# The Roamio total cost of ownership vs ?



## bdraw (Aug 1, 2004)

There seems to be a lot of discussion about the total cost of ownership of a TiVo vs the competition in the Roamio thread, so I wanted to start a dedicated thread, kicking off with a three year cost comparison of FiOS TV for three rooms -- who really wants to keep any DVR for more than 3 years? Not me. 

The FiOS MRV DVR is $20 per month and each extra STB is $13. So that comes out to $1584 for three years, with nothing to sell at the end.
20+12+12=44/mo * 36 = $1584

A TiVo Roamio Plus with two Minis with lifetime service, and CableCARD rental for three years 
400+500+100+150+100+150=1400+5*36=1580.

Seems like the same, right? Except that at the end of the three years I can sell my old TiVo stuff. Assuming I get 60% of my investment back, which is based on the current resale value of a TiVo Premiere on eBay at ~$400.

This means the TiVo Roamio will be $840 cheaper than the FiOS MRV DVR after three years.


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## atmuscarella (Oct 11, 2005)

I will do the costs for TWC Rochester NY. 
Note this is an update as I had the wrong zip in and was using equipment costs from another area. 

TWC Whole House Dual Tuner DVR 75 HD Hrs = $28.98/mo
TWC Standard Dual Tuner DVR 30 HD Hrs = $21.94/mo
TWC STB = $8.99
TWC Cable Card $2.50/mo
Assuming you are feeding 3 TVs

TiVo's High End Cost:

TiVo Roamio Pro with lifetime (MSD) $1000
2 minis with lifetime $500
1 cable card for 36 months = $90
Total Cost for 36 months = $1590
TiVo Medium End Cost

TiVo Roamio Plus with lifetime (MSD) $800
2 minis with lifetime $500
1 cable card for 36 months = $90
Total Cost for 36 months = $1390
TiVo Low End Cost: 

TiVo Roamio with lifetime (MSD) $600
2 minis with lifetime $500
1 cable card for 36 months = $90
Total Cost for 36 months = $1190
TWC High End Costs: 

3 Whole home DVRs = $86.94/mo
3 whole home DVRs for 36 months = $3129.84
TWC Mediam End Costs: 

3 Regular DVRs = 65.82/mo
3 Regular DVRs for 36 months = $2369.52
TWC Low End Costs: 

1 Whole home DVRs = 28.98/mo
2 STBs = $17.98/mo 
Total cost for 36 months = 1061.26
Comparison of what you get TiVo vs. TWC

High End to High End

TiVo 6 tuners 450 Hrs HD
TWC 6 tuners 225 Hrs HD
Medium End to Medium End

TiVo 6 tuners 150 hrs HD
TWC 6 tuners but no streaming between boxes 90 hrs HD
Low End to Low End

TiVo 4 tuners 75 hrs HD
TWC 4 tuners but only 2 recordable 30 hrs HD
So for all of you that think Tivo costs allot be happy you do not live in a TWC area.


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## tatergator1 (Mar 27, 2008)

Edit: atmuscarella beat me, but mine is a "less costly" version of a 3 room setup

Here's mine analysis based on current pricing for Time Warner Cable.

Again, Assuming a 3-year period, no TWC promos, and a 3-room setup with main DVR and basic client boxes in the other 2 rooms.

Whole House HD-DVR & HD Box Package $42.99/month (main room and 2nd room)
HD Box $10/month (for third room)

TWC for 3 rooms = 52.99/month *36 = $1907.64

A TiVo Roamio Plus with two Minis with lifetime service, and CableCARD rental for three years ($2.50/month for TWC)
400+500+100+150+100+150=1400+2.50*36=$1490.

I'll also point out that the TWC DVR is only 2-tuner. The client HD boxes are single tuner, so they don't rely on the main box for Live TV as the Tivo setup would, so for comparison purposes, I'll say the TWC setup has 4 tuners.

TWC would be over $400 more expensive over 3 years, not including Tivo resale value after 3 years, has significantly fewer recording tuners (2 versus Tivo's 6), and has half the recording capacity of Tivo (500 GB versus 1 TB). 

At these prices, Tivo on a TWC system is a no-brainer. Yes, you have to deal with SDV, but I have experienced only minor headaches with the tuning adapter.


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## trip1eX (Apr 2, 2005)

I live in a boondock town now. MidContinent is the provider. Their cable co dvr is $16/month and an extra box is $8/month.

And the first cablecard is $4/month.

But the dvrs are 2 tuners with 160-320 gigs storage so hardly a fair dvr comparison. You would have to rent a dvr for your 2nd and 3rd tvs to make it as fair as possible.

$192/yr per dvr or $1728 after 3 years to rent 3 cable co dvrs.

Lifetime Roamio Plus would be $900
2 lifetime Tivo Minis would be $500.
3 years of $4/month for 1 cablecard is $144. 
Total: $1544 for 3 room Tivo solution

*Summed up:
*
$1728 for cable co dvr solution but no risk. If hardware goes bust you are out nothing but a trip to the cable co office.

$1544 for Tivo solution but full ownership. CAn sell at anytime and recoup a good chunk of your up front costs. (roughly speaking recoup up to 75% 1st year, 55% 2nd, 35% 3rd)

Conservatively you could get $500 for your Roamio and 2 Tivo Minis after 3 years.

That means Tivo would leave you with $684 in your pocket after 3 years compared to the cable co solution.


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## mike123abc (Apr 9, 2010)

I have TWC in one home and TiVo is far cheaper. TWC really socks it to you in cable box rental rates. Cox in a different location is not so expensive at 17/TV.


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## NoVa (Feb 26, 2006)

Here's mine for Comcast in central VA for 3 rooms:
1 Roamio Plus + Lifetime MSD = 798
2 Mini's + Lifetime = 250
1 Outlet charge = 5
========================== 1053 LIFETIME

vs.

3 Comcast DVR = ~$15/mos + 2 Outlet charge = $10/mos 
========================== $65/mos

Payback period for 1 Roamio Plus + 2 Mini's = 1053/65/12 = 16.2 Months = 1.3 years.

*2 year ownership cost for above: *
Roamio = 1053/24 = 43.88/mos
Comcast = 1560/24 = 65.00/mos

*3 year ownership cost for above*: 
Roamio = 1053/36 = 29.25/mos
Comcast = *2340*/36 = 65.00/mos

Sell only the Roamio after 3 years for 40% of original cost: 798*.40 = 320
Total cost of ownership after 3 years (keep Mini's): 798-320+250 = 728/36 = 20.22/mos


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## mattack (Apr 9, 2001)

Even if you leave out the "residual value" part, Tivo really should advertise this ability to *save money* over the cable company.


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## jmoline (Sep 14, 2009)

NoVa said:


> Here's mine for Comcast in central VA for 3 rooms:
> 1 Roamio Plus + Lifetime MSD = 798
> 2 Mini's + Lifetime = 250
> 1 Outlet charge = 5
> ...


TIvo Mini costs should total $500 making total Tivo cost $1553. BUt it just stretches out the payback to 2 years.


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## bucm4sko24wle2mi (Aug 17, 2009)

bdraw said:


> who really wants to keep any DVR for more than 3 years? ... Seems like the same, right? Except that at the end of the three years I can sell my old TiVo stuff...


I think the same argument holds in both instances. I still have the original TiVo with Lifetime that works. The benefit continues to accrue to me as long as it works, however, selling it now will get me nothing considering technology has moved beyond SD.


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