Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

**** UPDATED: March 26th, 2012 **** 1) After my original review was written I was contacted by TiVo executive customer service that wanted to offer me the chance to purchase Lifetime service on my new Premiere. But I'd already shipped it back to Amazon. I did get the name and number of the gentleman who contacted me though, who promised they would make good on the offer if I changed my mind in the future. At the time I was doing a number of major household renovations, but I did eventually buy a Premiere in March, 2011, and TiVo Executive service allowed me to purchase the Lifetime service. I was NOT allowed to transfer it from my old Tivo, but I was able to sell that unit so it was a decent deal. 2) On May 19th, 2011, Tivo revised their Payment Plans policy to allow TiVo Lifetime service to be purchased on "retail" units for a $499 price-tag. 3) I've been using the Premiere XL for just over a year now and it's a reliable unit, with all the usual TiVo service offerings. The biggest disappointment about it is the HD (Hi-Def) support for the interface. Only the main menu and a few sub-menus are presented in HD. For many functions you use routinely including seeing up Season Passes, Wishlists, changing settings and more, it switches back to SD (Standard Def) menus, which actually slows things down since you have to wait for the TiVo to switch resolutions and of course your TV or AV Receiver to catch-up. They came out with a recent new software release that does expand the HD support a bit but really, it's absurd how much of the old interface system is used (probably around 75 to 80%). Also, when you have HD menus activated, absoilutely NO PARENTAL CONTROLS ARE AVAILABLE. That's right, No KidZone and not even the basic Parental Controls!! I was pretty stunned by this. Since I have a child who prefers to use KidZone and I don't want them just randomly watching whatever happens to be on, I just keep HD menus turned-off. You can still record and watch HD programming using the SD menus, so it's not a total loss. But it is very important to realize when buying the HD Premiere you realize that the HD menus are superficial layers and that if you have kids, you probably won't be able to use them anyways. (Switching between HD and SD menus is moderately tedious as well because if you do have Parental Controls you have to turn them off before you can switch to HD) All that being said, I've changed my rating from 1 star to 4 stars. TiVo did finally change their policies (I wasn't aware of it sooner), and I've had the unit for a year and it's performed fine. We get plenty of use out of it. #################################################################################################################################################################### We're longtime Tivo users and have always gotten Lifetime service (aka Product Lifetime Service aka PLS) on our Tivo units. I'm a big fan of the Tivo interface and features, the reliability of the units, etc. What Tivo and Amazon have done here, however, is a shameless bait-and-switch that is going to have me filing a complaint to the FTC, writing off to Consumerist and of course leaving this one-star review. When I tried to activate the new HD Tivo, I was only offered one option: A 1-year subscription at $19.99 a month. Period. Nothing else. - I can't pre-pay for a year, even at full price - I can't commit to more than one year - I can't go month-to-month AT ANY PRICE - I can't add Product Lifetime Service, not even at the full $399 price Even as an existing Tivo customer, I'm given NO other option. Hell, I can't even transfer my existing PLS to the new unit, SOMETHING I AM WILLING TO PAY MONEY FOR. Me : "Hey Tivo, do you want $400?" Tivo: "DERP" Me : "No, really, I want to give you a bunch of my money. Here, take this wad of cash--" Tivo: "DEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRRP!" *sets cash on fire* When I talked to Caitlin in Tivo's Activation department, she said that all of the units sold at these reduced prices (i.e. through Blockbuster, Best Buy, Amazon, etc) are ineligible for anything but the crappy, single service rate. It is part of a promotion being done during the holidays, which ends Dec. 31st, 2010. Caitlin also said that Tivo "may" offer other options after the 1 year commitment is up, but I am absolutely not going to buy into that without a written guarantee that I would be able to get PLS. I will add that Caitlin was at all times professional and courteous, and I could tell from her tone that she's had to deal with more than a few stunned customers like me. I am also very annoyed at Amazon.com for deceiving customers. No where in the description of the item or during the purchasing process was I told that I could only do a monthly plan. Under technical specifications, they merely say "Monthly service plan required". Well yes, of course you must have a service plan to use a Tivo. But what they actually mean is "ONLY MONTHLY SERVICE PLAN AVAILABLE". Tivo's own website also glosses over this, except buried deep into the payment plans option: ################################ 2.1.2 When purchasing a TiVo Premiere box from a third party retailer at $99.99 (includes an instant $200 savings off MSRP) for the TiVo Premiere box or $299.99 (includes an instant $200 savings off MSRP) for the TiVo Premiere XL box, you may only subscribe to the TiVo Service on a monthly basis for $19.99 a month with a one (1) year commitment (renews monthly after one year). ################################ More than likely I will be returning this unit to Amazon, as it is completely useless to me. I may consider going through Tivo's upgrade program, but I will also be considering going to the DVR service offered by my cable company. After all, I was already planning to upgrade to digital cable and the DVR will be built into the cable box, and it'll only cost me $7 or $8 a month. I stand to save $230 that way. In summary, if you buy this highly-discounted unit you will HAVE to pay an additional $240 over the course of one year in $19.99 increments. No other option exists, even if you are already a Tivo customer. And you have no guarantee you will EVER be allowed to get Lifetime Service, EVER.