Spring update coming...

[GriffithStrife]

Tonight I think usually when I force a connect it schedules the next connect for 7 or 8 in the AM. But today after forcing 6 connects every time the next connect was scheduled for 2 AM so is the update coming or is my Tivo a 2 AM kinda guy?

[BlackBetty]

the update is coming. but no one but tivo knows when. Within the next month is my guess. make sure you add your tsn's to the priority update page.

[beejay]

Originally Posted by GriffithStrife

Tonight I think usually when I force a connect it schedules the next connect for 7 or 8 in the AM. But today after forcing 6 connects every time the next connect was scheduled for 2 AM so is the update coming or is my Tivo a 2 AM kinda guy?

Well, I guess it's time for you to tell us.

When it connected at 2AM, did you get the update?

(I'm guessing "no"...no real reason for your TiVo to be told ahead of time to connect at 2am to get an update...if it got it then it wouldn't apply it for another 24 hours when 2am came around.)

[gweempose]

Originally Posted by BlackBetty

Make sure you add your tsn's to the priority update page ...

Do you have a link to this page?

[Balzer]

Originally Posted by gweempose

Do you have a link to this page?

http://www.tivo.com/priority

[gweempose]

Originally Posted by Balzer

http://www.tivo.com/priority

Thanks, Jeff! I just signed up both my Premieres.

[scandia101]

Originally Posted by GriffithStrife

Tonight I think usually when I force a connect it schedules the next connect for 7 or 8 in the AM. But today after forcing 6 connects every time the next connect was scheduled for 2 AM so is the update coming or is my Tivo a 2 AM kinda guy?

Premieres don't reschedule daily connections after a forced connection and even if they did, the next scheduled connection would be just as random as any other, never consistently at approximately the same time.

[aaronwt]

Originally Posted by scandia101

Premieres don't reschedule daily connections after a forced connection and even if they did, the next scheduled connection would be just as random as any other, never consistently at approximately the same time.

Mine always push the daily connection a few hours farther than it was showing originally, when I force a daily connection. So it might be showing the next daily connection at 12:30 PM and if I force a connection in the morning, when finished it will show the next daily connection now being at 2:30Pm or 3:30Pm. It's typically only a few hours farther in the future.

[scandia101]

Originally Posted by aaronwt

Mine always push the daily connection a few hours farther than it was showing originally, when I force a daily connection. So it might be showing the next daily connection at 12:30 PM and if I force a connection in the morning, when finished it will show the next daily connection now being at 2:30Pm or 3:30Pm. It's typically only a few hours farther in the future.

Mine does not do that and I see it a lot.
Yesterday afternoon my Premiere had connected in the early a.m. and showed a next scheduled connection at about 7:45am today. I forced a connection at about 4pm and when I looked today, that 7:45 time is when it connected with a next scheduled at 9:18am tomorrow. Today I forced a connection at 1:50pm and it still shows that the next scheduled is at 9:18am tomorrow. It's always been like this - I routinely force connections in the afternoon unless the tivo was/is scheduled to make a connection after 12 noon (which is now the time that Tivo starts distributing the newest guide data) and before 5pm.

[GriffithStrife]

Well my TiVo is just obsessed with 2 AM it Still sticks on 2AM after every force connection the minutes change but not the hour 2 AM sometimes it's 2:30 others it's 2:56 wierd

[aaronwt]

Originally Posted by scandia101

Mine does not do that and I see it a lot.
Yesterday afternoon my Premiere had connected in the early a.m. and showed a next scheduled connection at about 7:45am today. I forced a connection at about 4pm and when I looked today, that 7:45 time is when it connected with a next scheduled at 9:18am tomorrow. Today I forced a connection at 1:50pm and it still shows that the next scheduled is at 9:18am tomorrow. It's always been like this - I routinely force connections in the afternoon unless the tivo was/is scheduled to make a connection after 12 noon (which is now the time that Tivo starts distributing the newest guide data) and before 5pm.

Hmm, I did it twice earlier today and the scheduled time changed to later. Now I did it a third time and it didn't change. I'm beginning to wonder if I'm seeing things. I need to do it several times over the next couple of days on different TiVos and write it down each time I do it.

