# Decided not to buy the Bolt -- consensus seems Roamio was better



## btann (Sep 17, 2016)

I've got a TivoHD and want to upgrade, but I've been reading a lot of horror stories about the Bolt. Many where the bolt just dies. Very loud fan noise. Signal strength problems. It's made me afraid to buy one.

I see that WeaKnees is selling brand new Roamio Pro 3TB. I'm thinking that's the better way to go. All the reviews on the Roamio Pro have been stellar. What do you all think?


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## HerronScott (Jan 1, 2002)

btann said:


> I've got a TivoHD and want to upgrade, but I've been reading a lot of horror stories about the Bolt. Many where the bolt just dies. Very loud fan noise. Signal strength problems. It's made me afraid to buy one.
> 
> I see that WeaKnees is selling brand new Roamio Pro 3TB. I'm thinking that's the better way to go. All the reviews on the Roamio Pro have been stellar. What do you all think?


We upgraded to a Roamio Pro from 2 S3 OLED's back in October 2015 when TiVo was offering a deal for longtime TiVo owners and have been very happy with it. Skip Mode is great and it's nice to be able stream from both Amazon Prime and Netflix.

Scott


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## atmuscarella (Oct 11, 2005)

Most people only post when they have problems so no way to know what percentage of the Bolts or Bolt+ have problems. The Bolts are the current models so most new sales are Bolts. I have a Bolt and a base Roamio both are fine.

Both the Roamio Pro & the Bolt+ have pluses and minuses over the other, so it comes down to price and what features matter to you. Both units are very good to excellent DVRs, the Bolt+ will be better at streaming especially Netflix.

Here is a link to a post where I compared the features: Is The Bolt + Worth The Upgrade?


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## btann (Sep 17, 2016)

atmuscarella said:


> Most people only post when they have problems so no way to know what percentage of the Bolts or Bolt+ have problems.


Seems to be a lot more posts about people having problems with the Bolt (across the internet). Have you noticed the Bolt to be louder, more fan noise, than the Roamio?


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## atmuscarella (Oct 11, 2005)

btann said:


> Seems to be a lot more posts about people having problems with the Bolt (across the internet). Have you noticed the Bolt to be louder, more fan noise, than the Roamio?


Like I said people are not buying new Roamio Pros so I would not expect to see much about them. We do have a few people complaining about Roamio OTAs, which are still be sold new. Again both my Bolt and base Roamio have been fine.

Regarding fan noise, I am not the best person to ask as I am not very sensitive to sound and my units are not in a bedroom. But I do not think any of my TiVos are all that load (I have 6 of them 2 in daily use) but I do have a fairly loud computer in the same room that is loader than any of them.


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## fcfc2 (Feb 19, 2015)

I don't know about buying a "new" Roamio Pro, but picking up a used Pro or Plus with lifetime included is definitely a good choice. They have been going for around $600 on Ebay and here on the sale forums.


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## chicagobrownblue (May 29, 2008)

I'm also fine with my base/4-tuner Roamio. My problem with the Bolt is there is no recordable 4K content and I'm not a fan of streaming (or white or the bump). If I want 4k streaming in the future, I'll buy a highend Roku. 

If my Roamio breaks, I'll buy a Bolt. I will also use it a lot in the first 30 days. If the fan is noisy, I'll send it back. Tivo will send out a replacement if it breaks in the warranty period. If the Bolt is toast after two years, I'd just buy a new one. They are cheap. My Roamio is on a UPC and the coax goes through a surge suppressor, so I expect it to last a long time. Would do the same with a Bolt.


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## scottchez (Dec 2, 2003)

There are TWO SIDEs to every story. Here is the other side to help with your research . . . Please forgive the typing and logic, I Just put my personal notes here.

It is Very important to note that the BOLT is the current model. It is what stores are pushing to sell as stores dont like to sell older out dated models as there is less profit, Hence you will see many more posts on the Bolt here as the world sells more Bolts, just watch the Amazon stats as they keep running out of them.

Myself I did the same research, I Got a Bolt Plus, no issues with Cable Card or Tuning Adapter. The thing just works and is many times faster than the old Roamio.

