The Single Wire Multiswitch for DirecTV (or SWM) has made installing DirecTV or expanding an existing installation much, much easier. And the SWM world is still evolving with new products. We’ve just received our first shipment of SWM E4 Expanders. These units hold four SWM units. The Expander attaches directly to the four SWMs (or as few as two) – no wires are used; the SWM plugs right in. Then, the four cables from the KaKu dish are attached, as well as any other cables to either the flex ports or the OTA port.

The Expander distributes the incoming signal to each SWM, and also provides a solid way to mount each unit. Here are some pictures of one of our first units:

The front side of the SWM Expander holds two of the modules as shown.

The back has two more sets of ports, and here the SWMs go upside-down to minimize the internal wiring confusion.

The top shows the attachment scheme for the individual SWM power supplies (one per SWM module) and the satellite inputs.

For installations of two or more SWMs, these make life much easier and less error-prone than splitting cables!

We often get asked questions about phone lines and their need and use with DirecTV TiVos (or DirecTiVos, as many call them). So here’s some Q & A:

Does my DirecTV TiVo get guide data from the phone line or the satellite?

DirecTV TiVo combo units get their guide data from the satellite, sent down as data instead of video. The phone calls for these units don’t supply the units with data, which is why most don’t call in more than once per week.

So why does it use a phone line?

The phone line is used to check continuing activity, upload preferences and viewing history, authorize OS updates, and interact for PayPerView purposes.

Does it NEED a phone line?

The early DirecTV TiVos do need a phone line: Sony SAT T-60, Philips DSR6000, and Hughes GXCEBOT. The later models (any unit with a USB port on the back, even though they aren’t active) don’t need a phone line once the unit is up and running. But they will produce a “nag” screen asking the customer to have the unit dial-in properly, after 30 days of inactivity, then every day after that.

How do I get rid of the nag screen?

Just choose “skip for now” or a similar option, depending on your OS version. You can’t permanently get rid of it.

Can I just network it?

No – no DirecTV TiVos can be networked. (Technically, there are some hacks that attempt to accomplish this, but we don’t recommend them as they cause several other problem while attempting to solve this minor one.) Non-TiVo DVRs from DirecTV can use a network instead of a phone line.

If I change my drive, will I need a phone line then?

Yes. Replacement hard drives for DirecTV TiVo units must dial in (generally twice) during initial setup. If you don’t have a phone line for this purpose, we recommend that you bring the unit to a friend’s house for these dial-ins. You do NOT need satellite access at the same time, so your friend doesn’t need to have DirecTV to accomplish this.

Can I use my VoIP phone line?

In most cases, the modems in DirecTV TiVos aren’t compatible with VoIP, but sometimes it works. For other situations, we have a TiVo external modem kit that works with most VoIP providers.

Can I use my cell phone line?

No. We haven’t found any way to connect one of these units using a cell phone.

Gizmodo has a nice article about the history and design aspects of the TiVo remote.

We’ve always wanted a QWERTY keyboard! Please!

Good read.

For several days, due to a great deal from our distributor, we had been selling 250 GB drives for certain models in certain configurations at the price of 160 GB drives – $119. We’ve now taken this special off of our home page, and replaced it with the amazing $99 deal for the Humax T2500.

But we do still have some of the 250s around, so we’re making this special offer to our blog readers only: get a 250 for the price of a 160 through Sunday, June 22, 2008. We’ll try to make it as easy as possible to take advantage of this deal, so just read the details:

-Order the 160 GB Replace kit for your model so you are charged the right price. Then, use the code below.

-This ONLY applies to replace kits and not add kits. Next, since this special deal is only on PATA drives, this does NOT apply to the TiVo HD or TiVo Series3 upgrades.

-This isn’t a coupon code, but a code you enter in the “Customer Notes” area below the “Credit Card” information on the final checkout screen. The code is “WKBLOG250″ and here’s how it should look:

-Finally – here’s a way to save even more: Use Google Checkout to get a further $10 off – so $109 for a 250 GB replace kit! If you use Google Checkout, you never see the field above. In this case, just send an email after you place your order to info@weaknees.com with your Google order number as the subject and the code “WKBLOG250″ in the body.

With the amount of storms around the country at the moment, it seems that power supplies in TiVos are blowing out at a pretty swift pace. Our sales of TiVo power supplies have tripled in the last week. Thankfully, we have them for every model of TiVo ever produced, except the Toshiba SD-H400. See our TiVo power supply page for more info.

If you think your power supply may have failed, you should see our post for help diagnosing TiVo power supply issues. The short recap: no video at all, not even the gray screen, means TiVo power supply failure almost always. Even if the fan and/or hard drive still spins. 

But if you do get video out, like a gray “powering up” screen, then you likely have hard drive failure, and you need a new TiVo drive “replace” kit.