Question about Tivo service/activation

vi edit

Elite Member
Super Moderator
Oct 28, 1999
62,484
8,345
126
I bought a used Tivo HD off of the FS/T forum here. It came "formated" out of the box so I walked through all the hoops pulling down the guides and updating whatever things needed to be updated.

And right now it works perfectly fine as a DVR. It pauses, records, schedules, ect. I have absolutely zero use for the online side of things for it - online scheduling, recommendations, amazon downloads, ect.

My question is - will it continue working as a basic DVR without setting up a subscription, or will eventially timebomb and stop working at that basic level at some point?
 

MustISO

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
11,927
12
81
Are you saying you bought an HD Tivo or a Tivo hard drive? I'm assuming hard drive. What version Tivo do you have? You have to maintain a subscription in order for the Tivo to operate. You can probably see when the service expires by going to the configuration or settings.
 

nsafreak

Diamond Member
Oct 16, 2001
7,093
3
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MustISO is correct at some point you will need to subscribe to Tivo service unless the previous owner paid for Tivo lifetime service (probably would have advertised that in the thread though) you will need to get service of your own. Tivo has a free Tivo Basic service but according to their website that is only available for units that were built by Toshiba and Pioneer that had built in DVD recorders and is not available for the standalone units.
 

vi edit

Elite Member
Super Moderator
Oct 28, 1999
62,484
8,345
126
Thanks guys.

I made it into the settings/accounts area and see that there are 6 days left for activation.

I swear I was in there last night when I set it up and didn't see that listed when I was in the same screen.
 

tw1164

Diamond Member
Dec 8, 1999
3,995
0
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It's well worth the $10 a month. Depending on how much tv you watch you may want to upgrade the HD too. It's very easy to do.