Dead Tivo with Lifetime service

[jhallmedia]

OK..Like a lot of folks on this forum, my Tivo Series 2 died in the past few days; died in the sense of pixelation, followed by freezing, followed by forced reboot, followed by "Powering up" gray screen of death. Part of me loves the TIVO planned obselescence conspiracy theory; the more logical part of me wants to believe that after two years of constant use and staying powered on, this inexpensive piece of hardware reached its useful life. So here's my question to the group: Which (if any) of the following options will preserve the $299 I forked out two years ago for Lifetime Service:
1. Having TIVO send me a $150 (refurbed?) replacement box?
2. Replacing the hard drive myself (as described in various posts in this forum)?

If anyone has a well-informed opinion or answer, most appreciated. My life is too complex and insane to wring my hands over why this happened. It sucks that I'm out $300 for 2 years of service, though. Thanks all.

[wscannell]

Both options will preserve the lifetime. Option 2 will allow you to put in a larger hard drive. Your hard drive may be too far gone to copy it, so you would probably be better off with Instantcake from dvrupgrade.com.

[funtoupgrade]

Start with option #2 and bigger hard drive as suggested. If that does not cure the problem you can opt for #1 and then put the bigger hard drive in the new unit.

[robomeister]

Or you could buy a preformatted drive from one of the sites sponsors above. Less work on your part, but a little more expensive. This will also preserve your Lifetime Subscription, which is tied to the motherboard of the unit.

Hope this helps.