possible to move access card from crappy R15 to DTivo?

[chrishicks]

I'm trying to get my parents setup with dual tivos instead of their current dtivo/r15 setup. a few weeks ago they lost one of the tuners on their Samsung dvr(I posted another question unrelated to this). my dad ran out to buy a new tivo and got sold the newer, better DTV dvr(yeah, right :rolleyes:) now I just got them 2 refurb Philips units from a sponsor here and was wondering, will I be able to transfer the access card from the r15 over to one of the Philips tivos? or do I have to order them a new card for the second unit?

[ebonovic]

The only way to do it, is to call DirecTV.

They have to "divorce" the access card from the old unit, to allow it to marry the refurb DTivo.


It is 50-50 shot if they will do it. However, they may just send you a new card for no charge, or they may charge you the $20 for it....


Bottom line, there is no way to do it with out DirecTV's help

[T1V0]

Call DTV and tell them the R15 stopped working and you bought a TiVo as a replacement but it didnt come with a card, so you will need to use the R15's card in the TiVo. If you use the word "replace" most CSR's have no problem marrying the existing card to any other receiver. Done it a thousand times. Good luck

[chrishicks]

update to this:

I had no problem transferring the card from the R15 to the Philips. I voiced their opinions of the R15 to the CS rep and she said "yeah, we've been receiving alot of complaints the same as yours." then immediately afterwards she still tried telling me that "the DTV dvr is still a much better unit than the old outdated Tivo." I told her sometimes new doesn't mean better and left it at that. now my parents are back in Tivo heaven and now I can rest easier at night and not hear them complaining about the R15 in my sleep. :)

[jp233]

I also went through this last night. I had DTivo for several years when I lived with friends (and the account is still in my name) but when I moved away they kept the Tivo box. I figured I'd get my own in the new house, with a newer box -- wrong I didnt have my junk together and didnt know DTV ditched the *REAL* tivo for their own dvr. Although I shake a fist at my friends I dont blame them for keeping the Dtivo box!!

Anyways, after having the R15 for a week I am appalled and bought a Hughes DVR40 from fleabay. Swapped the card from it last night and the DTV rep switched it for me. It took over an hour for me to be able to actually record anything, I guess a slow reset/reboot of the signal from DTV to activate the dvr service.

I also voiced my opinion about how the R15 is JUNK and DTV needs to upgrade their stuff or else they will be losing significant business. With Series3 coming out, HD DVR getting cheaper, who would want this crappy DVR they offer? Honestly the only people I know who think the DTV DVR is decent are those who never had any DVR before. I've had comcast dvr (ok) and the Tivo and tivo is where it's at. So, I'm advising all my friends who have the R15 to get a DTivo and get going. I made a lengthy complaint to DTV last night about the DVR on many subjects and the rep said he has heard very few complaints about it --- I told him DTV must either turn a deaf ear to the world or they areny getting comments from people who ditch DTV to run standalone Tivo or otherwise.

Anyways, I'm so happy I have real Tivo back now I just need to upgrade it! Never done it before, but built many many computers so the hard drive thing is a no brained I just need to know what patches or s/w I need to load to upgrade -- my box is running 3.1.1 :rolleyes:

[FlWingNut]

I also went through this last night. I had DTivo for several years when I lived with friends (and the account is still in my name) but when I moved away they kept the Tivo box. I figured I'd get my own in the new house, with a newer box -- wrong I didnt have my junk together and didnt know DTV ditched the *REAL* tivo for their own dvr. Although I shake a fist at my friends I dont blame them for keeping the Dtivo box!!

Anyways, after having the R15 for a week I am appalled and bought a Hughes DVR40 from fleabay. Swapped the card from it last night and the DTV rep switched it for me. It took over an hour for me to be able to actually record anything, I guess a slow reset/reboot of the signal from DTV to activate the dvr service.

