TiVo HD upgrade program helps you save as much as $100

by Ben Drawbaugh posted Jul 2nd 2009 at 2:37PM

No doubt TiVo has long since released its proverbial ATRAC codec, but it is so bad now that every time we hear about a TiVo offer, we click on through to find the super lame catch. Of course this time is no different as TiVo is offering up to $100 off a TiVo HD to existing Series 1 or 2 owners. So you probably figured out the catch by now, which is that if you have lifetime on your existing TiVo, you can't transfer it. If you log in and try the site actually suggests you give away your older TiVo or recycle it. It seems that TiVo knows there aren't any alternatives so what are you going to do if you're treated like crap? It's not like there are any comparable acceptable alternatives.

Filed under: Industry, DVRs, Set-top boxes

Tags: TiVo, TiVo HD, TivoHd

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Neutral

JKluzi @ Jul 2nd 2009 3:14PM

How is this being "treated like crap?" You paid for lifetime service on your series 1 or 2 box, and you're getting lifetime service on your series 1 or 2 box. If you want service on another box, fine, but why shouldn't you have to pay for it? The sense of entitlement some people have (looking at you too, iPhone upgrade whiners) is incredible.

Highly Ranked

Sara @ Jul 2nd 2009 3:24PM

I think most people would be willing to pay some additional fee to transfer the lifetime service, but you can't because the lifetime service option doesn't exist anymore. I don't think it's a sense of entitlement as much as frustration that you can't upgrade your technology without losing out on the (obviously) great service deal that they originally paid for (which wasn't particularly cheap, btw).

Neutral

Wryker @ Jul 2nd 2009 3:44PM

Dudes
if you have an S2 (like i do) and have had it longer than 3 years (and we have) - you can get an HDTiVo w/a lifetime subscription for $500. You get a $100 discount off the HDTivo and $100 off the lifetime service. I just put it in my 'cart' to see what options I'd have.
Now you know - shop accordingly.

Neutral

thatsright @ Jul 2nd 2009 10:42PM

Completely disagree. It wouldn't cost Tivo a dime to transfer my lifetime service to a new box. I like Tivo, but if they ever expect me to buy another one, they'll change their pricing. Otherwise, I'm going to go with whatever my cable or satellite company offers when I upgrade to HD.

Neutral

Joe Maki @ Jul 2nd 2009 3:20PM

Cool, I already gave away my Series 1 with lifetime (from 2002) but never transferred the account. I'll still qualify for the discount. Wait, I already have a Series 3 and an HD. Damn!

Highly Ranked

Jeff @ Jul 2nd 2009 3:41PM

this blows my mind precisely because there ARE other choices. TiVo was the best for a long time, but nowadays even my tivo HD is really looking long in the tooth. Not to mention it takes a good 45 seconds to a minute and a half to create a season pass. Every time I go to my dad's house and see his directv DVR I'm jealous.

Neutral

andy @ Jul 2nd 2009 3:44PM

lifetime service exists. Just click on that option after you select your DVR. It's 399.99 right now, so if you buy a refurb HD, it's 500 total. If you use this discount, it's 400. Totally worth it if you've ever owned a TiVo.

Neutral

Shenanigans @ Jul 2nd 2009 3:50PM

Lifetime? As in a lifetime subscription? I hope it doesn't mean free access to the Lifetime Network. Cause that doesn't sound like a deal breaker. lol

Highly Ranked

BMINTS @ Jul 2nd 2009 4:33PM

What about the additional cost for a cable card rental, and the tuning adapter that will eventually be an additional cost?. I'm kind of feel like I'm being nickled and dimed. I'm going to wait until Time Warner has an integrated TiVO box before I make another move. Right now, I can't say I'm thrilled with the options on the table. I have a Series 2 box with Lifetime service (sitting in my closet), and I pay for a TW DVR in addition to my HD TiVo.

Neutral

Bernie @ Jul 2nd 2009 4:57PM

You can do better than $99 off. I called and said I wasn't happy with the non-HD quality and was considering cancelling service. They offered the $99 off the $299 TivoHD, and when I told them that was still more than I wanted to pay, they gave it to me for $99 total plus a 2-year service commitment.

Neutral

Dan S @ Jul 2nd 2009 10:03PM

Ha, the catch is that it's no deal at all. I've had a TiVo for 3 years, and the best offer is still more expensive than Amazon.

TiVo HD still = Lame. It's just way too expensive.

Neutral

Michael R @ Jul 2nd 2009 10:56PM

My Series 1 TiVo with a second hard drive and TiVo lifetime service still works perfectly in a bedroom with around 60 analog cable channels to pick from. No analog movie channels are available on cable anymore but that's what Netflix is for. Pretty soon I expect my cable company to roll out a TiVo menu for my rental Moto HD DVR. Our NBC and CBS local analog standard def. on analog cable is very very close to HD quality. Why would I need a TiVo HD? Local ABC picture quality is another matter.

