# How TiVo REALLY feels about 'Starship Troopers'



## timepieces141 (May 8, 2007)

No joke - my wife and I caught this in the banner bar last night. Let's be honest, she had a tone in her voice like I had some explaining to do - she asked, "What did you rate 3 thumbs up to make THAT appear??"

So we just had to go look and it turns out that Starship Troopers was the movie hidden under the icon!

I know that TiVo uses a third-party to provide the guide information, so it must be them. Can't you just image some disgruntled employee just saying, "screw this job!" and setting Starship Troopers to look like porn? Or two guys there late at night one daring the other to do it?

I laughed way too hard at the possibilities and had to share...

Anyone else see anything unusual?


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## Philmatic (Sep 17, 2003)

Wow... that's hilarious!


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## MirclMax (Jul 12, 2000)

Timepieces,

Do you happen to have "The Playboy Club" in your My Shows list?


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## [email protected] (Jan 8, 2008)

Must have been a Heinlein fan.


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## TiVoJerry (Jul 26, 2005)

We have made a change that should resolve this issue for many boxes immediately, although caching may cause some to see the issue for a little while longer.

We are investigating the cause and apologize for any inconvenience it may have caused.


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## GriffithStrife (Oct 30, 2010)

This is what Tivo responds to, not bugs or real complaints but this. Excellent


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## jsmeeker (Apr 2, 2001)

got the same thing on mine. I LOL'ed and then emailed it to some people. 

oh, and I didn't give it thumbs down.


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## steve614 (May 1, 2006)

Funny. Did someone find a back door in TiVo's servers?


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## TiVoJerry (Jul 26, 2005)

GriffithStrife said:


> This is what Tivo responds to, not bugs or real complaints but this. Excellent


 
My participation in these forums is no longer part of my official duties. Given the type of responses I get for the few times I decide to step in, perhaps I should stay away altogether.


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## innocentfreak (Aug 25, 2001)

Wish we could convince TiVo to open better forums with real moderation.


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## TiVoJerry (Jul 26, 2005)

innocentfreak said:


> Wish we could convince TiVo to open better forums with real moderation.


Despite how it might appear from my earlier response, I personally agree that there should be a more official TiVo presence in this forum wholeheartedly. In my personal opinion, I think it's a shame that we don't have support personnel who can come here and help escalate issues like we used to. Maybe I'm just looking back and feeling I use to be much more effective, but it certainly felt like many issues, particularly the smaller ones, were escalated and fixed in a period of time that was more pleasing to the forum members. Then again, there were also many detractors who would come in and jump all over those of us who posted, regardless of the nature of our posting....which ultimately made it very difficult to find replacements for those of us who used to participate more frequently in the past.

While we do have support forums on the TiVo.com support site, they are still a peer-support model. Although the info from the volunteer All-Star team is extremely helpful and thoughtful, they are not employees.

Alright, enough of this. I've got to get back to my work. Ciao.


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## innocentfreak (Aug 25, 2001)

TiVoJerry said:


> Despite how it might appear from my earlier response, I personally agree that there should be a more official TiVo presence in this forum wholeheartedly. In my personal opinion, I think it's a shame that we don't have support personnel who can come here and help escalate issues like we used to. Maybe I'm just looking back and feeling I use to be much more effective, but it certainly felt like many issues, particularly the smaller ones, were escalated and fixed in a period of time that was more pleasing to the forum members. Then again, there were also many detractors who would come in and jump all over those of us who posted, regardless of the nature of our posting....which ultimately made it very difficult to find replacements for those of us who used to participate more frequently in the past.
> 
> While we do have support forums on the TiVo.com support site, they are still a peer-support model. Although the info from the volunteer All-Star team is extremely helpful and thoughtful, they are not employees.
> 
> Alright, enough of this. I've got to get back to my work. Ciao.


I think that was more my point. On any other forum especially one that was dedicated to talking about one particular company, the mods wouldn't allow the type of posts that happen here when an employee takes the time to post. The forums would do something to try to keep that relationship.

It has been said before but it would be nice if there was an official TiVo sub-forum on here. Somewhere the employees felt they could post without the detractors and access would be controlled.

Oh well. Thanks.