I also voiced my opinion about how the R15 is JUNK and DTV needs to upgrade their stuff or else they will be losing significant business. With Series3 coming out, HD DVR getting cheaper, who would want this crappy DVR they offer? Honestly the only people I know who think the DTV DVR is decent are those who never had any DVR before. I've had comcast dvr (ok) and the Tivo and tivo is where it's at. So, I'm advising all my friends who have the R15 to get a DTivo and get going. I made a lengthy complaint to DTV last night about the DVR on many subjects and the rep said he has heard very few complaints about it --- I told him DTV must either turn a deaf ear to the world or they areny getting comments from people who ditch DTV to run standalone Tivo or otherwise.

OK, not to start a Tivo vs. R15 thread war -- we did all this months ago -- I will say I own both and like features of each. The Tivo, right now, is a bit more dependable in terms of making sure the recordings get recorded, and a "history" function that actually works, a better wishlist function and a better Season Pass manager. The R15 , IMHO, has a better GUI, with picture-in-all menus, some cool interactive channel features, caller ID, quicker guide controls, and icons in the gudie that show what's scheduled to be recorded (always a feature I wish Tivo had). Does the R15 have problems? Of course. That's why it's in the bedroom as a backup. But when D* gets those problems ironed out ( and I believe they will, as the unit is already much more stable than it was when I got it in January) I'll swap them out.

If you watch NO live TV ever, the Tivo's probably better for you, right now. Most of us, however, watch at least some live TV, and the R15 handles that much better. Again, I have both and like both for different reasons. To each their own -- I just think calling the R15 "junk" is a bit much.

[l2bengtrek]

agreed. I've done the same thing that flwingnut did. Put the r15 in the bedroom so I can actually see if they live up to their promise of fixing all of the current issues. We better get used to it....cuz if I'm reading all of these forums right....the current *tv-Tivo contract expires in '09 or '10 and after that we may not be able to use tivo powered units at all! So in my eyes, as well as the thousands of others, they better bring the r15 up to the standards we have gotten used to with Tivo. Just my 2 cents

[happycrazyrobot]

If you watch NO live TV ever, the Tivo's probably better for you, right now. Most of us, however, watch at least some live TV, and the R15 handles that much better. Again, I have both and like both for different reasons. To each their own -- I just think calling the R15 "junk" is a bit much.

I am opposite on that. The live TV function is the weakest part of the D15. You can't flip back and forth between the two tuners unless you specifically tell it to record both. If your watching live sports, you can't slomo. If you are watching two games, you can't pause one, watch the other, pause it, and go back. It doesn't hold the pause. If you are an hour or so behind in the game and pause then comeback, you are live and missed it.

I just called Directv and they said there is no way they can tell you for sure if I send mine back that it would be replaced with the older and slower, yet infinitely better designed interface Tivo.

My previous Directv Tivo froze all the time. The one before that radomly rebooted, but at least it rebooted and I still got my shows. If I can't find a used R10 somewhere, I'll either go back to my original crasher or buy two independant Tivos and two Directv boxes in the same room.

Man I miss the remote too. :(

[ebonovic]

I am opposite on that. The live TV function is the weakest part of the D15. You can't flip back and forth between the two tuners unless you specifically tell it to record both. If your watching live sports, you can't slomo. If you are watching two games, you can't pause one, watch the other, pause it, and go back. It doesn't hold the pause. If you are an hour or so behind in the game and pause then comeback, you are live and missed it.

I just called Directv and they said there is no way they can tell you for sure if I send mine back that it would be replaced with the older and slower, yet infinitely better designed interface Tivo.

My previous Directv Tivo froze all the time. The one before that radomly rebooted, but at least it rebooted and I still got my shows. If I can't find a used R10 somewhere, I'll either go back to my original crasher or buy two independant Tivos and two Directv boxes in the same room.

Man I miss the remote too. :(

I will correct one point:
-) Slow Motion, it is there... hold the play button down and it will go into slow mode.

[DTVPro]

imo, the main problem with the R15 is the stupid retarded white universal remote dtv sends out with them.

Why not design a more user friendly remote, with hotlinks in to the MYVOD, series links features, searches, etc etc and make the pause, rewind, etc buttons more prominent (and include a button for slow mo)

it's not too much to ask