To Hack or Not? HR10-250 and the 6.3a update

[alwayscool]

I have a HR10-250 (Unhacked) and just bought another on ebay for $383.99 because it looks like they are becomming extinct. (Please forgive me I'm a newbie) I purchased InstantCake for Series2 HDTV DirecTiVo Units (3.1.5f), PTVupgrade LBA48 4.04 with Enhancements, and PTVnetHD Utility CD for Hughes/DirecTV HR10-250 / HD10-250 with TiVo last night.
I have some questions:

1.) I read about the "Zipper" but my impression was that it will not work for an HR10-250. Will it work?

2.) Will the above purchased software allow me to network my TIVO and also play media files off of my PC?

3.) With the 6.3a update comming down will it destroy all the new functionality I will have by applying these hacks?

4.) Should I install my hacks now or wait until the 6.3a is applied to my boxes?

5.) What is the best software to enable all these extra features (hacks) to my HR10-250's?

6.) I started the "clearing program data and to do lists last night and it's still running 13 hours later with the red record light going on and off every few seconds. Is this normal or has my receiver "blown up" ?

Thanks for your patience and outstanding forum.

[Adam1115]

1.) I read about the "Zipper" but my impression was that it will not work for an HR10-250. Will it work?

Yes, with 3.1.5, no with 6.3.

2.) Will the above purchased software allow me to network my TIVO and also play media files off of my PC?

No, and you'll need to search google for that as we're not allowed to talk about "EXTRACTION" here.

3.) With the 6.3a update comming down will it destroy all the new functionality I will have by applying these hacks?

Only if you install it incorrectly. If I were you, I'd spend 8-10 hours reading online. Google "Other tivo forum" to find out more.[/QUOTE]

4.) Should I install my hacks now or wait until the 6.3a is applied to my boxes?

Do above, then decide.

5.) What is the best software to enable all these extra features (hacks) to my HR10-250's?

There isn't any. The best method is to spend a lot of time researching and learning how the machine works, then install the hacks yourself. Have a lot of patience.

6.) I started the "clearing program data and to do lists last night and it's still running 13 hours later with the red record light going on and off every few seconds. Is this normal or has my receiver "blown up" ?

Not normal. But it's also not normal for you to clear your program data. Why did you do this? Were you having problems before you did this??

Thanks for your patience and outstanding forum.

Sure, but in the future you might search a little more, many of these questions have been answer numerous times.

[mr.unnatural]

1) The Zipper will work just fine with the HR10-250 if you still have 3.1.5f. There are several caveats you should be aware of if attempting to use it with 6.3/6.3a. I have not tried to run the tweak.sh script with 6.3a yet to see how the hacks integrate with the latest OS. We already know that the tivoapp patches for 3.1.5f won't work with 6.3 or 6.3a, but some of them have been determined and can be added manually. There are reported issues with TivoWebPlus as well. I haven't confirmed this but using HackMan with 6.3/6.3a may also be problematic. You can run the Zipper portion with 6.3 or 6.3a but there are some things you will have to perform manually to get networking up and running (install and set up netconfig.tcl, rename iptables, insmod usbnet.o, revise fakecall, etc.).

2) If you run the Zipper with the aforementioned caveats the you have no need for any of the other software you purchased. You have wasted your money.

3) See # 1 above

4) Your call. You'll have to reinstall them when you take the update. If you hack them now you'll have to make some changes to allow the update to install naturally. Otherwise, you'll have to do it manually. If you hack the unit now then you'll probably be able to perform the 6.3a manual installation immediately instead of waiting for the authorization.

5) See #1 above