# Directv DVR?



## PhinPhan (Mar 10, 2004)

I have two Series2 Samsungs (1 is dead and the other not far behind) I have a couple of questions I guess about what to do as replacements.

- Should I go with the Directv SD DVR? Or should I purchase a refurbed series 2 from weakness or something?

- Does the Directv DVR allow you to watch two shows at the same time? I know I can on my series2 by hitting down on the big circle button go to the other tuner and switch back and forth. I know we really like this feature and use it constantly.

- What does the lease mean from Directv on ordering from them? Is there a montly fee on top of the DVR service fee and the additional receiver fee?

I hope it is appropriate to ask these questions on here, thanks for any input.


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## weaknees (May 11, 2001)

If you've got units already, it's probably less expensive to have them fixed then to totally scrap them and start from scratch . . . Maybe fix one while the other still works? What's wrong with the dead one?


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## PhinPhan (Mar 10, 2004)

On the one that is dead only the fan is on. The green power light doesn't come on and nothing is displayed on the tv at all. The HD doesn't spin up or anything. Does that make sense?

The other unit, constantly freezes and reboots about every 10-15 minutes and the 2nd tuner constantly looses signal, it comes in and out every few seconds.


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## stevel (Aug 23, 2000)

The DirecTV DVRs do now let you switch back and forth between two live shows. The method is slightly different from TiVo's but is close.

The lease means that you don't own the box and must return it to DirecTV when you close your account. There is no price difference - you pay either the mirroring (additional receiver) fee or the lease fee, which are the same.


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## weaknees (May 11, 2001)

PhinPhan said:


> On the one that is dead only the fan is on. The green power light doesn't come on and nothing is displayed on the tv at all. The HD doesn't spin up or anything. Does that make sense?
> 
> The other unit, constantly freezes and reboots about every 10-15 minutes and the 2nd tuner constantly looses signal, it comes in and out every few seconds.


The first unit sounds like it just needs a replacement power supply. We have them, and sometimes you can also find them on eBay.

The second unit probably needs a tuner repair, which is also something we can do.

Either way, I do think you'll save money fixing these rather than starting with other units, and you don't have to get into the lease situation.


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## PhinPhan (Mar 10, 2004)

stevel said:


> The DirecTV DVRs do now let you switch back and forth between two live shows. The method is slightly different from TiVo's but is close..


So you CAN DO THIS? Or not? Not clear on if you are saying it is possible or not.


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## Edmund (Nov 8, 2002)

PhinPhan said:


> So you CAN DO THIS? Or not? Not clear on if you are saying it is possible or not.


The only SD dvr with this feature is the discontinued R22. Other SD dvr's like R15 or R16 DO NOT have this feature. You would need a HD DVR, all HR-2* have dual 90 minute buffers.


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## PhinPhan (Mar 10, 2004)

Edmund said:


> The only SD dvr with this feature is the discontinued R22. Other SD dvr's like R15 or R16 DO NOT have this feature. You would need a HD DVR, all HR-2* have dual 90 minute buffers.


Can you at least watch live tv while recording on the other tuner?

Right now I do not have an HD TV, could I still get the HD DVR and use it more of an SD DVR? Or would this just not work?


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## Edmund (Nov 8, 2002)

PhinPhan said:


> Can you at least watch live tv while recording on the other tuner?
> 
> Right now I do not have an HD TV, could I still get the HD DVR and use it more of an SD DVR? Or would this just not work?


Yes, on the R15 & R16 you can record one show as you watch another. And you can record two shows as you watch previously recorded program.

You can use HD dvr on SD tv, but Directv will charge the HD $10 fee per month. Any HD receiver has to be charged this fee, no getting around it.


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## cowboys2002 (Jun 15, 2001)

PhinPhan said:


> Can you at least watch live tv while recording on the other tuner?
> 
> Right now I do not have an HD TV, could I still get the HD DVR and use it more of an SD DVR? Or would this just not work?


You need to make a choice whether or not to invest for your future move to HD or to fix/repair/replace your SD Units.

I switched from Directv recently to Uverse. If and when Directv gets a Tivo/combo unit with at least 2 HD Tuners and MRV, I "might" come back.

When I purchased an HD TV in 12/2007, I retired one Series 2 for an HD DVR HR20/21 unit while using 2 Series 2's on other TV's.

With Uverse, I miss having 6 tuners (only 4 at the moment) to "use" on 3 tv's versus "sharing" on 3 TV's. There is rarely 4 things on at the same time to watch anyway and we like the ability to watch something on any TV in the House.


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## stevel (Aug 23, 2000)

With the DirecTV DVRs, you have always been able to watch one show live while another recorded. What is relatively new is what DirecTV calls "DoublePlay" - their version of TiVo's Dual Live Buffers. The major difference is that you have to start buffering the other tuner by pressing down-arrow. Once you do that, you can use down-arrow to switch back and forth between the two live tuners. The feature disables after 90 minutes of no use.

So, the major difference is that, unlike TiVo, you don't start out with both tuners having a live buffer. However, the DirecTV buffer is up to 90 minutes, unlike TiVo's 30.


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## PhinPhan (Mar 10, 2004)

Thanks everyone for the input, it has helped a great deal..This forum is priceless!!


