# Series 2 Tivo As A Standalone Recorder



## ttocsmi (Jan 6, 2007)

Apologies if my question has been asked before (which I'm sure it has) - I did a search and nothing relevant appeared in the first couple pages.

I recently replaced a Series 2 Tivo with a Premiere, and would like to keep using the Series 2 on another TV - but without connecting it to the outside world. I'd like to transfer recordings made on my other units and watch them at my leisure on the old Tivo. Or just tell it to "record channel 9 at 8:00".

I believe I can set up my router so that this particular Tivo can't communicate with the outside world, but can still see the other Tivos on my LAN.

Does anyone know if this is possible, or do the Series 2 TiVos disable themselves after a period of time of not calling home?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thank you.


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## scandia101 (Oct 20, 2007)

You absolutely need a subscription on a Tivo to use MRV. As for recording by time and channel, that may be possible as long as the tivo hasn't and never does connect to the mother ship and get the notice that it is no longer subscribed. 
It used to be that after 30 days of no contact, a Tivo would just stop recording, but a few years ago that seems to have changed. I used an unsub'd S2 to record by time and channel on occasion for a few months (I believe it was in '07) and others here say they've been doing it for years. The one problem with that though, is clock drift. The only way to reset the clock is to allow it to connect that's just what you wouldn't want to do.


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## classicsat (Feb 18, 2004)

You will need a sub to do what you want. 

Using it for MRV implies connection to your home network, which will allow the TiVo to call home and get its subscription status.

You might be able to continue to use it to manually record, if you disconnect its phone and/or network connection before service cancellation. Officially, it is supposed to become a boat anchor, but sometimes does not at all, or for some time.


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## pdhenry (Feb 28, 2005)

Even for standalone recording, clock drift would start to mess with your timing.


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## ttocsmi (Jan 6, 2007)

classicsat said:


> You will need a sub to do what you want.
> 
> Using it for MRV implies connection to your home network, which will allow the TiVo to call home and get its subscription status.
> 
> You might be able to continue to use it to manually record, if you disconnect its phone and/or network connection before service cancellation. Officially, it is supposed to become a boat anchor, but sometimes does not at all, or for some time.


thanks for the replies. i'll do some messing around and report back if figure it out.


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## shwru980r (Jun 22, 2008)

ttocsmi said:


> I'd like to transfer recordings made on my other units and watch them at my leisure on the old Tivo.


You can't transfer HD recordings to a series 2.


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## ttocsmi (Jan 6, 2007)

right - that seems obvious.


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## ZeoTiVo (Jan 2, 2004)

ttocsmi said:


> thanks for the replies. i'll do some messing around and report back if figure it out.


the answer to your connection question is simple. Setup the network as always - but tell the TiVo it will use the phone line to connect to TiVo - no phone line, no contact.


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## ss_sea_ya (Sep 2, 2010)

And you can set your router FW rules to block that IP address from going out.


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## ZeoTiVo (Jan 2, 2004)

ss_sea_ya said:


> And you can set your router FW rules to block that IP address from going out.


easier to just say phone line on the one TiVo and let the other TiVo DVRs continue to connect over the internet


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## scandia101 (Oct 20, 2007)

ZeoTiVo said:


> the answer to your connection question is simple. Setup the network as always - but tell the TiVo it will use the phone line to connect to TiVo - no phone line, no contact.


First, you'd have to have a working phone line to set the Tivo to use a phone line or you can't make the change. Not having one is getting to be more and more common.

Second, even if the OP had the S2 set to allow transfers before removing it's subscription and prevented it from making a connection to find out that it's subscription is no longer valid, it couldn't MRV with any other Tivo. *Both* Tivos involved have to know that the other allows transfers and that's not possible when one doesn't have a subscription.


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## ZeoTiVo (Jan 2, 2004)

scandia101 said:


> First, you'd have to have a working phone line to set the Tivo to use a phone line or you can't make the change. Not having one is getting to be more and more common.
> 
> Second, even if the OP had the S2 set to allow transfers before removing it's subscription and prevented it from making a connection to find out that it's subscription is no longer valid, it couldn't MRV with any other Tivo. *Both* Tivos involved have to know that the other allows transfers and that's not possible when one doesn't have a subscription.


I have changed to a phone line in the past (maybe a year ago) on a S2 without a phone line even attached. Have not done that lately though. I was simply pointing out the easy way to keep the TiVo from talking to the mothership.
The discussion on whether the TiVo will keep working has been had. I have no data points on it myself as I sub any TiVo I plan to use.


