Fix my series 2 or buy a premiere?

richklein · 03-24-2010, 09:53 AM

Hi,

I am currently the owner of 3x series 2 DT Tivos. My cable company seems to be switching many channels from the regular cable wire to the box which is rendering my dual tuner closer to a 1 1/2 turner. My living room Tivo (the one I watch most often), has a dying hard drive (based on the thunderstorm effect that goes away upon a reboot).

My living room Tivo has lifetime on it that was transfered from a series 1. I believe the unit was purchased in 2004. I can spend $75 & buy a hard drive (I have instacake already) or I can spend more to buy the premiere.

I am not sure I want to be among the early adopters but I dont know if it makes sense to upgrade. I do love the tivo though.

1. Do I spend $75 to fix my old Dual tuner tivo.
2. Spend $299 for a Tivo & $199 for the lifetime upgrade (on a series 1 that has been collecting dust for years).
3. Spend $239 for the tivo & get monthly service?

I believe I am currently spending $15 per month in tivo fees for both monthly tivos.

Thanks for the advice,

Rich

propeciakid · 03-24-2010, 11:09 AM

If you already own an HDTV, then I think you owe it to yourself to record in high def. My advice is to go with option 2 and get the Tivo Premiere with lifetime. You're already a Tivo fan so I think this is the best way to go.

JimboG · 03-24-2010, 11:19 AM

Definitely replace your Series 2 with a Premiere. Over the air and cable HD rule.

Even if you don't yet have an HDTV, down-converted over the air HD should look as good or better than DVD quality.

DrewTivo · 03-24-2010, 12:13 PM

Yeah, no way it's worth putting $75 towards the S2.

As for lifetime versus monthly, that's a reasonable money issue. I'd go lifetime, but if you're pinched go monthly.

jmpage2 · 03-24-2010, 12:28 PM

Series 2 is effectively "end of life", with little to no software development, where-as the Premiere will probably see steady software updates for at least the next couple of years.

nrc · 03-24-2010, 12:43 PM

Sounds like it's unanimous. I don't think it makes sense to put any more money in to S2 TiVos at this point. Whether you choose lifetime or monthly service is up to you.

ThAbtO · 03-24-2010, 07:33 PM

No matter how you fix the S2DT you are still stuck with a single tuner for recording over a cable box when there are no analog channels left.

A Series 3/HD/HD XL/ S4 Premiere/ S4 Premiere XL will always record 2 channels at once without use of a cable box but rather (Multi-Stream)cable cards and also for OTA without a digital converter box.

jfh3 · 03-24-2010, 11:34 PM

Ditto. Put the $75 toward a Premiere. As for the service plan, I'd go with Lifetime - you will get at least the break-even point from that and probably a whole lot more.

ThAbtO · 03-24-2010, 11:45 PM

Also, the Series 2 is just analog so you will not be able to record in digital or HD anyways.

deandashl · 03-25-2010, 12:03 AM

Buy a Premiere.

Your 87 Chevy Celebrity has had it's day. It was great while it lasted and was well worth the money. But from now on, it's good money down the out-dated drain.

There really is nothing to "PONDER" here.

Only those with a S3/HD TiVo should have to really "think it through". For you the question is......do I have the money or not.

Sasparilla · 03-27-2010, 03:06 PM

I'd definitely recommend buying a premiere and lifetime it. No sense in putting money into the Series 2 at this point and you could possibly still sell it and get some money for the lifetime unit on eBay (maybe).

If you can handle it financially, do it and don't look back - although you'll be itching to get a HDTV if you don't have one yet once that Premiere is sitting in your AV stack.