Hate Spectrum DVR - what should I do?

I was in the same boat as you when i moved and was forced into losing my 6 tuner WH DVR i had when it was TWC. Had it for 3 months until i had the money for a Tivo picked up a used Roamio plus and mini and haven't looked back. I would absolutely do it again. What you should get depends on your needs. if 4 tuners will suffice i'd look at a bolt+ or vox. If you need 6 that gets pricey but a used Roamio off amazon or ebay would be cheaper.

 

I am on Spectrum (formerly TWC) with a Roamio Base Model (Model 846500, 4 tuners). If 4 tuners are enough I would suggest looking for one of these with a lifetime subscription (used) on eBay. I see a few and one was $450. This model **without** lifetime are very cheap, some under $100 -- but talk to TiVo first to see how much they will charge to add lifetime. This model has an advantage, if you later decide to cut the cord, that it can be configured to be either Cable or OTA although not both at the same time.

While I am generally satisfied with my TiVo/Spectrum experience, here are a few things you should know:
1. Yes I believe the TiVo customer service has generally degraded in the last couple of year based on posts here, in the areas of both support and handling account money issues.
2. The Program Guide has definitely worsened since Rovi bought TiVo (and took the TiVo name) and switched from the previous guide data provider to Rovi in August 2016. My personal rating now is "barely acceptable", and for some lesser watched channels it can be terrible. This causes season passes (called one passes now) to not work properly.
3. On Spectrum you most likely will be required to use a Tuning Adapter (TA) to get all your channels. This will be furnished free and most likely will be the Cisco version which is a box as large as your TiVo. TA's cause varying amounts of trouble ranging from having to be power-cycled nightly using a lamp timer to never causing a problem. In my case it requires power cycling about once a month.

 

There do seem to be more reports of bugs these days and guide problems since Rovi bought them, but some of us have not been impacted by either. I'd probably recommend a used Roamio Pro with Lifetime (if you want/need 6 tuners) as a cost effective solution that still gives you the older HD interface that you should be familiar with even if your older TiVo's had the SD interface and 3TB. You could also get a Roamio Plus with Lifetime if you want to upgrade the drive your self or do not need that much space.

Scott

 

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I forgot to mention an issue you will have to deal with -- whether to use the new Gen 4 UI ("Hydra") or not. TiVo just started making this software upgrade available "on demand" -- i.e., they don't push it to you until you sign up requesting it at a provided web page. So far there are a lot of us who doubt whether they will ever want this (and a lot who have it and like it). It isn't clear whether it will remain optional forever or you will eventually be forced to upgrade. These forum pages are full of Hydra threads so you should consult them for further details.

 

I would recommend buying a used Roamio to use with a Spectrum CableCard and SDV Tuning Adapter.

Units with Lifetime Service go for anywhere from $300 to $550 on Ebay.

Units without Lifetime Service go for $100 or less, but you'd have to subscribe to monthly service ($15/mo with 1-year commitment) or Annual Service ($150 per year).

Roamio Basic (4 tuner,500GB hard drive, 75hr) TCD846500

Roamio Plus (6 Cable Tuners, 1TB hard drive, 150hr) TCD848000

Roamio Pro (6 Cable Tuners, 3TB hard drive, 450hr) TCD840300

I didn't want the little Roamio Basic model, and the 3TB Roamio Pro tends to go for about a hundred bucks more than the 1TB Roamio Plus on Ebay so i decided to get the Plus with Lifetime ($350), and then i upgraded the hard drive to a much bigger brand new 3TB WD Red hard drive ($90) for a fresh new start - and the final cost was less than buying a used Pro with an old worn hard drive.

You can drop in a new 1TB or 2TB or 3TB hard drive into any Roamio and it will load the Tivo software automatically.

 

Depends on where the user is located. I'm in North Texas and have a Motorola TA which is very tiny and it had only lost connection once or twice.