# Upcoming 2014 summer update speculation?



## eboydog (Mar 24, 2006)

Anyone want to speculate what this summer has in hold for the update? The field test email messages appear to have been sent out, at least I have received one which I haven't responded to yet. Granted once the NDA is set you can't really comment so I thought I would bring it up, for myself to participate I may have to put the original drives back into my Roamio's which won't be too bad since this coming weekend I'm replacing my basic Roamio with a Pro.

Other than possible Android Stream support, anyone care to speculate what the summer has in hold for Tivo users?



TiVoMargret said:


> We will begin updating TiVo Roamio, TiVo Premiere, and TiVo Mini boxes with 20.4.1 "Spring Update" later today.
> 
> .....
> 
> P.S. We have some cool stuff lined up for the "Summer Update". It is a great time to join our Beta program if you want to be part of the (secret) inner circle: https://fieldtrials.tivo.com/signup/default.html


----------



## mrizzo80 (Apr 17, 2012)

3 column My Shows
Native streaming over cellular connections
New Amazon app (hopefully with Prime support)
Android Streaming
TiVo Mini UI matching the Roamio UI
Maybe something in the social arena


----------



## mrizzo80 (Apr 17, 2012)

I've never participated in any TiVo field trials, but if they are just now sending out beta invites I'm wondering if the Summer Update will be released more towards the end of summer rather than, say, sometime in June.

How long does a typical beta for a major TiVo release usually run? I would guess 2 or 3 months without having any experience with them.


----------



## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

Hopefully Amazon streaming as well as the Android Stream support. And a new Mini UI would also be nice.


----------



## LoadStar (Jul 24, 2001)

I haven't heard a peep from the field trials program for a LONG time... several years now, I think. I had to go and actually check and see if I was still signed up, which I am. I wonder how they select which people get invited to which programs.


----------



## rifleman69 (Jan 6, 2005)

Rule #1, You do not talk about Fight Club
Rule #2, YOU DO NOT TALK ABOUT FIGHT CLUB!


----------



## lessd (Jan 23, 2005)

LoadStar said:


> I haven't heard a peep from the field trials program for a LONG time... several years now, I think. I had to go and actually check and see if I was still signed up, which I am. I wonder how they select which people get invited to which programs.


You have to have non upgraded TiVos in your account for one thing.


----------



## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

The problem now is that with four and six tuner Tivos, I don't have extra Tivos lying around like in the old days when two tuners was the max. So I wouldn't want beta software on a DVR I need to use on a regular basis. Plus beta testing is time consuming. Having to dedicate up to an hour or more each day to do the testing properly.


----------



## ftg (Apr 20, 2014)

I just did the TiVo advisors' panel May survey.

Very short one this time.

No questions about Android, Amazon, etc. I was hoping they would ask for feedback on Comcast On-demand. They need to work on improving that.

Interested in my desktop/laptop/etc. OSes. (Android wasn't one of the options though ChromeOS was.) Presumably just for TiVo Desktop purposes.

They've barely been interested in Android at all in these surveys.

Of course this is reasonable, since there are more Android devices in the world then all other OSes combined. An insignificant market.


----------



## innocentfreak (Aug 25, 2001)

LoadStar said:


> I haven't heard a peep from the field trials program for a LONG time... several years now, I think. I had to go and actually check and see if I was still signed up, which I am. I wonder how they select which people get invited to which programs.


Sometimes it is worth going in and creating a new record. At one point they requested you do this since they added more questions and changed something. If you didn't do this, you may not show up on the list of candidates.


----------



## jrtroo (Feb 4, 2008)

ftg said:


> I was hoping they would ask for feedback on Comcast On-demand. They need to work on improving that.
> 
> They've barely been interested in Android at all in these surveys.


you realize the Comcast app works better on tivo than their own box? And that Comcast owns the app?

No need to ask about Android. The answer is known, no need to ask the obvious!


----------



## thalador (Oct 26, 2007)

How about not rebooting for no reason all the time


----------



## Bigg (Oct 31, 2003)

Not too much I want. The XoD app is a disaster, but then again XoD is kind of pointless when you have a TiVo. Just for platform parity, I guess I'll put my vote in for streaming on the Android side of things...


----------



## lgnad (Feb 14, 2013)

Disaster? Really?


----------



## CraigK (Jun 9, 2006)

thalador said:


> How about not rebooting for no reason all the time


That's my number one feature request. :up:


----------



## steve614 (May 1, 2006)

I speculate that there won't be a summer update. I bet it's closer to late fall/early winter.


----------



## southerndoc (Apr 5, 2003)

steve614 said:


> I speculate that there won't be a summer update. I bet it's closer to late fall/early winter.


When are they usually released?


----------



## lessd (Jan 23, 2005)

geekmedic said:


> When are they usually released?


When the update is finished  and tested _(somewhat_).


