Activate 10-250 before or after hack?

[woodrowb]

I have a Directv HR-20 DVR. My neighbor just upgraded his system and replaced a 10-250 with a HR-21. He's deactivated the 10-250 and is selling (actually bartering) it to me. I know that Directv is supposably shutting off the Mpeg 2 HD feeds but they can't shut off the antenna hookup so if they do I'd use off air HD and SD Directv recording. I want to hack the TIVO so I can have the network capability and to have both component and HDMI feeds going at the same time. I plan to pull the original drive and build a new drive with InstantCake and PTVnet. I guess the question is should I activate the TIVO and then hack the drive or hack the drive and then activate, or does it matter? The HR-20 is hooked up to the phone line, I am planning on having the 10-250 hooked up to the phone line or is that a no no with a hacked unit? If I can't hook it up to the phone line how do you get the program guide? Seems like it bitches at you if you don't have you phone plugged in. These are all legit accounts so I'm not trying to rip off Directv, just want to get more functionality out of the box. I've done a search of the forum and didn't find anything addressing these questions.

Thanks,

[Lou Jacob]

I have a Directv HR-20 DVR. My neighbor just upgraded his system and replaced a 10-250 with a HR-21. He's deactivated the 10-250 and is selling (actually bartering) it to me. I know that Directv is supposably shutting off the Mpeg 2 HD feeds but they can't shut off the antenna hookup so if they do I'd use off air HD and SD Directv recording. I want to hack the TIVO so I can have the network capability and to have both component and HDMI feeds going at the same time. I plan to pull the original drive and build a new drive with InstantCake and PTVnet. I guess the question is should I activate the TIVO and then hack the drive or hack the drive and then activate, or does it matter? The HR-20 is hooked up to the phone line, I am planning on having the 10-250 hooked up to the phone line or is that a no no with a hacked unit? If I can't hook it up to the phone line how do you get the program guide? Seems like it bitches at you if you don't have you phone plugged in. These are all legit accounts so I'm not trying to rip off Directv, just want to get more functionality out of the box. I've done a search of the forum and didn't find anything addressing these questions.

Thanks,

doesn't really matter whether you activate the unit before or after you hack it; the benefit to activating it before is just to ensure that it actually works...

[woodrowb]

Actually it was up and working in my location for a couple of days last week until he de-activated it before the install of his new DVR. Any problem with leaving the phone plugged in after the hack? Can Directv see that it unit has been tampered with over the phone line?

[BruceS]

If you want to have the networking capability remain active, unplug the phone line. Otherwise, each time DirecTV downloads new software you will lose your networking.

You do not need the phone line for guide data. The guide data is downloaded from the satellite.

You will start to receive nag messages on your box, but should be able to just delete them.

I have been running my HR10-250 with no phone line for about two years. Over that period, two or three times it thought that the account was no longer active and lost the ability to record. Each time that happened, I called DirecTV and they were able to reset the box to active with no problems.

[woodrowb]

Thanks, I will probably do all this stuff next week.

[woodrowb]

OK, was getting ready to download Instantcake. When I first started looking at this a month or two ago the highest version was 6.3e. Now there's a 6.3f. My receiver is currently running 6.3f. I've had the random reboot issue. In fact in the middle of the Academy Awards which I had started watching about an hour after it stated so I could skip through the endless commercials, damn thing reboots and it usually takes 15 minutes or so to get back up and running. (still don't know who won best picture :-) Not sure if it's the software or maybe the hard drive is getting flaky (very possible it's been in there awhile) Which is more stable e or f?

[Lou Jacob]

Which is more stable e or f?

I don't think there is a right/wrong answer to that question.

Some folks seem to be happier with 6.3e - some are happier with 6.3f. And for some folks it doesn't make a difference, one way or the other. With that in mind, we've made both available on our site.

I've put the question back to you, and others, here on TiVoCommunity. (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=387891)

If you are in doubt, you might want to go with 6.3e; your unit will update itself to 6.3f at some point, unless you don't plug it into a phone line. You can always use the slicer to move from 6.3e --> 6.3f, if you prefer.

Also, before you do anything, run diags on your drive, even if you end up getting a new one. Always rule that out as a possibility, however remote that possibility may seem to you...