Just got my first Tivo...Disapointed on how slow the guide is.

[skyfreedom]

I love the Tivo alot thus far, however scrolling the channel guide is so slooooow :mad: . This my biggest disappointment!
This downside alone will make me, in a year, cancel my subscription :( . Are there any future plans to improve this?

[petew]

Are there any future plans to improve this?

Yes. You don't mention how long you've had your Tivo, which model you have or which software version you are running but the guide is something Tivo keep tweaking to try and improve useability.

[gonzotek]

Pete's right, couple of things to consider: if you've only just set up the TiVo within the last 24 hours, give it a day or two before making up your mind about the guide. A new tivo (or one that has been reset to a factory-like state) has a lot of initial housekeeping tasks that cause slowness in the interface. This generally clears up in a day or two. Also, the 540 series and dvd TiVo models are the slowest models, due to their chip architectures, a 64x(DT or Series3) or 240 series will always be faster than those. Also, there is a known overall slowness issue with software version 7.3.1. TiVo is beta testing a newer release and it should be out soon(ish) that will probably address that to some degree or other.

[jtlytle]

Are you using TiVo Grid or TV Guide Grid ? I find that TV Guide Grid is a lot faster.

[MikeMar]

who channel surfs?

just get a lot of season passes and watch all previously tivo'ed shows :)

[Lazlo123]

How do you determine if you're getting a 540 box or a 240? which one do they sell on tivo.com?

[skyfreedom]

I installed the tivo 2 weeks ago it should be updated already, right?
Its networked with ethernet and the model is 80-hour TiVo® Series2™ DT DVR (not sure the exact model #). The software version should be the latest i assume?

I use the TV Guide Listing, I like seeing what is comming up later on.

Dont get me wrong im loving it, but I the guide is way too slow.

[gonzotek]

How do you determine if you're getting a 540 box or a 240? which one do they sell on tivo.com?540's are the 'nightlight' models that have a white faceplate on light gray body. 240s are a uniform darker gray. They are no longer manufactured or sold by TiVo ( I think). It's possible that new-in-box 240s are still on store shelves somewhere in the country, but not very likely.

[gonzotek]

I installed the tivo 2 weeks ago it should be updated already, right?
Its networked with ethernet and the model is 80-hour TiVo® Series2™ DT DVR (not sure the exact model #). The software version should be the latest i assume?

I use the TV Guide Listing, I like seeing what is comming up later on.

Dont get me wrong im loving it, but I the guide is way too slow.You have the fastest Series2 TiVo currently available, and it should have finished its housekeeping quite a while ago. The software should be the latest, barring the beta software currently being tested. Both guides show what's coming up later, albeit in different ways. Here you can see both guide styles next to one another:
http://www.pvrcompare.com/tivo2images.html#SATivo2ChannelGuide.jpg

[skyfreedom]

Tivos grid style channel guide

This is the guide im talking about...

[petew]

Try restarting the box if you've never done so since buying it. There are reports that a reboot helps performance and lots of housekeeping runs on a new box. Once you've restarted give the tivo an hour or two to rebuild the TV Guide cache before evaluating performance.

Also as others have stated the new release currently in Beta Test is expected to help with performance.

[nirisahn]

Tivos grid style channel guide

This is the guide im talking about...


I use the other style, the 2 column. It's pretty fast. I found I like it better because you can see several hours at a glance for each channel, and you can page through, so if there are several channels in a row you don't watch (like cartoon channels all in a row) page down to the next set.

[davezatz]

I use the Grid Guide and it's too slow. Even on the S3 it takes time to draw, especially the HD logos. I hope and assume they can improve it.

[skyfreedom]

Yeah i hope Tivo fixes this. It reminds me of my old cable box guide. :down:

I bought a service plan for a year, but already not happy with the box. Turned off the Tivo recommandations, boy that pissed me off, having tivo record crap for me based on "recommendations" or whomever paid the most to be digitaly recorded to my Tivo. Plus since I got Netflix I find myself watching movies more than tv.

Ok ok i'll quit my ranting, damn Mcdonalds screwed up :mad: my breakfast this morning and the coffee was warm. :D

[Y-ASK]

Wait until Tivo Inc. takes over your Tivo box at 6 AM and changes the channel to record a commerical.

Y-ASK

Not really that big of deal unless you have kids that don't know what is happening and only know the channel changed while you're in the shower.

[davezatz]

Wait until Tivo Inc. takes over your Tivo box at 6 AM and changes the channel to record a commerical.

Not really that big of deal unless you have kids that don't know what is happening and only know the channel changed while you're in the shower.

My fiance' is inconvenienced by it by way of ME. I shower at 6ish and she watches TV in bed. Regularly (usually Wednesday mornings at that time) the commercials air and are recorded - in most households, maybe it's not such a big deal... but as a blogger I've forbidden her from changing the channel in case there's something useful there (she can watch recorded content). ;) She calls TiVoShanan either ShananTiVo OR my TiVo girlfriend and doesn't seem to care for KidZone commercials. Funny!

[classicsat]

I too find the grid guide slow, and the Live guide very useable.

The grid guide is there for patent reasons with Gemstar. I don't see why anybody would use it on the TiVo.

[petew]

Personally I only use the guide if Now Playing is empty, so not very often at all. I tend to browse upcoming TV on yahoo and use remoting scheduling for something that interests me.

[gonzotek]

The grid guide is there for patent reasons with Gemstar. I don't see why anybody would use it on the TiVo.It's funny, I feel that way about the Live Guide(although I realize it may be a minority opinion). I have tried to use the live guide and to do so effectively. Whatever the reason (personal mental block?) I cannot comfortably work with it. On the other hand, the grid guide, for me at least, 'just works'. Same goes for my fiance'. We're comfortable with it. As far as speed, the two units I have hooked up right now are a 240 and a DT and the speed of the guide in both has always been totally acceptable for us. The slowdown under 7.3.1 was noticeable, but not actually to the point of annoying us.

[jfh3]

I prefer the Live guide over the grid guide most of the time - it's significantly faster.

Even if the speed of the grid guide caught up, Tivo would have to redesign it to display more info on it before I'd use it on a regular basis. I thought the Live guide was the default?