Neutral

Joe Maki @ Jul 3rd 2009 8:52PM

" Our NBC and CBS local analog standard def. on analog cable is very very close to HD quality. "

Michael_R I'm sorry, you've either never seen HD on a decent set or your watching on something under 30" in size.

Neutral

Garst @ Jul 3rd 2009 3:24AM

I'm glad I've never been suckered into TiVo. I built my computer with the intent to have it used as a DVR. It only added $150 for two tuners initially, but I don't have to pay for the guide. I've added another tuner to replace the analog tuner I needed while I was still in school, but $70 isn't that bad for a card that can allow me to record two shows at once, and will have effectively 3 ATSC tuners I can use when I make the move to Windows 7.

Neutral

Pip @ Jul 3rd 2009 9:33AM

You're paying more per month to keep that computer on than it would cost for a monthly subscription to TiVo. Just a friendly FYI.

Highly Ranked

Ben @ Jul 3rd 2009 9:40AM

Pip,

What are you smoking?

A TiVo draws about 35Watts 24x7, a PC barely draws more than that, but lets say it was 3x higher just for the sake of argument. Let call it an even 100 watts.

There are 8760 hours in a year.
The TiVo draws 306.6 Kwh a year while the PC draws 876. Here in Tampa the per kwh charge is .11, so it breaks down as $96.36 for the PC and $33.72 for the TiVo. So a $62 a year difference. Now even the cheapest TiVo service is $8.33 a month if you prepay for 3 years or $100 a year.

So in other words, no the TiVo still costs you more even if the PC uses over 3x as much power and you prepay for service for 3 years.

Neutral

Garst @ Jul 3rd 2009 2:55PM

@Pip
You do know you can turn off a computer rather easily, so if you know you want be recording anything until after you need to use it again, unlike a TiVo. That's to say you turn off your computer anyways. If you already leave your computer on all the time, the power consumption is marginal at worst. You can even record in "sleep" mode. I've even been able to leave the computer in sleep mode and used by Xbox 360 to watch programs in another room. I find that the screen blanks out after awhile, which is a little annoying, but that's not a big issue. I just have to press "Play" on the remote, when my computer is in sleep mode. That's not actually too often.

There are other reasons I leave my computer on all the time, too. And the reason aren't nefarious either. I work at home, so I do use it much of the day, and I only sleep about six hours a night. I will actually wake up after six hours of sleep, but I don't always get that much sleep. When I don't I have an alarm on my computer, which is the only thing I can get loud enough, to wake me up when I need an alarm. The alarm doesn't work in when the computer is asleep, so I can't always put it asleep at night.

So actually with my setup, having TiVo will cost a lot more for me because not only will it be another device to power, but I would also have to pay for the guide.

FYI, there is no safe way to turn off a TiVo. If you remove power, it will damage the hard drive because TiVo is always writing to it. If the power is removed too much, it will eventually render the hard drive useless.

Neutral

Pip @ Jul 3rd 2009 3:25PM

Just saying, for every 200w PSW PC I leave on 24/7, it adds another $20 to my monthly bill. If you're turning it off when you're not recording, then the point is moot. Just wondering how it can buffer and everything else in"sleep" mode (Drive is off, processor sits in idle mode).

Neutral

Ben @ Jul 3rd 2009 3:26PM

Pip,

You don't really believe that 200 Watt power supplies always draw 200 watts do you? You really should do a little research before you make yourself look stupid on a public forum.

Neutral

Pip @ Jul 8th 2009 4:57PM

No, that is their max rating. However, the power bill doesn't lie.

Neutral

rogerk @ Jul 3rd 2009 4:04AM

Any fool knows that a lifetime plan is for the lifetime of the box, not of the subscriber. Do you REALLY expect someone to give you service for sixty years for the price of three?!

Neutral

Kumar @ Jul 3rd 2009 9:38AM

No kidding. Thought the meaning of their lifetime clause could open up a bit to mean something like 'lifetime of the box, or 5 years'...meaning that if you bought a series 3 with lifetime and next year a series 4 came out, you'd be able to get 4 years on that if you early adopted.

Yeah, there are free schedules on the internets, and cheaper devices, you someone has to develop the software/hardware and update lists. For the average user (non engadget reader), thinking less about tinkering with their DVR is always better.

Now if only the hd directivo would hurry up and get to market..if ever.

Neutral

Garst @ Jul 3rd 2009 3:01PM

Yeah, but they should offer some sort of discount on the subscription to current customers. Not only would it make customer happy, but it would sell more boxes because people would be more will to upgrade. $400 is a bit much to get the lifetime subscription again. Even a discount of $75-130 would really get people to upgrade.

