# TIVO is a ripoff. Period



## thewhitetiger (Apr 17, 2006)

I purchased a TIVO series 2 on December 04, and activated its service. I always enjoyed the many features and was a faithful customer. I never even knew this forum existed.
Last Saturday when I got home my TIVO started acting up, I called customer service, and after 3 calls, many hours on the phone, and useless codes (P 52, 56, 57, etc) they got the BALLS to ask for $150 ofr a new box which after I complained, they dropped the price to $70.
I did some research online, and I found out how common the Green Screen of Death really is. Everyone in this forum knew what the GSD was, just by typing the initials. I also came to the conclusion that the average life expectancy of a TIVO box is from 6 to 18 months. After more research I called Time Warner (my local cable company).
Now I even hate TIVO more!!! How bad you have to suck to be worse than the cable company???
Tivo costs $14 (with the TAX) a month. TWC wants an extra $8 a month for a FREE DVR. YES, they didnt ask for a penny, not even a deposit.
In top of that has WAY more features than TIVO ever got. You can record up to 3 shows simultaneously while watching yet another; It has a built in PIP which lets you watch 2 channels at the same time, and many other features that took minutes for me to learn without a booklet, because unlike TIVO, all the features are user friendly.
Let me see...... no money down instead of purchasing a new box? $8 instead of $14 a month? More features? Free replacement boxes? No GSD?
No genius needed on this one.
Bye TIVO.


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## Stanley Rohner (Jan 18, 2004)

Your TiVo probably needs a new hard drive. 
You can buy a pre-formatted one from ptvupgrade.com or buy an un-formatted one and follow the steps in the upgrade forum.

Hard drives fail sometimes.


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## jsmeeker (Apr 2, 2001)

Bye.


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## headroll (Jan 20, 2003)

thewhitetiger said:


> You can record up to 3 shows simultaneously while watching yet another.


Don't mean to disappoint you but ...

BYE

Roll


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## hitbyatrain (Aug 15, 2004)

Don't let the door hit you on the way out. . . .


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## cowboys2002 (Jun 15, 2001)

FWIW,

Electronics fail. Notice how most items only have a 90 day labor/ 1 yr parts warranty at the most? 

Did you get a rebate with that Tivo?, If so your true cost was much less.

I recently experienced a failing R10 within the warranty period. I paid $99.99 less $100 rebate (net zero). I bought a replacement hard drive for $159 as replacement R10's were not available. I called DTV retention and explained the situation and how "I" essentially saved them a warranty repair expense and will receive credits valued over $160 on my account. 

Note: This was/is the only time I have called in and asked for any sort of credit!


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## lajohn27 (Dec 29, 2003)

Just be sure to rush over to the TWC forum to complain about all the problems you will have from this box.. 

- missed recordings, LOTS of missed recordings
- complete loss of ALL recordings for no apparent reason

And let me know how that recording three things at once goes. I don't think there is a PVR on the market that will do that. (Except some homebuilt Myth boxes..)

John


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## Netbudda (Mar 3, 2005)

Arriverderci, Ciao, hasta la vista.............


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## petew (Jul 31, 2003)

Your logic is flawed. 

Thread Title: Tivo is a ripoff. 
Question: I am the only one that sees this. 
Poll: Agree or Disagree. 

Clearly I would vote to agree, to agree to the fact that you're the only one that sees this.


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## Hunter Green (Feb 22, 2002)

Wait, your Time Warner box is immune to hardware and software failures? Well, hot damn! TiVo really _is_ on the road to failure, just like that other company that had all that stuff that failed, what did they call it? You know, they had a screen of death too, only it wasn't green... Too bad they didn't hit on Time Warner's strategy of making a product that defies the laws of physics. We might still remember the company's name.


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## thewhitetiger (Apr 17, 2006)

I can see that the TIVO employees get paid to post in this forum, instead of developing a better product. Sad life, sad company. LOL


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## thewhitetiger (Apr 17, 2006)

And for all of you who like to pay for something you can get free: I have some air balloons at a great price.


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## jsmeeker (Apr 2, 2001)

thewhitetiger said:


> And for all of you who like to pay for something you can get free: I have some air balloons at a great price.





