Yessssssss! WooHoo!

[MannyE]

Someone ask me how glad I am I held on to my lifetime sub from 1999? Go ahead! ASK! :) :) :) :) :) :) :D :D

[20TIL6]

What was the question? Oh, yes, How glad are you?

[Colby]

If you're talking about the forthcoming DirecTivo units I think you're out of luck. TiVo lifetime subscriptions don't transfer to DirecTivo units. I know, I tried that when the HR10-250 came out.

[Citivas]

If you're talking about the forthcoming DirecTivo units I think you're out of luck. TiVo lifetime subscriptions don't transfer to DirecTivo units. I know, I tried that when the HR10-250 came out.

Yes they did. Or at least they did if you bought the lifetime originally for a DirecTV-compatible TiVo. i did years ago when they first released the first SD DirecTiVo box, back when DirecTV still had TiVo managing the thing (they transferred control later). DirecTV transferred and honored the lifetime sub and has to this day -- it still shows up every month on my bill. In fact, they improved it, because the TiVo lifetime sub was always something of a scam. TiVo tied it to the physical box, not the subscriber. So even after my HD failed twice on the first box, I had to keep replacing it to leave it as one of my units so I would preserve the lifetime sub. When D* took over management of it, they changed it to the account, so it has survived many box changes and retirements.

BTW, even now that I retired the 10-250 for an HR22, they are STILL honoring the lifetime sub I bought over 8 years ago and use it to eliminate the DVR fee on my bill.

All that said, since TiVo only considers the lifetime sub related to the original physical hardware, I would not count on the lifetime sub having any advantage when they bring back a new TiVo box on DirecTV. It depends how it is handled. If DirecTV manages it, they may wave it but I doubt it since they have stated it will be a new "premium" product. If TiVo manages it, they will say the lifetime sub died with the previous box and expect a new subscription fee. They do this still with their own hardware. Either way, I doubt the lifetime sub will have any advantage with the new units when they come out...

[TonyTheTiger]

There was some confusion regarding lifetime transfers due to the T&C not being defined properly with the early TiVos. This enabled some people that had lifetime before 1999 to transfer to a newer unit.

When D* first introduced the TiVo-based DVRs, there was still some confusion. The D* box IS NOT A TiVo, it is a D* DVR with TiVo software and is under no obligation to honor any TiVo lifetime subs. I think Citivas was lucky to hit D* during this confusion period when TiVo was managing the DVR subscription for D*.

I think it will probably be a matter of luck as to whether you get a transfer or not. My money would be on not, but what do I know?

[Citivas]

There was some confusion regarding lifetime transfers due to the T&C not being defined properly with the early TiVos. This enabled some people that had lifetime before 1999 to transfer to a newer unit.

When D* first introduced the TiVo-based DVRs, there was still some confusion. The D* box IS NOT A TiVo, it is a D* DVR with TiVo software and is under no obligation to honor any TiVo lifetime subs. I think Citivas was lucky to hit D* during this confusion period when TiVo was managing the DVR subscription for D*.

I think it will probably be a matter of luck as to whether you get a transfer or not. My money would be on not, but what do I know?

D* was under an obligation to honor it because I bought the lifetime sub for the "D* DVR with TiVo software" as you call it -- everyone just called informally called it "DirecTiVo" at the time. I didn't get a TiVo and trasfer to the sub to a D* box -- I got the D* box from the start. I had held off on TiVo for this reason, because I was waiting for the box that would record the MPEG-2 without further compression as the previous TiVo's did at the time, and got the first made-for-D* box the first day it showed up in SoCal stores. So when DirecTV later took control of the boxes, there was no issue or discussion about whether they would honor the lifetime sub. But there was a huge amount of controversry over whether they would preserve the TiVo policy of tying it to the box or tie it to the account. It was one of those things where the CSR's gave everyone a different answer and the written policies were ambiguous (or contradictory). It was the subject of much discussion and outrage on this board at the time, I recall...

[TonyTheTiger]

Ah ok. I misread your original post. Of course they had to honor the original D* lifetime.

The OP appears to be talking about an original TiVo lifetime sub, which will most likely not be honored by D*.

