[Mike Lang]

I'm down to a single TiVo & even that is just a backup OTA recorder in case of storms with Directv. But streaming as a backup has rendered the TiVo essentially unnecessary in our home.

 

[lonestarjacket]

Use it for OTA DVR that has channels not offered on streaming. (I got it initially because when I switched to streaming early there weren't options for local channels.)

For sports that are broadcast it is much better than watching them streaming. Quickmode, slow-mo, frame-by-frame advance, Skip Mode to skip commericals automatically for any program.

I use streaming for what I can't get OTA, but trying to skip commercials using that little preview window is a pain, especially when Skip Mode can do it automatically. Streaming has advantages as well with YouTube TV (key plays for sports, segment bookmarks for news, unlimited DVR space.)

No streaming DVR service has anything to compare to Suggestions or Wish List recording either. If I want to record every show with a particular actor or actress, or in a particular genre, I can do it with Tivo but nothing else.

 

[jbs42]

I have FIOS with a cable card. We switched to TIVO when we had to start paying $50/month for equipment and DVR. Bought used Roamio+ and mini's off ebay for $300 and have probably saved over $2000 in fees to Verizon over 5 years. Debating cutting the cord and going streaming TV. Something like Sling with AirTV may keep my family happy and watching TV the way they like.

 

[seanandrsn]

I have 2 Bolts and 2 Mini's all with Lifetime subscriptions. We've been using TiVo for many years and it's just what my wife is comfortable with. We are on Verizon Fios (cable cards) and I'm not a fan of their DVR box and hate to pay to rent a DVR box with no control of content. I like the season pass option and my wife likes to watch TiVo suggestions (recordings) from time to time.

With my TiVo I use PyTivo to serve content from my desktop as I can archive recordings to a 10 TB drive and recall the video and download with in minutes to one of the Bolts to watch on any TV through a Moca connection so really no issues connecting to external content on any device on our 1 Gigabit connection.

It is a little frustrating to see apps like Hulu removed from the system but I get why they are doing that.

We will most likely continue to stay with TiVo until a cable card dies and we can no longer get one but if the unit dies from a hard drive failure I will most likely put another one in. I upgraded one of my Bolts with a Western Digital SSD drive which has helped keeping the unit cooler and the software seems more responsive.

 

[thechoop]

We have several TiVos with each connected to a TV recording OTA shows. We don't have cable or satellite TV. I wouldn't know what else to use. Our TVs are older so we use the Netflix and Prime video on the TiVos that have the features.

 

[snappa]

I've owned TiVo since my first Sony TiVo in 2000. It was a gift to me from my wife but once it was setup she and the rest of my family were instantly hooked. Watching any other TV without it was painful. I did try a DVR from Comcast before TiVo had HD DVRs. I had 2 of the Motorola boxes and both almost burned my house down as they were in a cabinet and they had NO cooling fans. The user experience was horrible. In fact, the current Comcast DVR UX is pretty close to the current TiVo UX, not good. One of the Motorola boxes burned out and the second actually charred the wood in the cabinet so I got rid if it and thankfully HD TiVo arrived. I've owned many boxes and currently have a 6 Tuner Roamio that has 5 TiVo Minis connected to it throughout the house. The Roamio has the old interface because, well, the new one isn't even close from a UX perspective and the Roamio doesn't really have the horsepower for it. I also have a 4 tuner Bolt that isn't hooked up running the old interface too.

I use Netflix on one of the Minis occasionally and it works. It's nowhere near as smooth as my Apple TV for streaming content.

Why do we love TiVo? The ease of use, the capacity for recorded network content, and the FF / REW capabilities are just so smooth compared to trying to do that with streaming content. Do I see TiVo as a long term future? Sadly, no. But as long as there's network content we'll not be cutting the cord and will be doing both streaming on Apple TV and cable content on TiVo.

