# Longest Running TiVo



## GeneD (Jun 26, 2002)

I placed a Series 1 TiVo in service in May of 2001. It has now been running continually for 10 years with the original drives. Is this any kind of a record? If not, do we know who holds the record? Foolishly, I did not buy a lifetime contract, and I have paid annual or monthly service fees for the full 10 years. Maybe this is some type of sad record?


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## reneg (Jun 19, 2002)

GeneD said:


> I placed a Series 1 TiVo in service in May of 2001. It has now been running continually for 10 years with the original drives. Is this any kind of a record? If not, do we know who holds the record? Foolishly, I did not buy a lifetime contract, and I have paid annual or monthly service fees for the full 10 years. Maybe this is some type of sad record?


My oldest, still in service, is from September, 2000 however it's on it's third hard drive. Back then, lifetime was only $199 which makes it a great deal at about $1.55/month for service.


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## ufo4sale (Apr 21, 2001)

reneg said:


> My oldest, still in service, is from September, 2000 however it's on it's third hard drive. Back then, lifetime was only $199 which makes it a great deal at about $1.55/month for service.


Technical it wasnt running continuously so the OP still holds the record.


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## shwru980r (Jun 22, 2008)

GeneD said:


> I did not buy a lifetime contract, and I have paid annual or monthly service fees for the full 10 years. Maybe this is some type of sad record?


You could easily find a used S1 with lifetime service for ~$60. It doesn't make sense to pay a monthly subscription on an S1.


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## reneg (Jun 19, 2002)

ufo4sale said:


> Technical it wasnt running continuously so the OP still holds the record.


I didn't think that I implied that, but you are correct.


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## scandia101 (Oct 20, 2007)

and technically even the OP's Tivo is more likely than not to have been without power (power outage or unplugged) at sometime, so has most likely not been running continuously for ten years.
That said, it's great that the OP has been able to get 10 years of service from a Tivo w/o a breakdown.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

scandia101 said:


> and technically even the OP's Tivo is more likely than not to have been without power (power outage or unplugged) at sometime, so has most likely not been running continuously for ten years.
> That said, it's great that the OP has been able to get 10 years of service from a Tivo w/o a breakdown.


If they used a UPS they might have. I had mine on a UPS almost ten years ago. But I would have also shut it down and blown out the dust every two or three years as well.


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

GeneD said:


> Foolishly, I did not buy a lifetime contract, and I have paid annual or monthly service fees for the full 10 years. Maybe this is some type of sad record?


I have a S2 DVD unit which I've been paying month service ($6.95/mo MSD) on for 6+ years even though I haven't actually used it in over a year. (I'm too lazy to call and cancel it) I'm pretty sure that makes me more sad.

Dan


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## a68oliver (Jul 15, 2000)

My Sony SVR-2000 has been in continuous service since May 2000. Original HDD, power supply, modem, etc. Only brief power interruptions and shut downs to reboot, move into new entertainment center, etc.

It is still going strong, but rarely watched. I record daily newscasts to review if I hear of some breaking news that I had missed.

Unfortunately, my sister's, my father's, and a friend's SVR-2000s have needed service for fried modems and HDD upgrades and other issues.


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## TheWGP (Oct 26, 2007)

Kind of curious to hear who has the earliest-activated Tivo still in service - I bet there's a couple of 1999 models out there. Of course, some of them would be in closets just waiting to use their one-time lifetime transfers, I'm sure!


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## lrhorer (Aug 31, 2003)

My sister still uses the TiVo I gave her for Christmas in 1999 daily. I did replace the drive, and a lightning storm took out the unit in 2001 or 2002, which necessitated a trip to Sony for repair.


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## Budget_HT (Jan 2, 2001)

We have a Sony SAT-T60 DirecTivo that has been running since 2000, can't remember which month. Have ahd 5-6 SD and HD DirecTivo's come and go since then, but the old Sony keeps on going. Been on UPS most of that time. Wife records on it continuously and views programs daily with few exceptions, like vacations.


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## jmace57 (Nov 30, 2002)

I'm a piker - turned my series 2 on Christmas Day, 2002 and still running great


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## buccobruce (Aug 25, 2007)

I activated my Series one 6/7/1999. still working, original hard drive, as it has been since day one.

in addition i now have a series two, series three and tivo hd.

buccobruce


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## GeneD (Jun 26, 2002)

scandia101 said:


> and technically even the OP's Tivo is more likely than not to have been without power (power outage or unplugged) at sometime, so has most likely not been running continuously for ten years.
> That said, it's great that the OP has been able to get 10 years of service from a Tivo w/o a breakdown.