Concern #1 Tuner issues De bunked
================
people with tuner issues are just not READING the Tivo Support guide it is on their web site- Cable signal is too strong issue
The new bolts have a different signal amp in them compared to the ROAMIO, you need to check the diag screen when installing, some replaced their Roamios and claim the bolt does not work, well they did not check. Signal levels changed on them. Often it is just too strong, they just needed to add a 3 way splitter or something. Myself I have a 3 way splitter going to a 2 way spiltter to get the require level at near 100% but not over 100%, over 100% causes issues.

https://support.tivo.com/articles/T...oamio-Series-Premiere-Series-and-Series3-DVRs

I would not give much weight to Tiros SNR statement, Cable TV experts say High SNR is OK, really the TIVO is showing you the EMR stats not the SNR so it is not a true SNR.
Pay more attention to the Signal Level Try for 99% or 99% with sometimes 100% so you are right at the sweet spot.

===key is Bolt has a cable amp for the 4 or 6 tuners==
Think about it, 4 or 6 Tuners . . . . they must amplify it

Yes the tuner changed in the Bolt from the Roamio, it is more sensitive.
VERY IMPORTANT- It is more sensitive to too strong to too weak of signals

Most have TOO Strong of Signal, just add a some splitters till your just at or under 100% on the 6 tuners.
Every house will be different I needed a 4 Way splitter (goes to Cable modem and Tuning adapter), and then to a 2 Way Splitter which goes to the Minis, and the BOLT+ Be sure to cap the un used ends and use a PEO filter. A 3 way splitter will also work but remember on of the ports is only -3.5 db others are -7 db

Signal is perfect.
Works great.

Concern #2 De bunked
===============
Had a MOCA issue with the Minis but would of had that with the Roamio also. I got interference in the Coax going to the Tivo Minis, from a UPS and bad Surger suppressors (not sure which so I removed them for till I found out).
Root cause is a bad PLASMA TV giving tons of interference from the power supply, turn off Plasma TV and all is good. I need to keep MOCA on channel 15 for it to work with Plasma which is the default.
Working good now, I got it fix.

REASON #1 Picture
===============
Picture is much better than the Dish Hopper. Could be that new Tivo 4K Chip Set helping with the picture out to HDMI.
I think this chipset will help. Get the 4K Bolt

Reason #2 Speed
=========
CPU speed is key here, as the world is going to APPS APPS and more APPS.
In the future everything will be steaming, you need Apps. The bolt can do the newer APPS that are not out yet. CPU speed is key and RAM.
The bolt has a lot more, big plus over the Roamio. Who knows, some day they my stop releasing apps for the Roamio. It will have an end of life some day.

Reason #3 Instant Launch
=========
With the extra RAM in the Bolt they have an instant app launch feature,. Exanple Neflix stays loaded in Ram. When you go to a Netfix show it instantly launches. Roamio can not do this.

Concern #4 Quality
=========
Remember Bolt is the current model, they sell a lot more BOLTs, People typically
ONLY report problems so yes you will see more bolt issues just like you used to see a lot of Roamio issues.
They do not publish repair stats, no company does. but who cares. You get a life time warranty with TIVO, if it breaks they send out a replacement as part of your service fee, its like a free extended warranty.

Concern #5 Fan
===========
I asked Tivo before buying they said that got a bad lot of Fans from China last year. No more issues. Mine is super quiet as I bough a new Bolt recently made. The big box stores and Amazon all have new inventory as they sold out over xmas so you will be good.

Hope this helps with your research, good to have info from both sides. I like the buy it locally and try it out idea.


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## jrtroo (Feb 4, 2008)

btann said:


> Seems to be a lot more posts about people having problems with the Bolt (across the internet).


Your correlation is completely biased. Look up any hard drive, phone, etc, and you will find complaints of them coming in dead. Most who get good boxes do not post.


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## Steve (Apr 24, 2003)

I owned two Bolts for almost a year, and replaced them with a Bolt+. No complaints here.


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## Mikeguy (Jul 28, 2005)

chicagobrownblue said:


> If the Bolt is toast after two years, I'd just buy a new one. They are cheap.


