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bill2011 · 03-22-2013, 06:55 PM

We are switching from the In Motion to the Trav'ler. We plan to use a PVR so as to be able to record and play back programmes. In our residence a PVR can only play back on the TV where the recording took place. So I am wondering if the PVR will work in the motorhome. The motorhome has only 1 receiver and we can view sat tv on any of 4 tv's. So will the PVR play back on either of the tv's or just 1 of the tv's or is it the case that you cannot use a PVR for recording in the motorhome?

what next · 03-22-2013, 07:15 PM

Do you mean DVR? I have Dish when I leave for the winter I carry the 722kDVR out put in RV it feeds 2 tvs and I can play all the recorded shows. It will play the recorded stuff even if I don't have sat reception. It continues to record all shows I have programmed in whenever I have Travler up. Does not upset it when it can't record. DVR I think mean digital video recorder. You may have something else.

bill2011 · 03-23-2013, 03:42 AM

I have the Shaw system and the box reads PVR but I would guess it is the same as you describe because it performs the same functions as you mention. My confusion was that in the house I have a receiver at every tv. I have only 1 recordable receiver and 2 non recordable receivers in the house and can only play back at the TV where that recordable receiver is located and so I was wondering if there were any issues in the motorhome and whether the recorded programmes would play back on all T V's. I would be using a seperate Recordable receiver permanently located in the motorhome and realize I will have to program it again but I don't want to be moving the receiver back and forth MH to residence. In MH receiver sits in an area behind a screwed in panel. Shaw allows 2 locations on the 1 account with no extra charge for the motorhome sat service.

Libero · 03-23-2013, 05:06 AM

I suspect the only reason your DVR (PVR) only provides an output to one TV is because you do not have a connection from it's output to other TV's.

(I know there smart digital boxes with interface capabilities where you can record in one room and playback in other locations, perhaps you are refering to this feature which you likely do not have with your setup)

Unless your Digital Video Recorder is extremely unique or very old, it will likely have: RF, HDMI and Composite output ports. All three would have a common output signal present at all times. I suspect the RF output would not be High Def (perhaps it is) but the other two outputs will be.

For the RF output, a normal RF splitter should work to service more than one TV. If you have HDMI inputs on your TV(s) you can get HDMI splitters to service more than one TV. You could have one TV connected via RF and another one on HDMI for instance or one composite and the other HDMI and no splitter required. RV wiring will limit your options in this regard.

Once that recording is on your HD it should play independent of the DVR input from the Satellite.

If you have a satellite receiver for your second TV (Unless you have boxes that have the ability to interface outputs, don't know if these exist for satellite) you would need to use a different TV input port to receive the output of the DVR (PVR). This would mean a second cable from the DVR output to other TV's.

Not certain if your Receiver PVR is controlled by IR of RF from the remote. IR is an issue because unobstructed visual LOS is required to function so being in a second room might make things more ackward to operate.

Re the nomenclature: Some manufacturers called thier digital recorders "PVR" (Personal Video Recorders) while others call them "DVR", (Digital Video Recorders). They are all "Digital Recorders" vs Analogue Recorders.

The real simple solution is to get two receiver/recorder units and have them independent. This is what I did.

Hope I was helpful and did not provide too much confusion.

Good luck

94-Newmar · 03-23-2013, 05:15 AM

Bill, PVR/DVR are really the same thing.. some have used PVR as a marketing ploy to make it sound really different than a DVR..... that being said most whole house DVR setups are utilizing an Ethernet signal between the devices to stream/send/broadcast recordings from your main DVR to those TVs that may only have a standard digital receiver. Thus you can watch anything recorded from 1 DVR unit on any TV in the house with similar equipment that is connected in the "network".

You don't specify which system you have, DirecTV or Dish, but DirecTV uses SWM (single wire multiplexer) more commonly now. This allows 1 wire coming from the dish to be run thru the roof and that one wire can feed an unlimited amount of receivers in the SWM network within your coach. The old way was to run a seperate wire from the dish's LNBs for each TV you were placing a receiver at. Additionally, the whole-house signal that allows you to watch recorded programs from the DVR on any other receiver in the system is broadcast right thru the very same coaxial cable - no need for more wires!

You also mention that you can watch TV from your satellite on any of the 4 TVs, but my assumption is that those TV's each are showing the same program? With the newer SWM setup on DirecTV you can place a receiver at each of the 4 TV's and watch 4 seperate programs - if one of those receivers is a DVR and you enable the "whole-home" function, you can watch programs recorded from that DVR on any of the receivers in the coach seperately, meanwhile someone else could be watching live TV on one of the others.

Libero · 03-23-2013, 05:28 AM

94 Newmar

I like your explanation better than mine.

Thumbs up

94-Newmar · 03-23-2013, 05:31 AM

I think we were typing at the same time.. our posts were only a few minutes apart!

bill2011 · 03-23-2013, 10:04 AM

Thanks for all the information. I am in Canada with Shaw satellite service. Will try out all of this in July when my Trav'ler is installed. Interesting though that Shaw tells me I cannot play a Pvr/dvr recorded program back on another tv in my residence. It looks like it can actually be done with a bit of tear up. House is finished throughout and was not prewired for this. Thanks again.