Direct Tivo w/o DTV subscription?

[ruckus]

Ok, there are way to many conflicting posts on this topic. Can someone who actually has this working please clarify this?

I have a Direct Tivo (DSR6000) and want to EMU and I will subscribe as necessary to Tivo. Tivo claims that you must subscribe to both via DTV. Here are my questions:

1) can i use the Tivo portion without subscribing to DTV?
2) if so, who will be blling me Tivo or DTV?
3) wont DTV be suspcious if I have Tivo but no DTV?
4) can i use cable instead of DTV?
5) does the Tivo signal come from the dial in or the sat signal?

Sorry for all the questions but this really is not clear. I'm use a stand-alone Tivo with sony/emu right now but I want the Dobly5.1 and 2 tuners.

Again, please answer only if you already have this working. All the post I have read seem to be coming second hand.

Thanks,
ruckus

[mrblack51]

1) no. the dtivo subscription is administered by dtv, then the money is forwarded to tivo. this is evidenced by the mirroring of tivo service to other dtivos for the same 5 bucks that you use to get a second receiver.

2) DTV bills you for DTV service and adds a $10 tivo charge on the bill

3) well of course they would be, but thats why you can't do it.

4) depends on your interpretation of 'use'. if use means watch, then yes, as with all standard dtv receivers, there is a rf passthrough setup for cable and ota. if use means record, then no. a dtivo has no analog encoding capabilities, so there is no way for it to record programming other than dtv.

5) there is no tivo 'signal'. guide data comes from the satellite on the dtivo. with 2.5 everything, except log uploads and possibly upgrade downloads, comes down from the satellite.

6) you didn't specifically ask this, but there is no current way to get into 2.5 via bash. as such, you cannot have dual tuners and have free tivo service. since you cant get tivo service and not get dtv, you have a bit of a problem. some people have gone the route of subscribing, then using the legal access card to dial in after wiping the log files, then switching back to whatever else you are doing. 2.0.x workes fine with our fixup script, but doesn't support dual tuners. if all you want is free PVR functions, dual tuners, and 5.1, then get a UTV. (note: i dont own a UTV, but i know from my perusal of various message boards that people are using emulation setups with them and getting PVR functionality. also, im not into that whole scene, i am just well read).

i felt like being polite instead of my standard 'search->whatever' post, but you really should consider using the search feature. 99.99% of the questions that get asked are covered in this forum already. also, all the respected members of this board have put in their dues by reading and searching, then asking only if the search turned up nothing or something unclear.