How long did your Tivo last?

[Allisonfaye]

We got two Tivo machines two years ago. The first one lasted one year. Now the second one is shot. They want you to send it in and they send you a new one for $149. I don''t think I am going to get another one if this is the typical life expectancy. If you have a Tivo, how long has your lasted?

 

[FireGoddess]

Well...I have the DirecTV DVR (it is real TiVo, but it is a receiver and DVR built into one) and 1.5 years later, still no problems.

I have a coworker who has a TiVo machine going on...3-4 years now.

 

[AndyRosse]

A friend of mine has had his for at least two years now, if not more.

We have a DVR from our cable company, and well, that has been replaced already once in less than a year

 

[goldenstar]

I''ve had mine for 2 years, no problems at all. BF has some older ones at his house, also no problems there. I think right now you can get a free basic one as long as you commit to a subscription. But if you already have a lifetime subscription I dunno.

 

[Mara]

i had my first tivo, the standalone unit, for 2 years. then i sold it on ebay for an exhorbitant amount because it had been 'modified' aka upgraded by a friend to have like 200 hours of space. hehe. so then we got the direcTV version of tivo which we have had for 3 years. LOVE tivo, don't know how we ever survived without it. every once in a while we have to reboot it when it gets a little wonky but other than that, it's been great. knock on wood. oh and make sure it's not your batteries in your remote vs your tivo.

 

[Cehrabehra]

I don''t have a tivo - we have a replay tv and we bought it refurbished including a lifetime service program about... 3 years ago? zero probs with this one - even upgraded to a 100gig harddrive this year. we''ve moved and have it networked with the rest of our computers and so far ::knock wood:: it''s been great. For whatever this may be worth to you....

 

[Cehrabehra]

Date: 12/12/2006 5:05:16 PM
Author:Allisonfaye
We got two Tivo machines two years ago. The first one lasted one year. Now the second one is shot. They want you to send it in and they send you a new one for $149. I don't think I am going to get another one if this is the typical life expectancy. If you have a Tivo, how long has your lasted?

also - I don't know how you could live without a DVR!! OMG no way we could here lol

ETA: Also, my desktop computer in my office has windows media or family or something like that and it acts as a DVR as well, and we can access that from the main TV as well... There are options outside of "TIVO".

 

[tiffanytwisted]

We have had ours for 2 1/2 years. It is the one from DirecTV. I could not be without it!

 

[sumbride]

We have 2 Tivos, one is 2 years old, one a little over a year, and no problems.

We do kind of have an issue now though... We just got HDTV and I don''t know if I can hook up the tivo without compromising the HD signal since somehow it needs to be between the feed and the tv. HD tivos are $800 and don''t work with satellite, which we have, so we may just sell it and get the DirecTV tivo for HD.

 

[goldenstar]

(I wrote this post already but I didn''t see it, hope its not a double post)

"Its not Tivo unless its a Tivo"

Not to be nit picky, but Tivo is a brand of DVR. The one from Direct TV is not a "Tivo". You can''t compare the two because they are made by completely different companies.

 

[diamondfan]

We got rid of ours to put in the dvr through our cable company...so I am not sure, but I did not recall hearing about them dying like that...

 

[sumbride]

Date: 12/13/2006 12:27:22 AM
Author: goldenstar
(I wrote this post already but I didn''t see it, hope its not a double post)

''Its not Tivo unless its a Tivo''

Not to be nit picky, but Tivo is a brand of DVR. The one from Direct TV is not a ''Tivo''. You can''t compare the two because they are made by completely different companies.

While that''s true for the ones from the cable company, the DirecTV DVR IS made by Tivo and contains TiVo programming. It doesn''t look the same, but it is a Tivo product.

 

[littlelysser]

We have two tivo''s - one of them is a series one that my FI bought on ebay 4 years ago...It is still in fine working condition...

And my FI "hacked" into it and added more memory, so the thing can record like 200 hours of stuff.

We have another tivo, similarly hacked, that is a series two, probably about 3 years old, that is still working well.

We just got a new hi-def lcd tv...so we don''t use the tivo as much...use the cable dvr instead...and I must say that I totally miss my tivo!

 

[AmberWaves]

We''ve had DVR from our cable company for over two years and never any prohlems. My dad who just got Direct TV w/DVR has no idea how he lived without one for so long! Only problem: his nerd butt is now overwhelmed with over 65 episodes of Star Trek he set to record. All in TWO WEEKS. Poor Man has no time for anything that isn''t TV now!

 

[FireGoddess]

Date: 12/13/2006 9:31:15 AM
Author: sumbride

Date: 12/13/2006 12:27:22 AM
Author: goldenstar
(I wrote this post already but I didn't see it, hope its not a double post)

'Its not Tivo unless its a Tivo'

Not to be nit picky, but Tivo is a brand of DVR. The one from Direct TV is not a 'Tivo'. You can't compare the two because they are made by completely different companies.

While that's true for the ones from the cable company, the DirecTV DVR IS made by Tivo and contains TiVo programming. It doesn't look the same, but it is a Tivo product.

Yes, sumbride is correct. It IS a TiVo product. Complete with the little TiVo icon on the machine and your tv screen.

 

[sanfranciscoellen]

We had a 2002 series2 uber-hacked tivo that just recently gave up the ghost. But DH wouldn''t give up...we had a lifetime service...so I contacted about 15 people on craigslist until we found the exact model for $50, DH switched the guts, back in business. We ended up losing the lifetime thing, but because we had it, could sign the "new machine" up as if it was our second machine for a really low rate ($6 a month or something).

TIVOS (DVRS) ARE HARD DRIVES! The number one cause of failure is overheating. If you have a snazzy entertainment unit with doors that close, or stack your media machines on top of each other, I nearly guarantee you that it died because of overheating. Keep them cool and they''ll keep on chugging.

 

[goldenstar]

Thanks for the clarification. My mistake. I asked my BF and he said Tivo has a partnership with Direct TV. I''m just obsessed with how well Tivo does this year because BF works for them and has stock in the company. If it does well I get my e-ring faster! hehe, typical PS move. Buy Tivo!

All kidding aside, our Tivos have lasted a long time.

 

[divergrrl]

Mine is still working after 4 years, but we hardly use that one. We recently went with the DVR from our cable company. They provide the equipment for FREE, and you pay an extra $10 a month for it. Cool thing is, it holds twice as much as my tivo did, you can record two shows at once, and if it dies, you just get it swapped out.

I like the Tivo user interface better, but the dvr through the cable company is a better value.

Jeannine

 

[Allisonfaye]

Date: 12/13/2006 3:16:36 PM
Author: wallermama
We had a 2002 series2 uber-hacked tivo that just recently gave up the ghost. But DH wouldn''t give up...we had a lifetime service...so I contacted about 15 people on craigslist until we found the exact model for $50, DH switched the guts, back in business. We ended up losing the lifetime thing, but because we had it, could sign the ''new machine'' up as if it was our second machine for a really low rate ($6 a month or something).

TIVOS (DVRS) ARE HARD DRIVES! The number one cause of failure is overheating. If you have a snazzy entertainment unit with doors that close, or stack your media machines on top of each other, I nearly guarantee you that it died because of overheating. Keep them cool and they''ll keep on chugging.

DH mentioned the overheating thing the other night. That could explain the one upstairs but the downstairs one isn''t in anything like that.

 

[diamondlove]

I wonder why your tivos blew out so quickly. I have a DVR through DISH that I''ve had for a year now and a TIVO with the writable dvd feature for over 2 years now with no problems. Do you get lightening a lot? Is it plugged into a power surge protector? Just trying to think of random causes...