Would you like a lifetime on your Series 3?

[bschott]

I'm posting this as a FYI.

I recently purchased (last night) a Tivo System number from eBay for 275.00. I believe the seller's ID was erowe1, or erowe (I cannot search now because ebay is blocked where I'm currently at). Anyhow this seller has a few series 1 units with lifetime attached. After paid, he followed up with all of the information (including phone numbers) needed to transfer the unit to my account.

The call to tivo support to 35 minutes of hold time, but the CSR transferred the unit I just purchased within 5 minutes.

Afterwards, I called the Tivo VIP program (how I ordered my S3) and successfully transferred the lifetime from the Series 1 I just purchased to the new S3 very painlessly.

You may want to research this seller online has he's prompt and complete and has several units still left (as of last night).

This would be the item to search for: 150037335893

Brian

[classicX]

:up:

Now that's an entrepreneur. Those units are probably dead, of no use to him. And rather than go through the expense of boxing and shipping to someone who will just toss the unit anyway, he's selling their info.

Are these "grandfather" units or did you have to pay the $199 xfer fee also?

[bschott]

I had to pay the 199.00 fee, so I guess they are not grandfathered. Which is fine with me because I was expecting to.

I'm not sure how may he had, but when I looked @ the "bought" list, there were 7-8 people, so I'm guessing he has between 10-15 units because he said that he had a few left.

for 40 bucks more he offers to mail the units out, but I didn't want it. Nonetheless the transaction was completely professional and on the level.

[jrog]

I looked into this for the last couple days, and figured it was actually a really good deal. I pulled the trigger and bought it, transfered to my account, all went well.

I figured, it was cheaper to buy a lifetime than new, and I was going to have to pay a transfer fee and lose lifetime on my S2. Now if I decide to get another S3 before christmas, I can transfer to that one too.

I think he's all sold out at the moment. Most everyone else on eBay selling the same thing is trying to buy a vacation house in the Caymans.

-jrog

[Hank]

This was the third auction he's run. I was about to buy his last one on his first auction, but someone else beat me to it. So instead I then bought a sony svr-2000 (with all accessories and remote) with lifetime for $300, which I'm pretty sure I can resell without lifetime for at least $100 including 10 months of service once my S3 gets the lifetime.. so my final cost for the Sony is less than $200. Not to bad. But then this guy started a second (and third) auction for these $275 deals - a great deal if he runs any more auctions. Looks like he had 11 of these to sell, but they're all gone.

[DLiquid]

I ran a very similar auction and mine finished at $350, so $275 is a good price.

[Hank]

He has three more at $299: Auction 150037627429

[ThreeSoFar]

I'll be doing this with at least one nitelite series 2.

PM me if you're interested. It's upgraded to over 200 hours, too.

[bschott]

My hope is that with this series3 somewhere down the road say in 5 or 6 years that I'd be able to transfer the lifetime agian to newer hardware. I guess we'll see.

[btwyx]

I bought a Series 1 lifetime from this guy, a real physical box. Its currently pending transfer to the S3, and then I'll get rid of the Series 1.

[ThreeSoFar]

I bought a Series 1 lifetime from this guy, a real physical box. Its currently pending transfer to the S3, and then I'll get rid of the Series 1.
For how much?

[peet]

So this makes sense... you guys are paying upwards of $500 to buy 41+ months of ROI? In four years, you think that S3 won't be showing its age?

Think twice!

[btwyx]

For how much?For the series 1? As much as anyone will pay for it.

[bschott]

So this makes sense... you guys are paying upwards of $500 to buy 41+ months of ROI? In four years, you think that S3 won't be showing its age?

Think twice!

I considered this as well, I figured I'd take the 41 month. Just over three years, I figuring on having my new S3 for as long as it will run. It's got all that I want. Optical Audio out, HDMI and dual tuners.

[btwyx]

So this makes sense... you guys are paying upwards of $500 to buy 41+ months of ROI? In four years, you think that S3 won't be showing its age? This has been hashed over a lot. The value of lifetime doesn't seem to decrease, so most/all of its value can be recovered if wanted. And I don't think it'll be showing its age in 3 years, it could very well carry on forver (with a few replacement drives.)

[lessd]

This was the third auction he's run. I was about to buy his last one on his first auction, but someone else beat me to it. So instead I then bought a sony svr-2000 (with all accessories and remote) with lifetime for $300, which I'm pretty sure I can resell without lifetime for at least $100 including 10 months of service once my S3 gets the lifetime.. so my final cost for the Sony is less than $200. Not to bad. But then this guy started a second (and third) auction for these $275 deals - a great deal if he runs any more auctions. Looks like he had 11 of these to sell, but they're all gone.

Your credit card will be on that Sony TiVo until the year is up. If you don't call TiVo you will be charged $6.95/month after that. The TiVo must stay in your account as I understand the Xfer.

[rodalpho]

So this makes sense... you guys are paying upwards of $500 to buy 41+ months of ROI? In four years, you think that S3 won't be showing its age?

Think twice!
Yeah, that's what I thought when I bought my tivo...

