# Lifespan of a Tivo Premier?



## AGinCO (May 2, 2017)

Anyone have experience on how long a Premier unit will last? I've had mine for 4+ years and it works fine. They are now offering me lifetime service on it if I pay a one-time $99 fee and trying to decide if it's worth it or just get X1 from Xfinity.


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## fcfc2 (Feb 19, 2015)

Math not your subject....try finding out how much it costs to use the X1 equipment per month. Then divide that amount into your Tivo $99 fee. This will give you an estimate of the number of months your Tivo will have to last to pay off your $99 investment, assuming the Tivo and X1 will give you a satisfying tv experience.
Looking at the Premiere forum, it does not appear that they suddenly start to stop working after 4 years, but if yours does, the most likely failure will be the hard drive....which is not too hard for most folks to replace.


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

AGinCO said:


> Anyone have experience on how long a Premier unit will last? I've had mine for 4+ years and it works fine. They are now offering me lifetime service on it if I pay a one-time $99 fee and trying to decide if it's worth it or just get X1 from Xfinity.


Thanks for the info. I have a 500GB two tuner unit I bought used 6 years ago. I'm glad to hear they are offering all-in for $99 again.

I canceled the service on my 320GB unit last year. It was still working fine.


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## ThAbtO (Apr 6, 2000)

$99 is lots better than the $549 for lifetime. If you are wanting to sell it, it will get more than without lifetime.

The cable co DVR would be horrible compared to Tivo, also you may be getting a funky used one from previous users.


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## mattyro7878 (Nov 27, 2014)

I have owned Bolts, Series2's, Directivo (the older one). All along has been one constant. I've had at least 1 working Premiere most of the time. Even ones I bought off Craigs list still work to this day. Full complement of outputs- antenna and cable-I have a lot of faith in my Premieres. the one in use and the 2 under my bed!


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## Sparky1234 (May 8, 2006)

1 at 7 years, 2 at 5 years and counting....

Replaced hard drives at about the 5 year point for 7 year old and the other 2 to increase storage size. Still works well, have 1 Roamio Pro, miss the commercial skip function on the Premiere but all operate about the same. 

Buy the lifetime and you won't regret the eventual savings after your breakeven point. Several vendors will repair TiVos (Premiers) so they potentially will last until TiVo stops supporting them...


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## jrfuda (Oct 14, 2010)

4 Premeirs all at 7 years this September. Had to replace one HDD and one fan among the 4 of them. 

Sent from my SM-T713 using Tapatalk


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## MHunter1 (Oct 11, 2007)

Two lifetime XL4s in constant service since July 2012 and no signs of wearing down.

After the first couple of years I upgraded the HDD for more storage (not because of failure) and noticed a lot of dust inside the case, so now I use a MiniVak to vacuum all my TiVos annually as a preventive measure.


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## Gold51 (Apr 20, 2017)

Good question- pay $99 and roll the dice it won't fail? I have an April-2011 premier that is perfect- it has Lifetime. ( both of mine were purchased on ebay last month)
My April-2013 mfg'd Premiere is on the cheap $6.99 monthly plan and has weak tuners, which I just diagnosed today, by setting it up on the same OTA antenna drop as my good one. I am seeing about a 15-20% lower signal and at least 5-6 db less SNR than the good one. I have one less coax splitter and 25ft less coax on my TV. It was showing -20-25% less signal on the wife's TV.
I'm not sure if I would take the $99 Lifetime on this one- a hard drive can be replaced, but I think bad tuners, ultimately= a retired box. I can try to add one more signal booster that was made for a small indoor antenna. I only paid $30 for it-500gb model. It may end up becoming a future parts donor. I thought the 2013 model, it being newer, would be better than the older one, but I was wrong.


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## unitron (Apr 28, 2006)

AGinCO said:


> Anyone have experience on how long a Premier unit will last? I've had mine for 4+ years and it works fine. They are now offering me lifetime service on it if I pay a one-time $99 fee and trying to decide if it's worth it or just get X1 from Xfinity.


Ask them exactly how and why you qualify for the $99 Lifetime and report back, please.


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## ThAbtO (Apr 6, 2000)

unitron said:


> Ask them exactly how and why you qualify for the $99 Lifetime and report back, please.


He finally comes out of hiding.


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## unitron (Apr 28, 2006)

ThAbtO said:


> He finally comes out of hiding.


Been tied up with family stuff that necessitates dealing with a house full of 40 years of accumulated stuff to create safe wide walkways.


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## Gold51 (Apr 20, 2017)

After 30 days of trying to optimize the signal on this $30 Ebay auction Premiere, I gave up. I can't watch a Star Trek that cuts in and out.
I called to cancel service tonight, right on the 30th day and I explained the technical reasons why i was cancelling. The rep suspended payments for 2 months to give me time to call technical support and look at the tuner diagnostics. He told me, they will exchange my Tivo for a refurbished unit for $50, if the tech can't fix it over the phone. Well, that is A-OK by me. The $6.95/mo turned out to be a good thing, because, had I paid for $99 Lifetime when I activated it, I would be up the creek without a paddle.


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## HerronScott (Jan 1, 2002)

Gold51 said:


> After 30 days of trying to optimize the signal on this $30 Ebay auction Premiere, I gave up. I can't watch a Star Trek that cuts in and out.