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## scandia101 (Oct 20, 2007)

ZeoTiVo said:


> I have changed to a phone line in the past (maybe a year ago) on a S2 without a phone line even attached. Have not done that lately though. I was simply pointing out the easy way to keep the TiVo from talking to the mothership.
> The discussion on whether the TiVo will keep working has been had. I have no data points on it myself as I sub any TiVo I plan to use.


Well then any network is irrelevant and whether the tivo is set up to use a phone line or network doesn't make a bit of difference. All anyone has to do is disconnect whichever connection is used.


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## lillevig (Dec 7, 2010)

Thankfully there are still Series 1 units where you can stay connected to the mothership to get clock corrections and still do manual recording without a subscription. Sell your Series 2 on eBay and pick up a cheap Series 1.


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## ZeoTiVo (Jan 2, 2004)

ttocsmi said:


> I believe I can set up my router so that this particular Tivo can't communicate with the outside world, but can still see the other Tivos on my LAN.





scandia101 said:


> Well then any network is irrelevant and whether the tivo is set up to use a phone line or network doesn't make a bit of difference. All anyone has to do is disconnect whichever connection is used.


You usually are insightful to what the OP is truly asking. I am not understanding why this time you are not getting that the OP basically wants to keep his TiVo on the network but not have it connect to TiVo mothership. telling the TiVo it connects to TiVo via phoneline will ensure it does not try and connect over the internet and thus the TiVo can stay on the network and at see the other TiVo DVRs without doing any router config. It was simply that info I was passing on.


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## jmill (Feb 22, 2010)

After programming info runs out, TiVo will begin to ask you to connect in order to update guide data. If you don't update guide data for a month, TiVo will stop recording whether it is from live TV or from shows being transferred from your Premiere.

In other words to make it plain simple, your TiVo Series 2 will not work without active subscription. No way around it, unfortunately.


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## scandia101 (Oct 20, 2007)

ZeoTiVo said:


> You usually are insightful to what the OP is truly asking. I am not understanding why this time you are not getting that the OP basically wants to keep his TiVo on the network but not have it connect to TiVo mothership. telling the TiVo it connects to TiVo via phoneline will ensure it does not try and connect over the internet and thus the TiVo can stay on the network and at see the other TiVo DVRs without doing any router config. It was simply that info I was passing on.


There is *absolutely no benefit* to having an unsub'd tivo on a network.
No MRV
No Amazon VOD or any other video downloads
No pictures or music from your computer
As far as the network is concerned, the tivo may as well be a bucket of wet sand.

Are you understanding me now?


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## scandia101 (Oct 20, 2007)

jmill said:


> If you don't update guide data for a month, TiVo will stop recording whether it is from live TV or from shows being transferred from your Premiere.


It won't MRV, but will still continue to record manually. Tivos used to shut down all recording capabilities after 30 days with no communication, but something happened to change that a long time ago. There are people on this forum that say they've been able to manually record for years after ending the subscription. I personally have used an S2 unsub'd for manual recordings for a couple of months in 2006 before storing it away, but then many months later pulled the Tivo out of the closet and plugged it in just to check it, and I could still do manual recordings.


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## ZeoTiVo (Jan 2, 2004)

scandia101 said:


> There is *absolutely no benefit* to having an unsub'd tivo on a network.
> No MRV
> No Amazon VOD or any other video downloads
> No pictures or music from your computer
> ...


Look, your posts to me are becoming rude. 
I pointed out others had that conversation about the benefit of it in the thread already. I pointed out my post was simply a how to easily do it. You want to not read my posts and rudely argue something I never talked about - that is your problem, which is a very obvious problem to many who read your posts


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## scandia101 (Oct 20, 2007)

ZeoTiVo said:


> Look, your posts to me are becoming rude.
> I pointed out others had that conversation about the benefit of it in the thread already. I pointed out my post was simply a how to easily do it. You want to not read my posts and rudely argue something I never talked about - that is your problem, which is a very obvious problem to many who read your posts


Wow, you clearly don't get that connecting it to a network accomplishes nothing, so all the well educated advice that you have to offer on making the network connection is of absolute zero value.


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## ttocsmi (Jan 6, 2007)

scandia101 said:


> Wow, you clearly don't get that connecting it to a network accomplishes nothing, so all the well educated advice that you have to offer on making the network connection is of absolute zero value.


