Quick question, hopefully it hasnt been answered already, but I couldnt find any topic on it here.

Do I need 6 portals to be able to record 6 shows at once, or can I utilize all 6 tuners regardless of how many portals I have?

I cant seem to get a definitive answer anywhere.

On a side note: Shaw is installing on Oct. 22nd. Woo!

Gateway has 9 tuners. You can record up to 6 shows and watch 3 shows concurrently. You do not need six portals to record 6 shows. The portal is just the interface unit between your TV and the gateway. Everything are done at the gateway.

Thanks!

I believe that's 6 tuners only in the Gateway and it's the box that does the recordings, not the Portals. You need one tuner per program being recorded or watched live. The Gateway doesn't need a tuner to play back a recorded program, up to three when recording 6 other programs, I believe. If you are recording 6 programs then you cannot watch another one live, only recorded. You can, of course, also watch a show as it is being recorded.

As I understand it the Gateway can record 6 programs at once while you watch up to 3 previously recorded programs.

Correct 6 tuners not 9

If you're using less than all 6 tuners, can you watch more than 3 previously recorded shows simultaneously?

ie. if you're using 5 tuners, can you watch 4 recordings?

No Tux, I think you are wrong. You can record 5 programs, watch one live program and watch 3 programs that are already recorded. Remember you do not need to use a turner to watch a program that is already recorded. Hence 6 tuners and 3 recorded programs. As I understand it, you can only watch 3 prerecorded programs whether you are recording nothing or using all six tuners to record 6 separate programs simultaneously.

Since up to 6 Portals can be served by a single Gateway, I too would expect that I can play back up to 6 already recorded programs, one per attached TV. It should only indirectly be affected by the number of tuners being used - not because a tuner is needed for playback but possibly because of resource utilization limits.

One would assume that, with up to 6 Portals permitted to one Gateway with 6 tuners, one should be able, at any one time, to
watch 6 recorded programs. No tuners are being used. All 6 Portals/TVs are being driven.
record, and simultaneously watch with pause/rewind/fast forward capability, 2 programs and watch up to 4 previously recorded programs and record up to 3 programs in the background,etc. Only 5 tuners are needed here but all 6 Portals, and associated TVs would be driven.
etc.

Would one be right? If not, wouldn't one have the right to be upset?

Also, can the same recorded program be played back through, two different Portals:


in sync with each other or
controlled separately, i.e., being played at different places in the same program.
And how would this count towards the number of playbacks allowed? I would imagine that it counts as two, at least in case 2.

Right now you are supposed to be able to record 6 and watch 3 recordings all at the same time. This number is actually going to change in the future, in the upward direction, both on the current equipment and in the next gen stuff. Great things are on the horizon.

So, if I have the maximum number of Portals/TVs connected, 6, and I am watching 3 different recorded programs on 3 of these Portals/TVs and am recording 3 more programs, what can I do with each of the remaining 3 Portals/TVs:


watch live only,
watch live with pause/rewind/ff/skip etc.,
watch the three programs being recorded live only,
watch the three programs being recorded, with pause/rewind/ff/skip etc.,
some combination of 1. and 3., totaling 3 Portal/TVs
some combination of 2. and 3., totaling 3 Portal/TVs
some combination of 1. and 4., totaling 3 Portal/TVs
some combination of 2. and 4., totaling 3 Portal/TVs

I'd like to think 8. some some combination of 2. and 4., totaling 3 Portal/TVs
but would I be right?

Also, can the same recorded program be played back, through two different Portals:


in sync with each other or
controlled separately, i.e., being played at different places in the same program.

And how would this count towards the number of playbacks allowed?

Just curious if anyone knows how many hard drives are in the Gateway? Recording 6 shows while watching 3 other recordings requires quite a bit of data bandwith. The heads on the platters must be thrashing around like crazy to keep up!

There is just one hard drive in the Gateway.

Kritiker; Right now there is a maximum of 9 simultaneous operations possible. There are plans in the works for increasing this to 12 so that all 6 possible Portals can be utilized at the same time but there is no in-service date for this functionality yet.

^ Jetranger is right the number is going to increase and is in the works right now.

I could live with 9, although more would be nice. I am still not clear on what can happen simultaneously, though.