As a general matter and especially most recently, it often hasn't been the price of the TiVo box that has been the issue, it's the cost of the (generally non-box-transferable) lifetime subscription that is attached to it.

The reason why the current Roamio OTA (with included lifetime) is such a deal.


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## chicagobrownblue (May 29, 2008)

Mikeguy said:


> As a general matter and especially most recently, it often hasn't been the price of the TiVo box that has been the issue, it's *the cost* of the (generally non-box-transferable) lifetime subscription that is attached to it.


Yeah, so I'd do prepaid monthly.


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## Mikeguy (Jul 28, 2005)

chicagobrownblue said:


> Yeah, so I'd do prepaid monthly.


I'm a lifetime sort; but with the general cost of that now, I understand why people are doing monthly and yearly subscriptions instead (and getting TiVo's continual care coverage as part of that). For me, I don't know that I would purchase a TiVo now, apart from through a special deal (excluding the Roamio OTA with included lifetime, which I almost see as a perpetual TiVo special deal). But then, I've always been like that with my TiVo's, lol.


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## fcfc2 (Feb 19, 2015)

scottchez said:


> There are TWO SIDEs to every story. Here is the other side to help with your research . . . Please forgive the typing and logic, I Just put my personal notes here.
> 
> It is Very important to note that the BOLT is the current model. It is what stores are pushing to sell as stores dont like to sell older out dated models as there is less profit, Hence you will see many more posts on the Bolt here as the world sells more Bolts, just watch the Amazon stats as they keep running out of them.
> 
> ...


Interesting line of "reasoning"???
Concern #1 "Debunking" the tuner issues. Rather than "debunking" the tuner issue, you documented a noticable and dramatic flaw in the Bolt tuners. A tuner which has problems with a "too strong" and a "too weak" signal, which by the way, the older Roamio and Premiere series seem to work fine with and without requiring adding additional splitters etc. This is not an improvement in any sense of the word. It could be argued that the Bolt's tuners are actually less sensitive as they cannot adjust to the broader range of signals like the older series Tivos. An indication of possible poor quality components.
Concern #2 MoCA issues? While you talk about interference issues with some Plasma sets, this is a relative rare problem at least as reported on these forums and the issue was apparently with a mini being used nearby a Plasma set, not the Bolt, or was it??
Reason #1 Yikes. Who cares about a comparison between a CATV picture from a Bolt vs a DISH Hopper? The question is, is there a picture quality issue between the Bolt and Roamio series. I can't see any.
Reason #2 & 3 Speed. Granted the Bolt series has a faster CPU and more RAM and loads APP's faster. Many don't subscribe to any streaming services at all, but does that mean it makes the Bolt so much more valuable???
Concern#4 Quality....The tuner issue and the fan issue which you have discussed are not in any way shape or form indications of improved quality.


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## TeamPace (Oct 23, 2013)

scottchez said:


> Concern #1 Tuner issues De bunked
> ================
> people with tuner issues are just not READING the Tivo Support guide it is on their web site- Cable signal is too strong issue
> The new bolts have a different signal amp in them compared to the ROAMIO, you need to check the diag screen when installing, some replaced their Roamios and claim the bolt does not work, well they did not check. Signal levels changed on them. Often it is just too strong, they just needed to add a 3 way splitter or something. Myself I have a 3 way splitter going to a 2 way spiltter to get the require level at near 100% but not over 100%, over 100% causes issues.
> ...