Scandia101, you are correct. By "continuously running" I did not mean to imply it has never been turned off. I moved twice during the past 10 years, and it was off for a couple days each time. Also, we live in Florida, and have been through a few hurricanes. We went through the eye of Wilma, and our power was lost for over a week. We were also in Frances and Jeanne, which caused shorter power outages. However, I have had my Series 1 on a UPS from the beginning, and all power-downs have been controlled. I certainly attribute the long life of the disk drives to the UPS, as well as triplicate surge-protection. BTW, my unit was upgraded to 130 hours in 2001, and both drives have survived the 10 years.


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## GeneD (Jun 26, 2002)

Thanks for all your replies. I was trying to decide if I should keep it running just to maintain my status as a record-holder. But, it sounds like buccobruce is the current record-holder for a continuously running Series 1 with the orginal hard drive. I suspect he has a lifetime contract, so I may still be the only one who has paid over $1,000 to maintain service on a continuously running Series 1 with the original hard drive, but I doubt such a narrow category would qualify me for any type of entry in Guinness. After all these years, do you think TiVo will try to increase my monthly rate with the new pricing?


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## TheWGP (Oct 26, 2007)

Wow, for some reason from your initial post it didn't sink in that you'd paid that much in total for a Series 1 to keep it running... holy cow. No offense at all, but this is a great example of why lifetime, even at a $399/$499 price point, is well worth it!


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## SpiritualPoet (Jan 14, 2007)

I don't know how original TiVo machines could cost $199 unless they were used. Mine, bought new in 1999, was $799 + tax + shipping. (Of course it was a Philips model because it was the original TiVo machine and thus the only brand available). The hard drive failed after 5 years and when it did, I bought a Series 2 machine rather than have the drive replaced. The Series 2 machine with dual tuners was around $300 if I'm not mistaken.


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## a68oliver (Jul 15, 2000)

SpiritualPoet said:


> I don't know how original TiVo machines could cost $199 unless they were used. Mine, bought new in 1999, was $799 + tax + shipping. (Of course it was a Philips model because it was the original TiVo machine and thus the only brand available).


What a difference a year makes! My Sony SVR-2000 S1 puchased new from Circuit City in May 2000 was $419.99 including tax. Apparently Tivo had started subsidizing the cost of the box by then. I added lifetime service for $199.

I am incredibly lucky because it has been in continuous service with no UPS protection, no upgrades or modifications.

I purchase another for my father a year or so later, and the price had come down to about $370 and I was eligible to file for a $100 rebate. Remember those rebate days?


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## scandia101 (Oct 20, 2007)

a68oliver said:


> What a difference a year makes! My Sony SVR-2000 S1 puchased new from Circuit City in May 2000 was $419.99


And a year after that I bought a 20hr Philips S1 Tivo for $270.


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## notanonymus (May 4, 2012)

Sony Sat-t60 running 100% from 2001 until yesterday.....see the thread on Sat-T60 not completing reboot, fails to finish downlaoding sattelite info!!!!
JC


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## Leon WIlkinson (Feb 13, 2000)

So, who will be the first to be on Pawn Stars?


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## mr.unnatural (Feb 2, 2006)

SpiritualPoet said:


> I don't know how original TiVo machines could cost $199 unless they were used. Mine, bought new in 1999, was $799 + tax + shipping. (Of course it was a Philips model because it was the original TiVo machine and thus the only brand available). The hard drive failed after 5 years and when it did, I bought a Series 2 machine rather than have the drive replaced. The Series 2 machine with dual tuners was around $300 if I'm not mistaken.


I paid $99 for my first Tivo back around 2000. It was an original HDR112 and it was brand new. I believe it had a whopping 45GB of storage with dual hard drives (one 15GB + one 30GB) for about 40 hours of recording time. IIRC, this model originally retailed for $199, not $799.


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## bradleys (Oct 31, 2007)

mr.unnatural said:


> I paid $99 for my first Tivo back around 2000. It was an original HDR112 and it was brand new. I believe it had a whopping 45GB of storage with dual hard drives (one 15GB + one 30GB) for about 40 hours of recording time. IIRC, this model originally retailed for $199, not $799.


The only model I remember being $799 was the origional S3 just after release... I remember it - because I paid it!


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

bradleys said:


> The only model I remember being $799 was the origional S3 just after release... I remember it - because I paid it!


