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No ads?

3K views 16 replies 8 participants last post by  HerronScott 
#1 ·
I just upgraded my 2 S3 OLED's from 1TB drives to 2TB drives in the past 2 weeks and I noticed that I haven't seen any ads on either. I don't think this is related to the upgrade as I'm pretty sure the ads would have copied over but I'm not sure when I noticed the last ad. I think I happened to notice it at this time as I was paying more attention to see if there were any issues after the upgrade.

Anyone else also have no ads recently? I believe I also saw a post in the Premiere or Roamio forum about someone who had not gotten any ads after their recent software update.

Scott
 
#4 ·
Did you "supersize"?

That is, specifically use the supersize thing in WinMFS (not to be confused with the expansion thing in WinMFS).
I had already done that with the 1TB drives in 2008 and that only reduces the amount of space reserved so it doesn't eliminate ads (or at least didn't on my 1TB drive). I did run it on the 2TB drives and WinMFS reported that the copies were already supersized which is the result I expected.

Scott
 
#5 ·
I had already done that with the 1TB drives in 2008 and that only reduces the amount of space reserved so it doesn't eliminate ads (or at least didn't on my 1TB drive). I did run it on the 2TB drives and WinMFS reported that the copies were already supersized which is the result I expected.

Scott
I wasn't proposing that as an ironclad explanation so much as gathering possibly related data points.
 
#9 ·
"Supersizing" is not some magic ad removal tool. It merely changes between a set size for the ad space, and one that is a percentage of total drive size.

Case in point: Supersize is enabled on 1TB and larger TiVos, from the factory. It's factory disabled on 160, 250, and 320GB drives. The only size I don't know the factory status on is 500GB.

FWIW: Even the Premieres and Roamios have threads (far too darn many, IMO), all with people thinking they did something that took away ads, or hoping that TiVo got rid of them. They'll be back. They always come back, just like threads full of all this talk when the ads are slim to none.
 
#10 ·
"Supersizing" is not some magic ad removal tool. It merely changes between a set size for the ad space, and one that is a percentage of total drive size.

FWIW: Even the Premieres and Roamios have threads (far too darn many, IMO), all with people thinking they did something that took away ads, or hoping that TiVo got rid of them. They'll be back. They always come back, just like threads full of all this talk when the ads are slim to none.
As I mentioned, I know that supersizing does not remove ads. :)

I do expect them to return as well but what's odd is that I can't recall a time when we haven't had any ads on our S3's OLEDs in recent years which is what makes this unusual.

Scott
 
#11 ·
As I mentioned, I know that supersizing does not remove ads. :)

I do expect them to return as well but what's odd is that I can't recall a time when we haven't had any ads on our S3's OLEDs in recent years which is what makes this unusual.

Scott
I know that you know better. It was the contribution of "Did you supersize?", by another, that I felt could lead to (uninformed) people misconstruing it as a way to limit ads, or stop them (so far, it hasn't even shown a limiting effect, since the reserved space stays roughly the same, rather than being wasted excessive space). So, before people started searching for "how to supersize", pulling drives, and messing with them, with the obvious goal in mind, I made a judgement call.

I do agree that this has been least ad-cramming period I can recall, cross-platform. The S3 ads might be the ones that are missing from all, leaving only ads that later models made possible. This is my own speculation, and I'll state that I'm not saying "If you don't want ads, get a S3 model TiVo". If I didn't specify this, some may take it that way.

[more speculation] I'm sure there are many on the S3 platform thinking they made the best choice ever, by not upgrading, since they are not seeing ads (for the moment). TiVo is probably working on new ways to force more ads on us, with greater targeting, and likely focused on the newest model, working backwards. So, I expect the S3 to be the last platform to see missing ads to reappear on. OTOH, TiVo does need to get what they can from all the older-model lifetime subs that are now (technically) a loss, when it comes to allocating servers to handle the TiVo Service for them. So, they need their analytics, and ad revenue, or old lifetime subs are simply "leeches" without that, onces the price of lifetime has created a loss that a monthly sub wouldn't, and more so when the LT sub can't even be counted in their quarterly numbers.

Enjoy it while it lasts. Before anybody jumps on me for allegedly calling them "uninformed", I'll be clear that I mean new, or new-ish, TCF members, that can't be expected to know better, and/or those who have never changed a drive before, and haven't been following the upgrade threads.

Since there are so many threads on this, I pretty much dumped my thoughts here, rather than doing so in every such thread, as well as the countless threads gone sideways, where this subject has taken over the real topic. :)
 
#12 ·
OTOH, TiVo does need to get what they can from all the older-model lifetime subs that are now (technically) a loss, when it comes to allocating servers to handle the TiVo Service for them. So, they need their analytics, and ad revenue, or old lifetime subs are simply "leeches" without that, onces the price of lifetime has created a loss that a monthly sub wouldn't, and more so when the LT sub can't even be counted in their quarterly numbers.
(I'm a bit late to the party on this, sorry about that.)

On the other hand, we paid a premium for lifetime service up front. TiVo got the advantage of that capital all at once and could invest it how they saw fit (presumably to grow/strengthen the business). I don't know about you guys, but I paid $400 for my lifetime sub.

I totally understand what you're saying and doubt there's any disagreement here, but my point is it's not like they made an unfair/lopsided trade. TiVo just received all the benefit up front, and we received it over time. Also - TiVo wouldn't have gotten my business at all if the lifetime subscription wasn't an option, so there's that, too. If their bean-counters or shareholders don't see it that way, that's incredibly foolish and short-sighted of them.

They can get more money out of me by making another compelling product (e.g., I'm tempted by the Roamio). Seems perfectly fair/reasonable to both sides.

