Standard Definition DirecTV TiVos (or DirecTiVos) - FAQ

[WeaKnees]

Which models are these?

Originally, DirecTV had this equipment manufactured by several outside companies based on the engineering plans they drew up with TiVo. Eventually, the started branding the units in-house.

Here is a list of all Standard Definition DirecTV TiVos, roughly in release order:

First generation
Philips DSR6000, DSR6000r, and DSR6000r01
Sony SAT T-60
Hughes GXCEBOT and GXCEBOTD

Second Generation
Hughes HDVR2 (sometimes called HDVR3), SD-DVR40, SD-DVR80, and SD-DVR120
Philips DSR7000, DSR704, and DSR708
Samsung S4120R, S4040R, and S4080R
DirecTV R10

What's the difference between the first and second generations?

All of these units have dual tuner support. The first generation units could hold two drives on their internal bracket; for the second generation, you need a TwinBreeze or other bracket to install a second drive. The second generation has USB ports, but they're turned off by DirecTV. The second generation has a faster processor that allows for faster software, and for the Folder feature among other things.

What can fail in these units?

Hard drives, since they are spinning all of the time, are the most likely components to fail inside these units. Also, fans, power supplies, tuners, and entire motherboards can fail. Except for motherboards, the parts are easily replaceable.

Drive failures

The most typical signs of drive failure are: TiVo is rebooting, TiVo is stuck on "Powering Up...", TiVo is stuttering or freezing, and TiVo is taking much, much to long to complete on-screen processes. In those cases, a replacement hard drive almost always fixes the problems.

Overheating

Generally, just a bad fan, and replacements are available.

Dialing problems

Lots of things can cause dialing problems, but the top two offenders are a bad modem, and VoIP. Each of these can be overcome with an external TiVo modem kit.

Just nothing at all on the screen

If you get nothing at all on-screen when you power up the TiVo, you likely have a bad power supply. Replacements are available for most DirecTV TiVos.

[SquareNickel]

The main board on my Hughes HDVR2 fried. Does anyone know where I might be able to purchase one? Thanks.

[WK-Michael]

We have something close, new and refurbished, here:

http://www.weaknees.com/directv-tivo.php

If you get a bare refurb, you're getting a power supply and case also. That's the closest we have to getting just the board.

[broadbonian]

I have a DSR6000R01. It will not finish powering up, just keeps going back to same screen over & over. Do I need a new hard drive? Is it hard to install(not a computer savvy person), & is it worth fixing? We only record & delete, never ran out of room. Thanks Darc

[WK-Michael]

Yes, rebooting is a typical sign of hard drive failure. And they're pretty easy to install yourself. You should get a replace kit from here:

http://www.weaknees.com/dsr6.php

[WerksRacer]

Hello,
I *think* this might be my first post...
I have a 3.5yr old Phillips DSR704 (2-tuner TiVo) I LOVE my Tivo!

My issues:
1) I am running out of room, as this unit only has 38 hours. I know the solution for #1 is to buy a BIGGER Hard Drive, and I am ready to do that.

2) My Tivo is starting to Power Off & On by itself and, well - since I did read this page before posting, my Hard Drive is beginning to wear out.

But my question about #2 is more about 'software' issues, IF that is a 2nd issue at all.
My tivo will tell me that it can't record a program because, "this episode will not be recorded. Check 13 SA13 in Channels You Receive, or call DirecTV to order". 13 is MY CBS station AND I record Letterman EVERY nite of week!
Tech people at DirecTV have told me that my hard drive is wearing out. -> Is that what is happening?
I DO want to ++increase the size of my Hard Drive, but with the issues that I've tired to explain above, do I need to do something else besides getting a bigger Hard Drive? Do I also need NEW TiVo software installed on any new hard drive that I purchase?

THANK YOU so much in advance for ANY info/advice that you can offer,


Scott
Modesto, Ca

[WK-Jeff]

My tivo will tell me that it can't record a program because, "this episode will not be recorded. Check 13 SA13 in Channels You Receive, or call DirecTV to order". 13 is MY CBS station AND I record Letterman EVERY nite of week!
Tech people at DirecTV have told me that my hard drive is wearing out. -> Is that what is happening?