> TWC wants an extra $8 a month for a FREE DVR. YES, they didnt ask for a penny


You are right. They didn't ask for a penny.

They asked for 800 of them. Each month.

Yup.. Nice and free.


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## petew (Jul 31, 2003)

thewhitetiger said:


> I can see that the TIVO employees get paid to post in this forum, instead of developing a better product. Sad life, sad company. LOL


Sorry but no Tivo employees here. I may work a couple of miles from their HQ but I don't work for them. Just a happy customer.

So Bye.


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## DancnDude (Feb 7, 2001)

My Series 1 that I purchased in Feb of 2001 is still working fine. Hard drives fail. Sometimes you get lucky and they last a very long time, and sometimes you don't.


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## beejay (Feb 3, 2001)

Kind of hard to decide how to vote.

I agree you are the only one who sees this.

I've purchased 4 TiVos. 3 have lifetime. I've had 2 disk failures over the years. I've used those as an 'excuse" to get more disk space.

I've had about the same disk drive experience with my PCs.


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## hitbyatrain (Aug 15, 2004)

You know, I have both a TW HiDef box and a Series 2. 

The TW box is dying a slow and painful death--the HD is starting to stutter. 
It constantly misses programs. 
I can't tell what's at the top of its priority list. 
It can't suggest shows I might like to watch. 
I can't archive programs from it to my PC/DVD. It can't play my music, or my photos. 
It can't tell me why it skipped recording a program. 
It can't tell when a program changes day, or time. 
It can't resolve a conflict by recording a rerun later in the day. 
It can't tell the difference between reruns of old (non-first run) programs in the same month so it just records them ALL. 
It has a horribly clunky interface. 
It can't have its hard drive upgraded.
If I'm watching something that's being recorded, and that show ends, my playback ends, and my program must be restarted from the beginning. 
It isn't networkable. 
It isn't able to share programs to other units in my home.

On the other hand, I've had my TiVo Series 2 for three years. No problems with it. Ever.


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## ping (Oct 3, 2005)

thewhitetiger said:


> No genius needed on this one.


Lucky for you.


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## Popasmurf (Jun 10, 2002)




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## segaily (Aug 3, 2003)

My first TiVo a series 1 had a hard drive failure about a year after I got it. I spent a lot of Time trying to decide if I was going to have the TiVo that I loved fixed. My thoughts at the time were if it fails every year or so this will get very expensive. I finally decided to pay the money and have it fixed. The fact that my wife liked it even more then I did helped with that choice. 

I have now owned my series 1 for about 5 years and had a series 2 for about 2 1/2 years and have not had another failure. I am glad I got it fixed.

Most of the people here have a TiVo. If we thought it was a ripoff we would not have TiVo's.


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## MickeS (Dec 26, 2002)

When my TiVo HD started to fail, I copied all the files (about 100 hours) over to my PC using TTG, replaced the HD and copied them back. Good luck backing up your TW DVR that way when that HD fails. Because it will, they all will.

But you have PIP, so what do you care.



thewhitetiger said:


> And for all of you who like to pay for something you can get free: I have some air balloons at a great price.


Last time I checked, air balloons cost money. Just like the TW DVR.


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## Barryrod (Mar 17, 2006)

The Tivo interface and reliability are far beyond the TW DVR. The drive will fail in the TW DVR also, good luck with the replacement they give you. You will spend so much time troubleshooting them over the phone with TW, each time walking through the same steps that are mapped out for the CSR. 

Drives fail....especially ones that run 24/7 like the DVRs. At least with Tivo, you have the possibility of copying all your recorded programs over to the new drive. That is what I did when my drive failed.


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## ZeoTiVo (Jan 2, 2004)

thewhitetiger said:


> And for all of you who like to pay for something you can get free: I have some air balloons at a great price.


OK, so how ludicrous is it to totally disparage the one place you claimed to find people who knew the product. Thanks for the gumball


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## bidger (Mar 30, 2001)

Hunter Green said:


> Wait, your Time Warner box is immune to hardware and software failures?