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## RangerOne (Dec 30, 2006)

TiVoJerry said:


> Despite how it might appear from my earlier response, I personally agree that there should be a more official TiVo presence in this forum wholeheartedly. In my personal opinion, I think it's a shame that we don't have support personnel who can come here and help escalate issues like we used to. Maybe I'm just looking back and feeling I use to be much more effective, but it certainly felt like many issues, particularly the smaller ones, were escalated and fixed in a period of time that was more pleasing to the forum members. Then again, there were also many detractors who would come in and jump all over those of us who posted, regardless of the nature of our posting....which ultimately made it very difficult to find replacements for those of us who used to participate more frequently in the past.
> 
> While we do have support forums on the TiVo.com support site, they are still a peer-support model. Although the info from the volunteer All-Star team is extremely helpful and thoughtful, they are not employees.
> 
> Alright, enough of this. I've got to get back to my work. Ciao.


TiVoJerry,

Thanks for what you do. I bet a lot of people on the forum appreciate it. TiVo is a great product and it has changed the TV experience for the better.


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## daveak (Mar 23, 2009)

RangerOne said:


> TiVoJerry,
> 
> Thanks for what you do. I bet a lot of people on the forum appreciate it. TiVo is a great product and it has changed the TV experience for the better.


:up:


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## LoREvanescence (Jun 19, 2007)

daveak said:


> :up:


:up::up:


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## mattack (Apr 9, 2001)

BTW, I thought Starship Troopers was good for a "dumb action movie". Plus, it was one of the early post-Doogie roles.


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## dianebrat (Jul 6, 2002)

RangerOne said:


> TiVoJerry,
> 
> Thanks for what you do. I bet a lot of people on the forum appreciate it. TiVo is a great product and it has changed the TV experience for the better.


:up::up::up:


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## Worf (Sep 15, 2000)

GriffithStrife said:


> This is what Tivo responds to, not bugs or real complaints but this. Excellent


Well, something like this should be responded to immediately - after all, children use TiVo and it takes just one parent to gasp and drag TiVo to a senate committee to explain why TiVo "shows porn" to children. Groups like the Parents Television Council would love such things. (The PTC is the same group that send that pile of "wardrobe malfunction" complaints, the one that sent 180,000 complaints about ONE family guy episode, responsible for submitting complaints about slightly revealing apps to have them removed, etc.).


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## smbaker (May 24, 2003)

innocentfreak said:


> It has been said before but it would be nice if there was an official TiVo sub-forum on here. Somewhere the employees felt they could post without the detractors and access would be controlled.


Given that there is so little official communication from Tivo about software development (changelogs, anyone???), I find it hard to believe that detractors are the real reason for the lack of communication. Tivo could easily host a developers blog if they wanted to keep the community more up to date. Perhaps even an "unofficial" blog with legalese and disclaimers about how the viewpoints expressed by the employees are not that of the company. Right now we're left to guess about features like streaming that come and go.

At the minimum, whenever there is a patch, there should be a public changelog.

Nevertheless, what participation there is here, is a good thing.


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## Bierboy (Jun 12, 2004)

RangerOne said:


> TiVoJerry,
> 
> Thanks for what you do. I bet a lot of people on the forum appreciate it. TiVo is a great product and it has changed the TV experience for the better.


:up::up::up::up::up::up::up::up:


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## aridon (Aug 31, 2006)

I THINK the issue is:

1. He and others that want to help are now unable to do so due to some internal thing at Tivo. He says that they used to be able to escalate and get things fixed and now are unable to. That clearly says something changed at TIVO to prevent this from happening now.

2. People are jerks on forums and its often not worth the effort when for every person you help you get spit on by two more.


That said, there are long standing issues that Tivo has been either unable or unwilling to address / fix. Some are major others are minor. Either way I think we can mostly agree that most of them should / could have been addressed by now. 

Much of the animosity that has developed from subs is due to that and the lack of communication from Tivo. Frankly, Tivo deserves most of the crap they get here until they get the ship turned around. It is unfortunate that representatives of the company trying to help get caught in the cross fire.


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## wmcbrine (Aug 2, 2003)

smbaker said:


> At the minimum, whenever there is a patch, there should be a public changelog.


AMEN.


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## Turtleboy (Mar 24, 2001)

Those who have been here for a long time fondly remember the participation of the Tivo folks.

They were (and some still are) our friends. They came to our conventions and hung out with us.

I don't blame them at all for not wanting to be involved anymore.

Sure, TiVo, like any corporation deserves blame for some thing sometimes.

But the people here have become jerks. They (well, gastrof) were even nasty to Shanan.


