So explain service transfer to me like I'm an idiot.

[YCantAngieRead]

(Because I kinda am. :D)

I have a TiVo s2 that's dying, so I'm facing having to get a new unit. I'm looking at getting a refurb from Weaknees, but I have questions about what it's going to cost me, monthly.

Am I able to just switch out the service (monthly fee) I have going on my older TiVo to a newer unit? Or do I have to sign a contract and such?

ETA: Also, I understand I can't get the refund if I transfer, is that right?

[Deacon West]

Explain dying. Most are easily repaired. If it just needs a new hard drive, that would probably be cheaper. Oh, and who let you out of WAYT? :D

[classicsat]

To replace a subscribed unit under other than a Product Lifetime, you siply buy the replacement unit outright, and change the TSN on the TiVo account page. The replacement DVR will assume the subscription status of the "Old" box, including the rate paid for it, and remainder of contract or commitment, if any.

You only need to commit to a contract and new prices if you get a unit from TiVo.com, or purchase a retail unit and get a rebate on it.

[Laserfan]

Explain dying. Most are easily repaired. If it just needs a new hard drive, that would probably be cheaper.Sure, but maybe it's time for the OP to replace it anyway since some here think S1 and S2 boxes will be rendered useless, at least for OTA recordings, after a year anyway.

Why Angie don't you just call Customer Service and discuss your (possibly many) options with them.

[ZeoTiVo]

My advice would be to either

only get a replacemnet drive that is already formatted from Weakness and follow the very simple directions to just physically swap out the drives

or

get a Tivo HD (since there is no rebate on it) and do the TSN swap online.

Note - you might prowl the retail stores for a good deal on an S2 if you do not want to spend a lot of money. Some places are selling them cheap to unload the inventory

[Laserfan]

Note - you might prowl the retail stores for a good deal on an S2 if you do not want to spend a lot of money. Some places are selling them cheap to unload the inventoryReason being the OTA feature of the S2 is going obsolete in a year. Maybe the OP cares about that--not everyone uses cable/satellite.

Then no amount of discount on the S2 is "a good deal". :(

[ZeoTiVo]

Reason being the OTA feature of the S2 is going obsolete in a year. Maybe the OP cares about that--not everyone uses cable/satellite.

Then no amount of discount on the S2 is "a good deal". :(

I think the cheap prices have a lot more to do with TiVo HD and dual tuners then analog OTA.

if it was me I would get a TiVo HD per the second choice I outlined and just be future proofed with easy digital OTA as well, while moving over a month to month sub. Which in factis exactly what I did :)

[YCantAngieRead]

Explain dying. Most are easily repaired. If it just needs a new hard drive, that would probably be cheaper. Oh, and who let you out of WAYT? :D

What I'm hoping to do is get a Humax unit with a DVD burner as kind of an upgrade. They have one for fairly cheap and I'm allowed one tech purchase a year. :)

What's happening is random. When the electricity gets cut, sometimes it comes back on, sometimes it gets stuck in the booting cycle. And more and more often, it's "forgetting" season passes-they'll be there but nothing will ever get recorded for them. That's happened quite a few times in the last few months.

I think what's going to happen is I'm going to get this new/refurb unit and my husband's going to get the older unit to use and repair at his leisure.

[rainwater]

What I'm hoping to do is get a Humax unit with a DVD burner as kind of an upgrade. They have one for fairly cheap and I'm allowed one tech purchase a year. :)

What's happening is random. When the electricity gets cut, sometimes it comes back on, sometimes it gets stuck in the booting cycle. And more and more often, it's "forgetting" season passes-they'll be there but nothing will ever get recorded for them. That's happened quite a few times in the last few months.

I think what's going to happen is I'm going to get this new/refurb unit and my husband's going to get the older unit to use and repair at his leisure.

You should invest in a UPS w/ battery backup. You can get them cheap these days and it will keep your TiVo from rebooting during brief outages.

