# Is the $99 Bolt upgrade right for me?



## palover (Jan 16, 2013)

I've been pretty much off the forum for years and haven't really kept up with the latest info, so pardon my ignorance.

I've been living with a Premiere 4 for years, and have a Roamio Plus that I haven't put in service yet (no subscription yet- I do lifetime, not month to month). My plan was to move the Premiere in the bedroom and use the Roamio in the den as my main box- just haven't done it yet.

Got the email for the Bolt upgrade, and it's tempting to switch my lifetime service on the Premiere to a Bolt and end up with a Bolt and Roamio and maybe just sell the old Premiere. What's got me questioning that move is the cost of a Bolt that'll give me the 1 TB and 6 tuners I have with the Roamio. 4 tuners and 500 GB is now only satisfactory for the bedroom, and I already have that with the Premiere. I bought the Roamio online at a great price and the $600 price for a 3 TB Bolt plus 'all in' service plan doesn't seem like a great deal to me. I'd rather have 1 TB and 6 tuners than 3 TB and 4 tuners, but it seems that's not an option. 

Am I going to get anything worthwhile in Bolt features or tech, to make up for the lack of 6 tuners on a new box? I might consider the $400 1 TB option, but the 3 TB version just sets off my 'too much $ alarm'.


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## ajwees41 (May 7, 2006)

how old is the premiere? you might not get much for it


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## MrDell (Jul 8, 2012)

From what I understand, the Bolt is way faster than the Premiere, 4K, and a great price.... and not to mention you will be starting off wit all new hardware. I just pulled the trigger from a two tuner Premiere because it was an offer I couldn't refuse


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## JLV03 (Feb 12, 2018)

I'm confused is the Roamio Plus lifetime or not? 

If it is lifetime, I'd trade in the Premiere. Try both the Roamio and the new Bolt for some time and decide which one you like the most. Sell one and then use a Mini in the bedroom. Or buy an OTA Roamio and a Cable Card adapter.


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## palover (Jan 16, 2013)

ajwees41 said:


> how old is the premiere? you might not get much for it


It's about 6 yrs old. I know it's not worth much without the lifetime svc. and the resale value isn't important to me.



MrDell said:


> From what I understand, the Bolt is way faster than the Premiere, 4K, and a great price.... and not to mention you will be starting off wit all new hardware. I just pulled the trigger from a two tuner Premiere because it was an offer I couldn't refuse


Way faster is expected, vs the Premiere, and nice, but paying $300 and not getting more capacity or 6 tuners is a bigger deal for me, and the 3 TB model is about 2 TB more than I need. If I had a 2 tuner unit I'd switch and not think twice. 


JLV03 said:


> I'm confused is the Roamio Plus lifetime or not?


I always go for the best price, even if it hurts a lot more up front. 



> If it is lifetime, I'd trade in the Premiere. Try both the Roamio and the new Bolt for some time and decide which one you like the most. Sell one and then use a Mini in the bedroom. Or buy an OTA Roamio and a Cable Card adapter.


I wasn't considering the Roamio in my decision at all, but you make a good point, and I do like to consider all options. Not sure I've got enough time left in the sale to make a decision I'm totally comfortable with. How often do these deals come around?


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## UCLABB (May 29, 2012)

About a year ago I faced the same issue. I too had a Premiere 4 tuner (an XL4) and a Roamio Plus. I passed on a similar deal. Then another deal came along, just a good price on a Bolt+ with lifetime on Black Friday. IIRC, the sale was for about $470. I took that deal and sold my lifetimed XL4 on eBay for about $250. I came out a bit ahead versus the old deal. However, there’s no guarantee that a Bolt+ deal will be offered again.

Edit: I think the Bolt+ sales price was more like $650.


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## palover (Jan 16, 2013)

Just saw this on the fine print of the $99 switch offer- "Qualifying customers: Owners of TiVo Series 2, TiVo Series 3, TiVo HD, TiVo HDXL and TiVo Premiere series DVRs with Product Lifetime Service who have connected to a TiVo service between July 25, 2017 and July 25, 2018. Your current box will be deactivated on September 7, 2018."