I would wager not, but if it does, it's not on the consumer to shell out $150 to have it fixed. That's one of the advantages of an integrated box, the DVR service is secondary to the provider, they want your programming dollars first and foremost. Until TiVo can provide programming, that's their disadvantage, IMO, and even then, they're not gonna eat the cost of a defective box.


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## MickeS (Dec 26, 2002)

bidger said:


> I would wager not, but if it does, it's not on the consumer to shell out $150 to have it fixed. That's one of the advantages of an integrated box, the DVR service is secondary to the provider, they want your programming dollars first and foremost. Until TiVo can provide programming, that's their disadvantage, IMO, and even then, they're not gonna eat the cost of a defective box.


You also lose all your programming and have no option to upgrade the HD, as far as I know. Win some, lose some.


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## Joeg180 (Jun 1, 2003)

Good luck with your DVR.

Bye bye


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## Sirshagg (Dec 27, 2001)

See ya


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## JYoung (Jan 16, 2002)

bidger said:


> I would wager not, but if it does, it's not on the consumer to shell out $150 to have it fixed. That's one of the advantages of an integrated box, the DVR service is secondary to the provider, they want your programming dollars first and foremost. Until TiVo can provide programming, that's their disadvantage, IMO, and even then, they're not gonna eat the cost of a defective box.


Tell that to my brother.
He's on his third TW SCI ATL 8300 box and my niece tells me that it's still missing most recordings.


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## Sparty99 (Dec 4, 2001)

It never ceases to amaze me when people who come into a forum that has an obvious bias toward a product (it's called the Tivo Community for a reason) and expect people to agree with them.

Obviously I've got no problem with someone expressing an opinion, but it seems you might get a collection of more open-minded people on this subject if you were to post your complaints in another forum.

For the record, I think TiVo is worth every penny I've spent - for the HD TiVo, the Phillips that's probably 4 years old and modified, for the R10 that I just sold on eBay. You couldn't get me to go somewhere if I couldn't get a TiVo to work with it.


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## Netbudda (Mar 3, 2005)

serumgard said:


> It never ceases to amaze me when people who come into a forum that has an obvious bias toward a product (it's called the Tivo Community for a reason) and expect people to agree with them..


I believe you can get a good measure of how sharp this particular "knife" is.


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## thewhitetiger (Apr 17, 2006)

serumgard said:


> It never ceases to amaze me when people who come into a forum that has an obvious bias toward a product (it's called the Tivo Community for a reason) and expect people to agree with them.


You missed my point. I loved TIVO and the service it provided, until I realized that as part of the service, they unilaterally decide when to upgrade your hardware, which very often renders your hard drive useless, and you (not them) are left to pay for the replacement, and spend the time figuring out how to fix it.

I own a BMW, mainly because of the reliability. If my car would stop working because of an upgrade that I didnt ask for, and burnt the car's computer, my next stop will be at another dealer of a different maker. Get my point now?

At least TW fronts the money for the equipment and replaces it for free, never mind the maintenance which is almost half. I never even went shoppint for another product similar to TIVO, until they messed up my box, and expected me to pay for it.

Get my point? I'm sure they have many features that TW doesnt. They are just not worth the money (in my modest opinion)


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## arc6th (Jun 26, 2002)

What part didn't you understand? The "buh" or the "bye?"


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## Shawn95GT (Oct 7, 2005)

thewhitetiger said:


> I own a BMW, mainly because of the reliability. If my car would stop working because of an upgrade that I didnt ask for, and burnt the car's computer, my next stop will be at another dealer of a different maker. Get my point now?


So trade the BMW for a Kia with a 10yr/100k mile warranty when it's warranty is up.

This is what you are doing with cableco DVR.

All Tivo loving bias aside - if you're happy with the TW DVR solution then it probably is a better solution for you. Coming from TiVo I think you're in for a dissapointment.

This biggest difference I saw when I went to TiVo from a cableco provided DVR was that the TiVo's interface is built/designed around you watching pre-recorded content. You can watch live but you quickly grow annoyed by it.

The Cableco DVRS are all about Live TV, and oh yeah you can record too.

Good luck with it.