----------



## eboydog (Mar 24, 2006)

lessd said:


> When the update is finished  and tested _(somewhat_).


And sometimes sooner unfortunately....


----------



## Bigg (Oct 31, 2003)

lgnad said:


> Disaster? Really?


Considering it crashes all the time, yes.


----------



## lgnad (Feb 14, 2013)

Bigg said:


> Considering it crashes all the time, yes.


Sorry this is so far off-topic, folks!

hmmm, I use it pretty darn regularly, at least a couple/few times a week. Very occasionally have to re-launch it because of the silly error about tightening your cable and maybe once or twice its needed a reboot of either the mini or Roamio to get it running again over a year's time... other than that its been rock solid for me. Has literally never hung, or crashed out or stopped responding to remote commands, rebooted the whole Tivo, etc.

Compared to how bad the netflix client worked for a while there, in my experience I'd call it world-class, other than how ugly it looks.

Well, there was that time it was down a while ago when something on the back end died and it took them a couple of days to resuscitate whatever it was... cant fault the client for that one, tho.

Is it better is some markets than others maybe? The Boston market was like 1st to get it since we had the mutant comcast/tivo Motorolla boxes and they used it to replace that...


----------



## slowbiscuit (Sep 19, 2006)

Bigg said:


> Considering it crashes all the time, yes.


Doesn't do that here in the ATL, you just get the occasional error on playback because all the QAM channels are tied up. So all we do is keep hitting play until it works when that happens, and it always works eventually.

You've got another issue with your area, the XOD app doesn't crash all the time everywhere.


----------



## Bigg (Oct 31, 2003)

lgnad said:


> Sorry this is so far off-topic, folks!
> 
> hmmm, I use it pretty darn regularly, at least a couple/few times a week. Very occasionally have to re-launch it because of the silly error about tightening your cable and maybe once or twice its needed a reboot of either the mini or Roamio to get it running again over a year's time... other than that its been rock solid for me. Has literally never hung, or crashed out or stopped responding to remote commands, rebooted the whole Tivo, etc.
> 
> ...


It could be market based, it could also be because we are on a Sci Atlanta system, as opposed to most of Comcast with Moto (although Comcast will be pretty evenly split if the TWC merger goes through).

Ours bombs out just about every time you go in, although about half the time it will start working after it bombs out.

Netflix is a little different though, since you can just switch to one of the other gazillion devices that supports it, vs. VOD where you have to have a CableCard or MSO-provided device.



slowbiscuit said:


> Doesn't do that here in the ATL, you just get the occasional error on playback because all the QAM channels are tied up. So all we do is keep hitting play until it works when that happens, and it always works eventually.
> 
> You've got another issue with your area, the XOD app doesn't crash all the time everywhere.


Wow, I didn't realize that areas actually ran out of QAMs other than once in a blue moon. I've never heard of that actually happening. I've also probably never been on a really busy node.

Not that I really care about XoD, as it's something that I didn't really want in the first place, I've just tested it a few times out of curiosity about TiVo supporting it.


----------



## cart5250 (Apr 11, 2014)

Hello, spoke w/ Tech Support, recommended I signup w/ field trials... Is there anything to be gained in doing so ?
cart5250

Got link... gonna verify...

Bye


----------



## BigJimOutlaw (Mar 21, 2004)

If approved, the benefit is you gain early access to beta software before general release. It may or may not have new features or fix any issues you have. (Don't know about bug fixes, but the tea leaves suggest the summer update will have some new features.)

Downside is the risk of bugs and instability, and you're expected to actively test and contribute to the process, beyond using your DVR normally.


----------



## davezatz (Apr 18, 2002)

steve614 said:


> I speculate that there won't be a summer update. I bet it's closer to late fall/early winter.


We're about two weeks out from the 3-column view. Hopefully some streaming enhancements are also on the docket. Haven't heard anything on an Amazon update recently. :/


----------



## dukenilnil (May 15, 2009)

aaronwt said:


> Hopefully Amazon streaming as well as the Android Stream support. And a new Mini UI would also be nice.


+1 to the Android streaming support and Amazon Prime streaming


----------



## astrohip (Jan 7, 2003)

I'm at the point where the ONLY thing I care about any more is Android streaming support.

The. Only. Thing.


----------



## tarheelblue32 (Jan 13, 2014)

The lack of Amazon Prime streaming is the biggest current problem. I'm sure a large number of TiVo owners are Amazon Prime members who would love to be able to use it through their TiVos. The current Amazon app is very disappointing without a streaming option and completely useless on the Mini.


----------



## nooneuknow (Feb 5, 2011)

astrohip said:


> I'm at the point where the ONLY thing I care about any more is Android streaming support.
> 
> The. Only. Thing.


Wow. So there IS at least one thing about TiVo that isn't to your liking... 

I'm more worried about what they'll break, or make worse, in usual fashion...

