# Using deactivated HD-Tivo to record over the air HD?



## musiclover408 (Mar 16, 2006)

I just turned off my HD Tivos and hooked up the new HD DVRs. My question is, how do you set them up to be able to record over the air HD only? When I go to the system set up menu and choose Over the Air antenna only as my choice...it does not find any HD channels which it did before. 

I'd love anyone's help with this!!

Thanks so much!


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## bt-rtp (Dec 30, 2005)

I threw my old HD TiVo HR10-250 in the garbage yesterday.



musiclover408 said:


> I just turned off my HD Tivos and hooked up the new HD DVRs. My question is, how do you set them up to be able to record over the air HD only? When I go to the system set up menu and choose Over the Air antenna only as my choice...it does not find any HD channels which it did before.
> 
> I'd love anyone's help with this!!
> 
> Thanks so much!


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## Sirshagg (Dec 30, 2006)

bt-rtp said:


> I threw my old HD TiVo HR10-250 in the garbage yesterday.


:eek2::eek2::eek2: WOW! Do you use hundered dollar bills as toilet paper too?


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## danielb6752 (Sep 9, 2006)

Sirshagg said:


> :eek2::eek2::eek2: WOW! Do you use hundered dollar bills as toilet paper too?


yeah dig that out and toss it on ebay before the trash man comes on Monday!


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## Knon2000 (Nov 20, 2006)

musiclover408 said:


> I just turned off my HD Tivos and hooked up the new HD DVRs. My question is, how do you set them up to be able to record over the air HD only? When I go to the system set up menu and choose Over the Air antenna only as my choice...it does not find any HD channels which it did before.
> 
> I'd love anyone's help with this!!
> 
> Thanks so much!


Sorry, you can't record anything without a subscription. You can view the channels, but that is it. If you want to record anything, you can call DTV, and add it back to your account as a mirror. For $5 it is well worth it, at least in my mind.


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## musiclover408 (Mar 16, 2006)

Before I actually deactivated the unit, but after I had already removed the satellite coax cables, the unit was saying that "My DVR service is not activated" so it would not show me my season passes, etc. So, my question is will D* activate the unit and my DVR service on it without having it actually hooked up with satellite feeds? Also, when I tried to re-run the set up...it doesn't tune in ANY OTA HD channels. So at the moment, it won't even let me see the channels. What am I doing wrong?

Thanks again for the help!


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## litzdog911 (Jun 23, 2004)

DirecTV will probably reactivate it just fine. They don't really know if it's connected to your dish or not. But nothing on the HR10-250 will change until it's connected to your dish and recognizes that it has been reactivated. Then you should be able to perform Guided Setup again and re-initialize your OTA HD reception too.


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## musiclover408 (Mar 16, 2006)

If I'm going to re-activate the HD Tivo and pay the fee, I'd like to be able to use it to record D* channels as well. The problem is my current multi-switch only has 8 outputs and I would need 2 more to hook up the HD Tivo. Is there a larger switch than 8? If so, can someone give me a model # or link so I can find how much it would cost.

Thanks much!


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## Michael D'Angelo (Oct 21, 2006)

musiclover408 said:


> If I'm going to re-activate the HD Tivo and pay the fee, I'd like to be able to use it to record D* channels as well. The problem is my current multi-switch only has 8 outputs and I would need 2 more to hook up the HD Tivo. Is there a larger switch than 8? If so, can someone give me a model # or link so I can find how much it would cost.
> 
> Thanks much!


Yes there is a Zinwell WB616. That has 16 outputs.

You could also get a 2nd 8 output multi-switch and run them in a parallel setup with 4 splitters (dual power passing 5mhz to 2300mhz).


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## musiclover408 (Mar 16, 2006)

Thanks for the advice. Do you know if DirecTV will come out and swap out my multiswitch for free since it will involve them getting more money out of me per month by adding more recivers?


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## Michael D'Angelo (Oct 21, 2006)

musiclover408 said:


> Thanks for the advice. Do you know if DirecTV will come out and swap out my multiswitch for free since it will involve them getting more money out of me per month by adding more recivers?


DirecTV does not supply the Zinwell WB616 that I know of. I believe the only way to get one is buying it from a online retailer. If you need more outputs I believe DirecTV normally uses splitters and will add a 2nd WB68.


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## musiclover408 (Mar 16, 2006)

Is there any beneficial reason to go with the larger switch, or just having them add a 2nd WB68? I don't want to pay $130 for something I don't have to or don't really need.

Thanks


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## Michael D'Angelo (Oct 21, 2006)

musiclover408 said:


> Is there any beneficial reason to go with the larger switch, or just having them add a 2nd WB68? I don't want to pay $130 for something I don't have to or don't really need.
> 
> Thanks


It is powered which is nice but you really don't need it. I used 2 WB68's with splitters and never had a problem.


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## Ricka (Aug 9, 2006)

You could always drop one feed from a tivo/dvr(use one tuner) and use that feed for the hd tivo(one tuner)


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## musiclover408 (Mar 16, 2006)

Ricka said:


> You could always drop one feed from a tivo/dvr(use one tuner) and use that feed for the hd tivo(one tuner)


Doesn't that cause problems with the tuner, constantly "looking" for signal on the input that is missing. I have had that problem come up before. And there's no way (that I know of) to clear that message from the screen, or to stop it from coming up in the first place.