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## mikebridge (Sep 18, 2000)

of the 23 tivo's i've bought since 2000 (most of them given away as gifts w/ a 1 year subscription card), only 1 has ever failed, and thats cause the house it was in was hit by lightning (they also lost the TV, all the phones, the microwave, and an alarm clock). you're an exception, not the rule, and your assumptions are flawed.

additionally, comcast offers a DVR in my area. it costs more per month then my tivo. $10/month for the DVR, but there's an additional $5/month digital service fee, making it cost $15/month, while the tivo's are only $12.95/month (actually, $6.95/month, because my series1 has had lifetime on it since i bought it in 2000, and its work flawlessly the entire time)


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## headytiger (Oct 17, 2003)

Anybody know the difference between a BMW and a porcupine?


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## Gunnyman (Jul 10, 2003)

can I have your stuff?


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## mick66 (Oct 15, 2004)

thewhitetiger said:


> You missed my point. I loved TIVO and the service it provided, until I realized that as part of the service, they unilaterally decide when to upgrade your hardware, which very often renders your hard drive useless, and you (not them) are left to pay for the replacement, and spend the time figuring out how to fix it.


Tivo has never decided to upgrade my hardware in the almost 5 years that I've had Tivo in my home and I don't see where upgraded hardware would render my HD useless.

I've never had any problems with any of the Tivos that I have owned or with customer service.



thewhitetiger said:


> TWC wants an extra $8 a month for a FREE DVR. YES, they didnt ask for a penny, not even a deposit.


The last Tivo that I acquired online directly from Tivo was FREE and I don't have to pay anything for monthly service.


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## MikeMar (Jan 7, 2005)

Never heard of a software upgrade frying the hard drive


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## jfh3 (Apr 15, 2004)

I agree that you're the only one that sees this.

I disagree that Tivo's a rip off.

Sorry to hear about your problem - hard disks fail from time to time. You think any other DVR is immune to this?


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## ZeoTiVo (Jan 2, 2004)

so if an automatic windows update hit a bad sector on the hard drive in your Dell and made the Operating system unbootable you would complain to who? Micorsoft? Dell? the Hard drive manufacturer?

according to your thinking you would try dell and they would send you to the hard drive maker or else charge you to fix the PC which you could do yourself for a small amount of money. You would ***** and moan on some forum and then rent an Apple PC so you would not have to worry about a hard drive failing again


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## Jonathan_S (Oct 23, 2001)

MikeMar said:


> Never heard of a software upgrade frying the hard drive


I've heard of hard drives that were already dying that failed when they received a software upgrade. Any disk that has problems with the currently unused boot partition is likely to cause the TiVo to stop booting if it receives a software upgrade.

Because software upgrades get installed on the unused partition, and then the TiVo reboots and switches boot partitions to use the new software.

So if the disk is bad there, trying to boot off of it will prevent the TiVo from booting successfully. But the disk would have been well on its way out already, that type of problem spreads, and it would only have been a matter of time before it caused problems even without the new software.


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## marksman (Mar 4, 2002)

I don't know that TiVo is a rip-off across the board. I think DirecTivos is one of the greatest bargains ever. I think TiVo itself has a lot of customer unfriendly policies that make no sense, especially for a company who is so focused on the cost of acquiring new customers.

TiVo has never managed the consumer side of their business well at all. 

That being said, you bought your box a year and a half ago. Which means it is probably just out-of-warranty. TiVo has already been losing money on the box, so to them it is like why should we lose more money on this guy? Problem is no box no monthly subscription.

TiVo is simply not suited for a direct to consumer product. It needs to have a middleman who has other issues that allow them to swap out hardware and repair systems as necessary. TiVo has always lost money on hardware and that is still the big albatross around their neck. I don't think their new leasing program is going to fix that at all. In fact it might even make things worse. If someone is 25 months into a 36 month lease of a box that dies they are going to expect a working box, regardless of what TiVo might say or what their contract said.

TiVo has never really managed to provide their product to the consumer at an affordable price. The only exception is with DirecTivo. That is why I mentioned it is such a great deal. The price I have paid for all my DirecTivos is negligible yet I still get a lot of great TiVo functionality.

