New Tivo Premiere missing network / broadband features (HDUI, VoD...)

[djnewlin]

I purchased a new Tivo Premiere directly from Tivo, and after 1 week, am still missing my Network/Broadband features (e.g., High Definition menus, Video on Demand, etc.).

I tried repeated attempts at setup, connecting to Tivo, rebooting, all to no avail...

I finally called Tivo, and they quickly told me that my box needed to be added to certain "Groups" at the Tivo servers. They said it would take 72 hours. It sounds like Tivo has a major backlog in provisioning new Permiere boxes to receive the Network/Broadband features from their servers.

This is especially frustrating given that I purchased it directly from Tivo. I expected it to arrive pre-activated (it was) and pre-provisioned (it was NOT).

I tried the unchecking and re-checking of the sharing/download boxes from my www.tivo.com account. This had no effect, and my TivoToGo never got to a,a,a, but rather transitioned from i,i,i (when boxes were unchecked online) and i,i,a when they were rechecked.

My System Information shows I am HDUI capable, but that the HDUI was not enabled. Again, more symptoms of not being provisioned at their servers.

Today, when I logged into my on-line tivo account, I now notice this message:
"...We're still processing your activation...", which is weird, since I was activated earlier in the week. Perhaps this is a sign of progress that I am finally being activated and provisioned for full network-based features.

[Leon WIlkinson]

I was in the same boat has you and many others it sounds like in the last 2 weeks http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=485933

I got full function when I got the first (How To Msg) from TiVo.

[mpf541]

I bought one one at Best Buy a week ago. It took several calls do tech support until I found a tech that knew what was wrong. And it seems that each one always says it will be 48-72 hours for the change to become effective. While mine is now finally working its hard to believe they can take my money and activate it right away but it can take several phone calls and days of waiting before it works right

[sharkster]

I'm surprised how they activate them (i.e. charge for service from that date), now, as soon as you buy them. I bought my Premieres directly from Tivo last month and they were activated as of that date, yet I didn't receive them until 10 days later. The warranties and everything started 10 days before I had possession of them.

It wasn't like that when I got my Series 2 Tivos.

[aaronwt]

I'm surprised how they activate them (i.e. charge for service from that date), now, as soon as you buy them. I bought my Premieres directly from Tivo last month and they were activated as of that date, yet I didn't receive them until 10 days later. The warranties and everything started 10 days before I had possession of them.

It wasn't like that when I got my Series 2 Tivos.

This was the same with my launch Premieres back in March 2010. I remember people complaining about it back then.

[dsnotgood]

Try a router reset and TiVo reset

[djnewlin]

Try a router reset and TiVo reset

I tried that, and still no network features. I'm going on 2 weeks now, which is unacceptable, imho...

Time to call Tivo again.

Sigh...

[lessd]

I tried that, and still no network features. I'm going on 2 weeks now, which is unacceptable, imho...

Time to call Tivo again.

Sigh...

I'm having the same problem with a Series 3 that has a service level of 5 lifetime and TiVo-to-go is at iii, I have unchecked the boxes on my account forced a few connections to TiVo than a day later checked the two boxes and made a few forced calls to TiVo, no TiVo-to-go. Called TiVo and was told to repeat what i had already done, grrr so i did it again and still no TiVo-to-go, I guess i have to call TiVo again, but now i know there is some problem at TiVos end.

[Bulldawg9908]

Are y'all on monthly subscriptions or lifetime?

I bought a second TiVo on 4/15 with a lifetime subscription, and I did not have this problem with it. (I have issues with the cable card, but that's something else.)

Sorry I don't have a solution, I'm just trying to figure out if it's only monthly subs that have this problem or if it's also lifetime subs.

[GoEagles]

I had the same thing happen to me, and I had to uncheck the sharing options, on the website, wait for the TiVo to acknowledge that they were unchecked with a status of i,i,i in the TiVoToGo options under System Information, and then recheck them again on the website. I had to reforce a connection and after SEVERAL reboots and forced connections, it finally worked. You will know it works when you see a,a,a in the TiVoToGo option.

If that doesn't, ask for second level support and see if you are opted in, and I was told something about Pre Tivo Service Messages, or PTSCM or something like that. Hope it helps.

[mpf541]

Check and make sure your tiro to go setting is a,a,a Any thing else it will not work and tiro needs to fix it on their end. It took me a few calls to get some one who knew how to escalate this to the people that could fix it.

[severe]

Had a similar issue this week. And then some.

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=486180

Giving it another go today, before a return. Leon's link looks helpful.

[djnewlin]

:rolleyes:

After 2+ weeks, my Tivo Premiere has its broadband features enabled (HD menus, VoD, etc.).