The Premiere box I'd be moving the LT service from has been in service for years, so I read this as no eligibility for me on this deal. Am I reading it right? You have to switch a lifetime svc. that you purchased in the last year?


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## angra (Apr 12, 2002)

I read that clause as excluding tivos that have sat unused on a shelf somewhere for over a year


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## lafos (Nov 8, 2004)

palover said:


> Just saw this on the fine print of the $99 switch offer- "Qualifying customers: Owners of TiVo Series 2, TiVo Series 3, TiVo HD, TiVo HDXL and TiVo Premiere series DVRs with Product Lifetime Service who have connected to a TiVo service between July 25, 2017 and July 25, 2018. Your current box will be deactivated on September 7, 2018."
> 
> The Premiere box I'd be moving the LT service from has been in service for years, so I read this as no eligibility for me on this deal. Am I reading it right? You have to switch a lifetime svc. that you purchased in the last year?


You're not switching or moving Lifetime, you are buying a new box with a discount on All-In (the Lifetime replacement name). You are consenting to having your current Lifetime unit deactivated. You can't move the Premiere Lifetime to the dormant Roamio, nor is Roamio eligible for this offer.

To be eligible, the box you are deactivating had to be active sometime during the past year.


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## ajwees41 (May 7, 2006)

palover said:


> Just saw this on the fine print of the $99 switch offer- "Qualifying customers: Owners of TiVo Series 2, TiVo Series 3, TiVo HD, TiVo HDXL and TiVo Premiere series DVRs with Product Lifetime Service who have connected to a TiVo service between July 25, 2017 and July 25, 2018. Your current box will be deactivated on September 7, 2018."
> 
> The Premiere box I'd be moving the LT service from has been in service for years, so I read this as no eligibility for me on this deal. Am I reading it right? You have to switch a lifetime svc. that you purchased in the last year?


no you just needed to make a service connection/daily call during the time frame not buy the box with lifetime during the time frame


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

palover said:


> Just saw this on the fine print of the $99 switch offer- "Qualifying customers: Owners of TiVo Series 2, TiVo Series 3, TiVo HD, TiVo HDXL and TiVo Premiere series DVRs with Product Lifetime Service who have connected to a TiVo service between July 25, 2017 and July 25, 2018. Your current box will be deactivated on September 7, 2018."
> 
> The Premiere box I'd be moving the LT service from has been in service for years, so I read this as no eligibility for me on this deal. Am I reading it right? You have to switch a lifetime svc. that you purchased in the last year?


I'm surprised that TiVo shows my two S3 boxes and Premiere qualifying for this deal. Since I already used those boxes to previously get three 500GB Bolts with All in Service for $300. I would have thought they would not qualify? Lifetime was supposed to have been deactivated on them. But I have not had them plugged in since last year.


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## palover (Jan 16, 2013)

angra said:


> I read that clause as excluding tivos that have sat unused on a shelf somewhere for over a year





ajwees41 said:


> no you just needed to make a service connection/daily call during the time frame not buy the box with lifetime during the time frame


Yeah, I first thought the restriction meant the unit had to have been put into service during the last year, but that didn't make much sense. I called Tivo this morning and confirmed that the box just had to be in service in the last year.



lafos said:


> You're not switching or moving Lifetime, you are buying a new box with a discount on All-In (the Lifetime replacement name). You are consenting to having your current Lifetime unit deactivated. You can't move the Premiere Lifetime to the dormant Roamio, nor is Roamio eligible for this offer.


I call that semantics. You could certainly say they're switching LT for a $99 fee when you purchase a new Bolt for $99, since you lose service on another that's in service. Doesn't really matter whether you consider the $99 to be a discounted 'all in' price or a switch price. I'm aware that the Roamio doesn't figure into the deal at all. Never thought or said that it did. I just mentioned the Roamio to give a complete picture of my Tivo world.

Still not sure if I'm gonna go for the deal. I'll have to mull it over. Does Tivo usually have black Friday/Cyber Monday sales these days?


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## jcondon (Jul 9, 2003)

We have two Tivo Premieres (the 2 tuner models) with 3TB drives in each. Can we use MRV and multiroom transfer between one of these Premieres and a new Bolt? 

