Where's the T-Day S3 Price Drop?

[HDTiVo]

Ok, TiVo, you've had your fun with the opening offer on the S3.

Now its time for that first price drop.

So just when and how much?

TCF members speculate wildly.

[kido]

bestbuy's web site has S3 backordered for 1-2 weeks. circuitcity is sold out in chicago, with a few units in the suburbs. looks to me like they are selling well at the current price, so i don't see any official price drops until the new year. once the holiday shopping frenzy is done and the vip offer has expired, they might lower prices a bit. of course, only tivo knows how well the S3 is selling, so we may gain some insight after they announce results from last quarter at the end of this month.

[Stanley Rohner]

I don't think they'll drop the price till about one year after they released it.

[ZeoTiVo]

after the VIP transfer of lifetime offer is over I would expect to see bundle deals vs a price drop. Then they wait for sales per month to hit some number before they price drop- maybe the summer time

[ADent]

I agree that they will not drop the price until the VIP Lifetime transfer is over.

Then it comes down to supply and demand. If they are selling at $680-$800 bucks all they can make then it won't come down.

[MickeS]

The only TiVo's for sale on "black friday" that I saw are at CompUSA and RadioShack. The RS one said 40 hour single tuner.... big deal. :D

The CompUSA one just said "80 hr series 2", so I don't know if that means dual tuner or single tuner?

[davezatz]

I originally thought we'd see a rebate before the holidays, but time is running out. Perhaps sales are so good, none is needed? Even without a rebate, prices have dropped on their own by about $100, give or take. A 12% cut after two months isn't bad!

So I agree with Zeo that there probably won't be anything else until after the VIP dealio when they do something (rebate?) to tweak sales during a non-holiday period.

[jfh3]

I'd be very surprised to see a price drop until after the VIP offer is over. It seems pretty easy to get an S3 in the $650-$700 range as it is.

[jeffk]

Where can I get one in the 650-700 range? I havn't found any that cheap. Especially since I get charged tax in florida for the store here [which was 680] the cheapest i saw, but with tax pushed it up to 742.

[Einselen]

Where can I get one in the 650-700 range? I havn't found any that cheap. Especially since I get charged tax in florida for the store here [which was 680] the cheapest i saw, but with tax pushed it up to 742.

Weaknees has it for $679 plus a $50 giftcard if you use coupons and google checkout, here are the steps (note I did not follow these steps, it was stolen from FatWallet):

1. Added the $799 Series 3 Tivo to my cart from here:
Series 3 Tivo
http://www.weaknees.com/series-3-hd-Tivo.php

2. Used the coupon code HDTIVO100 (from an e-mail I got from weaknees.com) to get $100 off.

3. Then I used Google Checkout to get an instant $10 off. Then used the coupon code google10 (also from e-mail) and got an additional $10 off.

4. Once I finished checkout, then you have to register your order for the $50 gift certificate:

Gift Certificate

http://www.weaknees.com/series3-promo.php

5. They say you get that within 10 days, and if you want the Tivo G adapter for broadband, you can then get that here for $9 if you use the GC:

Broadband adapter

http://www.weaknees.com/cart/customer/product.php?productid=56082

[mattack]

$650, where? $700 seems fairly common.. http://store.*******.com/Detail.bok?no=398&gclid=CPuBpJOOzYgCFRU9YQodilzhAQ
has it for $700 with free shipping. (I guess that was the same as the previous thread weeks ago..)

damn, guess they block/censor that site. use froogle and you can find it.

[davezatz]

TCF Store had it for $680, Weakness has a coupon for $100 off (plus a 50 credit or something), Amazon is $710. Froogle is showing a few lower such as Abe's of Maine @ $670. (I also noticed several OVER list price which is kind of crazy. Buyer beware?)

[VanGoghLikesTivo]

A new Series 3 TiVo just sold on EBay for $620 w/ Free Shipping.

[HDTiVo]

So what's TiVo $tore going to do, since they are at $800-.01?

The Lifetime Transfer period is a false premise. No reason it should affect timing of price changes.

[bmgoodman]

The Lifetime Transfer period is a false premise. No reason it should affect timing of price changes.

I don't understand what you mean. I am, right now, debating on doing the lifetime transfer vs waiting for S3 prices to drop in 2007. I figure I'll be paying approximately $700 + $200 lifetime transfer = $900. Or, I could wait until next year and get one for $500, WHICH I ADMIT IS A GUESS. That means I would be paying $400 for lifetime. Now I weigh that against $6.95/mo (MSD, 3 year contract) at $250. So how long would I have to stay with Tivo at $6.95/mo? It would be 57.5 months, assuming MSD didn't increase after my 3 year contract was up.

This math looks different from one where the S3 remains at $700 for all of 2007. In that case, it takes 29 months, which is less than a 3 year contract.

Note that I'm not considering the time value of money, nor am I really comparing this against getting a Comcast DVR or the speed of light.

But it seems like my thinking IS affected depending upon whether Tivo decides to drop to S3 price just after the lifetime transfer option ends.

[bilbo]

The only TiVo's for sale on "black friday" that I saw are at CompUSA and RadioShack. The RS one said 40 hour single tuner.... big deal. :D

The CompUSA one just said "80 hr series 2", so I don't know if that means dual tuner or single tuner?

don't forget about the papa john's tivo


http://www.tivo.com/0.11.papajohns.asp

[ashu]

I don't understand what you mean. I am, right now, debating on doing the lifetime transfer vs waiting for S3 prices to drop in 2007. I figure I'll be paying approximately $700 + $200 lifetime transfer = $900. Or, I could wait until next year and get one for $500, WHICH I ADMIT IS A GUESS. That means I would be paying $400 for lifetime. Now I weigh that against $6.95/mo (MSD, 3 year contract) at $250. So how long would I have to stay with Tivo at $6.95/mo? It would be 57.5 months, assuming MSD didn't increase after my 3 year contract was up.