Neutral

Andy @ Jul 3rd 2009 7:28PM

Could I transfer my current rate plan to a Tivo HD though? Through a long story, I pay only 5.95 per month for Tivo with a S2. Will I be able to get one of these HDs and continue at 5.95?

Neutral

Michael R @ Jul 4th 2009 11:32PM

Note to Joe Maki: I do have a HD TV and Cox HD Moto DVR. My TV is a Samsung LN46A650. NBC and CBS feed stright to the COX headend via fiber.

Neutral

Chuen ching Lee @ Jul 9th 2009 8:19PM

If you built your PC using lower power components (e.g. 45W AMD X2 5050e, ATI video card, green hard drive), then it will not draw as much power and save your money.

If there is a way to turn off time-shifting and just use the PC as a VCR, then your computer could be asleep most of the time.

Neutral

anthony @ Jul 15th 2009 10:43AM

REPLY TO PIP AND BEN

Well consider me dumb because I did think that a PC with a power supply is always running at that power supply rate. I have a 850 watt power supply gamer pc and thought that while that pc was on - even just surfing the net or checking email - it was always pulling 850watts. This is why I use a mini laptop as my always on tivo server and 3 usb external 1.5 ter drives and automatic back up running 24/7. The laptop draws much less power over my gaming pc, but I actually did think that I was burining electricity at 850 watts with my big rig. Now my gaming rig has no "power down" or "step down" power features on the mobo, but I guess the only real world test to detirmine ow much power any pc is drawing is to use that plug in thing called "killowat" - which I dont own.

Neutral

Tom @ Jul 24th 2009 8:18PM

But what happens if you get lifetime but end up with a bad TIVO form day one? I got a series 3 and it tiled or pixilated. TIVO replace it twice(with refurbished ones even though I bought a new one). They had the same problem. TIVO kept blaming COX Cable and Cox kept blaming TIVO. Cox bent over backwards and have been to my house numerous times. They even replaced all the cables to my house and the drop outside on the telephone pole. They did get rid of most of the tiling but not all. It then got worse again and they could not do anything to fix it. It only happens at tw frequencies. One HD channel at I think 561,000mh and all the channels on 567,000mh. I finally tried something else. I went bought a new HD TIVO and had Cox try that one. They put an "M" card in it and it works great. If it was really the Cox signal like TIVO has stated all along, it should also be bad on the HD TIVO. I guess it was teh series 3 TIVO all along and not Cox cable's fault. Do you think TIVO will swap my lifetime to the HD TIVO form the Series 3 TIVO? I think not. I was told....you can pay to have the series 3 replaced and shipped to you.
I would think that since it was their fault all along that they would at least transfer the lifetime since I had the added expense of the new HD TIVO. The did tell me that I could also sell my Series 3. I guess it is time to take the HD one back to the store and give in and take the cable company DVR box. I also have a series 2 lifetime TIVO and a 6.95 a month series 2 TIVO. They seem more willing to work with you if you have a monthly contact because they are losing money if you cancel but they do not lose anything if yu get upset with your lifetime box.

Neutral

Tom @ Jul 24th 2009 8:22PM

I called today and said I would probably cancel the HD TIVO and explained what happened with the series 3 TIVO and all the problems with it. I said I wish I could transfer the lifetiime to the new HD form the old series 3. She put me on hold and came back about 10 minutes later. She said....i do see you had a lot of problems with the series 3 and my supervisor agreed to transfer your lifetime to your new HD TIVO. She explained tht they usually do not do this and this is a one time thing only for me. I said thanks and now I may get another HD TIVO.

They sure surprised me! :-)

Highly Ranked

G L WENNER @ Sep 18th 2009 11:55PM

IF I HEAR TIVO WON ANOTHER 200 MILLION AND STILL CANT KEEP THEIR ORIGINAL CUSTUMERS HAPPY I WILL CRY.

OUR OLD TIVOS NEED TO BE UPGRADED AND IT IS NOT OUR FAULT FOR THE DIGITAL CONVERSION. WE SUPPORTED TIVO IN THE PAST AND NOW TREATED POORLY HAVEING OLD SERIES 2 TIVOS AND CANT TRANSFER LIFETIME ARRANGEMENTS TO THE HD TIVO. I DON'T HAVE CABLE AND TIVO W A BOX CONVERTER IS REALLY BAD.

WE NEED TO UPGRADE TO BE IN TODAYS STANDARD - A SERIES 2 TIVO A YEAR OLD WITH A LIFETIME SERVICE IS OBSOLETE.

A ROKU FOR 99.00 DOES EVERTHING - I WILL HAVE TO SWITCH -- IT IS TIME

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