Move from DirecTivos to new equipment

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JimGill

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Dec 27, 2011
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San Jose, CA
It's finally time to abandon our houseful of beloved HDVR2 DirecTivo boxes and move on. Right now we have 4 of these units and they're hacked with the Zipper tools. But while the HR34 looks like a cool unit, I need more than 5 tuners. I'd love to keep 8 tuners since we'll still keep 4 TVs, but if push came to shove I could probably squeak by with 6 or 7 tuners.

So what's the best combination of hardware I should be shooting for in order not to give up any capabilities I now have with the Zipper'd DirecTivos?

And what services need to be included in this order?

I've been a DTV user since 2003 and have never once asked for or received any sort of concessions or freebies, so can I expect to get some help from them on funding this project?
 
It's finally time to abandon our houseful of beloved HDVR2 DirecTivo boxes and move on. Right now we have 4 of these units and they're hacked with the Zipper tools. But while the HR34 looks like a cool unit, I need more than 5 tuners. I'd love to keep 8 tuners since we'll still keep 4 TVs, but if push came to shove I could probably squeak by with 6 or 7 tuners.

So what's the best combination of hardware I should be shooting for in order not to give up any capabilities I now have with the Zipper'd DirecTivos?

And what services need to be included in this order?

I've been a DTV user since 2003 and have never once asked for or received any sort of concessions or freebies, so can I expect to get some help from them on funding this project?

What is a Zipper'd DirecTivo ?
What capabilities do you have now that you will lose ?
 
The DirecTV HD DVR's all have Caller ID. They also have E-sata ports so you can connect external hard drives although once an external is connected the internal is disabled. You can not transfer content from one DVR to another.

If you get Whole Home DVR with a HR34 and another HR DVR all your recordings are available at either DVR, they show up on a central list for all of your HD receivers. The HR34 also has Picture in Picture, where the HR2x models do not. The software on the HR DVR's also has the ability to share content from your PC; Pictures, Video and Music. The new CE firmware also has Pandora and Youtube connectivity. You will want the Cinema Connection Kit which connects your HR DVR's to your home Network so you can share PC content. You can also use DirecTV2PC so you can playback your recordings to your PC in realtime. Currently this feature is not available on the HR34 and and you can only stream recorded content no live channel playback, unless it is currently recording.

Using a Cinema connection kit you also have access to all of DirecTV's On Demand content, but only on DVR's.

John
 
What is a Zipper'd DirecTivo ?
What capabilities do you have now that you will lose ?
Zipper is a hack that allowed various mods to the Tivo software, the most important being the ability to network the DTivos so you could see what was on each unit and move recordings between them. That feature allowed you to do other cool things like take video from some other source and play it back on the TV or even pull recordings off of the Tivos and save the files for playback someplace else. Some other benefits of the hack were the ability to undelete recordings and use a web interface to not only control all of the Tivo UI functions but also get at the more technical things underlying the UI.

As for what I'd lose, I'm not 100% sure. It seems like there are some Season Pass/Recording differences and also some differences in how the buffers work.
 
If you get Whole Home DVR with a HR34 and another HR DVR all your recordings are available at either DVR, they show up on a central list for all of your HD receivers.
Thanks for the info John. So to match what I've got now, I'd need the HR34 and then, what, at least two of the HR24's and one other HD box? Or, does DTV allow more than one HR34, and if so, do they integrate with each other so you have one master recording list?
 
It's finally time to abandon our houseful of beloved HDVR2 DirecTivo boxes and move on. Right now we have 4 of these units and they're hacked with the Zipper tools. But while the HR34 looks like a cool unit, I need more than 5 tuners. I'd love to keep 8 tuners since we'll still keep 4 TVs, but if push came to shove I could probably squeak by with 6 or 7 tuners.

So what's the best combination of hardware I should be shooting for in order not to give up any capabilities I now have with the Zipper'd DirecTivos?

And what services need to be included in this order?

I've been a DTV user since 2003 and have never once asked for or received any sort of concessions or freebies, so can I expect to get some help from them on funding this project?

If you have 4 HD TV's & you want 8 tuners,what you can do is go with the HR34(5 tuners) & then add a H21/23/24/25(1 tuner) receiver each to your other three TV's. The HD receivers will allow you to program your recordings with the HR34. You'll need a DECA set up with a cinema connection kit hooked up to your router so that you can use your coaxial cable to provide internet connection to your receivers & HR34(the H21/H22 would need a DECA adapter to be able to receive internet connection via coaxial cable,the H24/H25 do not need an adapter.neither does the HR34. You need a SWM set-up & DECA if you got the H25 receivers,they have no ethernet connection).
 
