Tivo promotion

[Ready]

I know there's a few Tivo fans on the forum, so I thought I'd pass this along. I just stumbled across a promotion for a $50 Tivo Roamio DVR, along with half price on lifetime service ($249 instead of $499). So for a total of $300 plus tax (free shipping), you get everything you need to ditch your cable DVR or set top box. You can either go cable free and use an antenna, or if you have cable, you can order a cable card, which usually cost $5.00 per month, and get all your cable channels.

The rumor is they are coming out with a new box in a few weeks and just want to blow out their inventory. These units are "factory renewed" if that matters. You can buy a fresh one for $100 more, or just add a three year warranty for $40.

I ordered one for the guest bedroom. For an all in price of $367 including tax and three year warranty, that's hard to beat. I have no set top boxes in my home, so I've saved quite a bit in equipment rental fees by using Tivo exclusively. And I have the stream device which lets me watch my shows on my iPad or iPhone.

All in all, it's still the best DVR solution out there, and for the money, it's quite a deal.

[ERD50]

Does the lifetime service apply after your original box dies and you buy a replacement? Or is the service tied to that box (or model)?

-ERD50

[Fermion]

I think the service is tied to the original box. TIVO hates us, because we are still using a series 3 which is 11? years old...with lifetime membership. You can just see them crossing their fingers that the old boxes we all run will go ahead and die.

[bUU]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ready I know there's a few Tivo fans on the forum, so I thought I'd pass this along. I just stumbled across a promotion for a $50 Tivo Roamio DVR, along with half price on lifetime service ($249 instead of $499). So for a total of $300 plus tax (free shipping), you get everything you need to ditch your cable DVR or set top box. You can either go cable free and use an antenna, or if you have cable, you can order a cable card, which usually cost $5.00 per month, and get all your cable channels.

Interesting.

I just picked up a TiVo Mini to go with my Roamio Plus. Folks should know about that option. It's a very inexpensive add-on that brings your recorded television or live television from the Roamio to another television in your home. So you don't need to buy two Roamios to replace two cable boxes. You just need one Roamio and a Mini.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ERD50 Does the lifetime service apply after your original box dies and you buy a replacement? Or is the service tied to that box (or model)?

The latter.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fermion I think the service is tied to the original box. TIVO hates us, because we are still using a series 3 which is 11? years old...with lifetime membership. You can just see them crossing their fingers that the old boxes we all run will go ahead and die.

We just retired our Series 3 because it doesn't support MPEG-4, and the cable company is switching to the more efficient compression algorithm.

[utrecht]

Back in the day when nobody knew what TiVo was, they ran a promotion, which I got in on. It was $10 per month for what we now know as DVR service or $249 for a lifetime subscription. I think DirecTV bought those lifetime memberships. I haven't paid a dime for the DVR service on my DirecTV account for what I'm pretty sure is over 20 yrs.

[bUU]

I though DirecTV always owned those lifetime memberships (if you can call holding a liability "owning" something). I figured that DirecTV just bakes the cost of this liability into their operating costs.

That device from "back in the day" (pre-2004) is becoming increasingly obsolete, for the same reason as my recently retired Series 3: Most (though not all) channels on DirecTV are MPEG-4 compressed, and the HR10-250 doesn't support MPEG-4.

[Ready]

When Tivo first put out its Tivo I series DVR, it offered "lifetime service" without defining what lifetime meant. To the average consumer, it was assumed to me my lifetime, not the lifetime of the box.

When series II came out, they realized their error and defined lifetime to mean of the box, not the owner. For those who purchased a series I DVR under the old definition, they allowed a one time transfer of the service to a new box. And, I guess they were especially nice to me as they allowed me to do it a second time down the road. Of course back then the DVRs were quite expensive, so there was probably a good profit margin in pushing new hardware.

Today, selling boxes at $50 is obviously not making them any money. So it's in their best interest if the boxes don't last too long. I do have two units that are almost six years old and still going strong.

