[JKR123]

Does anyone understand exactly how the process works of when and how the ads get attached to our recordings? For example, are they being physically written to our hard drive or is some call being made to get the ad at the moment that we push play?

Also does anyone understand what they are having to do with the cleanup process to remove the ads once they opt-out someone? For example, do they have to manually go into each recording that has an ad attached to it and delete it? Or is it just some type of setting that no longer performs the operation of getting and displaying the ad?

Answers to the above might help explain why we still see ads when we thought they had been turned off for us.

 

[Amnesia]

I think the only practical way for them to do it is for the individual TiVo know that it's supposed to show an ad. Then when you try to play a recording, it right then goes out to the Internet and plays it. The "cleanup process" is to push an update to your TiVo to tell it to stop going out to the Internet for the ads.

 

[Charles R]

Requesting to opt-out gives TiVo the message that you are very unhappy with the pre-roll ads.

What makes you think they don't already know...

 

[ej42137]

What makes you think they don't already know...

That they are still running pre-roll ads. If they knew we were unhappy enough to cause them revenue loss one imagines they would stop.

 

[ej42137]

Good point. But highly unlikely that they will care or do anything differently.

All that is required for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.

 

[Charles R]

If they knew we were unhappy enough to cause them revenue loss one imagines they would stop.

Give them a little credit... they well knew there would be (some) pushback. From the feedback (here) it's been less than I would have thought... probably them as well. Hard to guess the numbers aren't in their favor. Loss of subscriber fees vs streaming revenue... I'd love to see the numbers. Hard to lose revenue on us lifetimers who have already decided we are on our last TiVo... which appears to be the vocal majority.

 

[TonyD79]

That they are still running pre-roll ads. If they knew we were unhappy enough to cause them revenue loss one imagines they would stop.

Asking to opt out doesn't say you won't pay them anymore. Not paying them anymore says you won't pay them anymore. But by then you are gone. You can threaten but they won't really care if you still stay after a concession. In other words, there is little you can do that will be affective. They KNOW no one likes the ads. That's why they invented skip. They just don't care.

 

[Narkul]

I was furious about pre-roll, but after recieving my first ad, pressing the skip was effortless and I just can't be bothered to go through a CSR battle to get it turned off. The Tivo+ intrusion in the UI really bothers me though. If I thought it was a vehicle to get a Tivo based Android UI I'd feel a lot better about it, but I'm afraid it's more likely just an obtrusive revenue scheme.

 

[Salacious Crumb]

Sometimes the ad plays ok.
Sometimes i get the static sreeen & have to shut off the tv & put it back on to play.

 

[longrider]

I just started receiving the ads a few days ago and really is not a big deal. Once the ad starts pressing skip takes me straight to the start of the show and if an ad does not load the arrow screen is only there for 2 or 3 seconds before the program starts. I am not going to lose any sleep over this

 

[leiff]

I haven't contacted tivo about these pre roll ads I recently get. Most of the time the program just starts with the Gray screen with the arrows for a couple seconds. Seems to happen after I start every show now. Very annoying. For those who called Tivo to get pre ads removed, does the Gray screen with the arrow delay go away also? I don't wanna bother With a solution unless it also removes the two Gray screen arrow delay screen. I may go into my router firewall settings to block these sites as was listing to see if that will work. I read reports here say for some that the Gray screen still persists after this

 

[MrDell]

I haven't contacted tivo about these pre roll ads I recently get. Most of the time the program just starts with the Gray screen with the arrows for a couple seconds. Seems to happen after I start every show now. Very annoying. For those who called Tivo to get pre ads removed, does the Gray screen with the arrow delay go away also? I don't wanna bother With a solution unless it also removes the two Gray screen arrow delay screen. I may go into my router firewall settings to block these sites as was listing to see if that will work. I read reports here say for some that the Gray screen still persists after this

I called customer service on Monday and they were removed yesterday after forcing a network connection... after removal there was no more grey screen arrow display and my recording loads right up with no delay. I hope this is a permanent fix because it's a pain arguing with the reps over something that should not be there in the first place

 

[Flashmasta]

I got my first ad a few days ago and then used the URLs posted earlier in my OpenDNS blacklist. I haven't seen an ad since and my OpenDNS stats show the URLs being blocked so I know that part is working at least. I assume URL blocking will always work to a certain extent. As long as we can figure out which URLs they are using we should be able to always block it because the Tivo would need to assume "oh well the ad service is down, we need to keep the viewing process moving" and move to the DVR'ed content.

