Tivo HD DVR

[fldgoal]

If I have a Tivo HD DVR, can I use this with Verizon Fios TV? May be the way to go rather than spend the monthly fee? I take it I will still need to pay a fee for a cable card? Any suggestions or am I totally off base here? Thanks

[Joe01880]

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@fldgoal wrote:
If I have a Tivo HD DVR, can I use this with Verizon Fios TV? May be the way to go rather than spend the monthly fee? I take it I will still need to pay a fee for a cable card? Any suggestions or am I totally off base here? Thanks

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Tivo HD 

1) Between $200 and $250 for the Tivo HD that will record roughly 20 hours of HD

2) 3.99 X 2 for two S cards or if your lucky 3.99X 1 for an M card

3) 12.95 a month or 10.95 prepaid for a year for the Tivo guide

4) External eSata Hard drive 110 to 130.00  for 500 GB or about 100 bucks for a 1TB internal HDD you instal yourself and void your warrenty by doing so.

Tivo HD XL

1) 500 to 599 with a 1TB HDD

2)

3) #'s 2 and 3 same as Tivo HD

So you see now you will have 2 monthly fee's either 3.99 or 7.98 a month with Verizon plus 12.95 or 10.95 for the Tivo guide and without it Tivo and FiOS will be useless.

Best case your looking at 14.94 split between two vendors or 20.93 also split between two vendors, FiOS and Tivo.

How much does that FiOS DVR cost you a month..and if negotiated properly you wouldnt have to pay that either.

If choosing a Tivo over FiOS monthly rental fee's should not play a part in the choice.

In fairness Tivo also offers a 3 year guide deal where it works out to 8.95 a month for the guide but if you run in to a problem and have voided your warrenty your SOL

[KenAF]

Note Verizon now offers MCARDs in most areas, eliminating the need for a second CableCard on the TivoHD.

You buy a TivoHD for the superior guide data (=reliable recording), storage expansion, and more mature software.  You do not buy a TiVo to save on monthly fees.

After accounting for Verizon's taxes, the TiVo monthly fee plus the $3.99/mo M-CARD fee works out to about the same $15.99/mo as the Verizon DVR.  But you've still got the $200-$250 to purchase, plus the $100-$110 cost of a 1TB drive upgrade.  Reliable recording with ~160 HD hours of capacity is worth an extra $350 to folks like me, but others are perfectly content with 20 HD hours.

You could save a few dollars per month over the Verizon DVR by prepaying for a year of TiVo service, or purchase a lifetime subscription to avoid the TiVo fees, but at the amount you'd save, it would take years to pay off the purchase price.

Message Edited by KenAF on 01-27-2009 04:09 AM

[SQUIDWARD360]

Don't forget about the $79 installation charge from Verizon.

[KenAF]

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@SQUIDWARD360 wrote:
Don't forget about the $79 installation charge from Verizon.

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Right, any truck roll that does not involve a problem after the first 30 days will cost you $79.

Customers can avoid that fee for the first 30 days after installation, so if you decide you don't like the FiOS DVR, and want a TiVo, you should make that decision fairly soon.

[vectorizer]

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@KenAF wrote:

Right, any truck roll that does not involve a problem after the first 30 days will cost you $79.

Customers can avoid that fee for the first 30 days after installation, so if you decide you don't like the FiOS DVR, and want a TiVo, you should make that decision fairly soon.

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Is it possible to add, change, or remove a FiOS DVR yourself? Or is any change a $79 truck roll?

When I was with Comcast (same DVRs), I added one DVR and swapped another myself, by going to a local physical Comcast storefront who issued and accepted equipment. Hadn't wanted to change anything since I got FiOS, but was starting to go down the road to attempt to order a 7xxx series (for a couple of reasons), and just assumed I could put it in myself.

[KenAF]

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@vectorizer wrote:

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@KenAF wrote:

Right, any truck roll that does not involve a problem after the first 30 days will cost you $79.

Customers can avoid that fee for the first 30 days after installation, so if you decide you don't like the FiOS DVR, and want a TiVo, you should make that decision fairly soon.

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Is it possible to add, change, or remove a FiOS DVR yourself? Or is any change a $79 truck roll?

When I was with Comcast (same DVRs), I added one DVR and swapped another myself, by going to a local physical Comcast storefront who issued and accepted equipment. Hadn't wanted to change anything since I got FiOS, but was starting to go down the road to attempt to order a 7xxx series (for a couple of reasons), and just assumed I could put it in myself.

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You can add or remove a Motorola box without a $79 truck roll because Verizon will ship you a STB/DVR and/or send you a shipping label to return an existing STB/DVR.  For some reason, Verizon will not ship CableCards.

[Stew]

I have to believe it's all about what a person's pain threshold is. I'm really not into dealing with problems with my guide or wonder if my small capacity DVR is going to record the shows I want. I've probably spent an additional 200 - 250 over the past three years because I have a TiVo. In those past three years, I've had zero problems with anything. I'm one happy individual.

[MoopMeep]

Does Comcast have a special deal with Tivo? Can nobody else have tivo? I am wondering why verizon or other cable companies don't have them. I think the comcast tivo is a motorola box, so I wonder why motorola doesn't just buy them. Well I guess motorola is having problems with money.

I like on-demand on fios but I am wondering if netflix and amazon movies on tivo are just as good? 

[aaronwtfios1]

I have four TiVos on FIOS with eight cable cards. Even if FIOS offered me their DVRs for free and free programming I wouldn't take it. The FIOS DVRs don't come anywhere close to the TiVos.