# Would you buy a TIVO today?



## Greg820 (Jan 26, 2009)

I've kind of figured my TIVO days are numbered as I only have cable BOLTs today and am looking very seriously at dropping cable. From my vantage point way outside the company, it looks like the DVR days could be numbered and that has left me quite hesitant to buy new equipment given the price of lifetime service. However, I am being tempted by the summer sale of an OTA Edge for $300 with lifetime. This could be a longer post, but to get to the point, is there any realistic reason to worry about TIVO not supporting a new OTA box today for the next several years? People have been predicting the end of the company here for a decade or more. How realistic are those predictions?


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## BigJimOutlaw (Mar 21, 2004)

I would say long-term guide data support is not a problem. This is the last thing we should be concerned about. The data is already collected for their MSO and metadata businesses, so servicing existing boxes is a relatively cheap thing to do. The data will flow for years, no matter how Tivo transforms as a company. I don't think there's much risk in them being shuttered completely. At worst, someone will buy them (again) and still keep the data flowing.

OTA boxes are a cheaper and safer bet.

Cable boxes are questionable for all the known cablecard reasons, not the guide data.

Personally, since ota isn't a good option in my area, I wouldn't buy a full-priced or marginally discounted cable Tivo today. It would need to be a massive discount to get any consideration.


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## gigaquad (Oct 25, 2004)

Today? Absolutely not. They lost me as a fan when they killed off the transfer feature from computers. Roamio is as far as I went with them. All my TV is OTA now too. Cable got up to over $120/month for just the basics so I told them to stuff it. Now I buy $120 worth of beer and I feel like I'm better off. No contest.


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

I would buy a used Series 5 on eBay. I've never gone past that. As for dropping support, would you like to see a message that your guide (and clock) will end in 90 days?

I was a Sony DHG owner.


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## Larsenv (Jun 8, 2020)

I mean, I've bought 2 TiVos recently from eBay. There's a trick I use to get lifetime units for around $40. (You might have better luck finding lifetime Series 2 units, while those are old they are fun to mess around with).

TiVos are still a great way to watch TV, 3 of ours are being used with antenna and one is at my mom's being used for cable with a CableCARD.


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## Pokemon_Dad (Jan 19, 2008)

No way today José. We've mostly transitioned to Channels DVR here, though I'm still running a Roamio Pro and v2 Minis in parallel. IMHO the Roamio series were the last great products TiVo produced, and TiVo is no longer the same company.


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## davidscarter (Sep 28, 2015)

I bought a new Edge a couple of months ago, as the then-sale coincided with problems cropping up on my Roamio Pro. I did the mental calculus that Comcast will probably continue cc support for the next 2- or 3- years and took the gamble. Time will tell if that was the right decision...

(I've mostly adjusted to TE4; though some of the quirks and bugs annoy me, on balance it's probably been worth it to not have to worry about TE3 guide updates constantly!)


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## series5orpremier (Jul 6, 2013)

Not today. While especially OTA will continue working and being supported for at least several more years, since the downgrade in guide data quality after RoVi bought TiVo I can't justify the initial investment for any more units given I already have three Roamio's and two Bolts, all running the old live guide which I prefer and with OTA capability, and I may be abandoning cable for good any time now.


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## mattack (Apr 9, 2001)

of course.. it's still by far the best way to watch TV.. I do watch shows off of the streaming services commercial free.. IF THEY'RE STILL THERE.. But tivo as backup... and watch lots of stuff directly from the Tivo of course.

QuickPlay, especially with the backdoor (increased to 1.7 and 1.9x for different kinds of shows), is something that I can do on Tivo that I can't do on streaming services, and even other devices that I've had that can speed up (e.g. even playstation can when playing DVDs/blurays), but they're only IIRC 25% sped up (I used it for commentary etc in the past but wish it was faster).


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## Greg820 (Jan 26, 2009)

Thanks for the responses. My Bolts are still humming along fine, but I really don’t want to keep paying for cable I really don’t watch just to keep them going. I’ve tried AirTV and the competing Amazon product but they just seem…amateurish compared to TiVo. They generally work but they’re impossible to use without thinking: “This is OK but, it isn’t not TiVo.” I got my first Series 1 twenty years ago almost to the day. (As an aside, using it to watch 9/11 coverage just a few weeks later will forever be etched in my memory.) It’s a shame we have to actually wonder if the once revolutionary company will be around to provide service for the life of a new unit, but I think I will ride this train a bit longer with an antenna unit. I definitely will think about something used or refurbished (although the current sale seems like a decent deal).


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## pj1983 (Dec 26, 2016)

Pokemon_Dad said:


> No way today José. We've mostly transitioned to Channels DVR here, though I'm still running a Roamio Pro and v2 Minis in parallel. IMHO the Roamio series were the last great products TiVo produced, and TiVo is no longer the same company.


+1 to this. I'm scaling back my TiVo infrastructure to a couple of Roamio Pros and Minis for the TVs. At some point i'll probably transition to Channels for our main viewing (WAF dependent, streaming boxes have met with resistance thus far) and just use the TiVos to playback previously recorded programs.


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## mahermusic (Mar 12, 2003)

Buy a TiVo today? SURE I would, if I needed an extra one, however, through all sorts of promotions over the past 20 years, I'm now finally cleaning house of all my different TiVos with Lifetime Service included (selling my final 1GB OTA TiVo Bolt w/Lifetime right now as a matter of fact... check out the eBay Auction Forum in these forums if you're interested!) I've learned over these past two decades that nothing comes close to the TiVo interface.... so we're keeping our own OTA Bolt w/a couple of Minis, and making all of our other units available to those that could use a TiVo with Lifetime.


