Free TiVo Deals

Posted on Thursday, April 26, 2007 by MegaZone

It looks like the remaining stock of single-tuner Series2 units is being blown out, effectively for free. Since the S2DT and S3 are out, who would want a single-tuner S2? Well, the S2 supports NTSC antenna, while the S2DT does not. Sure, the S3 does, but that’s $600 at best currently. :-) If you are a DirecTV or Dish Network user, then you have to control an external satellite receiver. The S3 doesn’t support satellite. The S2DT will – but it only supports one external device. So why pay more for the S2DT when the S2 will provide the same support for your satellite receiver? If you live an an area with all-digital cable, then the S2DT is also reduced to being a single-tuner unit with the cable box, and the S2 can do that as well. So there are situations where the single-tuner S2 is perfectly good at getting the job done. Sure, the S2′s hardware is a bit slower than the S2DT’s, but it is fine for most users – and free is good. :-)

TiVo is offering refurbished boxes for free with a one-year service commitment.

Amazon is selling them for $170, with a $170 rebate – free after rebate. (And if you buy via that link, you support the site.) You can select any of the service options.

The blog Troy on TiVo reports that Best Buy has a similar deal for a kind-of-free TiVo. Buy the TiVo for $220, with a $170 rebate, and get a free $50 Best Buy gift card. So the TiVo is really $50, with a free $50 towards something else. So if you can use the $50 at Best Buy anyway – effectively free. Otherwise use the Amazon option, support the site, and get a simpler deal.

While I’m at it, note that Amazon has the TiVo Wireless G USB Network Adapter for $45, compared to $60 from TiVo.com. Same thing, better price.

About MegaZone

MegaZone is the Editor of Gizmo Lovers and the chief contributor. He's been online since 1989 and active in several generations of 'social media' - mailing lists, USENet groups, web forums, and since 2003, blogging.    MegaZone has a presence on several social platforms: Google+ / Facebook / Twitter / LinkedIn / LiveJournal / Web.    You can also follow Gizmo Lovers on other sites: Blog / Google+ / Facebook / Twitter.
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  • amedia

    The Amazon.com offer looks mighty tempting; it would be nice to have a second TiVo.

    Question: if you don’t get the service on a TiVo, what *does* work? Can you still get into the Live365 radio stations?

  • megazone

    Series2 TiVos are basically doorstops without a subscription – no network features at all. Basically you can watch LiveTV and do basic trickplay, I think that’s about it. No recording at all either.

    The only exception are Pioneer and Toshiba boxes, which include TiVo Basic by default. But TiVo Basic doesn’t support any network features either.

    The good news is, if you already have a TiVo account, you should be able to add a new box and get the Multi-Service Discount (basically $6 off the normal monthly fee for the second box).

  • amedia

    I don’t get the discount if my other TiVo is on a Lifetime sub though, do I? (which sounds like a disadvantage although it’s actually very cool!)

  • megazone

    Yes, actually, you do. Lifetime units make the account eligible for MSD on additional units.

  • morgandawn

    I was so excited when I read this – I thought I could replace my ancient second TIVO (Series 1) with a new Series 2 TIVO. Until I found out that my old Series 1 (which under the current MSD costs me only $6.95 month on a month to month) will double – or rather I would need to sign up for 3 years to get the same service plan price. And frankly the life cycle of a Series 2 has passed – I will have to save up for the newer TIVOs or hold out for the TIVO Comcast DVR in the next year.

    I still think for someone who wants to give TIVO a try (aka a new customer) the older Series 2 TIVOs (free with rebate) might still be a good option.

    But man…TIVO’s service plans require a masters to parse.

  • morgandawn

    I just commented on this same issue below – TIVO told me today that in order to get the $6.95 on this second TIVO I have to comitt to 3 years. Eve $6.95 n if I am just replacing an older Series 1 TIVO that is already getting the MSD rate on month to month.

    And I could not find any fine print that says otherwise. I’d love to be proven wrong. :-)

  • megazone

    MSD changed to a $6 discount instead of a flat $6.95 fee. Monthly fees are $16.95, $14.95, and $12.95 now – for 1-, 2-, or 3-year commitments. So MSD is $10.95, $8.95, and $6.95 for the same spans.

    You can also pre-pay $179 for one-year (equivalent to $14.92/month) or $299 for three ($8.31/month). Normally it is $299 for 2 and $349 for 3, but it is on special.

  • morgandawn

    nods. so unless I really want to keep a piece of hardware that is on its way out for the next 3 years, I should wait until I can upgrade to the machine I really want to get and shift the one with the lifetime subscription as my secondary.

    But for a person wanting to get a second TIVO from scratch it is a good deal.

  • supershippy

    I was under the impression that if you were replacing a TiVo with another, that you would basically be grandfathered and that you could keep the same pricing plan on the new TiVo. Is this incorrect? I thought I had previously saw a “Replacing a TiVo?” type of entry on the TiVo website, but now I’m not seeing it.

    I would like to eventually replace one of my S2s with an S3, but I don’t want to have my monthly cost go up (right now I pay $12.95 for one and $6.95 for the other).

  • supershippy

    Those TiVo network adapters are awesome. I got two for my b-day to replace my old 802.11b adapters and the difference is amazing. It now takes ~10 minutes to transfer 30 minutes of video; it used to take 40 minutes. I can now watch a show in realtime that is transferring from another TiVo.

  • morgandawn

    if you read the comments above there are more details – they’ve eliminated the grandfathering and now it is a flat $6/month off whatever service plan you buy. which means that if I am going to add a ‘new’ TIVO to replace the second one I already have, I’ll wait for the better ones.

  • mrmac14

    Right now Target (at least mine) has the TiVo S2s on clearence for $156 and it comes with a $150 Rebate from TiVo so it comes to about 6 bucks in the end.

  • supershippy

    That’s a bummer because I thought I also read somewhere that the new packages you have to buy from TiVo don’t get Multi-Box discounts; they only qualify you for one. Which means that my first S3 replacement will still allow me to get the discount on my S2, but once I replace my last S2 with an S3, I won’t get anymore Multi-Box discounts because none of my boxes are non-package deals. Am I reading this incorrectly? I found their FAQ to be confusing.

  • megazone

    I know if a TiVo dies it can be replaced and take over the same pricing.

    I *think* that you can buy a new TiVo and *transfer* the current monthly plan from an existing box to the new one – I know you can do that if you have a commitment. Say you make a 3 year monthly commitment and two years from now you decide to replace the box with a new one. However, rebates require *new* activations, and the transfer doesn’t count. So you can either keep the old pricing, or get the rebate.

  • megazone

    If you buy a bundle from TiVo, that’s correct – they qualify the account for MSD but are not subject to MSD themselves. You’d have to buy the box from somewhere other than TiVo.com – ie, not buy a bundle. Which isn’t bad, since S3s are cheaper elsewhere anyway.

  • megazone

    They’re the only WiFi adapter worth using on a TiVo, IMHO. They beat all other adapters, including other 11g adapters, in performance. They have on-board processors which offload the network processing from the TiVo’s CPU, which really speeds things up. That also allows them to run WPA security, while the others are stuck with insecure WEP.

  • supershippy

    Agreed. My old adapters were the last things keeping my network on WEP so it was nice to finally be rid of that.

  • amedia

    Yes, actually, you do. Lifetime units make the account eligible for MSD on additional units.

    w00t!!!! That’s great news!