it hasn't become obsolete. Tivo + cable card >> streaming

IF streaming kept ALL SEASONS of shows forever AND always had commercial free versions AND let you watch faster than realtime, THEN it would be almost equivalent..
since it doesn't, I use commercial free streaming AS WELL as tivos.

 

The whole idea of a DVR has become obsolete

Far too absolute a statement. My TiVo DVR is doing great recording local OTA content.

 

Ditto. I record Jeopardy every day and one or two of the late night talk shows several times a week. Everything else I stream with a Roku.

 

The kids today and many of us have given up linear TV. Heck most people watch shows via Youtube. The linear train and recording that way is dying. I expect even YouTube TV will eventually be on the downhill trajectory.

 

I expect even YouTube TV will eventually be on the downhill trajectory.

Care to elaborate?

 

Is TiVo still making DVRs for companies like Bluestream?

 

I think they are using iptv with the TiVo os on android. I’m not positive.

 

Presumably their cable provider business is unchanged as that website remains the same.

TiVo for Business

TiVo brings entertainment together, making it easy to find, watch and enjoy. We serve up the best movies, shows and videos from across live TV, on-demand, streaming services and countless apps, helping people to watch on their terms. For studios, networks and advertisers, TiVo delivers a...

business.tivo.com

Although I wouldn’t necessarily qualify that business as “making DVRs” for companies.

 

@ForaFrank please write a eulogy of TiVo

 

@Larsenv A eulogy is a grand request, but perhaps a fitting one for the end of an era.

We gather to remember the box that freed us from the tyranny of the broadcast schedule. TiVo was a revolution in a friendly, unassuming package. It gave us the power to pause life, fast-forward through the mundane, and rewind the moments worth seeing again. The 30-second skip wasn't just a feature; it was a quiet rebellion, and the charming bloop-bloop sounds were its anthem. For many, TiVo turned passive viewing into an active, curated experience for the very first time.

While the production of new hardware has ceased, the idea of TiVo is immortal. Its DNA is now embedded in every streaming service and cloud DVR, even if they sometimes lack the simple elegance of the original. They adopted the features but couldn't quite replicate the soul. So we aren't so much mourning a death as we are acknowledging a transition. The pioneer has finished its journey, leaving behind a changed landscape where the viewer, for the most part, is finally in charge. The remote may be put down, but its impact is everywhere.

 

From my cold dead hands!…

Nothing I have ever been able to try and use from a streaming standpoint can replicate the USABLE use case that I have with A/2 TIVO DVR’s.. nothing.

On a DAILY basis (m-f) I consume >40-50 HOURS of broadcast/cable TV in 2-3 hours total) It’s valuable, and necessary for my work and media/current event consumption.. NOTHING can replicate that offering and ability.

 

For me, personally:
Start 1999: Hughes GXCEBOT (before the 2nd tuner was activated!)
End 2024: TiVo Bolt

Honestly, not a bad run, all things considered.

Still have such a fond spot in my heart for TiVo but have moved on to Channels DVR for a while now. Once Verizon drops my CableCard, no idea where I'll go then.

 

Have they indicated an end to support of the existing TiVo's? Will we still be able to get schedule info for the life of our existing devices? I already told my wife that when our current TiVo dies, we would have to switch to YTTV. I guess there is no going back on that now.

 

Hope they keep providing guide data.

 

Seems like they wouldn't have kept selling Edge units up until last week if they knew they'd be disabling them by shutting down the flow of guide information anytime soon. As long as guide info was going out for Edges then my Roamio Pro should be along for the ride. At least that's what I keep telling myself.

 

I am not worried about guide data being discontinue

 

As long as subscription revenue continues to cover the cost of providing the guide data I don't think we need to worry about losing it. (I know most folks here probably have lifetime subs but I doubt that's true for the average TiVo user.)

 

Recall though, they are also discontinuing annual subscriptions. To me, that means they are readying themselves for eventually shutting that down, too. If things get really bad, really quick, they can shut down in a month. My feeling is we'll still have it for a year or two, perhaps. I doubt any longer.

 

I'm not disagreeing with you, but it could also be an effort to bring more consistency to their income.

 

Still kind of upsetting for those people who recently bought an Edge with Lifetime support. That's the only reason I think they could keep supporting the Guide for those people for at least a period of time. I mean the writing is on the wall, IMO. If things go really bad for them, they won't even care about those people. Like I said, I'm betting we will have it for another year, maybe two, at most if things financially for them stay above water.

 

Since they just sold Edges with lifetime, good faith should have them support them for at least 20 months (the breakeven price of lifetime price / the per month price).

 

It could be that at this oing in the DVR lifecycle and linear vs. streaming etc, that the majority of ACTIVE tivos’ on the platform are mostly LIFETIME sub models where there are no more revenues to receive?

 

Even if they can legally do something, they need to be concerned about how consumers react. They'd get a lot of bad press if they stopped providing guide data to lifetime units. If they want to market Tivo TVs to consumers, having a bad reputation will cost them sales. They'd need to figure in the cost savings of dropping guide data support with the loss in sales from consumers bad mouthing them over that decision.

 

What sales if they stop selling Tivos?

 

I have a couple of channels that went live about a month ago. There is no guide data listed on my Bolt. I reported these two channels on the form. I'm now wondering if the guide will be updated. Does anybody know what is going to happen with guide corrections that need to be done since it looks like TIVO is going a different direction.