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## zalusky (Apr 5, 2002)

Nope. I am on fiber now and have too many options. Broadcast is also the least interesting of those options.


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## Aaron Malloy (Oct 30, 2019)

Greg820 said:


> It's a shame we have to actually wonder if the once revolutionary company will be around to provide service for the life of a new unit.


True. However, people are watching TV completely differently than they did when Tivo was considered revolutionary. Back in the day, we'd wait for Tivo to record what we wanted to see, and then we'd watch it later. Simple enough. But today, with streaming and such, many things that we want to view are already instantly available for us to see. And because so many are watching streaming exclusively instead of live television, the benefit of pausing the playback means nothing anymore.


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## Triride44 (Jan 11, 2020)

Can't say I would buy a TiVo now, but I'm glad I have one.

(1) my TiVo Romeo OTA is on and I'm watching the local CBS station because I like their local weather coverage. My HD Homerun Connect 4K has problems (no video or audio) with that same channel (RF-10) when it rains.

(2) Before TiVo I had a Channel Master DVR with lifetime, but after about a year or two CM lost supports of their 14 day program guide. Only the (24 hr.) guide from the broadcasters.


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## V7Goose (May 28, 2005)

A new one at stupid prices? Absolutely NOT. But I do love my TiVos, so if they all crapped out today, I would look for a used lifetime OTA unit. At the right price, those are still a good choice. Even an old S3 with only two tuners if you can stand the limitations.

I miss the old days - before they started taking away features, trying to block the user's from maintaining their own units, and hiking prices. Stupidity is never a good business model, but that seems the only thing that these people have in abundance now.


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## zyzzx (Jan 22, 2002)

zalusky said:


> Nope. I am on fiber now and have too many options. Broadcast is also the least interesting of those options.


What do you recommend?


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## zalusky (Apr 5, 2002)

zyzzx said:


> What do you recommend?


I just switched to a Channels DVR which essentially TiVo on steroids. It can talk to many different providers. It can work with OTA or cable or OTT.
It is fast and it is reasonably priced although it does not have a lifetime option.

Right now my content provider is YouTubeTV and Locast but I will be evaluating an antenna setup today.

With TiVo I was stuck with cable as I had a Roamio Pro or if I went OTA I would have to buy a different TiVo would have to pay for lifetime again in some fashion and be limited to some concurrent recording restriction.


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## slowbiscuit (Sep 19, 2006)

gigaquad said:


> Today? Absolutely not. They lost me as a fan when they killed off the transfer feature from computers. Roamio is as far as I went with them. All my TV is OTA now too. Cable got up to over $120/month for just the basics so I told them to stuff it.


That feature still works fine on TE3, so that's not an issue.

I won't be giving up my Roamios until Comcast stops supporting cards, and/or they move popular channels to IP. Or more likely, a lot of the sports I watch move to streaming.


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## slowbiscuit (Sep 19, 2006)

Aaron Malloy said:


> True. However, people are watching TV completely differently than they did when Tivo was considered revolutionary. Back in the day, we'd wait for Tivo to record what we wanted to see, and then we'd watch it later. Simple enough. But today, with streaming and such, many things that we want to view are already instantly available for us to see. And because so many are watching streaming exclusively instead of live television, the benefit of pausing the playback means nothing anymore.


Tivo playback, the most important feature, is far superior to any streaming option. QuickMode, comskip, easy transport controls. And that's why I keep my Roamio+Minis setup instead of switching to Channels + something like YTTV.

I do get that it's handy to be able to select and watch stuff with streaming, but on many providers you're stuck with commercials and/or crappy playback controls. I don't want that tradeoff right now.


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## pl1 (Jan 18, 2007)

zalusky said:


> With TiVo I was stuck with cable as I had a Roamio Pro or if I went OTA I would have to buy a different TiVo would have to pay for lifetime again in some fashion and be limited to some concurrent recording restriction.


This is one reason I have ALWAYS been willing to sacrifice the number of tuners for a TiVo that would do both OTA and/or Cable.


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## pl1 (Jan 18, 2007)

slowbiscuit said:


> Tivo playback, the most important feature, is far superior to any streaming option. QuickMode, comskip, easy transport controls. And that's why I keep my Roamio+Minis setup instead of switching to Channels + something like YTTV.


And now with YTTV, you can't even get RSN's, which is why I'm back with cable Tv.


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## MrDell (Jul 8, 2012)

pl1 said:


> This is one reason I have ALWAYS been willing to sacrifice the number of tuners for a TiVo that would do both OTA and/or Cable.


 I have to agree!! Any Tivo I purchased through the years I made sure it could do both OTA and cable. I always wanted a back up if I ditichd Cable. Hoping my Bolt and Roameo continue to operate because I really like the Tivo experience and I think I'm with them till the bitter end, but I really don't know if I would purchase anything new at this time unless the price was really good.


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## Pokemon_Dad (Jan 19, 2008)

slowbiscuit said:


> That feature still works fine on TE3, so that's not an issue.
> 
> I won't be giving up my Roamios until Comcast stops supporting cards, and/or they move popular channels to IP. Or more likely, a lot of the sports I watch move to streaming.


It's a problem if like the OP you're considering an Edge. As I'm sure you know, the Edge supports only TE4. For now I'm right there with you, sticking with my last Roamio until it dies or CableCARDs go away - or until TiVo the company drives us away - and in preparation for when that day comes we're running Channels DVR in parallel here.


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## Charles R (Nov 9, 2000)

If my OTA TiVo died today I'd replace it with a Amazon Recast. Tried one a few years back and it would get the job done. A few things I'd like less and a few I'd like more...


