# Can I return to TIVO and stay with DTV?



## thurdi (Oct 20, 2006)

After 3 years of impeccable service my TIVO box (which I received from DTV) croaked.

I thought that I would upgrade to the fancy R15 with 100hr recording time so I payed the $99 lease. In the last two weeks I've had all kinds of craziness from this machine: black screens, sound and picture not in sync, unrecorded shows, time counters fail-even the remote is slow.

I'd love to see if I can find a DirecTV Tivo. If I do so, how would I set up the Tivo with DirecTV? Would I need to get a subscription with TIVO? Will DirecTV give me a hard time if I want to return the R15 and get my $$ back after having the box for 2 weeks?

I am a newbee and would appreciate the feedback...

Thanks so much
Thurdi


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## litzdog911 (Jun 23, 2004)

You can still buy new DirecTV R10 DirecTV/Tivo DVRs from several online dealers, including http://www.weaknees.com. There are also some reputable eBay dealers, but also many scamsters.

After you buy one, just call DirecTV to activate it like any other DVR or Receiver. If it's new, it will have a new access card included. If it was used, you might need a new access card from DirecTV (about $20). DirecTV/Tivos do not require any Tivo account since the DVR subscription is provided by DirecTV. Hopefully they won't give you a hard time returning your R15.


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## dodge boy (Mar 31, 2006)

litzdog911 said:


> Hopefully they won't give you a hard time returning your R15.


It's leased so it's theirs, should be a problem returning it. Just make sure when you activate the TiVo that you explain to them you bought it online and therefore own it. If you have your old TiVo, maybe a new hard drive would fix it..... Plenty of people in the Tivo forum can help with that.


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## ApK (Mar 6, 2006)

I just got a DTivo from Tivo Magician, an eBay store. So far so good, but make sure you ask for the receiver's serial number and RID ahead of time to make sure with DTV that you can activate the unit on your account.


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## cybok0 (Jan 5, 2006)

thurdi said:


> After 3 years of impeccable service my TIVO box (which I received from DTV) croaked.
> 
> I thought that I would upgrade to the fancy R15 with 100hr recording time so I payed the $99 lease. In the last two weeks I've had all kinds of craziness from this machine: black screens, sound and picture not in sync, unrecorded shows, time counters fail-even the remote is slow.
> 
> ...


I think you have 30 days to return it without penalty, but i might be wrong about that.


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## thurdi (Oct 20, 2006)

I'd like to thank everyone for the advise. I bought a Hughes Direct TV TIVO on E-Bay for $90 and returned the DirecTV DVR. WHAT A DIFFERENCE!!! The used TIVO records everything it should and hasn't given me any problems whatsoever. I look forward to the day DTV can make a glitch free DVR. Meanwhile, thank goodness for the old DTV TIVOs.

Thurdi


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## litzdog911 (Jun 23, 2004)

Glad it worked out for you.


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## TomP (Nov 10, 2006)

litzdog911:
I read your post about the Directv R10. Is that a Tivo box and if I seen one will it say Tivo on it anywhere? I had to have the R15 installed yesterday and no to pleased at all with it. My Dtivo blew out.
Thanks:
TomP


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## bearymore (Sep 1, 2006)

My series 1 DTivo died after a good 4 or 5 years of flawless service. I tried the R15 and was utterly dissatisfied. I replaced it with a Philips DSR704 from PTVUpgrade.com, stuck a 200 GB in the unit and now have a 176 hour Series 2. The whole thing (disk and all) cost about $120 and was well worth it. PTVUpgrade's customer service was impeccable and the refurb DTivo works perfectly.


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## gomezma1 (Mar 28, 2006)

The only thing I like about the R-15 is the PIP while you scan the menu or what ever. This is one thing TIVO can't do. I have a DVR40 put up with another year of warranty left on it from Circuit City. But the feature I mentioned keeps me from reactivating it.


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## sheridan1952 (Mar 16, 2006)

gomezma1 said:


> The only thing I like about the R-15 is the PIP while you scan the menu or what ever....


That's one feature that I've really liked from the beginning. My previous receivers were Sony B55 units and while they had a PIP, it changed whenever you scanned the channels. I like being able to keep the current selected channel in the display while going through the guide.


