booking programs on a dm500s with pli jade? and more Qs

[dirtracer]

Hey guys i bought this dm500s in january,and have slowly worked thru a few things however,

1, i havent managed to find out how to book a program in the epg?

2, i have 4 top set boxs one in each room (3 maxplus's) , and looking at changeing them all to dm500s should i buy only ones with the pli jade? to keep everything the same? or buy gemini ? whats the better? i dont stream at the mo or record or use the ethernet. hope to learn to in time tho.

3, can i buy a basic dream box and copy the pli jade from my current box to it ? if so how ? flash drive?

4, i have a topfeild HD, i read somewhere that i could use this as a backstop? to watch HD thru my dream 500s? is this true?

5, is there a better solution instead of buying 3 dream 500s 's

sorry to sound so dumb, please help me.. thats what i like about forums like this, theres allways someone who's willing to help even with the basics!
Thanx to all who can help .

[dirtracer]

well ive sorted the booking problem out ?...its the green button when your in the epg ...can anyone help with my other questions?

[nfnovice]

1. green button
2. image can be changed
- jade3 is good openpli is better,
- 500's are ok but are not the best box to stream or record from (network issues)
- pli is the best image for stream (zapstream on e1)
3. either dreamup or flashwizard pro can backup and restore image from one box to another - you will need to change IP
4. dont know how the topfield can fit in the equation
5. if I was you I would get one dreambox with local storage (hdd, usb cf)
at least a 7000 or 7020 , a 7025 would be nice
.. this would mean you can record and watch from any dream in the house..most flexibility
..if you stick with e1 boxes (500, 7000, 7020) you only get SD but you can use remote timer plugin to send record instructions to a box you are not watching
- which in functionality is similar to having a multiple tuner box...watch one thing and record another

also e1 and e2 interfaces are quite different ....

[wiilliiss]

any reason why switching to a foreign sat like palapa will corrupt the timer list? box is correctly configured for my time zone.
why do I have to "ask permission" to leave a booked programme? can understand it on ngrab or record but not on switch. jade 17 feb