Buying a stand-alone box and paying double-digit monthly bills is a suckers game. Why do you think so many people here are upset about lifetime going away? It is because it was an excellent option for the consumer, but a bad one for TiVo. Now all that is left for standalone devices is a bad option for the consumer.



I beg and plead TiVo to exit the hardware business... Please....


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## Netbudda (Mar 3, 2005)

Gunnyman said:


> can I have your stuff?


Gunny I love how you always want to help ease the pain of those bailing out........ :up:


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## xnevergiveinx (Apr 5, 2004)

enjoy your time warner dvr. i could care less


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## mnightx (Dec 12, 2005)

SAT- T60 6 Years
HR10-250 2 Years
2 SA Tivo 4 Years (No problem with drives )

 just purchased dell desktop month old hard drive failed

this dosen't make Dell bad company


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## Jon J (Aug 23, 2000)

headytiger said:


> Anybody know the difference between a BMW and a porcupine?


Have something to do with where the pricks are?


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## Guindalf (Jun 13, 2001)

For your reading pleasure while you're waiting for the TW repairman......

How To Win Friends And Influence People by Dale Carnegie.

Bye, have a nice life!


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## JacksTiVo (Jan 7, 2006)

Cablevision Systems, the largest cable TV provider in the Metropolitan New York City area, recently announced a test to provide DVR service via their servers instead of the Scientific-Atlanta 8300 DVR set-top boxes they now provide at $10/month. (Movie companies are not too happy about this test since it may infringe on their copyrights.)

Why is Cablevision attempting this test? They have had maintenance problems with the S-A boxes. Too many service calls. Whose cable/DVR box does TW use?

My very brief experience with the S-A DVR early last year was that it made me very unhappy since it was not at all as user friendly as TiVo. I returned it to Cablevision one week after it was installed. I wanted the high definition capabilty of the S-A box. Now I'll just wait for the S3.

As far as TiVo hardware failures, where else can you find an electronic appliance that has a network of suppiers and repair people that support the replacement of most likely to fail parts at a reasonable price.


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## icmoney (Aug 22, 2005)

Buh Bye.....


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## BlackBetty (Nov 6, 2004)

smell you later! buh-bye


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## lajohn27 (Dec 29, 2003)

I'm calling it.. Troll.


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## Stylin (Dec 31, 2004)

thewhitetiger said:


> You missed my point. I loved TIVO and the service it provided, until I realized that as part of the service, they unilaterally decide when to upgrade your hardware, which very often renders your hard drive useless, and you (not them) are left to pay for the replacement, and spend the time figuring out how to fix it.
> 
> I own a BMW, mainly because of the reliability. If my car would stop working because of an upgrade that I didnt ask for, and burnt the car's computer, my next stop will be at another dealer of a different maker. Get my point now?
> 
> ...


WT,
The update did not cause your hd to fail, you would have experienced a hd failure eventually no matter what. The timing just sux in your case.
Let's use your BMW example: It's no longer under warranty, but you take it in to get general service, they change your starter and a couple days later your alternator fails. Changing the starter did not cause your alternator to fail, the alt was faulty and just happened to fail shortly after the starter repair.
I agree when you say _"you (not them) are left to pay for the replacement, and spend the time figuring out how to fix it."_ , but beyond the "rented" cablebox from your cable co it's basically like that with anything you buy, once the warranty expires it is left up to the customer to explore repair options (don't get me started on my Phillips dvdr 985 hell). You can take send your unit to the Co for repair (very common option with all electronics dvdr, vcrs, tv's etc), find a local repair service, google the issue for troubleshooting tips, or (if your lucky enough) find a forum like this 1 that can provide you with a plethora of repair options. 
Many ppl do not care to go through the headache of finding/trying repair tips, and certainly do not want to fix a unit themselves. Hence, some ppl purchase "extended warranties" to avoid any future hassles. 
You don't seem like the proactive self fix type, so a rented box from your Cable co may be your best longterm solution. Unfortunately, you will sacrifice features, and eventually price for the ease of instant repair exchange, but if that's not an issue, then TWC is definitely the way for you to go.
I can not agree that TiVo is a "rip-off", but I do agree longterm, it is not for a passive customer, who opted not to purchase an extended warranty.


