Recover stored shows off S1 and S2 Tivos not connected for years?

I have two Tivo HD and 1 Series 1 that have not connected in some time (well over a year or two). I have some old Austin City Limits shows on there I want to try to transfer to some of my newer Tivos. I connected a Tivo HD yesterday and it ran a long update and guided setup. But on the other end of that the recordings were all gone. I just spent a half hour on the phone with Tivo support, and they are saying there is basically no way to recover my programs. Is this right? Thank you.

Recover stored shows off S1 and S2 Tivos not connected for years?