# Is it ridiculous..



## Alexis997 (Aug 2, 2002)

To sign up for DirecTV, and then look for an old DirecTiVo to hook up? There are a few on Craigslist here locally (a Philips DSR6000R01, a Hughes GXCEBOT, Philips Model DSR704).. Should I only go with a HR10-250? Am I buying into an outdated system & making a dumb choice? 

I am currently with Dish and have S2 TiVos (AKA, outdated system). The dual-tuner DirecTiVos would be a cool upgrade. I am debating about a new TiVo HD/Premiere and Comcast, too..

Thanks!

Alexis

ETA: Should I have the receiver prior to setting up the DTV service?


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## HiDefGator (Oct 12, 2004)

My answer would be yes its rediculous. It's rediculous because the old DirecTivo's are not any better than the current HR24 being offered. In fact most would agree the HR24 is far better. And none of the old Directivo's will do HD anymore.


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## Alexis997 (Aug 2, 2002)

Just that they have the TiVo interface, right?

And I could do OTA HD and do standard def. for the rest of programming..?

I agree it's a little bit dumb -  - but seems like maybe a middle-of-the-road choice, between staying with what we have now (S2s and Dish) and upgrading to HD TiVo/the whole HD shebang (esp. moneywise). 

Thanks!


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## litzdog911 (Oct 18, 2002)

You can do OTA HD with any of the DirecTV HD DVRs by adding the $50 AM21 Off-Air Tuner Accessory. Only the HR10-250 HD Tivo supports off-air HD Reception, but it can no longer receive any HD satellite channels. 

There is a new HD DirecTV/Tivo coming later this year or early next year.


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## shibby191 (Dec 24, 2007)

Alexis997 said:


> Am I buying into an outdated system & making a dumb choice?


It certainly is outdated. A DirecTivo hasn't been manufactured new for nearly 5 yrs now.

Dumb? Only you can answer that.

If all you want is SD then any old DirecTivo is still a fine choice. However make sure your not in an MPEG4 market for your locals or else the DirecTivo won't get them since it can't tune to the new satellites they are on (nor can it do MPEG4).

If you're interested in HD then the HR10-250 was the only HD capable DirecTivo and it can only do HD via OTA antenna. It can only get SD from the sats and again has the same issue if you are in an MPEG4 local market.

If you want the 120+ HD channels from DirecTV then you'll need a non Tivo receiver, one of the HR2x series (HR20/21/22/23/24) which DirecTV will give you for free if you sign up. The HR24 is the latest (and much faster) and you can be sure to get one if you get a whole home DVR install. I'd suggest you stop by DBSTalk as that is the forum for DirecTV DVR talk and DirecTV in general.

A new DirecTivo HD box is in development but it keeps getting delayed so nobody knows exactly when it will be out, maybe end of this year, early 2011. There are other threads talking about it you can read up on.


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## Alexis997 (Aug 2, 2002)

Thanks. Yes, it would make everything much easier if that DirecTivo would just come out already!!

ETA: I suppose instead of buying into "old" technology, I might as well stick with what we've got. (or make a drastic change and go to Premiere w/Comcast - ugh, decisions!) Thanks for the replies, they are appreciated.


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## Adam1115 (Dec 15, 2003)

FYI, the old DirecTV TiVo DVR's won't work with the new SWiM Dish.


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## shibby191 (Dec 24, 2007)

Alexis997 said:


> Thanks. Yes, it would make everything much easier if that DirecTivo would just come out already!!
> 
> ETA: I suppose instead of buying into "old" technology, I might as well stick with what we've got. (or make a drastic change and go to Premiere w/Comcast - ugh, decisions!) Thanks for the replies, they are appreciated.


I certainly wouldn't switch to DirecTV on the hope this new DirecTivo box comes out any time soon. If it were me I would stick with what I had and wouldn't switch until the new DirecTivo is actually released *and* wait a couple months to see the reviews on it.


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## Alexis997 (Aug 2, 2002)

Yeah, good advice. Hopefully our old Dish receiver will hang in there for a little longer. Maybe DirecTV or Comcast will actually put out TiVo box soon. I will start holding my breath... NOW!


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## stevel (Aug 23, 2000)

Can you hold your breath for 6-9 months, or maybe more?


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## DougF (Mar 18, 2003)

I heard that DirecTV will no longer activate used equipment for new accounts.


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## Adam1115 (Dec 15, 2003)

DougF said:


> I heard that DirecTV will no longer activate used equipment for new accounts.


from who? That would be ridiculous, forcing you to lease a new receiver when you already have one.


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## DougF (Mar 18, 2003)

Adam1115 said:


> from who? That would be ridiculous, forcing you to lease a new receiver when you already have one.


