# Hey, DTV insiders: DTivo end of life?



## ApK (Mar 6, 2006)

Now that we have a DTivo, we are seriously considering cancelling our SA Tivo service to save money. It's big step. We love our Tivo and it's always been good to us. $13 a month just to have THIRD DVR tuner is hard to justify though.

My biggest fear, however, is that as soon as I cancel my SA Tivo, D* will announce that they are going to shut off support for DTivos. That would just suck!

Do any of you have any info or informed opinions on how long DTV will keep DTivo DVRs working?

Thanks!

ApK


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

DTivos are not being "shutoff"... not any time soon, possible never.

There is no $$ benefit to them "shutting" them off.

Now they are done with software updates, unless something critical has happened. And they don't have any to replace broken units under the protection plan.

But bottom line... SA-DTivos will work as they are pretty much until the physical hardware it self fails.

The UTV units are still running, and they where "ended" over 4 years ago.


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

ApK said:


> My biggest fear, however, is that as soon as I cancel my SA Tivo, D* will announce that they are going to shut off support for DTivos. That would just suck!
> 
> Do any of you have any info or informed opinions on how long DTV will keep DTivo DVRs working?


The end of the SA TiVo may well come before the end of the DirecTiVo. DirecTV has an agreement of sorts to cooperate with TiVo through the middle of 2009. Here's the thread: http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=56320

As for the SA TiVo (Series 1 and Series 2), the end of the line is probably somewhere around Q1 2009 when most of the NTSC TiVo units have died of old age and will no longer be able to use the built-in tuners to record programs.

Of course there is always that the chance that without the full support of DirecTV, TiVo will fold up its tent and be assimilated by somebody like Cisco.


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

Earl Bonovich said:


> Now they are done with software updates, unless something critical has happened.


You shouldn't have brought this up. Many HR10 owners have yet to receive the 6.3x update.


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

harsh said:


> You shouldn't have brought this up. Many HR10 owners have yet to receive the 6.3x update.


They are still going to get their 6.3x
And TiVo is still on the hook for fixing the issues they introduced with 6.3x


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## ApK (Mar 6, 2006)

harsh said:


> The end of the SA TiVo may well come before the end of the DirecTiVo. DirecTV has an agreement of sorts to cooperate with TiVo through the middle of 2009. Here's the thread: http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=56320


Thanks for the link. That was comforting.

I'd be suprised if the analog broadcast cutoff was tightly linked to the end of SA Tivos. I'd bet only a small percentage of Tivo users get programming over the air, and of those that do, some large number will likely switch to digital by using an STB with RF and composite outs, so SA Tivos will chug merrily along.


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## captain_video (Nov 22, 2005)

> And TiVo is still on the hook for fixing the issues they introduced with 6.3x


Which is why I'm rolling all of my HDTivos back to 3.1.5f until it happens.:sure:


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## ApK (Mar 6, 2006)

Hey! We called to cancel our SA Tivo service, and they offered to let me keep it at $6.95 instead of $12.95. I couldn't resist. So we're still a 2-Tivo family.
Man, I love good retention efforts.

ApK


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## kay (Nov 27, 2005)

ApK said:


> Do any of you have any info or informed opinions on how long DTV will keep DTivo DVRs working?


dunno, I hope a while - i love my tivo


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

kay said:


> Considering they still allow UltimateTV service, which was what, nearly a decade ago? I seriously doubt they will drop Tivo boxes.


 about half a decade.

DirecTV has only been publicly available for little more then a decade.


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## captain_video (Nov 22, 2005)

Ultimate TV was introduced just prior to the release of the S2 DTivos. I believe they were brought to market sometime in the 2002-2003 timeframe, IIRC.


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## TheRatPatrol (Oct 1, 2003)

captain_video said:


> Ultimate TV was introduced just prior to the release of the S2 DTivos. I believe they were brought to market sometime in the 2002-2003 timeframe, IIRC.


I still have mine. Its never had any of the problems that the HR20 is having, but we won't go there.


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## Herdfan (Mar 18, 2006)

Earl Bonovich said:


> They are still going to get their 6.3x
> And TiVo is still on the hook for fixing the issues they introduced with 6.3x


WHAT ISSUES?

Oh sorry, slipped into D* CSR mode there for a second.


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## Herdfan (Mar 18, 2006)

Earl Bonovich said:


> about half a decade.
> 
> DirecTV has only been publicly available for little more then a decade.


Just passing 12 years as a customer this month.


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## Vinny (Sep 2, 2006)

Earl Bonovich said:


> They are still going to get their 6.3x
> And TiVo is still on the hook for fixing the issues they introduced with 6.3x


Earl, (please see below).....I'm thinking that my problem may have been caused by the new 6.3 release. Is it possible I received the new software and the box got stuck between resolutions when restarting?

I turned on my HR10-250 this morning and found the following:
Green bars and black lines covering my entire screen making everything unwatchable; all though, I can hear the audio. The system is also locked, where I can't change channels or use the menu function. But when I hit the menu, I can hear the beeps and boops, but can't view.

I unplugged the unit and I could see the startup screens normally. When it finished the startup, back were the green bars described above.

Is there something I could do other than the reset? Has this happened to anyone else.