[ZeoTiVo]

What I'm hoping to do is get a Humax unit with a DVD burner as kind of an upgrade. They have one for fairly cheap and I'm allowed one tech purchase a year. :)

What's happening is random. When the electricity gets cut, sometimes it comes back on, sometimes it gets stuck in the booting cycle. And more and more often, it's "forgetting" season passes-they'll be there but nothing will ever get recorded for them. That's happened quite a few times in the last few months.

I think what's going to happen is I'm going to get this new/refurb unit and my husband's going to get the older unit to use and repair at his leisure.

ok - I think you can get lifetime on HUMAX with DVD recorder if it has not had service before(due to license deal HUMAX had with TiVo) - please verify that with TiVo customer service though. That is something I have not followed in quite a while

and your problems with the original TiVo (save for the power cutting off) all seem to be symptoms of a bd hard drive. Worse case you replace hard drive and power supply. Both are straightforward to do with lots of instructions available on the internet.

- so it may well be worth it to get lifetime on new HUMAx and keep the month to month sub on the original one you have.
of course this assumes you will use series 2 DVRs for 3 or more years still.

[JYoung]

Angie,
isn't your current Series 2 a lifetime unit?

If so, I'd take a hard look at taking advantage of the current promotion to transfer that lifetime to a new TiVo HD unit.

[YCantAngieRead]

Angie,
isn't your current Series 2 a lifetime unit?

If so, I'd take a hard look at taking advantage of the current promotion to transfer that lifetime to a new TiVo HD unit.
No, it's not. I ended up getting a unit that was larger instead of going for the lifetime option. Which I'm both glad and sad about-I'd be sunk without the larger hard drive in my TiVo, but I do wish I had that option available.

I don't actually own a DVD player at this point, so it's attractive to make that an all-in-one purchase.

[jlb]

Angie,

I second the suggestion to get a UPS for every TiVo. It has saved me with all the power fluctuations that occur, especially in the summer.

By the way, I have a S2DT 80gb available that I recently decommissioned in favor of a TIVoHD (activated via TSN Swap). If you are interested in it, send me a PM.

[scandia101]

ok - I think you can get lifetime on HUMAX with DVD recorder if it has not had service before(due to license deal HUMAX had with TiVo) - please verify that with TiVo customer service though. That is something I have not followed in quite a while


Until Feb 13 or possibly as late as April 2 (Tivo lists both dates as the offer end date), she can get the product lifetime service for any TiVo she wants.

[ZeoTiVo]

Until April 2, she can get the product lifetime service for any TiVo she wants.
I should have added she can get the HUMAX lifetime for 299$ - 100$ less.
of course, again I say to verify with a CSR before jumping in

[steeleno12]

I have been reading this thread with interest because I have an older single tuner TiVo S2 that seems to be dying. I have tried to run the KS steps but cannot get past the Welcome-Powering up screens so I suspect the motherboard is dead.

That brings me to the topic of transferring service from the dead machine to a new one yet to be purchased. I have read it is a matter of simply changing out the TSN number on the old to the new however it may be a bit more complicated for me.

My account is set up with a multi-service plan with an older AT&T TiVo that has a lifetime subscription (purchased in 2002) as the main TiVo with all the remaining 5 TiVo's under the multi-service discount pricing however that TiVo with the Lifetime subscription died about 16 months ago and was replaced with a S2DT that I just added as the 5th TiVo under the Multi-plan.

I thought I had read somewhere that the multi-service discount had changed and requires that the TiVo with the lifetime subscription to have called into the TiVo service within the last 6 months to remain eligible for the multi-service discount.

So, here is my question. Will swapping out the defective S2 80hr tunder that just died for a newly purchased one bring to light that I have not had my Lifetime subscription unit plugged in in 18 months and cause problems with my multi-service discount?

[greg_burns]

I have been reading this thread with interest because I have an older single tuner TiVo S2 that seems to be dying. I have tried to run the KS steps but cannot get past the Welcome-Powering up screens so I suspect the motherboard is dead.

If you can get to the Welcome screen then that usually indicates your power supply is ok. Obviously(?) the motherboard is ok as well. I would suspect the harddrive has died.

If you take a working S2 and unplug the harddrive it will boot as far as the welcome screen...

