Where to buy a DirecTiVo.

[SLOmike]

A few months ago my Old Reliable Sony SAT-T60 started rebooting over and over.

We went without TV in the living room for a short time because I was going to try to fix it. It turned out I was way to busy with work etc so it didn't get fixed.

Eventually I decided to try the DirecTV DVR R15 which is available for "free". It is a lease, but I pay $4.99 to lease it instead of paying $4.99 for an additional reciever.

I decided to try it. I am not happy with it. Just tonght my wife was saying "I hate this remote". The unit is so unresponsive. You also never know what is going to happen when you click on a button. If you are watching a show (delayed) when it finishes recording and you then hit the back 8 seconds button, it takes you back to the very beginning of the show.

Now I want to know how to find a DirecTiVo. I have heard mention of Walmart. Any place else?

Thanks,
-MIke

[dishrich]

E-bay, weaknees, amazon, etc - take your pick. If you do a search on this subject, I'm sure you only find a few hundred answers to this question that is asked every other day on here... ;) ;)

[20TIL6]

Recommend Weaknees. They have R10 units, series 2 as compared to your SAT-T60 series 1. Should be able to take the access card from the SAT-T60 and put it into the new R10. Then call up DTV and tell them you have replaced that unit with a REAL TiVo.

I've been a DTV customer for 12+ years and this whole mess with not promoting TiVo further has caused me to leave them. I'm going S3 with OTA HD signals and plan to complement that with some digital cable. If I can find quality content available for download purchase, then convert to TiVo, I will probably ditch the digital cable menu of channels.

[Spike_KK]

I've been a DTV customer for 12+ years and this whole mess with not promoting TiVo further has caused me to leave them. I'm going S3 with OTA HD signals and plan to complement that with some digital cable. If I can find quality content available for download purchase, then convert to TiVo, I will probably ditch the digital cable menu of channels.


EXACTLY - This is where things are heading (Free OTA, pay per use, and/or DL content). These giant media companies need to get with the times - those that don't will be left in the dust. The bundle-lumped $50+/mo. packages should eventually go the way of the dinosaur. I don't watch 1/4 of the stations I get today, and I would guess that is the norm.

[Booman70]

I've picked up several from ebay reasonably cheap for the Hughes dvr40s then upgrade with new hard drive

[Dood]

AI decided to try it. I am not happy with it.

That is because the R15 is a huge piece of crap. Has been since it was released and will be forever.

There have been more bad reviews of this junky receiver than all others combined.

Some of the same issues from the date of release are still an issue. I think my caller ID worked 3 times in 6 months.

I finally gotr fed up and threw the 2 R15's I had in the trash and got a REAL TiVo unit - Life is GREAT now that the R15 is in a landfill.

[dshinnick]

I am sooooo glad I picked up some extra R10's. I have three in the garage just waiting in case one or more of the three in the house go bad. I have ZERO interest in the R15.

[mrpope]

i took the hd out of my r15 before trashing it.

[HiDefGator]

EXACTLY - This is where things are heading (Free OTA, pay per use, and/or DL content). These giant media companies need to get with the times - those that don't will be left in the dust. The bundle-lumped $50+/mo. packages should eventually go the way of the dinosaur. I don't watch 1/4 of the stations I get today, and I would guess that is the norm.

I'll bet I don't watch 3/4 of the stations I get but I'm not sure that matters. The 1/4 I do watch reflect 95% of the cost of my bill. Most of the stations you don't watch are thrown in for free. How much do you think you would save from the bill if all the shopping channels were eliminated?

[SLOmike]

Because I am "leasing" it I can't steal the hard drive from the R15.

-Mike

[Dkerr24]

I am sooooo glad I picked up some extra R10's. I have three in the garage just waiting in case one or more of the three in the house go bad. I have ZERO interest in the R15.

I didn't go to that extreme, but I do have a imaged and hacked hard drive loaded and ready to go for each of my DTivo's for the day when the hard drives in each fail.

