Hi,
We were watching "something for the weekend" on BBC2 England,which runs from 10.00-11.30am,we had also set up 2 recordings,"country tracks"on BBC1,11.00-12.00am and "girls girls girls" on Film 4,11.00-13.00.
All should have been ok as we have the 2 cable set up,anyway,up came the "recording conflict"message,we left it as it was and after a short period it started the 2 recordings but switched the tv to BBC1 from BBC2,(which was the program we had been watching),we had to resort to freeview to watch BBC2,also,on freesat,channel BBC2 and also ITV1 were no longer available.
We have been having problems like this since the update near the end of last year,so what's going on?

It's nothing to do with the update. Basically you were trying to record two channels from 1100-1130 and watch a third.

Third channel viewing is restricted to any channel sharing a transponder as either recording unless both recordings are from the same transponder.

In the above case if you had recorded BBC 1 using 950 (London) or 957 (Nothern Ireland) you could have continued to watch BBC 2. (BBC2 and the two listed BBC 1 channels share transponder 10773 H )

When two programs are recording using both tuners; a quick method to see which channels are available to view press 'OK' on your remote.

Character colour code:-

Black ~ channel viewable
Grey ~ channer not available
Red ~ channel being recorded

It is also possible to use the 'P' key and scroll through the available channels.

Dan

OK guys,think I've got it.
Thanks for your replies.

If you want to be able to predict what you can watch by choosing a different region to record see this thread

http://www.hummy.org.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=5596

Thank you Graham.