[CopRock]

A few days ago I was going through Tivo Central's Add & Manage Apps unclicking apps I didn't use [because there are soooo many good ones :/ ] and noticed that Hydra Upgrade [& Downgrade] 'apps' were there and unclicked them since I really don't want to deal with it for now and noticed today its now called Experience 4 [& Experience 4 Upgrade] ...
Even when it was clicked there was nothing under Apps or under My Shows, what was the point of it? And does it being unclicked mean I won't ever have to switch over to the new GUI?

I'm actually pretty satisfied with the way the GUI is now and don't need a Roku/Playstation/Whatever like experience and feel that it would tax my basic 4 tuner Roamio even more

 

[osu1991]

The apps are hidden until TiVo makes it live for everyone. The only way to upgrade is to signup on a specific page at tivo.com. The new UI runs very fast on my 4 tuner Roamio.

 

[RayinMaui]

OMG, the new Hydra is AWFUL! I'm considering losing my 82% to delete it. So bad! DON'T DO IT!

 

[CopRock]

OMG, the new Hydra is AWFUL! I'm considering losing my 82% to delete it. So bad! DON'T DO IT!

I wonder why it works great for some and not for others.... I'm hoping that we aren't forced into it, should be for the newer machines but tivo has a habit of forcing changes with no regard to user input

 

[Diana Collins]

There are a number of specific bugs (like Vox remotes not working with A92 series Minis, V66 errors on Minis of all types, etc.), but most of the complaints fall into the following categories:

1) "I don't like the graphic heavy UI"
2) "They took away the Live Guide"
3) "I have to press back instead of left arrow"
4) "The font is too small"
5) "It doesn't work the same as the old UI"

While I am not excusing any of the bugs, the UI works and I have yet to miss a recording since updating 2 weeks ago, playback works perfectly, the streaming apps all work, and menus have been simplified. There are also several options for turning specific features on or off. Tivo is being VERY responsive on the bugs (a fix for the V66 bug is in field testing now) and additional development will be done on Hydra (aka the New Tivo experience) in the future.

Hydra is a complete rewrite of the UI, so in its first iteration it is not surprising that it not only did not add new functionality, but also misses some less broadly used functions. As a software product manager that has managed a UI rewrite, this is pretty standard. You first get the new UI so it doesn't break anything critical (in Tivo's case, that means the core DVR functions work) then you polish what you have and add new features. The release 2 weeks ago was a "Preview release" (a term I also use for my products) which indicates to me that this is a mostly functional release, but should not be considered "finished" and will likely change some before the GA (generally available) release.

 

[NYHeel]

There are a number of specific bugs (like Vox remotes not working with A92 series Minis, V66 errors on Minis of all types, etc.), but most of the complaints fall into the following categories:

1) "I don't like the graphic heavy UI"
2) "They took away the Live Guide"
3) "I have to press back instead of left arrow"
4) "The font is too small"
5) "It doesn't work the same as the old UI"

While I am not excusing any of the bugs, the UI works and I have yet to miss a recording since updating 2 weeks ago, playback works perfectly, the streaming apps all work, and menus have been simplified. There are also several options for turning specific features on or off. Tivo is being VERY responsive on the bugs (a fix for the V66 bug is in field testing now) and additional development will be done on Hydra (aka the New Tivo experience) in the future.

Hydra is a complete rewrite of the UI, so in its first iteration it is not surprising that it not only did not add new functionality, but also misses some less broadly used functions. As a software product manager that has managed a UI rewrite, this is pretty standard. You first get the new UI so it doesn't break anything critical (in Tivo's case, that means the core DVR functions work) then you polish what you have and add new features. The release 2 weeks ago was a "Preview release" (a term I also use for my products) which indicates to me that this is a mostly functional release, but should not be considered "finished" and will likely change some before the GA (generally available) release.

I have some complaints about Hydra that don't fit into any of those buckets. First, playback does not work perfectly. Somehow Hydra messed up 30 second skip. Now there's a short delay after each skip before audio comes back. It's not a huge deal but it's annoying and affects my use of the feature. More importantly, when 30 second skipping to the current live TV point, all kind of weird things occur including major audio dropouts. Sometimes the picture jumps back a few seconds. Sometimes the audio volume levels come and go. You need to 8 second rewind and then fast forward to get back to normal. It's been really annoying when watching sports.

