rip utv?

If you have not already done this: Unplug the power and sat. cables and let it sit for an hour or so and try again. Sometimes they will come back to life.
Good luck!

Agree with Kazak...

UTVs have always been a bit touchy with "bad" power events. I've also tried using a reset/reboot code like 12357 (just restarts the UTV. You just need to reload the 14 day guide... doesn't lose anything else.)

I also like to try UTV Code 411 (Info.) which can also report your Tuners Signal %, etc.

Good Luck. I know back in the day we'd probably recommend the "Catch all" (Can't hurt if all else is lost) PULLING the ACCESS Card out, opening the case, and then checking/cleaning your case and pulling/reseating your various power cables/ribbons just to confirm it wasn't a bad contact/fuse/etc. Letting it sit for the above mentioned cool down and trying again. If you haven't done this after 12 years, it's probably due anyway. (If you haven't recently it probably wouldn't hurt either.)

True... A UTV can do that sometimes. If the cable runs are testing OK with another receiver... then it's not a bad idea to disconnect the UTV's Sat cables... and test each tuner individually. I've had some luck using the Signal Strength "Advanced" option which tests your "Multi-Switch" and reports how many Sats it sees and the voltage. With that said it doesn't hurt to check your Sat. settings are correct. Or even "downgrade" it and see if the results change.

Fingers crossed something will work.

Looks like its curtains for UTV's,


http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=209751

No, as that uses the AVP as I recall. But to double check, I did some searching, and it looks like I am right.

http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=5157

http://www.directv.com/images/PR/factsheets/13551CRP_UltTVService_R08.pdf

Looks like old tivos are fine too...

good to hear that, personally don't have UTV's, but loved them when I did.

Still hanging on for me. I downloaded 3.8 to a new drive Saturday.

Just transitioned to Vonage today... For the first time I've been able to use My Living Room UTV's Call ID feature. (Cooooolllll ) GTE/Verizon/Frontier just didn't want to bargain... I'll save the almost $20 a month thanks. Frontier's Call Waiting Feature alone cost over $6... it was time to get out of Dodge. (Basic Talk is $9.99 with fees it's around $13... Estimate Calculator said $18.15 before I signed up. Far better then Frontier's $40.49 no long distance only Call Waiting...)

Haven't experimented with attempting any Software Downloads yet (as I suspect that will be still be an issue...) but since I have noticed a couple of my UTVs aren't using both Tuners... I'll probably going to have to untangle the Rats Nest... (Which I usually avoid at all costs) and do a proper "Christmas/New Year" Cleaning. Long over due... with most of my UTVs in service over 10 years they need TLC more then every 2-3 years... or when DTV comes to install a new Multi-Switch.

Worst Case... I've got an Aunt with decent Landline service (at least she did...) might try and tie up her line for a few hours someday if I need to upgrade a Hard Drive. Living Room RCA is still using a 10 year old 80GB drive... Probably should bump it up to 160GB since it gets a lot of use.

Wishing you and your UTVs a Happy 2013.

Well the Bedroom's RCA UTV decided it wanted to give me a "Green Light of Death" and no longer recognize the Hard Drive a week or so back... So until I get around to opening it up... I've swapped over to one of my "Spare" Sony UTVs. (Since the Bedroom only has 1 cable run... my Single Tuner "Spare" seem to be OK for now.)

Someday soon I might just need to give DTV a phone call and see what the Genie is all about and if an eventual upgrade will be easy or hard... Hope to keep my UTV Service going... but it's looking far easier to centralize my Recordings and simply share between TVs (the extra tuners seems cool too). Just don't spend as much time in the Family Room anymore so a few of my DVRs are going unattended. Might save a little by consolidating a few DVRs... although it seems like with HD and "advanced DVR" Service who knows... it might still cost me more. A talk with DTV may be in order just so I'm informed.

I looked into the Genie hardware too a couple of weeks ago. One thing that stood out was that it's currently only available to NEW customers only. Existing customers may upgrade later this year is noted on DTV's web site. Is this next month, six months, end of this year?? My wife wants to rearrange our bed room and swing everything counter clock wise 45*. No coax drops where the TV would go. Not looking forward to getting in the attic and fishing / extending new wall runs to the new TV location. The Genie hardware would be an easy option for me. Looks like DTV also found a new way to add fees to your account too as they have an added fee just for the use of the wireless Genie hardware. errr...