If I use subnet masking or editing of the routing table or MAC address filtering or whatever to prevent the un-sub'd Tivo from connecting to the outside world, then the benefit is this: I can record a show on one Tivo, then transfer it over the network to the (un-sub'd) Tivo in the exercise room, then watch it at my leisure without having to pay for three subscriptions.

Unless you can state, unequivocally, that after x days of not connecting to the Mother Ship the Tivo will disable its ethernet connectivity, I suggest you keep an open mind to the advice others have to offer on this forum.


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## orangeboy (Apr 19, 2004)

ttocsmi said:


> ...I can record a show on one Tivo, then transfer it over the network to the (un-sub'd) Tivo in the exercise room, then watch it at my leisure without having to pay for three subscriptions...


Hmm. Good luck with that!


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## ZeoTiVo (Jan 2, 2004)

scandia101 said:


> Wow, you clearly don't get that connecting it to a network accomplishes nothing


I never commented on whether it did or not - you are having a one sided argument that makes you look foolish at this point. have fun with that


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## scandia101 (Oct 20, 2007)

ZeoTiVo said:


> I never commented on whether it did or not - you are having a one sided argument that makes you look foolish at this point. have fun with that


You're the one with the one sided argument. You can't seem to get away from your connection method being correct and believing that it's all the information that The OP needs. I give the rest of the information (MRV not possible) and point out that that connection, however correct it is, won't help the OP accomplish what he wants - and you started arguing about it as If I said you were wrong.

I think you need to reread the whole thread. I think you just expect me to be jerk so you're reading a lot (that's just not there) into everything I say.


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## scandia101 (Oct 20, 2007)

ttocsmi said:


> If I use subnet masking or editing of the routing table or MAC address filtering or whatever to prevent the un-sub'd Tivo from connecting to the outside world, then the benefit is this: I can record a show on one Tivo, then transfer it over the network to the (un-sub'd) Tivo in the exercise room, then watch it at my leisure without having to pay for three subscriptions.
> 
> Unless you can state, unequivocally, that after x days of not connecting to the Mother Ship the Tivo will disable its ethernet connectivity, I suggest you keep an open mind to the advice others have to offer on this forum.


It has northing to do with it shutting down after x number of days.
In order to MRV between two Tivos, both Tivos have to be given the message from the mother ship that the other is allowed to transfer recordings. If the first Tivo is unsubscribed but never allowed to call in, the second tivo won't be able to transfer videos to or from the the first becasuse it will keep connecting and it will get the message that the first tivo is not allowed to to transfer recordings.

You may be able to continue between two unsub'd Tivos, but you'd be limited to manual recordings with no guide data.

But go ahead and try it for yourself. Then come back and give us a report. I'm looking forward to reading all about what happens.


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## ZeoTiVo (Jan 2, 2004)

scandia101 said:


> I think you just expect me to be jerk


and I am not alone in that expectation.

I have no idea how long the MRV will keep working and never commented on how long it will keep working. I can guarantee however that if the OP can switch his TiVo connection to phone line and keep the TiVo on the network then that TiVo will never connect to the mothership while still seeing the other TiVo DVRs. again - seeing is the word I used with no statement about MRV whatsoever. The post was to save the OP the hassle of router config while he experimented to see if it worked.

Thus I am in no argument and you keep being rude arguing about something I never commented on.


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## scandia101 (Oct 20, 2007)

ZeoTiVo said:


> and I am not alone in that expectation.
> 
> I have no idea how long the MRV will keep working and never commented on how long it will keep working. I can guarantee however that if the OP can switch his TiVo connection to phone line and keep the TiVo on the network then that TiVo will never connect to the mothership while still seeing the other TiVo DVRs. again - seeing is the word I used with no statement about MRV whatsoever. The post was to save the OP the hassle of router config while he experimented to see if it worked.
> 
> Thus I am in no argument and you keep being rude arguing about something I never commented on.


You're not alone, Duh.

I don't know why you Keep insisting that you said nothing about MRV because nobody is saying that you did. And because you didn't, I did say something about how it works, or in this case, how it won't work.

I'm just guaranteeing that making any network connection is a useless endeavor, yet you insist on jumping down my throat as if I said you were wrong about how to make the network connection and that you were wrong about MRV.
You started this because I said a network connection is irrelevant (which it is) and for some unknown reason you took offense and now you're blaming me.


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## ZeoTiVo (Jan 2, 2004)

scandia101 said:


> You're not alone, Duh.


yeah, you should think about that


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## jesmann (Oct 31, 2010)

too bad its not an option I did the same thing!


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