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## zalusky (Apr 5, 2002)

pl1 said:


> This is one reason I have ALWAYS been willing to sacrifice the number of tuners for a TiVo that would do both OTA and/or Cable.


Which means you might have to buy multiple Tivos and if you have multiple TVs you have to buy extra minis which gobble up tuners for live TV. If its just you thats one thing but if you got family It's not an optimal solution.


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## gor88 (Jan 3, 2008)

I would not buy a TiVo today. That's mainly because of the switch to Rovi guide data, replacing the Roamio series with the small form factor Bolt, trying to incorporate streaming with OTA/Cable for the One Pass concept WITHOUT using an established streaming device maker's OS (Roku, Fire TV, Google TV, etc) for the streaming, phasing out four tuner Edges, among other missteps that led to TiVo being bought out.

Whoever came up with the idea that a small form factor was important for a DVR should have been smacked and then fired. The units should have continued to use 3.5in Desktop drives and should have had great ventilation like the Roamios have. They should have just improved on the Roamio design for the next DVR series.

When I looked at DVRs around March 2016, I considered the HD HomeRun, Tablo and TiVo. I couldn't get the HD Home Run to be stable, despite having a NAS and a WiFi 5 router. The only reason Tablo was rejected back then was no DD 5.1 passthrough on their roadmap for development and CC was not ready for prime time then. In the past, I had two DirecTV series 2 TiVo receivers and loved them. The decision was made to go with the TiVo Bolt. I added an external 3.5in HD and used the eSATA conversion cable. Of course in 2017, after a TiVo OS upgrade, that setup screwed the pooch and I ended up converting to straight SATA cable directly to the drive with an external power supply for the drive. Swapped to a lifetime Roamio OTA refurb in December of 2018 and put a WD Red Pro 4TB drive in it. The Bolt is a one-off signal strength meter now, since it's not good for anything else without paying way too much in service fees.

However, Tablo has smelled blood in the water (that being TiVo's many misssteps) and have added the 5.1 passthrough, added capability to configure the Live and Recording resolution rate, CC works properly and a HDMI version of their DVRs in recent years. They don't bother with integrating streaming, they just try to make a solid, although not perfect, OTA DVR. 

If the Roamio tuners or motherboard fail, I would buy a Tablo Quad DVR and add a 4TB drive to it. I would also make sure there's a fan blowing across it to keep it cool.


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## SandiMacD (Apr 19, 2017)

I have 2 Roamios. One does cable OR antenna and one does only OTA. Also have a Premier which is Cable/Sat only. All lifetime service. 
I would not replace the Premiere but if both Roamios died I would get one serviced or replace it with a used Roamio model. 

I much prefer having mutiple tuners over diversity of input since we dropped cable FiOS 3 years ago and won't go back. I like being able to add time to live broadcasts and still have tuners that can record on other channels. Needed that for Oympics. I picked up 2 OTA channels of Olymics and extended time on both recordings while wanting to capture local news and a PBS program and they all overlapped. Couldn't have done that with just 2 tuners. So really depends on your needs as to the best product. 

We also do Fubo live streaming and cloud recording and in the midst of Olympics had power outages and thunderstorms which created intermittent broadcast interference. 

Much preferred watching on Tivo because of instant replay, and the responsiveness of stop, pause, FF, REW and Slow. Nothing beats the TiVo remote in regards to finding the exact frame fast and easy. However when we lost power it was nice to be able go to the Fubo cloud recordings and watch because those weren't affected by local thunderstorm or power outages. Plus we got more Olympic program options in streaming channels then we did in OTA channels. 

I tried Peacock and NBC Sports live streaming and sometimes we had problems with buffering and stuttering and "sorry" messages. Don't know if that was Roku or the channels but suspect server was being hit to hard somewhere. So that is another reason to be able to fall back on Tivo OTA if viewing live. The NBC Sports was recordable so went back the next morning and it played back just fine. 

I joined the Tablo community for a while thinking that might be an option should my Tivo fail. There were enough Tivo owners there and I learned how much better the Tivo was (for my needs) then the Tablo. Not only an easier setup but far more responsive when changing channels and watching live broadcasts. So for now I am firmly in the Tivo ownership camp, at least for the near future.


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## johnbrown44 (May 11, 2015)

Triride44 said:


> (2) Before TiVo I had a Channel Master DVR with lifetime, but after about a year or two CM lost supports of their 14 day program guide. Only the (24 hr.) guide from the broadcasters.


TLDR: There is a replacement guide available for the ChannelMaster DVR+.



Spoiler: TLReadAnyway



I've had nearly the same experience as you. Have had 2 ChannelMaster DVRs for ~5 years, but became annoyed with the guide getting progressively worse after Rovi became the guide provider. Lots of TBA, lots of generic guide info. I now see that happening with Tivo's guide, but hopefully it won't get as bad as CM's. Maybe Rovi will get it together due to Tivo's much larger user base.

I still have my 2 DVR+ units plugged in since getting 2 Tivos last year, but rarely watch them. I may unplug them and put in storage for if/when Tivo pulls the plug, or removes usability or accurate guide info.

I still follow the CM threads on the avsforum. It's not true that they lost the CM/Rovi provided guide. It's just become much less useful for the reasons I mentioned. And the over the air guide is horrible, lucky to get 9 hours using that. (station's fault) But, unlike Tivo, the DVR+ units will not become doorstops if CM pulls the plug on providing guide info.

But you may have left CM too early; an enterprising user on the forum, Tim, who happens to be a retired software developer, took it upon himself to write a program that would allow the DVR+ to get guide info from another source.