[steeleno12]

Thanks for your reply. So then Greg, you are saying that it is probably the hard drive?

Well, while I started this reply, after 2 hours the TiVo finally brought up the GSOD. I was not expecting it to take such a long time. I do know that the diagnostic program can take minutes or hours so I will now let it do its thing and report back.

Thanks again!

[greg_burns]

Thanks for your reply. So then Greg, you are saying that it is probably the hard drive?

Pretty safe bet.

Bare new drive + InstantCake (http://www.dvrupgrade.com/dvr/stores/1/instantcake.cfm). Should be back in business in no time.

[steeleno12]

Well, the GSOD seemed to only stay on for minutes before the computer rebooted itself and stuck on the Welcome Screen again so I guess the suggestion of a new hard drive is something I need to look into BUT......

I still am hoping someone will address my concerns from my original post:
I thought I had read somewhere that the multi-service discount had changed and requires that the TiVo with the lifetime subscription to have called into the TiVo service within the last 6 months to remain eligible for the multi-service discount.

So, here is my question. Will swapping out the defective S2 80hr tuner that just died for a newly purchased one bring to light that I have not had my Lifetime subscription unit plugged in in 18 months and cause problems with my multi-service discount?

I really do not want to jeopardize losing my MSD pricing.

And the last question that I have is regarding the Feb 2009 conversion. All my TV's are analog but understand that since I have satellite service I should have no need for any converter box but I now am wondering if the 3 Humax TiVo burners, 1 S2DT and a now dead S2ST to be fixed with either a new hard drive or replaced with another S2DT, will work with my existing TV's and existing satellite service after the Feb 2009 digital conversion?

[greg_burns]

I still am hoping someone will address my concerns from my original post:
...
I really do not want to jeopardize losing my MSD pricing.

The Lifetime unit phoning home every x of months is not new. I am suprised it has not bitten you yet. I would not be be suprised if you monkey with you account that it does jeopardize losing MSD on at least one unit. I think somebody reported having that very thing happen to them.

And the last question that I have is regarding the Feb 2009 conversion. All my TV's are analog but understand that since I have satellite service I should have no need for any converter box but I now am wondering if the 3 Humax TiVo burners, 1 S2DT and a now dead S2ST to be fixed with either a new hard drive or replaced with another S2DT, will work with my existing TV's and existing satellite service after the Feb 2009 digital conversion?

You are correct. The conversion will not effect you at all.

[my4mc]

I just transferred service from a single tuner model to a dual tuner. Ooops. I forgot to get the stuff off the single tuner before I transferred the service. What do I need to do to be able to see the stuff on the single tuner? Do I have to transfer service back to the single tuner? If this is discussed in another thread, please redirect me. Thank you!

[ChevyS10]

I should have added she can get the HUMAX lifetime for 299$ - 100$ less.
of course, again I say to verify with a CSR before jumping in

Humax units have gone up to $399 like the rest..Unless someone can verify that they got the CSR to give them the price of $299 printed on the box.........

[fallingwater]

R U sure?

It makes no sense for an eligible Humax recorder to be charged more during a TiVo promo than before. Previously unsubbed Humax recorders will still be eligible for Lifetime Service after TiVo's current promo ends.

[ZeoTiVo]

Humax units have gone up to $399 like the rest..Unless someone can verify that they got the CSR to give them the price of $299 printed on the box.........

no - can you verify it has gone up. Otherwise your post sounds like pure speculation though presented as fact.

to my4mc - you can hook the old, now unsubbed, TiVo up to a TV and watch all the shows already recorded on it. I am doing this now with a DT that got its USB and network ports zapped and that I replaced with another TiVo DVR.

[scandia101]

no - can you verify it has gone up. Otherwise your post sounds like pure speculation though presented as fact.


You said humax is $299 - but get verification
he said humax is $399 - unless someone can verify otherwise.

How is your post not speculation presented as fact while his is?

[scandia101]

R U sure?

It makes no sense for an eligible Humax recorder to be charged more during a TiVo promo than before. Previously unsubbed Humax recorders will still be eligible for Lifetime Service after TiVo's current promo ends.

