[CAOgdin2]

I received a letter today from Comcast; if you are a Comcast customer you will receive on too. It says their move to MPEG-4 will leave you without cable service on Series 3 TiVo products from November 17th, 2015.

TiVo's Response: Buy a new Roamio, sucker!

TiVo is going to leave Series 3 customers connected to Comcast with no service, and they make you the following offer: Buy a new Roamio Basic ($200) and "Lifetime Service" ($200). So, for Series 3 customers your "Lifetime Service" was for the "Lifetime" of the Series 3 line, not for (what you thought was) your lifetime.

The techsupport folks are nice, but they're touting the party line: "You can still use it for everything else!" and "Comcast is changing the Cablecard rules".

What this really is: Comcast is changing the format of the signal sent out to their customers on 11/17/15 (in my neighborhood; yours may have a different date)...what we geeks call the "protocol." TiVo is saying it's not worth it to keep its' Lifetime Customers who live in Comcast territory by just updating the protocol software on the Series 3 box. Instead, they use it as a Sales Opportunity, to abandon their lifetime service you paid for, in the hopes of garnering more revenue through "up-selling"...Suckers!

This is about as bone-headed a move as Volkswagen's long-term violation of EPA emission standards on their diesel vehicles, and will have the same effect: The market void can be filled by new entrants who can capitalize on their selfishness by changing the rules. The first rule always needs to be Integrity. TiVo has none, and it shows in their sweet-sounding, pleasant "Screw You!" to all Series 3 owners.

 

[tarheelblue32]

TiVo is offering people with older equipment excellent deals on Roamios with lifetime service. You can get a 4-tuner Roamio for $400 or a 6-tuner Roamio Plus for $450. You can probably sell your old Series 3 on ebay for $200 to help defray the costs. Or you could go with an X1 from Comcast or you can always cut the cord and go OTA only with your Series 3. But please stop whining about your 8 year old technology becoming outdated. That's longer than a lot of consumer electronics last these days. I'd say you got more than your money's worth out of it.

 

[CharlesH]

TiVo is very clear that "lifetime" is "product lifetime", not "owner lifetime". They got zinged on this with the Series 1 and thus allowed early Series 1 owners do a one-time transfer to a newer model.

I am not 100% sure about this, but I think the hardware on the Series 3 does not have an MPEG-4 decoder. (CORRECTED by tarheelblue32: The hardware is there, but TiVo decided not to update the software.)

 

[tarheelblue32]

I am not 100% sure about this, but I think the hardware on the Series 3 does not have an MPEG-4 decoder.

This has been discussed on the forum before and the Series 3 hardware would be capable of decoding MPEG-4 with a software update. But TiVo is under no obligation to push such an update and they aren't going to.

 

[Chris Gerhard]

TiVo is offering people with older equipment excellent deals on Roamios with lifetime service. You can get a 4-tuner Roamio for $400 or a 6-tuner Roamio Plus for $450. You can probably sell your old Series 3 on ebay for $200 to help defray the costs. Or you could go with an X1 from Comcast or you can always cut the cord and go OTA only with your Series 3. But please stop whining about your 8 year old technology becoming outdated. That's longer than a lot of consumer electronics last these days. I'd say you got more than your money's worth out of it.

I would guess at this point he would be very lucky to net $150 on a lifetime series 3 sale, probably more like $100. I have been unable to sell a TiVoHD on Craigslist for $150, been listed and relisted for months. No complaints here, my TiVoHDs have been problem free for a long time but of course I would have been delighted if the TiVoHD had been updated to handle MPEG-4.

 

[JWhites]

This is kinda old news since Comcast initially made the joint announcement with TiVo back in November 2014. Even before this, Verizon FiOS had been moving over to MPEG4 years earlier. TiVo even was sending out emails to affected customers with special sales on moving to an MPEG4 compatible device such as Premiere's and Roamio's.

 

[Jrr6415sun]

TiVo is offering people with older equipment excellent deals on Roamios with lifetime service. You can get a 4-tuner Roamio for $400 or a 6-tuner Roamio Plus for $450. You can probably sell your old Series 3 on ebay for $200 to help defray the costs. Or you could go with an X1 from Comcast or you can always cut the cord and go OTA only with your Series 3. But please stop whining about your 8 year old technology becoming outdated. That's longer than a lot of consumer electronics last these days. I'd say you got more than your money's worth out of it.

what's the point of offering "lifetime" if it's only 8 years or less? That is false advertising.

 

[tarheelblue32]

what's the point of offering "lifetime" if it's only 8 years or less? That is false advertising.

People like you are why they had to change the name to "all in".

 

[BigJimOutlaw]

I didn't get to turn my tube TV in for a plasma when my cableco killed analog. Life sucks.

If someone wants to run a box into the ground until it's oil, that's their prerogative. But Tivo has no obligation (or ever advertised) to offer handouts at a big loss or guarantee support for changing technologies in infinite perpetuity.

Tivo's done their part offering a compatible box for the last 5 and a half years with lots of good offers along the way.

Brace yourself in advance.... Don't be shocked if more boxes are obsoleted by cable switching to HEVC or IP over the next decade.

 

[cwerdna]

I received a letter today from Comcast; if you are a Comcast customer you will receive on too. It says their move to MPEG-4 will leave you without cable service on Series 3 TiVo products from November 17th, 2015.
...
Comcast is changing the format of the signal sent out to their customers on 11/17/15 (in my neighborhood; yours may have a different date)...what we geeks call the "protocol." TiVo is saying it's not worth it to keep its' Lifetime Customers who live in Comcast territory by just updating the protocol software on the Series 3 box. Instead, they use it as a Sales Opportunity, to abandon their lifetime service you paid for, in the hopes of garnering more revenue through "up-selling"...Suckers!

