it was on the list screen when I saw the 3 tuners.


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

senorgregster said:


> I have the Roamio. There are 4 tuners showing now a few days later. 3 are the same channel which I've not seen before but honestly I don't use this method too often as I'm a >95% recorded content person. This was happening with the main TiVo. I have two minis. One has been unplugged for about a month the other very active but it was on the list screen when I saw the 3 tuners.


All tuners on the same channel are an indication of a restart. That or three Mini boxes.


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## rainwater (Sep 21, 2004)

JoeKustra said:


> All tuners on the same channel are an indication of a restart. That or three Mini boxes.


Or suggestions being recorded, or overlapping recordings on the same channel, etc. There are lots of reasons these days.


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## senorgregster (Nov 12, 2005)

What is a restart in this instance? After my last post I went back to having just 3 tuners and now I'm back to 4. I'm so confused.


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## cherry ghost (Sep 13, 2005)

senorgregster said:


> What is a restart in this instance? After my last post I went back to having just 3 tuners and now I'm back to 4. I'm so confused.


A restart can be caused by a software update.

When you're watching a recording, hit "info", and scroll down to the tuners, it will show four. When watching live tv it will only show three, the fourth is the channel you're currently watching.


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## senorgregster (Nov 12, 2005)

cherry ghost said:


> A restart can be caused by a software update.
> 
> When you're watching a recording, hit "info", and scroll down to the tuners, it will show four. When watching live tv it will only show three, the fourth is the channel you're currently watching.


You mean a hardware restart, correct? I just wanted to make sure the term restart wasn't used for other things. Especially since I'm seeing the same show taking up 3 tuners presumably at different start points.


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

senorgregster said:


> You mean a hardware restart, correct? I just wanted to make sure the term restart wasn't used for other things. Especially since I'm seeing the same show taking up 3 tuners presumably at different start points.


A restart is a menu item. A power cycle, which I do after putting the box in Standby, is probably the same. I do a power cycle after receiving updates. I'm old. 

If you check Account & System Info, TiVo box Diagnostics, there is a timer for each tuner. For the box, you can check the cable card section for Time since OOB tune Start. That's how long the box has been running since the last restart or power cycle.


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## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

JoeKustra said:


> If you check Account & System Info, TiVo box Diagnostics, there is a timer for each tuner. For the box, you can check the cable card section for *Time since OOB tune Start. That's how long the box has been running since the last restart or power cycle.*


Hmmm... I just checked my DVR's "Time Since OOB Tune Start" and it's just 830 seconds, but the box has been up longer than that (as evidenced by the full 30-minute LiveTV buffer).


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

krkaufman said:


> Hmmm... I just checked my DVR's "Time Since OOB Tune Start" and it's just 830 seconds, but the box has been up longer than that (as evidenced by the full 30-minute LiveTV buffer).


I hope TiVo hasn't broken another diagnostic. On a basic Roamio, the count of RS Corrected is always zero. Then again, 20.5.9 did fix the OOB SNR. My time is working normally. Even Standby doesn't change my OOB counter, just the individual tuner counters.


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## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

JoeKustra said:


> I hope TiVo hasn't broken another diagnostic. On a basic Roamio, the count of RS Corrected is always zero. Then again, 20.5.9 did fix the OOB SNR. My time is working normally. Even Standby doesn't change my OOB counter, just the individual tuner counters.


I'll give my system a reboot. It's possible that my OOB counter was off because the DVR hadn't been rebooted since the CableCARD was paired.


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

krkaufman said:


> I'll give my system a reboot. It's possible that my OOB counter was off because the DVR hadn't been rebooted since the CableCARD was paired.


That would be bad if a restart doesn't fix it. I use a power cycle since my phobia of ASIC and LSI chips. I don't know how much of a reset they get with a "warm boot". If your OOB counter is doing a reset, you have a problem above my pay grade.


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## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

JoeKustra said:


> That would be bad if a restart doesn't fix it. I use a power cycle since my phobia of ASIC and LSI chips. I don't know how much of a reset they get with a "warm boot". If your OOB counter is doing a reset, you have a problem above my pay grade.


The OOB counter appears to now accurately reflect the window since the DVR rebooted, and I've documented the reboot timestamp so I can check back over the next few days and verify it remains synchronized.


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

krkaufman said:


> The OOB counter appears to now accurately reflect the window since the DVR rebooted, and I've documented the reboot timestamp so I can check back over the next few days and verify it remains synchronized.


Check in a few weeks. It does count over 1 million.


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## senorgregster (Nov 12, 2005)

JoeKustra said:


> A restart is a menu item. A power cycle, which I do after putting the box in Standby, is probably the same. I do a power cycle after receiving updates. I'm old.
> 
> If you check Account & System Info, TiVo box Diagnostics, there is a timer for each tuner. For the box, you can check the cable card section for Time since OOB tune Start. That's how long the box has been running since the last restart or power cycle.


Thanks, I will check this out.


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## judyn (Feb 26, 2009)

Thanks for all this information! I hadn't taken the time to research how to see what is being recorded on the Roamio's 4 tuners. We lived for years with only 2 tuners...


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