DirecTV HD TiVo Countdown Surprise

Posted on by Michael

999UPDATED: Almost 3 years ago (on 2/18/06) I spent WAY too much $$ for an HD DirecTV TiVo. Then a few months later on 4/8/06 (1000 days ago) we moved into a new house and the TiVo was no longer connected to a phone line. I expected that, like the Series 2 TiVo’s, it could use an internet connection to get it’s programming information – but it can’t. I’ve tried several times over the past few years to get it to connect but it’s never been able to. Not in this house anyway.

The good news is that since it’s a DirecTV TiVo it gets it’s programming information from the satellite signal and doesn’t really need to make a call. Yet every day it gives me a message that ‘The Recorder has not made a successful call for the past XXX days’. I suspect that DirecTV wants it hooked to a phone line so they’ll know if I’ve watched any PPV that they don’t know about. Well, we’ve been counting down to today to see if my HD DirecTV TiVo will sucessfully roll over from 999 days to 1000, or if something bad will happen.I normally get these messages at the end of the day. I’ve basically been expecting to turn it on this evening and see it say 1000 days. But late last night I was surprised..

internal-temp

I have seen this message before – many times. It has been showing up more often in the last week, since I rearranged by media tower. But normally I can unplug it off for a few hours or for the night and it will work fine the next day. However, this picture was taken this morning, rebooting after the unit was ‘cold’ all night.

Chances are this message is unrelated to the 1000 days, and the cooling fan just needs to be blown out.  The desert is dusty! This evening I’ll plug it in again and see what happens.

UPDATE – Jan 3, 2009:

We hit 1000 days, although the TiVo was shut down for most of that day.  Today we hit 1001 days and I assume it will keep going – assuming that it doesn’t DIE a natural death. But the internal temperature message has nothing to do with the countdown. It’s just an unfortunate coincidence…

1001

So that’s the end of this countdown. I’ll be trying to get it to make a daily call now and update the software so we can have folders. Then I’ll be trying to build my own DVR so that I can keep the programs longer and have them available to watch using my popcorn hour or an Apple TV.

10 thoughts on “DirecTV HD TiVo Countdown Surprise”

  4. fyi – TiVo Models Supported

    Philips DSR6000, DSR6000R, DSR6000R1
    Sony SAT-T60
    Hughes GXCEBOT, GXCEBOTD

    Product Specific Notes

    2/1/08

    TiVoWebPlus Edition Now Available

    InstantCake TWP Editition for your Series1 unit includes LBA48 support, large swap, and has been tested to run on drives as large as 750GB. This special version of InstantCake will build the equivalent of our TiVoWebPlus replacement drive kits featuring TiVoWebPlus 2.0 — this means you can purchase a TurboNet or CacheCard separately and install it in your unit, connect it to your home network, and access it via any PC/MAC browser for remote scheduling and management. You can even use our popular, and free GoToMyDVR service to access your unit automatically. Your upgraded system will also be configured with telnet/ftp; if you are inclined, you can install additional modifications, as well!

  6. be patient with the software upgrade. it takes a long time… like 2 to 3 weeks. i don't know if it downloads part over the phone and part over satellite, but it takes a long time. i was impatient and thought i needed to zero out all data and reset it several times. i finally gave up, and then checked a week later and boom, version 6.4.something! now, my HR10-250 works better than ever. it's faster and has folder options. great for any standard definition (or ED) television. can't wait for the new DirecTV TiVo model next year.

  7. I can't wait either. I am sort of waiting before I do anything hardware wise. I might upgrade to non TiVo DirecTV DVR in the mean time. I'm also considering building my own DVR out of a computer and a TV card. I'm sure you'll be able to read about it here eventually.

  8. btw, i recommend clearing all data… it will get rid of all wishlist, season pass, hundreds of messages, etc. to insure fastest speed when the software updates. start fresh. johnnyp

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