My dad and I recently bought a TiVo for my mother for Mother’s Day because she videotapes things all the time and we thought it’d be a nice upgrade for her. However, I didn’t know that there was also a “TiVo service” subscription that needed to be filled out. I haven’t done it yet because my father’s not sure he wants to fork over more money for another subscription.
So far (we hooked it up on Tuesday) it’s been recording everything it was set to. There’s a blip that pops up every time we turn it on that says “you haven’t registered for TiVo service” and give me the option to either register or skip it. I’ve skipped it because I don’t know what TiVo service is. From what I understand on what I’ve read , most of the “Tivo service” has to do with having the Tivo connected to the internet. Our Tivo is connected via phone line, however, so we don’t get the benefits of a “home network” or anything.
The big question is…do I have to subscribe to this Tivo service if it’s not connected to the internet? If I don’t subscribe to it, will it stop recording at some point in the future? We’re going on vacation tomorrow and will be gone for a week…and I really don’t want to miss the Lost finale next Thursday. Also, what exactly am I paying for in this “Tivo service?” Am I just paying extra to use something I already bought?
The Tivo device is useless without the service: you must be in some sort of trial period because you just bought it. Once it kicks in, you won’t get television listings, or be able to record anything new at all, only watch the things you’ve already recorded.
They may or may not have a current deal where you can buy lifetime (the Tivo’s lifetime, not yours) service, otherwise it’s a month-to-month deal.
Home networking improves it’s ability to keep up to date on show time changes, and integrates the Tivo with the computer, but isn’t the main point of the service at all.
If you’re not going to buy the service, take it back – it’s basically inert without it. I suspect that it will last until the next time it needs to make it’s phone call (about every other day for phone-based service), then lock itself up.
For what it’s worth, I’ve paid for lifetime service on two different boxes, and would pay month to month if it were the only option – it really is so much better than a VCR or the crappy DVRs that come with cable service.
You can certainly use a TiVo without the service, but you don’t want to. Without the service, it’s just a dumb VCR minus changing tapes (but also minus the labels). With the service, you tell it what you want and it does all the work of recording it. If a show gets moved, TiVo will still get it. You can have it look for keywords and certain actors. And the Now Playing list will have the correct show info. It will need a phone line or network connection to download the listings each day (it keeps 2 weeks ahead).
I let my service lapse (I was broke and my roommate also had one). For a while it worked, but it just didn’t have any scheduling info. When they finally closed my account, it stopped recording completely. I could still watch old shows, but not record any new ones. That really bothered me, that they would disable a device that I own.
Note also that a new TiVo almost certainly implements the dreaded broadcast flag, which can prevent you from recording items that the broadcaster doesn’t want you to record. Some examples include:
live sporting events (which you can record for a 30-90 minute window, allowing you to skip commericals, but which then disappears from your TiVo)
new release movies (the broadcaster would prefer that you buy the DVD)
TV shows could be blocked once that season’s box set is available on DVD
Pay-per-view movies (which they would rather that you pay to view each time)
…
etc.
Windows Media Center has begun to implement the broadcast flag. I have only seen sporadic reports of TiVo users having trouble with the flag (here’s one) but that’s why I do not own one.
Basically, if you’re considering buying the service, you should also consider that TiVo may arbitrarily limit your otherwise-unlimited use of its functions at the request of a third party.
Thanks everybody for the replies and help. The TiVo we bought was a series 2 since our family hasn’t upgraded to the HD world yet and plus there was an $150 rebate attached to it.
We decided to go ahead and get the annual plan and are going to be testing it out while we’re on vacation. If it works like it’s supposed to, hooray!
I’m definitely feeling like TiVo just pulled a “World of Warcraft” on me and made us pay to use a machine that we already paid for, so I’m unsure if I’ll get one for myself once I move out. Of course, that entirely depends on how used to it I become while I’m living here.
But you’re not paying for the machine - you’re paying for the TV listings that are sent to you every few days. As others have pointed out, you can continue to use the machine without the TV listings, if you’re willing to program everything in manually ("Record channel 7 at 9pm for 60 minutes.)
You are paying for the service of Tivo providing your digital video recorder with program scheduling data. You are also paying for the subsidy cost that Tivo incurs when they sell their hardware at below cost. Like a cell phone company, they expect to make a profit over the long term. If you don’t like their business model, don’t buy it, or pay a lot more for a unit with a lifetime subscription.
You can only do that with the Series 1 box (and only some of them). On current boxes, without a subscription you can pause live TV for up to 30 minutes and that’s it. NOTHING else will work. A TiVo without a subsciption is nothing more then a cable box with no guide. You arn’t allowed to record.
Sort of an apropos thread, because I’m setting up my new Tivo HD TV now, in preparation for the cablecard installer to arrive. What I had forgotten (and what infuriated me and nearly had me sending my box back) was that even if you pay month-by-month, you have to sign up for a year’s subscription with an extremely punitive withdrawal penalty (e.g. everything you would have paid anyways).
For this reason, the longer subscriptions are a bit of a gamble in that you don’t get your money back if you decide Tivo is not for you or if a new technology comes along.
Note that Tivo will also occasionally place somewhat intrusive adds on their menus, urging you to watch some sponsored show. I find these ads mildly offensive given that I’m paying for the service. Like the SDMB, paying for it should relieve you from the pain of watching commercials.
BTW, if you’ve bought an HD Tivo, you can get three months of free service using the coupon 3FreeHD. It wouldn’t totally surprise me if there were a similar one for normal Tivo if you look around the various coupon sites
It’s just like a cel phone. You must by the physical unit. You pay a monthly fee. You (usually) commit yourself to a year or more, or else there are prepayment fees.
Have fun with the cablecard. That can be a complete an utter nightmare… ours took four visits and six phonecalls to get right. But totally worth it. TiVo rules.
The cable companies don’t seem to like CableCards for some reason, and they don’t sell many of them. Before the cable guy shows up, go to the Tivo web site and print out the instructions for installing them. When the cable guy does show up, hand him the instructions and say “whatever you believe or have been told, this is the correct way to install it.” The cable guy took two hours to install them, flailing about the whole time, before I went and got the instructions. I walked through it in a couple minutes.
Basically, you install them one at a time (you’ll have two), after each one calling the cable company and reading them some numbers on the screen, which they type into a computer. Once they’re done, it works. Why this is so complicated for the installers, I couldn’t tell you.
The installation went fine (as these things go). The main disappointment was that I couldn’t get a multistream card that would have cut my cablecard bill in half. It’s a technology that the local Verizon folk haven’t gotten wind of yet.
Agreed. All the more reason to buy a device that ignores the flag (and can’t be updated without your permission). I’d look into MythTV if I were to want a DVR.
I’m disappointed that Tivo won’t let you record without service, either. There’s no excuse for that.
I’ve heard good things about MythTV but also that it’s something you need some Linux expertise to put together and that it’s not for the faint of heart. If I got a Tivo box, I’d have to pay the $13/month for Tivo service, plus rent two CableCards, to replace what I’m now getting from the Motorola DVR provided by Comcast, although the Comcast box has all sorts of problems with freezing.
I really wish there were more of a choice. Like I think something based on MythTV but sold as a packaged system could sell well, but no one seems to do that.
Also, what exactly am I paying for in this “Tivo service?” Am I just paying extra to use something I already bought?