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Can you still use Tivo Series3 without a sub if account in good standing and you unplug phone/ethernet line? - j0hnsmith Hi, I'm interested in buying a HD DVR but I dont want to pay for a subscription. I remember reading somewhere that Tivo Series 2 works if the tivo says you have an account in good standing and you unplug the phone line so the box can't contact Tivo. My question is will this work on Tivo Series 3 as well? Thanks.

Best Answer: Well you can "use" it to record something, but you won't have any guide data. A TiVo without guide data isn't terribly exciting as you won't be able to schedule any recordings except manually by time. And you're going to keep getting messages telling you that your TiVo is out of guide data and needs to connect to the mothership. - Jeff A

No you cannot use a Tivo without a VALID subscription at all. The Tivo series 1's were able to be used for this kind of use though. The Series 1's can be used to record manually. When Tivo came out with the Series 2 and Series 3 they made sure that it ONLY works with a Valid sub. It will not record anything, it will not even let you play what is stored on it without the sub. The phone line is used for getting the guide programming and Tivo software updates. So you will also not get either of these functions. If you want to use a Tivo as just a digital VCR and record manually then you would need to get a Series 1. Of course this cannot do HD TV for you. You can check out these links for more info. http://www.dvrplayground.com/article/10171/Living-with-two-Series-2-TiVo-s/ http://www.dvrplayground.com/forum/thread/13946/using-tivo-without-subscription/ http://www.dvrplayground.com/forum/thread/15078/Tivo-Series-2-DT-Subscription-Questions/ - RockRatt

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