My Tivo Nearly Died

[Nero2]

Ok, a bit of an exaggeration, but that’s what I thought at the time. Long story short, I thought the Tivo had received inoperable damage, but in the end it was just a dodgy cable. This got me thinking; obviously all electronic items have a finite life, at some stage it is quite likely that my Tivo will fail in manner that will not be financially viable to fix.

As there is a finite stock of UK Tivos would it be worthwhile buying a second box to act as a substitute if the unthinkable ever happened? Seems quite a few available on ebay, but having never bought anything off ebay, I’m somewhat nervous. I’ve got a completely unfounded view that most people on ebay cannot be trusted anymore than Jeffery Archer, am I wrong?

[Raisltin Majere]

Yes

[blindlemon]

Most eBay sellers are genuine and most transactions are problem free, so as long as you take a few obvious precautions you should be fine.

1. Check the seller's feedback for items they have sold. If they've sold more than a handful of things with no negative feedbacks then they're probably genuine.

2. Pay via PayPal as if there's a problem they will withdraw your payment from the seller's account faster than Britney out of rehab :eek:

3. Ask the seller a question - any question really - before you bid. Then only bid if you get a sensible and polite reply in a reasonable timeframe.

4. If you are going for a machine with a lifetime sub then ask the seller for the TiVo Service Number before you bid and when you get it give TiVo CS a call to check the machine really does have a lifetime sub. If the seller won't tell you, walk away.

[iankb]

Beware of eBay sellers who may appear to have made a lot of sales or purchases, but only over a short period, and for small amounts. This can be a way of building up a positive rating before they apply the big con.

I've made a few purchases, which were all bargains. Only one annoyed me, where they sold a refurbished Netgear PrintServer as a new unwanted gift. It came ready-packed in the manufacturer's refurbishment packaging, so it looked like it had been bought to order. I kept it, since it was still good value, and I would have bought it as refurbished. Annoying, still the less.

Nowadays, I ignore the 'new' classification on any eBay purchases, and decide whether it is good value as refurbished. With a TiVo, 'new' wouldn't mean anything anyway.

When valuing a TiVo on eBay, I would only trust the presence of a lifetime subscription if the buyer had a good record, or he was willing to give me the serial number to check with TiVo customer services. However, I would not place too much of a value on a larger drive, since even the seller doesn't know how long that will last. A recent drive upgrade is not always a good indication, since drives tend to fail in the first few months, as well as after several years. In that case, you would need to depend on the drive manufacturer's warranty, and your ability to upgrade a replacement drive, or add in the price of buying a new upgrade.

[Nero2]

What I was also tying to ask, but worded badly. Is there any need to buy a substitute Tivo now, or just wait until by current box invariably fails? As the supply of Tivos in the UK is finite, are we ever going to see the trickle that come through ebay dry up?

[AMc]

That depends on how much spare cash and spare space you have.
I've recently considered a second Tivo for clash conflicts and kids shows, but I can't justify a £200 purchase.
You can also pick up well loved UK Tivos from the home cinema for sale forum at www.avforums.com - I'd tend to trust them a bit more than eBay but you may have trouble getting them to play with you if you've just registered and try and buy a £200 LT Tivo with your first post.

[Pete77]

What I was also tying to ask, but worded badly. Is there any need to buy a substitute Tivo now, or just wait until by current box invariably fails? As the supply of Tivos in the UK is finite, are we ever going to see the trickle that come through ebay dry up?

If you are only buying this machine in case your current one fails my advice would be to wait as more and more (not less and less) unmodified Tivos are now being sold by owners who just would never consider opening a manufacturer supplied electronics unit and so who have not experienced the joys of more hard drive space or Tivoweb and all the many Tivoweb hacks. These people therefore somewhat foolishly believe that Sky HD will be a much better product because it is newer and supports that Sky HD gizmo all their friends keep talking about.

At the moment an unsubbed Tivo will cost you about £60 on Ebay but in two years time may be only £20, especially once the Freeview Playback system is out. In fact once Freeview Playback with Series Link is made to work properly in a year or so's time you can even expect the price of Lifetime subbed Tivos (currently around £180 plus £15 to £20 for delivery) to start falling drastically as well as Sky+ to start being offered with even their most basic pay tv lineup.

Also if Tivo ever pull the UK service completely (hopefully 3 or more years away at least) you will be able to pick up Tivos for much less money on Ebay. Only buy a Tivo now if you are going to use the Tivo now is my advice.

[Nero2]

If you are only buying this machine in case your current one fails my advice would be to wait as more and more (not less and less) unmodified Tivos are now being sold by owners who just would never consider opening a manufacturer supplied electronics unit and so who have not experienced the joys of more hard drive space or Tivoweb and all the many Tivoweb hacks.

Well that's the crux of the question, the supply is finite so how does one identify when it'll dry up? I seem to recall that circa 20,000 boxes where initially sold in the UK. So where are we on the cost/supply curve?

[6022tivo]

I have never know an electrical product hold its value so well.

I remember when they decided not to make them, Comet cleared them at £119, and DSG at £99.

I picked up as many as I could and resold them on ebay for about £300 a piece. I do remember Dixons Blackpool sold me two for £40, sold as seen as they had faulty written on top of them.

One was perfect with no cables, the other was the display model which the demo was very stuttering, dixons have a timer switch which switches power off/on at store closing times, I suppose 2 years of powering it down whilst playing this video caused the problem as the disk was fine after a reimage...

