# HR10-250 OTA recording without a DirecTV account?



## mkinn (May 15, 2002)

I just bought an HR10-250 on eBay for $50.00 and would like to use it for OTA recording only. I have the 101/110/119 dish and 2 coax inputs left over from my last DirecTV experience, and it works fine with guide data, but NO recording. I have cable and a REAL HD TiVo, but want to use this one for PBSHD, and network sports in HD as a spare/backup. I pay $20.00 per month to TiVo already, but this unit is a DirecTV model, and they can't help me. Anybody hacked this thing for OTA only recording yet? You can PM me if you don't want to share. PLEASE HELP!
I will share this info with anybody if I'm sucessful. These units are a TRUE TIVo and are really great!


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## old7 (Aug 7, 2002)

What you are suggesting would fall under the theft of service category.

That said, I do not believe that it has been done. If it had, this would not be the forum to find out more information about it.

Use Google, search for deal database tivo.


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## mkinn (May 15, 2002)

Technically, I am paying for TiVo service, which covers as many TiVos as you own, and so I would not be stealing service. Just because DirecTV doesn't want to pay TiVo anymore does NOT mean that we loyal customers agree with their policies. Thanks for the referral.


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## boneskrw (Jan 28, 2006)

"we loyal customers"-----hmmmm. You're not a Direct TV customer and you want to use their TiVo for no cost. Why don't you subscribe for a minimum Direct TV package and legitimately use the OTA feature? You already have the equipment and are able to use the guide data.


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## TonyTheTiger (Dec 22, 2006)

mkinn said:


> Technically, I am paying for TiVo service, which covers as many TiVos as you own, and so I would not be stealing service. Just because DirecTV doesn't want to pay TiVo anymore does NOT mean that we loyal customers agree with their policies. Thanks for the referral.


No it doesn't. TiVo service is charged in a per-unit basis. TiVo has NEVER covered "as many TiVos as you own" with one fee.

The HR10-250 is NOT a TiVo. It's a DirecTV receiver with TiVo software and, as such, is not designed to work as a standalone TiVo. It will work as an OTA HD receiver only. Anything more than that is theft of service. Period. There's no "technically" about it.


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## mkinn (May 15, 2002)

Done. Hacked. Thanks for all your help and understanding. I'll be sure to tell all my customers to come here for help. Especially from Tony. I'll bet all his friends think he's SO smart!

I have 30+ years repairing TV's, plasmas, LCD TV's, Sat receivers, Tivo's, Mi equip. I can't remember when I've received such helpful replies. You've inspired me to come here and share my tip, tricks, and help others with their problems. NOT!


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## TonyTheTiger (Dec 22, 2006)

mkinn said:


> Done. Hacked. Thanks for all your help and understanding. I'll be sure to tell all my customers to come here for help. Especially from Tony. I'll bet all his friends think he's SO smart!
> 
> I have 30+ years repairing TV's, plasmas, LCD TV's, Sat receivers, Tivo's, Mi equip. I can't remember when I've received such helpful replies. You've inspired me to come here and share my tip, tricks, and help others with their problems. NOT!


Hey. All I did was give you facts. If you don't like them, there's absolutely no need to attack me.

If coming here and sharing means personal attacks and misinformation about what's legal and what isn't, you won't be missed!

Don't let the door...


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## mkinn (May 15, 2002)

The $4.99 per month DirecTV charged for DirecTiVo service covered as many units as you owned, and they did not require base packages to work OTA. The new DVR's do.


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## TonyTheTiger (Dec 22, 2006)

mkinn said:


> The $4.99 per month DirecTV charged for DirecTiVo service covered as many units as you owned, and they did not require base packages to work OTA. The new DVR's do.


Again only partly correct. You can use an HR10 as an OTA receiver only (no DVR functions) if it is not active on your account. The DVR fee is IN ADDITION to your programming and can not (or ever could) be selected as a standalone option.

If you have hacked your box to do this, then it is quite simply theft of service.

