# NEWBIE Alternative service providers



## VerbalKint (Sep 8, 2008)

Hello, Newbie here. 

I am thinking about dumping my cable DVR and buying a Tivo. I was wondering if there are any alternative service providers. It seems like a classic hack that someone would come up with. Paying $10 / month to use a device I paid $300 for in the first place seems a bit excessive. 

On another note, I have heard that the lifetime service agreement is only for the device you purchase and if it needs to be replaced due to hardware failure, you lose your lifetime programming. Is this true? It sounds strange that a company would offer a program like that and penalize their customers for hardware issues. My assumption is that when I buy the lifetime programming, I am going to have it for my life not the life of the unit. My risk is that they go out of business before I get my money's worth. Has anyone heard of someone having a problem with their unit and losing the lifetime programming?


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## bengalfreak (Oct 20, 2002)

yup, the lifetime service is for the life of the unit. I have heard that you can purchase a refurbished unit from tivo that your lifetime will transfer to. But the bottom line is you are taking a risk by buying lifetime service. Now, for the most part, what goes wrong with a Tivo is the hard drive which is easily replaceable.


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## classicsat (Feb 18, 2004)

I am not saying there isn't alternative ways to make a TiVo work, but we only support and condone one way here, that is subscription to the genuine TiVo service. Anything else is considered theft of the TiVo service, since it may enable features of the TiVo software (which you do not own, but license from TiVo with the understanding you will subscribe to the service to avail yourself of the advanced features).

As for Product Lifetime, it belongs to the hardware, but you can have it serviced or replaced by TiVo, which may entail the moving the Product Lifetime to a replacement unit they provide. IMHO the benefits outweigh the risks, on purchasing Product Lifetime for a new HD model TiVo.

As for the $300 thing. I dare you to find another DVR that does what TiVo does for that price, especially that has no service.


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## mattack (Apr 9, 2001)

VerbalKint said:


> On another note, I have heard that the lifetime service agreement is only for the device you purchase and if it needs to be replaced due to hardware failure, you lose your lifetime programming. Is this true? It sounds strange that a company would offer a program like that and penalize their customers for hardware issues. My assumption is that when I buy the lifetime programming, I am going to have it for my life not the life of the unit. My risk is that they go out of business before I get my money's worth. Has anyone heard of someone having a problem with their unit and losing the lifetime programming?


These are pretty much FAQs.. but..

The most likely thing to go bad on a Tivo is the hard drive.. and you can replace that (on your own, as an officially unsupported thing).

If you have it repaired/replaced *through Tivo*, many people have been able to repair/swap the broken Tivo for another one *for a fee*.

In other words, you cannot simply go buy a new box and transfer the subscription.

It is a gamble in some ways, yes, but many of us are willing to take that gamble.

Plus, there *are* non-Tivo recorders that have no subscription fee. I have one of those as well. But most if not all of them won't record from encrypted channels directly (you could output from a cable box for example though), like Tivo HD & Series 3 Tivos can. (Though I actually do not have any encrypted channels.. I'm using these HD recorders for analog cable at the moment -- and am playing more and more with an antenna for HD OTA.)


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