This was of course after numerous calls to Tivo support, where they would repeat that I was being added to the ever mysterious "Groups" and it would take "72 hours", done by their engineers, etc.

All of the checking and unchecking of sharing on the Tivo.com website was a complete waste of time. In the end, it all came down to when Tivo's technical staff got through their backlog of provisioning at their end.

The moral? If you love Tivo and are having this same problem, it *will* get resolved... It just may take up to 2 weeks and several calls. But it is a great box with great looking menus, and easy to use network features...

Oh, and btw... they gave me the entire month free of service - I didn't even have to ask...

[severe]

:rolleyes:

After 2+ weeks, my Tivo Premiere has its broadband features enabled (HD menus, VoD, etc...

Thanks for the update. I just got off the phone with CS. The rep confessed the issue was "a little more widespread than we care to admit." He was as helpful as could be, but still couldn't offer any estimation on how long it would take for me to be at 100%, and admitted it has taken longer than he would have thought.

He basically claimed to make sure I was on some list for the fix and gave an apology. So no real progress to report here.

He did mention that all of the checking and unchecking of sharing may or may not help, by the way. We both kind of laughed about it, as it's not achieved much for me.

[djnewlin]

Thanks for the update. I just got off the phone with CS. The rep confessed the issue was "a little more widespread than we care to admit." He was as helpful as could be, but still couldn't offer any estimation on how long it would take for me to be at 100%, and admitted it has taken longer than he would have thought.

He basically claimed to make sure I was on some list for the fix and gave an apology. So no real progress to report here.

He did mention that all of the checking and unchecking of sharing may or may not help, by the way. We both kind of laughed about it, as it's not achieved much for me.

Did they offer you the month for free? If they didn't, it is a virtual no-brainer and the least they can do after all of this hassle, imho...

[djnewlin]

I waited until my living room Premiere had its network-based features working, before I took the plunge on a 2nd Premiere for the Master Bedroom.

Well it arrived last night, and much to my (pleasant) surprise, it worked flawlessly! I did the guided setup, it connected to the Tivo servers and downloaded the "Service Update" (20.2.0a), restarted and finished guided setup, and voila! I didn't even have to pick HD menus, as it correctly auto-detected my HD TV capabilities via the HDMI.

Go figure... :D

[dsnotgood]

Thanks for the update. I just got off the phone with CS. The rep confessed the issue was "a little more widespread than we care to admit." He was as helpful as could be, but still couldn't offer any estimation on how long it would take for me to be at 100%, and admitted it has taken longer than he would have thought.

He basically claimed to make sure I was on some list for the fix and gave an apology. So no real progress to report here.

He did mention that all of the checking and unchecking of sharing may or may not help, by the way. We both kind of laughed about it, as it's not achieved much for me.


So still no HD menus? That's so strange.

[GoEagles]

Thanks for the update. I just got off the phone with CS. The rep confessed the issue was "a little more widespread than we care to admit." He was as helpful as could be, but still couldn't offer any estimation on how long it would take for me to be at 100%, and admitted it has taken longer than he would have thought.

He basically claimed to make sure I was on some list for the fix and gave an apology. So no real progress to report here.

He did mention that all of the checking and unchecking of sharing may or may not help, by the way. We both kind of laughed about it, as it's not achieved much for me.

Just offered a suggestion that actually worked for me and my Premiere Elite is up and running, HD menus and all.

[severe]

So still no HD menus? That's so strange.

I'm up!! 10 days later. djnewlin's experience was making me nervous it would be yet another week, but I made another call last night and the CSR told me an update had been sent overnight.

There were still none of the features, so we rebooted. Still nothing. He suggested waiting a little longer and I was having even more doubts, but after yet another forced connection everything was working. I spent the rest of the evening dialing things in, inculding pyTivo and the TiVo iPad app.

'twas glorious.

I ended up with a free month of TiVo service and a gift code for 3 months of Hulu Plus service. Keep in mind this was my second box in two weeks. The firsts setup process went smoothly and took only minutes, but its hard drive failed after just two days.

Just offered a suggestion that actually worked for me and my Premiere Elite is up and running, HD menus and all.

No offense intended, bud. No doubt it worked for you, and I made several attempts myself. It may have ended up working for me, I just found humor in the extent to which we were having to take things. I'd been willing to stand on one leg donning a tinfoil hat, if someone had given the suggestion.


Thanks.

[supie]

I have the same problem after several calls I am also on the list to be corrected by Tivo and now it has been 72 hours.

My question is when they finally do get you on the groups list do you have to keep forcing Network Connections?

Also do you have to uncheck Video Sharing and Video Downloads wait 2 hours, force Network Connections, then recheck Video Sharing Video Downloads wait 2 hours, force Network Connections, or does it update to a,a,a automatically?