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## catocony (Nov 14, 2006)

Phin,

Check Craigslist as well. Series 2 DTivos are pretty dirt cheap these days, in the $25-50 range. You may have to get new cards for them - there was a thread last year about the CSR Roulette you get at DirecTV these days, some will know how to transfer a card, others will flat-out say you can't. But, I would think that even having to plunk down $20 for new cards, you could be out of under $125 or so if you bought two used DirecTivos.

Also, on the second box with the bad Tuner 2, is Tuner 1 working fine? I had the same problem so I bought a used Series 2 - working great for a while now - to use a standard 2-feed system and semi-retired my old unit (the one with only one good tuner) to my office where I only have one SAT feed. It's still working like a champ as well and in close to six years, I've popped in a new hard drive and of course the partial tuner failure. If you have a spot where just a single tuner is fine, you could go that route in lieu of buying two different boxes.


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## PhinPhan (Mar 10, 2004)

catocony said:


> Phin,
> 
> Check Craigslist as well. Series 2 DTivos are pretty dirt cheap these days, in the $25-50 range. You may have to get new cards for them - there was a thread last year about the CSR Roulette you get at DirecTV these days, some will know how to transfer a card, others will flat-out say you can't. But, I would think that even having to plunk down $20 for new cards, you could be out of under $125 or so if you bought two used DirecTivos.
> 
> Also, on the second box with the bad Tuner 2, is Tuner 1 working fine? I had the same problem so I bought a used Series 2 - working great for a while now - to use a standard 2-feed system and semi-retired my old unit (the one with only one good tuner) to my office where I only have one SAT feed. It's still working like a champ as well and in close to six years, I've popped in a new hard drive and of course the partial tuner failure. If you have a spot where just a single tuner is fine, you could go that route in lieu of buying two different boxes.


Craigslist is a good idea. Tuner 1 works great, it never loses signal.


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## KDX (Jun 3, 2006)

If you plan on sticking with SD for a while, I suggest you try to buy a used box. I have a couple of those same Samsungs that I used before going to HD service and boxes. I purchased a larger hard disk drive for them, and I bought a file that creates a HD image from a CD. I bought one hard drives from weaknees that already had the software on it for my specific Samsung.

Standard policy is to buy a new card for $20. That is what I did when I bought a used one off eBay.

Those boxes are great with optical digital audio output, S-Video, and two sets of analog audio outputs!


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## whitepelican (Feb 15, 2005)

Be very careful if you buy a used box that the DirecTV CSR activates it as an "owned" receiver. You probably want to make sure you talk to the access card department. I activated about 4 different used boxes over the past couple of years and they incorrectly activated every one of them as a "leased" box - and also incorrectly extended my commitment time on each one. I had to make several more calls each time to get it cleared up.


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## codespy (Jan 7, 2006)

Try to stick with non-RID IRD's (like HDVR2). You do not need a CSR to activate as long as you have an active CAM.


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## scottt (Sep 6, 2002)

PhinPhan said:


> I have two Series2 Samsungs (1 is dead and the other not far behind) I have a couple of questions I guess about what to do as replacements.
> 
> - Should I go with the Directv SD DVR? Or should I purchase a refurbed series 2 from weakness or something?
> 
> ...


I'm unable to PM you. I have a new in box Samsung 4040 available.


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## PhinPhan (Mar 10, 2004)

I went ahead and purchased the Directv DVR and they sent the R16-300, it looks as the the double play feature is no longer there unless I am doing something wrong. Is this the case with this model?


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## codespy (Jan 7, 2006)

PhinPhan said:


> I went ahead and purchased the Directv DVR and they sent the R16-300, it looks as the the double play feature is no longer there unless I am doing something wrong. Is this the case with this model?


Your best bet is to head over to DBS talk dot com to get the full info on the R16.


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## stevel (Aug 23, 2000)

You may need to let the box get a software update to get DoublePlay. Make sure you understand how to enable it.


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## litzdog911 (Oct 18, 2002)

PhinPhan said:


> I went ahead and purchased the Directv DVR and they sent the R16-300, it looks as the the double play feature is no longer there unless I am doing something wrong. Is this the case with this model?


DoublePlay is not available on the R15/R16 SD DVRs. You would need the R22 SD DVR, or one of the HD DVRs (HR20, 21, 22, 23)


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## fadein34 (Feb 5, 2008)

Nice knowing you PhinPhan. Enjoy your DirecTv DVR.


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## Barryrod (Mar 17, 2006)

PhinPhan said:


> On the one that is dead only the fan is on. The green power light doesn't come on and nothing is displayed on the tv at all. The HD doesn't spin up or anything. Does that make sense?
> 
> The other unit, constantly freezes and reboots about every 10-15 minutes and the 2nd tuner constantly looses signal, it comes in and out every few seconds.


IMO the first unit needs a powersupply and the 2nd unit I think it needs a new drive due to the freezing and constant rebooting. As for the 2nd tuner not working right, have you tried swapping the inputs on it? you may have a bad output from your LNB or Splitter, or even a bad cable. Another thing to look at is are you using an S-Video cable. We had one tuner that would digitize all the time and when I changed out to Composite from S-Video, it went away. I found that little tidbit on here a while ago. If it is a bad tuner, weaknees can fix it.

You can take the powersupply from the one that freezes and put it in the 1st unit to have at least one unit working fully. If it works, order a replacement and then work on the freezing issue.


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