Should I get Lifetime Service?

[Plamar]

I bought a "pre-owned" Premiere off Craigslist for $100, and it also came with the wireless G attachment (which i do not need). I went to activate it, and was unable to since the prior owner had to call to cancel. He did so, gave me a reference number, then he tells me that the balance of the 2 year warranty he bought for it is transferring with the unit, good until June 2012.

He forgot he had an extended warranty when he sold it, and I was psyched it still has some warranty.

If I can get the lifetime service for $299 (using the promo code) should I do it? I plan on staying with Tivo for more than a few years, and the numbers seem to favor lifetime.

[steve614]

My opinion, if you can afford it, do it.
If you ever want to sell the Tivo in the future, it will retain value.
Plus, no monthly bills.

[pdhenry]

Yes. Buy a UPS to avoid a common cause of TiVo failure.

I have had an S2 for going on 6 years now with no problems, I've more than gained my money back for buying Lifetime. I just put Lifetime on my new Premiere.

What's this about a promo code?
(EDIT: Just saw the PLSR code. Nice if you can get it; I'd still pay $399 if necessary).

[Plamar]

Originally Posted by pdhenry

Yes. Buy a UPS to avoid a common cause of TiVo failure.

I have it on a APC UPS 500. Short money for the peace of mind it gives.

[Davelnlr_]

All my electronics is on a UPS, APC1500. My Sony S1 with lifetime is still going strong.

[gthassell]

Lifetime + eBay = very inexpensive upgrades to whatever the next version is. Can't recommend any non-lifetime subscription plan.

[hooper]

IMHO technology in this space right now is changing too fast to invest in a lifetime sub. Look at the smartphones today. They have more horsepower than the already outdated Premiere. We are moving away from a linear broadcast model to on demand and IPTV. Tivo has continually shown that they don't understand this or can't innovate fast enough.

In the end it is a cost benefit analysis. If you can add a tivo at 6.95/mo, lifetime is a complete waste of money. As the sub price goes up, so does the shift in value.

Remember the Lifetime is tied to the hardware. I don't have confidence that the hardware technology will still be relevant in the time it takes to break even. Not today. In the past it was a no brainer.

[trip1eX]

I'd get lifetime. The risk being it craps out after the warranty is up or your service provider changes tech.

Both aren't likely to happen for the next few years.

[Plamar]

Originally Posted by trip1eX

I'd get lifetime. The risk being it craps out after the warranty is up or your service provider changes tech.

Both aren't likely to happen for the next few years.

I am 100% OTA so the second happening is impossible.

[Quake97]

I'm not an advocate of lifetime just because I don't keep stuff long enough to make it worth it. Yeah, sure, people say that we can sell it for more on ebay, but I really doubt you'll get any good money back. If you buy lifetime and then sell it after a year, I don't think you'll make back the money between the lifetime and the cost of service for that one year. I'm fine paying for the yearly for two years, which is way cheaper than the lifetime.

Joe

[orangeboy]

Way cheaper?
Lifetime cost: $399
12.95 x 24 months: $310.80
Difference: $88.20

You'd break even at ~2 years, 7 months.

[lessd]

Originally Posted by Quake97

I'm not an advocate of lifetime just because I don't keep stuff long enough to make it worth it. Yeah, sure, people say that we can sell it for more on ebay, but I really doubt you'll get any good money back. If you buy lifetime and then sell it after a year, I don't think you'll make back the money between the lifetime and the cost of service for that one year. I'm fine paying for the yearly for two years, which is way cheaper than the lifetime.

Joe

I have never lost much money (sometimes made money when PLS was not easily available to new TiVo customers) when switching to a newer TiVo with Lifetime and selling the old TiVo with lifetime on E-Bay. I have been with TiVo 10 years and I have spent less than $1200 net over that 10 year time period and now have 4 TPs with PLS and one old Humax/DVD with PLS all with upgraded hard drives. At my peak i had 7 Series 2 TiVos with PLS.

[wp746911]

299/12.95=24 months
399= 2 years, 7 month.

Either way I think you are in a win win situation. Granted things are changing fast, but unless you think that in 2-3 years tivo premiere will be entirely obsolete and worthless (basically cable tv ceases to exist as we know it now or tivo goes under), then you come out ahead. Of course there are no guarantees, but odds are it will work in your favor.

[PedjaR]

Originally Posted by wp746911

299/12.95=24 months
399= 2 years, 7 month.

Either way I think you are in a win win situation. Granted things are changing fast, but unless you think that in 2-3 years tivo premiere will be entirely obsolete and worthless (basically cable tv ceases to exist as we know it now or tivo goes under), then you come out ahead. Of course there are no guarantees, but odds are it will work in your favor.

