Really? If you're a hoarder/pirate, sure.
Yes, really. First of all, building a library is
NOT hoarding, your attempt to disparage wanting to watch what I want when I want notwithstanding. I also have a modest book library, and that does not constitute hoarding, either. Compulsive hoarding is characterized by indiscriminate collecting of large amounts of poorly considered items, the vast majority of which are never used at all. Furthermore, it is also characterized by a near total lack of organization. My libraries consist exclusively of items that are prized by myself or members of my family, and they are filed and cross-referenced very consistently and effectively. One or the other of us watch several of the items in my video library and read several of the books in my library every week.
Perhaps you are obsessive to the point you wish to watch a particular item at a particular time every week, or else so in need of being led that you are sanguine with being forced particular things at more or less particular times, but I am not.
Nor am I a pirate. I pay for every bit of content I watch, including every bit I archive. There is no illegal content in either of my libraries.
Otherwise, total BS - on Comcast e.g., only the premiums are CP'd.
Comcast is not available in my area, nor in the majority of areas. Although it is by a modest margin the largest MSO, its penetration is still only about 32%. (Note when it suits you, you speak of "most users", but when it applies to you, personally, you backup your arguments with less than 1/3 of users.)
For the most part, I don't care to watch anything but premium content. I certainly do not watch broadcast TV, with the exception of PBS. If I want to watch
Downton Abbey, or an episode of
Nova from twenty years ago, I do. Of course, I have also purchased many, many DVDs and BluRay discs. It is exactly such things that make up the vast majority of my TV enjoyment, and it would simply be impossible without an extensuive video library. The vast majority of what is on TV today is simply total crap. The tiny fraction that is not total crap I save to my library to watch again and again through the remainng years of my life.
Not to mention that the vast majority of users don't give a fig about xfer'ing stuff to PCs
Who cares what the vast majority of users want? Are you happy to be guided by what a bunch of morons want? I am certainly not. The OP asked what the members of this forum, in particular I, would do, not the unwashed masses.
nor do they care whether the Tivo code can be modded.
I do not care about them, any more than they care about me. No one's lack of desire for superior hardware is of the least bit of concern to me. I do not know you, so I cannot make any well considered insights into your character, but I might suggest you cogitate upon the term, "Sheeple".
It works well as intended
No, it doesn't, by which I mean it would serve almost no purpose whatsoever for my needs unless modified. The exact same thing is true of a lathe I purchased last year, and also a vertical milling machine, not to mention hundreds of other tools. Without modification, their uses are badly limited. Add a few important modifications, and now their usability is increased many fold. The difference is, none of the machine tool manufacturers are at any pains to prevent me from modifying their products.
which is to be the best DVR you could get at the time.
Well, depending on what "time" you mean, at one point it was the only DVR. In any case, however, the statement is irrelevant. With a little work, the Series I and Series III could easily be made much, much better, to the point they actually served a purpose for me (and still do). My sister in law purchase a Bolt. She considers it to be so utterly lousy, she never uses it. She is absolutely right.
TE3 is still good stuff for recording/watching shows, even if the guide is crap at times.
The point is, it is just one more aggravating and utterly unnecessary reduction in quality of what at one time was a fairly good product, or more properly could be easily modified to be a fairly good product.
And the HDUI is way better than the SDUI that came before it, discovery bar notwithstanding.
Oh, not even close. If my sister in law were able to roll back the UI on the Bolt, she would be using it. Both t he Bolt and the Premiere HDUI suck badly beyond belief. It is true the classic TiVo SDUI leaves a great deal to be desired, but the HDUI is far, far worse.
The Premiere/Roamio/Bolt/Edge were obviously not for the hardcore, and were never intended to be.
What is your point? I suggested they are terrible, and you seem to concur, although you seem to fail to realize it. I hate to break it to you, but mediocrity is
NOT a virtue, irrespective of how popular or profitable it might be.