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TiVo recently reduced both the rates they charge for monthly service (yay!) and the rebates on new boxes (boo!). But all in all, we like the changes. People generally really hate their monthly fees, and would rather pay a bit more upfront. So this is a good thing.

Another upside here is that service for Series3 units goes down, and they don’t have a rebate, so for Series3 purchasers, it’s only good.

So the new rebate is $170 for 540 units (very hard to find, single tuner) and $150 for the Dual Tuner and DVD units (the rebate on the DVD TiVos works with either monthly service, or the lifetime service that is still available for those units).

The new service pricing is laid out in full here. The service goes to down to as low as $8.31/month if you prepay for three years ($299).

For the last few months, TiVo has allowed owners of the
new Series3 TiVo to transfer lifetime service from another TiVo to a Series3 for $199. Under the deal, TiVo will transfer lifetime service from any TiVo (standalone or DIRECTV DVR with TiVo) and they’ll give you a year of service on the box you’re transfering from (if it’s a standalone).

The deal deadline had been 12/31, but was extended to 1/31. Transfers must be made by 3/2/07.

Today is 2/1 and we haven’t yet heard that the deadline will be extended again.

We also don’t know if TiVo will start asking for copies of receipts showing a purchase date of 1/31…it’s pretty tough to do that when you’re taking orders for lifetime service transfers by phone.

For the time being, we cannot guarantee that purchases of our Series3 boxes will be eligible for the transfer, however, we will give you a no-risk way of trying. Here’s how:

If you purchase a Series3 TiVo from weaKnees in February, 2007, upon request we will provide you with your TiVo service number IN ADVANCE, so that you can transfer service. We will also put your order on a 48-HOUR hold, giving you the chance to cancel with no penalty if you are unable to transfer service. We will release your order for immediate shipping once we hear from you, or if we don’t hear from you, we’ll ship 48 hours after purchase. If you choose to cancel within that 48-hour period, your credit card will not be charged.

To request your TiVo service number, simply place your order online or by phone (888-932-5633). Then email us with the subject “Series3 TSN Request” and in the body of your email, include your order number. We will email back your TiVo service number. Then call the TiVo transfer line at (866) 424-8486 to complete the transfer.

If we hear about another official change in policy, we will post it on the Blog.

2007 CES News

Here’s our roundup of some things we learned at CES this year:

-TiVo and Comcast show a demo
After quite a bit of work, TiVo and Comcast engineers have a prototype Comcast DVR running the full TiVo OS on top of a layer of middleware. Apparently, Comcast will be shipping a new TiVo peanut style remote to customers who make the switch. The software will be fully downloaded via the cable and no technician visit will be needed. We’re not sure at this point if upgrades will be available.

-TiVo and Roxio roll out Mac TiVoToGo
Finally, after many months of delays, the Mac client of TiVoToGo is available. But it’s a bit strange in execution. TiVo partnered with Roxio to make this software, and Roxio rolled it into the Mac version of Toast 8. Amazon sells Roxio Toast 8 Titanium for $77.99 and there’s a $20 rebate if you own an older version. Finally!

-TiVo and Rhapsody from Real
This one is pretty cool. You can get a Rhapsody subscription from Real and then use it on your TiVo. Rhapsody allows you to basically use the entire Real library on a monthly basis ($14.99/month – over 2 million songs available, and also a free trial available). So you can use your TiVo to browse through all of the music they have available, and then play it. If you have your TiVo attached to your home entertainment system, this is a great way to get exactly the music you want, when you want it. This requires a Series2 or later TiVo with an internet connection.

-THX Highlights TiVo in the THX Booth
As shown in a picture in an earlier post, THX considers the new TiVo Series3 a crown jewel. Their booth centered on a mock living room, anchored by a TiVo Series3 HD DVR, and hosted by TiVoShanan. And the proof is definitely in the pudding here – the sound output of the unit is excellent, and the noise emitted from the unit itself is virtually non-existent. Our upgraded units are also especially quiet as we exclusively use the Seagate DB35 drives in our 500 GB and 750 GB versions.

-LG Shows a combo HD-DVD and Blu-ray Player
Not directly related to TiVo, but something that many TiVo users care about, LG has announced a unit that may take some of the guesswork out of the HD DVD format war. Like the Beta v. VHS war of long ago, there are two consortiums competing to bring you DVDs in High Definition format. Brushing aside all of the hype and even the technical differences, the LG unit basically just plays both types of discs without a problem. Our hope is that if this helps speed adoption of HD DVD players, more HD DVD movies will come out. Right now, it seems the industry is stuck in paralysis between the formats.

-Random Notes
Beyond that, the rumors are out that a 1 Terabyte drive for DVRs will be out sometime next summer (of course, these dates always seem to slip), that TiVo has some cool new projects that they’re working on, that HR10s may find their way to WeaKnees’ shelves again . . . TiVo is planning to spend big-time on some real advertising this year.

And having had a look at a bunch of other DVRs out there, we can categorically say that the TiVo interface is still the best. And it’s leaving the competition in the dust.

I know I promised a more complete roundup of events here at CES, but I have one more quick post before that happens. It seems that TiVo is a really important step forward for THX. TiVo graciously “lent” Shanan to the THX booth for demonstrations. They dedicated their prime position to a home theater room spot-lighting the TIVo Series3. It looked great, and sounded great. I’m sold.

Just in from the Seagate booth, the WeaKnees upgraded 750 GB super-quiet Series3 TiVo tops the stack of DVRs on display.

We’ll have a roundup of other info when we have some more time, but we’re pretty sure good things are in the works over at TiVo.