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Sucess in "copying" 2.5 between machines.
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Posted by: mishagray

I bought a new DirecTivo 2 weeks ago.
My older version was one of the lucky boxes to the the 2.5 version, but the new box was still running 2.0.1.

Now Sci-Fi is repeating Farscape from the 1st episode every night at 8pm.
I also can't miss an episode of Samurai Jack! (also at 8pm).
And the fall season is starting, with lots of new shows to try out, and the old regulars returning...

They said a few weeks, but how long could it be before I get 2.5?

The need and desire for the ability to record 4 shows at once is just too strong to resist....

Since I was upgrading the new box anyway (brand new 100G drive! yay!) I figured I would see if I could get 2.5 copied to it.

I read that the DirecTV/combo version of 2.5 marries itself to a box once it boots up, and it cannot be transferred to another DirecTV/combo box, so I couldn't just take an image of the other older box (running official 2.5 - not the beta).

So I decided to install a virgin 2.0 drive image into my old tivo (the one running 2.5), rerun the guided setup and allow it to upgrade. Once I got "pending restart" on the screen, I power it down.
I then did a mfstools backup (just for safe-keeping)
and put it in the new box (that was 2.0.1).

New box booted up. It did the "install and reboot" thing. and viola, 2.5 running on my new box.

Although some problems:
1) installing a mfstools backup of a "virgin" drive seems to cause me to lose all my local-in-local channels. Calling up DirecTV and asking them to refresh the access card seems to work fine.
2) The "Test Call" seems to work fine and connecting to Tivo and getting my subscription status. However the initial "Daily Call" seems to be taking too long for a regular 2.5 DirecTivo. I am speculating that it may be attempting to "upgrade" my box back 2.0.1 (since the version running doesn't match the Tivo database).

I am not even sure that an "upgrade" from 2.5 to 2.0.1 would even work, since I am sure that 2.5 makes database changes that will probably cause 2.0.1 to crash and burn.

Fearing that this was the case, I pulled the plug. I am now running with no phone connected for now.

Can anybody out there confirm my suspicions?
Anybody know the consequences of running without the phone plugged in? Can I just have it make "Test Calls" once a week to avoid a Tivo shutdown? (At least until the RB's "second switch" has been thrown?).

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Phillips DSR6000R/107hours
Phillips DSR6000R/35hours
Phillips HDR312/60hrs

[This message has been edited by mishagray (edited 09-03-2001).]

Posted by: ADent

It doesn't really need to call for much.

If it does not call in for something like a month it will shut down.

With the older software the TiVolution Magazine and Network Showcases data came thru the modem - think maybe in 2.5 they come from the sat, but not sure.

It has to dial in to let TiVo upload the logs.

Posted by: DJRobX

Regarding drive-to-mainboard marrying, do we know if the same will be true of SA TiVos running 2.5? Or is this just an extra security measure for DSS?

-- Rob

Posted by: mishagray

I have only heard this about the DirecTV box. I don't know about the standalones. Of course the standalone 2.5 release I think has been canceled. Instead they are going to do a 2.5.1 release for both Standalone and DirecTV/combo boxes. The "demand" for 2.5 on the standalones is not the great.

I think 2.5.1 is supposed to add support for things like telescoping ads.

I am not sure that Tivo is really looking to lock down access to the standalone boxes. Its really not that big a deal to use ExtractStream on a standalone. I can get the same level of video capture quality (or even better) with a standard PC video capture card. But in order to stay friendly with DirecTV, they are trying to limit the sort of hacks they are going to allow on the combo boxes. Of course they still don't seem to mind disk drive upgrades, since that still seems to be working great!

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Phillips DSR6000R/107hours
Phillips DSR6000R/35hours
Phillips HDR312/60hrs