# Pay for lifetime subscription, or buy another Tivo on ebay that already has one?



## jonwalker67 (Jul 3, 2004)

Could anyone advise me on the following dilemma please;

I have been a devoted Tivo user for about 6 years and have recently upgraded the hard drive successfully, so now I love my Tivo even more (yes, I think I really love it  )

I have been paying the monthly subscription since I had the unit (I know, I must be thick).

Anyway, I have finally decided to obtain a lifetime subscription but wonder if it would be better to buy a used Tivo on ebay with a lifetime subscription already included instead of paying £200 to Tivo for the sub.

Perhaps if I did this I could swap my existing drive into the new one and vice versa, and put my current Tivo in the bedroom for manual recordingds only.

I would worry that an ebay Tivo might be more likely to fail than my very carefully looked after unit, so what do you think?

Or should I just pay the £200 (does anyone know whether it's possible to get a discount from Tivo?)

Thanks in advance


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## Ian_m (Jan 9, 2001)

I would just pay £200 and replace PSU in existing one to improve reliabilty.


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## AMc (Mar 22, 2002)

It really depends on how much life time subbed Tivos go for on eBay?

Last time I looked they seemed to command a fairly hefty mark up for the sub + the second hand value of the Tivo. Given that an unsubbed Tivo has limited utility then it depends how much you value that in the bedroom?
Personally I don't think I would use a 2nd Tivo enough to warrant the extra cost but we don't watch much TV upstairs.

I think swapping the drives would work - if you got a bargain on a lifetime subbed box that has a faulty drive then you might be on to a winner but it would always be a gamble.


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## 6022tivo (Oct 29, 2002)

Last time I looked on ebay lifetimes are going for less then £300. so it may be worth it???. 

even if you have a duff one with a lifetime you may be able to transfer the service number to your working one??


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## jonwalker67 (Jul 3, 2004)

Thanks for the prompt and helpful replies. 

At the moment I am thinking that going for the ebay option I may be end up with a duff Tivo, plus I have to swap the drives etc. 

I am not sure I really want/need a spare Tivo for the bedroom. And all in all, I won't be saving money, just gaining another Tivo.

Any other suggestions before I ring customer services and part with the loot?


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## The Obo (Feb 22, 2005)

You can swap the lifetime sub very easily with Customer Services.
I did this a few months ago when I bought a new TiVo, upgraded it and then when all working I swapped my lifetime sub over to the new box.

Customer Services were more than happy to do it - I just told them my old box had died.

You could probably get a lifetime sub TiVo for around £300, switch the subscription over and resell it unsubbed for about £150.

A saving of £50... by the time you take into account the hassle, it's probably better just to coff up the £200.


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## chimaera (Nov 13, 2000)

I will be parting with my lifetime subbed TiVo when HD is installed in a couple of weeks. It has a big disk in it but it's starting to show disk problems, although I still have the original disk so I will probably put that back in. The only issue with it is that RGB output broke years ago so it's composite only. Consequently, I guess I will just put in on eBay for spares or something.


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## jonwalker67 (Jul 3, 2004)

Despite the slight saving, I think it makes sense to fork out for the sub. It will certainly be less hassle.

Thanks again for replies and advice.


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