 

[osu1991]

I have two that were new in the box until last week, and we tried to download the stations for two days on both units, and it just will not download them no matter what I try. It says there are none in my area but I know for sure, with my outside antenna I can usually pick them up on any of my TVs.. Please if you have any instructions on how to do it, please send them back to me. I don't understand how your OTA is working in mine isn't and yet mines brand new out-of-the-box, even though it's sat there for probably almost 10 years after purchase, without even being opened. We packed them away and couldn't find them. I forgot where we put them, then finally found them when we were moving please and this will make a big difference for two elderly people. Who've been trying to live in society today on a fixed income. Thank you very much.

If they’ve been sitting in the box for years, then they’re probably on the old software that used gracenote channel and guide data. They would need the update that switched everything to Rovi data once Rovi bought TiVo. Perhaps post in the help section and somebody may be able to further help.

 

[302481]

I have two that were new in the box until last week, and we tried to download the stations for two days on both units, and it just will not download them no matter what I try. It says there are none in my area but I know for sure, with my outside antenna I can usually pick them up on any of my TVs.. Please if you have any instructions on how to do it, please send them back to me. I don't understand how your OTA is working in mine isn't and yet mines brand new out-of-the-box, even though it's sat there for probably almost 10 years after purchase, without even being opened. We packed them away and couldn't find them. I forgot where we put them, then finally found them when we were moving please and this will make a big difference for two elderly people. Who've been trying to live in society today on a fixed income. Thank you very much.

Just use the zip code of the nearest large city.

But I’m pretty sure the OTA Roamio did not exist 10 years ago when you bought yours. It’s possible yours doesn’t have OTA (Premiere 4 or XL4). How did you end up spending several hundred bucks on new TiVos all those years ago but never using them. There are probably lots of reasons they don’t work now.

 

[SNJpage1]

I hate the Comcast box. It just sits next to my Tivo.

 

[dpierce4778]

How are you transferring items to and from an Edge and your NAS? AFAIK that ability went away with the Roamio, which is why I still own 8 of them.

KMTTG still works well I use it all the time

 

[krkaufman]

I have two that were new in the box until last week, and we tried to download the stations for two days on both units, and it just will not download them no matter what I try. It says there are none in my area but I know for sure, with my outside antenna I can usually pick them up on any of my TVs.. Please if you have any instructions on how to do it, please send them back to me. I don't understand how your OTA is working in mine isn't and yet mines brand new out-of-the-box, even though it's sat there for probably almost 10 years after purchase, without even being opened. We packed them away and couldn't find them. I forgot where we put them, then finally found them when we were moving please and this will make a big difference for two elderly people. Who've been trying to live in society today on a fixed income. Thank you very much.

You've made several similar posts, now, in recent weeks (above, here & here), but haven't replied when people have responded with suggestions or questions.

If you really want to see if you can get your TiVo boxes working, I recommend what others have previously... create a new thread dedicated to your issue, repeating what you've posted, describing your issue and what you've tried, but also including the specifics for the TiVo model #'s for your boxes, what software version they're running, and what their service status is listed as within your online TiVo account.

Related resources:

• TCF Help sub-forum (good place to post a new thread)
• TiVo Service & Model Number Table
• How to find the TiVo Software Version for your Device
• TiVo Account Management: Manage Devices

Example device entry from TiVo.com:

​

​

 

[dpierce4778]

Why did you prefer or stil use your Tivo?
[/QUOTE]

For us because the interface and recording options are still vastly better than the Xfinity box we got with out cable service. As well as as others have mentioned the ability to move some recordings to a PC/server though KMTTG.

That said though with so much going the way of streaming Tivo really needs to step up their OS and Apps game. Devices Like Roku are really hurting tivo and the DVR market as most shows you can find on streaming apps.

IMHO Tivo really needs to concentrate on beefing up their hardware and getting more apps. Maybe switching to a more android base OS but keeping the option of off loading non-copy protected recordings and the ability to move them from Tivo to Tivo. This would be less of a demand on the current hardware, allow for more and faster app loading as well as give them access to more apps from the google app store. And it would allow for both the best in DVR user interface and flexibility that Tivo already offers along with access to a ton of more apps. It would be a win win and a huge draw of customers to Tivo

 

[chiguy50]

I hate the Comcast box. It just sits next to my Tivo.