There's also this: even if Tivo were to go under, somebody would buy it, for the value of a) patents, and b) non-lifetime subscriptions, and keep running the servers to update the guide data (with probably no more software updates, though). There is a precedent - ReplayTV. Those boxes were still getting guide data last time I checked, despite having considerably fewer customers than Tivo, and also likely smaller percentage of customers with month-to-month subscriptions (initially, ReplayTV had no subscriptions other than lifetime). Not to mention that the ReplayTV hardware is way behind times - SD only, one tuner. So, I would not worry too much about Tivo staying viable.

[Joe01880]

Originally Posted by orangeboy

Way cheaper?
Lifetime cost: $399
12.95 x 24 months: $310.80
Difference: $88.20

You'd break even at ~2 years, 7 months.

Pre Paid for 1 year..
$129./12 =$10.75 per month

$129.x3= $387.

$399. - $387. =$12.

Only after 3 years will lifetime (@$399.) start to pay off. Not to say Lifetime isnt a good thing for long run adopters but for those who might want the next best thing OR if the TiVo with Lifetime craps the bed Lifetime will not pay off. Also to repair a TiVo with Lifetime that has died an early death those extra costs would extend the time it would take Lifetime to pay for itself. If one has hardware issue every few years Lifetime will never be worth it. It seems a personal preference thing, i for one chose to pay 1 year for $129. That way if something great and new comes out, like a 3 or 4 tuner TiVo im not so invested with a lifetime subscription that i cant switch to a new TiVo with a new plan at terms end.
Edit: The $299 price would be a little more inviting and if Im ever offered the $199 lifetime price and my TiVo HD is still running strong I might have to jump on that but I am sure that will not happend until after next November when my TiVo HD will be 3 years old. I was offered $299 this year and passed.

[hooper]

My main fear as a FIOS customer is that cablecard service could be severely limited. It looks like the new IMG rolling out now will bring new channels only for those using it. Since they are out of capacity for new channels, something will be done and likely at the expense of the cablecard users. My guess is that other systems will likely increase SDV usage and or migrate to a non-linear distribution method of some sort. These are real threats in the next few years. So while you might break even on lifetime, your pool of buyers will decrease along with a viable resale market outside of OTA users. With no real options for pro sports OTA and blackout restrictions, OTA will not see much traction unless things change. Seeing as the cable company owns 2 of my local teams, I doubt they have any incentive to help me cut the cord.

And again, on a $6.95/mo plan break even is past the useful life of the hardware period. Even with a cable card at $3/mo, it is a savings over the cable DVR of $60 or so a year. My other box is lifetime from 2006. Once again at that time it was a no brainer.

[lessd]

Originally Posted by hooper

And again, on a $6.95/mo plan break even is past the useful life of the hardware period. Even with a cable card at $3/mo, it is a savings over the cable DVR of $60 or so a year. My other box is lifetime from 2006. Once again at that time it was a no brainer.

I had the Series 2 540; hardware cost about $0 because of the rebates ($150) sales on the unit and the TiVo reward system for activation, lifetime cost me $299, 3 years later i sold it on E-Bay for $320, 3 years at $6.95 *36 is $250, may cost about $10.

[lujan]

Originally Posted by Joe01880

Pre Paid for 1 year..
$129./12 =$10.75 per month

$129.x3= $387.

$399. - $387. =$12.

Only after 3 years will lifetime (@$399.) start to pay off. Not to say Lifetime isnt a good thing for long run adopters but for those who might want the next best thing OR if the TiVo with Lifetime craps the bed Lifetime will not pay off. Also to repair a TiVo with Lifetime that has died an early death those extra costs would extend the time it would take Lifetime to pay for itself. If one has hardware issue every few years Lifetime will never be worth it. It seems a personal preference thing, i for one chose to pay 1 year for $129. That way if something great and new comes out, like a 3 or 4 tuner TiVo im not so invested with a lifetime subscription that i cant switch to a new TiVo with a new plan at terms end.
Edit: The $299 price would be a little more inviting and if Im ever offered the $199 lifetime price and my TiVo HD is still running strong I might have to jump on that but I am sure that will not happend until after next November when my TiVo HD will be 3 years old. I was offered $299 this year and passed.

I have to agree. I only pay the yearly price because I always want to be on the bleeding edge of technology and don't want to be stuck with any DVR if a newer and better one comes out.

[wireless200]

One of the best things about lifetime is never receiving a monthly bill. You just bite the bullet and months later you never even think about it.

[steve614]

Originally Posted by lujan

I only pay the yearly price because I always want to be on the bleeding edge of technology and don't want to be stuck with any DVR if a newer and better one comes out.

You realize that if you stick with TiVo, lifetime will have paid for itself by the time TiVo releases something new...or have you not been around that long?

