I think you can still watch everything taped from the old DVR without it being hooked to the satellite or activated. I know the old one I had, after I upgraded to HD and deactivated it, my wife was able to watch her HGTV stuff she had taped. I just hooked it up to a different tv and bypassed everything that said I needed this and that and went straight to "My Playlist". Everything I had previously recorded was there.