Would you care to elaborate? If folks are anticipating an alternative to TiVo, your impressions of the Comcast X1 DVR could prove helpful assuming you were using the most recent model.

 

[chiguy50]

IMHO Tivo really needs to concentrate on beefing up their hardware and getting more apps.

Perhaps you are not aware that there is no chance that any of this will happen as TiVo's corporate owners have moved on from hardware DVR solutions.

This thread is more about nostalgia.

 

[sdawson]

Perhaps you are not aware that there is no chance that any of this will happen as TiVo's corporate owners have moved on from hardware DVR solutions.

This thread is more about nostalgia.

I guess so. Was a terrible move though. My memory is long enough that I recall when Apple was about to do the sam e thing. They had ousted Steve Jobs and brought in an experienced CEO to 'turn apple around', Sculley as I recall, who had been president or CEO at pepsi. His vision was to get out of the hardware business and focus on the operating system, licensing it out to other computer manufacturer, as that was where the money way he thought.

It would have been a disaster if they had anot brought back Jobs, who then rescinded those plans (taking a financial hit to do so) put out some candy colored iMacs to raise some cash, then took a hard turn into the integraged hardware and software experience (ipads, itouchs', iphones eventually, in addition to their laptops and desktops machines). All the billions made would not have been possible without the full hardware + software experience.

Tivo should have done the same, creating partnerships as needed to get decent streaming guts into their DVRs. Advancing and improving the DVR eperience, capacity, and reliability. Nostalgia I guess, but I have seen so many companies in my life flounder due to lack of vision and forgetting what their core capabilities are, and it's troublesome when good companies have bad leadership.

Still riding my TIVO to the end though, and will keep it going as long as I can still record and play OTA broadcasts.

 

[sdawson]

But I’m pretty sure the OTA Roamio did not exist 10 years ago when you bought yours. It’s possible yours doesn’t have OTA

Got me curious as to when i purchased mine so I logged into tivo.com to see when they were activated. I have 3 OTA Roamios, one activated in 2016, one in 2017, and one in 2018. I am not sure when they OTA Roamios first came out, but I'm sure someone knows.

 

[NashGuy]

However, I must say, my new Edge is VERY disappointing compared to my Premiere that I've had forever. The hdmi on the Premiere went out (I still use it with component outputs to hdmi converter) is why I bought an Edge, but it has had nothing but problems. So this will be the last Tivo for me unless something drastic changes with the company. So sad.

The Edge will probably be the last TiVo for TiVo too.

 

[osu1991]

Got me curious as to when i purchased mine so I logged into tivo.com to see when they were activated. I have 3 OTA Roamios, one activated in 2016, one in 2017, and one in 2018. I am not sure when they OTA Roamios first came out, but I'm sure someone knows.

OTA only Roamio launched in 2014 according to this article.

TiVo's Roamio OTA for Cord Cutters Gets 1TB Update

The new DVR hits shelves May 2, with a 1TB hard drive and fresh features to speed up your binge watching.

www.pcmag.com

 

[krkaufman]

Tivo should have done the same, creating partnerships as needed to get decent streaming guts into their DVRs. Advancing and improving the DVR eperience, capacity, and reliability.

TiVo was headed in the right direction with OnePass and remote streaming, but failed to make them more than patches on top of their existing software, never quite getting either one working as well as needed for a consumer product.

 

[ThreeSoFar]

You've made my point...👍

Much like misterclick and the post he replied this to, still a happy TiVo lifetime subscriber. Got three online now, Roamio, Bolt and Edge. Had over a dozen since the S1 in 2001, another dozen or two I helped friends & family upgrade the drive in.

It's convenience and inertia for us. Used to cable, got plenty of money to pay for it and the new hardware every few years. That and of course the instant grat, never fail, no lag, conten + time shifting + replay + all of it.

PS: Any of my TC friends from the Vegas 'con in 2004 still around? Good times....