 

[TonyD79]

I got my first ad a few days ago and then used the URLs posted earlier in my OpenDNS blacklist. I haven't seen an ad since and my OpenDNS stats show the URLs being blocked so I know that part is working at least. I assume URL blocking will always work to a certain extent. As long as we can figure out which URLs they are using we should be able to always block it because the Tivo would need to assume "oh well the ad service is down, we need to keep the viewing process moving" and move to the DVR'ed content.

Do you get the gray arrows?

 

[jjberger2134]

I haven't contacted tivo about these pre roll ads I recently get. Most of the time the program just starts with the Gray screen with the arrows for a couple seconds. Seems to happen after I start every show now. Very annoying. For those who called Tivo to get pre ads removed, does the Gray screen with the arrow delay go away also? I don't wanna bother With a solution unless it also removes the two Gray screen arrow delay screen. I may go into my router firewall settings to block these sites as was listing to see if that will work. I read reports here say for some that the Gray screen still persists after this

I contacted support last week about this after my TiVo really acted weird - freezing on that grey screen. TiVo removed the pre-roll ads, and I forced a couple of connections to the server, then rebooted the machine. TiVo works fine now with no grey arrow screen. Goes right to the recording when pushing play. I think the screen persists for those that haven't forced a connection and possibly rebooted.

 

[aaronwt]

Give them a little credit... they well knew there would be (some) pushback. From the feedback (here) it's been less than I would have thought... probably them as well. Hard to guess the numbers aren't in their favor. Loss of subscriber fees vs streaming revenue... I'd love to see the numbers. Hard to lose revenue on us lifetimers who have already decided we are on our last TiVo... which appears to be the vocal majority.

Yes. I plan on removing a $6.95 monthly roamio. That was first on a Series 3 in 2007. Then got transferred to a Premiere and then to a Roamio. Tweleve years of that $6.95 fee. I will tell them I am cancelling because of the preroll ads. Although I guess I need to make sure that roamio actually has them.

Sent from my Galaxy S10

 

[aaronwt]

I haven't contacted tivo about these pre roll ads I recently get. Most of the time the program just starts with the Gray screen with the arrows for a couple seconds. Seems to happen after I start every show now. Very annoying. For those who called Tivo to get pre ads removed, does the Gray screen with the arrow delay go away also? I don't wanna bother With a solution unless it also removes the two Gray screen arrow delay screen. I may go into my router firewall settings to block these sites as was listing to see if that will work. I read reports here say for some that the Gray screen still persists after this

I've never seen a gray screen with preroll. The ad starts right away. And when finished, for a second I see a black screen with the pause symbol in the upper right corner.

Sent from my Galaxy S10

 

[Charles R]

As long as we can figure out which URLs they are using we should be able to always block it because the Tivo would need to assume "oh well the ad service is down, we need to keep the viewing process moving" and move to the DVR'ed content.

I know if you DNS blacklist the guide ad server it endlessly tries to connect every 10 seconds. The guide works as normal but internally TiVo never gives up trying. Funny thing is if you whitelist the domain after booting the ads never appear in the guide (even though it hits the domain the moment it's whitelisted).

 

[lman]

I called TIVO 11/18 and it was my understanding that the ads would be removed. I received the following email, so I'm not confident that they will remove the ads.

This message is to inform you the issue you reported ----- is still under investigation. We appreciate your patience while we work to resolve this issue.
If you have any questions please feel free to contact TiVo
Technical Support at 877-367-8486.

The Case Number for this inquiry is 0000000. Please refer to this number
if you choose to contact us again regarding this request. You may email us to
with your inquiry using this link, or you can login to My Support at www.tivo.com/mysupport and
submit your case. Replies directly to this email will not be received.

 

[Flashmasta]

Do you get the gray arrows?

I get the arrows and then it goes into the recording.