Is it possible to record a show without watching it while its recording? Every time i set something to record, it switches to the channel/program recording automatically but if I change the channel, the recording stops. 

It all depends on your provider.  This will not work if you have a MAC type subscription, since your service needs to offer multiple connections.   

With an XC API type connection you can have the option for multiple simultaneous connections.  You can check what yours has by going into the menu->settings->account info.  And you can see the max connections vs active connections (if your account/service has multiple connection options).  Keep in mind to record something while watching something else, you need to have at least 2 under max connections, since you need 1 stream for the recording, and 1 stream for your live TV.

 

9 minutes ago, Emporium said:

It all depends on your provider.  This will not work if you have a MAC type subscription, since your service needs to offer multiple connections.   

With an XC API type connection you can have the option for multiple simultaneous connections.  You can check what yours has by going into the menu->settings->account info.  And you can see the max connections vs active connections (if your account/service has multiple connection options).  Keep in mind to record something while watching something else, you need to have at least 2 under max connections, since you need 1 stream for the recording, and 1 stream for your live TV.

 

Thank you very much! Is this hardware based? Can the essentials boxes only handle a single mac connection?

Edited September 3, 20251 yr by Infinite124

Has nothing to do with the box. 

That is the nature and limitation of a MAC connection and all servers I know can only do single connection with a MAC based server.  Keep in mind that a MAC is supposed to be a unique identifier for a device, and as such, the servers were designed to only handle a single physical connection for each device.   Subscriptions using the XC (Xtreme Codes) API are different, they uses a username/password combination and therefore don't have such a limitation.  Just like you can log into your favourite website from multiple devices, it is the same for XC.  And they implement the connection limitation on the server to allow a certain number of connections, depending on how much you pay.      

The primary server I use, allows 2 simultaneous connections by default when using XC API.  And has the option for 4 or 6 connections (at an extra cost) for those who need that.