Glad you got your Bolt tuner working well. I've helped set up four different bolts in different settings and locations and have had reception issues with three of them (the one I didn't have problems with was on cable). The other three were all OTA. I certainly believe you are right about the Bolt tuners being overly sensitive to too strong of signals and using splitters or attenuators can help with that issue (particularly with cable). But for OTA I also suspect that multi path issues play into that with the Bolt not handling multi-path situations well. Many users have posted here that they don't have tuning issues with the Bolt even when directly comparing a Bolt to a Roamio (again for OTA). I think for many that will be true, IF your have signals that are very well suited to the TiVo tuners (i.e. not too strong or weak of a signal or multi path issues). I think where that no longer holds true is when you have very mixed signals. In my market I'm pulling from one group of stations that is only 9 to 10 miles away and another set that is over 50 miles away. So I spent a week playing with splitters, attenuators, amplifiers, different antennas etc. to no avail. The splitters and attenuators would help the closer stations but then I'd lose the farther away stations as the signals would then become too weak. The Bolt was also much more sensitive to atmospheric conditions. On a cool lightly overcast day or at night I could get all but a couple of the stations on the Bolt but on a warmer day with strong sun I'd lose several more stations or have breakup that was too bad to make the channels watchable. During all of these conditions the Roamio would be able to pick up all of the stations without problem (save one that would get some rare dropouts on the hot sunny days). I suspect the fact that the stations are almost due south from me with the antenna pointing right towards the sun is a factor. I have had nearly identical results to this in two other installations for friends using Bolt for OTA. Bottom line IMHO is either TiVo will work for OTA but there will be more challenges with the Bolt unless you are blessed enough (as some definitely are), to have just the right "sweet spot" of signal strength and lack of multi-path issues that the Bolt seems to require.

I'm glad to hear that TiVo started getting better fans for the Bolt as quite a few of us have had noisy fans.


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## btann (Sep 17, 2016)

jrtroo said:


> Your correlation is completely biased. Look up any hard drive, phone, etc, and you will find complaints of them coming in dead. Most who get good boxes do not post.


Amazon reviews for Roamio Pro (1061). Of those 1061, there are twelve 1-star reviews. The reviews were posted in 2014, 2015, and 2016. So they were not all clumped when the Roamio first came out.

Amazon reviews for the Bolt+ so far (100). Of those 100, there are ten 1-star reviews. Spread from October until now. Most of the 1-stars speak of tuner/signal problems, fan noise.

My observations are not biased any more than my noticing the Sun rises in the east and sets in the west is not a bias. Do amazon reviews prove anything? No. But it's one source of evidence of something that's different between the two. And when I'm spending a real lot of money on something like a new Tivo system with minis, I don't want problems.


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## scottchez (Dec 2, 2003)

1061 Roamio divided by 12 One stars = 1 %

100 Bolt divided by 10 One star = 10%. of those Ten some were fans which is for sure now fixed. The others were Tuning issues which Tivo has a KB out for proper ranges.

Best guess is if you need to do Over the Air tuning with an Antenna the Roamio is the way to go. If you want Cable, either one will work just as good. I suspect the Over the Air tuner which is different than a QAM tuner for cable is better in a Roamio. Hard to prove though with out having Two boxes side by side, but the forums posts seem to lead that way.
Myself I do not use an Antenna , I have cable so its not a concern for me.


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## series5orpremier (Jul 6, 2013)

It's only natural that with miniaturization comes higher failure rates.


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## tluxon (Feb 28, 2002)

If you're a drive upgrader, my own experience is that it's an easier task on the Roamio (3.5 inch drive) than on the Bolt (2.5 inch drive). If you don't care about any 4K content or upgrade path, you'll get more bang-for-the-buck with a pre-owned Lifetime Roamio than with a Bolt. I chose the Bolt because the 4K path was worth it to me and I get built-in streaming with a unit that can go cable OR OTA (cord-cutting).


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## RSCHOON (Sep 7, 2013)

I'll give you the flip side of some of these stores. I have had a great many issues with the tuner on my Roamio to the point that I don't know if I can ever but another TiVo again (not just that there is an issue, but that they can't/won't help fix it). The issue that I have is that I get pixelation and channels that don't come in (v52 or v53 issue) even though the cable company shows an excellent signal to the TiVo. Cable blames TiVo, TiVo blames cable and I hate them both. This has been going on for a year and a half now. 

