# Wow Almost too much Info TIVO w/Directtv



## fvisconti (Oct 10, 2009)

Let me start by saying I am a 4 year Directtv customer who just received my first HD TV last week *given to me*. I called Directtv to add HD service and HDDVR box. I was quoted 199 then 149 and they said they will waive the $10 HD fee for the first 6 months. I've been reading the posts and there's actually so much information, I'm getting a bit confused, so I apologize if this question has been asked before as I'm pretty sure it has. Actually a few questions.

I am getting a new dish installed since I am switching to HD which they are doing for free.
I currently have 4 TV's, The HD will be my 5th. 
1) Old philips digital box
1) Directtv R15 peice of junk
1) DirectTV R10 DVR w/TIVO (love it)
1) Hughes HDVR2 w/TIVO (love it)

My first question is,, Am I getting a decent deal for the HD DVR from directtv?

The second... The two TIVO devices seem to be getting old and tired (lock up a bit) and has audio dropout every now and then in recorded programs. Not knowing how long until Directtv gets their new TIVO boxes in 2010, what type of TIVO box can I look for on sites like Ebay and craigslist that I can replace these 2 with? ,I've really had no problems with Directtv and while I did a bit of reasearch on Dish, I'm not really ready to change yet. SO I'm just looking to see just exactly what make/model boxes I can use without having to pay Directtv. Thanks a bunch and once again, sorry if this is a repost.

Actually, now that I think about it. If I'm paying $150.00 for whatever HD DVR directtv is going to give me. Are there any other options such as buying the DVR myself elsewhere, or should I just take the deal?


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## stevel (Aug 23, 2000)

First of all, you are not "buying" the HD DVR - you're paying a lease upgrade fee. Unless you spend $600 or more, you will not own the HD DVR even if you obtain it from other sources. $149 is a pretty good deal - you can often find the current DirecTV+ HD DVR at Costco for $169 or thereabouts. I suggest that you take the deal - it's certainly better than what I got when I went this route, and the $60 credit brings the price down to under $90. Not bad at all.

You can find DirecTV TiVos easily enough on eBay and the like - the R10, Philips DSR704/708, RCA DVR40/80, etc. are all about the same. A possible gotcha is that if DirecTV considers the box leased, or the account was closed with a balance, they will refuse to activate the box for you. You might try, as an experiment, replacing the hard drive in one of the failing TiVos and see if that cures the problem.


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## fvisconti (Oct 10, 2009)

I'm a computer field engineer and was wondering if there were any "user" replaceable parts inside. I don't go down to board repair level but I have problem replacing parts. Hard drives are $1.00/dozen for me so I have to ask is there any documentation on how to do this and what type of drive would I need?

Thanks a bunch.


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## litzdog911 (Oct 18, 2002)

You'll find lots of do-it-yourself drive replacement/upgrade and repair information in this forum and at places like ....

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=25

http://www.weaknees.com/index.html

http://tivo.upgrade-instructions.com/

http://www.mfslive.org/

http://www.newreleasesvideo.com/hinsdale-how-to/

http://www.dvrupgrade.com/dvr/stores/1/instantcake.cfm

http://www.9thtee.com/


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## shibby191 (Dec 24, 2007)

fvisconti said:


> I'm a computer field engineer and was wondering if there were any "user" replaceable parts inside. I don't go down to board repair level but I have problem replacing parts. Hard drives are $1.00/dozen for me so I have to ask is there any documentation on how to do this and what type of drive would I need?
> 
> Thanks a bunch.


Check the Underground forum.


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## rbtravis (Aug 9, 2005)

fvisconti said:


> I'm a computer field engineer and was wondering if there were any "user" replaceable parts inside. I don't go down to board repair level but I have problem replacing parts. Hard drives are $1.00/dozen for me so I have to ask is there any documentation on how to do this and what type of drive would I need?
> 
> Thanks a bunch.


You would need an IDE drive, up to 500 Gbytes, You would also need Instantcake from Dvrupgrade to get the TiVo image. Be sure to get the Instantcake for the machine you intend to upgrade as all your machines have different CPU's.


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## John T Smith (Jun 17, 2004)

Also, when you do get the DTV brand of HD receiver, it has a different forum

http://www.dbstalk.com/forumdisplay.php?f=82


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## JimSpence (Sep 19, 2001)

And note, that since the DirecTV HD DVR is a leased unit, you don't want to open the box.