I believe the 2 tuner Premiere doesn't work with a Mini? But if it works with a Bolt I might upgrade one of the Premieres. Both are eligible and have 3TB drives in them. I think we would be fine storage wise with one 3TB Premiere, one 500gb Bolt (upgrade in a year maybe) and a Mini.

We have been using our basement TV more but it has no Tivo on it so mostly do streaming and whatever clear QAMM Fios gives us. Being able to put a mini down there and do MRV and borrow a tuner from the Bolt would be great. We could also move the mini (or buy another one) to the spare bedroom when we have guests.


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## chicagobrownblue (May 29, 2008)

palover said:


> I've been living with a Premiere 4 for years, and have a Roamio Plus that I haven't put in service yet (no subscription yet- I do lifetime, not month to month). My plan was to move the Premiere in the bedroom and use the Roamio in the den as my main box- just haven't done it yet.


I'd get the Roamio Plus up and running. See if you like the speed. Apps start up faster on the Bolt, but I'm fine with the speed of my Roamio. I'm streaming Netflix from my Roamio. But I'm also streaming content using an Amazon Fire Stick TV and apps on my 4K TV. They also work fine. The 720p content I stream to a 55" 4K TV looks fine.

Do you have a 4K smart TV? If not, you might consider spending your money on one this Black Friday.


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## palover (Jan 16, 2013)

chicagobrownblue said:


> I'm fine with the speed of my Roamio


I'm thinking I'll be fine too. The super slow, ancient cable co. box we still had in the bedroom until not too long ago, is still fresh in my mind. Compared to that, even the old Premiere seems fast.

Don't have a 4K TV yet. I like to play the waiting game on new tech and wait for the prices to drop. This might be the year for a TV upgrade though.


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## bobfrank (Mar 17, 2005)

palover said:


> I've been pretty much off the forum for years and haven't really kept up with the latest info, so pardon my ignorance.
> 
> I've been living with a Premiere 4 for years, and have a Roamio Plus that I haven't put in service yet (no subscription yet- I do lifetime, not month to month). My plan was to move the Premiere in the bedroom and use the Roamio in the den as my main box- just haven't done it yet.
> 
> ...


The only way to get 6 tuners on the Bolt is to get the 3 TB model.


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## mahermusic (Mar 12, 2003)

aaronwt said:


> I'm surprised that TiVo shows my two S3 boxes and Premiere qualifying for this deal. Since I already used those boxes to previously get three 500GB Bolts with All in Service for $300. I would have thought they would not qualify? Lifetime was supposed to have been deactivated on them. But I have not had them plugged in since last year.


You received an email with those two TSN's from your previously-used boxes? I wonder if you re-plugged in those units and let them contact the Mothership if it would change anything... Hmmm....


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## shwru980r (Jun 22, 2008)

palover said:


> I've been pretty much off the forum for years and haven't really kept up with the latest info, so pardon my ignorance.
> 
> I've been living with a Premiere 4 for years, and have a Roamio Plus that I haven't put in service yet (no subscription yet- I do lifetime, not month to month). My plan was to move the Premiere in the bedroom and use the Roamio in the den as my main box- just haven't done it yet.
> 
> ...


If the Roamio was in service on another account for a few years, you might be able to get all-in service on it for $199. You have 30 days to cancel a monthly subscription, so you could activate the Roamio and wait 28 days to cancel and ask for the $199 lifetime service.

You could also just buy a mini and use it on the premiere for a faster interface.


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## scandia101 (Oct 20, 2007)

jcondon said:


> We have two Tivo Premieres (the 2 tuner models) with 3TB drives in each. Can we use MRV and multiroom transfer between one of these Premieres and a new Bolt?.


You can stream between a premiere and any bolt but you can only transfer recordings if the bolt is using the old UI


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## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

scandia101 said:


> You can stream between a premiere and any bolt but you can only transfer recordings if the bolt is using the old UI


They can transfer from a box running the old UI to a Hydra box, but just not from within the receiving box's UI; they'd need to queue the transfer via TiVo Online's transfer utility.


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## pfbloom (Sep 13, 2008)

....


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