Sent from my SM-P600 using Tapatalk


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## alexb (Jan 4, 2003)

RSCHOON said:


> I'll give you the flip side of some of these stores. I have had a great many issues with the tuner on my Roamio to the point that I don't know if I can ever but another TiVo again (not just that there is an issue, but that they can't/won't help fix it). The issue that I have is that I get pixelation and channels that don't come in (v52 or v53 issue) even though the cable company shows an excellent signal to the TiVo. Cable blames TiVo, TiVo blames cable and I hate them both. This has been going on for a year and a half now.
> 
> Sent from my SM-P600 using Tapatalk


I have experience of pixilation on my media center and X1 box - turned out to be a discontinuity in the cable inside the house, rather than replace the cable in the walls the Comcast tech did a series of two amps to boost signal and then chokes on each device, oddly it worked....


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## IraF (Jan 22, 2002)

scottchez said:


> Concern #5 Fan
> ===========
> I asked Tivo before buying they said that got a bad lot of Fans from China last year. No more issues. Mine is super quiet as I bough a new Bolt recently made. The big box stores and Amazon all have new inventory as they sold out over xmas so you will be good.
> 
> Hope this helps with your research, good to have info from both sides. I like the buy it locally and try it out idea.


Hmmmm! My Bolt has one of the loudest fans of any device I've ever owned. (A Panasonic Blu-ray player may be worse.) It's quite distinct when the room is otherwise quiet, and is audible when TV is at low volume. I've considered taking radical action (building a fort of some kind for it).

It's a unit that was shipped to me in Nov 2016. I didn't bother to exchange it - people suggested here new ones were just as bad, if not worse! If it's true they had a bad batch of fans and the Bolts are now quiet, I will definitely try to get an exchange!


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## chicagobrownblue (May 29, 2008)

RSCHOON said:


> The issue that I have is that I get pixelation and channels that don't come in (v52 or v53 issue)


My one pixelation issue was resolved by replacing the coax from the wall to the Tivo.


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## dianebrat (Jul 6, 2002)

IraF said:


> Hmmmm! My Bolt has one of the loudest fans of any device I've ever owned. (A Panasonic Blu-ray player may be worse.) It's quite distinct when the room is otherwise quiet, and is audible when TV is at low volume. I've considered taking radical action (building a fort of some kind for it).
> 
> It's a unit that was shipped to me in Nov 2016. I didn't bother to exchange it - people suggested here new ones were just as bad, if not worse! If it's true they had a bad batch of fans and the Bolts are now quiet, I will definitely try to get an exchange!


I have a Bolt bought late last year, as far as I can tell it's silent, the Premiere in my rack is the only one with a fan I can hear because it's on the way out.


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## rainwater (Sep 21, 2004)

I would only buy a Roamio Pro today if I was using it with Mini's and the Pro wasn't being used on a main TV. The UI is extremely slow compared to a Bolt. And forget using apps like Youtube or Netflix unless you want to wait forever. My experience with the Bolt is much better.


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

Remember the OP has a HD, so he will think the Roamio is really fast. I have a Premiere and I think my Roamio is quick. It's all relative.


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## lessd (Jan 23, 2005)

JoeKustra said:


> Remember the OP has a HD, so he will think the Roamio is really fast. I have a Premiere and I think my Roamio is quick. It's all relative.


I have both in my home, and except for Netflix and a cold boot I don't notice the speed difference (if I look for speed the Bolt is faster, but for most things the Roamio is fast enough).


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## chicagobrownblue (May 29, 2008)

rainwater said:


> And forget using apps like Youtube or Netflix unless you want to *wait forever*. My experience with the Bolt is much better.


I use Netflix on my Roamio and I do not wait forever. Maybe you are trying to justify your purchase? I have the money for a Bolt but just don't see the value in it.


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## mdavej (Aug 13, 2015)

Would be interesting to see how much faster Bolt is compared to others. I just did a quick test and here's what I'm seeing on Netflix load times (from time Netflix is selected to the time the profiles screen shows).

Roamio - 12 sec
Fire TV Stick - 12 sec
Roku - 9 sec
Sony BD player - 18 sec


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## tluxon (Feb 28, 2002)

JoeKustra said:


> Remember the OP has a HD, so he will think the Roamio is really fast. I have a Premiere and I think my Roamio is quick. It's all relative.


Agreed. Premieres are considered to be slow and it FLIES compared to my HDs. Now the Bolt seems considerably faster than the Premiere. I think the size (footprint) or shape difference between the Bolt and the Premiere may be more significant than the difference in speed.