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## Ricka (Aug 9, 2006)

Go through the satellite guided set up and select one coax. It won't use the second tuner.


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## musiclover408 (Mar 16, 2006)

Ricka said:


> Go through the satellite guided set up and select one coax. It won't use the second tuner.


But will it let me use the 2nd tuner to record OTA HD? I mean, can I record 2 OTA HD channels at the same time with only 1 sat coax set up. Will the machine recognize both tuners for OTA.

That's the most important thing...


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## tonyd79 (Jul 24, 2006)

musiclover408 said:


> But will it let me use the 2nd tuner to record OTA HD? I mean, can I record 2 OTA HD channels at the same time with only 1 sat coax set up. Will the machine recognize both tuners for OTA.
> 
> That's the most important thing...


No, it won't. And unless they have updated the software, there is a bug where it tries to use the second tuner on timed recordings for satellite and puts the HR10 into a situation where it thinks it has two lines hooked up for some functions and doesn't for others.

You could put in one line, tell it that it is two tuners, let the satellite setup timeout then restrict yourself to using it for OTA and get two tuners that way. That is what I did for a while with my HR10 until I had to shut it down for space in my rack reasons.


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## musiclover408 (Mar 16, 2006)

tonyd79 said:


> No, it won't. And unless they have updated the software, there is a bug where it tries to use the second tuner on timed recordings for satellite and puts the HR10 into a situation where it thinks it has two lines hooked up for some functions and doesn't for others.
> 
> You could put in one line, tell it that it is two tuners, let the satellite setup timeout then restrict yourself to using it for OTA and get two tuners that way. That is what I did for a while with my HR10 until I had to shut it down for space in my rack reasons.


But if I do that, won't I get that annoying "Searching for satellite signal on input 2" all the time??


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## alwayscool (Sep 24, 2006)

BMoreRavens said:


> DirecTV does not supply the Zinwell WB616 that I know of. I believe the only way to get one is buying it from a online retailer. If you need more outputs I believe DirecTV normally uses splitters and will add a 2nd WB68.


D* provided BOTH a WB68 and a WB616 when i got my HR20-700 because i wired my house for 16 tv's or 8 dvr's.


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## jgriffin7 (Feb 16, 2007)

Knon2000 said:


> Sorry, you can't record anything without a subscription. You can view the channels, but that is it. If you want to record anything, you can call DTV, and add it back to your account as a mirror. For $5 it is well worth it, at least in my mind.


Not that I condone this (or really care one way or the other), but I believe there are some threads out there addressing this. I believe, before you deactive an HR10-250, you can disconnect it from the satellite, call for the deactivation, and it will retain some time of record functionality. Not sure of the exact sequence, or if I've just slept too much since I read about this, but I'm sure someone out there can correct me.


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## KSbugeater (Feb 17, 2005)

It will work for a while (a week, maybe two) then it will pine for contact from the mothership and stop recording. You can then use it as a dual-tuner OTA receiver with 2 30-sec buffers... I can't remember if you can view recorded programs.

Back to the 2-tuners, 1-coax situation... if you just want the HR10 to record OTA, then remove all the SAT channels from Channels I Receive... TiVo won't try to record from those. OR, if you do want to record from SAT, make sure you manually tune the SAT-enabled tuner to the SAT channel you're going to record before the timer fires. Obviously, this won't work too well if you're trying to record several shows on different SAT channels while you're not available to babysit the unit, but it sounds like you have plenty of SAT tuner capacity (8 hooked up now) elsewhere in the house that you could work around this. Also, turn off Suggestions, as those will change the channel when you don't want it to (forcing your timers onto the non-SAT-enabled tuner).


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## musiclover408 (Mar 16, 2006)

Thanks for the tips guys. I guess if I am going to pay the additional receiver fee to just get OTA, I would want the sat channels too with the dual tuner. My problem is I called tonight to tell D* that I would hook up the additional 2 receivers if they gave me a multiswitch to do so and they said flat out no. Any suggestions??


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## Mike728 (Oct 29, 2007)

musiclover408 said:


> My problem is I called tonight to tell D* that I would hook up the additional 2 receivers if they gave me a multiswitch to do so and they said flat out no. Any suggestions??


Ebay


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## musiclover408 (Mar 16, 2006)

Mike728 said:


> Ebay


I was asking the people that got the switch for free. I am not wanting to pay for it since they are going to get another 2 receiver fees out of me per month! I know I can buy the switch but would rather not since I think it's something they should provide.


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## litzdog911 (Jun 23, 2004)

musiclover408 said:


> I was asking the people that got the switch for free. I am not wanting to pay for it since they are going to get another 2 receiver fees out of me per month! I know I can buy the switch but would rather not since I think it's something they should provide.


You probably won't get the multiswitch for "free" unless you buy/lease the equipment from DirecTV and have their installers connect them for you. It would be cheaper to just buy the multiswitch yourself (http://www.solidsignal.com).


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