One of their CSRs, I think. It's been a few years, but I remember something about the end of Feburary in some year (2008, maybe?) being the deadline for used equipment. I called in because I had a Series 2 DTiVo I had bought from someone here that I hadn't activated yet. IIRC, the CSR told me that they were no longer activate used equipment for new subscribers after that date. Current subscribers were fine, though.

This doesn't say they absolutely won't do it, but seems to suggest they won't.

http://support.directv.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1941/kw/used equipment new account/r_id/104513


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## stevel (Aug 23, 2000)

I've read this too many times. They will not allow you to start new service with only used equipment - you must get at least one new box from them. Afterward, you can add the used box.


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## Raketemensch (Jun 1, 2010)

What's truly ridiculous is disabling the HD capabilities of hardware that's already on the market. Is that actually what they did?

I'm glad I found this thread, I was wondering the same thing. I have an ancient DSR6000 that I'm going to revive this week, I think, and when I saw the HR10-250 existed, I figured I'd pick one up, but now I know better.

Thanks, Internet.


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## shwru980r (Jun 22, 2008)

It's ridiculous that a company that only makes DVRs doesn't have a current model that will work with satellite TV. The previous model didn't work with satellite TV either. No wonder TIVO can't turn a profit. I wonder why the share holders put up with this.


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## Adam1115 (Dec 15, 2003)

stevel said:


> I've read this too many times. They will not allow you to start new service with only used equipment - you must get at least one new box from them. Afterward, you can add the used box.


Oh ok, got it. Yea that makes sense...


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## cwerdna (Feb 22, 2001)

stevel said:


> I've read this too many times. They will not allow you to start new service with only used equipment - you must get at least one new box from them. Afterward, you can add the used box.


Yeah, I ran into this a few years ago when I wanted to use a Hughes HDVR2 that I got from a coworker and my parents were new D* customers. We had to order their crap R15 DVR in order to get 2 lines runs (since HDVR2s don't support SWM and I believe weren't even shipping back then).

We sent back their crap DVR once the service was properly running, which was a nightmare in itself (CSR roulette, CSRs giving wrong info, billing problems, etc.).


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## shibby191 (Dec 24, 2007)

Raketemensch said:


> What's truly ridiculous is disabling the HD capabilities of hardware that's already on the market. Is that actually what they did?


Well, actually they moved to MPEG4 (which Dish and others are moving to as well) *and* spent over 1 billion dollars launching 4 new satellites over the past 6 years to carry HD. Just so happens that the HR10-250 can't tune to the new satellites nor can it decode MPEG4. In the meantime though their contract with Tivo wasn't renewed thus no new Tivo based box capable was built. However Tivo has been working on such a box the past couple years (due end of this year or next).

I hope you wouldn't expect DirecTV to keep on supporting old hardware just to appease a few people and slow down advancements. 
I mean when my area first got locals waaaaay back in 1999 or so and they were on the brand new at the time satellite location of 119 none of my receivers I had could see or tune to 119 so I needed all new receivers to get my locals. Got free upgrades, just as HR10-250 owners have been offered free upgrades for years now.

DirecTV isn't going to stop advancing so that every piece of ancient hardware will still work. Nor should they.


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## ADent (Jan 7, 2000)

shibby191 said:


> I hope you wouldn't expect DirecTV to keep on supporting old hardware just to appease a few people and slow down advancements.


As long as DirecTV doesn't expect to keep me as a customer, they shouldn't expect to support my S1 DTiVo.


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## shibby191 (Dec 24, 2007)

ADent said:


> As long as DirecTV doesn't expect to keep me as a customer, they shouldn't expect to support my S1 DTiVo.


LOL. But your S1 DTivo and all the SD DirecTivo's are still supported just fine. There is nothing "obsolete" about them. And those are 7-8 yrs old. There just hasn't been any new technology in the SD world that has caused them to be obsolete.

If someday, say 5 yrs from now they go MPEG4 for SD then all the SD DirecTivo's will be obsolete. But then so will every single SD receiver (40+ million of them) they have. So it would be nothing specific to the Tivo.

I like the conspiracy theories that DirecTV went MPEG4 and got new sat slots from the FCC and spent over 1 billion dollars in new satellites just to "stick" it to Tivo and about 200K HR10-250 owners (some forget there were more non Tivo MPEG2 HD receivers out there then there ever were HR10's, all of us with receivers like the Hughes E-86 had to upgrade too). It's frankly laughable.


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## bigpuma (Aug 12, 2003)

shibby191 said:


> I like the conspiracy theories that DirecTV went MPEG4 and got new sat slots from the FCC and spent over 1 billion dollars in new satellites just to "stick" it to Tivo and about 200K HR10-250 owners (some forget there were more non Tivo MPEG2 HD receivers out there then there ever were HR10's, all of us with receivers like the Hughes E-86 had to upgrade too). It's frankly laughable.


Don't forget they also have offered free HD DVR upgrades to most if not all of those HR10 owners. I know I had my HR10 upgraded free of charge twice.


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