by Griffin Caprio
March 13, 2006 01:21 PM
Categories:
Standalone DVRs
My plans for my second TiVo did not go as planned. Let's review what I wanted to accomplish with my second tivo:
1. No subscription. Record only on time and station.
2. Watch content on any TiVo from any TiVo.
3. Stream Music & Photos to the second TiVo location.
That's not a bad little list. Let's see how things worked out...
1. No subscription. Record only on time and station.
Nope. It turns out that TiVo disables ANY recording functionality without a valid subscription, which costs $299 lifetime or $13.99 a month. Needless to say, this sucks. AND you can't download program updates without a subscription, either. So, I grab my credit card to pay for my monthly subscription. A nice little surprise is that since I have 1 TiVo, my second TiVo's monthly subscription is only $6.95 a month, even though the other tivo is a lifetime subscription. So that's OK, but not great and at least I get full functionality from both tivos.
2. Watch content on any TiVo from any TiVo.
This
actually works as advertised. Sort of. What actually happens is when your TiVo is on the same nerwork as another TiVo, is that the other TiVo actually appears at the bottom of the 'Now Playing' screen. From there you can browse the content of the other TiVo BUT you can't actually stream the content over the network. First you have to transfer the content from one TiVo to the other. This takes a LONG time. Almost the length of the actual show. You can start watching the content at any time, but it may stop and studder while you are watching it. Also, this happens one program at a time. If you want to transfer more than one program at a time, each program goes into the transfer queue, and gets transferred one at a time.
3. Stream Music & Photos to the second TiVo location. This works as expected, and I have no qualms about the functionality.
So, all in all, not a bad purchase. I still came out ahead for the 80 hr TiVo I paid for. An I figure that at $6.95 a month, it would take about 3 1/2 years to pay for the lifetime subscription. By that time, I will have moved on to my next TiVo ( or whatever PVR company is around by then ).
Moderator
March 16, 2006 10:30 PM
Yes, unfortunately, a standalone TiVo is pretty much useless in "Boat Anchor" mode (that's a real term, by the way). I was glad I lost a bid on eBay for a standalone, as I was going to try the same thing. You can, however, use a DirecTiVo that isn't active for MRV and HMO. There doesn't even have to be an access card present for it to work, though it will nag you every time if there isn't one in the slot (it doesn't have to be "active").
TechLore Blog
HR10-250, Samsung SIR-S4120R, SIR-S4080R, 2 Philips DSR704s (one connected to a Slingbox A/V). One box used the "Zipper"; rest used PTVnet to enable networking features.
Member
November 3, 2006 5:31 PM
I would be interested to see if the standalone unit can even be networked with no subscription.....all I need for it to do is the mrv.....
Moderator
March 1, 2007 9:47 PM
Yog-Sothoth I was wondering what if anything is necessary to connect a DirecTV Tivo Hughes SD-DVR40 that is NOT connected to DirecTVs service so I have MRV and HMO? Basically I had purchased a DirecTV Hughes Sd-DVR40 which I had upgraded and when I contacted DirecTV to have it setup they told me they couldn't because the original owner owed over $400 on his account. So now it is just a brick hidden underneath my bad.
I have 5 DirecTV Tivos networked right now for each room in the house other than my sons room , they only have a regular receiver. I am guessing that I could connect the unsubscription box to my home network (After it has been upgraded with PTVnet and InstantCake 6.2, and superpatched if needed) and I would be able to transfer shows from the other Subscription D-Tivo boxes? Is there anything else I would need to do?
Is it possible to connect it from the output of the DirecTV regular receiver box so it can record also like a VCR?
Any help/thoughts are greatly appreciated.
2 Phillips DSR704's InstantCaked 6.2a-PTVnet -200GB HD's-MRV-HMO my MP3's, 3 Hughes SD-DVR40's-InstantCaked 6.2a and PTVnet -250GB HD's-MRV-HMO my MP3's, 1 Hughes HDVR2 IntantCaked 6.2a and PTVnet- 2 40GB HD's-ONLY for MRV storage.
Moderator
March 21, 2007 9:46 PM
Hello I connected up the DVR-40 that I listed above and I do not reveive any nags about the card since I do have a card in the slot. The only message that I have been getting is that the satellite could not connect. I do not have it connected to any coax from the satellite dish. Is there a way to stop it from coming up with this message. I can MRV and HMO to and from the unit.
I InstantCaked and PTVnet'd the software version 6.2. I used the original hard drive since it was for my kids room just so the little kid shows could be stored on it. Now I am thinking about putting a large hard drive (250-500Gb) in so it can be a permanent place to store all the movies and shows from the other DVR's so they do not just waste the space of movies that occasionally might be rewatched.
It is not a real big issue that it cannot connect to the satellite, I just hit the DirecTV button and go to the now playing list anyways so I can watch the show/movies, just thought it would be nice to get rid of the nagging message. Thanks in advance.
2 Phillips DSR704's InstantCaked 6.2a-PTVnet -200GB HD's-MRV-HMO my MP3's, 3 Hughes SD-DVR40's-InstantCaked 6.2a and PTVnet -250GB HD's-MRV-HMO my MP3's, 1 Hughes HDVR2 IntantCaked 6.2a and PTVnet- 2 40GB HD's-ONLY for MRV storage.
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