# The future of TiVo, is it dying?



## zombiephysicist (Sep 22, 2017)

I have loved my various TiVos for decades now. But each device seemingly has given me less and less reason to use them. 

Part of the problem is awful providers like Spectrum requiring their awful Tuning Adapters (why doesn't TiVo build in this crap) make TiVos less reliable. Way too often the Tuning Adapters flake out and things record blanks.

TiVo always treats me as a criminal. It makes it so difficult to watch on my iPad. that app is crap and needs to be reconfigured all the time. Part of it seems to be if you have your TiVo plugged into your network through more than one Ethernet hub, it has problems with the app, but also TiVo mini doesnt even like to work. All because of it's crap copy protection scheme and copyright enforcement mechanisms that seem to only punish honest users, and others get around them anyway. Not to mention, streaming services work way better with letting you watch your content anywhere you want way more reliably and easily.

I'm slowly thinking I may just go to all streaming. The streaming apps all seem to have awful UI experiences, but I find I use them more and more, and the TiVo less and less. Plus, the content on streaming is 4k and looks way nicer than broadcast recordings.

And as a streaming box, I find TiVo to be rather lame compared to other streaming boxes, so no reason to stay with them.

I have a 7+TB SSD in my bolt, but I just may retire it. For me it's becoming like GameStop, moving towards irrelevance.

How about all of you folks? What are your thoughts on the future of TiVo?


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## ncbill (Sep 1, 2007)

I'll use 'em until they die.

Which considering they're all Roamio models with easily replaceable hard drives & external power adapters will be some time.

I'd like to d/c cable altogether & just go OTA if the spouse ever lets me.


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## Mr Tony (Dec 20, 2012)

yup its dead

what you need to do is pack up all your Tivo equipment and send it to me. I'll figure out a way to make it work 

seriously...I agree with ncbill's 1st sentence. I have 2 Roamios, a premiere and a series 3. I'll use them til they die


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## HarleyRandom (Sep 17, 2015)

Series 2 is about to celebrate 13 years in my house. I don't use it because the DTA costs nearly $10 a month, which I didn't know until I had to look at my cable bill for some code. I should have been looking at the bill. 

But it has the Yule Log I listen to when decorating the tree and taking it down.

And it's full of shows I haven't watched. I'd better move them or watch them while I can.

Roamio is pretty much useless right now except for shows still to be watched. I could move it so I can record more shows but don't really need to. There was some glitch earlier this week and I had to watch a few minutes of a couple of shows online. Having the Roamio for backup in such a situation would be a good idea. I was moving shows to the Roamio but the Edge wouldn't connect to the Internet so I had to move the wire.

Bolt is only as good as the antenna but has lots of unwatched shows still on it.

The Edge is still a big pain to use. They keep coming up with ways to confuse me.


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## H2ZX (May 19, 2021)

You could get a OTA digital converter cheap on ebay for that S2.


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## zalusky (Apr 5, 2002)

There may come a day when there are no more guide updates such as they are. I don't see how Tivo is profitable enough to support the service anymore either. Drip Drip Drip.
I love my Channels DVR setup and wished I would have listened to the guys here earlier.


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## Larsenv (Jun 8, 2020)

Over the past year or so, I've started to appreciate the TiVo ecosystem more and more and rediscover how great it is. We have 2 Series 3s and 2 Premieres, but I only have 1 Premiere in my apartment (the other is in my mother's and she uses it for cable). Stuff like TiVoToGo, trick play, 30-second skip, OnePass, and skip mode for commercials is great and I'm not going to drop it any time sooN. My parents have been using TiVo since 2000 (and I'm only about to turn in 20)...

I don't watch much TV, to be honest, but I enjoy having it. I haven't tried any streaming replacement for cable, but I am starting to see a barrage of advertisements for DIRECTV Stream.



zalusky said:


> There may come a day when there are no more guide updates such as they are. I don't see how Tivo is profitable enough to support the service anymore either. Drip Drip Drip.
> I love my Channels DVR setup and wished I would have listened to the guys here earlier.


Well, Rovi bought TiVo and merged with Xperi. Rovi provides guide data for the TiVos, so I don't think they're losing profit. I'm glad TiVo is still around, it can be crazy to fathom that, but they're not going anywhere I believe.

I think it was a good idea for them to make the TiVo Stream 4K and make it based on Android TV. There's been a lot of good things said about it and I think they're probably making money off that.

I can't imagine anyone buying a brand new TiVo EDGE with lifetime today though, even with their Black Friday deal... I want to see them combine the DVR with Android TV.


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## pl1 (Jan 18, 2007)

Larsenv said:


> I can't imagine anyone buying a brand new TiVo EDGE with lifetime today though, even with their Black Friday deal... I want to see them combine the DVR with Android TV.


 They would have a lot better chance of selling them if they had TE3 on them, a 3.5" hard drive, and at least 4 tuners for the OTA version. Otherwise, pass.


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## Willy92 (Oct 12, 2018)

Personally, I think Tivo is going down. I'll stick with them as long as it still works.


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## pl1 (Jan 18, 2007)

Willy92 said:


> Personally, I think Tivo is going down. I'll stick with them as long as it still works.


What gives me hope is that TiVo is still being offered by some cableco's, which guarantees they are still getting some revenue to keep going. For me, it is the best way to watch TV, so I do hope they live on! I just wish their new hardware was better designed.


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## HarleyRandom (Sep 17, 2015)

H2ZX said:


> You could get a OTA digital converter cheap on ebay for that S2.


If that worked. I bought the S2 because the man at Radio Shack told me that's what I needed to record digital TV. I got it home and it required cable or satellite.

The S2 is in a location where an antenna might work. I had converter boxes but they quit working and I don't even know where they are now.


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## H2ZX (May 19, 2021)

HarleyRandom said:


> If that worked. I bought the S2 because the man at Radio Shack told me that's what I needed to record digital TV. I got it home and it required cable or satellite.
> 
> The S2 is in a location where an antenna might work. I had converter boxes but they quit working and I don't even know where they are now.


 If it's the 2 tuner 649 might not work with OTA converter, if I remember because tivo for some reason didn't provide OTA guide for it. All other S2's work with OTA converter. I guess the radio shack guy confused S2 with S3.


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