So I finally got through to TiVo world HQ and found out that the box — which I got for free, you may recall — has lifetime service. As in no fees. Ever.
Nonplussed is the word I think I want. Now to see if it works and what it can do.
<update to the update> It may be dead, with a bad drive. From what I can tell, a persistent screen of “Almost Done. Just a Few More Minutes” is a bad sign. My hunch is that warranty service is right out (it’s almost two years old, though it has been sealed in a box all that time, til today). Perhaps the holiday hardware sales will have to be leveraged here.
Or perhaps it’s something else.
More as it develops.