Started with Primestar in 1995 grandfathered, they must buy out equipment to get tivo

[kndlindsey]

We started with primestar in 1995, got moved to directv in 1999. Found out 2 years ago we were granfathered in. We called them up to tell them that Dish had pitched us a great deal with more boxes and we wanted a better offer from them.

They offered us a free Tivo but said if we did we would have to buy them out and own all the equipment. We have rented since primestar and don't want to own the equipment.

They wanted me to pay $35/box and we passed. Instead we got 3 more boxes along with the new dish and multiswitch to work with it.

Since we are grandfathered i only pay $4.99 for the first box, rest are free for programming and all are covered under rental plan.

Is there a way around this? I want to get the DTV tivo but i don't want to buy them out or own.

I have not done a lot of research on the tivo vs. dtv tivo but am i right in understanding that a regular tivo will not be able to decipher the dtv digital signal?

Any options, suggestions?

 

[Darin]

$35 for a TiVo is a steal. You can ebay them for much more. When you talk about decipering the dtv signal, you mean a stand-alone tivo taking a DirecTV input directly? If so, no... a stand-alone TiVo requires analog inputs from whatever your source is (in this case, a standard DirecTV receiver). The recorded quality is not as good, as it has to be re-compressed into digital. It also won't record the DD signal that a DirecTV TiVo will, and doesn't have the ability to record two shows at once. and it costs a LOT more than $35, and requires a higher monthly fee.

I just can't see why you are opposed to buying a DirecTV TiVo for $35... it's the cheapest and best solution if you want a PVR.

 

[kndlindsey]

misunderstood the tivo was free but i had to give up my rental status

They would give me the dtv tivo, but i had to pay $35/box times 4 boxes then lose my granfathered status and pay a $5 month insurance/protection plan on the equipment.

I am not sure if i would have to also pay $5/month per box for programming which i dont pay now, i just pay $5/month for the first box and currently have five boxes.

I guess I should ask: if i go ahead and get the tivo and change from rental to ownership besides the $5 protection plan(and is that just $5 or per box?) would I now have to pay $5/box for programming on each box beyond the first one?

 

[Darin]

Oh, I get it now. Yes, under current (non-grandfathered) plans, you pay $4.95 per box beyond the first box for mirroring fees. And unless you get Total Choice Premiere, you pay another $4.95 for TiVo service (it's waived with Premiere). But that's a single monthly charge, not per TiVo. A stand-alone TiVo is something like $12/month, per TiVo.

I guess you need to find out exactly what would cause you to lose grandfather status. Since you were able to get three more boxes, apparently just adding receivers doesn't do it. It's odd that the fact that one of your receivers is a TiVo would. Is it because they're giving you a deal on the TiVo, or does the simple activation of a TiVo onto your account take you out of grandfather status? If it's the former, just go to BB or Circuit City - sometimes you can get a good deal on them for $50 or so, then activate it yourself. If possible, you need to get written confirmation of the rules of your grandfather status.

 

[kndlindsey]

The way they put it just adding the Tivo service would take away my grandfather status but it's been a year since i spoke with them, think i will give them another call and see what's cooking. will post in case this info can help anyone else.

 

[mini1]

I am surprised to hear that DirecTV is still allowing someone to rent. I have heard from many people that DirecTV forced them to buy their recievers after they took over for PrimeStar, and discontinued the rental program.

 

[lowjeep]

Actually all former primestar customers are allowed to rent unless they choose to own their equip. But once the acct is changed to ownership it cannot be reversed. As far as I know the buy out feature is now just a simple matter of changing the acct type from rental to ownership. You do not have to actually pay for the recievers you currently have D* just gives them to you. You will still be able to be grandfathered in for the mirroring fee you currently pay. So the only thing you would have to pay in addition to your current bill is the tivo fee of $4.99/month. Depending on how much you pay for rental fees right now that would be removed upon acct type change, you might actually end up saving money. BTW the protection plan is $5.99 if you have standard recievers or $7.99 if you have an advanced reciever such as hd or a tivo.

Almost forgot, the reason your acct would have to be changed from rental to ownership is because D* does not offer rental of advanced products only purchase and you cannot have owned equip and rented equip actv on the same acct.

 

[minorthr]

It sounds to me like they allowed you to add 3 more boxes right? and you got to keep the rental program and you are only paying a $4.95 mirror fee on one box. Why not go to Circuit city or best buy and buy a DirecTv Tivo and install it yourself. I think they are selling for $45 after rebate. You would just be adding another receiver. Granted unless you have total choice premium you will have to pay $4.95 for the Tivo service but thats just one more $4.95 not $4.95 per tivo.