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## justen_m (Jan 15, 2004)

aridon said:


> I THINK the issue is:
> 1. He and others that want to help are now unable to do so due to some internal thing at Tivo. He says that they used to be able to escalate and get things fixed and now are unable to. That clearly says something changed at TIVO to prevent this from happening now.
> 
> 2. People are jerks on forums and its often not worth the effort when for every person you help you get spit on by two more.


I sort of see his point. I was a LaserJet Engineer at HP. High on the food chain as an design engineer. When I saw problems on line, I did what I could. I could delay a product indefinitely. That was our job. To make customers happy. But I had no influence on personal product lines. They were a different business. We hated that our brand was being devalued but there was nothing, as engineers, that we could do. We could only ensure that our products lived up to what Bill and Dave would have expected.


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## WhiskeyTango (Sep 20, 2006)

I appreciate any feedback/input from TivoJerry or any other Tivo employees here. If I were them, I'd stay away too, just look at the first response to TivoJerry's post...sarcastic and insulting. Why deal with that kind of crap when you don't have to.


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## Turtleboy (Mar 24, 2001)

justen_m said:


> I sort of see his point. I was a LaserJet Engineer at HP. High on the food chain as an design engineer. When I saw problems on line, I did what I could. I could delay a product indefinitely. That was our job. To make customers happy. But I had no influence on personal product lines. They were a different business. We hated that our brand was being devalued but there was nothing, as engineers, that we could do. We could only ensure that our products lived up to what Bill and Dave would have expected.


Hijack. I love my P2035, but you're right the inkjets suck.


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## DonaldBurns65144 (Jan 11, 2011)

TiVoJerry said:


> My participation in these forums is no longer part of my official duties. Given the type of responses I get for the few times I decide to step in, perhaps I should stay away altogether.


Jerry,

Thank you for taking the time to post and it is good that Tivo addressed the ad that isn't right for prime time, so to speak.

But if you did stick around you would find that the sarcastic remarks would go away. Well most of them, we hope.

By seemingly having problems not being addressed, believing their problems are not being heard and addressed. Long lasting bugs causes people to get sarcastic. It is exactly the lack of communication that causes this.

Software bugs occur in any new product. Why can't there be an official user input via say a set of super users acting as an moderator group with direct input to Tivo engineering as to direction of updates. Not a free for all of all users, but a small approved super user group.

I for one would love to be able to give feedback that would result in product improvement. Nobody expects instant results, but seeing a process that includes the user is what gives a product a loyal following. I also own an Oppo Blu-ray player and their customer feedback interface with user input is second to none. Yet they too get sarcastic replies in forums. It goes with the territory.


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## javabird (Oct 13, 2006)

> Originally Posted by RangerOne
> TiVoJerry,
> 
> Thanks for what you do. I bet a lot of people on the forum appreciate it. TiVo is a great product and it has changed the TV experience for the better.


:up::up::up:


dianebrat said:


> :up::up::up:


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## kettledrum (Nov 17, 2003)

RangerOne said:


> TiVoJerry,
> 
> Thanks for what you do. I bet a lot of people on the forum appreciate it. TiVo is a great product and it has changed the TV experience for the better.


:up::up::up::up:


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## parzec (Jun 21, 2002)

Worf said:


> Well, something like this should be responded to immediately - after all, children use TiVo and it takes just one parent to gasp and drag TiVo to a senate committee to explain why TiVo "shows porn" to children. Groups like the Parents Television Council would love such things. (The PTC is the same group that send that pile of "wardrobe malfunction" complaints, the one that sent 180,000 complaints about ONE family guy episode, responsible for submitting complaints about slightly revealing apps to have them removed, etc.).


They are otherwise referred to as busy-bodies that enjoy inflicting their sexual hangups on everyone else in the country. "But we have to protect the Children!" --- sure


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## parzec (Jun 21, 2002)

TiVoJerry said:


> My participation in these forums is no longer part of my official duties. Given the type of responses I get for the few times I decide to step in, perhaps I should stay away altogether.


Your work is indeed appreciated.


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## mattack (Apr 9, 2001)

Worf said:


> Well, something like this should be responded to immediately - after all, children use TiVo and it takes just one parent to gasp and drag TiVo to a senate committee to explain why TiVo "shows porn" to children.


I kind of agree with you, except AFAIK, there have been several threads *over years* that the existing parental controls DON'T ACTUALLY WORK (i.e. easily bypassable), and there weren't responses to those "more serious" (IMHO) issues.


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## steve614 (May 1, 2006)

Turtleboy said:


> Those who have been here for a long time fondly remember the participation of the Tivo folks.
> 
> They were (and some still are) our friends. They came to our conventions and hung out with us.
> 
> I don't blame them at all for not wanting to be involved anymore.


