# We're still processing your activation. Try again in 24 hours.



## wmcbrine (Aug 2, 2003)

I just bought my first new TiVo in three years -- a 4k Mini Vox -- and that's what it says on tivo.com right now, several hours after I activated it. This isn't a new thing, of course, but I'd hoped that maybe they'd have fixed it by now.

Come on, people. This is stupid. Every other comparable device and/or service, you activate it, and it _works right then_, within a few minutes at the most, unless maybe a server is broken. But TiVo's servers aren't broken -- their process is. This kind of routine (for TiVo) delay suggests to me that human intervention is still required at some point, to which I can only say: Why?

Edit: To be clear, I'm not looking for help or advice. (The Mini is already working now, and it all went as expected. It's just a pain in the ass.) This is a rant. I posted it in Suggestions because I'm suggesting that TiVo fix this process.


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## wmcbrine (Aug 2, 2003)

Got past that, and now of course there's the other idiotic delay while we wait for the host Tivo to do its daily call so it can accept the Mini. Why any of this? So dumb.


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## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

wmcbrine said:


> Got past that, and now of course there's the other idiotic delay while we wait for the host Tivo to do its daily call so it can accept the Mini. Why any of this? So dumb.


Obviously, _this_ delay can be eliminated by forcing a service connection on the intended host DVR. The puzzler on this latter example is why TiVo continues to instruct people that they may need to wait 24-48 hours for activation to propagate.


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## TonyD79 (Jan 4, 2002)

wmcbrine said:


> Got past that, and now of course there's the other idiotic delay while we wait for the host Tivo to do its daily call so it can accept the Mini. Why any of this? So dumb.


Force the connection. You don't have to wait for the daily call.


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## TonyD79 (Jan 4, 2002)

krkaufman said:


> Obviously, _this_ delay can be eliminated by forcing a service connection on the intended host DVR. The puzzler on this latter example is why TiVo continues to instruct people that they may need to wait 24-48 hours for activation to propagate.


Because they assume people are too dumb to force a connection.


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## wmcbrine (Aug 2, 2003)

Yes, I'm aware of the ability to force a connection (rebooting the host also seems to be necessary). My point is that _none of this should ever happen_. I shouldn't have to wait _or_ go do something to another box connected to another TV in another room, you know? This is a uniquely bad part of the TiVo experience.


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

Every item I have bought from TiVo arrived already activated and working with all my other equipment. Only two items bought on eBay required me to visit the web site to activate. I have never called TiVo to activate anything.


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## Mikeguy (Jul 28, 2005)

JoeKustra said:


> Every item I have bought from TiVo arrived already activated and working with all my other equipment. Only two items bought on eBay required me to visit the web site to activate. I have never called TiVo to activate anything.


And in that circumstance, it really is a streamlined set-up experience. The only delay being, when the box does an initial setup and then a follow-up setup, where there is new software.


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## wmcbrine (Aug 2, 2003)

JoeKustra said:


> Every item I have bought from TiVo arrived already activated and working with all my other equipment.


Yes, if and only if you buy from tivo.com, you can get them pre-activated. This is a new unit from Best Buy.


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

wmcbrine said:


> Yes, if and only if you buy from tivo.com, you can get them pre-activated. This is a new unit from Best Buy.


What happened when you activated it at TiVo.com? If I got a "wait..." message I would then force a service connection and see if their internal processing still works quickly.

If you buy a unit from BB or Amazon, do you expect the retailer to call TiVo and give TiVo the data for their computers? I recently bought a Stream on eBay. I registered it on-line and it started working. I know it said to wait 48 hours, but I figure that message is as old as most TiVo messages.


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## wmcbrine (Aug 2, 2003)

JoeKustra said:


> What happened when you activated it at TiVo.com? If I got a "wait..." message I would then force a service connection and see if their internal processing still works quickly.


It's not possible to force a service connection at that point. It's stuck in the middle of Guided Setup. (Edit: And IIRC, it had already connected to home base several times by then.)



> _If you buy a unit from BB or Amazon, do you expect the retailer to call TiVo and give TiVo the data for their computers?_


I don't really understand the point of this question, but no, I don't.



> _I recently bought a Stream on eBay. I registered it on-line and it started working._


The Stream is a very different beast.


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## TonyD79 (Jan 4, 2002)

wmcbrine said:


> Yes, I'm aware of the ability to force a connection (rebooting the host also seems to be necessary). My point is that _none of this should ever happen_. I shouldn't have to wait _or_ go do something to another box connected to another TV in another room, you know? This is a uniquely bad part of the TiVo experience.


Well, the host box needs to find out about the new one somehow. How would you do that if it didn't involve getting data from the servers, which requires a connection?


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## Mikeguy (Jul 28, 2005)

You're absolutely right. But it sounds as if this all should be automated and occur immediately, not within 24 or 48 hours--I'm surprised it isn't. And some mere mortals who don't subscribe here indeed may have no idea what a forced connection is.  (It sounds like a bad dating experience.)


