So I've heard that you can use a TiVo Series 2 as a normal DVR without having to get a subscription (so you just program everything in) as long as the tivo doesn't dial in and see that the sub has been canceled. My girlfriend found a S2 at the Goodwill, so we bought it. We got it home and hooked it up. On the account settings page, it says that it's subscription is active and in good standing. On the Now Playing screen there are a ton of manually recorded (pre programed) shows (it was showing the channel name instead of the show title, and the recordings were for blocks of time rather than for certain shows) so I am assuming that the tivo was being used exactly how we want to use it. The only issue we are having is when we try to watch live TV we get a blue screen that says there is a problem displaying the Live TV and recommends a few things (none of which work). Any suggestions? And "no" we cannot afford a subscription right now, so that's not a suggestion

Nevermind, I figured it out. Apparently the people before were using a different hookup than we were using. Once I went in and reset the video source, it works fine now.

this is interesting. can you give more info on how it works?

if i buy a new one subscribe to one month and then disconnect from the internet. would that work also?

You'll get a lot of nagging messages after the guide data runs out as well.

Well, basically the TiVo works only as I described. The extra features (the channel guide, season passes, recording by program name) are all disabled. The only way to use it the way we have it set up is to manually program in date/time and channel (Just like a VCR). Alot of people will call this "Cheating TiVo", but I found a post from a TiVo response saying that the subscription is only for the added feature, and "you will have to manually record without a subscription". If I can find the forum/post where it was posted, I'll copy it here.

So ya, it'll be a pain, but at least we can record until we can get a subscription.

Probably not since when you buy a new one, you have to subscribe for a month (pay full price for the TiVo), a year (pay a reduced price for the TiVo) or 2 years (pay a very reduced price or get the TiVo for free).