This sounds like a drive/software glitch that should be solved with a new hard drive. It doesn't sound like an issue with the motherboard of the unit.

[WerksRacer]

WK-Jeff,
so then the Software IS on the Hard Drive and not on the Motherboard, correct?
Out of curiosity, what problems occur when the Motherboard has issues?

[WK-Jeff]

WK-Jeff,
so then the Software IS on the Hard Drive and not on the Motherboard, correct?
Out of curiosity, what problems occur when the Motherboard has issues?

Right--software is on the drive, not the motherboard.

Motherboard symptoms are far too numerous to list...like the Supreme Court said with hardcore pornography, "I know it when I see it."

[WerksRacer]

Thanks for the replies Jeff.
I have a couple of questions, I do Not see a way to send you a PM, nor am I sure Where to ask General Questions. Sorry.
- I see that WK has a store, but has your site ever had a Classifieds section, where members could sell their Used & Unused equipment?
- do you guys think there will come a time where DirecTV will put an end to TiVo working with the older units/the units that are Not DirecTV DVRs?
I know that's a Frightening thought! And if DirecTV were to ever try that, they'd probably have multiple lawsuits on their hands.

and finally,
I am getting ready to change careers, the new job will cause me to travel a great deal, for months at a time. I'm not ashamed to say it, I enjoy being entertained by TV, and I'd miss being able to watch TV out on the road.
I had a thought the other day and I'd like your Opinion/Advice/Suggeston:
as I stated earlier on this thread, I want to Upgrade my current 38hr unit to somewhere between 250-500GB. Then, I thought I'd buy a 2nd unit in the 250GB size. I'd leave one at home and take the other (filled with recordings) out on the road with me and use it *only* as a player. A couple of months go by and get back home, I simply Switch the 2 units - the Player becomes the Recorder at my home and the Recorder goes out on the road with me as the new Player. Will these units work like that? Do you think DirecTV will have a problem with this? (i know, ask THEM!)
Thanks, again.
Keep up the good work,


Scott

[WK-Jeff]

- I see that WK has a store, but has your site ever had a Classifieds section, where members could sell their Used & Unused equipment?

Sorry, we don't.

- do you guys think there will come a time where DirecTV will put an end to TiVo working with the older units/the units that are Not DirecTV DVRs?

We highly doubt it. TiVo customers are DIRECTV's most loyal. DIRECTV stopped supporting UltimateTV, Microsoft's DIRECTV DVR, a LONG time ago but they are still in the field.

I am getting ready to change careers, the new job will cause me to travel a great deal, for months at a time. I'm not ashamed to say it, I enjoy being entertained by TV, and I'd miss being able to watch TV out on the road.
I had a thought the other day and I'd like your Opinion/Advice/Suggeston:
as I stated earlier on this thread, I want to Upgrade my current 38hr unit to somewhere between 250-500GB. Then, I thought I'd buy a 2nd unit in the 250GB size. I'd leave one at home and take the other (filled with recordings) out on the road with me and use it *only* as a player. A couple of months go by and get back home, I simply Switch the 2 units - the Player becomes the Recorder at my home and the Recorder goes out on the road with me as the new Player. Will these units work like that? Do you think DirecTV will have a problem with this? (i know, ask THEM!)

I don't think DIRECTV would have a problem with this, and yes, the units should work like that.

[sprudo]

Hello, my DirecTV DVR R10 has a WK Maxtor Quickview 250gb expansion drive with the twinbreeze bracket and fans. The original HD is a Western Digital 80gb drive.

The system is constantly rebooting now, starts at the "Welcome, Powering Up" then "Just A Few Minutes More" screen when the front LED goes out and it starts the reboot sequence again. Same sequence as above.

So I'm wondering if this is a HD, power supply or ?? issue?

DirecTV of course just wants to replace it with their non-Tivo box and I cringe at the thought of that. However I'd hate to plunk down ~ $150 for a replacement drive only to find that's not the problem.

Any assistance with this is appreciated.

