# HR 10-250 as OTA only?



## philbaz (May 17, 2005)

DTV tells me they have no HR20's available and I don't want to lose my OTA digital broadcasts. Can I use my HR 10-250 as an OTA reciever only and not connect to a dish or pay subscription to DTV? Also, will I be able to watch what has already been recorded on it? I will be able to connect to my tv via seperate input.
I have not yet given up on finding an HR20, but I'm not too optimistic either.
Phil


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## codespy (Jan 7, 2006)

Yes you can use it for OTA without subscription. You can still watch recorded shows, and you still get DLB's and cruise control functions. Keep a satellite input hooked up and get free guide data at no extra cost from your friends at DirecTV!


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## philbaz (May 17, 2005)

codespy said:


> ....and you still get DLB's and cruise control functions.
> 
> what exactly is "DLB" and "cruise control"? (I assume you don't mean a gag for Tom Cruise)
> 
> ...


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## rminsk (Jun 4, 2002)

You can not use it for trickplay or recording without DirecTV service.


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## Adam1115 (Dec 15, 2003)

Call customer retention, get all pissed off, they will give you a $5/mo credit, keep your HR10 activated, you're all set.


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## codespy (Jan 7, 2006)

rminsk said:


> You can not use it for trickplay or recording without DirecTV service.


Unless I just have a special unit, rewind/pause/fast forward/etc. *DO* work in the 30 minute buffer without activating unit. Naturally if unit not activated, one cannot record since DVR service would be - inactive.

DLB = dual live buffers.


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## Adam1115 (Dec 15, 2003)

codespy said:


> Unless I just have a special unit, rewind/pause/fast forward/etc. *DO* work in the 30 minute buffer without activating unit. Naturally if unit not activated, one cannot record since DVR service would be - inactive.
> 
> DLB = dual live buffers.


You are correct, dual live buffers works fine with an inactive unit, as long as you tell it that BOTH satellite signals are connected.

Guide data also works as long as it's connected to satellite.

Just no recording.


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## JimSpence (Sep 19, 2001)

Just to let you all know, the ATSC tuner add-on fpr the HR21 has been announced at CES2008.
http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=115134


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## RS4 (Sep 2, 2001)

JimSpence said:


> Just to let you all know, the ATSC tuner add-on fpr the HR21 has been announced at CES2008.
> http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=115134


Of course DirecTV has announced lots of stuff at CES before and never delivered. I don't believe there is any announced date yet for the availability of this product, so I wouldn't count on it yet.


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## RS4 (Sep 2, 2001)

philbaz said:


> DTV tells me they have no HR20's available and I don't want to lose my OTA digital broadcasts. Can I use my HR 10-250 as an OTA reciever only and not connect to a dish or pay subscription to DTV? Also, will I be able to watch what has already been recorded on it? I will be able to connect to my tv via seperate input.
> I have not yet given up on finding an HR20, but I'm not too optimistic either.
> Phil


I don't believe you can use your HR10-250 for just OTA like you want. I believe that you would still be required to keep it attached to DTV in order to get the guide data. That means you will still be paying something to DTV.

If you don't stay subscribed, you'll still be able to watch what you have recorded, and I believe you could do a manual recording.


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## nicoff (Sep 14, 2007)

On a similar note, I have an HR 10-250 but I just had to replace with the new DirecTV DVR because of the change to new protocols (I want to get as much HD programming as I can get).
I have lots of recorded stuff in my old HR 10-250 that I still want to watch in HD. 
Can I just hook the 10-250 to my TV (without another DirecTV subscription) and watch my old recordings?


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## midas (Jun 1, 2000)

RS4 said:


> Of course DirecTV has announced lots of stuff at CES before and never delivered. I don't believe there is any announced date yet for the availability of this product, so I wouldn't count on it yet.


The retention CSR I talked to last night said late spring. This guy actually seemed pretty sharp, I couldn't stump him on anything. But as always, take anything a CSR, at any level, tells you with a healthy grain of salt. And he did say, "I heard" rather than, "They are telling us."


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## rminsk (Jun 4, 2002)

nicoff said:


> Can I just hook the 10-250 to my TV (without another DirecTV subscription) and watch my old recordings?


Yes. Just hit the TiVo/DirecTV button when it is trying to get the satellite information.