Fixes are nice. New things are nice (sometimes). I just can't recall a release where they didn't break something, unless that release was an emergency release, to fix something they broke with what they had just released...

I sure hope they fix all the CPU priority issues when transfers are in progress. That's one issue everybody who uses transfers is familiar with, and will not deny! Having to suffer it this long is ridiculous. That it was released with that issue in the first place, is unforgivable, in my book.


----------



## NotNowChief (Mar 29, 2012)

Still waiting almost 2 years for Android support.

Amazon prime streaming would be nice too. But given TiVo's track record, I've learned to expect absolutely nothing.


----------



## astrohip (Jan 7, 2003)

nooneuknow said:


> Wow. So there IS at least one thing about TiVo that isn't to your liking...


LOL! Yeah, I do tend to be a fanboy.

I've been lucky, rarely has an update broken something. I guess with all the different systems out there, the weird combinations of cable cards, tuning adapters, coax, antenna, yada yada, plus the millions of units, that every change TiVo makes is going to disrupt _something_. And since for me, recording TV is the core function of a TiVo, I've been generally happy, as TiVo is without a doubt the premiere DVR on the market. Why else would we put up with all this shyte?

But time marches on, and all these alternative feeds (streaming etc versus plain ol' cable) are becoming more important to TiVo's survival. Plus I just bought an Android tablet, and I want my d*mn streaming! It's all about me!

But as many have said before me, my expectations are basically non-existent, so anything we get is a welcome surprise.


----------



## JC Fedorczyk (Oct 14, 2008)

How many more years will it take for them to get all of the UI to HD?


----------



## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

tarheelblue32 said:


> The lack of Amazon Prime streaming is the biggest current problem. I'm sure a large number of TiVo owners are Amazon Prime members who would love to be able to use it through their TiVos. The current Amazon app is very disappointing without a streaming option and completely useless on the Mini.


Especially since with the Mini, there is no way to view the Amazon content.


----------



## lessd (Jan 23, 2005)

JC Fedorczyk said:


> How many more years will it take for them to get all of the UI to HD?


Why would TiVo spend the money to make menus rarely used, except in setup or TiVo problems, go to HD ?? Most TiVo users, after setup, never will go the non HD menus.


----------



## bikegeek (Dec 28, 2006)

lessd said:


> Why would TiVo spend the money to make menus rarely used, except in setup or TiVo problems, go to HD ?? Most TiVo users, after setup, never will go the non HD menus.


I have always wondered why this is so important to some. The common screens are done, who cares about setup screens I rarely use.


----------



## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

lessd said:


> Why would TiVo spend the money to make menus rarely used, except in setup or TiVo problems, go to HD ?? Most TiVo users, after setup, never will go the non HD menus.


For me it's so the experience is consistent. I go to these menus fairly often lately with all the channel additions and shuffling on FiOS. I would like for the preview window to always be present so that no matter what I am doing, I can see and hear what I was watching.

Its very jarring switching to the SD menus. Plus, as I mentioned, I can't see and hear what I was watching.


----------



## JC Fedorczyk (Oct 14, 2008)

Exactly. Consistency is important from an overall quality standpoint and "unified" presentation. It's pure laziness on Tivo's part. Saying, "you only use it once" isn't really a valid answer. You'd never accept having an input on your tv only be capable of SD while everything else is HD.


----------



## eboydog (Mar 24, 2006)

aaronwt said:


> Especially since with the Mini, there is no way to view the Amazon content.


You do know there is a way, it just requires using the Tivo Apple IOS app which technically hasn't been determined to be a mistake or just a undocumented feature. I keep an older iPad touch next one of my Mini's for such that sole reason.

Personally I feel Tivo needs to get better organized with a better long term goals set, it appears in the last few years they seem to have a difficult time completing one project before they move on to another.

There is no valid reason to support part of Amazon video and not Prime, no reason the UI for the Mini and Roamio boxes don't match, no reason to release Stream for half of the mobile device users and more than anything, simple stability esp with the latest series 5, after five generations of TiVo's, rebooting and hdmi issues should have been solved years ago.

I have been a Tivo fan for many years and always purchased lifetime service but this year after upgrading to the Roamio I have held off as I'm not nearly as confident of TiVo's future as I once was esp when they announced they were closing their hardware development department as downsizing is not always the sign of a strong organization and the only thing they have expanded is their monthly fees.


----------



## telemark (Nov 12, 2013)

eboydog said:


> I have been a Tivo fan for many years and always purchased lifetime service but this year after upgrading to the Roamio I have held off as I'm not nearly as confident of TiVo's future as I once was esp when they announced they were closing their hardware development department as downsizing is not always the sign of a strong organization and the only thing they have expanded is their monthly fees.


I was concerned when I first heard that but when I realized it was just the hardware engineers it makes some sense. It's partially a statement that TV hardware is becoming more universal, standardized, and common.

If they stayed around, some number of them would have been twiddling their thumbs if the next product generation is going to be cloud based.

