Is TiVo Lifetime Subscription A Good Deal?

[enigma_1959]

Can someone tell me approximately how long the standard TiVo DVR box (I’m looking into the Series2 Dual Tuner, not HD) typically lasts?

I’m thinking about changing my cable company’s DVR box out for a TiVo, which would mean purchasing instead of renting. So I’m doing some figuring to see how the costs compare in the long run. If I buy the TiVo for $150 and purchase the “lifetime” subscription (which is only good for the lifetime of the TiVo machine, not MY lifetime) for $400, the TiVo machine would have to remain in good working order for at least 2 years and 8 months in order to Equal what it would cost me to rent the DVR box and subscription from the cable company. I know the TiVo comes with a one-year warranty. I don’t know how long they typically last. With the cable company box, if anything goes wrong I just call them and they come switch out the box for no charge.

Any input would be appreciated.

[DrewTivo]

Chances are good your tivo will last longer than the pay-off period. Every one of my Tivos is still working, even though the oldest is 5+ years old. Electronics tend to break right away or last a long time, and since you're covered for the first year (2 if you use a cc with warranty extension), your risk is pretty low.

[LADYBUGBLUE2002]

I have had one of my tivos for 3 years with no issues...I agree with the above post that likely would have a problem sooner rather than later. I wish I would have gotten the lifetime on mine.

[jlb]

My very first TiVo was the AT&T branded Series 2. I think this was actually the first on the series 2 platform. Anyways, I purchased it back in 2001 (IIRC). Though not subscribed, it is still functioning fine as a manual record/live buffer unit (albeit for analog only).

[ZeoTiVo]

I have 2 DTs working right now without a hitch

I had one take a lightening surge that fried the USB and ethernet ports - making it unuseable in my setup.

I called TiVo and the sent a new DT free of charge as a swap. Now this is when they were clearing out DT stock in advance of the Tivo HD so YMMV - but the bottom line is that TiVo would work with you in such a case and maybe not free but if you get another DT to replace such damage they will very likely move the Lifetime over at least in the first few years.


Mostly it is hard drives that go bad and you can replace a hard drive yourself and the lifetime is till on the box - it ties to a chip on the motherboard.

[janry]

My Sony Series 1 is over 6 years old and going strong. I'm glad I got the lifetime. I did upgrade it's drives once for added capacity but I if I hadn't, I probably would have had to sometime in the 6 years.

I admit I'm concerned the TiVo branded TiVos might not be as durable as the old Sony, but I'm almost a year into my HD. Every month that passes puts me closer to the breakeven. There's also some benefit to not having to worry about making sure the CC on file hasn't expired.

[dcstager]

I've got a Series 1 Tivo from July 1999 with lifetime service and it's still going. It's really old and has every possible hack and tweak and add-on. Even the things that are likely to wear out such as the hard drive are easily replaced on Tivos and with the support of a community like this, I can't see how you can go wrong.

But get a Tivo HD or Series 3 - something for modern TV signals. The standard definition Tivos still work, but there's not much sense buying anything like that anymore. The HD Tivos record and playback standard def a lot better too so even if your source and content is still in standard, you can't go wrong with an HD Tivo model. If you're going to invest in a lifetime subscription, you may as well get the modern version of the Tivo as opposed to a "legacy" machine that might be cheaper, but is not really a good investment as far as technology goes.

[harpo57]

I own two TIVO's with life time subscriptions. The older one is a AT&T Series 2 purchased over 5 years ago. The unit has gone through two hard drives. Now the unit works for only an hour before rebooting every 5 minutes. So purchased and installed a third new hard drive, and that did not fix the issue. Called TIVO customer service and was told be bad, call AT&T for any repairs we can do nothing for you. If my newer TIVO had the issue, they would sell me a series 2 DT for $149 and move my lifetime to it. But, because I purchased an AT&T unit I'm out of luck. No more TIVO products for me.

[DrewTivo]

The standard definition Tivos still work, but there's not much sense buying anything like that anymore.

Yeah, that's a good point I missed. Don't lifetime an S2, since within 2y8m you'll almost certainly want high def. If you can't afford an S3 right now, or lifetime, then either get an S2 and pay monthly, saving up, or get an S3 and pay monthly and then get lifetime when they roll out a newer model next year or the year after.

[jlb]

I own two TIVO's with life time subscriptions. The older one is a AT&T Series 2 purchased over 5 years ago. The unit has gone through two hard drives. Now the unit works for only an hour before rebooting every 5 minutes. So purchased and installed a third new hard drive, and that did not fix the issue. Called TIVO customer service and was told be bad, call AT&T for any repairs we can do nothing for you. If my newer TIVO had the issue, they would sell me a series 2 DT for $149 and move my lifetime to it. But, because I purchased an AT&T unit I'm out of luck. No more TIVO products for me.


Do me a favor, of you can without a reboot, go into the system information screen and note what the internal temperature is.

If it is high, you might want to do the "rolled paper trick" and see what happens. On the AT&TiVo (of which my manual record unit is still working....purchased in 2001) the inflow and outflow air vents are both on the underside. If you have yours in a tight space, it might be overheating with the warm air (from the outflow) getting sucked right back in.

Grab an piece of construction paper, roll it into a tight roll, slide it under the TiVo, at a location between the two vents, and then let it go and unroll. This will create a modified barrier between the two vents.

See if this helps at all.

[bicker]

My personal feeling is that lifetime service is "worth it" if you purchase it within two years of the series being introduced. I consider the TiVo HD just an extension of the TiVo S3, so my feeling is that lifetime service is no longer worth it for the TiVo HD. Again, this is based on my personal evaluation of value, based on my personal experience with a variety of TiVo, both with lifetime service and without.

[Northerner26]

i just got my tivos (2 DT's) and have lifetime on both and i feel it is well worth the price as i record a LOT of shows (went from 3 vcr's to 2 dt tivo's) and i plan on having them for a long time.

the initial cost is a bit high but well worth it if your in it for the long run! :up:

[mattack]

My very first TiVo was the AT&T branded Series 2. I think this was actually the first on the series 2 platform. Anyways, I purchased it back in 2001 (IIRC). Though not subscribed, it is still functioning fine as a manual record/live buffer unit (albeit for analog only).

Series 2s don't allow manual recording without a subscription..

[ZeoTiVo]

Series 2s don't allow manual recording without a subscription..

the very early series 2 do let you manually record.

[mgc2372]

I bought a series 2 Tivo 4 years ago and am glad i bought the lifetime subscription at that time.In this case it was well worth it.I almost bought a Tivo HD model last year when i was offered to transfer the lifetime to it but passed due to cable card issues with Charter Communications.I am happy running my present Tivo through their cable box and will probably have it for many more years.