Defective Tivo HD, UPS's fault?

[AlanBDahl]

On Monday I received my new Tivo HD but the idiots at UPS simply left it on the front porch in 30-degree weather even though I had left a note not to do that. I requested that they either leave it with a neighbor or re-try on Tuesday when I could be home and wait for them.

Because it was outside in the cold for anywhere from 3-10 hours I decided I would let it sit inside for a couple of days and warm up so there'd be less of a shock to the electronics. Made it through guided setup ok and scheduled a recording. I watched some of the show and then went back out to change some settings, then attempted to re-join the show. When I selected "play" the show never started, it just sat there with the Tivo background. I tried hitting the Tivo button to get to the main menu and it worked but this time the menu text displayed with nothing but a grey background! All the settings and menus worked but neither my recorded show nor any of the Tivo videos would play.

Once I rebooted all was fine but I noticed that when I started to play something there'd be a flash of screen garbage and loud static-y noise when the video started.

Thankfully Tivo is sending me a new unit, this time by FedEx so the clueless gorillas at UPS won't get their hands on it but it's frustrating to say the least. Be warned that if you're ordering from Tivo and live in a cold climate that you should request FedEx.

[ilh]

Do you think UPS and/or FedEx trucks are heated? Everything I get shipped via ground has been in a cold truck for 2+ days and nights. I can't see how sitting outside for a few more hours would make any difference.

[CrashHD]

Your only concerns are that it is warmed up to normal temperature prior to power-on, and condensation. Condensation would be the biggest worry, but even that is unlikely to cause a problem, given that the average house in winter this time of year is usually quite dry. An hour or two's warmup would have been more then adequate, so you handled it correctly.

UPS, FedEx, DHL, and USPS are all the same with regard to package care. It's the luck of the draw whether the people handling your package handle it with care, or not. The UPS guy that services my area is quite careful, but he's only the last UPS person to handle my packages along their delivery path. I hope the FedEx guy in your area is good ;)

[caddyroger]

I.m with ilh on this it been out in the freezing weather for days all ready. It probaly was a defective unit.
Fedex trucks are not heated ether so the unit that was sent by Fedexwill be in the freezing weather also.

[AlanBDahl]

Do you think UPS and/or FedEx trucks are heated? Everything I get shipped via ground has been in a cold truck for 2+ days and nights. I can't see how sitting outside for a few more hours would make any difference.

I guess that's reasonable so you're probably right, although I suspect that it was a lot more moist on my front porch than it would have been on a truck.

Hopefully the new unit will work fine and hopefully the FedEx guys will treat it well (I've never had a problem with them).

[joestan]

Was your tivo hd connected by HDMI, This sure sounds like a hdmi handshake issue to me,

[CrispyCritter]

I would agree. Neither of the problems of the OP necessarily meant a bad TiVo. The loss of the menu background after TiVo setup seems to be a common problem due to software, and the green flash an HDMI incompatibility. (It also could have been a bad TiVo; I'm just saying we can't tell from the info of the OP).