Author: Michael

Yet another extension to the end date of lifetime subscriptions! Our TiVo standalone units are still able to get lifetime TiVo service until 4/15/06. You can’t subscribe the units online to get the lifetime service, you have to call TiVo and do it by phone, but you can do it until 4/15/06. Important note here: this doesn’t work for any units purchased bundled with service (which is pretty much the only way you can purchase them directly from TiVo at this point).

A couple of other details: lifetime will continue to be available for Humax units. Apparently, as part of the terms of the agreement between TiVo and Humax, TiVo has to continue to offer lifetime service for these units – again, by phone only.

Next: lifetime hasn’t been an option for the DirecTV TiVo combo units for several years. If you were one of the lucky ones to get it, you’ve got a nice deal because DirecTV now considers that to be a lifetime DVR service on your account, which covers all of the DVRs on your account (which normally costs $6/month at this point).

It seems that you can still activate Lifetime on your box – rumors are that there are a few more days to do so here:

www.tivo.com/activate

We’re doing our part – coupon code tivo50 still gives you $50 off any TiVo-branded 290 hour or larger unit here:

www.weaknees.com/tivo.php

Do it fast! We will email your TiVo Service Number after you order, and before we ship your unit, so that you can activate while you still can.

As many of you are aware, TiVo will stop offering its Lifetime Service option for TiVo Series 2 DVRs on or soon after today. Lifetime service is a great deal for TiVo owners: $299 instead of the other $12.95/month option. The $299 equates to 23 months of service at $12.95 each. So after 23 months, essentially your service is free. And, better yet, since the service is tied to the box, if you sell the box, the lifetime transfers to the new owner. So units with Lifetime are worth much more than others if you ever want to resell them down the road – in the past, they’ve pretty much been worth almost as much more as the lifetime purchase price, and that could even increase as it won’t be an option anymore.

Toward that end, at WeaKnees, if you order any unit that can currently get Lifetime service by the close of business today, we’ll email you your TiVo Service Number soon after the order is placed. This will enable you to activate your service and pay for Lifetime while you still can. To be clear: you must purchase by the end of the day today, and you must activate service within 30 days of purchase, according to our most currrent information from TiVo. And we’ll guarantee that.

In addition, if you order a 290 hour or larger unit, WeaKnees will take $50 off the price, with coupon code “TIVO50” at checkout. This coupon expires tonight, and applies to 290 hour or larger units here:

WeaKnees TiVo Page

Get it while it lasts! TiVo is pulling this option because it’s too good of a value to customers!

Coming soon to a TiVo near you: Undelete and Easy Delete.

TiVo has always encouraged its users to provide suggestions for future software versions. It even sponsors a forum for those who want to push their own pet “must have.”

One of the items that users have been clamoring for is a CTRL-Z (or Apple-Z for some of us) – the ability to bring back a program that was accidentally deleted, sometimes by a babysitter, sometimes by a two-year old who grabbed hold of a remote, sometimes by a spouse who “thought you weren’t interested in watching 24, sweetheart.”

Well, fight no more. If you have a standalone Series 2 TiVo DVR (i.e., a model starting with TCD, a Sony SVR3000 or a DVD player/burner with the TiVo service), your unit will soon automatically download software version 7.2.2.

This version of the software will create a new “Recently Deleted Items” folder, that will temporarily house the stuff that was tossed. So long as there is space available on your hard drive, you will be able to resurrect any program within that folder.

The software version also will create a one-key delete key, so that if you are in the Now Playing list, you can press clear and automatically delete a program without a confirmation screen. Makes sense, because if you blow it, you can simply head to the Recently Deleted folder and fix your mistake.

One interesting application of this new folder is a rather primitive, but plausible, way of gauging how much space you have left on your TiVo. Because the TiVo will remove items from the Recently Deleted folder first, you will not run out of recording space so long as you have items still stored in that folder. If you fear that you might be close, you can always count the number of hours stored in that folder to gauge roughly how much space you have left. This calculation can be difficult, though, if you are recording programming at different recording qualities. Up to four half-hour shows at basic quality will be wiped out with a single half-hour show recorded at best quality.