DirectTivo possible to use without DirecTV as regular Tivo?
 

Debated which section to put this in, TV Talk or HT hardware, but I'm guessing there are more Tivo junkies in the TV forum....

Anyway, I currently have DirecTV and am really leaning towards buying a DirecTivo unit. However, my living arrangements are temporary and I'll most likely be moving within a year.

When I move, it'll be to an area with a decent digital cable company, and since I'll be renting, probably won't be able to install a dish anyway.

If I buy the direcTivo unit for use now, will I later be able to use that same unit as a Tivo only when hooked up to a different source?

No.

DirecTV signals are already mpeg encoded, so the DirecTiVo doesn't have the need (or the ability) to do its own encoding. It just saves the raw DirecTV feed (with some encryption) to the hard disk. With an external source, you'll need a TiVo that can encode the data itself, which is what stand alone TiVos do.

das

I have another Tivo question that doesnt deserve its own thread, so Ill hijack this one since the question is answered. Is there a universal remote that works with Directivo? I had a good Universal remote, but it doesnt work with my new Directivo receiver. I would like one remote for my dvd player/receiver, my directivo, and my tv.

Pretty much any learning remote should be able to handle all of your requirements.

I have the Sony RM-VL900.

To the OP, trust me when I say that you won't be happy with TiVo on cable after having a DirecTiVo. The quality pales in comparison. While you could sell your DTiVo on ebay, it just doesn't seem worth it to me.

IMNSHO, the DTiVo is the best DVR out there, hands down. I'd suggest moving somewhere that you could keep DirecTV.

:lol:

In an ideal world, perhaps...

I thought it was stated already that even renters have a legal right to get satellite service no matter what the landlord says?

One of the problems with that situation though is the fact that DirecTV doesn't offer the local stations in this area, so in order to get any of the networks, I'll need to get cable anyway. Then I'd run into the problem of not being able to TiVo network shows, which is the entire reason for wanting one in the first place.

On a side note, it really pisses me off that local stations have what I consider a government enforced monopoly. I would much rather receive the networks via DirecTV, mainly for the option of having both east and west coast feeds.

Also, why in the hell doesn't DirecTV offer WB and UPN? I know they have those stations in some places where they offer the local stations, but they don't have either station available as a stand alone. It really sucks for me, because I'm not able to receive either station over the air, and this little pissant cable company in my area for some reason doesn't carry either network.

Don't know if they would have your local channels or not, but the main reason I went with Dish Network over DirecTV was that they offer a WB/UPN package, since I couldn't get the UPN any other way. Their PVR isn't as good as Tivo, but it's still pretty sweet IMHO. That might be an option for you.

X

i have UPN and WB on my DirecTV local package...

how do you get local channels for more than just your area?? (legally)

<BLOCKQUOTE> • Quoth mkdevo •<HR SIZE=1>how do you get local channels for more than just your area?? (legally) <HR SIZE=1></BLOCKQUOTE>
Hound your local stations mercilessly until they give you a waiver. It took me months of badgering our ABC affiliate before I finally got a waiver from them. Track down someone's direct line and repeatedly call him/her during downtimes at work. It's not the nicest tactic, but our ABC affiliate is a bunch of complete dickwads when it comes to things like waivers and preempting national programming without notice, so I didn't mind too much.

das

This thread tell you how to move with directv.

tasha

http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showthr...directv+moving

Right, but if you don't have UPN and WB locally, you can't get them through DirecTV. Dish Network has a "Superstation" package that has two UPN's and 3 WB's that you can get anywhere, no matter what your local channel situation is. Since we don't have a UPN here, that is the only way I can get it.

X

you could always give a different address for your location so you could get local channles from a nearby city and then give your actual address as the mailing...this seems to be popular among people who do not have locals channels in their area