# TS4K Search Result Unreliable



## MichaelCoffin (Nov 28, 2014)

I'm a longtime Tivo fan, and love the 6 Tuner Roamio with Minis all connected by MoCa paradigm. Unfortunately, streaming with Tivo has never been "good" - and since they abandoned those of us that invested in the Roamio/Mini technology I'm looking at adding either Roku or TS4K to the mix, maybe cutting the cord with Comcast entirely and surplussing all my Tivo hardware (2 6-Tuner Roamios with tons of storage and probably 6 Minis, all with Lifetime of course).

I'm comparing the Roku Streaming Stick with the TS4K - I WANT to love the TS4K, but I'm finding serious defects in it compared to the Roku. The most significant is that search results on TS4K are completely unreliable. My TS4K has Sling with all the extras, including Turner Classic Movies, Netflix, Prime, YouTube, Hulu, Tubi, HBO GO, and the Old Movies apps. The Roku is similarly configured, but it doesn't matter because it will find EVERYTHING that matches your search even if its on a service you don't yet subscribe to (and give you the option to install that app right from your search results). So searching for the 1927 movie Metropolis Roku returns a vast number of options, the TS4K only finds a trailer on YouTube and a paid option on Google Play Movies, despite it being available on no less than 5 of the channels I subscribe to on the TS4K (let alone all the others that Roku finds it on).

I put all of this along with screen captures in a PDF since I can't embed images here (I know I can attach photos, but they wouldn't be annotated). Am I doing something wrong, or is the TS4K seriously messed up when it comes to searching for content?


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## moyekj (Jan 24, 2006)

You're not doing anything wrong. TiVo has giant holes in their streaming database. Been that way for years and has not improved with release of TS4K. What myself and others have been doing is forget using the TiVo application, but instead use Reelgood for bookmarking and tracking streaming title viewing. In fact I even re-mapped remote button such that pressing TiVo brings up Reelgood instead of the TiVo application.


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## MichaelCoffin (Nov 28, 2014)

ReelGood found Metropolis on TCM, Fandor, Criterion Channel, Kanopy, Fubo and 3 paid options (iTunes, Google Play and Amazon Prime). But it doesn't know I have TCM via Sling, so I can't click on it and open it, and it didn't report any of the dozens of other locations that Roku found it at. I think I'm leaning towards using Roku as my "cable cutter" and not TS4K, if it can't do the MAIN thing it's supposed to do I don't see that it has much value.


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## Rikki_Rocket (May 6, 2020)

moyekj said:


> You're not doing anything wrong. TiVo has giant holes in their streaming database. Been that way for years and has not improved with release of TS4K. What myself and others have been doing is forget using the TiVo application, but instead use Reelgood for bookmarking and tracking streaming title viewing. In fact I even re-mapped remote button such that pressing TiVo brings up Reelgood instead of the TiVo application.


But Reel Good is just basically a powerful search tool right? It doesn't have a guide for live TV does it?


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## moyekj (Jan 24, 2006)

Rikki_Rocket said:


> But Reel Good is just basically a powerful search tool right? It doesn't have a guide for live TV does it?


Correct. Streaming only (which is what I'm interested in).


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## MichaelCoffin (Nov 28, 2014)

The TS4K just didn't cut it, I REALLY wanted it to be better than Roku. It isn't, and since Tivo didn't bother trying to integrate this into their existing hardware to enhance the poor streaming options on the Bolt/Roamio with Mini paradigm - I returned the TS4K and will be getting rid of all my Tivo hardware (2 6-tuner Roamios, 6 Minis, 2 HD and 1 HD XL). It was a good run for many years, but it's time to move on.

If only they had found a way to integrate the TS4K with the Roamio/Mini hardware to replace the bad streaming options on them, I would have paid to add 1 TS4K to each device just to keep the paradigm I've loved for nearly 20 years.


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## Rikki_Rocket (May 6, 2020)

MichaelCoffin said:


> The TS4K just didn't cut it, I REALLY wanted it to be better than Roku. It isn't, and since Tivo didn't bother trying to integrate this into their existing hardware to enhance the poor streaming options on the Bolt/Roamio with Mini paradigm - I returned the TS4K and will be getting rid of all my Tivo hardware (2 6-tuner Roamios, 6 Minis, 2 HD and 1 HD XL). It was a good run for many years, but it's time to move on.
> 
> If only they had found a way to integrate the TS4K with the Roamio/Mini hardware to replace the bad streaming options on them, I would have paid to add 1 TS4K to each device just to keep the paradigm I've loved for nearly 20 years.


Well their goal was to get a competitive/cheap streaming device out there quickly. Integration with other TiVo products (either with TS4K or the streaming software from it) may take some time. Give TiVo one more year before pulling the plug. Cult members are not usually allowed to leave so easily.


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## Mikeguy (Jul 28, 2005)

Rikki_Rocket said:


> Well their goal was to get a competitive/cheap streaming device out there quickly. *Integration with other TiVo products (either with TS4K or the streaming software from it) may take some time.* Give TiVo one more year before pulling the plug. Cult members are not usually allowed to leave so easily.


If, indeed, TiVo decides to do this--it certainly didn't seem to be on the to-do list when TiVo's CEO mentioned this (in response to a consumer inquiry) months back, as a real aspiration or otherwise.


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