By the way, I have not recevied the 6.3 upgrade as of yet.


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## tstarn (Oct 1, 2006)

ApK said:


> Now that we have a DTivo, we are seriously considering cancelling our SA Tivo service to save money. It's big step. We love our Tivo and it's always been good to us. $13 a month just to have THIRD DVR tuner is hard to justify though.
> 
> My biggest fear, however, is that as soon as I cancel my SA Tivo, D* will announce that they are going to shut off support for DTivos. That would just suck!
> 
> ...


Just as an FYI, I sold my original Philips Tivo (standalone, 30 hours) on ebay for $320, but that included a lifetime contract I bought way back in 2001 (at $199). Apparently, you can transfer your service contract to a new Tivo S3 for $99, avoiding monthly charges.

Also, my wife loves Tivo so much that I bought two R10s (Directivos) and an older Hughes model (40 hours). We are using two of the R10s now, but there are two sitting in my storage cabinet just in case. They go for about $90 on ebay, used. This way, as long as they are functional (the hardware, that is), you can avoid moving to an R15 and stay with Tivo, as long as you remain a D* customer.


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## tstarn (Oct 1, 2006)

ApK said:


> Hey! We called to cancel our SA Tivo service, and they offered to let me keep it at $6.95 instead of $12.95. I couldn't resist. So we're still a 2-Tivo family.
> Man, I love good retention efforts.
> 
> ApK


Oops, missed this post. But the ebay is an option if you need a replacement. And you pay $4.99 a month, not $12.95. You pay nothing if you have Premium level programming.


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## UTVLamented (Oct 18, 2006)

captain_video said:


> Ultimate TV was introduced just prior to the release of the S2 DTivos. I believe they were brought to market sometime in the 2002-2003 timeframe, IIRC.


I bought my UTV July 2001. Still going strong and supported by D*. It is now my backup to the HR20 for key recordings, both connected to the same TV.


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## ApK (Mar 6, 2006)

tstarn said:


> Oops, missed this post. But the ebay is an option if you need a replacement. And you pay $4.99 a month, not $12.95. You pay nothing if you have Premium level programming.


We're keeping our SA tivo at $6.95 for the moment because, one, we already have it, and two, for the supported networking features (as opposed to unsupported hacks.)

When the euphoria of the discounted rate wears off, we will come to our financial senses and cancel the SA unit. At that time, we'll decide:
1. Do we give the R15 another shot? We already own it and a 'major' upgrade is in the pipe....says Earl.
2. Do we buy another DTV? We do love our Tivos. But we just don't need to spend another $100 or so.
3. Do we REALLY need another DVR at all? Ahh...of course we do.


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## michael reinhart (Aug 25, 2004)

Dummy question here..what's SA ?


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## ApK (Mar 6, 2006)

Stand Alone. Not an integrated DTivo unit, a seperate Tivo box that can be used with cable/sat/ota what have you.


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## jcwest (May 3, 2006)

Vinny said:


> Earl, (please see below).....I'm thinking that my problem may have been caused by the new 6.3 release. Is it possible I received the new software and the box got stuck between resolutions when restarting?
> 
> I turned on my HR10-250 this morning and found the following:
> Green bars and black lines covering my entire screen making everything unwatchable; all though, I can hear the audio. The system is also locked, where I can't change channels or use the menu function. But when I hit the menu, I can hear the beeps and boops, but can't view.
> ...


Mine did a similar thing when I got the 6.3 SW update.

What I did was:
Hit the DirecTV button for the menu.
Arrow down once to "Watch live TV"' Select.
Then used to up arrow to change output: 1080, 720 etc.

Picture popped in. The update did something to change the output so that my Sony Rear projection would not recognize it. The video looked kinda like when you accidentally switch the green and blue cables on the componment input, It's all there but scrambled.

Hope this helps

J C


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## Vinny (Sep 2, 2006)

Thanks JCWEST....I'll give it a try.


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## TheRatPatrol (Oct 1, 2003)

UTVLamented said:


> I bought my UTV July 2001. Still going strong and supported by D*. It is now my backup to the HR20 for key recordings, both connected to the same TV.


If they can't get the HR20 problems worked out, and they don't want to go back to Tivo, then maybe they should look at the UTV platform and build and expand on that.  j/k


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## captain_video (Nov 22, 2005)

Not likely to happen. DTV dumped Tivo so they could reap in 100% of the profits. Getting into bed with Microsoft and UTV would put them right back in that same scenario, except that MS would probably charge them more for the UTV service. As it stands, the monthly fee to own a UTV is $9.99 vs. 4.99 for a DTV or Tivo-based DVR.


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

captain_video said:


> Not likely to happen. DTV dumped Tivo so they could reap in 100% of the profits. Getting into bed with Microsoft and UTV would put them right back in that same scenario, except that MS would probably charge them more for the UTV service. As it stands, the monthly fee to own a UTV is $9.99 vs. 4.99 for a DTV or Tivo-based DVR.


But the flip side to that... by not partnering up with anyone...
They assume responsibility for 100% the cost as well.


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## Vinny (Sep 2, 2006)

Thanks to everyone....my problem was indeed caused by receiving the 6.3 update.. By following your advice of cycling through the resolution settings I was again able to watch TV.

Thanks again for your help!


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