Initially written to run on a Raspberry Pi, it basically reroutes the path the DVR+ takes to get guide info. It works great! ALWAYS 14 days of guide info, with much more info than CM/Rovi ever provided, in my experience. More than Tivo/Rovi now supplies, can't speak for what they used to provide, as I have only been using for a year. (But "Cast Info" on Tivo is nice.) One needs to subscribe to the guide provider, but at $25/year it is well worth it, IMO. And one subscription is good for multiple DVRs.

A few of us were Beta testers, and others on the forum have written programs that will work with Windows7/10. No Mac yet, AFAIK. It was a bit of work getting the Pi set up and working. I am fairly tech savvy, it just involved several steps with the Pi, and I had never messed with those. I like the Pi version, as it is set it and forget it. Uses ~3.4 watts. <$60 for the Pi3B+, SD card, case, power supply. Some are using lesser Pi units successfully, and powering with USB. ~$25 if no case.

With the Windows version you have to have the PC running, obviously. I'm not one to leave mine on 24/7, but apparently the DVR+ will automatically check for guide info within moments of the PC booting, so not really an issue. There have been the usual Windows problems running the software, but nothing major, there are several users that find workarounds, and Tim tends to update the program fairly often. OTOH Raspberry Pi just works. One user had his running for ~230-some days.

I highly recommend trying it out, if you haven't sold your DVR+ unit yet. And those have held their value quite well, with used units frequently selling for as much or more on eBay than their $225-$250 original price.


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## pl1 (Jan 18, 2007)

zalusky said:


> Which means you might have to buy multiple Tivos and if you have multiple TVs you have to buy extra minis which gobble up tuners for live TV. If its just you thats one thing but if you got family It's not an optimal solution.


My Roamio basic and my Bolt basic both have 4 tuners. The Roamio is doing OTA only. The Bolt is hooked up to FIOS. Then I have 3 Minis connected to the Bolt, which can also connect with the Roamio.

I think since I was always stuck with two tuners from Series 1 through TiVo HD, for me 4 tuners is a blessing. But, if I had a family of different users, I can see what you are saying that it might not be enough.

EDIT: Oh, and the current offering of the 2 tuner Edge? No way I would buy that.


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## Salacious Crumb (Jan 1, 2019)

No cause i already have one.


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## CommunityMember (May 22, 2020)

davidscarter said:


> I did the mental calculus that Comcast will probably continue cc support for the next 2- or 3- years and took the gamble. Time will tell if that was the right decision...


As with much else, "It is hard to make predictions, especially about the future".

I have already found that a number of channels on Comcast that my clients subscribe to are IPTV only (or HD quality in IPTV only). Some are channels that a few clients with the lower TV tiers can mostly live with in SD only when they wish to watch those channels, in the background, but for Comcast, for most of my clients, I can no longer recommend TiVo as a solution, and certainly not purchasing a new TiVo(*), given Comcast's move towards IPTV (for the majority of clients I now am typically forced (by my responsibility to make the best recommendation) to recommend moving to Comcast's X1, as that way they can get all of their channels now and in the future). For other providers I suspect CableCARDs will still be viable longer (mostly because they are not fibre deep, as Comcast is, which will force those providers to use Linear QAM a bit longer).

(*) depending on whether one is in a S&E franchise, the payback for purchasing a new TiVo is going to be somewhere between 4 to 6.5 years. That exceeds my expectations of Comcast continuing linear QAM support except, perhaps, for the basic-basic tier.


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## boywaja (Sep 30, 2001)

hard to say. I still love the tivo interface. 
and i'm on fios so I dont have to deal with tuning adaptors or a provider sending threatening letters about cablecard support. (so far) 

for my parents, it was just too expensive to justify.
for myself, I may soon be one of those people who replace the hard drive in the bolt+ just to have it fail again a few years later cause the root cause of overheating wasn't addressed. And then i'll have a decision. 

its an insane amount of money. The company seems more focused on the streamer.
I dont watch that much cable anymore. I use the built in TV apps for netflix, prime, hbomax, youtube rather than the tivo. 

fortunately not a decision i need to make today.


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## pl1 (Jan 18, 2007)

boywaja said:


> for myself, I may soon be one of those people who replace the hard drive in the bolt+ just to have it fail again a few years later cause the root cause of overheating wasn't addressed. And then i'll have a decision.


When you do have to replace the hdd, since it is becoming so difficult to find a replacement 2.5in hdd, you might consider going with a 1-2TB SSD. I have an extra Toshiba 2.5in on hand as a backup, but I am thinking of going SSD myself.


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## tommiet (Oct 28, 2005)

2 tuner Edge... NO WAY! TiVo is almost gone.......


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## ncbill (Sep 1, 2007)

Sure, I'd buy a used base Roamio w/ lifetime off eBay since it will still be good for OTA until stations stop transmitting ATSC 1.0.


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## CommunityMember (May 22, 2020)

pl1 said:


> When you do have to replace the hdd, since it is becoming so difficult to find a replacement 2.5in hdd, you might consider going with a 1-2TB SSD.


If you are going to move to a SSD, I would recommend an "enterprise" (data center) model, which are designed to be written to constantly for years (in some cases they are designed such that you could write the equivalent of a full drive worth of data every day constantly for 5-10 years before exceeding the targeted lifetime endurance ratings), and can handle sudden power failures without corruption of the internal meta data. They are not cheap when new, but sometimes you can find a barely used model which has been replaced by larger capacity models from a server upgrade on one of the various "new-to-you" sites.


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## Aaron Malloy (Oct 30, 2019)

Charles R said:


> If my OTA TiVo died today I'd replace it with a Amazon Recast. Tried one a few years back and it would get the job done. A few things I'd like less and a few I'd like more...


I _almost_ pulled the trigger and got one when there was a good sale. I _loved_ that there was no monthly fee. But it bugged me that the recorded programs were only 720p. I believe they still are. Which makes me wonder, here in 2021, if they're really behind it.


