So much misinformation and confusion. As a long-time DirecTiVo owner and member of the tivocommunity and dbsforums, allow me to help.

1) You do not have to keep a DirecTiVo plugged into a phone line to have the TiVo service work. It will need to be plugged in for a few minutes during initial setup in order to download an updated set of UUNET numbers from TiVo for your area code. It will also need to call TiVo to authorize installation of software updates (about once a year). The software is actually sent to your receiver by Directv via satellite, but it has to call TiVo for the authentication code to install it. Guide data is also sent via satellite, so the phone is not used for that the way it is on SA TiVo's.

If you plan to order PPV using your remote, then the receiver needs to connected to the phone line so that Directv can bill you for them. Left unplugged, the receiver will disable remote-purchase PPV's until it can call Directv's invisible 800 number and report in.

Remember, DirecTiVos have 2 phone numbers to call : the Directv 800 # for reporting PPV (cannot be seen or forced to call by the user) and a local UUNET # (or TiVo's 800 number if necessary) for reporting aggregate TiVo viewer data and authorizing software installation. The TiVo number can be seen and TiVo calls can be forced whenever you like.

DirecTiVos schedule calls to TiVo about once a week. If it goes 14 days without reporting in to TiVo, you will get a nag screen asking you to connect it. If another 14 days (now 28 total) goes by without calling TiVo, the nag appears once a day until it does. This does not affect how the receiver operates, so if you can tolerate a small nag once a day and don't buy PPV via remote, you only need to hook it up to a phone line about once a year. PERIOD.

2) While there used to be several brands of TiVo on the market (RCA, Philips, Hughes and Samsung), there is currently only one being produced - the RCA R10, a 70 hour/80 gig model. Other units are still in the retail chain but once they're gone that's it. The R10 comes with the latest software already installed which other Series 2 units will be receiving shortly. Older Series 1 units have received their last update already.

The new software allows for drives larger than 137 gig, and upgrading a DirecTiVo is a snap. 2 large drives can be chained together for even more storage capacity - in fact, one TiVo upgrade business (weaknees) installed 2 300 gig drives for a whopping 527 hours storage !

3) Directv DVR service is $4.99 a month on your account (or free with Total Choice Premier), not per box. You will also have to pay the standard $4.99 mirroring fee per receiver to put your programming package on other activated access cards on the account beyond the first receiver. This applies whether the box is a DVR or not, so you are better off having 2 or 3 DirecTiVos instead of standard receivers since it costs the same.

Stand-alone TiVo's cost $12.95 a month or $299 for the life of the box. Since you're getting Directv, you don't want a SA TiVo anyway.

4) The USB ports on DirecTiVos are not used for anything right now. There is much talk about Directv using them for home networking DirecTiVos together, HMO features and the like, but for now they remain unused (unless you hack the box to use them, but that's another thread). Goldberg's links to TiVo are only for stand-alone TiVo users as Directv has not (yet) authorized any implementation of HMO.

Follow the instructions on these pages to by-pass the phone with a wireless or wired home network.

http://customersupport.tivo.com/know...ic/tv2047.htm?

Not sure how that works with the PVP packages, but you might want to search around and see if it does.

So the R10 can hold two HDs, but only come with one. Is it as simple to upgrade as basically dropping another one in?

Weakknees and others have instructions on how to upgrade, its a matter of putting the drive you have from the tivo into your pc as a slave drive, and doing some stuff to it, sounds simple.

Hinsdale is supposed to be the best place to learn how to do it.

http://www.newreleasesvideo.com/hinsdale-how-to/

One would have to hope the Tivo HD is SATA then, I suppose. I doubt it is.

Dave, if you can't find a pre-upgraded one, then there might be someone in your area that would be willing to help you out

It is if you buy a preformatted drive and a bracket here -

http://www.weaknees.com/

Here is the pricing for adding a 2nd drive to a R10 -

http://www.weaknees.com/directv_r10.php#add

Your R10 comes with 80 gig/70 hrs, so you can add:

80 gig/70 hr more = $129
120 gig/105 hr more = $149
160 gig/135 hr more = $169
300 gig/250 hr more = $329

I CANNOT BELIEVE that your going to bait and switch satelite providers! This reminds me of an episode of Babylon 5...

Thank you, artist formally known as juiio. Good to see you around.

Tommy, I have seen 2 episodes of B5, so I just don't get it. Give me a month and I should be done with them.

The kicker happened tonight. Wanted to watch Iron Chef America, but my machine is recording Lost. With Direct Tivo, I could do both.

Is anybody here grandfathered into not paying the DVR fee because they paid a lifetime subscription to TiVo before it was transferred to DirecTV. I have Phillips Series 1 and would like to add the HD TiVo but don't want to screw up be grandfathered into not paying the DVR fee. Just in case, they change policy by charging for each additional receiver and each DVR you have.

So has anybody added an additional DVR thats grandfathered into not paying?

Me. I had one DTivo on my account with a lifetime sub, and added a second one after DirecTv took over the billing. Had to remind them during activation that I was grandfathered in and shouldn't have to pay, and that's what they did. DVR Lifetime or something like that appears on my monthly statement.

That's what I'd recommend as a nice compromise if you don't want to open up both your PC and your TiVO...

Basically, the machine is a Linux box. You could buy nearly any IDE drive (check to confirm this, tho)... The tricky part is that you then have to format it for Linux before putting it into the TiVo. I didn't find it too hard-- the instructions are clear enough, but you basically have to turn your *PC* into a Linux box and format the drive, then swap it into the TiVo.

As I say, it wasn't tough, and if you want to bargain-shop for drives, that's the way to go. But a ready-to-plug-in drive from weaknees would be much simpler.

Thanks. It is hard to pay a regular price for a HD, but that is probably the way to go. I should probably just get the 70 hour one and upgrade if I find I need it. I can also transfer stuff to my Media Center PC, so maybe the real answer is to do that for archived shows. Adding another HD to that is easy and cheap.

Constant telephone plug is not necessary. I usually connect mine when they cut off my ppv. 15 minutes later I am ready to go.

I will say the service leaves a lot to be desired. One of the receivers went out and they sent me 2 refurbed units over a six week period to try to resolve the problem. Then they sent a new card for the reciever which did resolve the problem. It took in all 7 weeks to get up and going again. Also each call to them took (literally) an hour or more and I had to tell the same story to at least 8 different people. On top of that 2 months later they cut off my service saying I did not return the defective units. 5 minutes of me chewing some serious ass, got my service turned back on and a month of service free.

Buyer Beware!!!