TiVoJerry is the only TiVo employee I've seen post to TCF in a LONG time. I fear if he leaves there will be no one left. 

I think the lack of TiVo employee participation here is two fold. Part of it had to do with the negative feedback and attacks. But I speculate that TiVo directed their employees to limit their postings here and only address pertinent issues that can be addressed quickly (this thread being an example).
Why TiVo became so secretive is anyone's guess.

I could be way off, but that's what I think.

I like the idea of a 'super users' group. Similar to the TiVo Community Club, set up a TiVo Power Users club where TiVo employees could be more involved.
I'd pay to be in that group.


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## Joe01880 (Feb 8, 2009)

I think it very cool that TiVoJerry and some others from TiVo post here and thank them for doing so.
Life is full of jerks, you can not walk down a street without being surrounded by them but thats does not mean you shouldnt take a walk anyway.


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## sac84371 (Jan 23, 2003)

Tivo Jerry,

I feel for you. I believe you are one of the good ones and have been very helpful in the past. This forum has turned into something ugly. Several of the old timers have made even posting a simple question unbearable. Maybe this is a sign of the times. A few rotten apples have spoiled the bunch (you know who you are). Speaking from someone who has been around awhile I appreciate your input and always welcome your comments!



TiVoJerry said:


> Despite how it might appear from my earlier response, I personally agree that there should be a more official TiVo presence in this forum wholeheartedly. In my personal opinion, I think it's a shame that we don't have support personnel who can come here and help escalate issues like we used to. Maybe I'm just looking back and feeling I use to be much more effective, but it certainly felt like many issues, particularly the smaller ones, were escalated and fixed in a period of time that was more pleasing to the forum members. Then again, there were also many detractors who would come in and jump all over those of us who posted, regardless of the nature of our posting....which ultimately made it very difficult to find replacements for those of us who used to participate more frequently in the past.
> 
> While we do have support forums on the TiVo.com support site, they are still a peer-support model. Although the info from the volunteer All-Star team is extremely helpful and thoughtful, they are not employees.
> 
> Alright, enough of this. I've got to get back to my work. Ciao.


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## lrhorer (Aug 31, 2003)

RangerOne said:


> TiVoJerry,
> 
> Thanks for what you do. I bet a lot of people on the forum appreciate it. TiVo is a great product and it has changed the TV experience for the better.


:up::up: Me, too. For those who detract from your input, I suggest they point to the dozens of personal posts in a Windows public forum by officials from Microsoft. We'll wait for them. We won't hold our breath.


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## lrhorer (Aug 31, 2003)

Joe01880 said:


> I think it very cool that TiVoJerry and some others from TiVo post here and thank them for doing so.
> Life is full of jerks, you can not walk down a street without being surrounded by them but thats does not mean you shouldnt take a walk anyway.


I like that the streets are full of jerks. They make good targets for paintball practice.


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## lrhorer (Aug 31, 2003)

GriffithStrife said:


> This is what Tivo responds to, not bugs or real complaints but this. Excellent


Admittedly this issue completely pegs the "Who friggin cares!" meter when it comes to getting it fixed or not, but that is no reason to be snippy with Jerry.


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## jrtroo (Feb 4, 2008)

GriffithStrife said:


> This is what Tivo responds to, not bugs or real complaints but this. Excellent


You must not have children. Especially a young daughter. I totally appreciate TiVo taking this improper (and to some offensive) element off the the unit ASAP.

To be clear, this error is hilarious, but I don't want it to reflect upon my family. But, this is a "real complaint".


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## lrhorer (Aug 31, 2003)

jrtroo said:


> You must not have children. Especially a young daughter.


My daughters are no longer young, no. (Well, they are, but to me anything under 80 is still young.) I certainly would not have had any heartache over them seeing something like this when they were young. It's a lot better than Desperate Housewives or Gray's Anatomy.



jrtroo said:


> I totally appreciate TiVo taking this improper (and to some offensive) element off the the unit ASAP.


You worry about something as innocuous as this, but don't say a word about such utterly offensive drek as The Simpsons, Survivor, or The Apprentice? Give me a break. Network TV is highly offensive. This doesn't even rise above the "boring" mark, other than the incongruity of it, which is mildly amusing.



jrtroo said:


> But, this is a "real complaint".