Losing their software engineers, I feel would be unhealthy though.


----------



## trip1eX (Apr 2, 2005)

eboydog said:


> There is no valid reason to support part of Amazon video and not Prime,


IS that Tivo's fault or Amazon's? I would guess it is Amazon who is doing the app. And I would guess that Tivo has a very small install base relatively speaking.


----------



## CrispyCritter (Feb 28, 2001)

telemark said:


> I was concerned when I first heard that but when I realized it was just the hardware engineers it makes some sense. It's partially a statement that TV hardware is becoming more universal, standardized, and common.
> 
> If they stayed around, some number of them would have been twiddling their thumbs if the next product generation is going to be cloud based.
> 
> Losing their software engineers, I feel would be unhealthy though.


They laid off a total of FIVE hardware engineers. They still have over 200 R&D full-time staff and over 400 employees and are growing. The number of software engineers continues to grow, just not in the areas affecting us (retail TiVos). They're concentrating much more (e.g., DigitalSmith acquisition) in services to cable companies.


----------



## randian (Jan 15, 2014)

JC Fedorczyk said:


> Exactly. Consistency is important from an overall quality standpoint and "unified" presentation. It's pure laziness on Tivo's part. Saying, "you only use it once" isn't really a valid answer.


I agree, though at this point it's clear TiVo is never going to make those menus HD no matter how much we scream about it. I wonder how much work it could be, doing menus should be the easiest part of their software. Of course they foolishly chose Flash as their UI of choice, so it could be horribly difficult.


----------



## Bsteenson (Jul 30, 2000)

randian said:


> I agree, though at this point it's clear TiVo is never going to make those menus HD no matter how much we scream about it. I wonder how much work it could be, doing menus should be the easiest part of their software. Of course they foolishly chose Flash as their UI of choice, so it could be horribly difficult.


Agree also. Functionally, I couldn't care less about menus being SD or HD (for a couple of years I used SD menus even when HD was available because at that time the HD menus were soooo slow).

But if you want to position yourself as a premium product, then look premium all the way through.


----------



## tarheelblue32 (Jan 13, 2014)

Bsteenson said:


> Agree also. Functionally, I couldn't care less about menus being SD or HD (for a couple of years I used SD menus even when HD was available because at that time the HD menus were soooo slow).
> 
> But if you want to position yourself as a premium product, then look premium all the way through.


Yeah, from a practical standpoint it doesn't really matter to me very much either (through I do occasionally experience an "audio static blast" when going between the HD and SD menus, which is unpleasant), but the message it sends is that TiVo is fine with a certain amount of sloppiness and having loose ends just hanging out there forever. Also, I'm definitely not a programmer, but I really can't understand why it should be that hard to fix this issue unless TiVo's software engineers are either slightly incompetent or slightly apathetic/lazy.


----------



## CoxInPHX (Jan 14, 2011)

Personally I do not care either, But, It seems really sloppy when the SD Menu then transitions back to an HD Menu.

For instance:
Settings (SD) > Recording (SD) > TiVo Suggestions (back to HD)

All choices under Recording Settings go back to HD Menus.


----------



## gear (Oct 1, 2006)

I kind of thought the hold up on an Amazon Prime app update was due to their planned inclusion of free Prime music streaming. Now that it's here maybe they will update the Tivo app. They have to update the apps for Roku, and Fire TV so maybe they only wanted to do each app once.


----------



## Sixto (Sep 16, 2005)

I'd like to see the audio cutout when transitioning from LIVETV to the main menu fixed. Having all menus in HD would also be nice just from a consistency perspective.


----------



## southerndoc (Apr 5, 2003)

First day of summer was yesterday, so let the countdown begin.


----------



## CoxInPHX (Jan 14, 2011)

New Feature: My Shows Categories:

It is interesting TiVo posted the video before updating the Priority Update list.
Note that Amazon is not listed under Video Providers????






I assume the Priority List will be up soon?
www.tivo.com/priority/


----------



## innocentfreak (Aug 25, 2001)

Disappointing since it doesn't look like you can customize all that much. Still no option to add shows from Netflix to your My Shows.


----------



## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

CoxInPHX said:


> New Feature: My Shows Categories: It is interesting TiVo posted the video before updating the Priority Update list. Note that Amazon is not listed under Video Providers????
> 
> 
> 
> I assume the Priority List will be up soon? www.tivo.com/priority/


I find it amusing that they don't show any ads in the menu on that promo YouTube video.


----------



## jjd416 (Nov 24, 2009)

CoxInPHX said:


> Note that Amazon is not listed under Video Providers????


Amazon doesn't show up currently under "My Shows" either even though other video providers such as Netflix and Xfinity do.


----------



## gothaggis (Mar 3, 2010)

wasn't there supposed to be an 'app store' of sorts of the tivo romio? based on the opera browser or something. whatever happened to that?