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## tazman01 (Nov 14, 2006)

bearymore said:


> My series 1 DTivo died after a good 4 or 5 years of flawless service. I tried the R15 and was utterly dissatisfied. I replaced it with a Philips DSR704 from PTVUpgrade.com, stuck a 200 GB in the unit and now have a 176 hour Series 2. The whole thing (disk and all) cost about $120 and was well worth it. PTVUpgrade's customer service was impeccable and the refurb DTivo works perfectly.


Bearymore - how do you like the Philips? I am thinking of going the same route you did. Did you just upgrade the drive and not network? Also did you need to purchase (from ptv) the Cake, what about the universal boot and the other program they had for drives > 137gb.

Sorry for all the questions I am new and looking to avoid the R15 unless I get it for free and put in the bedroom as a secondary one that won't matter if I miss a show once in a while.


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## bearymore (Sep 1, 2006)

tazman01 said:


> Bearymore - how do you like the Philips? I am thinking of going the same route you did. Did you just upgrade the drive and not network? Also did you need to purchase (from ptv) the Cake, what about the universal boot and the other program they had for drives > 137gb.
> 
> Sorry for all the questions I am new and looking to avoid the R15 unless I get it for free and put in the bedroom as a secondary one that won't matter if I miss a show once in a while.


The Philips is working great. It's faster than my old Series 1 and has the Series 2 features like groups in Now Playing. From what I understand, from the user's standpoint all the Series 2 Directivos are the same.

Since my home network is wired and doesn't go into the rooms where I have the Tivos, I just upgraded the drives and didn't worry about the networking. All I needed from PTVUpgrade was Instantcake. It has version 6.2 something of the Tivo software on it which includes support for the large hard drives. The upgrading process was flawless -- hook up the drive to your computer as instructed, boot on the Instantcake CD and follow the instructions. Be sure to remember to do a complete reset and reformat the first time you boot the Tivo as the instructions specify. After that, enjoy!


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## miss_liquor (Nov 20, 2006)

thurdi said:


> I'd like to thank everyone for the advise. I bought a Hughes Direct TV TIVO on E-Bay for $90 and returned the DirecTV DVR. WHAT A DIFFERENCE!!! The used TIVO records everything it should and hasn't given me any problems whatsoever. I look forward to the day DTV can make a glitch free DVR. Meanwhile, thank goodness for the old DTV TIVOs.
> 
> Thurdi


I've just been through the same ringer. Except I didn't know the receiver was leased. They're telling me now that the $99 fee is non-refundable. After hours talking to various reps I finally got a snail mail address to send disputes to :nono2:. My question is did they refund the fee? Since I paid exactly the same for my first one 3 years ago it didn't occur to me that it wasn't the same deal this time, I didn't even know it wasn't a tivo device!

This has been an absolute nightmare. We've rehooked up our old tivo and I almost cried I was so happy. I should know better than not to read the internets before I try something new, now I feel I've sold my soul to the devil and there are no take-backs!


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## Kevin Dupuy (Nov 29, 2006)

litzdog911 said:


> You can still buy new DirecTV R10 DirecTV/Tivo DVRs from several online dealers, including http://www.weaknees.com. There are also some reputable eBay dealers, but also many scamsters.
> 
> After you buy one, just call DirecTV to activate it like any other DVR or Receiver. If it's new, it will have a new access card included. If it was used, you might need a new access card from DirecTV (about $20). DirecTV/Tivos do not require any Tivo account since the DVR subscription is provided by DirecTV. Hopefully they won't give you a hard time returning your R15.


Still check some stores, I was at my local Wal-Mart, and they still had several R10s. And this was a new just built wal-mart that opened a week ago, so it wasn't already in stock.


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## thurdi (Oct 20, 2006)

miss_liquor said:


> I've just been through the same ringer. Except I didn't know the receiver was leased. They're telling me now that the $99 fee is non-refundable. After hours talking to various reps I finally got a snail mail address to send disputes to :nono2:. My question is did they refund the fee? Since I paid exactly the same for my first one 3 years ago it didn't occur to me that it wasn't the same deal this time, I didn't even know it wasn't a tivo device!
> 
> This has been an absolute nightmare. We've rehooked up our old tivo and I almost cried I was so happy. I should know better than not to read the internets before I try something new, now I feel I've sold my soul to the devil and there are no take-backs!