Got an e-mail recently that Directv's Protection Plan (that I still subscribe to) will be offering an "equipment upgrade" every two years (with 2 year contract re-up) on/after May 16, 2013... May have to see what kinds of "upgrade"(s) they'll include then.

I still "own" all my equipment so will probably be forced to start leasing DTV's stuff soon... Might be worth it to "upgrade" if they'll "throw in" a Genie and the various Client device hardware.

Well, I'm now down to 3 tuners working on my 2 connected utvs. My original, bought in 2001 still works, though I have to reset it every week or two. The disk must be getting tired as well, sometimes a sports event will drop a few minutes here or there. The newer unit lasted till a few weeks ago and then one tuner went dead.

So, I plugged in my last spare and it had 3.7 on it. Took me quite a while to remember how to use a computer to put a copy of my 3.8 custom build back on it. This unit has an original 40 gig drive, whereas my 1 tuner unit has a 140 gig. Having a nice capture setup with software to remove commercials lessens the need to keep stuff on the dvr.

As to the genie, it'd be nice to combine all the tuners in one unit to avoid conflicts. I do like being able to capture the output of one utv while watching another. I guess I'd have to get one of the satellite units to be able to do this on the genie. I figure if I have no utvs then I can use the $10 for something else, like maybe the extra satellite unit.

If I get the genie, I'll have to get a new install since my current dish is using an old chimney mount - which I heard they won't allow anymore.

But I still don't like some of the features of the new dvrs. I'm a bit used to holding down the 30-sec skip instead of FFing and ditto for replay a trick I used to avoid the never fixed runnaway FF. I hear there's a backdoor to turn on 30-sec skip instead of the slip feature. But holding down the skip appears to skip 15 minutes; I'd have to be careful with that one.

Anyway, about done getting all the saved stuff off the dying utv; I hope I can still find the button on the website to activate my final utv. One more failure and I'm afraid it's curtains to the UTVs.

I'm sort of in a similar boat. A Phase 1 dish older then my UTV setup.

Doing my research on a Genie upgrade... and it seems like I should have maybe bit the bullet a few years ago while we renovated our Kitchen. I'm thinking I might be stuck(practically) with my 2 RG6 runs to the Basement where my Multi-Switch is (Since the Electrician "secured" the cables for me before walling them up again... so fishing ain't going to be as much fun now.)

Supposedly older SWM setups allowed "Legacy" Ports and and OTA but I've heard conflicting info. on newer setups which might not offer it or at least are less friendly to it...

Fun Fun Fun.

After my first talk with DirecTV CSR... Looks like my Protection Plan will allow me to "Upgrade" to a Genie and 3 "Clients" (Mini-Genie), If I should want to switch those "Clients" to HD DVRs... I'll be paying for each one out of pocket. ($200 for each HR24 lease)

Sadly it looks like I will have to dump all my SD Equipment (Including my UTVs/HDVR2 Tivo/R15s) if I do this... Going from 14 (More like 11 at the moment) down to 5 would be kind of hard... Not sure I'm up for that.

Anyone got some alternatives/options... to take advantage of the HD Upgrade and keep at least one or more of my SD DVR setup going. I think I'd go crazy with the number of Conflicts that would be possible by not having an extra 6-9 Tuners at the ready.

I can just think of the 5PM (CT) Time slot alone... I can think of 4 Shows that I wouldn't mind recording regularly. That does allow #5 for surfing... but then that leaves nobody else can use the TV.

I guess ideally I'd probably setup a "Classic" Dual RCA UTV setup (DTV/AUX) giving me 4 more tuners (9 Total Tuners) just for "Backup".

DirecTV says current SWM wouldn't let me have any "Legacy" Ports or OTA but I've heard there are some SWM 16 modules that might give me what I want...

Any tips/ideas? I've got a few UTVs that have some Tuner Failure Issues that I haven't requested "Repair" for under the Protection Plan... might be interesting to see if I can do the full Genie Upgrade while "Replacing" the failing UTVs instead of just "downsizing" (Junking) them.

Sounds like Double Dipping but I'm not beyond that as it should be "reasonable" to expect the New "2 year upgrade" (Regardless of Repair/Need) AND Replacing any old "Dead Tuner" DVRs with current units that just happen to be Whole House Compatible... (Hopefully HD but I suppose SD would do in a pinch)