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## TonyD79 (Jan 4, 2002)

Mikeguy said:


> You're absolutely right. But it sounds as if this all should be automated and occur immediately, not within 24 or 48 hours--I'm surprised it isn't. And some mere mortals who don't subscribe here indeed may have no idea what a forced connection is.  (It sounds like a bad dating experience.)


How would you tell an existing box that the new one exists? TiVo can do that if you buy from them because they can list it in your account when they ship it. But if you are buying from elsewhere or for someone else?


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## Mikeguy (Jul 28, 2005)

TonyD79 said:


> How would you tell an existing box that the new one exists? TiVo can do that if you buy from them because they can list it in your account when they ship it. But if you are buying from elsewhere or for someone else?


I meant, as part of the set-up process for the new one--have a routine that the new one will cause a connection to be made immediately and automatically, to avoid the "wait period" or needing user intervention.


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## TonyD79 (Jan 4, 2002)

Mikeguy said:


> I meant, as part of the set-up process for the new one--have a routine that the new one will cause a connection to be made immediately and automatically, to avoid the "wait period" or needing user intervention.


The new one will connect. If it can. A mini needs a host and the host needs to know the mini. So, if the new device is a mini, it cannot connect unless the host recognizes it.

At least that was what happened when I added two minis a couple of months apart.

You tell TiVo about the mini. You force a connect on the host. The host updates to know about the mini. The mini can then use the host and connect.


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## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

TonyD79 said:


> You tell TiVo about the mini. You force a connect on the host. The host updates to know about the mini. The mini can then use the host and connect.


I think one perspective might be, though I don't know if it aligns w/ @wmcbrine's view, that TiVo seems to have their boxes connecting to the mothership nearly continually for all sorts of data, so it would seem a minor thing for a host DVR to automatically check the TiVo servers for any account device updates when any connection attempts are made from unknown boxes.


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## TonyD79 (Jan 4, 2002)

krkaufman said:


> I think one perspective might be, though I don't know if it aligns w/ @wmcbrine's view, that TiVo seems to have their boxes connecting to the mothership nearly continually for all sorts of data, so it would seem a minor thing for a host DVR to automatically check the TiVo servers for any account device updates when any connection attempts are made from unknown boxes.


Wouldn't that be overkill for something that happens once in a blue moon? The data it connects for is enhanced search and graphics not configuration and hard data.

The instructions should be clearer. I had to figure out what was going on for my first mini then proved it was right by doing the second.

They can actually tell people how to add a device by forcing a connection. Or even put an "add device" on the host menu system that simply forces a connection.

Adding: And I just realized that the non full connection communication probably does no login authentication. Which would be needed. That would slow every thing down.


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## wmcbrine (Aug 2, 2003)

TonyD79 said:


> Well, the host box needs to find out about the new one somehow. How would you do that if it didn't involve getting data from the servers, which requires a connection?


It's pretty trivial. The new Mini could just connect directly to the host, and authenticate itself. The host doesn't need a list of authorized clients, although that seems to be how TiVo has implemented things (IMHO a misfeature). But even if you wanted to do it that way, you could get that info to the host much more quickly -- within seconds or minutes, at most, instead of hours. And no, login authentication doesn't add meaningful overhead.

I'd be tempted to blame it on the activation system being a relic of the dialup era, that was just never re-engineered for broadband, the way many other TiVo functions were; except, even the earliest Minis postdate that transition.


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## jth tv (Nov 15, 2014)

It is not such a bad idea to have important records maintained offweb and updated daily via batch to prevent identity and credit card theft. "Access is everything"


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

TonyD79 said:


> Adding: And I just realized that the non full connection communication probably does no login authentication. Which would be needed. That would slow every thing down.


In the Network Diagnostics, the procedure "Internet Diagnostics" seems to do everything except download guide data. I also updates the field in SI indication to "success" for a failed Service Connection. Seems something like that should get all devices in sync or authorized. It also sets the clock.


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## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

JoeKustra said:


> In the Network Diagnostics, the procedure "Internet Diagnostics" seems to do everything except download guide data. I also updates the field in SI indication to "success" for a failed Service Connection. Seems something like that should get all devices in sync or authorized. It also sets the clock.


Heh, would be an interesting alternative to try if/when I ever add another Mini.


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## TonyD79 (Jan 4, 2002)

JoeKustra said:


> In the Network Diagnostics, the procedure "Internet Diagnostics" seems to do everything except download guide data. I also updates the field in SI indication to "success" for a failed Service Connection. Seems something like that should get all devices in sync or authorized. It also sets the clock.


I don't see a login authentication. That appears to be nothing more than a ping.


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## jtashiro (Dec 30, 2015)

wmcbrine said:


> Yes, if and only if you buy from tivo.com, you can get them pre-activated. This is a new unit from Best Buy.


Totally agree - I've been using Tivo for past 3 years and when it's all working, it's the best solution out there, but to get it working, if you bought from non-Tivo, is a huge pain in the ass. Incredibly stupid phone home activation wait cycles from the dial-up era.


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