Use DirecTV R15 as receiver only and feed to a Tivo Series 2

[seanharrell]

I have a friend that has a DirecTV R15 Receiver/DVR that he does not like. He also incidentally has a Tivo series 2 that he has never used -- just laying around. I am thinking about trying to help him hook this up so he can use the Tivo as his DVR and only use the R15 as a receiver. Will this work?

Thanks

[samo]

I have a friend that has a DirecTV R15 Receiver/DVR that he does not like. He also incidentally has a Tivo series 2 that he has never used -- just laying around. I am thinking about trying to help him hook this up so he can use the Tivo as his DVR and only use the R15 as a receiver. Will this work?

Thanks
Most likely not. R-15 does not have serial port and uses different IR code (TiVo may or may not have it in a database).
By far the best solution for your friend is to get dual tuner R-10 (DirecTivo) from e-bay or online merchant. Not only it is a better deal on subscription cost ($5.99 with no additional commitment vs at least $12.95 with 3 year, or $16.95 with 1 year commitment) but picture quality and dual tuner capability alone blow S2 out of the water.

[litzdog911]

There is no way to use a DirecTV DVR as a Satellite Receiver with a standalone Tivo.

[John T Smith]

friend that has a DirecTV R15
DirecTv forum for their own brand of DVR
http://www.dbstalk.com/forumdisplay.php?f=82

[JimSpence]

Trying to control a DVR with another DVR is counterproductive.

Sell the R15 and use the proceeds for an R10.

[wolflord11]

You will have problems as the R15 is a Dual Tuner. Hooking it to the tivo will not work well at all.

The Tivo only accepts One feed, the R15 Two. So this messes things up there. Also, why hook One DVR to another?

[Billy Bob Boy]

I have a friend that has a DirecTV R15 Receiver/DVR that he does not like. He also incidentally has a Tivo series 2 that he has never used -- just laying around. I am thinking about trying to help him hook this up so he can use the Tivo as his DVR and only use the R15 as a receiver. Will this work?

ThanksDont forget to have your friend call D* and tell them how much he hates the r15(Might be good for some freebies)

BTW Welcome to the forum Seanharrel (I hope this is not another newbie hit and run)I hate when that happens 1 question answered and bye bye(Makes me feel Used :rolleyes: :cool: )

Btw 2 the one who said the discussion of the dreaded directv dvr is elsewhere wasnt saying dont hang around ;)

[shaun-ohio]

yes you can hook your R15 up to the series 2, and it works, just take the red, white, plugs out from the R15, to the tivo, then take the s-video out from the R15 to the series2, just make sure during the guided setup redo, that you just choose directv as your receiver, and also make sure that the R15 is not set to rf frequency on the remote, make sure it is set to ir on the remote control, the reason i know is because before i got my hr20, thats the way mine was hooked up, because i liked the tivo listings, better than the R15 or the Hr20, and a series 2 even works with a HR20, as well, because i had both of them set up, since they both only have 1 tuner output working all the time, you still can record something on the other tuner, and have 2 dvrs to use :)

[JimSpence]

How do you control what tuner outputs to the standalone? I can see a bunch of lost recordings on the SA.

[jmoak]

How do you control what tuner outputs to the standalone? I can see a bunch of lost recordings on the SA.The r15 should see the ir control signals from the tivo's ir blaster just as it would the control signals from a regular remote. As far as the r15 knows, someone's watching tv live. It's never set to record anything (all recording is being done on the sa tivo) so it's not swapping tuners at all.

As long as tivo knows the ir codes (and it should because the ir codes are the same for any directv branded receiver) it should work ok.

It's not the most elegant solution, but it should work.

... as I don't have a r15, this is simply speculation. ymmv

[JimSpence]

The bottom line question is, can the SA control an r15?

This basically removes the R15 from doing any recording, does it not?

For an extra mirror fee, you can have three tuners. :)

[samo]

The bottom line question is, can the SA control an r15?

:)
Not unless it has a code for R-15 (I have no clue if it does or not). R-15 uses different IR code from regular receivers. I had to program my universal OFA remote for it.But it is kind of stupid to use S2 with R-15. Even if you have lifetime on S2 you will reduce dual tuner DVR into single tuner receiver, will lose 100 hr of recording capacity, introduce delay in switching channels, will get slower guide and will get worse picture quality. Why? The only feature you will get with S2 is suggestion (I assume you will not need MRV with single TiVo). If you prefer TiVo interface so much, why not just get R-10?

[wolflord11]

Bottom line is this: A SA Series 2 Tivo can control a R15 Directv DVR.

Now why would you want to do this? Who knows?

You would be paying a Fee to tivo (Monthly or Lifetime)

and also a DVR Fee to Directv. You may also be paying a Monthly receiver charge to Directv.

And for what, basically a SA Tivo unit. Why not just get a stand alone Directv/Tivo unit such as the R10 or older receiver.

Or, a Standard Directv Unit and use the Tivo unit with that.

Running a SA Series 2 Tivo and a R15 Directv Dual Tuner DVR gives you 1 DVR Recorder at best. You also loose picture quality.