It makes no sense for a price increase to not apply to all Tivos.

I believe it was on usenet thogh it could have been here that someone had posted just after the $399 lifetime started, about having just purchased a Humax after making sure he could get lifetime for $299 and then not activating it for a week, but by then the new price was in effect and he had to pay $100 more.

None of this is proof of anything, but it's more than the rest of you speculators have to base anything on.

[netsurfer]

You only need to commit to a contract and new prices if you get a unit from TiVo.com

So if I buy a Tivo HD from Tivo.com I can't transfer my three year prepaid from my S2? Its that really correct?

[fallingwater]

It makes no sense for a price increase to not apply to all Tivos.

Of course it makes sense for a price increase to be applied selectively. Hell, we're talkin' about TiVo!

I believe...someone had posted just after the $399 lifetime started, about having just purchased a Humax after making sure he could get lifetime for $299 and then not activating it for a week, but by then the new price was in effect and he had to pay $100 more.

So, IOW, you really don't know.

None of this is proof of anything, but it's more than the rest of you speculators have to base anything on.

Count yourself in that speculator crowd while you're at it.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
To find out what Humax Lifetime Service currently costs just call 877-367-8486 and ask. If no one does by Monday, I will. Sheesh!

[scandia101]

So if I buy a Tivo HD from Tivo.com I can't transfer my three year prepaid from my S2? Its that really correct?

No you can't. Purchases from Tivo.com require that you also purchase a new subscription.

[scandia101]

So, IOW, you really don't know.

Count yourself in that speculator crowd while you're at it.
Yep, I have no definite knowledge of the Humax lifetime price, which is exactly why I claimed that what I posted was proof of nothing.

[netsurfer]

No you can't. Purchases from Tivo.com require that you also purchase a new subscription.

Wow, that is a policy that makes no sense at all.

[Mars]

Oh, and who let you out of WAYT? :D

All right, I'm going to ask... What is WAYT :o

I Googled it, not a radio station.

[edhara]

All right, I'm going to ask... What is WAYT :o

I Googled it, not a radio station.
Heh... it's an acronym for "What Are You Thinking?" from the Happy Hour Chit-Chat section of the TCF. If you don't frequent there, there's probably a reeealy good chance that you wouldn't have known. I don't usually leave that section either. :)

[Mars]

Heh... it's an acronym for "What Are You Thinking?" from the Happy Hour Chit-Chat section of the TCF. If you don't frequent there, there's probably a reeealy good chance that you wouldn't have known. I don't usually leave that section either. :)


edhara,

Thanks for explaining that, I've learned to stay out of Happy Hour, too hostile if you are not in the click there, certainly beyond my capability.

[ZeoTiVo]

You said humax is $299 - but get verification
he said humax is $399 - unless someone can verify otherwise.

How is your post not speculation presented as fact while his is?

because he said my post was wrong while he had nothing to base it on at all. ZIP, ZILCH, NADA. We know the HUMAX had a license with Tivo to offer lifetime on their HUMAX boxes for 299. The new deal was from TiVo directly for lifetime for 399$ - he used those two different things to decide the lifetime was 399 and say as much without verifying anything.

I at least had the fact that HUMX boxes that had never before been activated had a lifetime option of 299$ for quite some time now. There is a difference. I was really more stating that I do not speak for TiVo directly and did not want an long time forum member to buy the HUMAX just on my statement of how things have been but to verify with TiVo before putting their money down

[ChevyS10]

Humax units have gone up to $399 like the rest..Unless someone can verify that they got the CSR to give them the price of $299 printed on the box.........

Dude...Didn't mean to start a huge debate, but here are my facts...Sorry I didn't include them in my first post. I bought a Humax DRT400 this past summer and checked ONLINE to see how much it would be to activate lifetime on it. At the time it was $299. I never activated it and months later decided to put lifetime on it and give it as a Christmas gift. Went ONLINE to activate it in December and the price of lifetime had increased to $399. I posted a question to the community and someone replied that as of November or so lifetime had increased to $399. I never questioned it, just paid the extra $100 and was mad that I didn't activate it earlier.