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

mdavej said:


> Would be interesting to see how much faster Bolt is compared to others. I just did a quick test and here's what I'm seeing on Netflix load times (from time Netflix is selected to the time the profiles screen shows).
> 
> Roamio - 12 sec
> Fire TV Stick - 12 sec
> ...


Since I don't have a Netflix sub, I can't run the test. On Amazon, I could. I note the Sony BD player. With my Roamio I get (on Amazon) 1080p/24 in 1 second. On my Sony Blu-ray S6500 it takes about 90 seconds. Both connect to the internet the same way. That's after I start the "Fury" trailer. A good test of a display.


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## IraF (Jan 22, 2002)

scottchez said:


> Concern #5 Fan
> ===========
> I asked Tivo before buying they said that got a bad lot of Fans from China last year. No more issues. Mine is super quiet as I bough a new Bolt recently made. The big box stores and Amazon all have new inventory as they sold out over xmas so you will be good.


Very interesting!

I have a Bolt with a noisy fan that was purchased directly from TiVo in November 2016 but first activated within the last 30 days. Threads I'd read here suggested to me that getting a new Bolt was pointless - the new one might even be worse, so I decided I'd just have to get used to this, or dump it and get an Xfinity X1. This is the first time I saw anyone suggesting the fan problem was isolated and corrected, but I probably missed other posts on the topic.

I spoke with TiVo - they are willing to replace it for a brand new (non-refurbished one) and even help me transfer recordings between the units.

On the bottom of the TiVo, I see that it was made in Mexico on 1/4/16. That was a long time ago - 10 months before they shipped it to me.

So the question is, if you have a unit shipped directly from TiVo, will its inventory be at least as new as the quiet units Amazon and other high volume retailers are shipping? Does TiVo itself have high warehouse turnover, or is its inventory potentially stale? They may not use the same warehouse for their own retail sales vs. distribution to retailers.

Anyone who has purchased a new and quiet Bolt - what is the manufacturing date? What date would represent TiVos with quiet fans?

EDIT: Sorry this is a bit redundant to my earlier post in this thread.


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

I have both and both are fine. I don't think it's worth upgrading from a Roamio to a Bolt in most cases, but if you're coming from an HD I'd probably get a Bolt just because it's the new model and will likely be supported longer and receive more features long term. Unless you can get an awesome deal on a Roamio or just hate the shape of the Bolt.


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## jcrandall (Feb 9, 2017)

I recently spent time using a Roamio vs. Bolt together to decide on a purchase moving from DirecTV to Comcast. I found that the Bolt did load streaming apps faster (and thus videos) and it was noticeable. Tivo says 33% faster, as far as load times I'd say it was likely even beyond that, possibly around half the time on the Bolt. We are, however, comparing seconds, and often less than 10 seconds at that, which has minimal effect on the user experience over time.

All that said, lifetime service on a Bolt Plus is around $1000. I bought a Roamio Pro with lifetime for a little over $500 used. For the $500 difference I'm willing to wait a few extra seconds for Netflix to load.

I was not impressed with the build quality of the Bolt. As others shared the fan is sometimes defective and other times just loud. The plastic casing doesn't seem durable, and frankly for the price Tivo commands it feels cheap compared to the casing they used previously.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

mdavej said:


> Would be interesting to see how much faster Bolt is compared to others. I just did a quick test and here's what I'm seeing on Netflix load times (from time Netflix is selected to the time the profiles screen shows).
> 
> Roamio - 12 sec
> Fire TV Stick - 12 sec
> ...


My new Sony UHD BD player(X800) seems to be like the Bolt. With Netflix in memory so it loads instantly. And even when not in memory it still loads faster than those examples. Although my preference is still to use my Roku Ultra. Which is also faster than any of those too.


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

aaronwt said:


> My new Sony UHD BD player(X800) seems to be like the Bolt. With Netflix in memory so it loads instantly. And even when not in memory it still loads faster than those examples. Although my preference is still to use my Roku Ultra. Which is also faster than any of those too.


But the Roku doesn't do 24fps, right? I heard that. If it does I would buy one.