No, it isn't. Public nudity and overt sexuality are commonplace in a great many cultures across the world, many of them healthier on the whole than ours. A single add for a sexually explicit site isn't going to corrupt your children. It isn't even graphic.

A "real complaint" would be, "My daughter just saw (for the 100th time) a kid acting like so much of an utter brat that her parents should be jailed", or "My son just heard (for the 12th time this week) some lowlife abuse all women and get paid $millions for doing it", or "My children just saw (on 5 shows in a row) a drug dealer shoot a man in cold blood". Maybe worst of all, "My family just watched a soap opera." You should be worried about the vast flood of utterly evil images your children are bombarded with more than 5000 hours every year, not a brief, one time flash of something silly and harmless.

Edit: It just hit me. Is it the homosexual aspects that offend you?


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## TiVoJerry (Jul 26, 2005)

As opposed to network content, this relatively minor incident is something that we can control. The mistake was ours and quickly resolved. Although anyone interested in Starship Troopers is of questionable integrity to begin with....... (that's a joke in case I'm not being obvious enough).

I appreciate the positive comments from supporters. I don't mean to come off as defensive & I'm not trying to invalidate the complaints that some may have, but it's hard not to take it personally when people rant about the company but direct it at me when I'm just trying to help out a little. My skin used to be pretty thick but the negative postings over the years have had an exfoliating effect.

Hmmm, now that I think about it....keep up the rants! It's taking years off my face.


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## trackie999 (Sep 14, 2009)

If I may chime in... Tivo does not want employees to participate in these forums to avoid acknowledging issues...

When I call Support and mention that there is/are tivo employees who participate on this site, I am told employees are not allowed to participate in public forums and TivoJerry is a fake and is not a Tivo employee.
After years of reading this forum, empirical evidence indicates otherwise...

I don't know how this makes Jerry feel, but I sure hope he continues to participate on this forum. Without him, we would be left in the dark and am sure quite a few of use would have jumped boat.


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## innocentfreak (Aug 25, 2001)

trackie999 said:


> If I may chime in... Tivo does not want employees to participate in these forums to avoid acknowledging issues...
> 
> When I call Support and mention that there is/are tivo employees who participate on this site, I am told employees are not allowed to participate in public forums and TivoJerry is a fake and is not a Tivo employee.
> After years of reading this forum, empirical evidence indicates otherwise...
> ...


You are also calling an outsourced call center and not TiVo directly. Like most call centers, I take what they say with a grain of salt.


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## jrtroo (Feb 4, 2008)

@Irhorer

You misunderstand my comments completely. I'm not making a value judgement on the content. Anybody can like anything and have different thoughts on what is trash content and what is not. If you only wanted to record porn (gay or otherwise), to each their own.

Poor parenting and brats have nothing to do with it. If I see a jerk- i'll go the other way, and I can explain that to my kids. In that instance, I can control the content, just like I do with TV programming that I find inappropriate for my children (as I would for anyone indicating a girl is slut, or any other false impression that can be put upon girls in general).

My issue was solely about having my family, and their friends, exposed to these items in a fashion that I could NOT control. I don't want to have to explain what this meant in context. In a few years (too few, I'm afraid), I would not care, and if they were younger, and could not read, I would not care either. 

Anyhow, the point is that this should not have ever appeared in this fashion, and I for one see this as a real problem and am happy that TiVo is addressing it quickly.


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## TiVoJerry (Jul 26, 2005)

trackie999 said:


> If I may chime in... Tivo does not want employees to participate in these forums to avoid acknowledging issues...
> 
> When I call Support and mention that there is/are tivo employees who participate on this site, I am told employees are not allowed to participate in public forums and TivoJerry is a fake and is not a Tivo employee.
> After years of reading this forum, empirical evidence indicates otherwise...
> ...


That's actually pretty funny. They used to know who I was because I was interacting with the L2 agents on a regular basis, providing regular feedback regarding knowledge articles, updating the cable/sat box matrix and visiting the call centers once or twice a year to provide technical training. It's now been two years since I left CS so it is not surprising to hear that they don't know who I am.

Or perhaps this is all just a matrix and I don't really exist......oh boy....


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## innocentfreak (Aug 25, 2001)

Reminds me when I used to work for Blockbuster and if you called the store locator, this was pre-web site of course, they would tell me my store didn't exist.


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## steve614 (May 1, 2006)

TiVoJerry said:


> Or perhaps this is all just a matrix and I don't really exist......oh boy....


Your posts are somehow bleeding through from the Red Universe.
Let's hope we don't have to bring out the Amber.


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