Status Good Standing

[CPotato]

I recently picked up a used SVR2000 standalone tivo from a sale from some at work who is moving. How can I tell if it has a lifetime subscription or a monthly sub on it... I checked the system info and it reads account in good standing.. Also I believe its waiting to dial in?

should I let it dial in so I can use and get guide?

thanks

[tivowatcher]

I believe if it is a lifetime subscription it will say so in the System Information screen.

I think "good standing" is what it says when it is just on a month-to-month.

Not dialing in *will* cause problems inthat you will get warning messages from the unit saying it needs to dial in. I can't recall, but I think when it goes too long, you can't use the unit at all.

I would assume that once the month is up, dialing in will not get you any more guide data, and you'll be more or less done.

If you really aren't sure - call the TIVO support line and ask.

Further, pay the couple of bucks per month (or the lifetime if you can) - it is worth it. Trying to import guide data seems (from what I've read in this forum) to simply not be worth it. Besides, we do need to support the TIVO folks, right?

Cheers

[echo]

Ok, can someone explain this. I bought a SA tivo which shown the tivo's account status ( 5 LIFETIME ) on the tivo system info when I first plugged in althought the unit has a sticker on the back says RENEWED. But after I made a daily call to tivo HQ for the new data guide update then the unit switch to ( 2 Not setup, 5 days left call tivo to activate ) on it's account status. What happen? Do I need to call tivo to activate the unit again? I thought it's already have a Lifetime and all I need to do is to make a daily call to tivo. Advice please.

[mrblack51]

Originally posted by echo
Ok, can someone explain this. I bought a SA tivo which shown the tivo's account status ( 5 LIFETIME ) on the tivo system info when I first plugged in althought the unit has a sticker on the back says RENEWED. But after I made a daily call to tivo HQ for the new data guide update then the unit switch to ( 2 Not setup, 5 days left call tivo to activate ) on it's account status. What happen? Do I need to call tivo to activate the unit again? I thought it's already have a Lifetime and all I need to do is to make a daily call to tivo. Advice please.

well, there are lots of ways to make a tivo claim that it has lifetime service (that indication is a side effect of fixsub's privacy functionality). unfortunately, there is basically nothing that you can do, other than attempt to get your money back, if tivo says it has no record of lifetime for that box

[echo]

Originally posted by mrblack51
well, there are lots of ways to make a tivo claim that it has lifetime service (that indication is a side effect of fixsub's privacy functionality). unfortunately, there is basically nothing that you can do, other than attempt to get your money back, if tivo says it has no record of lifetime for that box

OK, I understand that. but the person I bought the tivo from didn't say anything about the unit has a Lifetime sub. I found that out myseft when I power it up. I presume the tivo has never been hacked because the original void warrenty sticker is still on the unit and it didn't seem like the unit have been tampered before. Other then that, Can this tivo was once owned by someone with a lifetime sub paid then returned it to Tivo for an exchanged because of the unit's modem failure? Cause that what happen when I try to call out and the tivo's modem doesn't work so I end up using an external modem to make daily call to tivo. Now if this is a factory RENEWED unit from tivo then why would it has a Lifetime sub on the account status once I power up? I also recall the unit have not make a daily call for 8 months before I made the call. Could this be the unit have not make a daily call for so long and Tivo start to deactivate the account until the owner call tivo to activate the unit again by phone? :confused:

[mrblack51]

there are lots of things that could have occured. for example, if it was sent to have the modem repaired, the wouldnt necessarily have reformatted the hard disk, leaving whatever was there. bottom line, if it says its not a lifetime unit once it dials up, then its not lifetime.

oh yeah, on some sa s1 units, you could hack the unit via serial without opening it via the diagnostic menus

[echo]

Ok, That does clear up my presumption about a tivo's Lifetime sub. Now I know that there is no way to tell if a tivo has a legit lifetime sub until the unit makes a daily call to Tivo HQ. There is one more question I would like to ask, why is it the tivo still has all the season pass from the previous owner? I mean the tivo can still record shows from it's season pass that had saved by the previous owner. If the unit is not currently activate then why is it still keeps recording from the season pass? Thanks.