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## Tobashadow (Nov 11, 2006)

Nope

Haven't had a Tivo active since 2018 when I cut the cord.

Please don't tar and feather me lol


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## Aaron Malloy (Oct 30, 2019)

Tobashadow said:


> Nope
> 
> Haven't had a Tivo active since 2018 when I cut the cord.


I remember _before_ I decided to drop Tivo, I thought it would be hard to adjust to. But after awhile, I realized I didn't really miss it. TV is different now, and as such, Tivo isn't needed.


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## slowbiscuit (Sep 19, 2006)

gor88 said:


> If the Roamio tuners or motherboard fail, I would buy a Tablo Quad DVR and add a 4TB drive to it. I would also make sure there's a fan blowing across it to keep it cool.


If my Roamio failed I'd immediately go to ebay and buy another one with lifetime for less than $300, which is exactly what I did a few years ago when my old one was killed by lightning. More tuners than Tablo, better Tivo software, get to keep Minis.


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## slowbiscuit (Sep 19, 2006)

CommunityMember said:


> but for Comcast, for most of my clients, I can no longer recommend TiVo as a solution, and certainly not purchasing a new TiVo(*), given Comcast's move towards IPTV (for the majority of clients I now am typically forced (by my responsibility to make the best recommendation) to recommend moving to Comcast's X1, as that way they can get all of their channels now and in the future).


Nothing of any value has been moved to IP so far, and Comcast is taking forever with this migration. I agree that with Tivo pricing a new Edge is not a good purchase, but used lifetime Tivos are so cheap the payback is way less than 2 years.


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## pl1 (Jan 18, 2007)

CommunityMember said:


> If you are going to move to a SSD, I would recommend an "enterprise" (data center) model, which are designed to be written to constantly for years (in some cases they are designed such that you could write the equivalent of a full drive worth of data every day constantly for 5-10 years before exceeding the targeted lifetime endurance ratings), and can handle sudden power failures without corruption of the internal meta data. They are not cheap when new, but sometimes you can find a barely used model which has been replaced by larger capacity models from a server upgrade on one of the various "new-to-you" sites.


Good recommendations and excellent point about handling sudden power failures. I wouldn't of thought of that. Well, if I can't find any 2.5 in drives in the future, I can easily go back to using a 3.5 in external drive hooked up to the internal SATA port.


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## stags (Aug 29, 2020)

I really like my Tivo (used Premiere I bought last year for around $100), but since I use strictly for OTA I would be hesitant to buy another until I see how ATSC 3.0 is handled. I'm not sure there will be a way to convert existing devices to the new tuner.


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## Charles R (Nov 9, 2000)

Aaron Malloy said:


> I _almost_ pulled the trigger and got one when there was a good sale. I _loved_ that there was no monthly fee. But it bugged me that the recorded programs were only 720p. I believe they still are. Which makes me wonder, here in 2021, if they're really behind it.


I commented about such in the thread I created about switching over to a Recast. I had my doubts with the image quality as well however in actual use l found...

Overall the Recast had a higher contrast image which made it look more detailed
720p channels looked better on the Recast
1080i channels looked close enough I couldn't tell a difference
This was with my 4K TV scaling the native image from TiVo. Bottom line I called it a wash.


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## CommunityMember (May 22, 2020)

stags said:


> I really like my Tivo (used Premiere I bought last year for around $100), but since I use strictly for OTA I would be hesitant to buy another until I see how ATSC 3.0 is handled. I'm not sure there will be a way to convert existing devices to the new tuner.


As far as conversion, the only thing TiVo teased a few years ago was their ATSC 3.0 external tuner dongle demo which might have worked with some existing devices (likely would have only been supported on the bolt and edge due to codec requirements). Given that TiVo reportedly let at least some of the staff go who were focused on the consumer side of the house, including that demo, it is unknown if TiVo has continued to pursue that approach.


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## bareyb (Dec 1, 2000)

Was having some problems with my beloved Roamio Pro, so I picked up an Xfinity DVR (XG1) yesterday and omg... it is very sluggish compared to my Roamio. Don't really like it, will be returning it on Monday and I will be picking up a lifetimed 6 tuner Bolt from Amazon and will be "downgrading" it to TE3 before I ever use it once. I don't like Hydra and I hear the Bolts with the "old" UI are very snappy performers. Even better than Roamio.


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## CommunityMember (May 22, 2020)

bareyb said:


> Was having some problems with my beloved Roamio Pro, so I picked up an Xfinity DVR (XG1) yesterday and omg...


An XG1v1, or v3? You should have requested an XG1v4. Much faster (with full capabilities unlike the earlier models). If they ask why you wanted the newer box, mumble something about you want to experience all that your 4K TV can offer (that you may not have a 4K TV, or that there is little content in 4K, should not matter). However, last I knew, most (perhaps all) Comcast stores were out of stock of the XG1v4's, so were handing out older boxes just to be able to get something out the door.


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## bareyb (Dec 1, 2000)

CommunityMember said:


> An XG1v1, or v3? You should have requested an XG1v4. Much faster (with full capabilities unlike the earlier models). If they ask why you wanted the newer box, mumble something about you want to experience all that your 4K TV can offer (that you may not have a 4K TV, or that there is little content in 4K, should not matter). However, last I knew, most (perhaps all) Comcast stores were out of stock of the XG1v4's, so were handing out older boxes just to be able to get something out the door.