DirecTV screwed me too and took my $99. I told them that I wasn't some sort of lab rat and didn't deserve to test their glitchy Beta products. They didn't care. They made some easy money from me. When I hooked up a DirecTV-Tivo I bought off of EBAY it has worked glitch free and records EVERYTHING!

Thanks for nothing DTV. Screwing your customers will catch up to u soon enough.


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## ApK (Mar 6, 2006)

thurdi said:


> DirecTV screwed me too and took my $99. I told them that I wasn't some sort of lab rat and didn't deserve to test their glitchy Beta products. They didn't care. They made some easy money from me. When I hooked up a DirecTV-Tivo I bought off of EBAY it has worked glitch free and records EVERYTHING!
> 
> Thanks for nothing DTV. Screwing your customers will catch up to u soon enough.


You must have ticked someone off royally.

Reading these boards, it appears just about anyone who has asked to get their money back on the R15 has gotten it. I got my R15 for free, and they were STILL giving me money back when I complained about the problems.

Anyway, life has been good since getting a DTivo and unplugging the R15.

If that major new upgrade happens, maybe I'll plug it in again.


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## tstarn (Oct 1, 2006)

May seem silly to some, but I bought two used R10s on ebay, even though we have two already working. My wife insisted, so she has backup when/if either of the working ones crashes. For the $150 I paid (they both have cards), it's worth it (I had sold an original Philips 30-hour standalone Tivo with lifetime service for $300 to raise the cash). I tested them and they both work fine. I won't move to the R15 under any circumstances, based on what I've seen on this forum. Dealing with the HR20 has been enough adventure in reliability for us. Maybe in a year or so, we may get another HR20, but that won't convince her to change. I'll just swap it out for my H20 in the bedroom.


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## polbit (Oct 31, 2006)

I'm back with an R15, and have to share my comeback story 

I had a DirecTV Tivo, replaced it with an R15 month or so ago, it worked like crap. Got another R15, worked like crap again. I called DirecTV, returned both units, then got the bill that showed the lease charge still on there. I called them again, and was told that the fee was non-refundable. After going around for about 15 minutes with some young kid who just wanted to get me off the phone, I got ticked off. Hung up, called them again, and said that I wanted to cancel my service. After the rep found out what the issue was, he promptly credited my account, gave me 10% for 6 months, and said that they can send me a brand-new R15 for free, if I want to try it again.

Well, I got the R15-100, with a newer remote (RC32), and it's like night-and-day. Remote responds fast, everything seems to be working better. If it wasn't for first run/repeats issue, I would say I'm a satisfied customer.

PolBit


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## mikewolf13 (Jan 31, 2006)

thurdi said:


> DirecTV screwed me too and took my $99. I told them that I wasn't some sort of lab rat and didn't deserve to test their glitchy Beta products. They didn't care. They made some easy money from me. When I hooked up a DirecTV-Tivo I bought off of EBAY it has worked glitch free and records EVERYTHING!
> 
> Thanks for nothing DTV. Screwing your customers will catch up to u soon enough.


As much as I have been anti R15 (and still am)...I do not believe DTV's intention or desire is to "screw" their customers.

They made business decision to increase revenue by branding their own DVR, and designed it with features and future features that it believes will be a valuable benefit to their Customers.

Now you may beleive the decision was short-sighted or that the execution and design of that plan has been disastrous. But, it is unfair to assert that Dtv has intentionally "screwed" their customers like it was their master plan.


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## garye20904 (Jan 30, 2006)

sheridan1952 said:


> That's one feature that I've really liked from the beginning. My previous receivers were Sony B55 units and while they had a PIP, it changed whenever you scanned the channels. I like being able to keep the current selected channel in the display while going through the guide.


It's been a while since my b55 died (lightening) but I am pretty certain you could select wheather the current selected channel displayed or if it would change while you scanned. The B55 rocked it was so so much better than the direcTv equivallent that they replaced it with. Too bad Sony doesn't make a Tivo DirecTv receiver any more (but it was prohibitively expensive lwhen they did make it). However, with my experience with the R15 I could more easily justify the cost.


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