help regarding directv tivo receiver

[gogothere]

Hi all..ok I lived in an apartment complex which has directv and to have a directv tivo unit you have to have a destacker and buy the unit yourself...well my old hughes receiver from 3 years has quit and i need to purchase a new combo receiver (no leases, etc) just plain ole purchase...where is a good palce to purchase one and what one should i purchase?thanks i've been reading the thing to get is a r10? where? any others? i do need the card included

[JimSpence]

If your hard drive died in your old unit, then just get a replacement for it.
Here's one place: http://www.weaknees.com/tivo-upgrade.php

[John T Smith]

Check eBay for new R10's

[gogothere]

how can i be sure its just the hard drive though? is it easy to do yourself? i was getting severe green screen errors, now all it does its keep restarting and powering up when you plug it in

[John T Smith]

is it easy to do yourself?
Have you ever installed/replaced a hard drive in a computer?

Same thing, just in a smaller case

[gogothere]

no i havent although i've replaced other things in my computer..surely wouldnt be that difficult, so you think that is the problem? i just would hate to buy that then it still not work right

[John T Smith]

There is no way anyone HERE can be 100% sure what is happening THERE where you are with your equipment

[Wakka092]

It would probaly be easier to just by a R10 at walmart for $99. A new hard drive, if that is the problem, would most likely cost more than that.
A good place to pick up a R10 is Walmart.

[gogothere]

Allrighty I"ll have to check out the local wal marts then

[John T Smith]

Do not limit your search to WallyWorld... go to ALL electronics stores in your area

I recently found 5 R10's at a local (Portland OR) CompUsa... bought all 5... sold 3 on eBay and put 2 in storage for the "someday" when one of my existing units dies

[Barryrod]

If you buy a new HD and install it yourself with instantcake, you will have SOOOOO much more storage, the 160gig I put in my kid's DTivo brought it up to 140 hours of storage.

[goony]

Check out http://tivo.upgrade-instructions.com for step-by-step info on how to install a commodity drive to expand recording capacity. Avoid "serial/SATA" drives; you will need a "parallel/EIDE" drive. No need for a high-performance drive like a 10,000 RPM drive (too much heat), just use a 7200 RPM drive, or even a 5400 RPM drive if you can still find one.

Recording time will (roughly) be GB size times 0.875. As mentioned before, if you are capable of doing a hard drive in a PC you can do the same in a DTivo.

If you decide to go with a different box... don't limit yourself to R10s - they just happened to be the final model of SD DTivos made.

Check out this topic: Where do I get a DirecTivo? (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=316297). Any Series 2 model (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=4354807&&#post4354807) will do; the disk space just varies. If you want to enhance it with network features (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=265929) then avoid the R10 model.

[gogothere]

well checked out 3 walmarts today, a compusa, and a ultimate elctronics and no r10s to be found so guess its either buy one on ebay or buy a hard drive to see if thats the problem..thanks for the help guys, may need it again if i decide to do the new hard drive thing

[gogothere]

another quick question...if i were to buy a used combo unit, will a used access card not work? i assume just better to buy a brand new unit

[goony]

DirecTV is sometimes not eager to activate access cards that have been on someone else's account - they want $20 for a new one, so it's not too bad.

Also: If you are replacing an existing receiver on your account with a DTivo you may be able to xfr the card from the old receiver to the new with no additional programming commitments. If you don't get cooperation on the first call to get it done then hang up and call back - the next CSR will know exactly what to do and do it well.

If you want to go hard-drive hunting at a traditional store, try http://www.salescircular.com and see who is having a sale nearby. For an online purchase I highly recommend http://www.NewEgg.com

[Barryrod]

Be aware that a lot of the Dtivos on ebay have dead or dying hard drives. Usually that is the reason they are being sold. The HDVR2 I got had a stuttering Harddrive. I replace the drive with a 160gig drive and it has been running great for about a year so far.

Also I have seen where the one you get may be linked to an account with a balance and Dtv will not activate until the previous owner squares up their account.