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## zync (Feb 22, 2003)

I own both an upgraded S2 and a TWC HD DVR. 

I had to stop my wife from hauling the TWC out to the driveway to run over with her car for missing House one too many times.

I've also had to confort her when TiVo went to work for a day (a DAY) to show a recording. 

Anyway, TWC is um... well. good luck.


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## socceteer (Apr 18, 2006)

serumgard said:


> It never ceases to amaze me when people who come into a forum that has an obvious bias toward a product (it's called the Tivo Community for a reason) and expect people to agree with them.
> 
> Obviously I've got no problem with someone expressing an opinion, but it seems you might get a collection of more open-minded people on this subject if you were to post your complaints in another forum.
> 
> For the record, I think TiVo is worth every penny I've spent - for the HD TiVo, the Phillips that's probably 4 years old and modified, for the R10 that I just sold on eBay. You couldn't get me to go somewhere if I couldn't get a TiVo to work with it.


WOW this forum is brutal...!

Now I am afraid to ask for comments... I am not so sure I wont be abused.

I actually just bought a Tivo 2 for the first time and I think it is the "BOMB" compared with Dish.

But I do have some questions about the unit and I was expecting some decent, polite answers...!

After reading this, I am not so sure.....!

Not a very good first inpression for my first day..! :down:

This is the only friendly comment I read and it is not so friendly (Polite but not friendly)


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## Leon WIlkinson (Feb 13, 2000)

thewhitetiger said:


> I can see that the TIVO employees get paid to post in this forum, instead of developing a better product. Sad life, sad company. LOL


I hope if you are not a TROLL you can come back when you calm down. I have never called one person a troll on this forum, I might be just in a bad mood myself. You have every right to be angry.

I could do research on every product I like, but find more people talking about problems. I myself found this site cause I had a problem.


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## timr_42 (Oct 14, 2001)

socceteer said:


> WOW this forum is brutal...!
> 
> Now I am afraid to ask for comments... I am not so sure I wont be abused.
> 
> ...


I sometimes feel the same, but once you are here a while, you will find that if you ask a question it will be answered by someone who is nice and willing to help. For this post, he was not asking a question, it was "Tivo sucks". Not really a question.

There are a lot of helpful people here. I would think if you go to any forum and start off with "this sucks" to a forum of people no matter what it is, you will get this type of response.


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## Slider10 (Aug 5, 2003)

Working for Cablevision, which all companies use similar DVR's, I know your Time Warner DVR is gonna suck. I'm sure glad I can take shows and put them onto my computer, use wishlists, have online scheduling, expandibility with USB and software upgrades, suggestions, great support forums, multi-room viewing, oh and a rock-solid unit that needs a reboot so rarely that it takes a software update to trigger it.

But TiVo is too expensive and the sh*tty cable DVR is exactly the same thing, right?

Lemme know when you toss your TiVo in the trash so I can use it for a third unit.


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## TiVotion (Dec 6, 2002)

Correct me if I'm wrong, but can't you remove a hard drive from a TiVo unit and return it to the manufacturer under warranty for a replacement?

It really irks me that people miss the concept that sometimes hard drives fail. They all do, eventually. Be they in a PC, a TiVo, or anything else. But it's not the end of the world. It's extremely simple to remedy.

Feh. 

And by the way, as has been stated..the "poll" is illogical. I would think that the OP was being clever...but that would be a false vote of confidence.


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## mattack (Apr 9, 2001)

thewhitetiger said:


> I purchased a TIVO series 2 on December 04, and activated its service. I always enjoyed the many features and was a faithful customer. ....
> Tivo costs $14 (with the TAX) a month. TWC wants an extra $8 a month for a FREE DVR. YES, they didnt ask for a penny, not even a deposit.
> In top of that has WAY more features than TIVO ever got. You can record up to 3 shows simultaneously while watching yet another;


You should have paid lifetime.. then at least the Tivo you don't like anymore would be worth a lot on eBay.

