Buy TiVo HD and transfer lifetime subscription

[Skaggs]

Transfer your Product Lifetime Service to the new TiVo® HD DVR

Link to TiVo website

Here's the deal: Buy your TiVo HD for only $299.99. Once your new TiVo DVR arrives, locate the TiVo Service Number* for your new and existing TiVo DVR. Then call TiVo Customer Support at [phone] and we'll transfer your Product Lifetime Service for just $199. Best of all, you'll get to keep service on your existing TiVo DVR for 12 months absolutely free. Hurry because this offer expires November 8, 2007.

Terms and conditions of offer:
2007 TiVo® HD Product Lifetime Transfer Offer

1. This 2007 TiVo® HD Product Lifetime Transfer Offer (the “Offer”) is only available for a limited time, while supplies last, from October 11, 2007 to November 8, 2007. TiVo reserves the right to terminate this promotion at any time, for any reason. Please read all eligibility requirements carefully.

2. Offer permits the transfer of an eligible (as defined below) Product Lifetime Subscription for $199 plus applicable taxes only to a new TiVo® HD DVR purchased from www.tivo.com/HDservicetransfer between October 11, 2007 to November 8, 2007 (a "Qualifying DVR").

3. Transfer of an eligible (as defined below) Product Lifetime Subscription to a a Qualifying DVR is required by 12/8/2007 by calling TiVo Customer Support at [phone] between 7AM and 8PM PST.
4. Product Lifetime Subscriptions eligible to be transferred to a Qualifying DVR pursuant to this Offer must be (1) activated prior to October 1, 2003 and (2) not have been previously transferred pursuant to any prior transfer offer from TiVo.. Only registered account owners of a Product Lifetime Subscription may transfer such Product Lifetime Subscription to the Qualifying DVR specified above in conjunction with this offer. DirectTV DVR’s with TiVo service not eligible for offer.

5. Once the Product Lifetime Subscription is transferred to the Qualifying DVR, the original DVR will automatically be activated for a free twelve (12) month pre-paid TiVo service subscription. All terms and conditions for a twelve (12) month prepaid subscription will apply. At the end of twelve (12) month free subscription, you will be automatically rolled to then-applicable monthly rate. The twelve (12) month free subscription is not transferable to another party.

6. Only one transfer per eligible Product Lifetime Subscription.

7. TiVo Service 30 day Money Back Guarantee does not apply to this offer. There are NO returns, refunds, or exchanges in connection with this offer except as otherwise permitted pursuant to the DVR's manufacturer warranty. This offer is not elgible for multi-service discount.

8. No Product Lifetime Subscription transfers will be made pursuant to this Offer after 12/08/2007.

9. Both DVRs will be activated once this process is complete, but the contract information may take up to 60 days or more to be reflected on the DVR or "Manage My Account".

The terms of the TiVo Service Agreement apply to this offer, along with the other terms and conditions listed at www.tivo.com/policies. In case of any discrepancies between those terms and these listed in this offer, the terms defined in this offer supersede those posted. Connection to TiVo service required via an existing phone line, or broadband connection and wired or wireless home network (Ethernet cable or compatible wireless network adapter required, sold separately).

©2007 TiVo Inc. All rights reserved. The TiVo logo and TiVo are registered trademarks of TiVo Inc. or its subsidiaries worldwide. CABLECARD is a trademark of Cable Television Laboratories, Inc. Pricing, terms and conditions subject to change without notice.

[hurnik]

That's actually not a bad deal. Of course, you can probably sell a lifetime'd Series 2 for $400, and replace it with the HD unit. I'll have to run the numbers and see if it makes sense. I probably wouldn't keep my lifetime S2, but would rather have my Series 2 DT around.

[Skaggs]

I took the bait and bought two TiVo HD units to replace my two Series 2 w/ lifetime subscriptions. If all goes well with the cable card installations, I'll dump my crappy SA 8300HD DVR.

[UsualNoise]

Let us know how the cable card install goes and if there were any issues you encountered. I've been thinking about getting my first Tivo but want to make sure I don't have any problems getting things setup.

[Skaggs]

I've been reading the Time Warner Cable Card installation thread on the [url=http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=316313&goto=newpost
]TiVo Community forum[/url]. Seems like the incompetent TWC service reps are not limited to the Albany area.

[bruces]

I don't know whether our local TW has MCards available yet, but if they do, try to insist they install one of those instead of two standard cable cards.

At least that way, the chances of you having troubles should be cut in half.

The chief problem for most people seems to be getting the correct data for each card entered into TW's system. With just one card, they only need to get it correct once.

[dsnyder]

I got a Tivo HD a couple of weeks ago and had TWC install CableCards. They don't have M Cards yet (at least not at the Troy office), and the first time they came out the installer refused to install 2 S Cards. After I called customer service he came back a week later with another card and another tech to help him out. Each install took about an hour.

[hurnik]

So when you call to order the cards, you should tell them you need 2 of them? And do they charge for the service call/install?

[Skaggs]

usualnoise said:

Let us know how the cable card install goes and if there were any issues you encountered.

