Questions about TiVo Upgrade and Multi-Service Discount

[theoryzero]

I'm a potential TiVo customer with no prior TiVo units in my possession. A friend of mine has an old TiVo with Lifetime service that he hasn't hooked up for two years (he thinks it may be 3 years old, but not sure).

Anyhow, I'm interested in a TiVo HD (or TiVo Premiere if we ever find out what it is) and saw there is an upgrade program for existing TiVo subscribers. My friend may be willing to part with his unused unit for a small price. My understanding is that this should make me eligible for the upgrade program AND multi-service discount. Is this correct?

If so, what would be the best way to do this? Should he buy the TiVo HD under his name and then transfer both units to me? Or should he transfer his unit to me and then I try to do the upgrade purchase myself? Does anyone know what the savings would be with either method? I can see that getting Lifetime service on the TiVo HD should be $299, but otherwise I'm not sure what kind of upgrade discount there would be. Also, with the multi-service discount, if I ever decide to sell the TiVo HD, do I need to pay the additional $100 difference between the regular price and the MSD?

Thanks!

[ThAbtO]

Since he hasn't used the Tivo for over 6 months, and it hasn't connected to Tivo for more than that time, its possible the lifetime subscription has been eradicated from the Tivo system and would not qualify for the upgrade offer or the Multi-unit discount.

[jjberger2134]

Ok, there is a lot to explain here, and I will try to keep it brief but to the point.

Your friends lifetime TiVo needs to call into the TiVo service (either phone or broadband) to make contact and reestablish the unit. Although lifetime service on the unit is still valid TiVo may have purged that unit from their systems due to inactivity. So a simple connection should reestablish and TiVo will consider the unit active again.

Once reactivated, your friend can login to www.tivo.com/upgrade and see the discount that he/she is eligible for on the hardware. The hardware discount is either $50 or $100 depending on the original activation date. I think 3 years is the cutoff between the two. I also believe (but am not certain) that transferring the lifetime service on the old TiVo to your name will reset the clock on the upgrade program. So if your friend is willing, he/she should purchase the new unit on your behalf (assuming lifetime service on the new unit, see below).

As far as service goes, you are correct the MSD pricing is $299 for lifetime. Again, if your friend buys the new TiVo on your behalf, your friend can also buy lifetime on that unit at the MSD pricing (assuming the original TiVo made that call to reestablish itself) If you are looking for monthly or yearly MSD pricing that is $9.99/month or $99/year.

No, you do not need to pay the $100 difference if you sell your TiVo down the road.

Keep in mind, that ANY TiVo bought from tivo.com will require the purchaser to buy service at the time of the hardware purchase. Therefore, if you want lifetime then your friend can do everything for you, and simply transfer the new TiVo to your name (you do not really need to buy his/her old one). If you want monthly service, with MSD pricing, then you need to have your friends old TiVo on your account as well as the new one. The old lifetime TiVo will be the "qualifying" unit. Further, MSD pricing is good only for 180 days from the last call in of the qualifying unit. Therefore, you need to make sure the old TiVo calls home once in awhile to make sure it still qualifies the new unit for MSD monthly pricing.

Hope this helps!

[theoryzero]

Wow, thank you for that reply, that was super informative! It definitely seems as though it would be beneficial to have my friend order the unit for me if he has had his current TiVo for over 3 years. With that discount, I'd probably just pony up the cash for lifetime. Now, I just need to decide if I want to play the waiting game to find out what the TiVo Premiere offers or just cave and get an HD.

[scandia101]

its possible the lifetime subscription has been eradicated from the Tivo system and would not qualify for the upgrade offer or the Multi-unit discount.

:rolleyes:
That doesn't happen.
Where do you come up with this stuff?

[philter25]

I have a similar question. I currently have a TiVoHD with a 3 year subscription. According to the website, I can get a multi-service discount.

My wife and I are planning on getting a new Tivo Premiere with a lifetime subscription. In addition, my parents would like a TiVo for Xmas. Could I buy two TiVo Premieres and buy the lifetime subscription and give the one to my parents for Xmas?

Would there be any trouble if the TiVo was set up at my house and then given to my parents and had a different cable card put in? I live in Maryland and my parents are in PA, so when I set the TiVo up at my parents house, TiVo would see a different IP address.

Can I do this?

[lrhorer]

Wow, thank you for that reply, that was super informative! It definitely seems as though it would be beneficial to have my friend order the unit for me if he has had his current TiVo for over 3 years.
If that unit was purchased new less than 5 years ago, then it must be a Series III Tivo, possibly either an S3 or a TiVo HD.

With that discount, I'd probably just pony up the cash for lifetime. Now, I just need to decide if I want to play the waiting game to find out what the TiVo Premiere offers or just cave and get an HD.
Why not just keep and use your friend's TiVo. It's fairly unlikely a Premier will offer you very much you really feel is unacceptably absent in a Series III. Given I cannot recommend purchasing a Premier in the first place, I really cannot recommend paying extra for a Premier to replace a unit already in your possession (or nearly so).

Please answer the following:

With what CATV provider are you intending to use the TiVo?
Do you have any potential future plans to get a second or third unit?
Do you have any interest or might you develop an interest in copying videos off the TiVo to an external device such as a PC, an iPad, a file server, or burning to DVD?

[scandia101]

Why not just keep and use your friend's TiVo. It's fairly unlikely a Premier will offer you very much you really feel is unacceptably absent in a Series III. Given I cannot recommend purchasing a Premier in the first place, I really cannot recommend paying extra for a Premier to replace a unit already in your possession (or nearly so).

