No surprise, but my son is a geek. So is my other son. Anyway, one of them got a TiVo years ago and was offered this today: [Link: tivocommunity.com]

As he puts it,

He's had one TV for all this time and it looks like he'll continue to only have one for quite a while.

I haven't done a thing with TiVo for almost that long. Could you guys comment on the deal?

Thanks.

I've never been a tivo fan so hopefully others will give their opinion.

The ones that I have installed worked OK but I never felt the need to jump on the bandwagon.

Having seen multiple clients loose their "lifetime Plan" as things evolved over the years,I'm not interested.

From my seat (I'm not a TIVO owner, but I do recommend them from time to time) this "lifetime" offer is a grab for immediate cash by TIVO. From a long term cash flow standpoint for TIVO, this does not make sense to me. Sure, new customers will like this option and a significant number might sign up, but this means that TIVO will eventually run out of cash if too many customers use this option and the market saturates. I haven't read the TIVO agreement for a while. Is "lifetime" the life of the box in question or the life of the owner? If it is the life of the owner, how does TIVO know when the contract ends? (the box may be inherited, given away, stolen, or sold)

From the user perspective, it is a bet. If the "lifetime" contract, however it is defined and supported/cancelled in the future, lasts long enough for the user to realize a long term saving, the user wins. If the contract is tied to the life of the box, this could be a short contract if the box fails or becomes obsolete before any savings are realized.

Been a TiVo guy since 2004. Love them. It's a great deal that doesn't come very often.

I read it quickly. You buy a new piece and pay 99 dollars to transfer an existing plan over. Sounds like a car deal. Buy a new car from us and pay us 300 dollars to do the paper work. Did I read it too quickly?

Great deal. Being in a Comcast/Xfinity market, I am a huge fan of Tivo.

- Access to On Demand
- Easiest / Most intelligent interface on the market
- Great control options via IP
- Box runs cool
- Rarely crashes
- Applications are fantastic
- Tivo Mini is great for rooms that are used infrequently
- Storage is excellent
- Intelligent interface learns viewing habits and records shows you might like
- Ability to share / watch across the network is fantastic
- Ability to watch on Apps inside and outside the home
- Ability to control your DVR experience via computer is convenient
- Tons of apps like Netflix, Vudu, Amazon, etc.

Tivo is one of those things that you don't realize how good it is until you have it, then you wonder how you got along without it.

If your an existing Tivo user and looking to upgrade this is a very good offer

I love my Tivo and have used it with both Comcast and with sudden link

Personally I don't understand why anyone would want to rent a crappy cable box when you can use a vastly superior product like a Tivo.
It's no different than owning your own modem and router vs. renting and using the cheap pos the cable company wants you to.

That's good to see. I was wondering how they would handle the lifetime stuff moving forward, and it looks like they understand that equipment gets old.

I just put in my first Tivo setup for a guy who wanted to get away from leasing Comcast equipment. He has 12 TVs, so those fees were something to consider. So far, it's worked out quite well, overall.

I love my TiVo(s) but.....

There are rumors that Comcast will start transitioning away from QAM to IP by the end of the year. That puts TiVo in a very bad position.

I am jumping on the deal. $300 for a new Bolt with lifetime? You seriously cannot beat that. They are out of stock on the 1TB model, so I will have to settle for the 500GB, but we rarely keep anything on there after we watch it, so the space limitation is not bad. Plus I have the Tivo eSata expander which adds 500GB. It probably could use replacing too since it is as old as my TivoHD.

The hardware is pretty robust. My TivoHD was bought in 2005. There were a couple of years that it sat unused because I thought the HDD died and I had no reason to have it operational. I dusted it off, did a process where it detects and "deletes" bad sectors on the drive, and it has worked fine again for 2 years+ now.

There is a strong community online and a couple of places that still specialize in Tivo repair and upgrades. You can pretty easily replace hard drives in old units and get them back up and running. This is handy because a new unit with a lifetime service plan starts at what, $800?

I got my HD when lifetime was $499....but you could by 1 year, or 2 year plans as well. I bought the 2 year plan for $199. When the end of the 2 years rolled around, they offered me lifetime for $99. I did it. So I was into it $599 I think....at it has lasted ~12 years. So $50/year, give or take. That is easily worth it compared to what I would have had to live with from the cable co. And although I did have cable TV service for a few years of those 12, most of them have been with just OTA.

So, yes, it is a good deal for anyone with OLD Tivo units that have lifetime, but users want an upgrade at ~1/2 price.

And yes, the lifetime service is attached to the box. You can sell the box, give it to your son, put it in storage for 20 years, then dust it off. The service plan is attached to that box. Sure, Tivo can make exceptions if the situation warrants it. If your box dies under warranty, they will transfer the service to a replacement unit.

I do not think this is a "grasp for cash" as was mentioned. This deal only runs until the 10th, and is only good for series 2 or 3 replacements. If they wanted a LOT more mileage out of it, they would offer it to everyone....I am sure there would be plenty of people dumping series 4 hardware just to get something that can handle 4K.

At any rate, I am taking their offer and not thinking twice about it. It is not much more than the current OTA deal, plus I get 4K streaming, faster processing, the stylish shape, etc. ;)

This is for existing customers with older Tivo models who had a lifetime subscription on them and have connected to the Tivo service betweem March 1 2016 and March 31 2017. These upgrade purchases are through the Tivo website only. If you guys are Tivo dealers you won't be able to sell a Bolt and upgrade them yourself.

Tivo has very good dealer programs that can be transferred to another DVR anyway.

I have a Series 3 HD with a lifetime on it. It's lasted me a really long time. I'm an OTA guy only and with Kodi, I rarely use the device but I got the offer, I jumped at the chance. Nobody really integrates well with the older model and with the newer one is speedier and more robust. Bonus, Netflix and Prime. and besides, for an integrator its a write-off. At the end of the day I've paid way more money for things I use less.

That is correct Dawn. Comcast is slowly building out the Moonshot HP servers in dense markets and it will be IP-over-coax soon right to the box. Our area is scheduled to convert early 2018. Seasoned employees that ran the distribution system were not offered jobs in our area.
Many boxes will need to be replaced. I would love to hear someone do an interview with TIVO about this very issue. I doubt they will talk though.
Comcast is making their content mobile ,as the couch potato and regular TV are dying. Now if a Comcast app is rolled out like Netflix, then Tivo might have a chance.

[Link: support.tivo.com]