----------



## Diana Collins (Aug 21, 2002)

gothaggis said:


> wasn't there supposed to be an 'app store' of sorts of the tivo romio? based on the opera browser or something. whatever happened to that?


It's there, under Apps & Games/Opera Store...not much interesting in the store though.


----------



## sbiller (May 10, 2002)

https://www.tivo.com/priority_20_4_2


----------



## nooneuknow (Feb 5, 2011)

sbiller said:


> https://www.tivo.com/priority_20_4_2


Thank You very much.

I checked it a day ago, and it said no updates were available for anything at all. It was not even giving the boxes to enter the TSNs, to then tell you no update was available for that model's TSN (which was a frustrating way to check).


----------



## morac (Mar 14, 2003)

I'll probably wait a day or two before entering my TSN. Every time I enter it in the first day or two, it goes into a black hole somewhere.


----------



## nooneuknow (Feb 5, 2011)

morac said:


> I'll probably wait a day or two before entering my TSN. Every time I enter it in the first day or two, it goes into a black hole somewhere.


That's my whole plan. If the update is worse than what I already have, and I'm stuck in the "black hole", I can just wait until the next update is in the pipes, and then ask to get this imminent version, right before the next new one.


----------



## davezatz (Apr 18, 2002)

Intel suggests updates some time after the July 4th holiday weekend.


----------



## Sixto (Sep 16, 2005)

Margret just posted the link as well.

Just entered all 7 boxes.


----------



## Diana Collins (Aug 21, 2002)

Sixto said:


> Margret just posted the link as well.
> 
> Just entered all 7 boxes.


Me too.


----------



## brykasch (Jun 6, 2013)

nice to see my box doesn't get priority...

TiVo Priority Update Request
Your box is not eligible for a priority update at this time. If your box was provided by a cable company, it will be updated on a different schedule.

I plan on upgrading to a roamio in the spring but jeez...


----------



## replaytv (Feb 21, 2011)

I just got a update on a Premiere with evaluation that I hadn't had connected for a while, and I didn't request the update.


----------



## eboydog (Mar 24, 2006)

brykasch said:


> nice to see my box doesn't get priority...
> 
> TiVo Priority Update Request
> Your box is not eligible for a priority update at this time. If your box was provided by a cable company, it will be updated on a different schedule.
> ...


If your Tivo is a retail box and not a rental from your cable company, check the TSN to be sure you typed it in correctly.


----------



## LoadStar (Jul 24, 2001)

replaytv said:


> I just got a update on a Premiere with evaluation that I hadn't had connected for a while, and I didn't request the update.


The summer update doesn't roll until mid-July. If it got an update, it's going to be the spring update that rolled to all customers.


----------



## rishidhar (Dec 29, 2012)

Just got the summer update on my Tivo Premier. Menus are much faster and system fonts have been changed to look more like the Roamio ones.

I did have some sluggishness in pausing and playing video but that might figure itself out in a few days.

Overall I'm pretty impressed. Was thinking of updating to Roamio but will likely keep the premiere now and try to get the $99 lifetime upgrade.


----------



## DaveDFW (Jan 25, 2005)

.


----------



## jrtroo (Feb 4, 2008)

That is complete BS. Stinks that you are having a problem, but it clearly not universal. Every software update is a little bit of a risk and some folks have issues, and unfortunately it is your unlucky turn.

Have you called Tivo? What have you done to rectify? I assume reboot of the mini, but what about the host, your network, ect?


----------



## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

DaveDFW said:


> .


Well no wonder he's so cranky, he's on his period! 

Sorry to hear you had issues tho.


----------



## mm2margaret (Dec 7, 2010)

Well, I got it and as far as I'm concerned, if you own a Premiere, this update is a Godsend!

Holy Moley, Batman, my old Premiere is just zipping through the menus! It's actually fast. And it only took them four years to fix the Premiere.....

Still very happy!


----------



## b_scott (Nov 27, 2006)

aaronwt said:


> The problem now is that with four and six tuner Tivos, I don't have extra Tivos lying around like in the old days when two tuners was the max. So* I wouldn't want beta software on a DVR I need to use on a regular basis.* Plus beta testing is time consuming. Having to dedicate up to an hour or more each day to do the testing properly.


yeah this was a mistake I made in the past. I don't do betas on stuff like this anymore.


----------



## b_scott (Nov 27, 2006)

ok this update is amazing. Best one so far. Looks like the Roamio on Premiere boxes, and it's SNAPPY!!! And everything is in HD finally. Only took 4.5 years. AWESOME AWESOME UPDATE.


----------



## Thos19 (Dec 31, 2002)

Very happy with the update. Was previously, seriously considering selling my series 4 and getting a Roamio. Now I'm happy to keep what I have.


----------



## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

b_scott said:


> ok this update is amazing. Best one so far. Looks like the Roamio on Premiere boxes, and it's SNAPPY!!! *And everything is in HD finally.* Only took 4.5 years. AWESOME AWESOME UPDATE.


