# Select which tuner on which to record?



## zornwil (Dec 26, 2002)

We've had Tivo DVRs for some 15 years or such, but just got a Roamio with a 4-tuner. We were watching a channel when the warning came up that Tivo would, unless canceled, change a channel on another tuner to record something. Fine enough, of course. 

However, Tivo selected a tuner on which we had paused the channel in order to have a buffer later. Which causes us to wonder, is there any way to instruct Tivo to use (or not) a particular tuner(s)? 

I noted from reading in other threads we could simply record instead of pause, and that's fine, but a bit of a waste. It's an acceptable enough work around, but hoping there's a cleaner solution.

Thanks...


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## L David Matheny (Jan 29, 2011)

zornwil said:


> We've had Tivo DVRs for some 15 years or such, but just got a Roamio with a 4-tuner. We were watching a channel when the warning came up that Tivo would, unless canceled, change a channel on another tuner to record something. Fine enough, of course.
> 
> However, Tivo selected a tuner on which we had paused the channel in order to have a buffer later. Which causes us to wonder, is there any way to instruct Tivo to use (or not) a particular tuner(s)?
> 
> ...


You would think that a TiVo should be able to see if a tuner is paused or being used for chase play (by comparing playback pointers to write pointers or whatever). Obviously it would be better to retune first any tuners that aren't being used that way, but I suspect such a feature would be well down on the priority list for TiVo's programmers unless it just happens to be a very easy fix.

TiVos used to be able to split off and hold a buffer fragment until playback reached the end of it, even after the tuner was taken away for a scheduled recording, but that capability was apparently lost during some programming change (maybe to implement some other feature).


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## CrispyCritter (Feb 28, 2001)

AFAIK, the TiVo tries to use the non-recording tuner that was least recently accessed. But I don't know when it makes that decision, at the time of the notice or the time of the recording. If it's the latter, you may be able to affect the tuner choice by agreeing to the channel change, but then switching to the tuner you want saved and back again to your current tuner.

Note that this tuner switch has to occur directly; you can't use the "live-tv" cycling through all the tuners since then all the intermediate tuners are accessed and when you change back, the tuner you want saved may become the least recently accessed channel.. You have to hit right-arrow, down-arrow, right-arrow and choose the tuner you want (or if you remember the channel number, you can type it directly).


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## chicagobrownblue (May 29, 2008)

L David Matheny said:


> TiVos used to be able to split off and hold a buffer fragment until playback reached the end of it, even after the tuner was taken away for a scheduled recording, but that capability was apparently lost during some programming change (maybe to implement some other feature).


Part of this feature has been reinstated. I have the Tivo record the ABC national news each night and then add 30 minutes to catch the local news that follows. I am sometimes watching the local news before the ABC national news. That buffer was lost in the past when the national news started up. Now that buffer stays and I can watch the remaining part of the local news while the national news records. I'd suggest not selecting a tuner that is paused to TiVo as an enhancement request.


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## cherry ghost (Sep 13, 2005)

Bump

I've never had a TiVo w/ more than two tuners before this week when I got a basic Roamio. 

Turned the TV on this afternoon and put the baseball game on. Didn't care enough about the game to watch live, so I hit "pause" and changed tuners intending to come back to it after I surfed around a bit. A few minutes later I get the pop-up that a recording is starting and one of the background tuners needs to be changed. Sure enough, it used the tuner on which I was paused. Someone above said the least recently accessed tuner is used for a recording, but that wasn't the case here. Is there any way to know which tuner will be used? Any chance you can tell by looking at the list of tuners by hitting "info?" I'm thinking maybe it always uses the one at the top of the list.


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## ramiss (Jan 30, 2014)

I can't answer your question, but I have read many times that the best advice is to hit record instead of pause for this very reason. 

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk


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## cherry ghost (Sep 13, 2005)

ramiss said:


> I can't answer your question, but I have read many times that the best advice is to hit record instead of pause for this very reason.
> 
> Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk


It's curiosity more than anything. I didn't care about losing the pause on the game.


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## tootal2 (Oct 14, 2005)

I could do this on Windows Media Center 

Sent from my LG-H631 using Tapatalk


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

cherry ghost said:


> It's curiosity more than anything. I didn't care about losing the pause on the game.


This sounds a little OCD, but if you check the To Do List, it shows upcoming recordings. It is possible to pre-set the tuners. Then the recording is done without needing to change tuners. Stupid, I know, but it does work.


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## Phantom Gremlin (Jun 20, 2002)

JoeKustra said:


> This sounds a little OCD, but if you check the To Do List, it shows upcoming recordings. It is possible to pre-set the tuners. Then the recording is done without needing to change tuners. Stupid, I know, but it does work.


I can't seem to follow these directions. Are they only for OTA units?

When I look at my To Do List and select a show, it gives me the following choices:

Watch now
Modify recording
OnePass options
View other showings
Explore this show

I can't find a way to preset a tuner. What am I missing?


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## twalsh22 (Aug 28, 2015)

I think the idea is to set one of your live tuners to the channel the recording will be on. Then the recording will automatically use that tuner.

Sent from my SM-G900P using Tapatalk


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

Phantom Gremlin said:


> I can't seem to follow these directions. Are they only for OTA units?
> 
> When I look at my To Do List and select a show, it gives me the following choices:
> 
> ...


twalsh22 is right. Learning how the tuners are assigned can be confusing at first. If you select a channel already using a tuner, the box just moves you to that tuner (and you get its buffer). If you select a channel that is not active, your tuner gets changed to that channel, Use Info, then down to see what each tuner is doing. Play with it for a while to get the way it works.


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