# How long will Dtv Tivo/DVR allow playback after sat disconnect?



## mitkraft (Feb 21, 2003)

I'm switching from Dtv to Cable and was curious as to how long I have before my HR10-250 and my Dtv DVR (Hr22 I think?) will allow me to finish watching the programming I've already recorded. Will they allow this indefenitly? Should I leave the sat connections in place or do I need to disconnect them before terminating my service?

I just don't want to terminate my service and then loose the ability to watch the stuff I've recorded. It might take a few weeks to get to it all.

Thanks!


----------



## Jonathan_S (Oct 23, 2001)

I don't know about the DTV DVR but the HR10-250 should let you play back recorded programming indefinitely. (You'll have to press the TiVo/DirecTV button to bypass the searching for satellite and get into the menus; but your shows will still be there)

I've got some series 2 DTiVos (standard def) that have been sitting around for years after I canceled service and I could still watch whatever's on them. (If I plugged them back in and the hardware hasn't died )


----------



## PCurry57 (Feb 27, 2012)

mitkraft said:


> I'm switching from Dtv to Cable and was curious as to how long I have before my HR10-250 and my Dtv DVR (Hr22 I think?) will allow me to finish watching the programming I've already recorded. Will they allow this indefenitly? Should I leave the sat connections in place or do I need to disconnect them before terminating my service?
> 
> I just don't want to terminate my service and then loose the ability to watch the stuff I've recorded. It might take a few weeks to get to it all.
> 
> Thanks!


As long as the access card is present.


----------



## mitkraft (Feb 21, 2003)

Awesome, thank you both for the info!



PCurry57 said:


> As long as the access card is present.


Does that apply to the DirectTV DVR as well as the HR10-250?

Thanks!

Looking forward to joining the _REAL_ Tivo ownwer ranks again!


----------



## stevel (Aug 23, 2000)

No - the DirecTV DVRs will not play recordings without active service.


----------



## mitkraft (Feb 21, 2003)

stevel said:


> No - the DirecTV DVRs will not play recordings without active service.


Aha, good to know. So I need to be completely done watching everything on my non-tivo DTV DVR before I cancel service is that correct?

Darn it! That's why I *hate* a device with no extraction capabilities.


----------



## stevel (Aug 23, 2000)

Correct.


----------



## dishrich (Jan 16, 2002)

stevel said:


> No - the DirecTV DVRs will not play recordings without active service.


Well that's funny...I've got TWO HR20-100's that have been disco'd since last September - & they play all the existing recordings just fine to this day.

The key is, you MUST disconnect the DVR(s) from the dish, BEFORE you shut the service off. Once you do this, you should have NO problems playing existing recordings...


----------



## litzdog911 (Oct 18, 2002)

dishrich said:


> Well that's funny...I've got TWO HR20-100's that have been disco'd since last September - & they play all the existing recordings just fine to this day.
> 
> The key is, you MUST disconnect the DVR(s) from the dish, BEFORE you shut the service off. Once you do this, you should have NO problems playing existing recordings...


And you've never had to reboot/reset those HR20's in 6 months? Once they're reset, you'll be stuck trying to acquire a satellite signal.


----------



## dishrich (Jan 16, 2002)

litzdog911 said:


> And you've never had to reboot/reset those HR20's in 6 months? Once they're reset, you'll be stuck trying to acquire a satellite signal.


Well yes I have; several times in fact - particularly since I moved to a new house in December. 
Sorry to tell you, but that's more FUD that people keep spreading around - once they reboot & you get "SFS", you simply press LIST & all your recordings are there to playback as usual. Matter of fact, now that these POS NO longer get all the bloatware that comes down the sat stream, they are running BETTER than they ever did!

I even tested this BEFORE I pulled the plug on D* - since I actually had multiple D* receivers, I simply disconnected 1 HR20 from the sat feed for 2 months; I also unplugged & rebooted them a couple times at the end of 2 months, just for good measure. No prob whatsoever playing back recordings - anyone can try this themselves & see the results.

Since D* is NO longer taking back HR20's, it made my decision to dump them (& their leased POS HR20's they refused to replace on their dime) a LOT easier. Can now finish watching 2 TB's worth of recorded shows at my leisure...


----------



## Edmund (Nov 8, 2002)

I have two R22's not connected to sat since July, and still can see all recordings. And had a THR22 with shows available for 5 months until I shipped it back to Directv.