I don't believe this update made all the menus in HD, or did I miss something?


----------



## bradleys (Oct 31, 2007)

Help screens were all converted, but no, several of the maintenance screens are still SD. That doesn't bother me in the least.

What I would like to see updated in streaming from local shares. We are still stuck on moving content from a local share to the TiVo.


----------



## b_scott (Nov 27, 2006)

bradleys said:


> Help screens were all converted, but no, several of the maintenance screens are still SD. That doesn't bother me in the least.
> 
> What I would like to see updated in streaming from local shares. We are still stuck on moving content from a local share to the TiVo.


ah sorry. It did seem like they were changed but I suppose it does still take you to another screen.


----------



## mattack (Apr 9, 2001)

bradleys said:


> Help screens were all converted, but no, several of the maintenance screens are still SD. That doesn't bother me in the least.
> 
> What I would like to see updated in streaming from local shares. We are still stuck on moving content from a local share to the TiVo.


You can use streambaby..

I don't think they've ever made mention of streaming from local shares being an option.


----------



## harlequinnature (Jul 25, 2014)

Very informative forum. Thanks all for sharing.


----------



## noeltykay (Dec 19, 2001)

Darn it! Only one of my two Tivo Premieres updated. The one I use the most did not get the upgrade...yet.


----------



## LoREvanescence (Jun 19, 2007)

My premiere got the update yesterday. I was not expecting the ui changes.


----------



## SWFan (Oct 6, 2002)

Ours was updated a couple days ago. As has been mentioned above by some others, the menu browsing is considerably faster.


----------



## ajergo (Feb 20, 2002)

There is a way to request to be put on a priority list for getting this Software Upgrade sooner. I was chatting with TiVo Rep and they gave me this URL link: http://www.tivo.com/priority_20_4_2
I signed up for it this past Saturday the 26th. I just got the Service/software upgrade last night, the 28th to 29th.
so, if you have not received this yet and want to get it sooner, you may want to try this link above.

So far so good ... some very good improvements, especially in the way that My Shows displays categories now.


----------



## tomhorsley (Jul 22, 2010)

I did not sigh up for priority updates, but my Premier got updated last night anyway, so I suspect they are now in full rollout mode. It definitely improves the speed of the menus. The Premier is now almost as responsive as the Roamio.


----------



## Bigg (Oct 31, 2003)

I like the new flat design in keeping with the Apples and Googles of the world, but man, that NPL is getting pretty busy.

It really threw me for a loop, as the TV my roommates use got it first, and none of the TVs I use got it until today. We now have at least two of the four boxes on it.


----------



## slowbiscuit (Sep 19, 2006)

The NPL is not any busier than it was before if you disable categories (which I did, immediately).


----------



## ajergo (Feb 20, 2002)

Excuse my ignorance, but what is NPL?


----------



## eboydog (Mar 24, 2006)

ajergo said:


> Excuse my ignorance, but what is NPL?


Now Playing List, what's commonly TiVo also refers to as My Shows.


----------



## Zephyr (Sep 16, 2005)

Got it overnight... first reaction, I do not like. I can't see the text from where I sit normally and that orange location bar obliterates the underlying text. I'll start reading this but this is one of those upgrades I didn't need I'm afraid.


----------



## b_scott (Nov 27, 2006)

ajergo said:


> some very good improvements, especially in the way that My Shows displays categories now.


really? I don't have enough shows to warrant categories. It just smooshes the screen more, and I turned it off immediately.


----------



## b_scott (Nov 27, 2006)

Zephyr said:


> Got it overnight... first reaction, I do not like. I can't see the text from where I sit normally and that orange location bar obliterates the underlying text. I'll start reading this but this is one of those upgrades I didn't need I'm afraid.


I'm wondering if those that have issues need their televisions calibrated. And definitely sharpness turned all the way down - sharpness up can really mess with text and create halos.

It should be easy to see:


----------



## javabird (Oct 13, 2006)

b_scott said:


> I'm wondering if those that have issues need their televisions calibrated. And definitely sharpness turned all the way down - sharpness up can really mess with text and create halos.
> 
> It should be easy to see:


It's also easy to see on my TV (HD plasma). I wonder changing the correcting the color balance on the TV might also help - the previous poster said it was "orange" but on my TV it's definitely more of a goldenrod yellow.


----------



## HIHZia (Nov 3, 2004)

I didn't even know this was coming. so I was quite surprised to see it. I did turn off the categories on the left. Useless to me and just cluttered the screen, but without it it's very nice.


----------



## javabird (Oct 13, 2006)

b_scott said:


> really? I don't have enough shows to warrant categories. It just smooshes the screen more, and I turned it off immediately.


Wow, I have a Roamio Pro with 92% full. I love the categories!


