Tivo - Do you have to have the service for it to continue recording?

Question

I love my Tivo (Series 2) but I don't see the need to keep the service as I record everything based on time and channel. I talked with a Tivo Customer Service rep a while back and he said that the Tivo would stop recording shows if I didn't continue to subscribe to their monthly service. I think he was lying to me so that I would continue to use the service. I wanted to see if anyone has a Tivo and uses it successfully without the monthly service? Does not getting the service updates cause the Tivo to stop working?

Answer 1

I'm afraid the CS rep was right. It is the subscription service that allows you to record. If you don't pay, you will still be able to watch TV on your satellite or cable service, but you won't be able to record anything.

Answer 2

I don't have one, but I believe if you stop paying for the service, the shows won't record by name because the TiVo can't look up the times, but if you use it like an old-school VCR and record by times, I think it is still supposed to work.

Answer 3

If you don't have the Tivo service you can not record shows. I know because my friend stopped his service and now he can't record shows.

Answer 4

bypass into the channel concepts and uncheck each and every channel aside from one you in no way watch. in case you truly need to get to artwork, you should hook up a bunny ears antenna and set up the tivo to checklist from that. i do no longer advise unplugging it once you do no longer watch it because'll harm the no longer common stress.

Answer 5

yes for example if they have a prepaid account paid up
you could go to the person who owned it if the account is still good and get updated once a week or via internet--its the account thats what makes it work