For $40, I think the three year extended warranty is worth it, since it's really the lifetime service you are protecting, not the $50 hardware. With the warranty, you are guaranteed to spend no more than $300 for at least three years of service on the box, hopefully much longer.

I've only had one Tivo box die on me over the years, and it was actually the one made by Sony. All of the Tivo branded boxes just eventually became obsolete as new models came out, but they never stopped working.

[utrecht]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bUU I though DirecTV always owned those lifetime memberships (if you can call holding a liability "owning" something). I figured that DirecTV just bakes the cost of this liability into their operating costs. That device from "back in the day" (pre-2004) is becoming increasingly obsolete, for the same reason as my recently retired Series 3: Most (though not all) channels on DirecTV are MPEG-4 compressed, and the HR10-250 doesn't support MPEG-4.

I don't still have the original TiVo box. I haven't had it for a very long time. I upgrade all the time to the newest thing and have the Genie now. My bill still shows free DVR service. My friend has just about the same DirecTV package as I do but he pays extra for the DVR service.

Now that I think about it, maybe when I looked into getting DirecTV a long time ago, I told them I had free lifetime DVR service thru TiVo (with cable) and didnt want to lose it if I switched to satellite and they gave me the same deal for free lifetime DVR service with them. I cant remember for sure, but I know I get a new box whenever it comes out and still never pay for DVR.

[bUU]

Quote:

Originally Posted by utrecht I don't still have the original TiVo box. I haven't had it for a very long time. I upgrade all the time to the newest thing and have the Genie now. My bill still shows free DVR service.

Okay so definitely then this is DirecTV owning the lifetime service, not TiVo.

[Texas Proud]

Never liked TIVO.... and lifetime of the box means nothing to me...

I rent a DVR through DISH.... something like $5 per month.... but have had 3 of them crash somehow.... if I had to buy a whole new subscription I would be out more money than I am...

I do like recording everything and do not want to go back to watching stuff live...

[Ready]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Texas Proud Never liked TIVO.... and lifetime of the box means nothing to me... I rent a DVR through DISH.... something like $5 per month.... but have had 3 of them crash somehow.... if I had to buy a whole new subscription I would be out more money than I am... I do like recording everything and do not want to go back to watching stuff live...

Verizon charges me $15/month for a basic DVR with far less functionality than Tivo. If the total equipment charge is really only $5, that is a great deal. Are you sure they don't charge you extra for the service required to download channel data to the DVR? My company used to charge that fee separately to make the DVR price look more appealing.

Did you have a bad experience with a Tivo? If your Dish DVR has crashed 3 times, what would lead you to think negatively about Tivo compared to Dish's equipment? The last time I used a provider's DVR, I found it to be incredibly crude and basic in functionality. I couldn't wait to get rid of it.

[bUU]

I've had a number of TiVos. None of them have ever failed requiring me to buy another. They've each been replaced as a reflection of substantial changes in the industry technology, single tuner to dual tuner, analog to digital, dual tuner to six tuner, MPEG-2 to MPEG-4.

Dish provides DVRs with either a very small or no equipment rental fee for the DVR equipment itself. Then they tack on a $12/month service fee for using the DVR on top of that.

[Texas Proud]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ready Verizon charges me $15/month for a basic DVR with far less functionality than Tivo. If the total equipment charge is really only $5, that is a great deal. Are you sure they don't charge you extra for the service required to download channel data to the DVR? My company used to charge that fee separately to make the DVR price look more appealing. Did you have a bad experience with a Tivo? If your Dish DVR has crashed 3 times, what would lead you to think negatively about Tivo compared to Dish's equipment? The last time I used a provider's DVR, I found it to be incredibly crude and basic in functionality. I couldn't wait to get rid of it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bUU I've had a number of TiVos. None of them have ever failed requiring me to buy another. They've each been replaced as a reflection of substantial changes in the industry technology, single tuner to dual tuner, analog to digital, dual tuner to six tuner, MPEG-2 to MPEG-4. Dish provides DVRs with either a very small or no equipment rental fee for the DVR equipment itself. Then they tack on a $12/month service fee for using the DVR on top of that.