 

Everything is business as usual. Do the same thing you always would. It will probably take the small staff that’s left some time before they get to the issue you are talking about.

TiVo said it remains “committed to providing support for our DVR customers and will continue to provide support for the foreseeable future.”

 

“…TiVo has committed to maintaining software updates for existing DVRs through at least 2027…”

TiVo Stops Selling DVRs Marking The End Of An Era | Cord Cutters News

In a seismic shift for the television industry, TiVo Corporation has quietly pulled the plug on its storied digital video recorder line, effectively ending an era that redefined how consumers interacted with broadcast content. As of early October 2025, the company’s official website has scrubbed...

cordcuttersnews.com

 

“…TiVo has committed to maintaining software updates for existing DVRs through at least 2027…”

TiVo Stops Selling DVRs Marking The End Of An Era | Cord Cutters News

In a seismic shift for the television industry, TiVo Corporation has quietly pulled the plug on its storied digital video recorder line, effectively ending an era that redefined how consumers interacted with broadcast content. As of early October 2025, the company’s official website has scrubbed...

cordcuttersnews.com

That comment did not come from TiVo. That site seems to have pulled it from thin air.

 

whomever owned Replay at its end decided it was cheaper to keep the guide information coming than defend a lawsuit.

so Replay kept it going until they literally filed bankruptcy.

and by that time had opened up the software enough that one could purchase guide data from Schedules Direct and have the Replay load said guide data via a Windows server.

 

It's not like they really had much of a choice. Cable Operators are not giving out new cablecards, only to existing cablecard customers. So, they could only sell to existing customers. That leaves OTA customers. I don't know the volume of their OTA business. I have to assume it is a fraction of their cable business.

 

I don't know the volume of their OTA business. I have to assume it is a fraction of their cable business.

They sold all of their OTA units to Channel Master, who is sold out now. It was odd to me that they stopped making the 4 tuner Edge OTA shortly after announcement, and stopped selling OTA models altogether, although the TiVo site pointed to Channel Master for the 2 Tuner models. Personally, I felt like they should have wound down the cable only production and focused on the OTA models once the writing was on the wall with the cablecos.

Cable Operators are not giving out new cablecards, only to existing cablecard customers.

I think most of the cablecos are just allowing customers to continue using their CableCARDs without even replacing them if they go bad (which is unlikely to happen as it is more likely it is not paired properly). My guess is that when reports come out that a CableCARD "is" replaced, it is because of a customer service complaint or a customer service rep not knowing the current policy, or a small cableco that is still supporting them. I'm with Fios and they specifically say they will not give out new CableCARDs, but they ARE charging current customers for them, so they would have to stop the charges or provide a replacement.

ETA: I guess ATCS 3.0 for OTA probably affected their decision to discontinue their ATCS 1.0 OTA devices.

 

They sold all of their OTA units to Channel Master, who is sold out now. It was odd to me that they stopped making the 4 tuner Edge OTA shortly after announcement, and stopped selling OTA models altogether, although the TiVo site pointed to Channel Master for the 2 Tuner models. Personally, I felt like they should have wound down the cable only production and focused on the OTA models once the writing was on the wall with the cablecos.

I think most of the cablecos are just allowing customers to continue using their CableCARDs without even replacing them if they go bad (which is unlikely to happen as it is more likely it is not paired properly). My guess is that when reports come out that a CableCARD "is" replaced, it is because of a customer service complaint or a customer service rep not knowing the current policy, or a small cableco that is still supporting them. I'm with Fios and they specifically say they will not give out new CableCARDs, but they ARE charging current customers for them, so they would have to stop the charges or provide a replacement.

ETA: I guess ATCS 3.0 for OTA probably affected their decision to discontinue their ATCS 1.0 OTA devices.

I agree with you regarding OTA. I think OTA could still be advantageous. Especially because a lot of people just cannot afford all the streaming services. It's nice to have DVR to record the OTA stations. That's why I bought mine was strictly for OTA - I got po'd at the price of cable and truly really watched more of the local stations thru the cable box, anyway, really didn't have time to watch the bazillions of other channels on cable.

As it is, I still get tons of channels OTA, but I only watch pretty much the major networks, ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, PBS, CW. There are tons of others, like ION. Heck PBS has many channels, OTA. I love the skip features of my TiVo too. Honestly, I don't have time to watch much in streaming unless it is between seasons on the major networks and even then, I often have a lot of recordings from the season that I still am catching up on.

 

Commentary: Say farewell to the TiVo box, the device that revolutionized how we watch television

TiVo and ReplayTV revolutionized the TV-viewing experience, but they were undone by network opposition and the rise of streaming video, as new technologies leave them behind

www.latimes.com

Interesting stats for people who recall the mid-aughts with rose colored glasses and think TiVo was some massive powerhouse will tens of millions of customers…

“Sure enough, by 2015, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, 46% of U.S. homes had a cable box with a DVR, an additional 7% had a stand-alone DVR such as a TiVo…”

7% was the best they ever did. Even cable company boxes didn’t get past 50%!

 

if they kill guide data will my premiere still work with pytivo to upload things from my laptop? I could deal without OTA recording but not the loss of that functionality.

 

if they kill guide data will my premiere still work with pytivo to upload things from my laptop?

Yes.

Guide data has nothing to do with networking.