while checking dtv website this morning about hr34, noticed the dtv tivo is now available through dtv website. cost is $199 for anyone who is interested!
Talked to a rep today, and they will send it to existing customers for a "one time lease fee" of $149, but the current monthly lease fee will remain intact. I am torn about what to do. I am a long time Dtv customer (9 years) and held out on going to HD waiting for tivo (hey, what can I say, I love tivo), until last spring when baseball season started.. They did not charge me any one time fees for my current HD DVR box, which I am told by virtually everyone is superior to the tivo units. But, as I said, tivo is my thing, with the exception of the last 6 months, have had one either for traditional cable or for direct tv standard def since they first came out in the 90s. I'm comfortable with tivo, I've always liked it, and the features that aren't available compared to the Dtv HD DVR aren't important to me - i.e, whole house DVR - I only have one television in my house.. And since it took me until 2011 to get an HD TV at all, I'm certain that I won't be investing in a 3D television anytime soon. Bottom line is, tivo does what I want it to do, and I am comfortable with how it works and is designed, and I just plain like it. But.... $149, and then continued lease fees beyond that? I am okay with the tivo fee, they should get their cut I guess.. But I think I should be able to simply trade my current box in for a tivo box without a "one time" fee. Any advice? Maybe should just go back to cable, but I really like DirecTV, hence 9 years.
As someone who payed out of pocket to expand from a "free" HR22 initially installed as a new customer to a HR24,HR23,H25,& H24,I would say that upgrading to a THR22 for $149.00 seems reasonable. That'll probably be the cheapest price you'll find for the box initially. Solid Signal is offering the box for $199.00,& I'm sure that any other third party seller is offering the Directivo for basically the same price. You can wait a few months to see if Amazon or eBay offers the box for a cheaper price,but I think that $149.00 will be the lowest you'll get as a price. I'm sorry,but $149.00 seems like a "small price" to pay(if you have the money) to get the directivo box.
I was so happy to get rid of my Tivo Premiere and come back to the D* dvrs especially with the new UI. Laggiest POS ever and while Comcast is very good in this area that tivo box was terrible. I can't even imagine going back to one with even less features. To each his own though.