# What to do with old boxes?



## dmacp (Oct 2, 2007)

OK, so I have upgraded to the HR20.

Now I have the old H10-250 and an Hughes GEXBOT unit sitting around. 

I doubt their resale value is very high.

Does anyone have any creative ideas on what to do with these boxes? I am pretty tech savvy from a hardware and software standpoint.


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

Their resell values fluctuate on ebay... but they are not very high.

Strip the harddrives.... sell it for parts, is another alternative.


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## JDB30 (Sep 6, 2007)

dmacp said:


> OK, so I have upgraded to the HR20.
> 
> Now I have the old H10-250 and an Hughes GEXBOT unit sitting around.
> 
> ...


There are some folks on this site that seem to want these. I recently sold my old HR10-250. You should list on e-bay.


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## Stuart Sweet (Jun 19, 2006)

DBSTalk Club members are entitled to list and view in the buy/sell/trade forum.


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## BCole8888 (Jul 19, 2007)

I sold my HR 10-250 for almost $150. I thought that was pretty good.


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## rdiedrich (Sep 11, 2007)

Buy a usb 2.0 IDE Drive enclosure and you can use that 250GB drive to store data on your usb 2.0 enabled PC's.

I have had good luck with this case from Newegg.com


```
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817716036
```
Randy


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## sheepishlion (Dec 4, 2005)

I recently bought an HR10-250 (through the buy/sell/trade section on dbstalk), and even though it is not connected to an HDTV, it still has 300 hours of recording. I figure that's worth something in and of itself. I also agree stripping it for parts isn't a bad idea, or list it on dbstalk's buy/sell/trade section, or even on e-bay. You could always donate the Hughes GEXBOT to a local thrift store like ARC.


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## Rakul (Sep 3, 2007)

I've got an old Hughes Tivo I'm still paying for that I was thinking of hooking up to the CATV in on my LCD for PIP. Just gotta talk the wife into allowing another box in the living room and another coax line


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## alexcohen (Sep 27, 2006)

Stuart Sweet said:


> DBSTalk Club members are entitled to list and view in the buy/sell/trade forum.


I'm being told I can't sell in that forum.


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## gully_foyle (Jan 18, 2007)

dmacp said:


> OK, so I have upgraded to the HR20.
> 
> Now I have the old H10-250 and an Hughes GEXBOT unit sitting around.
> 
> ...


Lots of use for both. Uses: it's a perfectly fine OTA recorder; it can provide insurance recording; it can record LOTS of SD; it can record when two tuners aren't enough.

It really helps, though, if you have an off-air antenna. Valuable to folks that do.


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## michaelyork29 (Jun 22, 2007)

I sold my HR10-250 for $200 on eBay...you can try it out...

eBay Link


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## dishrich (Apr 23, 2002)

kcmurphy88 said:


> Lots of use for both. Uses: it's a perfectly fine OTA recorder;


You should have said "it's a perfectly fine *HD* OTA recorder" - especially if you are in a non HD LIL market.

Or another use - if you are in between multiple OTA DMA's & you have to use separate antennas & downleads (in different directions, etc) for each DMA, you can dedicate each DVR to a separate DMA, w/out trying to combine feeds, which doesn't always work.

In any event, if/when I upgrade to an HD DVR, I'm still planning on keeping my HD Tivo running, although I may remove one of my SD Tivo's, since I have 3 already.


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## Stuart Sweet (Jun 19, 2006)

I was thinking of turning my old R10 into a living room PC, just need to mod the case a little bit.


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## MikeR7 (Jun 17, 2006)

kcmurphy88 said:


> Lots of use for both. Uses: it's a perfectly fine OTA recorder; it can provide insurance recording; it can record LOTS of SD; it can record when two tuners aren't enough.
> 
> It really helps, though, if you have an off-air antenna. Valuable to folks that do.


I bought one from e-bay just for these purposes about two months ago. Plus, I wanted to see what all the hullabalu was about DLB and the TIVO interface.


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## dmacp (Oct 2, 2007)

Thanks, some nice ideas. Unfortunately where I live OTA broadcast is not an option. Still might hook it up to utilize as an extra recorder. Although selling it and applying towards a new HD DVD is tempting


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## aim2pls (Jun 18, 2007)

dmacp said:


> OK, so I have upgraded to the HR20.
> 
> Now I have the old H10-250 and an Hughes GEXBOT unit sitting around.
> 
> ...


they aren't heavy enough for boat anchors ....... paper weighs ????????


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## CREGO (Oct 14, 2007)

Since these boxes are being made irrelevant by DTV, I was wondering if anyone has started with a clean OS slate and used Linux or something to make use of the hardware (A/V out, tuners, etc) without the DTV/Tivo software? Doable?


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## dtremain (Mar 3, 2004)

CREGO said:


> Since these boxes are being made irrelevant by DTV, I was wondering if anyone has started with a clean OS slate and used Linux or something to make use of the hardware (A/V out, tuners, etc) without the DTV/Tivo software? Doable?


No encoders. They only have the hardware to record the Directv bitstream or over-the-air MPEG2.


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## CREGO (Oct 14, 2007)

dtremain said:


> No encoders. They only have the hardware to record the Directv bitstream or over-the-air MPEG2.


What about just decoders, i.e., ftp divx files over and make use of the HDMI out, etc.? No go?


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## cody21 (Sep 26, 2007)

I just sold mine on Ebay for $127 ... clearly the prices are coming down since the inception of the MPEG4's...

Oh, and I just learned that you are required to have the HR10 "activated" - and paid for monthly - to still be able to Record anything, even OTA ...


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## Stuart Sweet (Jun 19, 2006)

Just remember, leased equipment cannot be resold even if they never ask for it back.


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## cody21 (Sep 26, 2007)

Yea, understood -- I bought that HR10-250 at Ciruit City when they first came out. So it was not a Leased unit...


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## tonyn (Aug 3, 2007)

DMACP Where do you live that you have no OTA? 
In the desert and canyon areas north of Los Angeles a lot of folk depend on translators for their OTA. I have not heard of any plans to convert those to digital. Mabye quite a few folk will still be depending on analog tuners in those areas for some time. Should make the DBS companies happy!


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