I'd like to use the DVR part of this old DirecTV receiver. I don't want to pay for a subscription just to record over the air broadcast (OTA). Is there a way to do that without activating the satellite receiver? I'm not trying to steal anything, I just want to be able to pause an OTA show while I go to the sand box (bathroom). That way I can skip the commercials and pick up where I left off without missing anything. Sometimes I see something and want to take a second look. Most DVR's can hold up to 15 minutes of recording, so you can go back and review something someone said that maybe you didn't quite catch. Or during a news broadcast they said something and you're not sure you heard it right. OR some night when I'm out and I'd like to catch a show, for instance like the Super Bowl, I can set the recording and watch it later.

Remember, I'm not asking how to activate the receiver. I only want to use the DVR portion for OTA broadcasts. I stream many shows, and therefore don't need the DVR for that. In fact, I don't think there's a way to hook up the DVR to my Roku or Amazon. But then again, no need to. ONLY for OTA broadcasts. Is it possible? If so, do you know how?

 

I think you would need to convert your video source into the same digital data format that comes of the satellite receiver part. I Think it is this digital data that is recorded to the disk. None of the hard disk recorders I have have the option of recording from an analogue video source.

Les.

 

If you disconnect the receiver from the dish, will it still receive over-the-air signals from the antenna input?
If not, then I think you are out of luck.

 

will it still receive over-the-air signals from the antenna input?

I haven't tried it but I believe it should. This isn't a high priority but I do want to get it up and running where I can record OTA broadcasts. I will see what it takes to set it up and see. I'll get back in a bit.

Feeling a little under the weather, so if I don't respond promptly - I'm probably laying on the couch or sleeping in the easy chair.

 

I see no possibility of this working without some major hacking. First you are going to need a tuner. What do you propose to do about that? Then there is scheduling. How do you plan to get scheduling information?

Look into a PVR like NextPVR. You will save yourself a lot of headaches and the bonus is your storage will only be limited by your budget as opposed to the ~1G size of your puny DVR.

 

I haven't tried it but I believe it should. This isn't a high priority but I do want to get it up and running where I can record OTA broadcasts. I will see what it takes to set it up and see. I'll get back in a bit.

Feeling a little under the weather, so if I don't respond promptly - I'm probably laying on the couch or sleeping in the easy chair.

If it had more mass and less plastic we could advise you better what to do with piece is technical memorabilia.

 

I have a HDHomeRun tuner for my OTA Linux DVR recording needs. Any computer or device can use it.
https://www.silicondust.com/

 

I have a HDHomeRun tuner for my OTA Linux DVR recording needs.

You've got my interest. Does it require signing up for anything? My biggest complaint about commercially available HD DVR's is that you have to subscribe to something. It's the subscriptions I want to get away from. If OTA is free then why should I have to pay to record something? I know I can record to a DVD Recorder or to (gaud I hate to say this) a VCR - but that means constant recording of media. Most of the time I'm not going to want that. It's just when I want to back up 10 or 20 seconds to review what the news anchor just said that I didn't quite catch. Or to record a show while I'm out of the house.

I'm not one of those Gadget Geek Guru's who has to have media on everything I own. I don't have a TV on my refrigerator, nor do I have one on my rear view mirror. I want it simple and I want to keep it that way. This DirecTV is just sitting in my closet waiting to be parted out. Or used if it's not something MAJOR to hack - which is likely beyond my abilities.

Anyone remember "ON TV"? It was a cable box that worked from an antenna pointed at their transmitter. Someone discovered inside there was a big capacitor with epoxied leads. If you exposed the positive lead and momentarily tapped it to ground you could trick the unit on and watch free sporting events or other shows they were offering. That was way back in the 70's. Like I said before, I'm not trying to do anything illegal. Just want to be able to use this machine to record OTA materials, which are already free to record if you have one of those older DVD recorders or VCR's. I have a couple VCR's but I'm sure the belts have turned to bubblegum by now.

 

If you want a PVR you will need to subscribe to a scheduling service. It is a minimal charge. I use Schedules Direct. You can get free scheduling from Microsoft's defunct Windows Media Center but it is a chore to get it to work with non Media Center PVRs. If you have Windows & or earlier, you can get Medis Center out of the box. You can also load Media Center on Windows 10 but you would need to trust unofficial downloads.

From what I see none of the HDHome run products provide PVR. I have the HD Home Run Duo and for sure it is just a tuner.

https://www.silicondust.com/hdhomerun/

I believe there are stand alone PVRs on the market but I am not familiar with them. But you would still likely need to pay for scheduling. I believe XBox still runs a version of WMC.

 

@spinnaker Lots of acronyms. Guessing PVR means "Passive Video Recording". Meaning it doesn't keep a cache of the past 15 minutes the way the DirecTV unit does. When I had DTV I could be watching a show and within 15 minutes of the start of the show I could start recording it without losing that first 15 minutes. Is what you're saying PVR doesn't keep that cache?