Roy, I have a fully wired house with dual CAT5e and dual RG6 drops at each TV location. Does that change your recommendations any?

Also, what do I lose by having the H-series boxes vs the HR-series? What do I gain?
 
Roy, I have a fully wired house with dual CAT5e and dual RG6 drops at each TV location. Does that change your recommendations any?

Also, what do I lose by having the H-series boxes vs the HR-series? What do I gain?

You can use your H-series boxes to program recordings on your HR34. Somebody said that you could hook your HR34 to the internet by ethernet cable & completely bypass having to get a Cinema Connection Kit,& from the HR34,internet connection would carry through the coaxial cable to your other receivers,no ethernet connection needed. If you got another HR-series receiver in addition to your HR34,that would be 7 tuners tied up into 2 receivers. You would be able to get an additional H-series box with 1 tuner to to round out the 8 tuner limit,but then one of your 4 TV's would be without a receiver. If you wanted to go over the 8 tuner limit by maybe having 2 or more HD DVR's in addition to your HR34,you'd have to change your LNB from a SWM to a 4-cable LNB & then have them run to a SWM-16 powered multi-switch. One disadvantage of the H-series receiver over the HR-series receiver is that you cannot order Movies on Demand with the H-series receivers,only with the HR-series receivers can you do that.
 
Ok, so maybe one HR34, two other HR boxes and one H, plus the SWM-16 setup. Now the real question is, how much could I convince DTV to contribute. I know I'd pay full price less rebate for the HR34, but as all of my other equipment would need to be replaced it would get prohibitively expensive if I had to cover all of it out of pocket.

Thanks again for your help!
 
Ok, so maybe one HR34, two other HR boxes and one H, plus the SWM-16 setup. Now the real question is, how much could I convince DTV to contribute. I know I'd pay full price less rebate for the HR34, but as all of my other equipment would need to be replaced it would get prohibitively expensive if I had to cover all of it out of pocket.

Thanks again for your help!

I would just approach it one box at a time. Maybe go HR34 first,then either HR-series or H-series box,then vice versa on the next box,then order the LNB & SWM-16 multiswitch,then finally the last HR-series box.
 
How would that work? To use the new boxes I'd need the SWM stuff, which I presume would mean that my old DTivo's wouldn't work.
 
How would that work? To use the new boxes I'd need the SWM stuff, which I presume would mean that my old DTivo's wouldn't work.
Then you could save the HR34 for last. Of all the H-series/HR-series receivers,you only need SWM for the H25 & I believe the HR34. the other H-series/HR-series receivers(the HR23 has B-Band Converters built in) will work with B-band Converters if you have the 4 cable SL3/SL5 LNBs. The HR-series DVR receivers would need both satellite 1 & satellite 2 inputs hooked up. Once you work up to the amount of HD DVR's/HD receivers you want(getting one by one),then you can order the SWM-16 multi-switch & finally the HR34.
 
Then you could save the HR34 for last. Of all the H-series/HR-series receivers,you only need SWM for the H25 & I believe the HR34. the other H-series/HR-series receivers(the HR23 has B-Band Converters built in) will work with B-band Converters if you have the 4 cable SL3/SL5 LNBs. The HR-series DVR receivers would need both satellite 1 & satellite 2 inputs hooked up. Once you work up to the amount of HD DVR's/HD receivers you want(getting one by one),then you can order the SWM-16 multi-switch & finally the HR34.

You can also order MRV viewing unsupported(being able to view recorded programming from one HR-series DVR receiver on another HR-series DVR receiver/H-series receiver) by calling D* to order it(if they give you a hard time saying you need DECA to get MRV[they're wrong],somebody here can show you how to order it by e-mail & what to say in your email) & having MRV run through you ethernet cables instead of a DECA set-up. Once you finally get the SWM-16 multiswitch & the HR34,you can disconnect the ethernet cables from the other H-series/HR-series receivers & disconnect the B-Band Converters from your H-series/HR-series receivers that have them & disconnect the second cable from the Satellite 2 input of your other HR-series DVR receivers,then you should be good to go.
 
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