EDIT: Now i think I'm going crazy. I just did it a fourth time, and instead of pushing the next connection later or staying the same, the connection is now scheduled for earlier. (It was scheduled for 5:43PM and now it's showing 5:09PM)

I guess it is really all over the place.

EDIT: Yes it is all over the place. I connected on my other Elite and that one was scheduled for 5:18 AM and now it's scheduled for 6:01AM.

Enough of this. I won't force a connection again until someone posts that they received the update.

[ehardman]

And the S3 owners with paid lifetime service continue NOT to get lifetime service.

[magnus]

Originally Posted by ehardman

And the S3 owners with paid lifetime service continue NOT to get lifetime service.

Um, ok?

[unitron]

Originally Posted by ehardman

And the S3 owners with paid lifetime service continue NOT to get lifetime service.

None of your previous posts seem new enough to cover this.

Could you further elucidate?

[aaronwt]

I'm guessing that is a reference to the S3 being basically at end of life. That they aren't updating it any more. Of course it is last gen hardware so expecting an older line to be updated with features it's not capable of is not reasonable.

[wmcbrine]

But on the other hand, expecting it to be updated with features it is capable of seems kind of reasonable. And it's clear that many of the differences in the Premiere software actually would fall into the "compatible" category. The same is true for the Series 2, for that matter. But instead of getting those features, the older models are just EOLed and dropped. Even with outstanding bugs left in their software.

[ehardman]

Originally Posted by wmcbrine

... expecting it to be updated with features it is capable of seems kind of reasonable. And it's clear that many of the differences in the Premiere software actually would fall into the "compatible" category.

Exactly. IMO, Tivo stop updates to the S3's hoping the S3 owners would upgrade to Premiers, thereby generating new subscription fees.

FWIW, I have been a loyal Tivo Customer since Dec. 1999 when I bought an S1.

[jrtroo]

There may be a little truth to that, but the marginal increase of 12 fees to 14 fees for the few S-3s out there would not be the driver.

You have lifetime, where is their future profit from that? Most lifetime S-3s are probably already amoritized off their books.

As they are running a business to be profitable, they are really looking for NEW customers, and that is where they are spending their development dollars. I would expect they get few new customers from S-3s.

[aaronwt]

It would be rare for a piece of hardware to be continually updated. At some point, updates would diminish and then eventually end.

Once they stop producing a hardware line, it's only a matter of time.

That's why I like updating my TiVos when something new comes out. I'm able to maxmize the sale price of the old model, which also covers more of the cost of the new one. Making my out of pocket cost minimal while giving me the latest product.

[L David Matheny]

Originally Posted by jrtroo

There may be a little truth to that, but the marginal increase of 12 fees to 14 fees for the few S-3s out there would not be the driver.

You have lifetime, where is their future profit from that? Most lifetime S-3s are probably already amoritized off their books.

As they are running a business to be profitable, they are really looking for NEW customers, and that is where they are spending their development dollars. I would expect they get few new customers from S-3s.

OTOH, if TiVo can easily port a new software feature from the current Series 4 platform to the older Series 3 platform, why not? Sure, some people might be able to delay upgrading (grudgingly) to the new platform for a while longer, but I think that might be outweighed by the tremendous goodwill and impression of vitality that TiVo would generate by caring for their loyal customers. How many more eager new customers would flock to a company that's known for making their products age gracefully?

[Lars_J]

I may be mistaken, but the lifetime service is for guide data. Not lifetime of software updates.

Don't expect new features when you sign up for it.

[dianebrat]

Originally Posted by ehardman

And the S3 owners with paid lifetime service continue NOT to get lifetime service.

Originally Posted by ehardman

Exactly. IMO, Tivo stop updates to the S3's hoping the S3 owners would upgrade to Premiers, thereby generating new subscription fees.

FWIW, I have been a loyal Tivo Customer since Dec. 1999 when I bought an S1.

My S3 still functions fine, gets it's guide updates and has a Lifetime of use ahead of it, they still have their Lifetime service, nothing has changed.

Would it be nice if they got new features? sure, was that a promise made when you bought Lifetime? no, as others have said continuous feature updates are not part of the deal, continuous service is, and they are meeting that commitment. IMNSHO asking Tivo to continue to develop new features for old devices is above and beyond what they sold you.