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## Adam1115 (Dec 15, 2003)

RS4 said:


> Of course DirecTV has announced lots of stuff at CES before and never delivered. I don't believe there is any announced date yet for the availability of this product, so I wouldn't count on it yet.


Oh yea.. remember this...?

http://www.engadget.com/2005/01/06/directv-ces-home-media-center-and-new-channels/


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## RS4 (Sep 2, 2001)

Adam1115 said:


> Oh yea.. remember this...?
> 
> http://www.engadget.com/2005/01/06/directv-ces-home-media-center-and-new-channels/


Oh yeah, that's what I was thinking about - that's a real hoot - we can all see how well things are planned out at Direct 

Sorta like releasing the HR21 with fewer features then the HR20 and then pissing people off because they couldn't even tell them what the installer had in their inventory. I guess they never heard of them funny little barcodes on the units and what amazing things computers can keep track of these days. But hey, who knows, maybe they'll figure that out when mpeg8 is out.


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## boneskrw (Jan 28, 2006)

I've tried this with the HR10, and it WILL play recorded material without a satellite connection, but startup takes forever and if you leave it in standby, you have to unplug to reboot every time you want to use it. Haven't tried plugging in satellite without subscription. Maybe that smooths things out.


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## codespy (Jan 7, 2006)

RS4 said:


> I don't believe you can use your HR10-250 for just OTA like you want. I believe that you would still be required to keep it attached to DTV in order to get the guide data. That means you will still be paying something to DTV.


On the contrary, my spare HR10 from ebay cannot be activated due to previous delinquent account. Guide data is free, even for local digital OTA channels. Just cannot record anything.


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## RS4 (Sep 2, 2001)

codespy said:


> On the contrary, my spare HR10 from ebay cannot be activated due to previous delinquent account. Guide data is free, even for local digital OTA channels. Just cannot record anything.


Oops, pardon me. I always thought a dvr was for recording, so when the OP asked if he could still use his HR10-250 for OTA but not have it connected to the sat, I just naturally assumed he would want to record something... shows you how silly I must have been


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## TeeVoJeff (Aug 24, 2005)

Adam1115 said:


> Call customer retention, get all pissed off, they will give you a $5/mo credit, keep your HR10 activated, you're all set.


What is the credit for? I have an HR10 which is not activated since I have an old Dish looking at SAT 101 which does not carry HD channels (am I correct?). We live in the same area, and I plan to use the HR10 for recording Directv SD and OTA HD from Denver when it becomes more available (late Spring 2008). So if I activate the HR10 so I can record OTA HD, do you think they will charge me the $9.99/mo. HD package fee?


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## Adam1115 (Dec 15, 2003)

TeeVoJeff said:


> What is the credit for? I have an HR10 which is not activated since I have an old Dish looking at SAT 101 which does not carry HD channels (am I correct?). We live in the same area, and I plan to use the HR10 for recording Directv SD and OTA HD from Denver when it becomes more available (late Spring 2008). So if I activate the HR10 so I can record OTA HD, do you think they will charge me the $9.99/mo. HD package fee?


I'm pretty sure you have to have an HD Package on any activated HD receiver. You would already if you had an HR21.

I was responding to the op, who was mad that he might get an HR21 which doesn't currently support OTA.

$5/mo is the cost for an additional receiver, my thought was to leave the HR10 active for OTA and get retention to give a credit to offset this.


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## richierich (Jul 10, 2002)

philbaz said:


> DTV tells me they have no HR20's available and I don't want to lose my OTA digital broadcasts. Can I use my HR 10-250 as an OTA reciever only and not connect to a dish or pay subscription to DTV? Also, will I be able to watch what has already been recorded on it? I will be able to connect to my tv via seperate input.
> I have not yet given up on finding an HR20, but I'm not too optimistic either.
> Phil


Don't believe the CSRs as I am getting an HR20-700 installed tomorrow. I saw it personally yesterday when the installer came by to install the dish but had to go back to get some more equipment. They Do have them but in limited supply for people like yourself who have an HR10-250 with OTA and need a replacement D* DVR with OTA capability. You just have to ask the installer to look in his warehouse for one and be persistent as I was told they didn't have one and after they looked they found one.


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