Oops. Didn't get the memo. I knew it was too good to last.
If you have a non-pvr receiver you can probably pass, but any of the PVRs have hard drives which are much more susceptible to harm from jostling as well as hard disk failures NEED it (unless you plan on swapping them before the 1 year warranty runs out).
Even still, $5 is a good deal when you consider that I have 4 PVRs, including two Dishplayers that are on borrowed time as it is (I can't believe the hard drives are STILL going)