I just canceled a monthly subscription on Saturday and while I was on the phone I asked the CSR about the Humax DVD boxes and the fact that "$299 lifetime" was printed on the box. She replied that the price to activate lifetime on those was $399....no other comments. So at least one CSR had said that the Humax DVD boxes are now $399 to activate with lifetime and I have personally paid $399 to activate lifetime on a Humax DVD unit.

If someone manages to get them to honor the $299 printed on the box I would be extremely interested to know....I could then try for a $100 credit......

Again, sorry for the confusion.

[fallingwater]

Didn't mean to start a huge debate, but here are my facts...I bought a Humax DRT400 this past summer and checked ONLINE to see how much it would be to activate lifetime on it. At the time it was $299. I never activated it and months later decided to put lifetime on it and give it as a Christmas gift. Went ONLINE to activate it in December and the price of lifetime had increased to $399. I posted a question to the community and someone replied that as of November or so lifetime had increased to $399. I never questioned it, just paid the extra $100 and was mad that I didn't activate it earlier.

I just canceled a monthly subscription on Saturday and while I was on the phone I asked the CSR about the Humax DVD boxes and the fact that "$299 lifetime" was printed on the box. She replied that the price to activate lifetime on those was $399....no other comments. So at least one CSR had said that the Humax DVD boxes are now $399 to activate with lifetime and I have personally paid $399 to activate lifetime on a Humax DVD unit.

If someone manages to get them to honor the $299 printed on the box I would be extremely interested to know....I could then try for a $100 credit......

As I said in Post #29, I called TiVo since no one posted definitive info before now. A first line TiVo CSR answered within 30 secs. He had to check TiVo's policies on a computer screen while we were talking.

Unsubbed Humax's have been discontinued and are getting scarce. There is uncertainty regarding Humax's current arrangement with TiVo. After all was said and done however, the first line rep. whom I spoke with said that an exception could be made from the current $399 promo because all Humax TiVo's were sold with the promise that Lifetime Service could be purchased for $299. If I'd have had a new Humax to activate this morning I could have gotten Lifetime Service for it for $299.

I'd recommend that you call TiVo, hope they're not busy and that you get a CSR who's easy to talk with, and explain your particular situation. If necessary escalate the call to a Level 2 or 3 Supervisor. A lot depends on the particular person you get to speak with.

[ZeoTiVo]

. I posted a question to the community and someone replied that as of November or so lifetime had increased to $399. I never questioned it, just paid the extra $100 and was mad that I didn't activate it earlier.

sorry I did not see your earlier thread then. The agreemnet with HUMAX on unsubbed boxes was for lifetime at 299$. you said it was even printed on the boxes. The reply you got to the other thread was about the wrong promo that did not apply to your case. With the right replies then the forum might have saved you 100$ or the hassle of trying to get a credit which is rightfully yours.

[edhara]

edhara,

Thanks for explaining that, I've learned to stay out of Happy Hour, too hostile if you are not in the click there, certainly beyond my capability.
Awww... :( I'm sorry to hear to hear that you've had some bad experiences. Some of us actually like to see new participants hanging around. :)

- Ed

[ChevyS10]

As I said in Post #29, I called TiVo since no one posted definitive info before now. A first line TiVo CSR answered within 30 secs. He had to check TiVo's policies on a computer screen while we were talking.

Unsubbed Humax's have been discontinued and are getting scarce. There is uncertainty regarding Humax's current arrangement with TiVo. After all was said and done however, the first line rep. whom I spoke with said that an exception could be made from the current $399 promo because all Humax TiVo's were sold with the promise that Lifetime Service could be purchased for $299. If I'd have had a new Humax to activate this morning I could have gotten Lifetime Service for it for $299.

I'd recommend that you call TiVo, hope they're not busy and that you get a CSR who's easy to talk with, and explain your particular situation. If necessary escalate the call to a Level 2 or 3 Supervisor. A lot depends on the particular person you get to speak with.


Thanks for the info..Will have to try and get the $100 back...I have had good luck with CSR's in the past....we'll see....