Why does everyone seem to hate the Premiere?

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I call hum like I see hum. Remember this stated when you stated:

"HDTV content can't be transfered via analog recording."​

Which I pointed out is not accurate. TiVo made a business decision to stop recording from analog feeds and to use cable cards to record HD cable feeds. I can give you many reasons why I believe it was correct business decision and I am not proposing they were wrong or should build a different DVR. However it does not change the fact that they could have continued to build a DVR that supported recording from Analog feeds and it could have record from HD Analog feeds. So when you also state:

"If you are complaining about satellite, that isn't TiVo's fault- there is no standard/approved method for connecting to a satellite box to get and record HD content."​

Again this is not accurate there is a solution just not one that TiVo felt was a viable one for TiVo to produce, so they did not produce it.

When HD satellite users say TiVo abandoned them - they are correct. I would put most of the blame on the FCC for not forcing satellite providers to open their systems but TiVo does have another choice - just one that likely does not make any business sense for TiVo.

Thanks,

 

Along the same lines- there is no requirement that TiVo honor the "no record" bit. Yet they still do it. Why is that?

 

Sorry I do not know the absolute facts but I believe it is a licensing issue because TiVo uses cable cards. I believe in order for a device to have cable cards they have to agree to follow a number of DMR type things including honoring any bit requirements.

TiVo is required to build a device that does comply with general copy right laws. Recording from analog outputs for personal use is not a copy right violation (this was settled back with VCR lawsuits). There are copy right restrictions on what a person can do with these recordings which is why TiVo secures all recordings. HDMI however is controlled by licensing like cable cards.

Perhaps someone who knows for sure about the following bit requirements can answer.

Thanks,

 

Like you, I would love to hear from someone who really knows. All we can do is speculate: Just as with the copy bit, I am *guessing* that analog HD recording would fall right in there too... Otherwise, there is NO WAY to honor a copy bit or stop recording of premium content (PPV/HBO/etc). Everything is so "secret".

 

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Every time my TiVo Premiere gives me an unexpected SD menu, I am once again baffled by the fact TiVo thought it was acceptable to release such a half-finished product. Every single menu should presented uniformly, and the fact it's not is really just too unprofessional for words (well, except that one -unprofessional - and unacceptable, I guess, would be another).

So, why do I own one? Because I watch television over an antenna, and so there's really no other DVR option for me. This gets the job done, so alright. But, if I had a choice, I'd go back to either of the DVRs I had from Comcast or Dish Network in a heartbeat. Those actually look like finished products, not a work in progress. Unfortunately, those also come bundled with services that are far too expensive for my needs, namely cable or satellite television service. The DVRs themselves, though? Incomparably better produced products.

So, there; that's my answer to your question.

 

Cable DVRs incomparably better than the Premiere? Did I read that right?

 

Yup. However, in fairness, I should mention that it's been awhile since I've used a Cable DVR, although I don't recall them being all that different from the Dish Network DVR I used up until only a few months ago, and liked quite a bit. What they most had in common with each other, and different from TiVo, is that the menus all look the same, thereby putting them in an entirely different league.

The TiVo Premiere menus, very much on the other hand, look like something I would've made in school (I majored in computer graphics/animation) before I was ready to hand them in - and I really can't stress that last part enough.

 

I just purchased a Premiere and my issue is having used TiVos for 10 years the interface has almost gone backwards. 10 years in computer time is equal to several lifetimes and I'd think by now we could have a nice looking configurable HD interface.

The content is available for what I view... OTA, Netflix, Pandora and Videos (ripped DVDs) so it's a shame there isn't a slick interface to make it enjoyable to use.

 

Well, there's your problem - a current cable DVR does not compare well to a Tivo. Is Tivo disappointing most of us now? Yes. But even so, are their DVRs better than cable's right now? Yes. Menus are not great on Tivo admittedly, but functionality is way better.

But that gap will close as long as Tivo keeps singing past the grave.

 

My Humax DRT800 TiVo with DVD Burner owns the S3, HD and premiere IMO. It is still the best A/V investment i have ever made. That was the last great leap for TiVo. They have all been a disapointment to me after the DRT800 IMO.

 

What is sdui and hdui and where can I set it at in my premiere box

 

Tivo central=setting and messages= settings= display

 

So ...

I am running Three TiVo's (One Series3 and Two HD). I prepaid 3 yrs on the Series3 and pay month to month on the HDs.

My 3 yr prepay runs up this month on the Series3. My bill will go up to $13, 10, and 10.

I have two upgrade offers for the Premiers. Should I wait?

 

Depends on how you use your TiVos and what your future intentions are.

1. Due you use cable cards and would you save money by swapping out the Series 3?
2. Do you have enough hard drive space now?
3. Do you do allot of TiVo to TiVo transfers?
4. Any of your existing units have any problems?
   

I have a Series 3, a TiVo HD, & a Premiere all used for OTA and as far as I am concerned all 3 units work just fine and I would not replace the Series 3 or TiVo HD with another Premiere without some really good reason.

Now if you are talking buying lifetime for something then I would buy a new Premiere and add the lifetime to that instead of adding it to one of your older units, which I think would cost you $500 total if you have upgrade offers. The only way I would add lifetime to one of your older units is if they offered you the $99 lifetime option on your Series 3 that some people coming off the 3 year pre-paids have gotten.

Good Luck

 

1. SDUI = Standard Definition User Interface = Old User Interface
2. HDUI = High Definition User Interface = New User Interface

caddyroger gave you the location where you can switch between the 2. (Tivo central=setting and messages= settings= display)

Good Luck,

 

With no experience swapping drives, and a three-year-old TiVo Series3 HD unit - the one with the program title displayed when recording (which I like) - I decided to explore getting a new Premiere box. They were so cheap at Costco, cheaper than the cost of a new upgrade drive, and no uplift in the monthly fee, that I went for it. Was planning to set it up today, but now, after reading through this thread, I am wondering if I should bother...

Also, I am experiencing an issue with transferring programs using TiVo Transfer to my iMac. Can anyone send me a link to a thread to address this please? (I scheduled a couple of shows to transfer overnight to view while I am in a home office - and all of the HD shows are about 7 to 8 minutes short. I tried another, as a standalone, and even though the transfer says it's an hour, when I hit play the show is only 33 minutes. They are fine on the actual TiVo. Is there a size limitation per transfer?)

 

Great response, thank you.

I am primarily OTA. I do get some basic analog cable that comes in free because I have high-speed cable Internet. But, we get our HD the old fashioned way ... rabbit ears!

I will DEFINITELY try to get the $99 lifetime on the Series3 ... it is my favorite TiVo. It has lots of space due to an after market external drive I built for it.

The space on the HDs are really not enough. But, they are not causing me any problems. The Series3 is the only one that causes me any problems. It likes to spontaneously reboot. We notice it about once a week.

Two-three times a week we transfer a program from one TiVo to another.

 

I'm happy with my Premiere. Really didn't plan to upgrade to it, but we decided to buy our first HDTV one day, and quickly realized that using the HD cable box sucked, and we'd prefer to have Tivo for HD content to. So far it's been generally fine, and the Wife Acceptance Factor is extremely high which is one of the reasons it wins over the alernates.

In our case, We "save" the $10/mo that Comcast wanted for an HD box - the cablecard is free. So in "just" 50 months, ($200 box, $300 lifetime) it'll be "free", right?

 

Called tonight and received the $99 lifetime deal. Thanks!!

 

Well, yeah, if all you want to watch and record is standard-def television, then sure, the Humax DVDR-TiVo is great. I still have mine as well.

I don't use it, however, because SD makes my eyes bleed.