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## HerronScott (Jan 1, 2002)

chicagobrownblue said:


> I use Netflix on my Roamio and I do not wait forever. Maybe you are trying to justify your purchase? I have the money for a Bolt but just don't see the value in it.


My experience is the same as yours with our Roamio Pro and our load time is similar to what mdavej posted.

Scott


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

JoeKustra said:


> But the Roku doesn't do 24fps, right? I heard that. If it does I would buy one.


No it does not. The Ultra I have sends out 2160P60. But it doesn't matter with my Sony TV. Since it does a great job eliminating judder from those devices sending 60P from their streaming apps.


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## scottchez (Dec 2, 2003)

Update on FAN

My Bolt+ is soooo queit I got to wonder if I even have a Fan, I cant hear it.
I do have it on a large shelf with about 14 inches of open air above it so plenty of air flow from all sides and top.


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## Steve (Apr 24, 2003)

mdavej said:


> Would be interesting to see how much faster Bolt is compared to others. I just did a quick test and here's what I'm seeing on Netflix load times (from time Netflix is selected to the time the profiles screen shows).
> 
> Roamio - 12 sec
> Fire TV Stick - 12 sec
> ...


FWIW, 12 seconds if it's not loaded, 3.5 seconds if it is. Bolt+

Can't hear the fan until I put my ear right up to it.


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## IraF (Jan 22, 2002)

I attached the sound of my Bolt fan - Bolt in standby (which doesn't change the sound at all), recorded from an inch away. (So it isn't this loud from viewing distance - but is much louder than any A/V equipment, at any distance.) It's an mp3 in a zip file - hope it is accessible. System didn't let me upload a raw .mp3 file, which I would think would be safer than a .zip.

Now for a sad story. I reported on arranging for a new Bolt, but that's not happening.

After setting up most of the exchange, I delayed while asking more questions of this community, called back 2 days later to finish the exchange, and no one at TiVo would honor any aspect of the deal (which was a new Bolt, and no RMA $49 charge or TiVo unit deposit). My unit is more than 30 days old, so I can see the problem. Even though it had sat in its box uninstalled for a long time it was activated less than 30 days ago, but they start counting when you buy, not when you activate.

So instead, they had charged me the RMA fee, the deposit, and shipped me a "renewed" unit. I spent hours trying to fix this and get back the generous deal they had promised. At least one supervisor admitted he saw in the notes that the first supervisor had offered me a brand new Bolt, but beyond that no one ever even said something like "he shouldn't have and we simply won't" - they just ignored the situation and carried on with standard TiVo policy. Best I could do is get them to wave the $49 fee.

There's more: They knew from the start I was going to want to transfer unwatched recordings from the original to the refurb, as we discussed the process quite a bit. But the refurb was apparently then shipped with no cables - and the instructions they send are to just keep your old cables. They should have offered to include cables, or at least a power cable. So they are now separately shipping me a power cord. Fortunately I have 2 remotes so I can operate the devices at the same time, since they don't ship a remote with the refurb either.

And then I saw online that my TiVo service had already been moved to the refurb Bolt and my original Bolt was no longer listed. So how was this transfer supposed to work, and how would my TiVo continue to operate for a full week until the ground-shipped replacement would arrive? Supervisor told me that under the covers, they grant the old TiVo ten days of service. I guess he made that up, because a bit later that day my original TiVo got deactivated!

The only solution I was offered was to buy a month of service for the old TiVo, at $14.95, then do the transfers when the new box comes, and then cancel that service within 30 days for a refund.

Whew. Well, he sold me an extended warranty free of charge to make up for some of the confusion. Hopefully this new unit will be quiet.

Apparently as long as its within 30 days I can continue to return refurbs and get new ones? Or am I over-optimistic about that?

Spent a lot of hours on this...


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## bebw (Feb 18, 2003)

tluxon said:


> If you're a drive upgrader, my own experience is that it's an easier task on the Roamio (3.5 inch drive) than on the Bolt (2.5 inch drive). If you don't care about any 4K content or upgrade path, you'll get more bang-for-the-buck with a pre-owned Lifetime Roamio than with a Bolt. I chose the Bolt because the 4K path was worth it to me and I get built-in streaming with a unit that can go cable OR OTA (cord-cutting).