Could be... I have not checked the price recently... I will have too and get back...

Mine seems to be good enough... I have not had anything else to compare it to, except for my sisters Comcast... I do not like hers...

The one thing I do wish it had was wifi... I do not have wifi TV or DVR, so cannot watch streaming.... and do not want to buy another thing to attach to it...

Then again, I have been Jonesing for a 70 inch TV.... the prices have been coming down... maybe this year....

[cathy63]

Another TiVo fan here. I've been a happy customer since 2001 and definitely recommend them.

If you have any interest in beta testing new software and hardware, consider visiting http://fieldtrials.tivo.com and signing up.

[omni550]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bUU I've had a number of TiVos. None of them have ever failed requiring me to buy another.

I've had two TiVos that failed in the past 6-7 years. They seem to start failing by showing pixelated images sporadically and then finally simply freezing up and showing a black screen.

Both times, I've called TiVo customer service (in an attempt to figure out what might be the issue). Both times the units were declared as failed and I have ended up purchasing a new (later model) Tivo to replace the failed one. As both units failed within about 3 years, I got CS to give me a discounted lifetime service plan on the new units. With my first failed unit, Tivo sent me a newer-model replacement unit and I sent the original one back to Tivo.

I'm a very infrequent watcher of TV so you may wonder why I have a Tivo. I prefer to watch TV on MY time schedule so having some prerecorded shows on hand makes me happy.

As several have posted not having any issues with their Tivos failing, I'm wondering why I've had such a high/early failure rate on my 2 units? From poking around online (weakknees), it seems as though the hard drives would have needed to have been replaced at a minimum cost of $130 for the part. Due to my travel schedule, etc., I opted for a new TiVo unit with more recording options instead.

Has anyone replaced their hard dive on a failed Tivo and been pleased with the remaining service life of the unit? I still have the most recent failed unit (a Series 3 HD with lifetime service) and am wondering if I should consider buying a new hard drive for it and taking the unit along with me to leave at my "snowbird" condo in FL?

omni

[bUU]

I only replaced a hard drive once, in my Series 3, and I didn't really replace it - I put a 1 TB drive in the day I got it replacing the smaller drive it came with. Again, it's been a long time now without a problem.

[swakyaby]

About 8 years ago, I purchased a 500G HD TIVO with lifetime membership for $300 to record OTA shows in HD. Loved the functionality. Then 3 1/2 years after purchase, the hard drive failed. My resourceful DH replaced the hard drive with a cloned copy of the original HD for about $100 through an outside source and the service continued flawlessly for another 4 years, then failed.

I went without TIVO for a year until I caved and bought the Romio for $50 with monthly service subscription for OTA recording. DVR recorders just aren't convenient enough to program compared to Tivo.

[Ready]

Quote:

Originally Posted by omni550 Has anyone replaced their hard dive on a failed Tivo and been pleased with the remaining service life of the unit? I still have the most recent failed unit (a Series 3 HD with lifetime service) and am wondering if I should consider buying a new hard drive for it and taking the unit along with me to leave at my "snowbird" condo in FL? omni

I've only had two failures in about 15 years, but my general rule of thumb has been to upgrade to a new box as long as Tivo is willing to transfer the lifetime subscription to the new box. So far they have done this for me, but I understand they may not be willing to do so anymore.

With the lifetime service being discounted to $249, and a new (reburb) Roamio only costing $50, I would not mess with replacing the hard drive on an older unit.

With the old pricing of $499 for lifetime service and $149 for the Roamio, I would probably go ahead and try a new hard drive first.

[Fermion]

Our hard drive is now a decade old...must have gotten a good one. We watch a LOT of tv on it.

[Chuckanut]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bUU Interesting. I just picked up a TiVo Mini to go with my Roamio Plus. Folks should know about that option. It's a very inexpensive add-on that brings your recorded television or live television from the Roamio to another television in your home. So you don't need to buy two Roamios to replace two cable boxes. You just need one Roamio and a Mini.

Just curious. Does the Mini need to connect to the Roamio with a cable, or can it be wireless?