I called Albany TWC today to make an appointment for my Cable Card installation. TWC will be coming Wednesday 10/24/07. (My TiVos arrive Tuesday)

The Customer Service Rep had to put me on hold when I requested two M-cards (one for each TiVoHD). He came back and said that they do not have M-cards yet, but will be getting them in December.

hurnik said:

So when you call to order the cards, you should tell them you need 2 of them? And do they charge for the service call/install?

Since they claim they don't have the multistream cards, I'll need 4 single stream cards (2 for each TiVo).There is no charge for the installation. Other TWC regions have charged for installation like Los Angeles ($25) and Raleigh, NC ($49).

[dsnyder]

hurnik said:

So when you call to order the cards, you should tell them you need 2 of them? And do they charge for the service call/install?

I haven't got the bill yet, but they quoted me about $18 for the install, since they entered it in the billing system as an equipment pickup (to take out the SA8300HD that the TivoHD is replacing). I believe the customer service rep said a normal install is about $30.

Full story of my CableCard installation is here:
www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=5576782&&#post5576782

I'm not sure if they will charge me for the second visit, but if they do I will surely complain loudly as it was their fault for not doing it right the first time.

[Skaggs]

I ordered two TiVo HD’s on Friday, October 12th. The tracking number I received indicated they would arrive on Tuesday, October 23rd. I contacted Time Warner and set up a service visit for them to install the Cable Cards on Wednesday, October 24th. While on the phone with Time Warner, I asked for two Multistream cable cards (Mcards) instead of four single stream cards. The customer service representative immediately put me on hold so he could speak to a supervisor. He came back on the line and told me that they did not have Mcards yet, but expected to have them in December. I insisted that they do have the Mcards, having read elsewhere that other Albany TWC customers have had them installed. The customer service rep wouldn’t budge, so we set up a service visit to install 4 single stream cable cards for Wednesday, October 24th. The service call was scheduled for between noon-4:30PM, and I was to get a phone call 15 minutes before the service rep arrived to I could leave work and meet him at my house. I also confirmed that there would be no charge for installation of the cable cards. ;D

Since I had more than a week before the TiVo’s arrived, I investigated how to upgrade the hard drives in the TiVo HD’s. (The standard supplied 160GB hard drive can store 20 hours of HD programming or 180 hours of SD programming) I started at the TiVo Community Forum and ended up on the MFSlive website. I ordered a 500GB SATA hard drive for $169 with the intention of swapping it out with a hard drive on one of the TiVo HD units to give me 64 hours of HD or 607 hours of SD.

My two new TiVo HD’s were delivered on Tuesday, October 23rd. I replaced my two Series2 TiVo’s and ran guided setup on each new TiVo unit.

On Wednesday October 24th, I received a phone call at 8AM from the Time Warner Service Tech supervisor. His name was Tom Landry (yes, the same name as the former Dallas Cowboys coach). Tom asked why I needed 4 single stream cards, so I explained my situation and how I asked for two Mcards, but the customer service rep said they didn’t have them. Tom said they do have them and he would send a bunch with the service tech. I thanked Tom for contacting me and arranging for the Mcards.

I got a call at 12:30PM from the service tech, who told me he was on the way to my house. I went home and let the service tech in my door at 12:50PM. By 1:15PM, the tech had left the house after installing two Mcards. Even he was surprised as to how easy the installation had gone. The first two Mcards he tried worked, and he had to make two phone calls back to the office. The first call was to supply the numbers on the cards so they could be activated and the second was to the “head end” of Albany TWC to supply the cards with the channel info for all the services I subscribe to (HBO, Showtime, HD Tier, etc).

After TWC’s service tech left my house, I ran guided setup again on both TiVo HD’s in order to populate the guide data with all the new digital channels. Once guided setup was done, I disconnected one of the TiVo HD’s, took off the metal cover, and removed the hard drive. I copied the hard drive to my laptop using WinMFS and then copied the file from my laptop to the new 500GB hard drive. A few turns of the screwdriver later, the new hard drive was installed into the TiVo HD and I had 64 hours of HD storage capacity. It took less than an hour to install the new 500GB hard drive from beginning to end.

Everything is working great and the experience was essentially pain free. After reading all the horror stories on the TiVo Community website , I was surprised how easy everything went. As long as the TiVo HD’s continue to work well for the next week, I will be returning my SA8300HD DVR. I’ll probably get a regular HD box in order to keep access to OnDemand services (until the USB Dongle is released ). Now, only if Albany TWC can resist changing any HD channels to Switched Digital Video (SDV), I would be very happy.

I would suggest that anyone in Albany who gets the "...we don't have Mcards..." response from the customer service reps should call Tom Landry a day before the scheduled installation. PM me and I'll provide you with his direct phone number & extension.

[hurnik]

Now all I have to do is wait for Best Buy to have their 12% coupon sent to me. I'm going to sell my Series 2 with lifetime. I ran the #'s and for me, the total dollars spent would be like $200 more if I did the lifetime transfer (I think I figured 4 years?)