BTW, is this guy's statement of a TWC DVR recording *3* shows at a time for real?

The only time I've ever heard of more than 2 at a time was Moxi's original statements... and that was only a "we have the capability", and AFAIK, they've only ever had recorders for cable companies that do 2 at a time.


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## Uncle Briggs (Sep 11, 2004)

I sure am glad you posted here and showed us all how ignorant we are, and how intellectually superior you are. Tomorrow TiVo will probably lose over a million subscribers based solely are your enlightened post. Thank you, thank you, thank you.


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## astrohip (Jan 7, 2003)

Whether he's a troll or an idiot is not the point . . . why WHY do you guys respond to them?  

But now that I'm here  I have both a TiVo and a TWiVo. Man does that TwiVo suck. No one, but NO ONE who has used both will ever mention the cable DVR in the same breath as a TiVo.

If I didn't like having so many toys . . .


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## jfh3 (Apr 15, 2004)

hitbyatrain said:


> You know, I have both a TW HiDef box and a Series 2.
> 
> The TW box is dying a slow and painful death--the HD is starting to stutter.
> It constantly misses programs.
> ...


Don't feel too bad - from what I've read in other forums, none of the problems you list are caused by a failing hard drive ...


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## jfh3 (Apr 15, 2004)

Slider10 said:


> But TiVo is too expensive and the sh*tty cable DVR is exactly the same thing, right?


And it's always amazing to me that those that talk about the "free" or "$10" DVRs always fail to account for the hidden costs (digital upgrade, box outlet fee, franchise fees and taxes).

I'll bet that most cable DVRs are far closer to Tivo's price (if not more) than most think.


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## ChuckyBox (Oct 3, 2005)

astrohip said:


> [ ... ]


Your avatar is a dog.


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## MickeS (Dec 26, 2002)

Jonathan_S said:


> I've heard of hard drives that were already dying that failed when they received a software upgrade.


That happened to me this weekend... on my PC. Now of course I'll be pissing and moaning at Cox that they won't give me a new PC - after all, I downloaded the update over THEIR internet connection!


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## Jon J (Aug 23, 2000)

lajohn27 said:


> I'm calling it.. Troll.


Come on. This one barely wiggles the needle on the Troll-O-Meter.


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## cheesesteak (Jul 24, 2003)

TiVo is God.


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## ZeoTiVo (Jan 2, 2004)

socceteer said:


> WOW this forum is brutal...!
> 
> Now I am afraid to ask for comments... I am not so sure I wont be abused.
> 
> ...


read these threads where people with real questions came in and asked for help and got it. This thread is eitehr a troll or someone just blowing smoke- the Original Poster got what he gave. I would think if you started a thread it would be a very different approach and thus a very differetn thread

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=296028

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=296243

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=296150

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=292738


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## Arcady (Oct 14, 2004)

It really sucks that companies pay people to go on forums and discredit competitor's products.


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## Denise_Z (Apr 3, 2006)

hitbyatrain said:


> It can't tell me why it skipped recording a program.


Could you tell me how it does this? So far we haven't had that happen, but then we've only had it for a couple of weeks.


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## Rob Helmerichs (Oct 17, 2000)

Jon J said:


> Come on. This one barely wiggles the needle on the Troll-O-Meter.


He didn't say he was an EFFECTIVE troll, just a troll.


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## Jonathan_S (Oct 23, 2001)

Denise_Z said:


> Could you tell me how it does this? So far we haven't had that happen, but then we've only had it for a couple of weeks.


If you go to your TiVo's ToDo list, the very top entry is the Recording History.

If you go into the Recording History, it will show you every show that matched one of your season passes or wishlists for the last two weeks and why it didn't record (or when it was deleted if it did record and has been deleted).

Note: If an episode didn't match the recording criteria it will not be listed. So if you have a Season Pass for The West Wing on NBC the recording history won't say anything about episodes on Bravo because Season Passes are channel specific, so the Bravo episodes don't match the recording criteria.
Or if the Season Pass is set to First Run Only, the recording history won't say anything about repeat episodes (however it will list duplicate episodes, those that repeat up to 28 days after the first airing)

Also, the Recording History also lists future events. You can scroll forward about two weeks and see what won't be recorded due to: conflicts with other recordings, the 28 day rule, because someone canceled it, because it is no longer in the guide, etc.