[supie]

Update: Still having missing network/broadband features. Just got off the phone with Tech Support, originally they told me it would be 2 business days after it was escalated before the Tivo Level 3 Engineers could fix the Tivo Elite missing groups problem, (I am now at 3 business days) now they are say it will be 5 business days. (After 5 days they will tell me something else?)

After telling me the unit is now in the missing groups and trying more steps to get it working, waiting another two hours, updating networks, they now tell me the unit is not in the groups. I said since it takes 5 business days, it is obvious that are thousands of customers in the queue otherwise this process would not take so long, he did not deny that there are thousands in the queue. I explained that it is unreasonable that a company would make thousands of customers to go through this process.

I also explained that in my case, I have really been trying for over 30 days to get a new Tivo Elite working, since my first defective Elite (different issue) was purchased over a month ago and have been talking to Tech Support almost daily trying to solve the Technical issues. This made no difference, so when a Tivo customer has an ongoing problem Tivo really could care less.

Out of total frustration I asked to talk to a supervisor they would not allow that. I ask who I can talk to file a complaint; they said you have to mail it.

Question: Has anyone had any success filing a complaint and if so, to whom.

[severe]

Update: Still having missing network/broadband features...

Familiar story. I suggest requesting an RMA for the older box, before it may be too late. It should only be a few business days before you have a new box in your possession, albeit likely with new issues of its own.

As with the box having group issues, your guess is as good as mine. Took me 10 days and djnewlin more than 2 weeks. I'm afraid they seem to get to you when they get to you.

[djnewlin]

Familiar story. I suggest requesting an RMA for the older box, before it may be too late. It should only be a few business days before you have a new box in your possession, albeit likely with new issues of its own.

As with the box having group issues, your guess is as good as mine. Took me 10 days and djnewlin more than 2 weeks. I'm afraid they seem to get to you when they get to you.

This is good advice... Had I done this, I would have had a properly working Tivo Premiere 10+ days sooner than I eventually did (over 2 weeks). Plus it would have put a little hurt back into Tivo where it belongs, rather than with me. I base this on the fact that after my 1st Premierie finally was added to Groups and working correctly, I ordered a 2nd one and it worked flawlessly right out of the box...

[supie]

severe and djnewlin: Thanks for the advice, I already got an RMA for the older Tivo when I asked for a cross ship exchange. FYI Tivo gives you 30 days from date of recieving the new box to return the exchange. Now I am hoping the groups list issue will be resolved by tommorrow (5 business days) not up to 30 days???

[djnewlin]

severe and djnewlin: Thanks for the advice, I already got an RMA for the older Tivo when I asked for a cross ship exchange. FYI Tivo gives you 30 days from date of recieving the new box to return the exchange. Now I am hoping the groups list issue will be resolved by tommorrow (5 business days) not up to 30 days???

Supie,

What is the latest for you?

[supie]

Supie,

What is the latest for you?

DAY 7 – 5 BUSINESS DAYS: Friday, called still not working, the Tivo Tech called the Tier 3 Engineers, they told him to tell me that they have moved my case to a Priority One and it would be working within 24 Hours.

What he did not tell me is that the Engineers, don't work on weekends, so today is the day. ????

DAY 10 - 6 BUSINESS DAYS: Monday, I will believe it when I see it.

[supie]

Supie,

What is the latest for you?

DAY 11 - 7 BUSINESS DAYS, First Call - 74 Hours Since Told only 24 hours and in Priority One:
Called asked if the Missing Groups was fixed, answer “the Missing Groups has been mapped; he then said it is normal to take 24 Hours after mapping. (So even when they tell you Priority One means 24 Hours it is really 48 Hours, 24 to get it fixed and 24 to populate in the Tivo System after it is Mapped.)

DAY 11 - 7 BUSINESS DAYS, Second Call - 81 Hours Since Told only 24 hours and in Priority One:
Talked to another Tech, he contacted a Supervisor he told him they said it was re-added to the queue today it would be 48 Hours. When I asked about the mapping the previous Tech talked about 5 hours ago he said that is not the case. (You can now see they are just making these answers up) I asked to talk to a Supervisor, ended up talking to the same supervisor who told me 24 hours on Business Day 5. He told me he would try again to contact Tier 3 Engineers and plead my case, also he said that the Engineers are really slammed with this problem and it may still be more than 24 hours.

[severe]

DAY 11 - 7 BUSINESS DAYS...

Incredible. Sorry. I still can't wrap my around around the fact that it seems to be a case-by-case type of thing.