----------



## rainwater (Sep 21, 2004)

b_scott said:


> really? I don't have enough shows to warrant categories.


The categories view is certainly more appealing to customers with the Roamio Pro (or even the Plus) because they are likely to have hundreds of recordings.


----------



## bhoch99 (Jan 21, 2003)

One big thing I don't like about the update is that the color of the SD menus changed to black background, white text, and yellow highlighting. It looks awful. I have no desire to use the HD menus (don't like the PIP, don't like the ribbon of show image stuff at the top of the screen). I don't see anyway to switch SD menu colors to what they were originally. 

I forgot to try it when I was home, but I'm assuming closed captioning with 1xFF is also still no longer working.


----------



## b_scott (Nov 27, 2006)

rainwater said:


> The categories view is certainly more appealing to customers with the Roamio Pro (or even the Plus) because they are likely to have hundreds of recordings.


why would they have more? I have the Tivo Premiere XL. It's just my personal viewing practices - I'm always watching stuff to clear it off ASAP


----------



## Bigg (Oct 31, 2003)

slowbiscuit said:


> The NPL is not any busier than it was before if you disable categories (which I did, immediately).


Interesting. Didn't know you could do that. I'll have to try that and see how I like it.



eboydog said:


> Now Playing List, what's commonly TiVo also refers to as My Shows.


Exactly, way old name for it. I've had TiVos for a while...



b_scott said:


> why would they have more? I have the Tivo Premiere XL. It's just my personal viewing practices - I'm always watching stuff to clear it off ASAP


3TB? 6 tuners? I guess they could have more...


----------



## nooneuknow (Feb 5, 2011)

rainwater said:


> The categories view is certainly more appealing to customers with the Roamio Pro (or even the Plus) because they are likely to have hundreds of recordings.


Irrelevant if those that bought a Basic or a Plus upgraded their hard drive.

It's not going to be appealing to me until they quit wasting so much space on the left and right of the screen, allowing it to display show and episode, not just show, without additional navigation.

I have over 800 recordings on mine, and couldn't handle the truncated titles/episode names.


----------



## b_scott (Nov 27, 2006)

Bigg said:


> 3TB? 6 tuners? I guess they could have more...


Roamio Plus is 150 hours. My Tivo Premiere XL is 150 hours. No difference. I have two tivos so 4 tuners.


----------



## trip1eX (Apr 2, 2005)

The categories are junky looking. I mean really a list to the side of the list? 

But I instinctively made use of them when I wanted to continue a movie I had partially watched the night before. I was like wow I actually made use of categories. ...beats scrolling through the list of shows.

since I've quickly skipped to the suggestions too. And quickly seeing the movies on your hard drive is something I will probably use.

Still seems like they could implement this better. AT least a shortcut button to cycle through the categories you want in there. Nevermind a more pleasing graphical look instead of the getting dated Tivo menu lists.


----------



## Bigg (Oct 31, 2003)

b_scott said:


> Roamio Plus is 150 hours. My Tivo Premiere XL is 150 hours. No difference. I have two tivos so 4 tuners.


The Premiere series topped out at 2TB/4 tuners, the Roamio series tops out at 3TB/6 tuners. So yeah, a Roamio user could have more stuff on there to categorize.

So yes, there is a 1TB/2 tuner difference. That being said, I disabled it on my XL4 and Minis, as I didn't like the truncated titles, and I don't find much use for the categories anyways.


----------



## LoneWolf15 (Mar 20, 2010)

bhoch99 said:


> One big thing I don't like about the update is that the color of the SD menus changed to black background, white text, and yellow highlighting. It looks awful. I have no desire to use the HD menus (don't like the PIP, don't like the ribbon of show image stuff at the top of the screen). I don't see anyway to switch SD menu colors to what they were originally.
> 
> I forgot to try it when I was home, but I'm assuming closed captioning with 1xFF is also still no longer working.


You can turn the PIP off in the HD menus.

Also, I don't know that you can turn the ribbon off completely, but there are (as I saw it) types of shows you can exclude from showing up there.
***
My Premiere XL was down for 2-3 weeks due to a failed hard drive, followed by a replacement hard drive being DoA; I just got this update while bringing my system back online last night. So far, the one thing I've done is go back to the grid guide, which will be more intuitive for the SO (and in truth, probably myself). I did notice better responsiveness in the menus, which I'm happy about. More testing is required to get my opinion on the rest.


----------



## KDeFlane (Jan 29, 2014)

bhoch99 said:


> One big thing I don't like about the update is that the color of the SD menus changed to black background, white text, and yellow highlighting. It looks awful.


This black background sometimes happens with my unit, and has done so for the past year but only occasionally. I agree that it looks unattractive, but at least everything functions the same way. With the update, I can tell you that my SD menus do have the blue background, along with the jarring contrast bar (more of a dirty yellow or goldenrod color). I've never figured out why that black background happens, but it always restored to blue after navigating between a few screens.

