# Should I update my 1 year old Bolt to Hydra?



## omelet1978 (Mar 7, 2006)

Hi,

I’ve been researching Hyrda today and after reading through various threads I’m basically lost and confused.

Would you guys recommend updating my 1000 hour, 1 year old Tivo Bolt to Hydra? Or is it a buggy mess and just leave it be?

Thanks


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## CIR-Engineering (Sep 24, 2017)

I tried it for a day and went back.

craigr


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## Tony_T (Nov 2, 2017)

The problem is that if you don't like it, you will lose everything if you roll back. The only compelling reason to upgrade is if you want to get the VOX Remote.


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## sfhub (Jan 6, 2007)

omelet1978 said:


> Hi,
> 
> I've been researching Hyrda today and after reading through various threads I'm basically lost and confused.
> 
> Would you guys recommend updating my 1000 hour, 1 year old Tivo Bolt to Hydra? Or is it a buggy mess and just leave it be?


If it were me and I only had 1 TiVo, I would pick up an unsubscribed Bolt on ebay for cheap, add subscription for 30 days, upgrade the Bolt to Hydra, try it out, cancel before 30 days and get your money back on the monthly.

If you like it, you can upgrade your real unit.

Alternatively, you could copy your shows over to PC so in case you wanted to go back, you can get most of the shows back onto your TiVo after the clear and delete everything downgrade.


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## Tony_T (Nov 2, 2017)

Instead of buying a used Tivo on eBay, buy a new one from Tivo as you can return thst in 30 days for a refund.
IMO, Neither is worth the effort to just try Hydra.


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## rjrsouthwest (Feb 19, 2016)

I upgraded my 1 1/2 year old Bolt to Hydra on the first day it rolled out and I am very glad I did and wouldn't even consider rolling it back. It took a couple of days to get used to the new UI but the learning curve was short. So far I have had only one problem that was fixed by doing a restart.


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## pgoelz (May 1, 2005)

We put Hydra on our older (currently unused) Roamio as a test and we dislike it.... quite a bit. For starters, you are stuck with the grid version of the guide... there is no "live guide" version. We also dislike the way the menu works where you can't cursor through the main menu items and instead have to enter a corresponding number with the keypad.... that is just dumb in the extreme. The entire interface also looks and feels klunky and awkward with a LOT of wasted space. YMMV. As has been said, you have to reset and lose EVERYTHING including all recordings if you decide to go back to the standard interface. That is even dumber. 

Paul


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## dianebrat (Jul 6, 2002)

Are you prepared to lose everything on it if you decide Hydra isn't for you and you roll back? 
because if not then you should not be considering it.


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## Tony_T (Nov 2, 2017)

The only compelling reason to upgrade to Hydra is if you want to get the VOX Remote.


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## mdavej (Aug 13, 2015)

pgoelz said:


> We put Hydra on our older (currently unused) Roamio as a test and we dislike it.... quite a bit. For starters, you are stuck with the grid version of the guide... there is no "live guide" version. We also dislike the way the menu works where you can't cursor through the main menu items and instead have to enter a corresponding number with the keypad.... that is just dumb in the extreme.


This is a great example of Hydra's image problem due to Tivo not explaining all the new features. Users fumble around, make bad assumptions and give up because Tivo gave them no tutorial on how to use it.

Live guide still lives in a way. When watching live, up arrow to the new live guide. Channel up/down to see the live guide on other channels.

And you CAN still cursor through the menu items as before. Only change was they added previously invisible numbers and allow you to customize some shortcuts. You can ignore the numbers if you wish. This is a big improvement.

More improvements include one button access to favorites and tuners.

There's lots of good stuff in Hydra, but for some reason, Tivo chose to hide all of it.


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## Tony_T (Nov 2, 2017)

pgoelz said:


> &#8230;We also dislike the way the menu works where you can't cursor through the main menu items and instead have to enter a corresponding number with the keypad.... that is just dumb in the extreme.


If the "Dynamic SmartBar" is highlighted when in TiVo HOME, Direction UP will put the cursor at "0 Menu" and you can then cursor though the main menu (tip: when in the Main Menu, the Advance Key will move the cursor to "0 Menu")


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## atmuscarella (Oct 11, 2005)

I tried Hydra for 2 weeks on a new Roamio OTA, saw Zero reason I would want to keep it and rolled back to the old HDUI. However beyond offering support for voice if you buy a VOX remote, Hydra does have lots of graphics and perhaps offers easier access to information so I can see why some people like it.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

omelet1978 said:


> Hi,
> 
> I've been researching Hyrda today and after reading through various threads I'm basically lost and confused.
> 
> ...


I tried it on a tertiary TiVo the first day it was available. My plan was to use it for a few days or weeks before deciding to install it on my primary or secondary TiVo. But I loved Hydra so much that I installed it on all my TiVos a few hours later. Overall I have been very pleased with Hydra.

But Hydra is certainly not for everyone. At least based on some of the complaints people have posted about it.

If you try hydra out, I would recommend not doing it with your primary TiVo. Since if you decided to revert back to the HDUI you will lose your recordings.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

pgoelz said:


> We put Hydra on our older (currently unused) Roamio as a test and we dislike it.... quite a bit. For starters, you are stuck with the grid version of the guide... there is no "live guide" version. We also dislike the way the menu works where you can't cursor through the main menu items and instead have to enter a corresponding number with the keypad.... that is just dumb in the extreme. The entire interface also looks and feels klunky and awkward with a LOT of wasted space. YMMV. As has been said, you have to reset and lose EVERYTHING including all recordings if you decide to go back to the standard interface. That is even dumber.
> 
> Paul


???? I rarely enter a number at the main screen. I go up and down highlighting each item before I select it.


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## omelet1978 (Mar 7, 2006)

So from researching it, it seems the biggest complaint about Hydra is that you lose the Tivo Live Guide and are stuck with the grid guide which is like the normal cable boxes.

The threads on this are pretty long, so just wondering if there were any plans to bring that back? I’ve always used it.


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## dianebrat (Jul 6, 2002)

omelet1978 said:


> So from researching it, it seems the biggest complaint about Hydra is that you lose the Tivo Live Guide and are stuck with the grid guide which is like the normal cable boxes.
> 
> The threads on this are pretty long, so just wondering if there were any plans to bring that back? I've always used it.


It is currently not in focus for development, so don't count on it coming back.


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## John Meno (Nov 21, 2017)

I got a Bolt Vox and Mini Vox in my house recently so I upgraded my Bolt+ that I received last Christmas to Hydra. It took some getting used to but I don't regret it. The Vox functions are pretty cool but I wish they would release a Slide Vox remote because the vox features are only usable on Tivo and not the apps. What I like most about Hydra is the layout of your recorded shows. It breaks them down by season and shows which have been previously viewed. My biggest complaint is that it seems to take longer than before the delete programs. I wish they made it possible to delete multiple programs at once, especially on the suggestions. The guide didn't bother me at all. IDK why people dislike the new guide compared to the old one. This one actually gives you more information at once, and the channel icons seem more clear.


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