...in late 1999 when lifetime service cost like $199. I figured it was consumer hardware with a hard drive in it, and it had a limited lifetime, and I already paid like $400 for the box and lifetime was by the box not my lifetime, so I went monthly. My tivo has been on and recording every day since. I never even upgraded to a series2. Over the past six years I've paid roughly $1000 in monthly service charges.

Moral to the story-- if you can get lifetime for a ROI of under four years, it's probably a good idea.

[DLiquid]

Moral to the story-- if you can get lifetime for a ROI of under four years, it's probably a good idea.Not that past performance guarantees future results, but I bought lifetime for $200 in 2001 and sold it for $350 in 2006. Who knew lifetime on a Series1 was such a great investment?

[tough joe]

Requesting advice: (I use analog cable by the way)

I have a S2 single tunner with lifetime service. I want to get a new S3 dual tunner, AND I want to buy a S2 dual tunner to network together. Im confident that TIVO will resolve the MRV and T2G issues on the new unit but its not a deal breaker for me.

So In order for me to get lifetime service on both new units, shall I transfer the lifetime from my s2 single tunner unit to the new S3 and buy a lifetime service gift card? Or does anyone have better suggestions? Thanks.

PS love this site, very knowledgable people here.

Joe

[ThreeSoFar]

Requesting advice: (I use analog cable by the way)

I have a S2 single tunner with lifetime service. I want to get a new S3 dual tunner, AND I want to buy a S2 dual tunner to network together. Im confident that TIVO will resolve the MRV and T2G issues on the new unit but its not a deal breaker for me.

So In order for me to get lifetime service on both new units, shall I transfer the lifetime from my s2 single tunner unit to the new S3 and buy a lifetime service gift card? Or does anyone have better suggestions? Thanks.

PS love this site, very knowledgable people here.

Joe
Your second lifetime may cost you. Those lifetime gift cards are not sold any longer and on eBay go for quite a bit.

I'd say reconsider whether you even need the dual tuner S2. If you can find a dead S1 or S2 to buy the lifetime off of, that will be cheaper than trying to add lifetime to a brand new S2DT.

Or resign yourself to paying the $6.95/mo on one of the units.

[tough joe]

Your second lifetime may cost you. Those lifetime gift cards are not sold any longer and on eBay go for quite a bit.

I'd say reconsider whether you even need the dual tuner S2. If you can find a dead S1 or S2 to buy the lifetime off of, that will be cheaper than trying to add lifetime to a brand new S2DT.

Or resign yourself to paying the $6.95/mo on one of the units.

But I think the $6.95 is not valid if I have 1 lifetime unit. Also, I have a need for 2 dual tunners.

From the Tivo Faq

Does the Multi-Service Discount apply to TiVo® product lifetime service?
No. The pricing discount only applies to monthly TiVo service fees. However, if you have one TiVo® box with product lifetime that is actively using the TiVo service on your account and subsequent boxes are paying the regular monthly fee, those boxes qualify and will be discounted to $6.95, excluding TiVo Package payment plans.

[Hank]

It's simple.. if you have one lifetime unit, any other non-lifetime units in your household will be $6.95 per month.

[DiscoBayJoe]

I just purchased, Transfered, and Completed a Lifetime Transfer from this guy as well.

Tivo gave me a bit of crap for a second saying that they needed to see it dial-in from my Zip to complete the transfer (I didn't even bother having him send me the old Sony). After I explained it was broken and I just wanted the lifetime for a VIP, they hooked it up.

Total Investment Tivo S3 + Tax + Ebay Lifetime + VIP = $1500.

Luckily I was able to replace SBC All Distance ($60/mo) & DirecTiVo ($60/mo) & Comcast Internet-Only ($60/mo) for Comcast Triple Play $130/mo. The Tivo will be Free after about 30 months and I now get HBO, Stars, and a real HD offering! This of course assumes that I can re-up @ the promo levels w/Comcast in a year (which I don't expect to be an issue).

[krstone]

....So instead I then bought a sony svr-2000 (with all accessories and remote) with lifetime for $300, which I'm pretty sure I can resell without lifetime for at least $100 including 10 months of service once my S3 gets the lifetime...

If you transfer lifetime to a new S3 and then your older unit gets 12 months free service, is the one year of service on the older unit transferrable?

Ken

[Hank]

If you transfer lifetime to a new S3 and then your older unit gets 12 months free service, is the one year of service on the older unit transferrable?

I'm assuming the box+service is transferrable, but I doubt the service itself is transferrable to another box.

[DiscoBayJoe]

While you can't transfer Lifetimes between boxes (other than the VIP), I believe you can transfer Monthly. I plan on picking up a used S2 off craigslist for $40-50 and transferring the 1-year prepaid to it. If it doesn't work, it doesn't work, but I don't anticipate a problem.

[borderline]

You can't (officially) transfer the box+service to another person, but you can transfer the free service to another box. However, you need to wait until the lifetime service on the old box has been transferred to the Series 3 (see TiVoJerry's post (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=4362562&&#post4362562)).