This math looks different from one where the S3 remains at $700 for all of 2007. In that case, it takes 29 months, which is less than a 3 year contract.

Note that I'm not considering the time value of money, nor am I really comparing this against getting a Comcast DVR or the speed of light.

But it seems like my thinking IS affected depending upon whether Tivo decides to drop to S3 price just after the lifetime transfer option ends.


I absolutely went through the same thought process ... but like you, for the longest time, I forgot that I was pumping up the potential resale value of the Lifetime9transferred) S3 too, which counts for somethin.

And $500 sounds overly optimistic to me. Or maybe it's just sour grapes (I transfered over one of my two Lifetimes to my S3 earlier this week :D )

[jeffk]

I absolutely went through the same thought process ... but like you, for the longest time, I forgot that I was pumping up the potential resale value of the Lifetime9transferred) S3 too, which counts for somethin.

And $500 sounds overly optimistic to me. Or maybe it's just sour grapes (I transfered over one of my two Lifetimes to my S3 earlier this week :D )

I am goign through the same thought process myself. I just havn't decided yet. $500 might not be too far off in another year, as it's only been out a few months and you can get it for about $680 [120 off the launch price], so i think $500 in a year is attainable.

I havn't decided yet, fwiw. I am on the fence.

[ashu]

Yeah, but that's a year you (may) have to (choose to) live with abominable HD TiVo wannabes! Or, even worse, without HDTV! :eek:

[bmgoodman]

...but I don't have HDTV yet. I've been waiting for the prices to come down to "unreasonable" from "astronomical". I do expect to buy something before December 2007. I am willing to consider an S3 Tivo this year just to get the lifetime transfer, if I convince myself the math makes sense.

[jeffk]

I do have HDTV, and recording those shows in SD right now sucks :-) So, yea I might take the plunge. I think i need to call the cable company and see how much the difference would be to turn in their hdtv dvr [i dont subscrbe to their dvr they just gave it to me w/o activating the dvr features to receive HD content], and using the cable cards. I'm basically trying to talk myself into the tivo 3, lol.

Just havn't made it there yet.

[rydello34]

I don't have an HDTV, but I still bought an S3. The OTA HD channels look great on my TV even though it is down converted to 480i. Someday I will get an HDTV and I'll be even more impressed.

If you want the S3 + lifetime combination, I wouldn't wait -- even if you don't have an HDTV yet. I expect to use my S3 for many years and the lifetime service will pay for itself (IMO).

[MediaLivingRoom]

I would only pay $300 now!!

[GoHokies!]

I would only pay $300 now!!

We know.

As others have said, I wouldn't expect to see a price drop until after the lifetime transfer deal is up. There would be too many pissed of "is this how to treat a VIP" people to make it worthwhile.

(not to mention if kido is right, they're selling like hotcakes anyway - when will we see some sales figures? End of the quarter reporting?)

[Bierboy]

Where's the T-Day S3 Price Drop?In your dreams...

[smak]

I think the fact that these eventually will be cheaper, and the sales will dramatically go up makes it much smarter to do the lifetime transfer now.

There will be hardly any series 3 boxes with lifetime, and resale value will be very strong.

I bought a series 2 and lifetime 2 years ago, and the lifetime charges have been more than I would have paid for monthly so far...but, i'm about to sell it on ebay, and instead of probably not being able to even sell this currently free 80 hr tivo, i can probably get $300 for it easy.

That makes the lifetime choice very easy for the series 3.

You can always wait x amount more months to buy something and pay x less, but that's a never ending cycle.

-smak-

[ac3dd]

I don't understand what you mean. I am, right now, debating on doing the lifetime transfer vs waiting for S3 prices to drop in 2007. I figure I'll be paying approximately $700 + $200 lifetime transfer = $900. Or, I could wait until next year and get one for $500, WHICH I ADMIT IS A GUESS. That means I would be paying $400 for lifetime. Now I weigh that against $6.95/mo (MSD, 3 year contract) at $250. So how long would I have to stay with Tivo at $6.95/mo? It would be 57.5 months, assuming MSD didn't increase after my 3 year contract was up.If you don't plan to keep using the existing TiVo box that has lifetime, remember to consider selling that as part of the equation.

[stellablue19]

If selling (or giving away) a Series 2 box after upgrading to the Series 3 and transferring my lifetime subscription -- what service will the old Series 2 still have? Will the new owner get a year of service for free, and then they will have to switch to month-to-month?

Thanks!

If you don't plan to keep using the existing TiVo box that has lifetime, remember to consider selling that as part of the equation.

[LastPlace]

Happy Day-After-T-Day!

Maybe I'm not a "VIP" because I hadn't heard about the VIP lifetime transfer but can anyone tell me how to find out - I didn't see anything about it on their website.

[ChuckyBox]

Maybe I'm not a "VIP" because I hadn't heard about the VIP lifetime transfer but can anyone tell me how to find out - I didn't see anything about it on their website.
www.tivo.com/vip

[ChuckyBox]

If selling (or giving away) a Series 2 box after upgrading to the Series 3 and transferring my lifetime subscription -- what service will the old Series 2 still have? Will the new owner get a year of service for free, and then they will have to switch to month-to-month?

You cannot transfer the 1-year of service to another party. Read the fine print at:

www.tivo.com/vip

I think you could probably keep the box on your account and the new user could still use it, though. After the 1-year subscription expires, the box will go month-to-month at the monthly rate which is probably $19.95 now, or the new owner could pick any of the other subscription terms TiVo offers.