Tuned In

The Morning After: In Which My TiVo Dies, Yet Again

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What did you watch on TV last night? I watched my TiVo die on me, before my eyes! Again! It was riveting!

If you’re a follower of this blog, you know that I have a love-hate relationship with TiVo. Love it when it’s working. Hate it when it’s not. Which is too often. This makes the third TiVo Series 3 HD box to die on me—apparently a hard-drive problem this time—since I bought one two-and-a-half years ago. For 700 freaking dollars.

This box was a replacement I got just last December, after the previous one had a little electronic heart attack—which in turn led to a 12-plus-hour customer service marathon getting the new box working and some less-than-satisfying explanations from a TiVo executive. That time, TiVo gave me the number of an “executive relations” hotline if I had further problems. I just called it. It’s a wonderful service! It plays the most delightful hold music for you for about a minute, before abruptly disconnecting you.

I may be able to get some kind of warranty replacement. But at some point, customer loyalty becomes masochism, no? This may be the end of the line for me and TiVo. Anyone out there in Tuned Inland have a good or bad experience with cable-company HD DVRs? Good idea? Horrible mistake?

Or, So You Think You Can Dance was on last night. You could talk about that. I wish I was able to watch it.

[Update: Tivo is replacing the busted box, so I guess I’m staying in the fold for now, Here’s hoping this one beats the 10-month average! But I’m penciling June 2010 on my calendar just in case.]