Thank you... SPRUDO

[WK-Michael]

That's almost definitely a hard drive problem. A "replace" kit for your model should fix the problem:

http://www.weaknees.com/r10a.php

[harvey]

I don't think DIRECTV would have a problem with this, and yes, the units should work like that.

I have a HDDVR, a standard receiver and two TIVO units. One of the units was sending spikes causing problems with all my other receivers. They would pixelate and the audio would cut out for anywhere between 1 and 15 seconds.

Nothing more frustrating than to be watching a show and not know what they are saying.

DirecTV came out many times to resolve the issue. They even removed the HDDVR from the multi-switch and re-installed my old dish. The HD no longer had issues but I still had problems with the bedroom TIVO. As it turned out, my Hughes R10 TIVO developed a major problem. Its tuner 2 was sending out voltage spikes to the point that it blew the multi-switch. I replaced the switch only to see the pixelation return.

DirecTV sent me out a DVR to replace the TIVO and I asked the Customer Relations person if I could hook up the TIVO unit to an analog to digital converter so that I could record the movies to my PC. He said that I could if I temporally re-activate the TIVO. It seems that the unit can't access the recording portion without the dish connected and the unit re-activated. He told me that I could call DirecTV and have it reconnected temporarry until I could download the movies and then have the unit de-activated.

I would be interested to know if WK's techs have tried what has been suggested/requested (connect a TIVO to a tv or computer via an analog to digital converter without the satellite dish connected and without any activation) to see if the tv or computer can view the recorded items.

[WK-Michael]

Sure - if the unit can play recordings, then you can grab them on a computer with a video capture card.

[harvey]

I would be interested to know if WK's techs have tried what has been suggested/requested (connect a TIVO to a tv or computer via an analog to digital converter without the satellite dish connected and without any activation) to see if the tv or computer can view the recorded items.

Sure - if the unit can play recordings, then you can grab them on a computer with a video capture card.

Is this without connecting the Tivo to a satellite dish prior to booting.

[WK-Michael]

Yes - that's not a problem at all. Imagine if your dish came down for some reason - DirecTV wouldn't want a good customer locked out of the programming on a DVR.

[harvey]

Yes - that's not a problem at all. Imagine if your dish came down for some reason - DirecTV wouldn't want a good customer locked out of the programming on a DVR.

OK. I'm going to try to capture my four movies to my computer this weekend. I'll let everyone know what happens; good or bad.

[harvey]

Well I now have some answers plus more questions.

I have an ADS Technologies PYRO A/V Link that I used to capture VHS tapes of our granddaughter. The unit will automatically determine whether the input to it from the VHS or in this case DirecTV Tivo is Analog or Digital.

After waiting for some 10 minutes for the Hughes R-10 to search for the satellite it finally presented me with the menu to view what had been recorded. That problem solved.

I then attempted to capture the video and audio using Dell Movie Studio. I could see/watch the video but it wouldn't capture any data. Says that the DV unit changed.

I then attempted to capture the video and audio using Ulead Video Studio 10; the same software that I captured my VHs tapes. I could watch and listen to the item that I wanted to capture. I started the capture process and everything seemed to go well....Until.... the Tivo unit decided that it wanted to change from Analog to Digital 5 minutes into the capture effectively stopping the capture . Ok, so the unit is transmitting in Digital and not Analog. So I rewind the movie and set the ADS unit to Digital and start the capture once again. OK so far except within the first minute, the ADS changes to Analog and once again stops the capture.

I didn't have this problem with the VHs unit.

So here I am with (as Yule Brenner said in The King and I; "It is a puzzlement.")

I guess I will try again, but this time I will set the Tivo to "Off load to VHs" and see it it jumps between Digital and Analog.

[WK-Michael]

The R10 doesn't output any video digitally; it's all analog. So I'm not sure I follow here.

[harvey]

While the R10 is transmitting data to the ADS unit, the ADS unit switches to Digital input. I know the data stream should be Analog so I set the unit to Analog. Then within 5 minutes, the output from the R10 causes the ADS unit to switch to Digital causing the capture program to reset.

