Done with TiVo

Advertisements

I have one. I get 10 hours cloud recording from Comcast. Using Roku I made a few series recordings, then later on canceled them. Guess what they still record filling up my 10 hours every day.

On demand issues. Last night On Demand would not connect to an episode of a series I was watching. I had to skip it and go on to the next episode.

If you enjoy commercials you will like On Demand. I will only use On Demand for non commercial TV like HBO.

On Demand and cloud DVR offer poor ff and rewind.

 

hmmm I don't remember getting charged this past month for my Tivo service
nor last month
or the previous month
or the previous month
or the previous month

lets see...last time I got billed was...November 2016 when I bought my Roamio OTA + lifetime for 200 bucks...and it does what I need it to do...and even worked for cable when I had that

I'm sure you're enjoying your "free" guide via your single tuner $35 cheap chinese tuner.

 

We're not worthy

 

Where are TiVo's tuners made?

 

Advertisements

oh I know. I was referring to those basic tuners that some people use to record one show at a time via their "free" guide. I have a couple of those laying around and unless the TV stations PSIP and time clock is correct (alot arent) it doesnt work properly

 

Call it what you want... but you PAID to get guide data that is FREE on other devices. And good luck finding ANY DVR that's not made in China today.

 

no I didn't. I paid for the unit and at the time all in was basically included in the price. Roamio basic was 199.99 with service extra...Roamio OTA was 199.99 with all in included.

yet you bought the equipment for say 279.99 (going rate on Amazon) and say you have no monthly fees? I dont have any either.

Kind of like those people who bought the Channelmaster DVR for 250.00 because it had "no monthly fees"

 

The original Roamio OTA was $50, and the required service was extra. Make of that what you will.

 

This needs some context. I think it's just some CBS programming that replaces your recording with VOD. Personally, I'm yet to see it but I don't watch CBS. TV is broadcast in 720 or 1080i. That's not a limitation of a streaming service, that's a limitation of the broadcast. I know YTTV is working on 5.1 but honestly, I don't need or care about 5.1 for television. My roku speakers crank out regular stuff with amazing quality. And when I want to watch a movie or something where surround is desired, it's not TV programming, it's Netflix or similar.

Cloud DVR, generally speaking, is far superior to archaic hard drive dvrs for a majority of people. Naturally, some will see more value in controlling their own recordings and being able to save some forever. But that's a small portion of the users. Most will greatly benefit from unlimited cloud DVR. Just an example, I like college football. So I tell my service to record all games, period. I have 30+ games just this week, most in a single day. About 100+ hours. I don't have to worry about space, conflicts, lack of tuners, etc. And I can just browse my library and watch games all I want, hundreds of hours worth, every week, thousands of hours thoughout a season. And they are saved for 9 months. Of course, I also have a dozen other programs recording the same day. Often 10+ at a time. You simply can't do this with a TiVo.

 

Not even close... I paid $168.00 for my Recast. Amazon runs the Recast on sale often.

 

OK.. last time for me... The bottom line is TiVo is making $$$$ on selling us access to the guide data. Most or maybe ALL other DVR's sell us just the hardware and the guide data is free.

Call TiVo today and ask for a 6 tuner Bolt and lifetime service. Get the credit card out for about $900.00+. Think TiVo got this pricing idea from Apple. Who else sells a DVR for 900.00?

If you absolutely love your Tivo, take another drink of the TiVo Kool-Aid. I do like my TiVo.. Just over priced for what you get.

Ok all done... Have a good weekend!!!!!!

 

Oh I know. I bought one the first day they were on sale. The big drawback of that was the 14.95 monthly fee with no other options for pricing (no yearly nor lifetime). Kinda like those "0 down 19.99 month for 2 years" promo Tivo likes to run (then the 19.99 monthly stays after that)

 

So what is the difference then? You bought an item as a one time deal. I bought an item as a one time deal. Neither of us pay any "monthly fees". The only difference I spent $30 more for my Tivo.

I never said I "loved" my Tivo and dont drink the kool aid (well I do drink kool aid...but to stay refreshed) but compared to the crap DVR I am forced to use with my cable subscription (we get cable included in rent but its an IPTV provider) Tivo is miles ahead in my opinion.

I liked the fact that I could go from OTA to Comcast to OTA to Medicacom back to OTA with the same unit (yes I added the cable card to my Roamio OTA). And if I had moved into a place where I could have chosen my provider (since we have 2 in Mankato) I'm pretty sure my Roamio would have added "Charter" to the above list.

 

With a TiVo you're really paying for the use of the proprietary software that make a TiVo a TiVo and makes it do stuff the way a TiVo does stuff.

 

The Bolt I just purchased was made in Mexico.

 

Has anyone looked into Channels Plus? I already have a QNAP NAS for my Plex server. It seems like I can buy a 3-tuner HD Homerun for my cable card and for $80/year get much better functionality than my Tivo. I especially love the TV Everywhere integration. I was just watching a recent demo on YouTube and it seems like this smokes my Tivo. Has anyone tried this recently?



EDIT: I just paused it when he brought up the list of TV Everywhere providers and both Xfinity and Philo are listed in there. It would be awesome for me to be able to record my Philo content onto my local DVR with auto commercial skip.

 

Channels started out as an Apple TV app and then expanded from there to also support Android TV and Fire TV. I've had the Channels app (without the optional Plus DVR service) on my Apple TV 4K for well over a year now and really like it. Basic trick play on live TV -- pause, multi-second instant replay/jump back, FF, rewind -- all work really well and are super-responsive. Maybe even more responsive than on the old TiVo Roamio I used to have. That said, if you're a TiVo power-user who is into building up buffers in live TV on multiple tuners and cycling between them, or if slo-mo trick play is important to you, well, Channels doesn't do that stuff. (Or, if it does, I don't know about it. But then I don't really care about those features.)

Couple things I would encourage you to do/think about. First, check to see if your specific model NAS is supported by Channels to run their DVR software on. See if there are any user reports in the Channels support forum as to how well that NAS performs. Does it support all the feature you care about, including automatic ad removal? If the answer is that your NAS isn't (fully) supported, keep in mind that you can run the Channels DVR engine software on about any Mac or Windows PC that stays running on your home network (ideally connected via ethernet).

Also, before you spend money on a new set-up based around Channels, *consider* the *possibility* that the new Channels Plus feature of recording streaming content from TV Everywhere providers could stop working at some point in the future. Not because Channels would stop supporting it but because some or all of the TV Everywhere providers might do something on their end, technologically, to make their streams incompatible with Channels Plus.

 

I just signed up for the 30-day trial and installed it on my QNAP TVS-471. I'm setting up the TV Everywhere accounts on it now. It takes a little while because it verifies each and every channel to see if you're subscribed to it (I'm assuming so that you don't see it in your guide if its not available to you). I will be testing this out extensively over the next few weeks with my Xfinity and Philo TV Everywhere accounts. If it doesn't work out well I will be out zero dollars. If it does work as well as the reviewer showed it does, I may end up buying the HDHomeRun that supports cable card. Right now I'm on a Comcast package that is 75mbps internet, local channels, and HBO for $50/month (plus taxes). We are always switching over to the Apple TV to use Philo, Plex, and the other various streaming apps. If this is successful and I retire my TiVo it will save me from having to constantly switch inputs

 

Cool. So what are you using as your TV tuner? Sounds like you didn't already have an HDHomeRun device. Or does Channels allow you to set up and run it without a tuner, using ONLY your TV Everywhere accounts? If so, that's nice. Does the TV Everywhere functionality support viewing of the live streams inside the Channels app or only allow you to record those streams and then play them back like a regular DVR recording?

BTW, HDHomeRun doesn't currently sell a tuner that supports CableCARD, although they've been saying for awhile now that a new 6-tuner model, the Prime 6, is on its way. That said, it looks like you can often pick up a used 3-tuner Prime (discontinued model) on eBay for $100 or a little more.

 

It let me set it up with just the TV Everywhere logins (for Xfinity and Philo). I suspect I will not have access to my locals with just TV Everywhere. It looks like my NAS does support the commercial skipping since I see the option in the setup. I am just waiting for my NAS to reboot before setting up the Apple TV app. I'll let you know about the live channels (based on the reviewer I believe the channels that support live streaming with TV Everywhere will work).

EDIT:

It's up and running on my Apple TV. I can confirm that tuning to channels is very prompt. I feel like the tuning is comparable to the time it takes to tune to a channel on my TiVo Roamio via cablecard, only this is via TV Everywhere Streaming which is pretty impresive. I noticed some of the TV Everywhere channels that are coming in through Xfinity have a short Xfinity commercial at the very beginning when tuning to them (about 5-seconds). I have changed the Priority to Philo first to reduce the number of channels that are tuned using my Xfinity login. I think if I had an HDHomeRun hooked up I would set the priority to show channels from the CableCard first to eliminate these (after all, we are complaining about TiVo's use of pre-roll ads here aren't we?).

The channels coming in through the Channels DVR are the LIVE channels only. One bummer for me is no Nick Jr channel on there even though it's part of my Philo package. I suspect Nickelodeon doesn't participate in TV Everywhere since none of the channels are showing up. My kids watch this channel a lot which is a shame.

I also don't have access to any of my local channels using only TV Everywhere, so I would need to get the HDHomeRun to get access to these. Does anyone know if I would simply be able to take the CableCard out of my Tivo and insert it into the HDHomeRun? Would I need to call Comcast and have it paired to the new hardware? Or would I have to get a whole new CableCard?