It was as you said. They only had the v.1's in the store. I needed something quickly to find out if the problems I was having with my TiVo were actually the TiVo of the new TV. Turns out the Xfinity box had the same problems as the TiVo so it was the TV. New TV coming on Tuesday (gotta love Amazon) and my beloved Roamio will be going in the bedroom and there will be a Bolt in the living room as soon as I can get it hooked up and back on TE3.


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## CommunityMember (May 22, 2020)

slowbiscuit said:


> Nothing of any value has been moved to IP so far


FWIW (and it may reflect my clients more than your channel interests) CSPAN, BBC World News, and Sundance (all in HD) are now IPTV only. Those all mattered to 100% of my clients that have that reviewed the channel list (and various other random channels by client, too, but those were all in the lists for all of my clients).

That is, of course, part of the issue, in that everyone's interests are different, so Comcast may not impact you today, but eventually, everyone. It reminds me of the famous quote:


> First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out-because I was not a socialist.
> Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out- because I was not a trade unionist.
> Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out-because I was not a Jew.
> Then they came for me-and there was no one left to speak for me.


In the end, Comcast will come for one of your favorite channels, and there will be no one left....


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## spiderpumpkin (Dec 1, 2017)

CommunityMember said:


> FWIW (and it may reflect my clients more than your channel interests) CSPAN, BBC World News, and Sundance (all in HD) are now IPTV only. Those all mattered to 100% of my clients that have that reviewed the channel list (and various other random channels by client, too, but those were all in the lists for all of my clients).
> 
> That is, of course, part of the issue, in that everyone's interests are different, so Comcast may not impact you today, but eventually, everyone. It reminds me of the famous quote:
> 
> In the end, Comcast will come for one of your favorite channels, and there will be no one left....


Sundance, cspan2, cspan3 and BBC World News were not HD before they moved to HD IPTV. They were available in SD and still are. CSPAN was available in HD and still is.

As far as I know zero QAM HD channels have stopped being QAM HD channels because they moved to HD IPTV. I've only seen higher numbered SD channels that become HD IPTV only channels but the SD channels remain in the the lower numbers.


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## dishrich (Jan 16, 2002)

spiderpumpkin said:


> Sundance, cspan2, cspan3 and BBC World News were not HD before they moved to HD IPTV. They were available in SD and still are. CSPAN was available in HD and still is.
> 
> *As far as I know zero QAM HD channels have stopped being QAM HD channels because they moved to HD IPTV.* I've only seen higher numbered SD channels that become HD IPTV only channels but the SD channels remain in the the lower numbers.


But a couple of SD-only channels did get moved to HD IP-only...but you're correct otherwise:
New Xfinity Channels



dishrich said:


> The ONLY, actual recent "transitions" of *existing* channels that come to mind, was when Comcast a few months ago, added HD feeds of Cleo & Afro in IP-only...but then also simultaneously REMOVED the SD-QAM feeds of these same channels. I didn't exactly shed tears when I lost those 2 channels on my Tivo's.


As far as the original topic...I already bought 2 used Roamio's, a Roamio+ & a Roamio (OTA & cable), that once I got them moved onto my account, I put both back in their boxes & am leaving them there for spares, in case any of my 4 current Roamios bite the dust. So I think I'm fixed pretty well until Tivo decides to pull the plug (EPG updates)...as well as until Comcast decides to TOTALLY pull the plug on QAM/HD channels, &/or OTA ATSC 1.0 completely vanishes here.


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## bareyb (Dec 1, 2000)

Tried the Xfinity DVR and it's pretty terrible, so just bought a lifetimed TiVo Bolt on Amazon.

Question: It sounds like the Bolt comes with TE4 and I'm willing to try it. However, if I pair the cable card in TE4 and _then_ roll it back to TE3 would the cable card have to be re-paired? @weaknees says they aren't sure, but possibly. Anyone know for sure?



> *WK-support* (WeaKnees.com)
> 
> Aug 23, 2021, 12:30 PDT
> 
> ...


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## spiderpumpkin (Dec 1, 2017)

bareyb said:


> Tried the Xfinity DVR and it's pretty terrible, so just bought a lifetimed TiVo Bolt on Amazon.
> 
> Question: It sounds like the Bolt comes with TE4 and I'm willing to try it. However, if I pair the cable card in TE4 and _then_ roll it back to TE3 would the cable card have to be re-paired? @weaknees says they aren't sure, but possibly. Anyone know for sure?


Cablecard will stay paired. However, if you change the hard drive the cablecard will get a new data id number and need to be paired again.


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## spiderpumpkin (Dec 1, 2017)

dishrich said:


> But a couple of SD-only channels did get moved to HD IP-only...but you're correct otherwise:
> New Xfinity Channels
> 
> As far as the original topic...I already bought 2 used Roamio's, a Roamio+ & a Roamio (OTA & cable), that once I got them moved onto my account, I put both back in their boxes & am leaving them there for spares, in case any of my 4 current Roamios bite the dust. So I think I'm fixed pretty well until Tivo decides to pull the plug (EPG updates)...as well as until Comcast decides to TOTALLY pull the plug on QAM/HD channels, &/or OTA ATSC 1.0 completely vanishes here.


I still have both Afro and Cleo SD QAM channels on channel 183 and 184.


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## slowbiscuit (Sep 19, 2006)

CommunityMember said:


> FWIW (and it may reflect my clients more than your channel interests) CSPAN, BBC World News, and Sundance (all in HD) are now IPTV only. Those all mattered to 100% of my clients that have that reviewed the channel list (and various other random channels by client, too, but those were all in the lists for all of my clients).


As I said, nothing has been MOVED to IP. These are new HD channels, the originals are still on QAM in SD.

Look we all agree it will happen someday, but folks like Nash have been saying this for years and it hasn't happened yet. Come back when something big happens.