[20TIL6]

I'll bet I don't watch 3/4 of the stations I get but I'm not sure that matters. The 1/4 I do watch reflect 95% of the cost of my bill. Most of the stations you don't watch are thrown in for free. How much do you think you would save from the bill if all the shopping channels were eliminated?
I think that the price of content will be set by the owners of the content, not the distributor. Yeah, I agree that some channels have much more demand than others. But that metric goes out the window when buyer and seller meet face to face. In the end, the consumer will get a better price and the seller will make more money when cable and sat are pushed aside.

It's going to get very interesting, and it's unknown how it will all eventually work out. But one thing is for sure. It ain't going to be like it's always been.

[Jerry_K]

If you are going to get DTiVo units get the series 2 units before R10 so you can hack them for MRV etc.

[rickmccl]

So I take it from this thread that it is still possible to get a Tivo subscription from DirecTV? I've been hesitant to recommend it because I didn't know if it was still possible.

thanks

[goony]

DirecTV will still activate Tivo-based units. This isn't a "Tivo subscription" and has nothing to do with Tivo Corp. You will be asked to pay a flat $5.99 monthly DVR fee which covers all DVRs on your account no matter if they are Tivo-based DVRs or DirecTV DVRs (R15s).

If you are not moving an activated access card on your account (i.e. from another receiver) then DirecTV may ask you to buy a new access card for $20.

If you call them and they tell you "no" or want to extend your contract or somesuch just hang up the phone and call back - play "CSR Roulette" until you get the person that knows what they are doing and will activate your DTivo unit.

[rickmccl]

thanks goony. I've enjoyed mine for years and I even had relatives ask me about it over Thanksgiving conversation. Now I have a good word to pass along.

[sk33t3r]

So I take it from this thread that it is still possible to get a Tivo subscription from DirecTV? I've been hesitant to recommend it because I didn't know if it was still possible.

thanks
I picked up a used dsr7000 and hdvr2 on ebay reasonably priced, the software was hosed causing them to hang at the green screen of death, but that didnt matter was I was reloading them with zipper.

Then I added a 3rd and 4 th directtivo to my account a month ago, on one of them they asked for the RID but the receiver didnt have RID, they were still added.

[goony]

Now I want to know how to find a DirecTiVo. I have heard mention of Walmart. Any place else?Read this topic too (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=316297) as it covers lots of possibilities.

[extension 721]

EXACTLY - This is where things are heading (Free OTA, pay per use, and/or DL content). These giant media companies need to get with the times - those that don't will be left in the dust. The bundle-lumped $50+/mo. packages should eventually go the way of the dinosaur. I don't watch 1/4 of the stations I get today, and I would guess that is the norm.

Bundle lumped starts at the programmer level.

Disney owns ESPN...guess how much MORE ESPN costs a cable comapny if ythey DON'T lump in all the other disney owned channels???

If you could buy ESPN seperately, it'd be no less than $5 a month, and the cable co' would have to start you off with a $10 "service fee" for all the lovely other things they provide, like people you can call, billing, et-cetera.

a la carte (c-band) channels went the way of the dinosaur. Used to be you'd have a seperate subscription to HBO, ESPN, and the like....to the tune of WAY TOO MUCH MONEY and huge charges if you needed a repair.

As for content, the way of the future is to pay $1 per episode of each favorite program you have, because everyone skips the commercials, anyway. That's $25 a year per program, cheaper to buy the DVD.

Already, the major networks are starting to die. Monday night football is on ESPN. over 1/3 of the hit new series are on pay-only TV.

Sin to say it here, but TIVO will ultimately prove to be the little box that destroyed free TV....or at least shoved a billion ugly product placements into each episode.

...that and good ol' youtube.

[joelq]

If you are going to get DTiVo units get the series 2 units before R10 so you can hack them for MRV etc.

This is getting OT, but regarding MRV, it must be noted that there is an issue with MRV that requires the Parental Control code to be entered on the remote Tivo regardless of the program's rating, before the program begins to be transferred.

I found this out only after I bought a used Samsung SIR-4040R off Ebay and zippered it. MRV worked fine along with my other DTivo (Samsung SIR-4080R), but then the Parental Control issue. I had bought the second DTivo specifically so my son could watch has Naruto and what-not :) episodes on it and free-up the main TV, but having to have him enter the parental control code each time somewhat defeats the purpose.