----------



## mitkraft (Feb 21, 2003)

THANK YOU GUYS! For volunteering this information. I'm all switched to xfinity and Tivo Premiere but hadn't canceled Dtv yet because of that one DVR with just a few shows I'd like to archive. Now I'll disconnect the Sat and make sure it remains playable and go ahead and cancel D so I can stop paying them.


----------



## SouthTivo (Jan 12, 2004)

Eeek. I Just kicked DirecTV out of the house and switched to the Dish Hopper product -which is quite good, actually.

But I always promised myself I would go back and burn DVDs from the old DirecTivos. Some of the recordings go back 6-8 years probably. 

I hope the access card is NOT required for an SD-DVR40 or an R10 to do playback, because DTV made me send the access cards back. They're gone. Almost afraid to hook it back up and find out. 

BTW, after 12 years as a DirecTV customer who paid his bill on time, all the time, they didn't even try to keep me. They were actually rude. Disappointed it ended that way.


----------



## stevel (Aug 23, 2000)

No, the access card is not required. You'll get a nag message periodically, though.


----------



## SouthTivo (Jan 12, 2004)

Well, it does play back without a card or subscription. However "nag message periodically" is an understatement.

There is a constant "Receiver ID #### Insert access card" message that takes up the so-called "lower third" of the screen. The message only goes away when in the DirecTV or List menus. It looks like this image from Weaknees:










So this nag overlay will limit the quality and point of trying to dump this video to DVD. Just going to end up with "Insert access card" on everything. Sad.



stevel said:


> No, the access card is not required. You'll get a nag message periodically, though.


----------



## stevel (Aug 23, 2000)

Any access card will do, so if you have one from another receiver you can insert that. However. my recollection is that this message goes away after a while.


----------



## litzdog911 (Oct 18, 2002)

Does the message go away if you press "Exit"?


----------



## Edmund (Nov 8, 2002)

Try any smart card, I used my laundry card to make it go away.


----------



## mitkraft (Feb 21, 2003)

Edmund said:


> Try any smart card, I used my laundry card to make it go away.


That is hilarious but what I really want to know is how you came to know that? I'm trying to envision the situation where you tried your laundry card in a DVR just to see if it would work..LOL


----------



## Edmund (Nov 8, 2002)

It was do to a thread like this, I wanted to know if any smart card would make the message go away, and it did.


----------



## Arcady (Oct 14, 2004)

Yep, I have a really old credit card with a smart card chip on it (they had them in the US about 10 years ago, not sure why they gave up) and it lets me play shows from my old Series 2 DirecTiVo without nagging. That box hasn't been on an active account for at least 6 years.


----------



## SouthTivo (Jan 12, 2004)

I will just confirm a vintage "football player" access card made it work just fine. 

No problems. 

Thanks for all the advice on this and all the other issues over the years. I will miss the support that was always so great here.


----------



## averagejo (Sep 8, 2008)

I was thinking about temporarily suspending my Direct TV account for a few months to save money and see if I could live without cable. 

Can I still watch recorded shows on my DirectTV HD DVR (HR24-500) and 2 DirectTV tivos (SIR-S4080R)?


----------



## stevel (Aug 23, 2000)

The DirecTV TiVos, yes. My understanding is that you can't on the HR24 but some people report that if you disconnect the satellite feed before suspending service, you can continue to play them. You may want to test that out.


----------



## litzdog911 (Oct 18, 2002)

The HR24 will likely stop working after a few days, even if you disconnect the satellite coax before deactivating it. The Tivo will work fine.


----------



## VikingGlen (Apr 21, 2013)

Been a DirecTv customer for over 20 years. I found out shortly after they came out with HD DVRs that the receiver worked even if not connected to a satellite - you could go into the play list and play previously recorded shows. So I picked up an additional receiver and started bringing one with me in the semi while leaving one at home to record shows for me. This all ended with the last software update. Now if the receiver isn't receiving a satellite signal, after about 5 minutes of operation the receiver crashes.

I'm not in a position to carry a dish with me in the truck. Most of the areas I lay over are 2g and low bandwidth wifi, so internet access for viewing isn't a viable option.

The question; If I switch to cable and use Tivo DVRs, do Tivo DVRs work if they're not plugged into the cable or there's no active cable feed, or do they crash and burn like DirecTv receivers? I'll typically use it for a week before it gets reconnected and will watch 40+ hours of programming.


----------



## stevel (Aug 23, 2000)

TiVo DVRs (the cable kind) don't care about a cable connection to watch recordings.


----------

