A few more reviews

[falcon26]

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-20001128-1.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/25/AR2010032500179.html

http://www.wired.com/reviews/product/pr_tivo_series4?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wired%2Findex+%28Wired%3A+Index+3+%28To p+Stories+2%29%29&utm_content=Google+Feedfetcher


So their are some reviews that like it...

[TrueTurbo]

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-20001128-1.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/25/AR2010032500179.html

http://www.wired.com/reviews/product/pr_tivo_series4?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wired%2Findex+%28Wired%3A+Index+3+%28To p+Stories+2%29%29&utm_content=Google+Feedfetcher


So their are some reviews that like it...

This is excellent! Thanks for finding them. The doom and gloom pessimists in this forum were beginning to spoil my Karma. True TiVo fans know the potential of the Premiere and will invest. There simply aren't any other DVRs out there that can match the TiVo experience. :D

[patatrox]

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-20001128-1.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/25/AR2010032500179.html

http://www.wired.com/reviews/product/pr_tivo_series4?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wired%2Findex+%28Wired%3A+Index+3+%28To p+Stories+2%29%29&utm_content=Google+Feedfetcher

So their are some reviews that like it...

I'm not sure that I'm allowed to write my own review, but the doom and gloom I'm seeing in the forums really throws me for a loop after using the new box - it is still the BEST experience you will ever ever ever have with a DVR.

Here is my mini-review: I love it.

[jdgarrido]

I'm Glad to read your user review, experts sometimes over think things and criticize more than needed to save themselves. :)

[davezatz]

the doom and gloom I'm seeing in the forums really throws me for a loop after using the new box - it is still the BEST experience you will ever ever ever have with a DVR.

What other DVRs have you spent significant time with? Anything is better than SARA. But the various widgets, multi-room features, mobile clients other platforms offer aren't bad. There's no perfect DVR for everyone, we're at a place where it's going to depend on what you want. For me, the CCI Byte has killed TiVo's multi-room viewing. (I think Time Warner, Cox, and Brighthouse cable customers suffer. There may be others.) So something like Moxi, FiOS, or Media Center is a better solution. Not sure if U-verse multiroom does HD yet. For now I'm doing nothing. My S3 is the bedroom and the THD is in the closet. We'll see what things look like in a few months.

[patatrox]

What other DVRs have you spent significant time with? Anything is better than SARA. But the various widgets, multi-room features, mobile clients other platforms offer aren't bad. There's no perfect DVR for everyone, we're at a place where it's going to depend on what you want. For me, the CCI Byte has killed TiVo's multi-room viewing. (I think Time Warner, Cox, and Brighthouse cable customers suffer. There may be others.) So something like Moxi, FiOS, or Media Center is a better solution. Not sure if U-verse multiroom does HD yet. For now I'm doing nothing. My S3 is the bedroom and the THD is in the closet. We'll see what things look like in a few months.

Media Center (Xbox 360 extender, Linksys extender, and direct connection to VGA in on TV), Myth, various cable company DVRS (Comcast, Rogers, Cogeco, Shaw although they're all similar). I've only spent a few minutes with Moxi. That said, I haven't been hit by the CCI byte issue being on Comcast. (at least on any shows I've noticed)

I have at least 2 older family members (who will remain unnamed) who I at one point tried to setup MCE for. It was just too much hassle for people who didn't care to leave a computer on (or spend much time with one). The standard cable company DVRs were just too difficult for them to use. I know this may sound all magical, but TiVo turned TV viewing into an experience for them.

TiVo does a superb job (in my opinion) and provides an unmatched experienced that I think satisfies both the techy and non-techy TV watchers.

I'm not saying it's perfect or without faults, but nothing else I've seen comes even close to being to pry it from my hands.

Self-serving edit while I know you're reading this
I'm counting on you to keep us up to date on developments in http://www.zatznotfunny.com/2010-03/replacing-the-cablecard-regime/

[propeciakid]

This is excellent! Thanks for finding them. The doom and gloom pessimists in this forum were beginning to spoil my Karma. True TiVo fans know the potential of the Premiere and will invest. There simply aren't any other DVRs out there that can match the TiVo experience. :D

I still look forward to the new box but I'll really disappointed by the interface speed. I know it will improve in time but in the videos the seems the same as the Series 3.

[innocentfreak]

I have at least 2 older family members (who will remain unnamed) who I at one point tried to setup MCE for. It was just too much hassle for people who didn't care to leave a computer on (or spend much time with one). The standard cable company DVRs were just too difficult for them to use. I know this may sound all magical, but TiVo turned TV viewing into an experience for them.

