# Change channel lineup without service? S2



## gonzoron (Jun 4, 2007)

Don't know if this should be here or the main help question area...

I upgraded my living room S2 to an S3, and moved the S2 to the bedroom, where I don't watch much TV, so I dropped the subscription on the S2. (Yes, I know it's only 6.95/month, but that's an expense I can't justify right now.) I plan to use the S2 only for MRV, TTG, and live TV, and maybe the occasional manual recording. 

But then we moved, and now I seem to be stuck with the old channel lineup. I tried changing it, but it wants me to go through guided setup, which I can't do without activating service, right?

Is there a way I can manually change the channels the S2 can see for live TV (and manual recording)?


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## Da Goon (Oct 22, 2006)

A S2 Tivo is no good for manual recordings, MRV, TTG or really anything else at all if you don't have it sub'd. You'll be able to pause livetv for 30 minutes (without guide data of course) and watch previously recorded shows. That's it.


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## gonzoron (Jun 4, 2007)

That's.... disappointing to say the least...  I thought it was just the guide we were paying for. (Do any of the 3rd party "hack" programs help there?)

Well, my question still stands. If I'm watching Live TV and using the buffer (to pause, rewind and fast forward), I still have the wrong channel lineup. Any way to change that?


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## classicsat (Feb 18, 2004)

No, making it to those things to get around paying is theft of service, since those features are part of the paid service. The guide data is just an element of the service as a whole, despite being primarily what is externally acquired.

You can redo guided setup without a sub though.


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## gonzoron (Jun 4, 2007)

OK, if that's the official stance, I guess there's not much I can do about it.

It's just that the Guide and software updates make sense conceptually as a subscription service. The other features don't have anything to do with Tivo's servers, just my own network and hardware. (I mean, manually recording? really? c'mon, my VCR can do that without any subscription. It's painful enough to have to use it, you want me to pay for it?) That's more like paying for a software license, not a service subscription, in my eyes, at least. And replacing licensed software with freeware equivalents is not theft of service.

It kinda seems equivalent to Microsoft charging a monthly fee for spellcheck in MS Office and then saying it's theft of service when I install Open Office.


Anyway, thanks for the tip. I'll try the guided setup without subscribing and see where it gets me.


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## JWThiers (Apr 13, 2005)

Keep hardware prices down by tying as much as possible to a subscription, considering tivo is selling this stuff at a loss to make the recording of content linked to the guide kind of makes sense. Or would we rather pay $400 for tivo and have an optional subscription to the guide data?


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## robiss (Nov 21, 2007)

gonzoron said:


> Is there a way I can manually change the channels the S2 can see for live TV (and manual recording)?


I have a similar problem; but somewhat different... I've been using my s2 as a manual dvr flawlessly for 7 years... I recently changed my channel preferences, & lost all my qam channels above 47..!!... when I now enter "60" [example]...it goes to 60 [sat] instead of 60 [cab]...so, it no longer tunes the channel thru the RF input [like it previously did]. I can "add all channels", but no channels 48-99 appear in the lineup.... gone..!! Any ideas..?? The only option I can think of, is to now add an external tuner, thru the composite input ..?? Any way to FORCE/SELECT the input to the tuner..??


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## JWThiers (Apr 13, 2005)

robiss said:


> I have a similar problem; but somewhat different... I've been using my s2 as a manual dvr flawlessly for 7 years... I recently changed my channel preferences, & lost all my qam channels above 47..!!... when I now enter "60" [example]...it goes to 60 [sat] instead of 60 [cab]...so, it no longer tunes the channel thru the RF input [like it previously did]. I can "add all channels", but no channels 48-99 appear in the lineup.... gone..!! Any ideas..?? The only option I can think of, is to now add an external tuner, thru the composite input ..?? Any way to FORCE/SELECT the input to the tuner..??


What model is that? I guess that is an early S2 if it is 7 years old. I guess some of the early S2's could do a manual record w/o a sub. I don't have a solution just wanted some info on your unit.


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## classicsat (Feb 18, 2004)

No Series 2 is 7 years old. I'd say they were launched mid/early 2002, which would make them 5 at the oldest.

Any 7 year old Tivo would be a Series 1, and most likely eligible for free manual recording, and will survice a Guided setyp.


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## robiss (Nov 21, 2007)

JWThiers said:


> What model is that? I guess that is an early S2 if it is 7 years old. I guess some of the early S2's could do a manual record w/o a sub. I don't have a solution just wanted some info on your unit.


it's a Philips PTV100...got it in '99 for $379...80gb HDD in '02...goin' 24/7 for 5 years... a testiment to western digital. Yeh... no prob w/manual record...except I no longer have cable channels over 48...when I first got the unit, there wasn't even a nag screen before recording...that was added with my first 'update'


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## robiss (Nov 21, 2007)

classicsat said:


> No Series 2 is 7 years old. I'd say they were launched mid/early 2002, which would make them 5 at the oldest.
> 
> Any 7 year old Tivo would be a Series 1, and most likely eligible for free manual recording, and will survice a Guided setyp.


series 1, then..??...sorry... confuzed maybe as software v2.01. Bought in 12-99...still have the receipt. Any references to this 'guided setup' is appreciated... all I have tried is 'preferences'.

FYI... clock is now 40 minutes fast, after maybe 6 years of no-setting... no atomic clock; but I thought that wuz pretty good..??... it did the daylight-savings reset this year at the OLD standard. I thought about trying a back-door clock reset... but I can live with 40 minutes.


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## JWThiers (Apr 13, 2005)

Since this is way off topic for what this thread started out as, if really want an answer I would start a new thread. Many might have saw the title and passed it by. Make sure you use a descriptive title, Not just need help. 

I have never had a Stand Alone Tivo let alone a series 1 tivo but there should be a setting in the menu somewhere to basically redo the initial setup procedure. Where it is on yours would be a guess for me but for mine it is under settings (I think)


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## robiss (Nov 21, 2007)

JWThiers said:


> Since this is way off topic for what this thread started out as, if really want an answer I would start a new thread. Many might have saw the title and passed it by.


yeh... thought of that already... will do, & thankx... rob


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## robiss (Nov 21, 2007)

JWThiers said:


> Since this is way off topic for what this thread started out as, if really want an answer I would start a new thread. Many might have saw the title and passed it by.


started a new thread on this (s1) questiion...

"series 1; can I force channel to cable input..??"
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=375282

thankx for yer help.... Rob


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