20 year Directv customer, never had a Directv DVR, what are my options?

What is the model TiVo that you have? And how many receivers do you currently have? What are the receiver models? You could go with the latest Genie HD DVR (HR44/HR54) but do be careful if offered the HS17 because all current standalone HD and HDDVR receivers cannot be activated. (i.e. HR24/H25)

Once you answer the questions I asked, we can definitely find out the best options for you.

Have a series 2 Tivo unit,  model #TCD 540080.  Directv receiver model D12-100. Only have 2 TVs . The Tivo units feeds both TVs via coax through a splitter. Only use one TV at a time so I have Tivo remotes that are converted to RF signal control so that I can run the single Tivo from anywhere.

Yes I'm living in the past and in a rural area. But we do have running water and indoor plumbing.

Your D12 SD Receiver is now considered obsolete. DirecTV is phasing out the SD-only products as they migrate the 101º satellite to HiDef only channels. Call DirecTV and request a free equipment swap. And DirecTV DVRs are quite reliable now.

Thank you for bringing this to our attention, @dellaent .

We appreciate the years you've been with our family and want you to enjoy the best of DIRECTV. Let's meet in a Direct Message to take a closer look on this. Please check your DIRECTV Message Inbox (It's the chat icon next to the bell icon in the upper right corner of the Forums)

We're eager to help you with your equipment.

Jonathan, DIRECTV Community Specialist

The D12 is DirecTV's last MPEG-2/SD-only non-DVR receiver. That has been outdated for years. As those MPEG-2 feeds are shutting down, it is required to be replaced.

If you wanted to move forward with just one of the TVs, call DirecTV and request the MPEG swap. That usually would provide a Genie (HR44 or HR54 depending on stock). The HD service $10 would have an ongoing credit to cover it (but not expected permanent). You would still have $10 DVR and $3 Whole Home DVR.

To keep both TVs properly, both must be authoirzed on the service. As you only have one receiver, that would be a normal upgrade. It should be free because of how long it has been since you got your D12. This would be the Genie on 1 TV and a Mini Genie Client on the other. The 5 tuners and 1TB space of the Genie is shared between the two. The HD service is chargable like the other servcies and $7 for the additional TV as normal. An upgrde comes with a 24 month service agreement.

I don't know if you can use that old TiVO with the Genie. So the 2nd option is the only guarantee to keep both TVs. Though your DirecTV box is old, I hope the TVs are at least some form of HD so the picture quality will match.

You should look into getting a THR22 while very old it uses TiVo's software but will not do Whole Home and there have been cases where it will not connect to the internet. TiVo charges $5 per month to use it.

Thanks for the info. DTV is suggesting getting a Genie HD DRV and a mini. No mention of costs yet. The two year contract is no problem after 20 years with Directv. The service has been very reliable. Charging for HD when SD is being discontinued seems goofy. Where's the upgrade? With the split cable feeding both TVs, and we only watch one at a time, kind of seems like one TV, unless the new Genie doesn't have an RF output. Then the mini becomes necessary.

The Tivo is going in the trash with the lost support from the company.

No DTV HD receivers have RF outputs.

Charging for HD when SD is being discontinued seems goofy. Where's the upgrade?

DirecTV has been charging for HD since it was available. New customers don't "see" the cost, but the other costs were rearranged to make up for it. So, they still pay for it though it is "hidden" from their view.

SD itself hasn't gone away just yet. The MPEG-2 feeds only carried SD. The MPEG-4 carry SD and HD. It is expected the SD-only channels will go away eventually, but no hard time on those.

If you get the Genie, but no Mini Genie, then get a powered HDMI splitter supporting HDCP 2.2 (and preferably HDMI 2.0). That way you can use two TVs (one at a time since on the same channel) as you are accustomed.

Genie has RF (input) built in. Just be sure they provide you the Genie remote (RC7X series) as that is needed for full options.

Though no RF output. If you refer to having non-HD TVs, you would need to get the correct cord that provides A/V (red/white/yellow) output instead of HDMI.

Well, I guess the mini will be needed then since there is no RF output on the Genie. Since I already have a coax cable for that between the TV rooms (one upstairs one downstairs) that should work for the wired mini? Like all wireless communication I'm guessing that the wired mini will be more stable than the wireless?

I really appreciate all the input from the forum members. 

DirecTV boxes are wired. There is a wireless version of Mini Genie Client but requires a wireless video bridge (WVB) wired on the coax anyway. So is a wash for a single TV. Plus you pay $99 for the wireless setup, which includes the purchase of the WVB as is an owned accessory.

You would need cabling and dish update to SWM. Old multiswitch was a cable per tuner. Single Wire Multiswitch (SWM) is one cable per box, no matter how many tuners it has. This means a tech install is required. Do not end the call with DirecTV unless they have scheduled the appointment, otherwise means they drop shipped in error.

You paid to have it free? I am not familiar with the Lifetime subscription. I am curious to know more as I have the normal $10, $10, and $3 (no additional $5 since not a TiVO).

when I got a DirecTivo years ago

I'm reading this as either DirecTV two years ago, or DirecTV Tivo years ago.

You paid to have it free? I am not familiar with the Lifetime subscription.

@Juniper Yes, it was with the first DVR offered with Directv, the Directv TiVo. I had the option of paying $200 for a lifetime subscription or pay the monthly fee. I paid for the lifetime subscription and haven’t had a DVR fee on the bill since, even when I switched to the HR series Directv DVR’s.

Regarding a different Tivo unit, since someone (either Tivo or Directv) has stopped providing the lineup schedule it pretty much makes Tivo useless since you can't schedule recordings anymore.

And after being a Directv customer for 20 years and never even asking for a DVR unit since I was using Tivo instead, one would think that I could get a break on getting my first one.  But instead I'm being bumped up an additional $30/month for a Genie and one Mini.

After careful consideration, I think it is time to drop Directv. Loyalty apparently has been wasted. A quick look around shows that I can get all the channels I watch WITH virtual DVR capability (just learned about this) for less then 1/2 the cost with streaming options.  Thank you Directv for pointing me in the right direction.