Do TiVo engineers look through these forums?

[missiontortilla]

I am just wondering if anyone knows if TiVo engineers actively look through these forums to see what kind of bugs people are experiencing, or what features people are looking for. It doesn't seem like there is a formal way to submit a bug or feature request to TiVo. Is posting something here the best way to do that?

[jfh3]

There are Tivo employees (including at least one engineer) that participate here on a fairly regular basis. They're kind of in a no-win situation when they participate here, but I'm sure they have a pretty good "read" of where things are.

The only "official" mechanism I know for anyone to report a bug is to call Tivo Customer Service and have them open up a case. If I see a bug that really bothers me or I think is potentially serious, I always call Tivo. I don't always convince the rep to get the report to engineering and I've never found out if any actually made it. Even if engineering doesn't see it, I'm sure someone summarizes data for them.

There is a web site where you can put in feature / suggestion requests, but I don't recall it off the top of my head. When I find it, I'll update (or maybe someone will beat me to it).

[moyekj]

Even though they won't/can't respond I bet there are Tivo engineers browsing the forums (beyond the ones blessed to post here publicly). Put yourself in their shoes - if you cared in the least about the software & hardware you worked on then wouldn't you be curious how it's fairing with your customers? Especially since you can get feedback "undercover" with no commitments to have to do or fix anything.

[mtchamp]

Everything posted in TiVo Community is monitored by TiVo, officially and unofficially.

[Dennis Wilkinson]

If they're anything like me (I'm a software developer), they do. I've always monitored the various public forums discussing the companies that I've worked for. The same was true of most of my coworkers.

Posting is another matter -- some places allow their engineers to post, but many (most?) don't. TiVo here has always had a small set of people who post.

I wouldn't assume that everything here gets monitored -- there's simply too much volume, and it would be challenging and error-prone to "scrape" the site with some automated process. If you've got a real problem, the right thing to do is to let support know.

[missiontortilla]

I am actually a software developer too. I have been pushing at the company I work at to get a forum but there are just so many other things we are working on that it keeps getting put off. I actually think it would be a great feedback mechanism. I have always been impressed with the volume of postings both here and at the Roku forums. (I am a Roku fan as well).