This is news to me. I'm on Comcast and using a CableCARD w/my TiVo HD but haven't received any letter but will now need to look into this.

I am surprised to hear the Series 3 (and/or TiVo HD) even have MPEG-4 hardware decoding capability.

Remember, lifetimed TiVos are no longer bringing in revenue and long ago, TiVo used to spread (and recognize) lifetime subs over a 4 year period. Not sure what this is anymore. If it's 4 years, mine is past that.

TiVo I'm sure knows how many Series 3 and HDs are still on active subscriptions and probably how many are affected by this change. If in fact the hardware can do it, but they choose not to make the software updates, then they made a business decision. It may not be worth it for them, esp. in internal projections of units going out of service, when areas will go MPEG-4, etc.

 

[LoneWolf15]

To the OP: You're blaming the wrong company. If you want to be mad at someone, be mad at Comcast for making the change --this was their choice, not Tivo's.

TiVo is going to leave Series 3 customers connected to Comcast with no service, and they make you the following offer: Buy a new Roamio Basic ($200) and "Lifetime Service" ($200). So, for Series 3 customers your "Lifetime Service" was for the "Lifetime" of the Series 3 line, not for (what you thought was) your lifetime.

After the Series 1, Tivo has *always been clear that "Lifetime Service" is for the lifetime of the hardware, not your lifetime. It's out there in black and white if you read the agreement. If your hard disk in your out-of-warranty Tivo fails, and you don't know how to fix it --well, that's the lifetime of the product. Tivo is under no obligation to ship you a new one.

Tivo announced the Series 3 in 2006, and according to Tivopedia, approximate manufacture dates were 2006-2008. That means you got anywhere from 7-9 years out of this device if you bought it new. Nothing lasts forever, technology changes. Should Tivo still be supporting Lifetime Series 1 users from the year 2000 with standard-definition composite-RCA connection, no-Ethernet-onboard 20-60GB hard drive units? At what point does it end, and what is your hope for Tivo to continue making money so that they can keep alive as a company?

 

[series5orpremier]

It's for your own good. Whining that you have access to excellent deals on superior products? Really?

 

[DawnW]

Your options are "I don't care" and "utter abandonment."

There is a huge IN BETWEEN that I feel. I am not happy about it, but I don't blame Tivo for it. I also don't blame the cable company, they are trying to make things better/more advanced.

We have TWC and an HD older Tivo. I haven't received any info yet, but I assume it is only a matter of time.

 

[Anotherpyr]

Actually they're giving you a good deal. Lifetime is a dead end for them as there is no additional income to be made off a lifetime unit, but additional costs to keep it upgraded to current standards.

 

[HerronScott]

TiVo is going to leave Series 3 customers connected to Comcast with no service, and they make you the following offer: Buy a new Roamio Basic ($200) and "Lifetime Service" ($200). So, for Series 3 customers your "Lifetime Service" was for the "Lifetime" of the Series 3 line, not for (what you thought was) your lifetime.

The techsupport folks are nice, but they're touting the party line: "You can still use it for everything else!" and "Comcast is changing the Cablecard rules".

As CharlesH and others have pointed out the lifetime service has always been for the lifetime of the device and it's clearly spelled out in the service agreement.

I have 2 S3 OLED's and am on Comcast and will have to make a decision on this probably sooner than later. We are 3 generations back now (Premier, Roamio and now Bolt) and I've almost gotten 9 years of service so I don't feel "abandoned" by TiVo. Do I wish Comcast wasn't making this change? Sure, since my S3's are still doing what we need, but the problem is not TiVo's fault. They are giving you a great discount on lifetime so they are at least making some effort to help ease the pain.

In a similar vein, my XM SkyFi 2 which is about the same age doesn't receive the new stations because of technology changes and I wouldn't expect SiriusXM to give me a new receiver even if I had lifetime service with them.

Scott

 

[tarheelblue32]

We have TWC and an HD older Tivo. I haven't received any info yet, but I assume it is only a matter of time.

TWC is slow as molasses in upgrading technology. There are still TWC systems that have yet to go all digital. Since TWC uses SDV, they don't have the same bandwidth crunch that Comcast does. It will probably be years before TWC gets around to switching to H.264 compression.

 

[CAOgdin2]

Hey, Snotty!

I have been a TiVo user since Series 2, and I have a Series 3, and 1TB Roamio.

Those of you who wish to applaud TiVo for not caring about their customers are living in another reality I do not choose to join.

 

[lpwcomp]

Even on Comcast, a Series 3 will still work for SD and local HD, neither of which are being converted to mpeg-4. It can also be used for OTA.

Having said that , I'd put the blame for this, if any is applicable, on TiVo. They made the conscious decision not to modify the s/w to add full support for mpeg-4.

 

[bradleys]

TiVo has been very clear about this upcoming change for years... I sold both my S3's about a year ago just to make sure I got maximum value from my lifetime investment.

It is a lot like the analog to digital change several up years ago... Hardware gets outmoded.

All that said, $400 for a lifetime Roamio is a smoking deal... I say kudos to TiVo for stepping up and offering discounts.

 

[Jrr6415sun]

As CharlesH and others have pointed out the lifetime service has always been for the lifetime of the device and it's clearly spelled out in the service agreement.

the device is still alive