# Comcast DVR setup: Take 2 **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 13, 2011, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comcast-dvr-setup-take-2/602780 "2011-11-13T06:31:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2011, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comcast-dvr-setup-take-2/602780/1 "2011-11-13T06:31:08Z")
I have Comcast cable. They don’t seem to understand that there are multiple shows on at any given time that a customer might want to watch. You can only record two, and you have to watch one or the other. :rolleyes: So I want to set up a series recording at a time that does not conflict with other recordings. But when I try, it sets tells me that a show won’t be recorded because it conflicts with another recording – at the time I don’t want to record. Is there any way to set up a series recording such that it only records a series at, say, two in the morning, instead of all of the times? ---
**Author:** ![fubbleskag](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@fubbleskag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fubbleskag)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2011, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comcast-dvr-setup-take-2/602780/2 "2011-11-13T14:36:56Z")
afaik, you would have to manually set each episode to record at 2am rather than the default time, or set the series to record all, not just new, episodes and delete anything you don’t actually want to watch. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2011, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comcast-dvr-setup-take-2/602780/3 "2011-11-13T14:50:32Z")
I was afraid of that. You’d think with today’s technology you’d be able to record two shows and watch a third, and/or record more than two shows at a time. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2011, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comcast-dvr-setup-take-2/602780/4 "2011-11-13T15:06:54Z")
Note that if you’re recording two shows, you can watch a third show, as long as the third one is something that’s already been recorded to the DVR. The reason that you can only record two shows at once is that the cable box only has two tuners that connect to the cable system. So each tuner can be used for for recording a show, watching a show live or watching something On Demand. But you can’t simultaneously watch something and record something else on the same tuner. ---
**Author:** ![Heracles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heracles/32/487_2.png) [@Heracles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heracles)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2011, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comcast-dvr-setup-take-2/602780/5 "2011-11-13T15:10:07Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > I was afraid of that. You’d think with today’s technology you’d be able to record two shows and watch a third, and/or record more than two shows at a time. I’m sure today’s technology allows somebody, somewhere (Echelon?) to record thousands of shows at the same time, given an infinite budget. But your DVR is built using finite resources, and only has two signal decoders. My DVR (Scientific Atlanta Explorer 8300HD) has similar limitations. But when I tell it I want to record Firefly, it asks me if I want to record (a) a single episode, (b) all episodes, (c) all episodes in the same time slot. That last option means it’ll only record the episodes broadcast on a Tuesday night, say. This reduces conflicts to something workable. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2011, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comcast-dvr-setup-take-2/602780/6 "2011-11-13T15:12:21Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > I was afraid of that. You’d think with today’s technology you’d be able to record two shows and watch a third, and/or record more than two shows at a time. That would require three tuners. If you had three tuners, you could complain that with current technology you’d think you could record three shows and watch a forth but that would require 4 tuners…and that brings us to the [TiVo Elite.](http://www.tivo.com/products/tivo-premiere-elite/?WT.ac=tivohome_mantle_elite) ETA FWIW [Here’s](http://img.diytrade.com/cdimg/468143/3424294/0/1175272625.jpg) a tuner. For every channel you want to simultaneously record/watch you need one of these plus the circuitry to deal with it. It’s not that you can just download new firmware to allow your box to deal with an extra feed.