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## dishrich (Jan 16, 2002)

spiderpumpkin said:


> I still have both Afro and Cleo SD QAM channels on channel 183 and 184.


I suppose your system could be one those "exceptions" that Comcast is well known for...would you mind telling us what system you're on???

Tivo has NOT removed them from their guide data here (& probably never will)...but I PROMISE you those SD versions are gone here & on many other systems. Also, since they are now IP-only, BOTH channels were completely dropped (even the SD channels) from their legacy TV boxes, so they are ONLY on X1 boxes & streaming equipment. (I still have a Moto DVR box, so I saw this firsthand)
We were also told this would be happening on our Comcast bills. It was also posted by others [email protected] this very thing would be happening.


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## DBV1 (Jul 13, 2018)

I don’t even know why TiVO sells the OTA two tuner version. They should have kept the 4 tuner version. Why would they stop that and keep the other is a mystery. I have been testing HD Homerun Quattro ATSC 3.0 with Channels App and working fine so far. Still partial to TiVO though.


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## Greg820 (Jan 26, 2009)

Thanks for everybody who replied to this thread. So, I had pretty much decided to locate a refurbished or used OTA Bolt. However, I was completely oblivious to the ATSC 3.0 switchover coming so it appears that ANY current OTA Tivo has a limited useful life as such.

Recognizing there aren't crystal balls, what are the odds that broadcasters continue ATSC 1.0 programming beyond February 2023? My guess seems pretty high because I suspect most of the public, unlike most of this Community, probably don't know this is coming. If it makes a difference I am in the Minneapolis viewing area.


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## BigJimOutlaw (Mar 21, 2004)

Greg820 said:


> Recognizing there aren't crystal balls, what are the odds that broadcasters continue ATSC 1.0 programming beyond February 2023? My guess seems pretty high because I suspect most of the public, unlike most of this Community, probably don't know this is coming. If it makes a difference I am in the Minneapolis viewing area.


Did Minneapolis start 3.0 broadcasting yet? 3.0 markets must still broadcast 1.0 for at least 5 years beyond that point.


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## Greg820 (Jan 26, 2009)

BigJimOutlaw said:


> Did Minneapolis start 3.0 broadcasting yet? 3.0 markets must still broadcast 1.0 for at least 5 years beyond that point.


This is good information, thanks. Not sure if Minnepolis is 3.0 yet. Googling reveals inconsistent information - some older sources say scheduled for last year but most say it starts sometime this year. Regardless, given the five years of overlap it is not something I need to factor in when buying a used TiVo after all.


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## spiderpumpkin (Dec 1, 2017)

dishrich said:


> I suppose your system could be one those "exceptions" that Comcast is well known for...would you mind telling us what system you're on???
> 
> Tivo has NOT removed them from their guide data here (& probably never will)...but I PROMISE you those SD versions are gone here & on many other systems. Also, since they are now IP-only, BOTH channels were completely dropped (even the SD channels) from their legacy TV boxes, so they are ONLY on X1 boxes & streaming equipment. (I still have a Moto DVR box, so I saw this firsthand)
> We were also told this would be happening on our Comcast bills. It was also posted by others [email protected] this very thing would be happening.


On my Tivo the Cleo and Afro channels have no guide data but I can still tune them in and watch them on 183 and 184. On my HDHR Prime I can tune them in on 183 and 184, and I get the guide data on Channels DVR with Gracenote.


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## klgood1 (Oct 21, 2002)

So, I just joined the "should I buy a TiVo today?" club. My house got a direct lightning strike, and my Roamio Plus & Bolt are now paperweights. I've tried Youtube TV, etc, and I really hate the experience compared to TiVo. Ditto with Xfinity DVRs. I'm leaning towards buying used Lifetime Bolts or Roamios off ebay. I'm not familiar with the new UI, as I love the old interface, and had decided to stay with that. If I buy a used TiVo, can I roll the software back, if needed?


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## Pokemon_Dad (Jan 19, 2008)

klgood1 said:


> If I buy a used TiVo, can I roll the software back, if needed?


Yes you can "sidegrade" any Roamio and most Bolts, except for the Bolt OTA which like the Edge is TE4-only. You can buy them with warranties and optional upgraded HDDs from Weaknees, or you can buy them off eBay but just be sure the seller has agreed in writing (in the auction description or in an eBay message where eBay can retrieve it) to transfer the service to you by contacting TiVo to obtain a reference number you can use to put the box on your account.


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## bareyb (Dec 1, 2000)

klgood1 said:


> So, I just joined the "should I buy a TiVo today?" club. My house got a direct lightning strike, and my Roamio Plus & Bolt are now paperweights. I've tried Youtube TV, etc, and I really hate the experience compared to TiVo. Ditto with Xfinity DVRs. *I'm leaning towards buying used Lifetime Bolts or Roamios off ebay. I'm not familiar with the new UI, as I love the old interface, and had decided to stay with that. If I buy a used TiVo, can I roll the software back, if needed?*


I got mine on Amazon. Much easier returns than ebay if there's a major problem. The Bolts come with TE4 but can be rolled back to TE3. They all come with lifetime subs, all you have to do is call TiVo, tell 'em you got a Weaknees Lifetimed Bolt and get it transferred to your account.
Lifetimed Bolts: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08XBXGN61/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Hydra downgrade procedure for DVR:

Go into Menu- Help- Reset to Defaults- Repeat Guided Setup- Select
Press Thumbs Down 2 times (NOT 3!), now press Rewind 2 times, Now press Select (not Enter). DVR will immediately go to that right arrow screen, then screen blank, then you'll get a message letting you know that the rollback process has begun


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## slowbiscuit (Sep 19, 2006)

klgood1 said:


> So, I just joined the "should I buy a TiVo today?" club. My house got a direct lightning strike, and my Roamio Plus & Bolt are now paperweights. I've tried Youtube TV, etc, and I really hate the experience compared to TiVo. Ditto with Xfinity DVRs. I'm leaning towards buying used Lifetime Bolts or Roamios off ebay. I'm not familiar with the new UI, as I love the old interface, and had decided to stay with that. If I buy a used TiVo, can I roll the software back, if needed?