This is OTA? Users here report that the Premiere model has the worst OTA tuners out of the HD models (S3, HD, Premiere, Roamio, Bolt).

Scott


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## Gold51 (Apr 20, 2017)

My other ebay purchased Premiere is a 2011 model and it works fine with the outside antenna, but this 2013 one is not good. I have new outside bowtie antennas, too.- and a Channelmaster booster- for three TVs. Pictures on the TV tuners are fine, too.
I will call Tivo next week.


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## shwru980r (Jun 22, 2008)

HerronScott said:


> This is OTA? Users here report that the Premiere model has the worst OTA tuners out of the HD models (S3, HD, Premiere, Roamio, Bolt).
> 
> Scott


My premiere isn't as good as my S3 OLED or S3 HD. I have to adjust the antenna as the seasons change for the premiere, while the S3s receive the signal regardless.


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## Gold51 (Apr 20, 2017)

A nice Tivo rep in the Philippines, Marcie, listened to the story about my flaky Series 4 tuner. Her supervisor authorized a replacement Tivo series 5 for me- for a $79 exchange price- and the email I received on the RMA, said to keep the old one and recycle it. Which I will- keeping it in reserve for parts on my other Premiere.
Having a 2nd perfectly working Series 4 on the same antenna system, took the wind out of any argument from Tivo, that the tuner problem was my fault.


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## b_scott (Nov 27, 2006)

I've had mine since day one (two of them) and so that's spring 2010. Still going just fine. I would imagine they will last 3-4 more years. Pretty happy with my purchases.


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## emuman100 (Jul 3, 2003)

I have been using a Series 1 DirecTiVo since 2001. I replaced the hard drive twice to upgrade, and now the power supply needs some refreshening (probably new output electrolytics) because I get some video and audio issues. I recently got a lifetime Tivo HD that was activated in 2010, still going strong. I just repaired a Premiere main board that was activated in 2011, but it should go strong for many years to come.

That deal that Tivo is pushing isn't really a deal. Bolt's have reliability issues, and if the Premiere still works, I'd say run it until it dies. As long as the main board is in good shape, the power supply and hard drive can be replaced and reimaged. Power supplies can certainly be repaired, even the main board can be repaired with certain issues. In my opinion, the Bolt is crap.


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## Gold51 (Apr 20, 2017)

I am only counting on 5 or 6 more good years out of my boxes. My family will be watching the ill-conceived ATSC 3.0 OTA changeover closely. At some point, my Roamio and Bolt will probably be worthless for OTA- maybe broadcasters will even lock down the old reruns, like Star Trek, so that DVRs won't have much value to cord cutters.


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## emuman100 (Jul 3, 2003)

I doubt that. Star Trek is on MeTV. MeTV affiliates are broadcast over the air and carried on local cable systems, which have nothing to do with ATSC 3.0. Plus, broadcasters don't have to use 3.0 for mpeg4 video compression. They can use it in existing 1.0 transport streams, and boxes like the Tivo HD and Premiere will be able to decode it.


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## Crystaliyah27 (Nov 29, 2010)

Ive had 5 Tivo’s since 2004 I think. It’s been many moons since then but anyhoo, my first TiVo stopped working at the 4 year mark and TiVo sent me a free replacement. The free replacement stopped working at the 4 year mark so TiVo gave me a discounted TiVo for being a loyal customer. I threw that one in the closet when I got a Premier in November 2010. The Premier stopped working in August of 2018 when I purchased an open box but never activated Premiere XL on Ebay. I hate the design of the Bolt and I hate how slow TiVo operates so this will be my last round with TiVo.


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## HerronScott (Jan 1, 2002)

Crystaliyah27 said:


> Ive had 5 Tivo's since 2004 I think. It's been many moons since then but anyhoo, my first TiVo stopped working at the 4 year mark and TiVo sent me a free replacement. The free replacement stopped working at the 4 year mark so TiVo gave me a discounted TiVo for being a loyal customer. I threw that one in the closet when I got a Premier in November 2010. The Premier stopped working in August of 2018 when I purchased an open box but never activated Premiere XL on Ebay. I hate the design of the Bolt and I hate how slow TiVo operates so this will be my last round with TiVo


I'd recommend a used Roamio if you don't like the Bolt design. No problems here with the speed and the TE3 interface. I don't have any issues with the apps that we use although they do take a little while to launch (but once launched no speed issues). Netflix and Hulu work fine here Amazon Prime works fine for playing but trick play takes a while to resume which is a little annoying if you need to use it to rewind for fast forward.

Scott


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## Sparky1234 (May 8, 2006)

Crystaliyah27 said:


> Ive had 5 Tivo's since 2004 I think. It's been many moons since then but anyhoo, my first TiVo stopped working at the 4 year mark and TiVo sent me a free replacement. The free replacement stopped working at the 4 year mark so TiVo gave me a discounted TiVo for being a loyal customer. I threw that one in the closet when I got a Premier in November 2010. The Premier stopped working in August of 2018 when I purchased an open box but never activated Premiere XL on Ebay. I hate the design of the Bolt and I hate how slow TiVo operates so this will be my last round with TiVo.


If you feel the need for speed go for the Bolt+. Way faster than Premiere and less cranky than Roamio.


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