What are the odds DirecTv will allow the HR10 to work without a sub for OTA only

[Sirshagg]

At some point in the not so distant future there will be little or no sat delivered HD content that the HR10 can view. Do you think there is a chance DirecTv will do anything to allow the unit to be used strictly for OTA (dual tuner) without a sat connection?

[Stuart Sweet]

I doubt you'll see it officially. I suspect it would be possible in software, but that software won't come from DIRECTV.

[litzdog911]

Why would DirecTV want to provide any level of service on the HR10-250 without an active subscription? They're certainly not going to do it out of the goodness of their hearts.

[RobertE]

The odds are between zero and negative 99999999999999999999999999999

[Tom Robertson]

Considering the HR10-250 will still be an excellent SD receiver (as well as OTA), I can't see DIRECTV abandoning the platform as a revenue generator anytime soon.

Happy Holidays!
Tom

[Drew2k]

Without a subscription, the HR10 also won't be getting guide data, will it? That would mean season passes won't work, so wouldn't all recordings have to be manual anyway?

[Tom Robertson]

I suppose one possibility is Tivo would sell some software for the HR10--and charge even more than DIRECTV would for monthly service. :)

[Jeremy W]

Considering the HR10-250 will still be an excellent SD receiver (as well as OTA), I can't see DIRECTV abandoning the platform as a revenue generator anytime soon.
The thing is, how many people are still going to be using the HR10-250 as time goes on? It's obsolete, and the numbers are dropping rapidly. DirecTV has no incentive to pour any additional money into this dead platform.

[captain_video]

Without a subscription, the HR10 also won't be getting guide data, will it? That would mean season passes won't work, so wouldn't all recordings have to be manual anyway?
You can definitely get guide data without a subscription. I've had unsubbed DTivos and HDTivos hooked up to my dish for years and they get the guide data just fine. You can also use it as an OTA tuner without a subscription. You just can't record anything without paying for the DVR service and an active sub.

The HR10-250 may be out of production but it's hardly bosolete. You can still use it for standard definition programming from DirecTV and you'll be able to use it for OTA recording indefinitely. I used mine mostly for OTA recording of my HD locals anyway so I wouldn't have seen much of a difference in usage if I still had DTV. I switched to FIOS about 10 months ago and I use a HTPC with six ATSC tuners for the same task I used to use my HDTivos for. The best part about it is I pay zero monthly fees for using it.

[Sirshagg]

The thing is, how many people are still going to be using the HR10-250 as time goes on? It's obsolete, and the numbers are dropping rapidly. DirecTV has no incentive to pour any additional money into this dead platform.

That's the thing - it's fairly useless to DirecTv but still has good value as a dual tuner OTA solution.

[MikeW]

You can definitely get guide data without a subscription.

The OP was asking if it could be used without a sat connection. There would be no guide data without a stream coming from somewhere. Although it is possible that Tivo could charge you a price to get data over the phoneline, I doubt they are interested in investing any resources to that effort. Additionally, they would probably want, at least, $6.95/month for that service.

Best to keep the sats connected and pay the mirror fee. At $4.99/month, it is worthwhile to use this box for OTA season passes. My only problem...not enough lines coming into the living room.

[Sirshagg]

The OP was asking if it could be used without a sat connection. There would be no guide data without a stream coming from somewhere. Although it is possible that Tivo could charge you a price to get data over the phoneline, I doubt they are interested in investing any resources to that effort. Additionally, they would probably want, at least, $6.95/month for that service.

Best to keep the sats connected and pay the mirror fee. At $4.99/month, it is worthwhile to use this box for OTA season passes. My only problem...not enough lines coming into the living room.

The issue is that you need two sat lines + one OTA connected to use it for dual OTA. take sat out of the picture and you only need one line connected.

[Tom Robertson]

The thing is, how many people are still going to be using the HR10-250 as time goes on? It's obsolete, and the numbers are dropping rapidly. DirecTV has no incentive to pour any additional money into this dead platform.I don't see DIRECTV putting any money into it, but rather continuing to extract revenues from it as an SD and OTA receiver. DIRECTV rarely minds the very old receivers that are still connected to the stream. (only when a card or stream change is required.)

[MikeW]

The issue is that you need two sat lines + one OTA connected to use it for dual OTA. take sat out of the picture and you only need one line connected.

But where would the guide data come from??? I have played with the option of OTA only, but I'm instructed to call DirecTV when I try to use the box. Maybe they do have some options built in that we're not aware of.

[captain_video]

You do need the sat connected in order to receive guide data (I missed that part in the original post). However, you don't need two sat feeds connected in order to use the dual tuner function for OTA use.

That's the thing - it's fairly useless to DirecTv but still has good value as a dual tuner OTA solution.
It's not useless to DirecTV at all. You can still receive standard definition programming from the existing mpeg2 satellites and they won't be going away anytime soon. Since most of the new mpeg4 HD channels are still primarily broadcasting standard def programming then there's not a whole lot that you'd be missing anyway. The same non-HD content is available on the mpeg2 satellites.

[Jeremy W]

The same non-HD content is available on the mpeg2 satellites.
And it doesn't look nearly as good. Even the SD content on the new channels looks much better than the SD content on the MPEG2 channels.

[TeevoJeff]

You can definitely get guide data without a subscription. I've had unsubbed DTivos and HDTivos hooked up to my dish for years and they get the guide data just fine. You can also use it as an OTA tuner without a subscription. You just can't record anything without paying for the DVR service and an active sub.

The HR10-250 may be out of production but it's hardly bosolete. You can still use it for standard definition programming from DirecTV and you'll be able to use it for OTA recording indefinitely. I used mine mostly for OTA recording of my HD locals anyway so I wouldn't have seen much of a difference in usage if I still had DTV. I switched to FIOS about 10 months ago and I use a HTPC with six ATSC tuners for the same task I used to use my HDTivos for. The best part about it is I pay zero monthly fees for using it.

Hi Captain_Video,

I am about to swap out my HDVR2 receiver with an HR10-250. I don't have a multi-sat dish so I won't be able to get Directv HD signals. That's OK, because I just want to record Directv SD and OTA HD.

So the question is: Did you have to pay Directv the HD fee in addition to the sub and DVR fee?