I did two things; 1) I changed software to Nero Capture and
2) I set the R10 to "Save to VCR." It appears that the ADS prefers its input data flow from the "Save to VCR" better because I haven't seen it change to Digital.

I am typing this on my laptop while the desktop is doing the capture. So far...so good.

On edit. I was able to use Ulead VideoStudio 10 to capture the file as long as the R10 was in the "Save to VCR."

Oh, joy. Now I can burn a DVD.

Thanks for your support!

[polska4u]

I have a Samsung S4120R DirecTV with two input feeds with TIVO. The problem with the unit is that it reboots itself without any request from me. The rebott will occur at anytime, while watching TV or a recorded show or movie. The system will also hestiate the sound and picture for quite a long time (very annoying). I have been reading the blogs and kind of see where I might need a new hard drive. I know this is not much help in diagnosing my problem, however, would your recommendation be to replace the drive?

If I do replace the drive, with one from Weaknees, how does TIVO & Directv update the system with a "foreign" drive which was not the original installed hard drive.

Thank you.

[WK-Michael]

Right - that's almost definitely just a bad drive.

We format the drives here first with the right software for your specific model TiVo. Then, they get the other needed information from your motherboard, card, and dial-in, after they boot:

http://www.weaknees.com/ssg1.php

[hopdog]

I am thinking about purchasing your TwinBreeze Complete G3 kit to add an extra drive to my unit. Once the drive is added how does the system recongnize it/format it/use it?

[WK-Jeff]

I am thinking about purchasing your TwinBreeze Complete G3 kit to add an extra drive to my unit. Once the drive is added how does the system recongnize it/format it/use it?

If your drive is programmed properly, then the TiVo will automatically recognize it and reflect the extra space in the System Information screen. Your TiVo will work just like it did before the install, but you'll have more space. Keep in mind, though, that blank drives do not work.

[monkey2]

Hello,
I *think* this might be my first post...
I have a 3.5yr old Phillips DSR704 (2-tuner TiVo) I LOVE my Tivo!

My issues:
1) I am running out of room, as this unit only has 38 hours. I know the solution for #1 is to buy a BIGGER Hard Drive, and I am ready to do that.

2) My Tivo is starting to Power Off & On by itself and, well - since I did read this page before posting, my Hard Drive is beginning to wear out.

But my question about #2 is more about 'software' issues, IF that is a 2nd issue at all.
My tivo will tell me that it can't record a program because, "this episode will not be recorded. Check 13 SA13 in Channels You Receive, or call DirecTV to order". 13 is MY CBS station AND I record Letterman EVERY nite of week!
Tech people at DirecTV have told me that my hard drive is wearing out. -> Is that what is happening?
I DO want to ++increase the size of my Hard Drive, but with the issues that I've tired to explain above, do I need to do something else besides getting a bigger Hard Drive? Do I also need NEW TiVo software installed on any new hard drive that I purchase?

THANK YOU so much in advance for ANY info/advice that you can offer,


Scott
Modesto, Ca

Hey Scott .. did you find a manual on your DSR704? interesting in doing a copy . cost? or where to find one?

Not trying to steal the thread .. WK has hdd's ..

[monkey2]

Which models are these?

Originally, DirecTV had this equipment manufactured by several outside companies based on the engineering plans they drew up with TiVo. Eventually, the started branding the units in-house.

Here is a list of all Standard Definition DirecTV TiVos, roughly in release order:

First generation
Philips DSR6000, DSR6000r, and DSR6000r01
Sony SAT T-60
Hughes GXCEBOT and GXCEBOTD

Second Generation
Hughes HDVR2 (sometimes called HDVR3), SD-DVR40, SD-DVR80, and SD-DVR120
Philips DSR7000, DSR704, and DSR708
Samsung S4120R, S4040R, and S4080R
DirecTV R10

What's the difference between the first and second generations?

All of these units have dual tuner support. The first generation units could hold two drives on their internal bracket; for the second generation, you need a TwinBreeze or other bracket to install a second drive. The second generation has USB ports, but they're turned off by DirecTV. The second generation has a faster processor that allows for faster software, and for the Folder feature among other things.

What can fail in these units?

