Every now and then, we just find a really, really creative solution to the problem of packing a TiVo. Like, really creative.
This week, we unpacked a box that had been packed in insoles. Good enough for a runner, good enough for a TiVo:
Back in February, a problem surfaced where many Series1 TiVos began having problems acquiring guide data. These units would hang at 12% with a message saying “failed while loading series.” As you can see from the comments in that post, people were not happy.
As the months went by without a fix, we started to investigate more carefully, and we found a way around the problem: a replacement hard drive.
We found that the problem wasn’t affecting all units, so once we found units that didn’t have the problem, we cloned the software to the units that did have the problem, and we found that it went away. The units started completing setup and acquiring guide data.
If you’d like to order a replacement drive that doesn’t have this problem, see our TiVo Upgrade page.
If you’d like us to reformat your drive with this software, see this page.
Announcing cheaper shipping options to Alaska and Hawaii, via USPS Priority Mail!
While we wish we could afford to extend our free shipping promotion to customers in Alaska and Hawaii, we just don’t have that much profit in sales to be able to pull that off (maybe that’s a good thing?).
But we are now shipping larger boxes to these two wonderful states via USPS, so that method can bring the costs down plenty. Further, we are adding in a subsidy to lower these rates even further by about as much as we spend on our free ground shipping promotion in the continental states, so AK and HI residents will get the benefit of that discount.
It’s all live in our shopping cart – add in your items and address and you’ll get a rate calculated live.
The TiVo HD (TCD652160) and the TiVo HD XL (TCD658000) are the second HD DVRs for cable that TiVo produced. They’re great units, and many customers bought lifetime service for theirs, which makes them valuable units.
Over the years, we’ve seen many, many of these units with a failure that results in a flashing green light, and no startup response beyond that at all. For years, we’ve been unable to fix this failure, but with some help from our friends in Australia, we’re now able to fix these – so far in pretty much all cases we’ve seen.
We’re very happy to have finally overcome this hurdle. This was, by far, the most common failure that we’ve seen that we hadn’t been able to fix. Our repair department is already able to fix 95%+ of the units that come in here – this brings us closer to our goal of 100%.
The process and the pricing for the fix works this way: you’ll start with our Series3 and Series4 TiVo Repair Program fee of $99.99. That includes labor for the diagnosis and testing of all parts, and also includes return shipping. Then, once we receive and test your unit, and assuming we find the problem in question, there will be an additional $79.99 fee for the parts and labor involved in this repair. So, potentially for $180, you’ll be salvaging a fantastic HD TiVo – and saving the costs of a new TiVo Roamio and lifetime fee, starting at about $600.
And if you’re in Australia and need your TiVo repaired, drop us a line and we’ll get you in touch with our friends down under.
Every now and then one of these comes into the office. I don’t really understand it – if you are at the post office anyway buying that additional $3.75 in metered postage, why the entire sheet of stamps? Any why rip off each at the perforation and stick them all back on?
Usually when we get one of these they have 30 different types of stamps on them – like raiding your change drawer to pay for something. But they’re always fun to see!