For a maximum configuration, i.e. 6 TVs/Portals:

When watching, say 3, playbacks, could one also watch 3 of the (up to) 6 recordings that could be happening simultaneously. Can one pause and FF/REW on these as one is watching? Or would watching be considered a separate activity from the recording? Is what I am describing 9 activities or 12?

If there are no playbacks or recordings and if someone is watching a different channel on each of the 6 TVs, can all 6 of these viewers use the pause, FF/REW functions?

What about playing the same recorded program back, through two different Portals, at the same time. Can this be done:


in sync with each other (i.e., watching exactly the same stream, probably controlled by one of the two Portals) or
controlled separately, i.e., being played at different places in the same program (i.e., each stream controlled by its Portal).

I imagine that in any event it would count as 2 playbacks.

Your imagination is correct. There are a total of 9 possible data streams. How you assign them is up to you. Once you have reached the maximum, you will be presented with an option to cancel a recording if you want to watch on another Portal. While it would make seem to sense that two, or more, Portals could share a data stream, it is not currently possible. Without knowing finer details of how the system works, I can't say if it ever will be possible.

One thing is for sure: this system is unlike anything we have seen before and the 'rules of operation' that go with it are going to take some getting used to. I believe we have to change the way we think about how we watch TV and how it can be done 'differently' from before. I know, I don't want to have to 'think' when I watch TV but it seems we are now forced to think about it, like it or not.

Sorry, I am still not clear on what is, and is not, possible.


Let's look at just one, simpler, case for now - a system with 4 TVs/Portals.

If 3 TVs are watching previously recorded programs and a 4th is watching a live feed, can the 4th TV PAUSE/FF/REW the live feed (only up to the current LIVE point, of course)?

I would almost guess that the answer is no, because that would be like watching a 4th playback, which isn't possible (yet).


Similarly, I would guess on a 6 TV/Portal setup, not all six can be watching live TV and using the PAUSE/FF/REW features. How does one select which TVs/Portals can?


As for the data streams, I wouldn't really expect two TVs/Portals to be able to watch the same data stream but I would expect two TVs/Portals to be able to watch the same recorded program, simultaneously, as 2 separate data streams though.
As you say, Jetranger, it is going to take some getting used to.

Sure, that's only 4 streams. The problem would arise if you tried to also have more than 5 recordings being made. Either the 'live' program would have to be stopped or you would just not be able to have the 6th recording.

The keys is you get a maximum of 9 streams total, 6 of which can be recordings. Combinations that add up to 9 will work, as long as there are no more than 6 recordings set or 6 Portals asking to watch either recordings or live TV.

You can have 1 recording going and have 5 Portals watching 'live' TV, a 6th Portal could only watch a recording. This doesn't add up to 9 but it does fill the current maximum number of supported Portals and would also be using all 6 tuners, 5 for 'live' TV and the 6th for the recording.

If you have 6 Portals all watching 'live' TV and you want to make a recording, you will only be able to view that recording on one of the Portals or another previously recorded program as all tuners will be 'engaged'.

You can watch previous recordings on 6 Portals at the same time(they could even all be the same program, 'synchronization' would be more by chance than intention) but then you would only be able to have 3 recordings being made. Sure, that would leave 3 tuners unused but it does max out the 9 simultaneous streams. This is just one of the reasons they are working on increasing the number of streams to 12 so each connected Portal, if you have the maximum of 6, can still view recorded material if there are 6 recordings happening all at the same time.

The main purpose of this Gateway system is to allow you to record programs and then watch them at a later time, at your 'convenience'. This is something we have to wrap our heads around and that is the biggest challenge when we have been used to living our lives around the TV schedule.

Does this help or have I just made it worse? I do hope it's the former.

I am not sure. Let me try phrasing my question (and my assumption) differently.

The limit of 3 playbacks and 6 recordings seems to imply that the:


3 playback processes are in the foreground, i.e., we can interact with them using PAUSE/PLAY/FF/REW
6 recordings processes are in the background, i.e., we cannot interact with them using PAUSE/PLAY/FF/REW, but only watch them live, just like we do now when watching TV without a PVR. I'll call it watching them passively, up to 3 of the 6 recordings.

Aside: Jetranger, you mention 6 playbacks. I thought the limit was 3.