As far as subscribing to some sort of scheduling list - I'm not really interested in that. If I know a show starts on a certain channel at a certain time - just like the old VCR's, I could tell it to start recording at a certain time. Make sure the channel was set before leaving the house and all would happen as normally would. Newer VCR's had tuners you could tell it to start recording channel 58 at 8:00 PM and record for 2 hours and the VCR would select that channel and record. The unfortunate thing with VCR's and recording was that you had to do some pretty tricky wiring if you wanted to watch one show while you recorded a different. A-B splitters and stuff like coax switching solved some of those issues. Way more complicated than what I'm after now. I don't record a lot. Wouldn't unless I had to. So really, I just want to be able to tune to channel 13 and let it go. If I get up to get a snack or use the sand box I can come back and backspace the show and watch from where I left off. Then, too, I could also skip over the commercials. In years past I used to tune in and let it run. 15 minutes later I'd come back and start from the beginning and just skip the commercials. By the time I reached the end of the show I was pretty close to broadcast times, thus, avoided the annoying truck commercials that tell me I can live a certain lifestyle if I own their truck. Or how I can lose weight without doing any work.

 

Looking more and more like I'm getting ready to part out my old sat receiver. It DOES have a hard drive. Don't know if that's worth anything. Haven't looked into it.

 

Lots of acronyms.

Looking more and more like I'm getting ready to part out my old sat receiver. It DOES have a hard drive. Don't know if that's worth anything. Haven't looked into it.

DIY the HD into a POV clock

 

Clock?

The HD - - - I suppose I could use it if it's SSHD.

 

Clock?

The HD - - - I suppose I could use it if it's SSHD.

 

@spinnaker Lots of acronyms. Guessing PVR means "Passive Video Recording". Meaning it doesn't keep a cache of the past 15 minutes the way the DirecTV unit does. When I had DTV I could be watching a show and within 15 minutes of the start of the show I could start recording it without losing that first 15 minutes. Is what you're saying PVR doesn't keep that cache?

As far as subscribing to some sort of scheduling list - I'm not really interested in that. If I know a show starts on a certain channel at a certain time - just like the old VCR's, I could tell it to start recording at a certain time. Make sure the channel was set before leaving the house and all would happen as normally would. Newer VCR's had tuners you could tell it to start recording channel 58 at 8:00 PM and record for 2 hours and the VCR would select that channel and record. The unfortunate thing with VCR's and recording was that you had to do some pretty tricky wiring if you wanted to watch one show while you recorded a different. A-B splitters and stuff like coax switching solved some of those issues. Way more complicated than what I'm after now. I don't record a lot. Wouldn't unless I had to. So really, I just want to be able to tune to channel 13 and let it go. If I get up to get a snack or use the sand box I can come back and backspace the show and watch from where I left off. Then, too, I could also skip over the commercials. In years past I used to tune in and let it run. 15 minutes later I'd come back and start from the beginning and just skip the commercials. By the time I reached the end of the show I was pretty close to broadcast times, thus, avoided the annoying truck commercials that tell me I can live a certain lifestyle if I own their truck. Or how I can lose weight without doing any work.

Personal Video Recorder. It keeps a cache depending on the PVR / tuner software. The tuner software that comes with the HD Home Run does not have cache. It is supposed to be a PVR but that does not seem to work either. WMC will backtrack a recording. I do not believe NextPVR will back track a recording. I think it records from the time you start it.

You want scheduling believe me. It is like $10-$30 a year.

 

Yeah what is going to happen to POV hardrive clocks once SSHD takes over. An old SSHD would not make for a very exciting clock. Investment tip. Buy old broken harddrives right now. You will e able to sell them in the future and make millions!

I wish I had some old 5.25" harddrives that would make a nice clock. Or what about those ones that went in a DEC or a DG computer. Wow!

 

If you want a PVR you will need to subscribe to a scheduling service. It is a minimal charge. I use Schedules Direct. You can get free scheduling from Microsoft's defunct Windows Media Center but it is a chore to get it to work with non Media Center PVRs. If you have Windows & or earlier, you can get Medis Center out of the box. You can also load Media Center on Windows 10 but you would need to trust unofficial downloads.

From what I see none of the HDHome run products provide PVR. I have the HD Home Run Duo and for sure it is just a tuner.

https://www.silicondust.com/hdhomerun/

I believe there are stand alone PVRs on the market but I am not familiar with them. But you would still likely need to pay for scheduling. I believe XBox still runs a version of WMC.

I use the free OTA scheduling information to record programs with my HD Home Run tuners. My locally transmitted station PSIP usually provides very accurate EPG using the MythTv PVR system. https://www.mythtv.org/wiki/EIT

Displayed on the Linux DL server.

 

I use the free OTA scheduling information to record programs with my HD Home Run tuners. My locally transmitted station PSIP usually provides very accurate EPG using the MythTv PVR system. https://www.mythtv.org/wiki/EIT

Displayed on the Linux DL server.

The closer skate obviously got second place by 6mm.

 

The closer skate obviously got second place by 6mm.

Really close. Sports is where a good PVR shines. Mythtv even does automatic commercial deletions with buffered or recorded programs.

 

I use the free OTA scheduling information to record programs with my HD Home Run tuners. My locally transmitted station PSIP usually provides very accurate EPG using the MythTv PVR system. https://www.mythtv.org/wiki/EIT

Displayed on the Linux DL server.

How far in the future does the OTA scheduling go?