# lifetime sub = 3 ?



## Dazbear (Aug 24, 2001)

Hi there

Just looking at a "subbed" tivo on ebay, but the buyer says

It has a lifetime subscription which stays with the unit (the status screen shows "3: Account in Good Standing" because I upgraded the original subscription from monthly to lifetime)

Does that ring true? A bit wary of life subs on ebay.

Thanks

D


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## Seattle (Dec 13, 2001)

I have five TiVos with lifetime and they all have Status 5. Some were monthly before I switched to lifetime. I would not trust the Ebay listing.


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## Dazbear (Aug 24, 2001)

Have asked the seller if they can give me the Service Number of of the box so I can confirm with TiVo CS


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## healeydave (Jun 4, 2003)

I have seen boxes that stay as "Account in good standing", I'm sure some of the long standing community members have units like this too.

If you were buying from anywhere else I would say there's not much to worry about.


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## aerialplug (Oct 20, 2000)

I don't think it's cause for undue concern - I have Account in good standing on mine.

It's worth checking with TiVo of you're concerned, but as healydave says, I don't think there's too much to worry about.


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## BrianHughes (Jan 21, 2001)

Mine is Account in good standing too. I paid a couple of months and then went lifetime. So it could well be true. I'd still confirm with Tivo though - just to be sure.


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## mrice0107 (Aug 19, 2002)

hope this helps Tivo Account Status 5:= LIfetime Service ask if he or has 5: there then u will know my tivo has 320 western digital cache card with 512 ram in the process of installing tivoweb and the rest sorry about the bouring bits hope this helps marco


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## BigBobby (Aug 28, 2004)

"hope this helps Tivo Account Status 5: LIfetime Service ask if he or has 5: there then u will know my tivo has 320 western digital cache card with 5112 ram in the process of installing tivoweb and the rest sorry about the bouring bits hope this helps marco"

What ???


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## Dazbear (Aug 24, 2001)

The seller has given me a service code and a password to check with TiVo CS, so seems to be gen

D


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## mrice0107 (Aug 19, 2002)

to hard to understand well sorry u get wat im going on about


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## BigBobby (Aug 28, 2004)

Still what!!!


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## Pete77 (Aug 1, 2006)

BigBobby said:


> Still what!!!


You need to speak Bradfordese to know what is meant it would seem


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## mrice0107 (Aug 19, 2002)

frack me this is not rocket science ask the seller if he has account status 5 if tivo has then it has life time subs and if not, account status 3 in good standing don't buy it's simple 
like the comment you need to speak Bradfordese to understand wat im on about sorry i have sausage fingers


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## Richnewlove (Dec 21, 2006)

But it is possible to have a lifetime sub'd Tivo that still displays 3.
I'm kind of hoping mine is - I got it from ebay beginning of Jan 07 with 3 and it's never changed so I haven't actually paid anything yet (apart from the box itself).


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## Agatha Mystery (Feb 12, 2002)

My DirecTiVo (which won't work for you) has lifetime, but it now also says "account in good standing".


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## Pete77 (Aug 1, 2006)

Richnewlove said:


> But it is possible to have a lifetime sub'd Tivo that still displays 3. I'm kind of hoping mine is - I got it from ebay beginning of Jan 07 with 3 and it's never changed so I haven't actually paid anything yet (apart from the box itself).


I bought my Lifetime Sub after paying the monthly sub for a month and a half some time in Jan 2003. As I recall it although I got a letter from Tivo confirming my Lifetime Sub I then had to chase them a couple of times about my Account Status not changing to 5 Lifetime in System Information. They they then sent a message to Tivo in the USA and it did then change to 5 Lifetime.

Anyone who has paid for Lifetime but doesn't have 5 showing in System Information ought to chase Sky Tivo Customer Services to have it changed so there can't be any risk of a problem later on. I wouldn't risk buying any Tivo off Ebay showing Subscription Status 3 unless I had also been given the Tivo Service Number and Tivo had definitely confirmed its Lifetime Status. However really any owner thinking of selling should chase Tivo to change the status to Lifetime on their system before they go ahead with the sale.

There have been some nasty goings on reported on the US side of the forum where poeple with an S1 with Lifetime sell it to another owner on Ebay with the Lifetime Sub and then 3 or 4 months later have used their Tivo S1 Service number to upgrade to a Tivo S3 model. At this point the Lifetime Sub on the S1 box is ceased.

It seems that even where a new Tivo S1 owner with Lifetime Sub has registered the change of ownership that some Tivo Inc CS staff in the USA are lazy and don't do the proper security checks before they agree to transfer an ex Tivo S1 owner's Lifetime Sub across to an S3.

Anyhow the goings on in the USA would make me even more inclined to chase Tivo UK if I thought I had bought a Lifetime Sub but 5 Lifetime was not showing in System Information on the Tivo itself.


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## aerialplug (Oct 20, 2000)

One thing to be aware of, though probably not a huge cause for concern due to the small numbers involved. There's an extra status that's not commonly known about called VIP, which behaves very much like lifetime, but if the box were ever to change owner, TiVo have the right to revoke the "lifetime VIP" account. I've only seen this happen once, when a VIP box was unused for about 9 months - when we tried to use it after this period the account had been expired by TiVo and they said there was no way of re-activating the account without setting up a standard lifetime/monthly account.

A VIP account appears as "3: Account in good standing".

What's a VIP account for I hear you ask. Well, in the early days, TiVo wanted to get the box noticed so key people in the media industry (e.g. BBC board of governors and no doubt important people in Sky and other partner organisations) were given TiVos with these special VIP accounts as a taster of what the box could do. 

Also, I know that within some of the partner organisations, groups of people were chosen for user testing, which involved filling out questionaires regularly during the first year of TiVo's operation. I don't know if these were VIP boxes too. IIRC, The "trialists" (as they were known in the BBC anyway) were allowed to keep their TiVo at the end of the year as a thankyou for the regular questionaire filling.


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## Pete77 (Aug 1, 2006)

aerialplug said:


> A VIP account appears as "3: Account in good standing".


And what do regular monthly paying accounts appear as? Are they also Status 3 or Status 4 but again "in good standing"?

You will notr that the first post in this thread related to an Account Status 3 box.


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## Mike B (Sep 16, 2003)

BigBobby said:


> "hope this helps Tivo Account Status 5: LIfetime Service ask if he or has 5: there then u will know my tivo has 320 western digital cache card with 5112 ram in the process of installing tivoweb and the rest sorry about the bouring bits hope this helps marco"
> 
> What ???


You know exactly what Marco was trying to say! - He was just confirming what his lifetime-subbed unit says on the System Information screen, and telling you what he's done to upgrade it.


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## ColinYounger (Aug 9, 2006)

FWIW, Monthly accounts appear as "3: Account in good standing".

It's quite common for lifetime boxes to have this status. Using the service number is the only way to be sure you're buying a lifetime box.


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## aerialplug (Oct 20, 2000)

That's right - monthly accounts appear as 3: Account in good standing. Lifetime accounts appear as 5: Lifetime - but confusingly can also appear as 3: Good standing - so I guess the only way to confirm what account the TiVo actually is subscribed to is to call customer services.


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## mrice0107 (Aug 19, 2002)

thanks maty for your reply some people just carnt be helped


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