Please answer the following:

With what CATV provider are you intending to use the TiVo?
Do you have any potential future plans to get a second or third unit?
Do you have any interest or might you develop an interest in copying videos off the TiVo to an external device such as a PC, an iPad, a file server, or burning to DVD?

It's been almost two years since he asked about this. I'm sure he's made his own decision by now. ;)

[lrhorer]

I have a similar question. I currently have a TiVoHD with a 3 year subscription. According to the website, I can get a multi-service discount.
Yep. 'Nice of TiVo to reward existing clients, wouldn't you say?

My wife and I are planning on getting a new Tivo Premiere with a lifetime subscription. In addition, my parents would like a TiVo for Xmas. Could I buy two TiVo Premieres and buy the lifetime subscription and give the one to my parents for Xmas?
Surely. What's more, with the MSD discount, the PLS, while still being worthwhile for many users, is somewhat less attractive compared to a month-to-month plan. You might think of going MTM, instead of PLS, especially if one of the units is likely to b replaced or decommissioned in a year or two. I'm not saying I specifically recommend it, but it is definitely a reasonable option.

Would there be any trouble if the TiVo was set up at my house and then given to my parents and had a different cable card put in? I live in Maryland and my parents are in PA, so when I set the TiVo up at my parents house, TiVo would see a different IP address.
No, it shouldn't be a problem. Note they would still all be under your account, not on a separate account for your parents. Any changes or actions on the account will potentially affect all three TiVos.

Can I do this?
Sure. It's legal, ethical, and technically supported. I'm sure TiVo would rather get full price for all the subs, but it meets their policy guidelines, so they really can't complain.

[lrhorer]

It's been almost two years since he asked about this. I'm sure he's made his own decision by now. ;)
Oops. I didn't notice the date.

[WhiskeyTango]

I have a similar question. I currently have a TiVoHD with a 3 year subscription. According to the website, I can get a multi-service discount.

My wife and I are planning on getting a new Tivo Premiere with a lifetime subscription. In addition, my parents would like a TiVo for Xmas. Could I buy two TiVo Premieres and buy the lifetime subscription and give the one to my parents for Xmas?

Would there be any trouble if the TiVo was set up at my house and then given to my parents and had a different cable card put in? I live in Maryland and my parents are in PA, so when I set the TiVo up at my parents house, TiVo would see a different IP address.

Can I do this?

You can do this, just make sure you transfer your parents Tivo to their own account. Just an FYI, if they decide to add another Tivo to their account, they will likely have to pay full price for the sub. The MSD requires one unit with a full price sub.

[unitron]

I have a similar question. I currently have a TiVoHD with a 3 year subscription. According to the website, I can get a multi-service discount.

My wife and I are planning on getting a new Tivo Premiere with a lifetime subscription. In addition, my parents would like a TiVo for Xmas. Could I buy two TiVo Premieres and buy the lifetime subscription and give the one to my parents for Xmas?

Would there be any trouble if the TiVo was set up at my house and then given to my parents and had a different cable card put in? I live in Maryland and my parents are in PA, so when I set the TiVo up at my parents house, TiVo would see a different IP address.

Can I do this?

First of all, the prices quoted in the replies to the original poster from January of 2010 are now hideously out of date. They've gone up since then.

Is the 3 year pre-paid on that HD about to run out? If so, you can probably call to cancel and get offered lifetime on that HD for $99.

There are a couple of other threads around here about that. You should read them carefully to see who got what under which circumstances.

Once you get $99 lifetime on the HD, you could sell it, because anyone buying a used one and then buying lifetime from TiVo will have to pay $499 for that lifetime subscription, so you could save them some money and still get a pretty fair amount for it.

Before you sell it, though, being the current owner qualifies you for the Multi-Set Discount on other TiVos, which would mean you could get a Premiere at $14.95 per month instead of $19.95 (once your 3 years on the HD is up it'll be $12.95 per month, and if you had another TiVo already that qualified you for MSD, it would be $9.95, the Premieres are more expensive)

If you sold the HD, it would no longer be the qualifying subscription, and that $14.95 would go up to $19.95

But, while that HD is still subscribed in your name, that also qualifies you for the MSD on lifetime on other TiVos, which is now $399

Once you get that MSD lifetime on both the Premieres you're talking about buying, you can sell the HD and they can't take the lifetime away from those 2 Premieres.

At that point you can transfer ownership of one of those Premieres to the folks.

Cable cards complicates things a bit, 'cause if you wanted to set up theirs at your house first to make sure it works, you'll have to get cable cards from your cable provider (in addition to the ones for your own Premiere), and then when it goes over the river and through the woods to grandma's house for Christmas, you'll have to get cable cards from their cable company and re-do guided setup again, although if you don't do "Clear and Delete Everything" any shows you recorded on it might survive. (If you've got Skinamax or the Playboy channel, you might want to keep that in mind;))

Also, once you get $99 lifetime on the HD, you should probably just keep it* since it won't cost you any more after that and your Premiere only has 2 tuners, and if the anti-copy bit isn't set on a show you can copy it from one TiVo to the other, so you could have one TiVo in the living room and another in the bedroom or whatever other combination of rooms with televisions you find suits your fancy.

*Of course instead of keeping it after getting lifetime on it you could sell it to me really cheap.:rolleyes: