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End of PC <--> TiVo transfer is End of TiVo for me

Discussion in 'TiVo Coffee House - TiVo Discussion' started by Zaphod, May 27, 2019.

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  1. May 27, 2019 #1 of 126
    Zaphod

    Zaphod Member

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    This has mentioned as an aside in several other threads of various other primary topics, but I wanted a direct adressing of the topic.

    If TiVo ever completely kills off the ability to transfer between PC and Tivo, as I get the feeling they will from what I've read in these many other threads, it'll be the end of my relationship with TiVo. And this includes the ability to tranfer from PC back to TiVo.

    I will ride it out as long as I can until they force the Hydra update on me, but at that point I'm done.

    I'm still PO'ed that they killed push, after having previously killed the ability to directly download video podcasts, and now pull from PC to TiVo even gone on Hydra (I'm not holding my breath thinking they'll add it back). I guess the ability to transfer from TiVo to PC is still there, but I more heavily use the transfer from PC to TiVo.

    Started with a Series 2, upgraded to a Tivo HD, and finally a Roamio Plus a few years ago. That ability to transfer between the PC and TiVo is THE reason I bought TiVos instead of just going with a cable company DVR.

    I am not a streamer. I don't subscribe to Netflix, Hulu or anything else. (I have Prime for the shipping and very rarely will watch something from there.)

    As I'm guessing many who use the TiVo --> PC transfer do, I use that to archive shows in the way I used to use VHS tape before that to record and archive entire series. Not a ton of shows, but a few shows here and there. And now with retro-TV channels I'm going back and archving a handful of old 60's, 70's, and 80's TV shows.

    For the PC --> TiVo transfer, I still watch several video podcasts, as well as other videos. When they killed the direct download of podcasts, I set up an RSS reader and pyTiVo push config. I still have the RSS reader downloads but of course now have to go the TiVo and "pull" the podcasts.

    Plex (or streaming in general) is NOT an alternative. First, it's extremely convenient to just have the things I want to watch in my Now Playing list and just play them. My other main gripe with the streaming aspect is the transport controls for FF/REW. I find that I FF/REW a lot for one reason or another. There is no such thing as fine grained FF or REW on streaming. I always, ineveitably over or undershoot the spot I want, and waste tons of time finding the right spot, compared to if I could FF/REW with the native TiVo viewing experience. (I even hate the FF/REW on my Blu-ray player compared to my TiVo. Probably every DVD/Blu-ray I watch, at least once I try to hit the 8 second replay to see something again, which of course doesn't exist on my Blu-ray player.)

    Do I like the TiVo interface better than most provider DVR's? Sure, but not enough to explicitly pay for TiVo at retail. Provider DVR boxes have gotten much better in recent years. Heck, many cable providers now even provide TiVo as their DVR (i.e., again, why would I bother to pay for one directly by retail without the PC <--> TiVo transfer capability?)
     
    media.savant, justen_m, mazman and 1 other person like this.
  2. May 27, 2019 #2 of 126
    samccfl99

    samccfl99 I Am Sometimes Vocal

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    coconut...
    Well first, I hope you got Lifetime on those boxes, so you already got your money's worth (maybe...LOL).

    I certain hope you did not go to TE4 from your post! There are several things I WISH TE4 has that we waited YEARS for, and now it's in That Monstrosity!!!

    I transfer both ways too, Plus that Tivo Online Transfer...WHY WHY WHY???

    Maybe someday Comcast will buffer all their tuners (Ha, they are not smart enough), BUT THE X1 WILL STILL SUCK (I know, my friend has it!).

    FINALLY, TIVO, INC (or maybe it was Comcast) COULD OBVIOUSLY GIVE A CRAP...BUT THEY SAID THEY WOULD NOT FORCE TE4 ON US, and really there would be no reason for them to do that (I hope).
     
  3. May 27, 2019 #3 of 126
    Dan203

    Dan203 Super Moderator Staff Member TCF Club

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    HDHomeRun makes their own DVR software. It's not great but it records in standard TS format, so no issues opening in VideoReDo or anything else. If TiVo dumps TiVo->PC transfers I'm hooking up my HDHomeRun and installing their DVR.
     
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  4. May 27, 2019 #4 of 126
    rpj22

    rpj22 Active Member

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    I have a vague recollection that someone (Snapstream, maybe?) made some pretty nice DVR software that worked with a variety of tuners, including HDHomeRun. I only used it with a built in tuner card, but I think it did a lot more. With the death of WMC it looks like new replacements are popping up in the DVR software area. Are any of them candidates for use with HDHomeRun?
     
  5. May 27, 2019 #5 of 126
    NashGuy

    NashGuy Well-Known Member

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    Did I imagine this or did someone (TiVo_Ted?) post something on this forum awhile back about possible further integration between TiVo and Plex? I know the OP isn't interested in Plex but if what I remember is real then it could be indicative that TiVo sees Plex as the best way forward for archiving recordings and then later accessing them for playback on TiVo units (as opposed to a native TiVo-only solution for transferring recordings to PCs).
     
  6. May 27, 2019 #6 of 126
    BigJimOutlaw

    BigJimOutlaw Well-Known Member

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    Yep, Shoop mentioned this in the Facebook group.
     
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  7. May 27, 2019 #7 of 126
    wmcbrine

    wmcbrine Well-Known Mumbler

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    I bought an HDHomeRun recently, and tried it with their non-DVR software, which was terrible -- everything was out of sync. (This was on a 2015 MacBook.) But then I tried it with VLC on the same computer, and the streaming was perfect. Not the best UI, but the point is, it's all open. It will speak to, I think, any DLNA client.

    But that's an OTA unit. They don't make the CableCard ones anymore, AFAIK.
     
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  8. May 27, 2019 #8 of 126
    NashGuy

    NashGuy Well-Known Member

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    Yeah, it's DLNA. I have one too and was amused to discover awhile back that I could use my Panasonic Blu-ray player to watch live channel streams from my HDHomeRun OTA tuner!

    Well, they're supposedly going to roll out a new 6-tuner CableCARD unit called the Prime 6 this year.

    HDHomeRun PRIME 6 - SiliconDust
     
  9. May 27, 2019 #9 of 126
    mdavej

    mdavej Well-Known Member

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    Oh man, I got a good laugh out of that. They been supposedly been going to roll out the 6-tuner for at least 5 years. Just buy a second 3-tuner.
     
  10. May 27, 2019 #10 of 126
    Dan203

    Dan203 Super Moderator Staff Member TCF Club

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    I still have a CableCARD one and from what I understand their DVR software works with any channel that's not protected.
     
  11. May 28, 2019 #11 of 126
    NashGuy

    NashGuy Well-Known Member

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    They don't offer the 3-tuner Prime any more. So at this point, they have no CableCARD tuners on the market. Which might make it more likely that the Prime 6 finally gets released now. (OTOH, they may ultimately decide that the market for CableCARD products is fading away so quickly that there's no point to compete there any more.)
     
  12. May 28, 2019 #12 of 126
    dlfl

    dlfl Cranky old novice

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    Unfortunately, for Spectrum, legacy TWC systems at least, all channels other than local broadcast stations are copy protected.
     
  13. May 28, 2019 #13 of 126
    ADG

    ADG Allan

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    Has there been an announcement somewhere that Tivo is going to end the ability to transfer from PC to legacy boxes (ie, Roamio)?
     
  14. May 28, 2019 #14 of 126
    stile99

    stile99 Well-Known Member

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    Last I knew, the official answer was taking it away was unintentional, but restoring it is not currently intended either. TE4 is also not currently intended to be a forced install. Read whatever you like into this, especially when such care was put into the word currently.
     
  15. May 28, 2019 #15 of 126
    ADG

    ADG Allan

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    Okay, so it's only an issue with Hydra. I knew that and that's the primary reason I am staying with the "old" interface. Thanks very much.
     
  16. May 28, 2019 #16 of 126
    Zaphod

    Zaphod Member

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    Yep, all lifetime. (TiVo HD got the $99 lifetime transfer from the S2, then some sort of discount on Lifetime for the Roamio upgrading to it from a 2nd TiVo HD I had that had monthly MSD subscription.) No, for this exact reason I have not upgraded to TE4. I read other threads on it extensively yesterday before starting this thread. Maybe they won't force TE4 on us, but they might drop support for the legacy interface entirely at some point making our units useless.

    IF TiVo ever does add PC --> TiVo transfer to Hydra, then I'll be interested to look at Hydra, but not until then, and I'm not holding my breath. Even then though, since they killed off Push, I'm already pretty set on never buying another TiVo product going forward. I'll wait 'til mine becomes useless and then switch to a cable company DVR, which very well might end up being a TiVo anyway.

    My primary gripe is the FF/REW not being precise (or as precise compared to a recording on the TiVo itself). But it's also kind of a pain to have to go into a different interface to find what I want to watch. If they get better integration with Plex and can make FF/REW (including the 30 skip and 8 second replay) work like a normal TiVo recording, then MAYBE Plex becomes a viable alternative for me.


    Oh, on a separate but related note, one of the main reasons I upgraded to the Roamio from the older TiVo HD (besides extra tuners) was for out of home streaming. I have an old SlingBox I had used with the older TiVo HD and I thought it'd be great to be able to stream directly from the TiVo. But the streaming barely works. It hangs up and I have to restart it several times while watching a recording, and sometimes it flips out completely and I have to rerun the streaming setup at home. I've done all kinds of things with my home network to try to make this more stable and nothing seems to helps. So this is another reason I'm not thrilled with TiVo these days.
     
    Last edited: May 28, 2019
  17. May 28, 2019 #17 of 126
    jhhyde

    jhhyde Member

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    quote: "the official answer was taking it away was unintentional". hardee, har, har. right.

    let's see, push taken away (must have been unintentional) , ability to play music taken away (only works on Bolt, no longer works on my Roamio or my Premiere, must have been another unintentional). this is a campaign to remove anything that the cable companies don't want. Tivo, could have been the best media box ever, but they became too concerned with premium fees for guide data.

    I agree with OP, once the PC to/from Tivo is gone, I will be too.

    Original customer from 2001, have never not had a TiVo since buying my first one, a Series 1, have multiple units still in use.

    Series 1
    Series 2 (multiple)
    Series 3 (multiple)
    Premiere
    Roamio (multiple)
    Bolt
     
  18. May 28, 2019 #18 of 126
    slowbiscuit

    slowbiscuit FUBAR

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    Same reason I never 'upgraded' to TE4 - I like the Tivo playback experience for PC transfers, way better than Plex. And I can control quality details where you're limited to crappy 720p with Plex. Plus it's dog-slow on a Roamio anyway.
     
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  19. May 28, 2019 #19 of 126
    NashGuy

    NashGuy Well-Known Member

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    Yeah, Plex was pretty awful on my Roamio. Wonder how it runs on a Bolt? Also, is it restricted to just 720p on the Bolt? Plex can work great on certain devices. It runs very smoothly on my Apple TV 4K and has no problem playing back 4K videos.
     
  20. May 28, 2019 #20 of 126
    NashGuy

    NashGuy Well-Known Member

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    That makes sense. On the Apple TV, the Plex app (like most apps) chooses to use the standard Apple playback controls and UI. So if Plex wanted to use the standard TiVo playback controls and UI in their TiVo app (and TiVo made it easy enough for them), maybe it could happen. The biggest problem, I'd say, is that Plex develops and supports apps for so many different platforms and I would guess that TiVo is one of their lesser-used ones. So I don't know if they'd devote those additional development resources to it.

    This is why pay TV providers are moving toward cloud DVR (and VOD). Streaming a DVR recording over the internet is always going to be easier / work better when the recording is on the TV provider's (or Amazon Web Services') enterprise server with a massive bandwidth connection to the internet as opposed to sitting on your home DVR.
     
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