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## hitbyatrain (Aug 15, 2004)

Denise_Z said:


> Could you tell me how it does this? So far we haven't had that happen, but then we've only had it for a couple of weeks.


Well, my fiancee set the Time Warner box to record American Idol whenever it's on (on that box, meaning ONLY at 8PM.) It showed up in red on the guide, meaning it would be recorded.

8PM comes around, then 8:30, then 8:45, and it still hasn't recorded. We check the "scheduled recordings" list, and it says that yeah, it's ready to record American Idol, STARTING AT 8:55 and ENDING AT 8:34.

On the TiVo, when something does not record, you can check the To Do List for the Recording History. It will tell you why something was missed--whether due to it being a repeat, a conflict, or anything else.

With the TW box, you can't. It doesn't give you a reason for anything. Ever. And I'm not talking about just missing this stupid show. I mean nearly every show I've setup to record in its crappy "season pass-type knockoff" has been missed at least 25% of the time.


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## gtrogue (Jun 18, 2001)

My 14 hour Tivo purchased in 1999 ran on it's original hard drive until 2004.

To the original poster, bye!
You are going to be very disappointed in the "quality" and experience of the TW DVR. All other DVR's I have ever used pale in comparison to Tivo.


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## mask2343 (Jan 6, 2003)

While I agree that Tivo needs to do something to survive while the cable DVR's gain more of the market share, I disagree that it is a ripoff. I too switched to my cable companies DVR for HD and dual recording. The Tivo software blows the Brighthouse away. But I could justify the switch due to the much lower cost and HD compatibility. 

I too had to replace my Tivo hard drive after 12 months and it DID bother me. But you can't expect a hard drive that is on 24 hours a day to last very long. So one of the benefits to cable DVR is replacing the box for free when it craps out.

So I guess I feel your pain...but still miss TIVO a bit and understand why people are loyal to it.


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## MEngland (Sep 9, 2002)

Aside from the troll-ish nature of the OP, I do need to comment on one other item.

Long ago, I got a TW DVR to play with. I did this mostly because I was curious and it only cost $9.95/mo. Keep this price in mind. At the time, I already had two TiVo's, both recording digital channels with two set top boxes. About 2 months later I returned the TW DVR for a number of reasons, and posted a summary of these shortcomings to TCF. TiVo was, IMHO, better. But that is not the point of this post.

My first bill after getting the TW DVR was somewhat larger than I was expecting. Recall the $9.95 DVR price I was quoted from TW. As it turns out, TW charges $9.95 for the "DVR Functionality". The DVR is also a cable box, and those cost (at the time), about $7.95/mo. If you had a cable box (and were paying $7.95/mo) and exchanged it for a TW DVR, your bill would _increase _by $9.95.

Since my two cable boxes were used by my existing TiVo's, I did not return them when I got the DVR. In TW's view, after getting the DVR, I now had three cable boxes AND a DVR. So the monthly price for the DVR was actually $9.95 + $7.95. Oh, and they charge an additional $2.95 if you have more than three "digital outlets". I already had two (my existing cable boxes), so the DVR triggered this additional charge. And they also charge $0.35/mo to rent the remote for the DVR.

So the monthly increase in my bill was $9.95 + $7.95 + $2.95 + $0.35 = $21.20. Toss in the assorted other taxes they add and the total approached $24/mo.

The point, if you missed it, is that the price from TW (and I think other cable companies) often is somewhat larger than they promote.


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## mask2343 (Jan 6, 2003)

Now THAT is a ripoff. 

My Brighthouse box only costs me $9.95 a month more than the standard Digital Combo (TV + internet). An extra $3.95 for an HD package that includes ESPN (All the local HD channels are free and NOT over the air). It's a bargain IMO.

One major problem I have with it is the fact that it only sees 3 days at most into the future. I miss seeing 2 weeks. But that is a small price to pay to get HDDVR without buying a satellite and a HDTivo.


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