[NorthAlabama]

Originally Posted by dianebrat

no, as others have said continuous feature updates are not part of the deal, continuous service is, and they are meeting that commitment.

i'm new to tivo (tomorrow), and this thread has me wondering...instead of investing in lifetime service, i'm thinking the money may be better invested in new equipment in a few years instead.

let's face it, the drive will probably need to be replaced or upgraded about the same time the lifetime service breaks even paying for itself. And it might be at EOL by then, too.

i'm just started my first 30 days, and could still get lifetime. am i missing something?

[jrtroo]

Originally Posted by L David Matheny

How many more eager new customers would flock to a company that's known for making their products age gracefully?

We already know- the programming platform is different for the Premieres and the new tools are not easily back-ported to the older items. We have had a lot of feedback directly from TiVo on that.

TiVo is aging gracefully, and nobody is flocking over due to the last generation hardware. I have an ipod touch gen 4 because of what it can do today, not what I estimate it may be allowed to do in the future. My touch gen 2 just cannot run the same software, and who would expect it to? But it does a nice job with the feature set it already has.

[L David Matheny]

Originally Posted by NorthAlabama

i'm new to tivo (tomorrow), and this thread has me wondering...instead of investing in lifetime service, i'm thinking the money may be better invested in new equipment in a few years instead.

let's face it, the drive will probably need to be replaced or upgraded about the same time the lifetime service breaks even paying for itself. And it might be at EOL by then, too.

i'm just started my first 30 days, and could still get lifetime. am i missing something?

It's just money math and probabilities. But a TiVo doesn't have to last too many years for lifetime to be a better deal.

[GoEagles]

Originally Posted by L David Matheny

It's just money math and probabilities. But a TiVo doesn't have to last too many years for lifetime to be a better deal.

TiVo's with Lifetime Service have a decent amount of resale value. Try to get a cheap TiVoHD on Craigslist or ebay and call in for the $99 lifetime promotion for the TiVoHD. You could probably pull that off easily if you don't want the new HD menus and the things the Premiere can do.

[jrtroo]

Originally Posted by NorthAlabama

let's face it, the drive will probably need to be replaced or upgraded about the same time the lifetime service breaks even paying for itself. And it might be at EOL by then, too.

i'm just started my first 30 days, and could still get lifetime. am i missing something?

Not true- most drives last much longer than that. And, they are easily replaceable. if you are at all worried, upgrade it now and put the original on the shelf in case of an emergency.

Lifetime has a quick payback on its own, and with resale, as they say- its a "no brainer". If you can afford it. How much do you pay for cable?

There are not any signs it would be EOL in 3 years. Many have series 1 and series 2 running strong.

[bradleys]

Originally Posted by GoEagles

TiVo's with Lifetime Service have a decent amount of resale value. Try to get a cheap TiVoHD on Craigslist or ebay and call in for the $99 lifetime promotion for the TiVoHD. You could probably pull that off easily if you don't want the new HD menus and the things the Premiere can do.

Has anyone actully done that? I know they have offered the $99 deal to people threatening to cancel at the end of a one or two year contract... But I never heard them offering a $99 deal to a new box you just purchased.

Especially if you do not have an existing contract.

I haven't read the entire $99 thread so maybe this is something new...

[NorthAlabama]

thanks, all, more to condsider, and i appreciate it. i will probably go lifetime, i'm sure i'll like the interface, and i've had years of comcast experience in the past.

[bradleys]

Originally Posted by NorthAlabama

let's face it, the drive will probably need to be replaced or upgraded about the same time the lifetime service breaks even paying for itself. And it might be at EOL by then, too.

I have never had a drive fail on any of my TiVo's - I would say that most people will never experience a hard drive failure. My S2 had almost 10 years of reliable service before I unplugged it for the final time. And if you do, HD replacement is not all that expensive or difficult to do.

EOL... Maybe, but then you just retire that "free" TiVo to another room and pick up the new TiVo for your main TV experince. Or sell that old TiVo to cover the bulk of the cost of the lifetime service on your upgraded model.

S3 TiVo's with lifetime are going for ~ $300 on eBay, and MSD lifetime service will cost you $399, non-msd $499.

This math has been done time and time again - no matter what the argument is, lifetime service is the most cost efficent program over time. It pays for itself in ~ 30 months