# Transfer lifetime to new unit



## SNJpage1 (May 25, 2006)

If Tivo would like to sell more Premiums, they should let us transfer our lifetime from our old s2's to a new unit. They aren't making any money off of me any more on my S2 with lifetime. However, I would be willing to toss my S2 in the trash and replace with a Premium if they would let me transfer the lifetime to it. Even if I gave the S2 to some one for free the new owner would have to pay for service to use it. That way they would at least make some money off the sale of the new unit and maybe gain another service contract. I bet a lot of owners would be willing to go this route.


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## magnus (Nov 12, 2004)

They are offering lifetime for $199 without a transfer. I would say that is pretty good. Also, your S2 would still have value then. You could give it to a friend or you could use it with digital tuner box. Either way... you're not going to get much better than $199 for lifetime.



SNJpage1 said:


> If Tivo would like to sell more Premiums, they should let us transfer our lifetime from our old s2's to a new unit. They aren't making any money off of me any more on my S2 with lifetime. However, I would be willing to toss my S2 in the trash and replace with a Premium if they would let me transfer the lifetime to it. Even if I gave the S2 to some one for free the new owner would have to pay for service to use it. That way they would at least make some money off the sale of the new unit and maybe gain another service contract. I bet a lot of owners would be willing to go this route.


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## transam9898 (Oct 25, 2009)

where are they offering lifetime for $199 ?


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## magnus (Nov 12, 2004)

If you have a current lifetime box then....

https://www3.tivo.com/store/upgrade.do



transam9898 said:


> where are they offering lifetime for $199 ?


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## yukit (Jul 23, 2005)

SNJpage1 said:


> ...
> That way they would at least make some money off the sale of the new unit and maybe gain another service contract. I bet a lot of owners would be willing to go this route.


This topic has been discussed in the past. General consensus was that Tivo wasn't making a lot of money off the hardware so they needed to "make up the difference" by charging subscription fee.

Maybe they have the component cost of S4 down enough to give them more flexibility in the upgrade options.


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## CrispyCritter (Feb 28, 2001)

yukit said:


> This topic has been discussed in the past. General consensus was that Tivo wasn't making a lot of money off the hardware so they needed to "make up the difference" by charging subscription fee.
> 
> Maybe they have the component cost of S4 down enough to give them more flexibility in the upgrade options.


It's not just that they are not making "a lot of money", it's that they have been losing an average of 30% on hardware sales! TiVo has no direct financial incentive to get somebody to change from a series 3 to a series 4 tivo.

Hopefully the series 4 is cheaper for them to build, but probably not 30% cheaper. They'll be much closer to breaking even, though. (I expect this will come up at the press conference later today, so we might get more details then.)


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## nhcookyjar (Jul 13, 2009)

magnus said:


> They are offering lifetime for $199 without a transfer. I would say that is pretty good. Also, your S2 would still have value then. You could give it to a friend or you could use it with digital tuner box. Either way... you're not going to get much better than $199 for lifetime.


But your still are with 2 boxes


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## magnus (Nov 12, 2004)

Ok, is that bad or something?



nhcookyjar said:


> But your still are with 2 boxes


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## propeciakid (Sep 26, 2008)

nhcookyjar said:


> But your still are with 2 boxes


Yeah but they belong to you. You sell it, give it away or use it another room.


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## lafos (Nov 8, 2004)

In the past, TiVo let some people transfer a lifetime for $199, and they included one year service on the old one. This is a better deal, as you end up with two lifetime units. You can capture the resale better in this mode.


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## Resist (Dec 21, 2003)

CrispyCritter said:


> It's not just that they are not making "a lot of money", it's that they have been losing an average of 30% on hardware sales!


And here is why....many people I know that use their cable company boxes, don't want to pay $300 to $500 for a Tivo box and then $399 for a lifetime (or $12.95 a month) for the service. Granted they are being very short sighted and not seeing the big picture. But still, it's a lot of money to come up with all at once when renting a cable box initially costs less. Some also like the idea of the cable company replacing the box for free should their be issues.

I've tried to tell my friends how easy the Tivo interface is compared to a cable company's DVR. I also pointed out how none of my Tivo boxes have ever yet to fail. While I have had numerous cable DVR boxes stop working on me.

Until Tivo can reduce the hardware cost to the consumer, many are going to continue to see it as being just to expensive.


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## DrewTivo (Mar 30, 2005)

Resist said:


> Until Tivo can reduce the hardware cost to the consumer, many are going to continue to see it as being just to expensive.


Although I hate the cell phone business model, I can see why it works. I am surprised Tivo has not tried (or been successful) at a similar model. (I.e., subsidize the box to a very low amount with a locked in more expensive contract, or, pay over time). Consumers seem to go for it.