Hard drives, since they are spinning all of the time, are the most likely components to fail inside these units. Also, fans, power supplies, tuners, and entire motherboards can fail. Except for motherboards, the parts are easily replaceable.

Drive failures

The most typical signs of drive failure are: TiVo is rebooting, TiVo is stuck on "Powering Up...", TiVo is stuttering or freezing, and TiVo is taking much, much to long to complete on-screen processes. In those cases, a replacement hard drive almost always fixes the problems.

Overheating

Generally, just a bad fan, and replacements are available.

Dialing problems

Lots of things can cause dialing problems, but the top two offenders are a bad modem, and VoIP. Each of these can be overcome with an external TiVo modem kit.

Just nothing at all on the screen

If you get nothing at all on-screen when you power up the TiVo, you likely have a bad power supply. Replacements are available for most DirecTV TiVos.

I don't have a hardware problems, any guidelines on use?
Looking for a manual on Phillips DSR704, text or copied, any ideas?

I bought it from WK and no manual came & nothing on search, WK says check forum. i'm looking..

[WK-Jeff]

Your manual can be viewed, printed and downloaded here:

http://www.directv.com/learn/pdf/System_Manuals/Philips/Philips_DSR708.pdf

[Iriskitall]

In a two drive DSR 704, both drives replaced recently, how does one determine which drive is bad if constant rebooting occurs (along with pixelation probs, etc.). Is it best to divorce and place drive A in and see what happens or is there a diagnostic tool available to tell? Thanks for the site, the help, and especially the six twin breezes with fans!

[WK-Michael]

The best method, really, is to test them in a PC. Either way, if one is bad, you'll need a new "replace" kit or you'll need a copy of the TiVo OS to reformat the good drive.

[WerksRacer]

Hey Scott .. did you find a manual on your DSR704? interesting in doing a copy . cost? or where to find one?

Not trying to steal the thread .. WK has hdd's ..


..Monkey2,
did You ever get/find a Manual for your DSR704??
I see WK-Jeff (i think) replied/answered your quiestion with this:

Your manual can be viewed, printed and downloaded here:
http://www.directv.com/learn/pdf/System_Manuals/Philips/Philips_DSR708.pdf

IF that did Not work for you, shoot me an email,
werksracer at yahoo

and I'll look to see if I have my manual.

I was just in Mooresville, NC, are You anywhere close to there?


Sc

[luckylou]

My DSR6001R01 has always worked perfectly, but recently it's been showing programs with the recording icon still active far after the show has finished recording. Everything plays fine and new shows record, but the icon remains, so I decided to restart the device since it had been a while.

Now the device is in a constant reboot loop. After reading through forum posts I'm pretty sure the drive needs replacing, although it would play and record everything fine before the restart, and now the problem is with restarting not playing/recording.

It looks like a DIY hard drive replacement from WeaKnees starts at $89. DirecTV will send me a free standard def DVR for $19.95 shipping. Given that I have probably already lost all the things on my TiVo that I really wanted to watch, unless someone here has a hint on how to fix my problem, should I just go with the DirecTV option or is there a benefit to paying the extra $70 to keep the old TiVo alive?

[WK-Michael]

Well, you're probably right, both that the shows are gone and that a new hard drive should get you up and running.

The TiVo approach means you get to keep the TiVo interface and remote.

The DTV approach is less expensive, but probably means another two-year commitment to DTV.

[chrisssteeven]

Hello guys

I have a Samsung S4120R DirecTV with two input feeds with TIVO. The problem with the unit is that it reboots itself without any request from me. The rebott will occur at anytime, while watching TV or a recorded show or movie. The system will also hestiate the sound and picture for quite a long time (very annoying). I have been reading the blogs and kind of see where I might need a new hard drive. I know this is not much help in diagnosing my problem, however, would your recommendation be to replace the drive?

Is that possible now.?
Have a good reply.

[WK-Jeff]

If you are getting heavy tiling and pixellation before the reboot, then perhaps this is your problem:

DIRECTV TiVo pixellating and rebooting (http://www.wkblog.com/tivo/2008/04/diagnosing-pixelization-hard-drive-or-tuner/)