Anyways, every now and again I ebay the word tivo, you never know. I managed to get one complete with cables remotes for £40 on a Buy It Now when they were selling for £250 a few years ago also, seller obviously not done his homework, they do pop up from time to time.

[Pete77]

I remember when they decided not to make them, Comet cleared them at £119, and DSG at £99.

I picked up as many as I could and resold them on ebay for about £300 a piece. I do remember Dixons Blackpool sold me two for £40, sold as seen as they had faulty written on top of them.

Yes it was because of the Ebay traders in our ranks like you that I couldn't find a new boxed one for love or money from Dixons, Comet or Powerhouse when I heard about the great sell off too late at the start of Dec 2002. I could only trace one in stock at a Currys Superstore, which turned out to be a demonstrator that had sadly been langushing in a cabinet under a telly at the back of the store for a long time and which the staff on duty didn't even seem to know was there till we had a look round (the Currys central stock computer had shown there to be one at the store).

The poor old thing had a couple of minor scratches on the top and some marks from wear and a security tag on the back of the remote. They were insisting on £139 as Currys weren't part of the Dixons £99 deal but when I found they had no instruction book (they did have the wands, remote, power lead and original brown cardboard Tivo box though as it was a Day one 601E store deminstrator model) they grudgingly agreed to knock this down to £129. Despite the cosmetic marks which don't bother me (as it sits in a dark enclosed cabinet under the tv) it has so far been superbly reliable with none of these funny sound loss problems that others seem to have with a Cachecard and large hard drive. I suspect the very first few units off the line for the store demonstrators may have been made more slowly and carefully and subjected to more quality control than later units. Also no sign of the Nicam bug.

Anyways, every now and again I ebay the word tivo, you never know. I managed to get one complete with cables remotes for £40 on a Buy It Now when they were selling for £250 a few years ago also, seller obviously not done his homework, they do pop up from time to time.

There was one that went last week for £115 with an evaluation sub and a Turbonet or Terbonet card (he didn't seem sure which) plus £15 delivery. I put in a bid, and also using Hammersnipe for the first time, but the price was above the £102.77 I had told Hammersnipe to bid about 50 seconds before the end of the auction. I somewhat kick myself for not having Hammersniped it for £120, although don't how high the maximum bid of the winning bidder might have been if I had been bidding against them. Obviously an Evaluation Sub could be killed by Tivo if the seller was either stupid or just a bastard (but why would he do that if he wanted to avoid bad Ebay feedback) or if I called Tivo and admitted I was a new owner but it would probably have been fine and £135 delivered for a machine with a network card I could have used to schedule conflicting recordings using the TivoWeb Conflict Resolve module would have been perfect. A normal Lifetimer plus a Cachecard, RAM and bigger hard drive is going to cost me well over £300 so not worth it. I never have time to watch half or a quarter of what I record but programs I really like such as Who Wants To Be A Millionaire and Bremner, Bird and Fortune nearly always clash year after year. :mad:

[mikerr]

Is this the right time to brag about my lifetime subbed tivo bought off ebay for £60 ?

Heh ;)

[Pete77]

Is this the right time to brag about my lifetime subbed tivo bought off ebay for £60 ?

Heh ;)

I think that was another Buy It Now one, wasn't it, that you got lucky in finding first. I think you told us about it before as I recall. :rolleyes: :eek: :mad:

[RWILTS]

I picked up a 'Mint in the box' un sub un mod Tivo this week on Ebay for £30.. :)

[Raisltin Majere]

There's one there no for £56 + £22 postage

14 mins...

[mikerr]

Tivos can be had cheap on ebay if you search for "scenium", not tivo ;)

Well probably not now after I've let that particular cat out of the bag... !

I find it funny that you start to recognise other bidders after a while
when you bid on similar items over a time (hello mr meldrum !)

It's a pity ebay have stopped this with SMI (bidder1,bidder2) for items over £100

[6022tivo]

Yes it was because of the Ebay traders in our ranks like you that I couldn't find a new boxed one for love or money from Dixons,


Funny that, I had no problems picking up about 15

[Pete77]

There's one there no for £56 + £22 postage

14 mins...

Yes it will close between £60 and £70. The normal price for a non upgraded Tivo with no Lifetime Sub.

[Pete77]

Funny that, I had no problems picking up about 15

Duhhhhh. It was because people like you selfishly picked up 15 Tivos to make a quick buck that people like me who wanted just one brand new boxed and unused Tivo couldn't find one at the start of December 2002. No doubt you got your 15 Tivos in October or November that year. :rolleyes: :eek: :mad:

[Pete77]

Tivos can be had cheap on ebay if you search for "scenium", not tivo ;)

Not at the moment they can't and I did originally check just after you made your post. No doubt every once in a while one gets listed as only Thomson Scenium or Thomson PVR10UK. But I think it happens quite rarely.

Nearest I have seen to any kind of bargain recently was the £115 or so the Tivo with an Evaluation sub and a Turbonet or Terbonet card went for last week. But obviously you are taking a risk there because if your sub ever has a problem you can't speak to Tivo directly unless the old owner gives you their full details and you can pose as being them (helps to at least be the same sex as them). Even then the old owner is still taking a risk that someone may report him to Tivo for reselling a box that should not be resold.

[6022tivo]

Duhhhhh. It was because people like you selfishly picked up 15 Tivos to make a quick buck that people like me who wanted just one brand new boxed and unused Tivo couldn't find one at the start of December 2002. No doubt you got your 15 Tivos in October or November that year. :rolleyes: :eek: :mad:

I do remember Christmas that year being rather fruitful. :p