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## pdonoghu (Mar 6, 2003)

DrewTivo said:


> Although I hate the cell phone business model, I can see why it works. I am surprised Tivo has not tried (or been successful) at a similar model. (I.e., subsidize the box to a very low amount with a locked in more expensive contract, or, pay over time). Consumers seem to go for it.


If I recall correctly, they did try it. I think it was about $19.95/month including a Tivo. Don't remember what the term commitment was. It was not around for very long.

They are basically following the cell phone model, keeping in mind that a Tivo is equivalent to a higher end phone that would cost close to $200. Unlike the cell phone model, they don't really have a chance to sell you additional services (messaging, Internet, etc), and they get a lot less per month from each sub. The model is pretty close to the cell phone one, no subscription, and the device is pretty much useless.


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## sansom (Mar 14, 2010)

magnus said:


> They are offering lifetime for $199 without a transfer. Either way... you're not going to get much better than $199 for lifetime.


Wow! Oh how things have changes in just over 1 year. Lifetime with the multi-service discount is now $399!!!


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## atmuscarella (Oct 11, 2005)

sansom said:


> Wow! Oh how things have changes in just over 1 year. Lifetime with the multi-service discount is now $399!!!


Things have changed very little a Premiere with lifetime a year ago for someone who had upgrade offers was either $470 or $500 a Premiere with lifetime now for someone who qualifies for a MSD is $500 or under depending on where you buy the Premiere.

If you would like to see all the different price points the Premiere has been offered at you can check out this thread:

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=469929​
Thanks,


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## ducker (Feb 21, 2006)

The big question... is if you have a S2, and say you do get a Premiere at the discounted rate... and then Sell the S2 lifetime to someone else. They contact tivo and set up a new account with that box.

You no longer have a full price unit/lifetime on your account. If you upgrade in the future from your Premiere - they won't be offering you that MSD.. will they.

Or even if you want a second Premiere box, you would have to purchase it full price???


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## atmuscarella (Oct 11, 2005)

ducker said:


> The big question... is if you have a S2, and say you do get a Premiere at the discounted rate... and then Sell the S2 lifetime to someone else. They contact tivo and set up a new account with that box.
> 
> You no longer have a full price unit/lifetime on your account. If you upgrade in the future from your Premiere - they won't be offering you that MSD.. will they.
> 
> Or even if you want a second Premiere box, you would have to purchase it full price???


That is what most of us believe. I am retaining my Series 2 with lifetime because it is my qualifying sub for MSD. The MSD agreement is actually pretty clear if you don't mind reading a few pages of pretty dull stuff.

https://www3.tivo.com/abouttivo/policies/tivomsd_tcs_windowpopup_ajax.html

Good Luck,


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## Speedo123 (Aug 18, 2006)

magnus said:


> If you have a current lifetime box then....
> 
> https://www3.tivo.com/store/upgrade.do


Magnus -Went to the link you supplied but don't find anything about the $199 lifetime pricing. What am I missing?


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## atmuscarella (Oct 11, 2005)

Speedo123 said:


> Magnus -Went to the link you supplied but don't find anything about the $199 lifetime pricing. What am I missing?


The Date of his post. Everything has changed since then.


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## tweekerz (Oct 13, 2002)

As of June 30 2012, No valid upgrades of existing boxes with Lifetime exist on Tivo's site

I did find a working Series 2 with Remote with Lifetime for $10 at a local garage sale. Thank You!

Also got the ownership transferred. Thanks new UVerse customer down the street from me!

Now just have to keep it on the account until there is a Lifetime transfer option.


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## alyssa (Dec 7, 2003)

last time that happened was when the series 3 was new....


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## steve614 (May 1, 2006)

I can't see it happening again. Maybe when TiVo decides that S2's are no longer support worthy?
I'd give up my MSD privilege if I could transfer my S2's lifetime to the un-activated Premiere I have.


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## jk5598224 (Jan 29, 2003)

I am confused, is there a lifetime transfer for S2 (SONY SVR3000) or TIVO HD to Tivo Premiere XL4?

When I went to upgrade site it has the old Tivo's.

This is urgent has I just purchased another Lifetime for my new Tivo. Plan on selling the Tivo HD...


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## alyssa (Dec 7, 2003)

no, there is no LT transfer.


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## unitron (Apr 28, 2006)

jk5598224 said:


> I am confused, is there a lifetime transfer for S2 (SONY SVR3000) or TIVO HD to Tivo Premiere XL4?
> 
> When I went to upgrade site it has the old Tivo's.
> 
> This is urgent has I just purchased another Lifetime for my new Tivo. Plan on selling the Tivo HD...


There are 2 threads around here about the $99 lifetime offer which you might be able to get on an S3 or S3 HD if you already own it and have had it for a while, but it is not, repeat, not available for any of the S4 platform units.


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