There is also a DirecTV section on the Satellite Guys forum.
http://www.satelliteguys.us/directv-forum/


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## fvisconti (Oct 10, 2009)

of which HDDVR I may be getting? Has anyone gotten 1 recently? Wonder if it will come the light up universal remote or the cheaper one. Guess I should call and ask for the light up one as my setup is in the basement with flourescent lights so I spend a lot of time in the dark with a projection TV. Thanks for everyone's help. Good to know I may not have to scrap my old faithful TIVO's. That will keep the wife happy upstairs and I get my HD downstairs without the hassel of having to switch services. Just hope the HDDVR isn't nearly as bad as the POS H15 DVR they sent me. What a peice of trash.


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## schell (Jan 24, 2004)

I just received 2 hddvr boxes, call customer retention tell them you are thinking about switching to dish, I paid 20$ shipping for both no other charges ,they gave me model hr23 500gig drive


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## litzdog911 (Oct 18, 2002)

fvisconti said:


> of which HDDVR I may be getting? Has anyone gotten 1 recently? Wonder if it will come the light up universal remote or the cheaper one. Guess I should call and ask for the light up one as my setup is in the basement with flourescent lights so I spend a lot of time in the dark with a projection TV. Thanks for everyone's help. Good to know I may not have to scrap my old faithful TIVO's. That will keep the wife happy upstairs and I get my HD downstairs without the hassel of having to switch services. Just hope the HDDVR isn't nearly as bad as the POS H15 DVR they sent me. What a peice of trash.


There's no way to know what exact HD DVR model you'll get. Unless you get it yourself from Best Buy, Costco, etc. And the standard remote is not the backlit version.


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## jguidinger (Mar 17, 2008)

Reminder: If you purchase a receiver from Directv, you are entering into another 2 year contract with them. They tend to omit that info when you upgrade. If you buy a receiver outside of Directv, you are not entering into another contract.


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## shibby191 (Dec 24, 2007)

fvisconti said:


> of which HDDVR I may be getting? Has anyone gotten 1 recently? Wonder if it will come the light up universal remote or the cheaper one. Guess I should call and ask for the light up one as my setup is in the basement with flourescent lights so I spend a lot of time in the dark with a projection TV. Thanks for everyone's help. Good to know I may not have to scrap my old faithful TIVO's. That will keep the wife happy upstairs and I get my HD downstairs without the hassel of having to switch services. Just hope the HDDVR isn't nearly as bad as the POS H15 DVR they sent me. What a peice of trash.


As noted, you will get whatever the installer has on the truck unless you get your own in a store. They are all basically the same and run the same software.

HR20 - The original, has OTA tuners built in.
HR21 = HR20 without OTA tuners
HR22 = HR21 with larger hard drive
HR23 = HR22 with BBC/widebander tuners built in (i.e. don't need the BBC dongle)

Many say the HR20 is the fastest but YMMV.

The HR series is lightyears ahead of the R15 from many years ago (the R15 was discontinued a couple years ago).


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## stevel (Aug 23, 2000)

jguidinger said:


> Reminder: If you buy a receiver outside of Directv, you are not entering into another contract.


Not really true. If you buy a USED receiver on the open market, one that has been activated before, then you can usually convince DirecTV not to extend your contract for that. But if you "buy" from Costco, etc., you're getting subsidized new equipment and there's a commitment with that.


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## whitepelican (Feb 15, 2005)

jguidinger said:


> Reminder: If you purchase a receiver from Directv, you are entering into another 2 year contract with them. They tend to omit that info when you upgrade. If you buy a receiver outside of Directv, you are not entering into another contract.


The key being if you "buy" a receiver outside of DirecTV. There are very few options for doing this, unless you purchase an older used unit on ebay and verify with DirecTV that it is an owned receiver. There's also a strong possibility that DirecTV will "accidentally" extend your programming commitment by 24 months even if you add an owned receiver. You'll most likely have to double-check on that to make sure you don't get hosed by the system.


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## HiDefGator (Oct 12, 2004)

JimSpence said:


> And note, that since the DirecTV HD DVR is a leased unit, you don't want to open the box.


Too late!


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