TiVo's policies and D*'s policies are two completely different things. No matter how much you pay TiVo, it doesn't give you the right to D*'s services and vice versa.


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## Gunnyman (Jul 10, 2003)

using a Directv receiver to record OTA without a subscription is theft of service, period.


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## Da Goon (Oct 22, 2006)

Gunnyman said:


> using a Directv receiver to record OTA without a subscription is theft of service, period.


Yep. Can the box be hacked to work without a sub? Sure it can. Can we discuss it here? Sure we can. But our posts will be deleted and we'd probably get banned. Do a bunch of research on tcl programming and mips assembly, and don't post your results in an open forum cuz it probably won't stay there for long. Good luck.


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## donmarrow (Aug 8, 2008)

I don't see a problem recording OTA with a system I paid gobs of money for. Not to mention the fact that when I originally signed up for DirecTV w/Tivo, TIVO, not DirecTV administered the account - we are talking late 90's here. In fact I paid $299 for a lifetime subscription and when the account was transitioned to DirecTV I lost credit for that. Now if I want to sign up for TIVO again I have to pay $399 and get no multiple discount.

MKINN - how do I use my system to pull down free OTA programming and record it???


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## classicsat (Feb 18, 2004)

The problem is that recording is a paid feature, and enabling paid features to get around paying for them is considered theft of service here.

Since DirecTV took over authorizing the DVR service, The Lifetime has switched from the DVR itself, to the DirecTV account, and can only be used in conjunction with an active DirecTV satellite TV service account. The HR10-250 came well after that changeover, so could not come under the hardware Lifetime rules. 

If you believe your "Lifetime" entitles you to use your DirecTV TiVo receiver outside of DirecTV service, you take that up with DirecTV; Don't use that as a justification to violate board rules and/or steal DVR service.

NB: For a Standalone TiVo, the first unit can be subscribed to a monthly package, and Product lifetime later, or $399 right away. Further TiVos can be subscribed to Product Lifetime for $299.


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## donmarrow (Aug 8, 2008)

I actually was referring to my Sony DirecTV box I bought and activated in May 2001. I signed into TIVO to check my records. They are willing to give me a $100 discount on the lifetime service since I owned a previous TIVO. They won't give me a discount if I buy the refurbed unit - bummer... I'm not trying to steal anything either but I paid I think over $500 for my boxes and DTV came out with new system a year later. And I know this is off topic but the only reason I canx DTV is because they screwed up my install multiple times.


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## classicsat (Feb 18, 2004)

The Sony DirecTV TiVo cannot record OTA at all, not even fully subscribed. The OTA channels on satellite are pay. The HR10-250 is the only DirecTV TiVo that can also directly tune OTA channels.


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## donmarrow (Aug 8, 2008)

I have 2 of these - my lifetime deal was on the sony...


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## garbec (May 14, 2004)

Check out this similar post:

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=374463&highlight=breath


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## donmarrow (Aug 8, 2008)

Thanks garbec - i tried firing this up tonight and got to the screen where it is looking for a sat sig - of course I have no sat so I can watch already recorded shows but can't bring up the guide. I did the ota signal check and see stuff. Am I out of luck w/no dish?


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## Da Goon (Oct 22, 2006)

donmarrow said:


> Am I out of luck w/no dish?


yep. unless you start off my hacking the hardware by adding a new tuner, and fixing the software to do deal with that new hardware..etc..etc..


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## donmarrow (Aug 8, 2008)

So it looks like I have 2 HR10-250's for sale...


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## BlankMan (Mar 30, 2002)

TonyTheTiger said:


> Hey. All I did was give you facts. If you don't like them, there's absolutely no need to attack me.
> 
> If coming here and sharing means personal attacks and misinformation about what's legal and what isn't, you won't be missed!
> 
> Don't let the door...


Just preserving this.


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## jimb726 (Jan 4, 2007)

BlankMan said:


> Just preserving this.


He is absolutely correct. All he did was state the facts, whether there is a hack to steal the signal or not is irrelevant and it is stealing.


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