Did your 3TB drive from Weaknees arrive "Brand New Sealed"? Specifically, did it arrive in a factory-sealed anti-static bag that you had to cut/tear open? or was it in a ziplock-sealed anti-static bag? or was it in an unsealed anti-static bag whose open end was simply folded over and taped? or something else?
How reliable are the Bolts?
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unsealed anti-static bag whose open end was simply folded over and taped
That raises an interesting question: does a 3TB drive still require special preparation? I believe formatting before installation is only necessary for Premier or older models, or for drives larger than 3 TB in a Roamio or a recent-model Bolt. Or am I oversimplifying?
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I’ve had my Bolt+ for two years and the hard drive just crapped out last Saturday. They shipped me a replacement, I got it up and running Wednesday evening and Friday afternoon it crapped out in the very same fashion. Regardless of the my frustration and dissatisfaction they refused to give me overnight shipping so now I’m stuck waiting till probably Tuesday because they say FedEx doesn’t deliver overnight on weekends. I say BS. Terribly terribly disappointed in Tivo‘s customer service they will never ever get another penny of my money for any of their equipment and/or services and if the third Bolt+ craps out on me I’m going to demand a refund. This was a really great company in 2012 when I bought my Premier elite it you could actually call customer service and speak to a technical individual who knew what they were doing but it has since gone straight down the toilet and nobody at Tivo seems to give a damn about the customers and their satisfaction. If you’re happy with your current Tivo machine take my advice and do not buy this crap that they are selling. You are going to be extremely disappointed.
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I doubt they will give you a refund. Might be easier to buy a new drive and install it yourself.
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Has anybody ever suggested turning the Bolt/Turd upside down so the fan would blow up and the heat would rise more easily out of the machine?
Interesting suggestion. That might be better than not doing anything at all if the orientations isn't bad for the hard drive that is. I'd be curious to see if people post their ODT results from this. Its So easy to put a large fan underneath tivo though, that's what everyone should be doing though honestly
The easiest cooling mod one can make to a Bolt is to simply remove the door over the cable card slot.
Adding a small fan to blow on the cable card helps even more.
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Having to do this for an un-modified commercial product is absolutely absurd.
To be fair, per TiVo_Ted, the Bolt is rated significantly higher than the temps. that people are reporting.
Regardless, removing a cablecard compartment hatch, or putting water bottle caps under the 4 corners of the box, is a simple thing to do, as a preventative.
I agree. And, as Mikeguy noted...TiVoTed seems to say it's unnecessary.
Maybe it is unnecessary...but it's cheap and easy...and if it helps...so much the better.
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I am on to Bolt+ #5 since the original Bol+t purchase since April of 2017. One of them earned the flashing lights of brickdom, two of them would no longer power on, the latest failure was a replacement (refurb of course) that would not tune any channels.
So, for number 5, I've got it resting on 120mm fan with the Cablecard cover door removed. They do run much hotter than the older boxes.
So, yea, compared to every other other Tivo I have owned - including a Premiere and Roamio Pro that are still going, I would say the build quality on Bolt units is . . .lacking. Get the warranty.
So, for number 5, I've got it resting on 120mm fan with the Cablecard cover door removed. They do run much hotter than the older boxes.
So, yea, compared to every other other Tivo I have owned - including a Premiere and Roamio Pro that are still going, I would say the build quality on Bolt units is . . .lacking. Get the warranty.
I recently retired our Bolt for the reasons of noise and instability mentioned above. It was on an annual plan. One Lifetime Roamio Pro is now at the center of our system. But before I took the Bolt offline for good, I decided to see if I could make it quieter.
The fan had developed a clicking noise early on. I replaced that with a stock model fan, which fixed the clicking noise, but still found the new fan too noisy. I then tried a Noiseblocker BlackSilentFan XS-2, but there's no way around it: that crazy case simply requires a tiny fan and will always be too noisy. I could mod it with a larger fan, but I have better things to do.
Even worse, the noise I thought was a buzzing board component turned out to be a small screw or chunk of solder rolling around under the main board. Apparently it was often vibrating along with the fan motor at times. I haven't bothered to take the board out to see what it is. I'm done.
All previous models were bedroom quiet. Not the Bolt. As I've often said, the Roamio line was the last great series produced by TiVo. If they can't get back to that quality — in hardware, software, guide data, advertising, etc. — well, we're ready here with a Channels DVR system running in parallel and ready to take over anytime.
The fan had developed a clicking noise early on. I replaced that with a stock model fan, which fixed the clicking noise, but still found the new fan too noisy. I then tried a Noiseblocker BlackSilentFan XS-2, but there's no way around it: that crazy case simply requires a tiny fan and will always be too noisy. I could mod it with a larger fan, but I have better things to do.
Even worse, the noise I thought was a buzzing board component turned out to be a small screw or chunk of solder rolling around under the main board. Apparently it was often vibrating along with the fan motor at times. I haven't bothered to take the board out to see what it is. I'm done.
All previous models were bedroom quiet. Not the Bolt. As I've often said, the Roamio line was the last great series produced by TiVo. If they can't get back to that quality — in hardware, software, guide data, advertising, etc. — well, we're ready here with a Channels DVR system running in parallel and ready to take over anytime.
I am looking to upgrade from a Roamio to get 4k for my upcoming new TV. This thread is scaring me. You guys that have gone back to a Roamio, does not having 4K concern you? Of course some of you may not have 4K TVs, but I assume some do? My Roamio is awesome and I don't want to regret a change.
On a side note, would a new QLED 4K TV look any better than my 6 or so year old 1080P set on my Roamio?
On a side note, would a new QLED 4K TV look any better than my 6 or so year old 1080P set on my Roamio?
There's almost no 4K TV programming yet. Most of what little is out there is experimentation by a few cable companies. There's plenty of 4K streaming, but a Roamio - or any TiVo - is not the best choice for streaming.
I would stick with that Roamio for TV, and if your new TV doesn't have all the built-in apps you want then add a 4K model Fire, Roku, Apple, Nvidia, or etc. for streaming. Some 4K disc players also do double duty as 4K streamers.
But if you do still want to do it all with TiVo, skip the Bolt and take a risk on the Edge (but read the Edge threads first).
The Roamio maxes out at 1080p, so that won't change on the new set even if the TV does upscaling, plus HDTV channels still broadcast at no more than 1080i and many are still on 720p. So again, that's not a concern for now and maybe you just want to wait on a new TiVo until the broadcast/cable industry catches up with streaming.
As Pokey says, there is no 4k cable or OTA TV yet. There is a lot of good 4k streaming, but TiVos are poor at streaming; your TV will handle streaming much better than a TiVo ever will. Another better choice is a 4k streaming box like a Roku or Apple TV.
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Don't tell that to FiOS. They have two QAM channels that periodically broadcast 4K content.
Okay then: "FIOS, you have no 4k content to speak of." Certainly not enough to justify a 4k TiVo.
Unfortunately the current trend is to over-compress existing channels, apparently to get more carriage revenue from more channels. I don't see ISPs giving up existing channels to wholeheartedly embrace 4k in the near term, much as I wish that were not true. Streaming, on the other hand, is seeing 4k growth with 8k on the horizon. (My wife's probably going to kill me when I buy an 8k Samsung next year. I'll have to get her a tennis bracelet to get out of the dog house.)
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