[MannyE]

Ah ok. I misread your original post. Of course they had to honor the original D* lifetime.

The OP appears to be talking about an original TiVo lifetime sub, which will most likely not be honored by D*.


OK but who's to say that it won't be like in the old days where SA tivos had the ability to take any input including dtv, cable and ota...

[Citivas]

OK but who's to say that it won't be like in the old days where SA tivos had the ability to take any input including dtv, cable and ota...

Even if they do go that route -- i.e. making future TiVo stand-alone boxes compatible with TiVo the way that the current series is compatible with FiOS -- it would still be a physically new box than you used when you bought the lifetime subscription in 1999 and TiVo doesn't honor the "lifetime" beyond the original owner of the physical box you purchased it for. Their policy is lifetime of the box, not the user or the account. The only reason your lifetime continued to work as you upgraded to the 10-250, etc. is because D* honored it to the account instead of the box when they took over management of the program.

BTW, I asked the TiVo reps at CEDIA whether they thought they would honor existing lifetime subs with the new box and they literally laughed at that idea. I don't think that is an official position but it shows you what some insiders think the odds are...

[TyroneShoes]

OK but who's to say that it won't be like in the old days where SA tivos had the ability to take any input including dtv, cable and ota...It would make sense for Tivo to make a general, universal box like the current S3 that had these multiple capabilities, but it would not make sense for them to make a DirecTivo that would get cable, because that is just an invitation to disconnect DTV and move to cable.

It also no longer makes a lot of sense to make any DVR with built-in OTA, as that has been addressed by LIL HD and the AM21 (which I assume would work with the new Tivo).

And even if it had all of these capabilities, a DTivo would still be fundamentally different than a SA Tivo, in that a DTivo is a bit-bucket recorder without encoding capability, and the SA Tivo was neither of those things. A SA Tivo is more expensive to produce (due to it's incorporation of encoding hardware) and also provides reduced PQ, not practical at all for HD pix, which makes that approach obsolete. The S3 is functionally more akin to the DTivo bit-bucket recorder than it is to the SA Tivo.

[MannyE]

It would make sense for Tivo to make a general, universal box like the current S3 that had these multiple capabilities, but it would not make sense for them to make a DirecTivo that would get cable, because that is just an invitation to disconnect DTV and move to cable.




Well yeah, that's what I mean. Not a directivo that you can connect anything to, but a SA Tivo box that will have universal inputs. You old timers will remember that the only reason many of us went to DirecTivos over the old SA units was because DirecTivos had dual tuners and the SA units did not.

In any case I also have a Dtivo lifetime service with my GXCEBOT that I bought way back when as well.

That would allow me to transfer my existing lifetime to the new unit, and go woohoo!

[TonyTheTiger]

There is no transfer involved here as your lifetime is on your account, not the box.

Also, there seems to be confusion over the difference between a D* TiVo-based DVR and a TiVo. They are two different companie and, as we've already established, two different products. Therefore, lifetime on one is nothing like lifetime on the other and one company has no reason to honor the offers from other. The best comparison I could make would be like expecting Microsoft to honor a free gas offer from Ford just because it designed the software for the Sync system!

[shibby191]

Yea, Lifetime is on the account anyway. You could have not a single DirecTivo on your D* account right now and still have that lifetime. So yes, you should be happy with your lifetime, but it has nothing to do with the new Tivo box coming. ;)

[Citivas]

In any case I also have a Dtivo lifetime service with my GXCEBOT that I bought way back when as well.

That would allow me to transfer my existing lifetime to the new unit, and go woohoo!

Do you not believe us? It feels like it has been said about 8 different ways now. TiVo's policy is that you can't use the lifetime from your previous TiVo box, SA or DirecTV (doesn't matter which), on a new box. That is still their policy today and has never wavered. They have run occasional "deals" where they give lifetime subscribers of previous boxes discounts on new multi-year purchase plans, but never a full ride. Only DirecTV has given the full-ride transfer.

DirecTV on the other hand associates the lifetime with the subscriber account life. So you may be able to use it under DirecTV, but it has nothing to do with TiVo -- they have honored it on transfers to their own DirecTV hardware too.

Either way the new news doesn't make your lifetime sub any more or less valuable than it was before the announcement.