# Instantcake versions



## fooz (Mar 4, 2006)

Quick question (I hope). I have 2 soon to be 3 Directv Tivos that I am going to Zipper. Are the different manufacturer versiond of 6.2 Instantcake actually different images? I have 2 Philips DSR7000's and a Hughes SD-DVR80 and I was wondering if I need to pickup 2 copies of Instantcake or if the image would be the same for both.

Thanks alot Guys
Fooz


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## Gunnyman (Jul 10, 2003)

same image will work fine for both as long as you aren't using the original hard drives.


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## fooz (Mar 4, 2006)

Nope they will be new drives.

Thanks for everything


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## tivoupgrade (Sep 27, 2000)

fooz said:


> Quick question (I hope). I have 2 soon to be 3 Directv Tivos that I am going to Zipper. Are the different manufacturer versiond of 6.2 Instantcake actually different images? I have 2 Philips DSR7000's and a Hughes SD-DVR80 and I was wondering if I need to pickup 2 copies of Instantcake or if the image would be the same for both.
> 
> Thanks alot Guys
> Fooz


The images on each of the InstantCake CD's are slightly different because the software for the DSR7000 an SD-DVR80 is slightly different. It is generally known that images from any member of the Series2 DirecTV units are interchangable in that they appear to work on the "wrong" units, however this does not mean that they are the same and its also a generall known fact that you should NEVER, EVER, EVER run the "wrong" software on the "wrong" units. Long timers around here will recall the "don't be a moron..." threads which were specific requests from TiVo to never put software from one model onto another.

This is documented in more detail in the release notes for InstantCake and upon every installation of InstantCake you are specifically reminded to never install the software on a unit for which it is not intended.

Some may think this is a ploy to sell more InstantCake images than one might need (the cynic in me, certainly would recognize that if I were to put myself in a customer's shoes) however this is not the case: TiVo was VERY vocal about this issue some time ago and we have always maintained that the appropriate image should be what is used on your particular TiVo because doing anything other than this has the potential of causing problems with confusion on the TiVo server side, and things like that can contribute to negativity in terms of how TiVo view the upgrade community and the vendors who provide upgrades.

So, sorry to contradict you Gunny, but it is a bad idea to lead anyone in the direction of installing an image, either via InstantCake or any other method, if it is not the image that was intended to be run on that particular unit.

Lastly, to confirm that you are running the correct image on your unit, go to your system information screen and take a look at the LAST three digits of your software revision information. These 3 digits should match the FIRST three digits of your system service ID (which should also match the service ID on the rear of your unit).

Thanks and happy upgrading!
Lou


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## mick66 (Oct 15, 2004)

tivoupgrade said:


> Lastly, to confirm that you are running the correct image on your unit, go to your system information screen and take a look at the LAST three digits of your software revision information. These 3 digits should match the FIRST three digits of your system service ID (which should also match the service ID on the rear of your unit).
> 
> Thanks and happy upgrading!
> Lou


That's not true. The very popular TCD240xxx models use the same software as the TCD140xxx model and the last three digits of the software version are 140 which doesn't match the 240 of the Tivo service number. Yes the OP has a D*Tivo and maybe all D*Tivos are like that, but not everyone reading this is going to have one.

Also the old SA S1's are even more different. The service number and software version are not matched in anyway, but all of the many Philips models use the same software so a backup of a HDR612 will work in a PTV100 given a large enough hard drive.


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## NewYorkLaw (Dec 9, 2005)

To follow that, then would it be stupid to take a drive from a tcd 540 series and place it in a tcd 240 series? My new (used) 240 has a very noisy 40 gig drive and I have an extra drive from my 540 which was upgraded a day after I bought it. I was planning on simply swapping drives any day, but it sounds like I should do a copy instead...


pete


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## BobCamp1 (May 15, 2002)

mick66 said:


> That's not true. The very popular TCD240xxx models use the same software as the TCD140xxx model and the last three digits of the software version are 140 which doesn't match the 240 of the Tivo service number. Yes the OP has a D*Tivo and maybe all D*Tivos are like that, but not everyone reading this is going to have one.
> 
> Also the old SA S1's are even more different. The service number and software version are not matched in anyway, but all of the many Philips models use the same software so a backup of a HDR612 will work in a PTV100 given a large enough hard drive.


I took Tivoupgrade's response to mean that if too many people do this, Tivo will stop letting Instantcake sell their images. Or worse, Tivo also might start to care, and would not allow any hacks including simple capacity upgrades. They could block the guide data updates, or perform a software update that would render MFSTools and Zipper useless. Or they could sue Gunnyman for violating the DMCA. If you make Tivo's job difficult, they can make yours difficult as well.

To summarize, you can probably use the same image, but don't do it too often or you may spoil it for the rest of us. If you are willing to spend $100 on a new hard drive, why aren't you willing to spend $20 to get the right image?


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## mick66 (Oct 15, 2004)

BobCamp1 said:


> I took Tivoupgrade's response to mean that if too many people do this, Tivo will stop letting Instantcake sell their images.


I wasn't responding to that part of what tivoupgrade posted. I was only responding to the part I quoted from him that *incorrectly* says how you can tell if you have the correct software version.


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## mick66 (Oct 15, 2004)

NewYorkLaw said:


> To follow that, then would it be stupid to take a drive from a tcd 540 series and place it in a tcd 240 series?


Not if you put the 240 image on the HD first. But if you think you could just swap it out and use as is, you'd be wasting your time.


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## fooz (Mar 4, 2006)

tivoupgrade said:


> The images on each of the InstantCake CD's are slightly different ...
> 
> Thanks and happy upgrading!
> Lou


Actually I figured that they were actually different after putting the drive from a DSR7000 into a Hughes SD-DVR80. I noticed that model information was wrong, So went another route and used mfs_tools to back up the SD-DVR80 to my larger drive and used that instead.

Fooz


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## Gunnyman (Jul 10, 2003)

tivoupgrade said:


> The images on each of the InstantCake CD's are slightly different because the software for the DSR7000 an SD-DVR80 is slightly different. It is generally known that images from any member of the Series2 DirecTV units are interchangable in that they appear to work on the "wrong" units, however this does not mean that they are the same and its also a generall known fact that you should NEVER, EVER, EVER run the "wrong" software on the "wrong" units. Long timers around here will recall the "don't be a moron..." threads which were specific requests from TiVo to never put software from one model onto another.
> 
> This is documented in more detail in the release notes for InstantCake and upon every installation of InstantCake you are specifically reminded to never install the software on a unit for which it is not intended.
> 
> ...


Very good points Lou
I certainly don't mind being contradicted.


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