Direct TV & Tivo

[rebekahdale]

I have a regular Tivo that i currently use with my Comcast Cable. I am fixing to move somewhere that has Directv. Can i still use my current tivo?

[Leon WIlkinson]

If your TiVo doesn't have a CableCard in it, yes you can us it on a Sat Box.

[rebekahdale]

how do you know if it has a cable card?

[CuriousMark]

I have a regular Tivo that i currently use with my Comcast Cable. I am fixing to move somewhere that has Directv. Can i still use my current tivo?
If, by "regular Tivo" you mean a series 2 DVR, then it will work fine with a standard definition DirecTv satellite receiver such as a D-10 or D-11. You will need to connect the sat receiver's S-Video input into the TiVo input and repeat guided setup to use the receiver and DTV channel line-up for your area. If your regular tivo is a dual tuner unit, it will now only function as a single tuner unit since it will only have a single input from the sat receiver. If it is a single tuner TiVo it will work with the sat receiver the same way it worked with a cable box before.

If your TiVo is a Series 3 or HD unit that accepts cable cards (has slots for them), then it cannot be used with a cable box or satellite receiver at all. Those TiVos are cable only devices.

There are currently about 8 different TiVo models in the wild, in my opinion all of them are "regular" in one way or another, thus the confusion. If my guess that you have a single tuner series 2 is wrong, please post back with the details of what it is and we can give a better answer.

[rebekahdale]

yes i have a series 2 tivo, sorry for the confusion. will i need any special cords to make this work?

thanks so much for your help!

[HiDefGator]

While your series 2 will work with Directv you may find that the integrated options available from Directv are a cleaner solution. One box, one remote, dual tuners, no IR blaster. You can even get an old DTivo and still have the Tivo interface.

[dslunceford]

You can even get an old DTivo and still have the Tivo interface.

You can use your S2, but an integrated DTV/TiVo box is definitely the way to go. If you don't need HD, then look on eBay or Craigslist for a DirecTV DVR with TiVo -- I don't think you can still get a TiVo box directly from DTV. You could even look for the HD DirecTV Tivo box and use it as a 100+ hour SD box (it isn't compatible with the new HD channels DTV launched).

DirecTV is great, but I'm actually moving the other way to get the most of my TiVo experience and will put 6 DirecTV/TiVo boxes up on Craigslist or eBay in the next two weeks when I install FiOS. You'll see a bunch of people doing the same, especially with the HR10-250 (the TiVo/DTV integrated HD box that won't pick up the new HD channels).

[nrc]

While your series 2 will work with Directv you may find that the integrated options available from Directv are a cleaner solution. One box, one remote, dual tuners, no IR blaster. You can even get an old DTivo and still have the Tivo interface.
Cleaner and more reliable as far as channel tuning and conflict avoidance, but they lack some of the features available on TiVo.

[CuriousMark]

will i need any special cords to make this work?
Maybe, then again you may already have everything you need. I have a DirecTv D10 satellite receiver. It connects to to my TiVo using an S-Video cable and a red/white RCA audio cable. Both are very standard and reasonably cheap. (especially if you stay away from overpriced monster cables) I control the receiver using a serial cable that I bought from TiVo online for less than ten bucks. Newer sat receivers can't use that control cable, so you may want to get a new type of serial to USB control cable from Paterson Tech, or just use IR blasters. The Paterson Tech cable changes channels faster and more reliably, but will cost more than ten bucks.

If you connect your TiVo to your internet router via Ethernet you may need an Ethernet cable too.