[lujan]

Originally Posted by steve614

You realize that if you stick with TiVo, lifetime will have paid for itself by the time TiVo releases something new...or have you not been around that long?

No, I haven't been around that long. The Premiere is my first TiVo.

[Joe01880]

Originally Posted by lujan

No, I haven't been around that long. The Premiere is my first TiVo.

I have been around a while, since my first DTV Tivo which was when DTV was a young company. I had a BUD so the little dish was very inviting and the TiVo interface was just the coolest thing, still is to me anyway. I feel the best one can hope to do is break even with lifetime and thats on resale if you have had no hardware issues during its run. Im sure there are exceptions with TiVo's that have lifetime service for 8+ years, still all OEM and running strong. I dont have that kind if luck with electronic anything and like another person said. If something new and exciting comes out, i want one!

[jayn_j]

I bought my Premiere with the first Woot deal back in September ($169). Signed up for monthly to decide if I wanted to keep it.

Last week I decided to go with lifetime. Went to the TIVO page and set it up with the coupon code. It came back and told me that I couldn't upgrade until I had completed a 1 year commitment in October.

Funny thing is that it now shows the commitment, but the webpage showed no commitment before I tried the upgrade. I called but two different CSRs have insisted that all TIVOs have a 1 year commitment no matter when or how they were purchased.

I really want to give them hundreds now. However, this is kind of torquing me off and I am likely to drop plans for lifetime and kill the box once the commitment is over.

Ideas?

[pdhenry]

There's a 30-day period during which you can cancel or change the contract, but otherwise all new service subscriptions have a one-year commitment. After the one-year period, any changes to the contract also incur a one-year commitment, I think.

[jayn_j]

OK, I guess so. At the end of the trial period, I was still trying to get TWC to connect a tuning adapter and get a cablecard authorized.

I cancelled the lifetime request and will go month to month until the TWC commitment is satisfied. Then look at DISH and other alternatives.

[wireless200]

Originally Posted by jayn_j

Last week I decided to go with lifetime. Went to the TIVO page and set it up with the coupon code. It came back and told me that I couldn't upgrade until I had completed a 1 year commitment in October.
[...]
Ideas?

So under My Account it doesn't give you any option to upgrade the plan in the future payment plan column? Keep calling and asking and if you don't get anywhere try to speak to a manager. They have a lot of latitude in what they can give.

[jayn_j]

Originally Posted by wireless200

So under My Account it doesn't give you any option to upgrade the plan in the future payment plan column? Keep calling and asking and if you don't get anywhere try to speak to a manager. They have a lot of latitude in what they can give.

Not the point. I was looking to add a unit and consolidate everything with lifetime. Yes, it let me specify a future upgrade to lifetime, but would not let me do so until after 1 year at $12.95. It scheduled the upgrade for the future.

I'm just upset by the "no" attitude of their CSRs right now, and probably will decide to try something in a week or so. Have to admit that I am getting more and more nervous about a 3 year payback period on lifetime, especially considering the last quarter's numbers.

[orangeboy]

Originally Posted by jayn_j

I'm just upset by the "no" attitude of their CSRs right now, and probably will decide to try something in a week or so. Have to admit that I am getting more and more nervous about a 3 year payback period on lifetime, especially considering the last quarter's numbers.

Although not directly answered in yesterday's earnings webcast, it was mentioned that the current promotion was "seasonal", and would last through the first quarter (which is reflected on the tivo.com website, mentioning "offer extended to 3/31/11). Does this mean a new offer starts on 4/1? Remains to be seen. However, the hardware revenue reflected the biggest loss due to the very same promotion. It sounds like the promotion was a test of longer term returns with the increased monthly rate.

[bradleys]

A combination of lifetime service and a desire to have that next new thing is why I have a TiVo on all my TV's. A TiVo with a lifetime sub doesn't get retired or replaced - it just moves to another TV.

There is no way I would pay the monthly subscription cost for 3 separate TiVos!

I have had the series 3 since Christmas 2007, the HD I purchased in 2009 and the Premier I picked up just last Christmas. I did have lifetime on the s2 but was able to do a transfer of that lifetime to the HD at a discount when I purchased. It made sense because without HD I knew I was going to want to eventually retire that box. But I used that box since what? 2006? Yeah, I think lifetime is a great deal!

That is the value of lifetime service - once it is paid for I can use it forever!

[LoneWolf15]

At this point, I'd go with the three-year deal, if it is an option.

I have Lifetime, but I got it from a grandfathered Series 1 bought on Craigslist for cheap. Otherwise, I probably would have gone three-year myself. TiVo will have a new, better unit by then, and you'll probably want it. With no way to transfer the old subscription, the most you can do is sell the unit.