We are finally going to cut the cord with Direct TV. We have Amazon Prime, Netflix and will also be using an antenna for local stations.

We are looking at a Tivo so we can DVR our local shows. But, Tivo has a service fee.

Anyone have experiences with Tivo? Is it worth the monthly charge???

TiVo offers a lifetime subscription as an alternative to the monthly fees. The lifetime subscription is connected to the machine, not to the owner, so if the machine is sold the lifetime subscription goes with the machine.

I bought a used TiVo that had a lifetime subscription. It is the discontinued Premier model. Nice thing about the Premier, it has two coax inputs, so you can connect both a cable tuner and an antenna, and tune / record both cable and over-the-air programming.

Before you buy, take a look at this website. You can get a bit of an education about TiVo, you can find aftermarket accessories (I bought a remote when ours stopped working), and they have refurbished Tivo units, some with lifetime prepaid subscriptions at some pretty attractive prices.

We've had a TiVo for a couple of years now, Wifey loves it.

Cut the cord years ago. Never been disappointed with Tivo, able to run Netflix, Amazon Prime, Etc thru it as well.

TiVo is great but for what you're using it for it's not worth the monthly or lifetime fee.

Pissed me off thoroughly. They "upgraded" their service and required me to buy new equipment. Further, I had only one recording unit per subscription. My local cable DVR service is far superior.

quote:

Originally posted by LBAR15:
TiVo is great but for what you're using it for it's not worth the monthly or lifetime fee.

That's what I am thinking, but there are a few shows like Blue Bloods and Hawaii Five-0 that we can't find on Prime or Hulu without paying for them. That is why I have been looking at a Tivo to DVR them when we are not home.

Darn, wish I'd seen this thread several years ago. Bought a TiVo Premiere Four a little over four years ago. Went with the lifetime subscription as I have a deeply held aversion to having any more of a monthly nut than is absolutely unavoidable. Have been very happy with it. The hardware died recently and it was a cause for some concern as when we bought it the people at the store made a big point that it was the lifetime of that piece of hardware. Turns out they were wrong. Called TiVo, spoke with someone who appeared to be in a call center in India, But was actually understandable and switched on, and she processed a replacement and emailed a FedEx return label. The new unit should be showing up shortly.

ETA: For clarity, as the old unit was out of warranty, the replacement was not free.

We have a TIVO BOLT now but have had TIVO for years. Got rid of cable, record strictly OTA and Amazon, Netflix and PBS shows via the internet. We're saving about $160 a month and still have way too much to watch.

In my opinion in my area OTA has a better picture than cable. It took a while to transition the wife but the TIVO makes it easy and we're even down to one remote control. Hallelujia!

quote:

Originally posted by slosig:

ETA: For clarity, as the old unit was out of warranty, the replacement was not free.

Did they charge you to transfer the lifetime subscription to the replacement hardware?

We're probably only using our TiVo a very limited amount of its potential, but we like it a lot. It's a whopping $15 a month.

We love Tivo, have had it at three houses including a vacation rental. Got it because it was the simplest for renters to use, but I like its ease of use also. Got lifetime service.
With TiVo, don't need separate box to access Netflix and Amazon very easily, goes well with cord-cutting or with cable (or antenna).
Currently have a Bolt, looks weird but works fine.

quote:

Originally posted by deepocean:

quote:

Originally posted by slosig:

ETA: For clarity, as the old unit was out of warranty, the replacement was not free.

Did they charge you to transfer the lifetime subscription to the replacement hardware?

If I recall correctly (Mrs. Slosig handled it) there was a charge to transfer, but it wasn't huge.

Tivo sounds like a good deal.

If you want to have a Windows PC hooked to your TV, you can use a Silocone Dust HD Homerun as your tuner and run their DVR software on the PC. I have a tiny PC and HD Homerun, and it works OK, though probably not as polished as the Tivo.

There is a Tivo box made for OTA antenna use only. It has no monthly subscription fees.

https://www.tivo.com/shop/buy-roamio-ota-dvr

Thanks everyone! It's been years since we have a Tivo and there are definatley some changes since then

Not a Tivo user - the main reason I didn't buy one when I cut the cable was the subscription fee...

For recording OTA TV, I went with the Channel Master DVR+. I've had it for a couple years now and am very happy with it so far.

quote:

Originally posted by ShouldBFishin:
Not a Tivo user - the main reason I didn't buy one when I cut the cable was the subscription fee...

For recording OTA TV, I went with the Channel Master DVR+. I've had it for a couple years now and am very happy with it so far.

Thanks Fishin! I'll ck it out.

quote:

Originally posted by ShouldBFishin:
Not a Tivo user - the main reason I didn't buy one when I cut the cable was the subscription fee...

For recording OTA TV, I went with the Channel Master DVR+. I've had it for a couple years now and am very happy with it so far.

How does the Channel Master DVR+ update the guide? Can you move programs off of the DVR?

quote:

Originally posted by punch out:
There is a Tivo box made for OTA antenna use only. It has no monthly subscription fees.

https://www.tivo.com/shop/buy-roamio-ota-dvr

Actually, that model does have a subscription fee, but it's only offered in the lifetime subscription mode, not the monthly, and the lifetime fee is bundled into the $399 purchase price.

What the subscription is for, is the program guide, which in turns drives the ability to select shows to be recorded, schedule "One Pass" which records all episodes of a show, etc.

We have an older Premiere model TiVo. This has two coax inputs: one for cable, one for OTA antenna. We do have the lifetime subscription, so no monthly TiVo fee. The program guide combines cable and OTA information, seamlessly.

If we had stuck with the cable company's DVR box, it would have been somewhere between of ten and fifteen bucks a month; in order to tune cable programming the TiVo box uses a cable card, $2.95 / month, instead of ten or fifteen, from Time Warner / BrightHouse / Spectrum or whatever the company is calling itself this month.

We like the TiVo, especially the model that we have, which gives us the capability of getting high quality OTA, better definition and clarity than cable!