What's a 'pre-owned' lifetime Roamio? Does the service go with the machine, even if you transfer it to another owner?


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## HerronScott (Jan 1, 2002)

bebw said:


> What's a 'pre-owned' lifetime Roamio? Does the service go with the machine, even if you transfer it to another owner?


Yes, lifetime (or All-in as it's called now) service is tied to the TiVo and transfers to the new owner when sold.

Scott


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## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

HerronScott said:


> Yes, lifetime (or All-in as it's called now) service is tied to the TiVo and *transfers to the new owner when sold*.


... though not automatically. The seller needs to initiate the transfer through TiVo Customer Service.


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## dianebrat (Jul 6, 2002)

dianebrat said:


> I have a Bolt bought late last year, as far as I can tell it's silent, the Premiere in my rack is the only one with a fan I can hear because it's on the way out.


I will amend this, the Bolt+ I bought in the special is significantly louder at rest and probably going back


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## TheCryptkeeper (Dec 31, 2009)

dianebrat said:


> I will amend this, the Bolt+ I bought in the special is significantly louder at rest and probably going back


Wow, I'm sorry to hear that. I received my Bolt+ in early April and it's very quiet. I love the thing. Perhaps you just received a flawed unit.


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## dianebrat (Jul 6, 2002)

TheCryptkeeper said:


> Wow, I'm sorry to hear that. I received my Bolt+ in early April and it's very quiet. I love the thing. Perhaps you just received a flawed unit.


My initial Bolt from last years sale is almost silent, I may give them a shot to replace it, but it is not at all as silent as the Bolt was, sounds like a quiet PC, but I can definitely hear it more than the Bolt or either of the Roamios in the rack.


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## ncbill (Sep 1, 2007)

krkaufman said:


> ... though not automatically. The seller needs to initiate the transfer through TiVo Customer Service.


and there can still be "issues."
not too long ago I called to set up a case to transfer a couple of older units to another person's account.
I guess something got lost in translation because Tivo transferred all my units to the other person and deleted my account.
so I had to have the other person set up a case & give me the case number. 
then I called back into Tivo to get my units back on my "new" account.
in the process I ended up with someone's, but not the original person's, Bolt (deactivated) on my account.
no, I'm not going to call back and correct it.


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## tomhorsley (Jul 22, 2010)

Aside from the fan, the other advantage of a Roamio is that you can get component video out, thus providing a wonderful 1080 picture without getting HDMI handshake involved . Since the bolts are 4K, you are forced to use HDMI (and I see lots of people reporting problems with it).


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## Mikeguy (Jul 28, 2005)

tomhorsley said:


> Aside from the fan, the other advantage of a Roamio is that you can get component video out, thus providing a wonderful 1080 picture without getting HDMI handshake involved . Since the bolts are 4K, you are forced to use HDMI (and I see lots of people reporting problems with it).


There will always be issues, with everything . . . .


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

Yes I'll take hdmi over component any day. I dumped component connections back in 2005/2006. And would never want to use them again. Hdmi with one cable for both audio and video has been a much better solution.

Sent from my Galaxy S6 using Tapatalk


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## sfhub (Jan 6, 2007)

tomhorsley said:


> Aside from the fan, the other advantage of a Roamio is that you can get component video out, thus providing a wonderful 1080 picture without getting HDMI handshake involved . Since the bolts are 4K, you are forced to use HDMI (and I see lots of people reporting problems with it).


Only the Roamio Plus and Pro have the component connection. Regular Roamio only has composite. Didn't go back to read the context, so don't take this a criticism of your post, just clarification for others.


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## dianebrat (Jul 6, 2002)

dianebrat said:


> My initial Bolt from last years sale is almost silent, I may give them a shot to replace it, but it is not at all as silent as the Bolt was, sounds like a quiet PC, but I can definitely hear it more than the Bolt or either of the Roamios in the rack.


Well I got them to extend the 30-day return period to 60-days and they're swapping it out for a replacement so we'll see.


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