Question about phone line..

[The Bad Guy]

Hey guys,

I recently received a Hughes generation 1 TIVO. Came with a lifetime sub, however I just moved and I haven't recativated my DTV service yet.

I was wondering if I plug in the phone line so they can program my card will it erase the lifetime tivo subscription I have on the card?

Thanks for any help you can give.

[captain_video]

Did you by chance buy this off ebay with a so-called lifetime sub? I ask this because you indicated that it came with a lifetime sub. Unless you were the original owner and had it activated on your DTV account, I don't believe lifetime subs are transferrable for DTivos. There are a lot of scam artists on ebay that install 2.5Xtreme on a DTivo and then try to sell it with a lifetime sub when in fact it is only hacked to function without a phone line connected. This area is somewhat vague so don't take this as gospel. If you have a legit DTV account and your DTivo has a legit lifetime sub then you may not have a problem. DTV no longer offers lifetime subs for the Tivo service since it is no longer provided by Tivo but rather by DTV. It now appears on your DTV bill as DVR service for $4.99/month for as many DTivos as you'd like to add to the account for a flat fee. I have heard that if you had a lifetime sub previously and discontinued your DTV account that you'd be charged the monthly DVR service fee if you reactivated it at a later date.

[The Bad Guy]

Captain,

Thanks for the reply. I didn't buy the unit off ebay but rather a user of this forum. It's not a legit subscription though, it's just hacked to receive the lifetime.

I think I might end up offering this unit for sale here or putting it on EBAY. I recently moved and don't have a direct TV account of my own yet. I was going to call to get an account and use this receiver however I didn't want to mess with the hack.

But, the only thing I wanted the TIVO for was to enhance my sporting event viewing experience. But if I have to pay an additional fee on top of that it just seems more logical to use an old receiver my mom has and just sell the TIVO.

[captain_video]

Having the lifetime sub hack is a catch22 situation. If you're trying to keep it legit with a DTV sub then you also need to pay the $4.99/month DVR fee. You can probably get a DTV sub without DVR service if the CSR doesn't recognize the model No. as being a DTivo but you leave yourself wide open to scrutiny by DTV if you do. Eventually they'll realize you've got a hacked DTivo since you're not paying the monthly fee. The only way to get around this completely is to hack DTV also, but we don't condone or discuss that here. With all the hashing and blacklisting that's going on it's easier to have a legit sub anyway.