Category: WeaKnees News

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Customer Shipment WeaKnees News

More Innovative TiVo Packaging

We do receive TiVos in here for repair all the time. Some are in the original packaging; some aren’t. Most are in some combination of bubble wrap and peanuts. But, sometimes you need your TiVo fixed, and all you’ve got are some old ties:

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So, hey, need to have WeaKnees fix your TiVo, and need to dump some old clothes? Gotcha covered!

Oh – and have no fear. If you’re sending your TiVo to WeaKnees for repair, we do, in fact, have endcaps, if needed. This won’t make it back out of here as packing material.

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WeaKnees News

New Backup Options In Stock for TiVos and DIRECTV HD DVRs

We previously reported on the launch of our TiVo and DIRECTV DVR Backup Systems, and we’re excited to announce that we have even more backup capacities available. Our backup systems are now available in capacities of up to 4TB (two 2TB drives)! Systems are available for the following DVR models:

TiVo DVRs:

TCD652160 (TiVoHD)
TCD658000 (TiVoHD XL)

DIRECTV HD DVRs

HR20-XXX (All HR20 models, including HR20-100, HR20-700, etc.)
HR21-XXX (All HR21 models, including HR21-100, HR21-700, etc.)
HR21 Pro (All models)
HR22-XXX (All HR22 models, including HR22-100, HR22-700, etc.)
HR23-XXX (All HR23 models, including HR230-100, HR23-700, etc.)

Capacities range from 640gb (dual-320gb drives) to 4,000GB (dual-2TB drives). All models listed above can accept all capacities, with one exception: At this time the TCD652160 can accept a maximum dual-1TB system. We don’t list all backup options for all models on the website, but if there is a specific capacity that interests you, let us know.

How the system works: When connected to one of the above DVRs, your DVR will function using the external dual-drive system only. The internal drive will be disabled while the external operates. Every time the DVR reads or writes to the system, it will read/write the data to both drives simultaneously. Therefore, the two-drive backup system will always have two hard drives with identical content. If one of those drives fails, you will not lose any of your settings, recordings, season passes (series links), etc., because the backup system will start running using the good drive. In addition, in the event of a drive failure, lights on the front of the backup system will alert you that one of your drives needs to be changed, and once a new blank drive is installed, the system will automatically copy the entirety of the good drive to the newly-installed drive.

A DVR with a backup system operates the same way as a unit running only an internal drive–the on-screen menus are identical.  Once installed, no special steps are required to have the backup operate, and we include complete installation instructions that make connecting the drive a snap.

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Site Change tivo repair WeaKnees News

New TiVo Repair Resource Page

Just a quick note!

We’ve added a TiVo repair resource page to the blog.

This page is a central repository of where to find troubleshooting help, repair services, and parts for your broken TiVo.

More info to come!

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miscFAQ Site Change tivo repair Troubleshooting Help WeaKnees News

WeaKnees Now Offers Flat-fee TiVo Repair

At WeaKnees, we have been reviving TiVo DVRs for years through our extensive inventory of replacement parts. Now, with our ability to repair motherboards, we’re offering flat-fee repairs on most non-DirecTV TiVos. This means that for one price, starting at $149, customers can be assured that their TiVo will be repaired, no matter what (or how many!) problems it has.

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While $149 may initially seem like a high price when new Dual Tuner TiVos can be purchased for $149, the key is that our repairs retain the customer’s lifetime service, or prepaid service. So if a customer has a lifetime plan on a TiVo DVR covered under this program, they can keep that in place. New lifetime plans from TiVo for new DVRs cost up to $399, so repairing an existing unit often makes much more sense than replacing the unit.

Under this program, we can essentially fix any problem with these units, as long as the unit has not been physically damaged or tampered with (beyond normal hard drive upgrades and installation of replacement parts). So unless it’s been run over by a truck, we’re able to fix it. To date, units we’ve brought in under this program have been revived – 100%.

Another great advantage to choosing our flat-fee option is that customers don’t have to try to diagnose the issues at all. If customers are not sure what’s going on with the unit – of if they just aren’t interested in trying to figure it out – they can just let us do everything.

In addition, for customers looking to upgrade the capacity of their unit while it’s here at WeaKnees, that’s an option with these repairs. We can add capacity, and we can do so at a discount while the unit is here.

Please see the options for models and capacity upgrades on our flat fee TiVo repair page.

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DirecTV Product Information WeaKnees News

Now Selling LNBs and SWM LNBs Separately

We’ve been getting more and more requests for LNBs for DirecTV dishes. The LNB is the portion of the dish assembly that receives the signal from reflector and transmits it down to the receivers. We now sell both SWM LNBs and non-SWM LNBs separately.

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In many cases, if you have an AU9 reflector set up, you can switch the LNB to either go to or from a SWM system. So if you want to have a SWM dish, you could swap out the LNB (our SWM LNBs include the necessary power inserter) and then the one remaining wire coming off the dish would carry up to eight tuners-worth of data to make internal expansion easier, or to get two signals to a DVR that only has one wire.

Conversely, if you have a SWM dish and you want to go to a regular non-SWM dish, you can do that too. Why would you want to do that? The SWM dish is less expandable than a non-SWM dish with a SWM8. Using a standard 5LNB dish can enable more than eight tuners-worth of data (essentially, unlimited) with our SWM expander products.

Of course, another reason you might want a new LNB is just because you want channels that are available on a 5LNB system and you have a 3LNB system using the same reflector. So you could swap out with a 5LNB unit, and gain access to channels on the 110 and 119 satellites.

Finally, you might just need to replace a failing or broken LNB.

Please note that anytime you replace an LNB, you do risk mis-aligning the reflector.

And if you have more questions about SWM in general, please see the info over at SWM8.com.