It was still $200 less than the DirecTV HDTiVo in 2004. I got those and the S3 boxes in 2006. Now for only $800 we can get a box with four tuners and lifetime service. I'm glad TiVos aren't as expensive as they used to be.


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## scandia101 (Oct 20, 2007)

mr.unnatural said:


> I paid $99 for my first Tivo back around 2000. It was an original HDR112 and it was brand new. I believe it had a whopping 45GB of storage with dual hard drives (one 15GB + one 30GB) for about 40 hours of recording time. IIRC, this model originally retailed for $199, not $799.


I really doubt that the HDR112 Tivo had an original retail price of $199. $799 seems more in line with what I was seeing when I was still dreaming about buying one as I stood in awe of the display at Best Buy every time I went there. It's even less likely that it was both brand new and had more than a single 15GB hd, it may have even been smaller.

Plus, I've seen people here and in other forums say they spent $900 on their first S1 Tivo in 1999.


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## ltxi (Feb 14, 2010)

Sony S1 w/lifetime running since December 2000. On an upgraded drive since sometime in 2001. It's the basis for my MSD rates of $6.95 on my HDXLs


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## Budget_HT (Jan 2, 2001)

Bought my wife a DirecTiVo Sony SAT-T60 for Christmas 2000 and still going strong. Several others have come and gone since, all DirecTV.


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## Chris Gerhard (Apr 27, 2002)

scandia101 said:


> I really doubt that the HDR112 Tivo had an original retail price of $199. $799 seems more in line with what I was seeing when I was still dreaming about buying one as I stood in awe of the display at Best Buy every time I went there. It's even less likely that it was both brand new and had more than a single 15GB hd, it may have even been smaller.
> 
> Plus, I've seen people here and in other forums say they spent $900 on their first S1 Tivo in 1999.


He pulled that out of somewhere, certainly not an accurate recollection. Retail for a Philips HDR112 was about $399 in 1999. I purchased one second hand with lifetime that had been purchased in Nov. 99 originally which made it eligible for a one time transfer which I used in 2009. Discounts from retail price were certainly common in 2000 so I don't doubt TiVos were purchased for $200. I bought my first TiVo, a Philips DSR6000 for DirecTV with a promotion for $199 in October 2000 and my used HDR112 after that for about the same price inclusive of the lifetime service. I still have both and both would work great if there was any service to use either with.


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## Techguy9707 (Jul 15, 2010)

I don't remember all the boxes I have had over the years. I think I got my service in December 1999 but that machine had a power supply fail and later a HHD. I replaced it with a Weaknees machine and have since replaced that with my bother's older Phillips DSR6000R that he ran when he got his first account. I am now having issues getting it to update as it had been unplugged from the phone for over 2200 days according to the message I get everyday.

My current machine is running Tivo v3.5 (no letters)


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## redrouteone (Jun 16, 2001)

I have had a TiVo of some flavor since the fall of 2000. I've had a few of them.

A Sony SAT T60 (It died)
A Hughes Series 2 Direct TiVo (It died)
A replacement Hughes Series 2 Direct TiVo (Gave it to my parents when I canceled DirectTV)
A stand alone Series 2
A Tivo HD. (It died after 3 weeks)
A replcement TiVo HD

I still have the TiVo HD, close to 5 years now. I never really thought about the service cost. Just did a quick back of the envelope calculation and I've spent about $1500 on TiVo service over the years. Never really thought about it, but $14/month adds up over time. 

Every once ince a while I think about replacing the TiVo HD with a premier and putting the TiVo HD in the bedroom. Maybe I should get lifetime service this time.


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## LoadStar (Jul 24, 2001)

Chris Gerhard said:


> He pulled that out of somewhere, certainly not an accurate recollection. Retail for a Philips HDR112 was about $399 in 1999.


There were a lot of TiVo's being sold for really, really low prices around that time, especially through Kmart store closing sales. I think I spent $79 for my brand new Philips 212 series 1.


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## HerronScott (Jan 1, 2002)

LoadStar said:


> There were a lot of TiVo's being sold for really, really low prices around that time, especially through Kmart store closing sales. I think I spent $79 for my brand new Philips 212 series 1.


Kmart's were closing and selling TiVo's really cheap in 2002. That's when we picked up our second one as well for $99 May 2002). Lifetime had gone up to $249 by then.

I don't know what my wife paid for our Sony S1 in June 2000 but I know it was pretty expensive and $299 sounds about right. I remember thinking she spent way too much for Father's Day and I know I bought the lifetime for $199.

Scott


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