Another thing that bothers me is the ridiculously large progress bar. Why does the progress bar need to block the whole bottom of the screen? I 30 second skip constantly during football games. I have no idea why it has to block so much of the screen. Why not just leave the progress bar itself but get rid of all the black shading? Also, they got rid of the default one hour padding of live events like sports. I liked that feature. Unrelated to sports, why'd they get rid of the dates in the My Show listing. Those used to help me find shows in my really long list.

Also, from a UI perspective, what's with the horizontal tiles of shows that appear to be from the My Shows listing? What purpose do they serve? They seem to be randomly thrown there in no particular order. Maybe if I understood how they worked I'd be able to use it but I have no idea what it's doing. I just go to the My shows list and find what I want to watch.

Now there are some positive changes but there are some bugs (30 second skip being by far the worst for me), feature losses, and just strange UI decisions.

 

[Diana Collins]

I have not seen the 30 sec skip issue reported, and I have not noticed it, but we almost always use skip and ffwd.

The tiles across the home screen are like the "suggestions" boxes across the top of the old UI - they are sometimes programs you have recorded, sometime streaming shows you watch, and, new to Hydra, sometimes will be programs that happen to on at the moment. What is shown changes depending on what you watch at that time of day. For example, if the kids watch cartoons every weekday from 5 to 6, at 5pm the Smart Bar should hold their favorite cartoon shows.

There is documentation for Hydra that explains these things: The New TiVo Experience Viewer's Guide

 

[ajwees41]

I think the biggest change is no more Tivo to Tivo transfers using the box itself they have to be done via Tivo online

 

[atmuscarella]

I think the biggest change is no more Tivo to Tivo transfers using the box itself they have to be done via Tivo online

There is also no way to do transfers to a TiVo running Hydra from a computer or from a Series 3 or older TiVo. Which is a big deal for some people.

 

[NYHeel]

I have not seen the 30 sec skip issue reported, and I have not noticed it, but we almost always use skip and ffwd.

The tiles across the home screen are like the "suggestions" boxes across the top of the old UI - they are sometimes programs you have recorded, sometime streaming shows you watch, and, new to Hydra, sometimes will be programs that happen to on at the moment. What is shown changes depending on what you watch at that time of day. For example, if the kids watch cartoons every weekday from 5 to 6, at 5pm the Smart Bar should hold their favorite cartoon shows.

There is documentation for Hydra that explains these things: The New TiVo Experience Viewer's Guide

Others have seen and reported the 30 second skip issues. Try this on your Tivo while a recording is going on. Play the ongoing recording. Fast forward towards the current live TV point but stop a little short. Then 30 second skip until you hit live TV. You should hear audio issues. Either a full drop out or intermittent drop outs. It's happened to me every single time and is completely repeatable.

I'm not really one for suggestions. The old discovery bar never bothered me because it was on the top of the screen and out of the way. This new one is smack in the middle and really clutters up the UI with the useless stuff.

 

[cTwining]

There is also no way to do transfers to a TiVo running Hydra from a computer or from a Series 3 or older TiVo. Which is a big deal for some people.

Does Hydra also prevent file downloads from a TiVo via KMTTG to a computer ?

 

[HerronScott]

Does Hydra also prevent file downloads from a TiVo via KMTTG to a computer ?

No.

Scott

 

[John7777]

If they are in the optional app section, then can't I just uncheck the app there, and not have to worry about any changes? Or, if tivo forces the change on us, wouldn't it be in their best interest to fix the bugs with new firmware and upgrades?

 

[[email protected]]

I think the biggest change is no more Tivo to Tivo transfers using the box itself they have to be done via Tivo online

The advantage I can see is, I can now stream copy protected programs and watch them on my other Bolt. I can't transfer the files in online Tivo. My Premier and older Tivos would not transfer playable copy protected files. My Bolt experience 4 will play copy protected files like they were recorded on it's own hard drive. I have experience 3 on my Bolt+.