Is it some code that needs to be established/fixed? I wonder what it is exactly. And assuming it is case-by-case, why isn't there a group of individuals, with continuously brewing pots of coffee, working OT on the issue?

Waiting weeks for an fix that addresses what cripples these boxes is just unacceptable from such a large company.

[supie]

Incredible. Sorry. I still can't wrap my around around the fact that it seems to be a case-by-case type of thing.

Is it some code that needs to be established/fixed? I wonder what it is exactly. And assuming it is case-by-case, why isn't there a group of individuals, with continuously brewing pots of coffee, working OT on the issue?

Waiting weeks for an fix that addresses what cripples these boxes is just unacceptable from such a large company.

DAY 12 - 8 BUSINESS DAYS: SUCCESS IT FINALLY WORKS !!!

Conclusions:
1. The problems you might be having could be Missing Groups which can affect missing network, Multi Room Viewing, video downloads, broadband features (HDUI, VoD...).

2. Until your TivotoGo (under System Information) says a,a,a you will not be able to do Multi Room Viewing and/or the other features.

3. Once you try to uncheck video sharing and downloads, wait 2 hours, force Network Connections . . . then check video sharing and downloads, wait 2 hours, force Network Connections a couple of times then ask if there are Missing Groups, if there are ask to have the problem escalated to the Tier 3 Engineers.

4. Don’t accept that everything the Tech’s tell you is gospel. The next Tivo Tech you talk to verify the previous statements.

5. Call back every few days, ask if the Missing Groups are fix for my Tivo, and keep pushing the issue.

6. If they have not already escalated your case to a Priority One say that it is standard practice to elevate it by 5 Business Days.

7. If you need to transfer shows from another unit, figure 15 to 24 Minutes per hour @ 100mbs hardwired network. (This was S3 to Elite, speed may change depending on your network)

8. I believe you can see a pattern here? Whenever the customer calls, stall them by telling them … just a little longer. First 2 Business Days, 5 Days, 7 Days. 24 hours, 24 hours, 24 hours after mapping, 48 hours because it now in the queue, who knows what the next delay? They have a script as to what to say on day 1, 2, 5, 7, etc. or they are just making these answers up on the fly. Telling you what you want to hear each time, it will not be much longer.

What a load of crap that Tivo allows their customers to go through this !!!!

From the time of receiving the 1st box until I could use my Tivo Elite was 43 TOTAL DAYS to get a working Tivo Elite and the MRV to work. Since I could not get MRV to work I could not swap my cable cards from my first defective Tivo Elite to the second defective Tivo Elite.

Now I have 3 DAYS of Transferring 1TB of Shows ( . . . AGAIN . . . .) Reorganizing 71 Season Passes which are my year long Season Passes, Adding Wish lists, changing and setting up the Cable Card and other settings. Pack up and ship back the 1st Defective Tivo. Great Fun!

I have spent over 19 hours of my time on the phone and at the defective Tivo’s, trying to fix the problems and have to totally set up 2 new boxes to fix Tivo Problems that should have never happened.

[severe]

supie, did they offer you anything for all the trouble?

[supie]

supie, did they offer you anything for all the trouble?

Sorry for the delayed response, but I have been traveling.

No they did not, but I requested and got some compensation. They first offered 1 month free sub = $16.95, that was not enough and since I have all Lifetime Subs would not work anyway. They said the only thing the could offer was credit on services or accessory discounts, left with those options the only thing I could use was to get the Slide Remote (which I kinda wanted for the keyboard, but did not really need since I use URC 980 Remotes) but it was something at a $70 retail value.

All and All would have rather not had the problems.

[supie]

supie, did they offer you anything for all the trouble?

Sorry for the delay getting back to you, we have been traveling.

No they did not offer anything but if you try requesting a perk they will give you something. I requested a credit on my account, they said they only thing they could do was credit of monthly charges, however since all my Tivos are Lifetime that didn’t work the only other thing they could do was offer an Tivo accessory and the only thing I could even use was a Tivo Slide Remote (for the keyboard) so I got $70 value, but definitely not worth the effort I had to go through.

As a final note, I really do like the Elite or XL4 (when it is working):
For me, upgrading from the Series 3 gave me all the features of the Premiere and the features I really wanted, which are:
4 Tuners
2TB Hard Drive
Picture Window
Multi Room Streaming (most of our cable channels are copy protected)
Gigabyte Networking
Energy Star
iPad App (which is great but some features only work with the Premieres) and allows you:
- Record Shows
- Set Up Season Passes
- Delete Shows
- Remote Control
- Plus Advanced Searching, View Guides, Now Playing, To Do etc.

So after all I went through I was really torn about buying a 2nd Tivo XL4, but I did, and it fired up and worked perfectly.