Maybe another 6 years from now, they'll make some agreements with streaming companies to DVR the content and/or make a high capacity whole-house DVR that works with smart-TVs or mini boxes. Or whatever. Treat your customers well and continue to innovate, and your customers will buy from you again (and maybe finally retire their old equipment).

As far as ads go - if they want to try and get revenue from me that way, they can. It hasn't bothered me other than the principle/concept of it. If it became obtrusive, I would consider the original agreement we made ($400 for lifetime guide data) spoiled by their bad behavior, and they'd lose me as a future customer.

That said, I certainly haven't minded the lack of ads recently. There seem to have been less, and I haven't touched the hard drive since I upgraded it when I bought the TiVo. On the other hand, it's not like I ever click on them or that they take up very much space.
 
#13 ·
(I'm a bit late to the party on this, sorry about that.)

On the other hand, we paid a premium for lifetime service up front. TiVo got the advantage of that capital all at once and could invest it how they saw fit (presumably to grow/strengthen the business). I don't know about you guys, but I paid $400 for my lifetime sub.

I totally understand what you're saying and doubt there's any disagreement here, but my point is it's not like they made an unfair/lopsided trade. TiVo just received all the benefit up front, and we received it over time. Also - TiVo wouldn't have gotten my business at all if the lifetime subscription wasn't an option, so there's that, too. If their bean-counters or shareholders don't see it that way, that's incredibly foolish and short-sighted of them.

They can get more money out of me by making another compelling product (e.g., I'm tempted by the Roamio). Seems perfectly fair/reasonable to both sides.

Maybe another 6 years from now, they'll make some agreements with streaming companies to DVR the content and/or make a high capacity whole-house DVR that works with smart-TVs or mini boxes. Or whatever. Treat your customers well and continue to innovate, and your customers will buy from you again (and maybe finally retire their old equipment).

As far as ads go - if they want to try and get revenue from me that way, they can. It hasn't bothered me other than the principle/concept of it. If it became obtrusive, I would consider the original agreement we made ($400 for lifetime guide data) spoiled by their bad behavior, and they'd lose me as a future customer.

That said, I certainly haven't minded the lack of ads recently. There seem to have been less, and I haven't touched the hard drive since I upgraded it when I bought the TiVo. On the other hand, it's not like I ever click on them or that they take up very much space.
I understand what you are saying, and never intended to come across as a defender of ads (or TiVo). I just posted a large post here: http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=10238310#post10238310 (the reboot thread).

I agree with your take, on "as long as the ads remain unobtrusive". I can't imagine being any more obtrusive than the problems they recently created (which is quite scary, knowing just how much ads downloaded by a service connection, can cause). If TiVoMargret had not gone above and beyond her job title, and/or had TiVo left it unresolved, with TiVo offering a product upsell as "the solution"... Well, I'm sure you know the thoughts involved, and what many would be wishing for.
 
#14 ·
I understand what you are saying, and never intended to come across as a defender of ads (or TiVo). I just posted a large post here: http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=10238310#post10238310 (the reboot thread).
I didn't think you were defending them, or that we were in any disagreement. :) I was just pointing out to anybody reading that they shouldn't let themselves fall into the trap of thinking: "Poor TiVo, they didn't get what they bargained for and need to make money off of us somehow." They already made their money off of us - that was the agreement they/we made by buying lifetime subs. To be clear: I have no issues with TiVo as a company and I like their products.

I agree with your take, on "as long as the ads remain unobtrusive". I can't imagine being any more obtrusive than the problems they recently created (which is quite scary, knowing just how much ads downloaded by a service connection, can cause). If TiVoMargret had not gone above and beyond her job title, and/or had TiVo left it unresolved, with TiVo offering a product upsell as "the solution"... Well, I'm sure you know the thoughts involved, and what many would be wishing for.
Yeah, no kidding. I'm very glad she got involved and got that reboot resolved quickly. That was VERY GOOD customer service in response to a mistake, and I applaud her/TiVo for it. If that hadn't been the resolution and we learned/figured-out that the problem was TiVo (which we all pretty much had) and their solution was "buy a new TiVo" - that would have had the opposite effect on me.

I.e., why should I buy your product if you're just going to break it and tell me to buy another? What should I expect "lifetime" to be? 2 years? 3? Those may be valid "lifetimes", but without knowing what it will be, I can't make a value judgement on the product and can't determine if the price is one I'm willing to pay. Ergo, I wouldn't buy - and I couldn't possibly be the only one who thinks that way. That would have been very bad for TiVo. (All hypothetical of course, since they very much did the right thing. I'm not bashing TiVo, here.)

I'm off track for the thread (although it is related). I will say that I've seen quite a few ads on the 'keep or delete' screen in the past few days that definitely weren't showing up before. Mostly fall preview stuff. So - my guess is that ads weren't broken so much as they were not being sold.

Also, IMHO, TV previews are a very legitimate use of 'ads' on a TiVo as it could help people learn about new shows they may want to record. It's pertinent to what they're doing (watching TV). Heck - I actually LIKE having that option, even if I don't personally need it. ("Why yes, I would like to see a trailer for 'Gotham', thank you!")
 
#15 ·
So shortly after I posted this back in August, we started to have issues with reboots at the end of shows (September 7th) which appeared to be related to where there might be a pop-up ad on the Delete screen. After TiVo fixed the problem, I noticed that we started to get ads again on our S3's.

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=520735&highlight=reboot

Anyway, I just noticed that we don't seem to be getting ads again on our S3's and the only thing that's in Showcases is The Week in Sports. Any one else notice this as well?

Scott
 
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