TiVo does a superb job (in my opinion) and provides an unmatched experienced that I think satisfies both the techy and non-techy TV watchers.


While I somewhat agree with this, since the experience is the same for me with my parents which even my father still raves about the TiVo I forced him to get. The problem is they haven't done anything to improve the basic features for users to really put it above the cable DVRs. I still have to explain to my mom why a show didn't record, which is because she didn't go in and change the priority of the shows.

This is something TiVo should be doing for us at this point or at least walking you through the best order based off options it gives you when you add a show that will conflict. Instead it does nothing and leaves you to fend for yourself about figuring out the best order for your shows so that you are sure to record everything you want.

[aaronwt]

The TiVo has no way to know the best order for the season passes to be in. Only the individual user can decide that. The last thing I would want is for the TiVo to be making those decisions.

[innocentfreak]

I am saying more that it presented a basic mode that walked the user through organizing the season passes. You wouldn't be forced to do it this way, but it would be an option you could turn off in settings similar to suggestions. I am not saying TiVo would make the choices for you, but would instead sort the options based off how you responded.

For example using a single tuner just to make the example easy, if you setup a recording for Flash Forward tonight nothing would happen. If you then setup a season pass for Community, it would then prompt you for which show you would rather normally record. Based upon your selection it would then sort the shows in the appropriate order. The process if the option was enabled would prompt you anytime a conflict came up.

I know with having multiple TiVos this is somewhat less of an issue, and TiVo could also easily solve this with more tuners per box or networked tuners. How do you organize all your season passes on all your TiVos?

I guess I am just sick of doing it after 10 years and wonder why they haven't come up with a better option. If I can sit and figure it out with the guide data in front of me, either TiVo or on TiVo.com there should be an easy way to do it when it has access to the same guide data if not more. This is especially true when I visit my parents and they ask me to fix theirs. Trying to remember what shows are on what night while organizing the season passes is a huge pain so you can get your favorite shows while also not missing shows because of it is a pain.

[davezatz]

I have at least 2 older family members who I at one point tried to setup MCE for. It was just too much hassle for people who didn't care to leave a computer on (or spend much time with one). The standard cable company DVRs were just too difficult for them to use.

Knowing what you know and/or have seen of the old and new interfaces, assuming they upgrade their hardware at some point, which would you have them use? I do appreciate the power user filters and additional info displayed in the new UI, but wonder if it'd be a distraction for that generation and if they'd prefer the simpler, older UI. Wonder if it'll be offered indefinitely.

(I bought my mom, mid 60s, a Series 2 at one point with a year sub. She never really embraced it and the TiVo was unplugged before the sub was up.)

[patatrox]

Knowing what you know and/or have seen of the old and new interfaces, assuming they upgrade their hardware at some point, which would you have them use? I do appreciate the power user filters and additional info displayed in the new UI, but wonder if it'd be a distraction for that generation and if they'd prefer the simpler, older UI. Wonder if it'll be offered indefinitely.

(I bought my mom, mid 60s, a Series 2 at one point with a year sub. She never really embraced it and the TiVo was unplugged before the sub was up.)

I imagine you're in the same situation as I, being the "hardware guy" for your parents. :) If they're good they'll get a Premier for Christmas or earlier.

Mom without a doubt will prefer the new UI and changes with more access to IMDB style information. Dad will like the new look, but I have a feeling he'll switch back to the Classic menus when no one is looking as he really only cares about the shows he watches.

I'm fairly certain (although I have no inside information) that the Classic UI is not going anywhere for those who prefer it as it would need to be maintained for previous generation models that are not Flash UI capable.

Edit: I meant my parents might get a Premiere, I'm not buying one for anyone else's parents (unless there are cookies involved)

[innocentfreak]

I know you didn't ask me, but in my case my mom, mid 60s, is getting my TiVo HDs. She is used to the DirecTivo interface so the new one would just confuse her more especially since she wouldn't use any of the new features. These are to replace the FiOS DVRs she has been using for a couple months since switching from Directv to FiOS, and she absolutely hates the FiOS DVR.

[SafariKC]

Why does every review keep calling out that the search UI in the Tivo Premiere is "new"?

It's been around for over a year on the Series 3 and works exactly the same (just not in flash) to find content across Netflix, Amazon, TiVo, etc. Discovery bar and all.

Do the reviewers not have a Series 3 and use the built in Search?

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=415463

KC