My only complaint is that the SD menu update seems to have lost a folder which listed all HD recordings in chronological order, not nested in show folders. It was a convenient tool that we used frequently.

_(returning to amend the above)_
I've had another look, and now I see a difference. The new SD background still has blue in the upper left, but it has a texture fade to black across and down to the lower right. It is not a nice look. For comparison, I found the old blue background on a promotional screen, one of those starred bars that lead you to voting in #TiVoUpfronts for fall shows. Warm and friendly, and a consistent level of contrast between text and background -- that's what an informational screen should strive for, not artistic drama.


----------



## b_scott (Nov 27, 2006)

My advice is to join 2014 (or 2007 for that matter) and go HD.


----------



## Bigg (Oct 31, 2003)

b_scott said:


> My advice is to join 2014 (or 2007 for that matter) and go HD.


Yup. Especially since this update makes the Premieres WAY faster on HD menus.


----------



## slowbiscuit (Sep 19, 2006)

Always amusing to see the diehards sticking with SD on Premieres.


----------



## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

slowbiscuit said:


> Always amusing to see the diehards sticking with SD on Premieres.


I wish cable systems would just dump all the SD duplicated channels that have an HD counterpart.


----------



## nooneuknow (Feb 5, 2011)

aaronwt said:


> I wish cable systems would just dump all the SD duplicated channels that have an HD counterpart.


That would be bad news for the 3TB Roamio I currently have 523 recordings of "Supernatural" in SD on. It's a record-all SP, because every time I think I have the whole series, I find golf/basketball recorded, instead.

I know it's on Netflix. They are just waiting for me to delete it from my TiVo, before they take it down... Never count on "It's on Netflix"...


----------



## eboydog (Mar 24, 2006)

aaronwt said:


> I wish cable systems would just dump all the SD duplicated channels that have an HD counterpart.


True, sometimes as No One points outs, sometimes is nice to have the SD version if you are keeping a collection of tv episoides were resolution doesn't matter such I record a lot of the orginal Twilight Zone and 70's tv series were HD really doesn't do anything other than to consume more drive space.


----------



## Bigg (Oct 31, 2003)

aaronwt said:


> I wish cable systems would just dump all the SD duplicated channels that have an HD counterpart.


Agreed. They would have to keep expanded basic for DTAs, but the rest of the stuff should be converted to MPEG-4 HD.



eboydog said:


> True, sometimes as No One points outs, sometimes is nice to have the SD version if you are keeping a collection of tv episoides were resolution doesn't matter such I record a lot of the orginal Twilight Zone and 70's tv series were HD really doesn't do anything other than to consume more drive space.


Was that stuff shot to video originally? Anything that was pre-video is worth HD, since they've scanned the film at high resolution...


----------



## mattack (Apr 9, 2001)

nooneuknow said:


> That would be bad news for the 3TB Roamio I currently have 523 recordings of "Supernatural" in SD on. It's a record-all SP, because every time I think I have the whole series, I find golf/basketball recorded, instead.
> 
> I know it's on Netflix. They are just waiting for me to delete it from my TiVo, before they take it down... Never count on "It's on Netflix"...


You do realize your rerun recordings are *chopped up*, right? You're probably missing 5-10 minutes per episode from the original airing, due to time for more commercials.

The physical media and/or streaming versions are _likely_ the original episodes. (There have been a few goofs where DVD versions were syndicated versions -- but IMHO even that is less bad than syndicated versions where you have to skip commercials and deal with logos/promos.)


----------



## nooneuknow (Feb 5, 2011)

mattack said:


> You do realize your rerun recordings are *chopped up*, right? You're probably missing 5-10 minutes per episode from the original airing, due to time for more commercials.
> 
> The physical media and/or streaming versions are _likely_ the original episodes. (There have been a few goofs where DVD versions were syndicated versions -- but IMHO even that is less bad than syndicated versions where you have to skip commercials and deal with logos/promos.)


Yeah. Before I cancelled my Netflix DVD plan, I acquired rips of Season 1 that way. If it wasn't for sports/news/reality show overruns, I'd be fine with the missing content of shows I want for posterity. I just don't want them badly enough to pay purchase price for. It wasn't even enough for me to deal with Netflix and their changes, plus resurfacing their scratched-up DVDs, so they could be read, without errors, then rip, then send back. Bleh...


----------



## lew (Mar 12, 2002)

b_scott said:


> really? I don't have enough shows to warrant categories. It just smooshes the screen more, and I turned it off immediately.


+1 Sometimes the issue is with the angle you're viewing your set. Sometimes it's an issue with your vision. I'm corrected to 20/40. I think a monospaced font would be easier to read. I always thought tivo should have an "advanced" settings menu. Let us pick a larger font. Let people change the size of the buffer. We can probably think of a dozen items poster ask for, and shouldn't be that hard to add.


----------