Used lifetime Roamio off ebay for $200 or less. No brainer. When my Roamio got killed a few years ago that's what I did, but it was around $400 then.

Stick with TE3.


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## Triride44 (Jan 11, 2020)

johnbrown44 said:


> TLDR: There is a replacement guide available for the ChannelMaster DVR+.
> 
> Thanks for the Tip. I installed "PiGS" yesterday and have a 14 day guide running on my CM-7500GB16. Moved the TiVo Romeo to the back bedroom, and the CM-DVR+ to the front room. Enjoying all my local channels again.


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## Greg820 (Jan 26, 2009)

Thanks for the input on this. As the OP, I will answer my own question: “Yes, I would buy a TV today but not at full price.” Refurbished OTA Bolt from WeaKnees is coming. 

As an aside, the moment I was done with Comcast cable was “sure, we can change your package and lower your bill by $50.00 per month with fewer channels.” Then, on next bill, “you are no longer ‘grandfathered in’ and must pay a $27 monthly surcharge for local channels and regional sports.” I still have no feasible alternative to Comcast internet. That is ok, my internet experience has been fine. I suppose eventually that alone will cost the same as my own package, but hopefully not for awhile.


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## Robin A Baum (Sep 13, 2021)

bareyb said:


> Hydra downgrade procedure for DVR:
> 
> Go into Menu- Help- Reset to Defaults- Repeat Guided Setup- Select
> Press Thumbs Down 2 times (NOT 3!), now press Rewind 2 times, Now press Select (not Enter). DVR will immediately go to that right arrow screen, then screen blank, then you'll get a message letting you know that the rollback process has begun


So, I tried this today but it didn't work.
I got to the place where it started the rollback and then I got an error message suggesting it might be my network connection.
Any ideas? I wonder if won't rollback because it never had the the old format?


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## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

Greg820 said:


> Thanks for the input on this. As the OP, I will answer my own question: "Yes, I would buy a TV today but not at full price." Refurbished OTA Bolt from WeaKnees is coming.
> 
> As an aside, the moment I was done with Comcast cable was "sure, we can change your package and lower your bill by $50.00 per month with fewer channels." Then, on next bill, "you are no longer 'grandfathered in' and must pay a $27 monthly surcharge for local channels and regional sports." I still have no feasible alternative to Comcast internet. That is ok, my internet experience has been fine. I suppose eventually that alone will cost the same as my own package, but hopefully not for awhile.


So Comcast are the same kind of dicks as Spectrum, apparently.


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## MaconTrax (Apr 13, 2018)

Greg820 said:


> I've kind of figured my TIVO days are numbered as I only have cable BOLTs today and am looking very seriously at dropping cable. From my vantage point way outside the company, it looks like the DVR days could be numbered and that has left me quite hesitant to buy new equipment given the price of lifetime service. However, I am being tempted by the summer sale of an OTA Edge for $300 with lifetime. This could be a longer post, but to get to the point, is there any realistic reason to worry about TIVO not supporting a new OTA box today for the next several years? People have been predicting the end of the company here for a decade or more. How realistic are those predictions?


I think I'm pretty much done with Tivo. I've owned 8 over the years. I currently have a functional XL4 w/ lifetime, I functional Roamio w/ lifetime, and another Roamio that my wife just told me we were paying month to month. We bought it in 2012 so I'm guessing we've paid about $1600 in subscription fees. It used to be you could call Tivo and they'd convert it to lifetime for $99. No more. You can't even get a number for them anymore. Of course the month to month one is the most heavily used. I'm going to try and start transferring shows to one of the lifetime units and dump the month to month model.

And what the heck is this Tivo "All In" subscription for $550? That's nuts. I priced a new edge w/ "All-In" and it was over $900. No thanks. I'll pay the cable company $5/month to just rent one.


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## tenthplanet (Mar 5, 2004)

MaconTrax said:


> I think I'm pretty much done with Tivo. I've owned 8 over the years. I currently have a functional XL4 w/ lifetime, I functional Roamio w/ lifetime, and another Roamio that my wife just told me we were paying month to month. We bought it in 2012 so I'm guessing we've paid about $1600 in subscription fees. It used to be you could call Tivo and they'd convert it to lifetime for $99. No more. You can't even get a number for them anymore. Of course the month to month one is the most heavily used. I'm going to try and start transferring shows to one of the lifetime units and dump the month to month model.
> 
> And what the heck is this Tivo "All In" subscription for $550? That's nuts. I priced a new edge w/ "All-In" and it was over $900. No thanks. I'll pay the cable company $5/month to just rent one.


That's what's been killing DVR ownership for years. People are happy to rent them and not get their hands dirty  Don't take it personally.


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## markjrenna (Mar 23, 2006)

Yes, I have one for every TV I have. I can't tolerate the FiOS DVR.


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## Diana Collins (Aug 21, 2002)

We hardly watch any linear TV these days. We have kept FiOS TV because we are grandfathered in on an old package that, if changed, would increase our TV/Cable/Phone bill by over $60/month. The effect is that it is cheaper to keep our cable package since it gets us access to a lot of OTP services (like HBOMax, EPIX, AdultSwim, etc).

So, there is no way I would buy a new TiVo today. Our two Roamio Pros paid for themselves years ago, and they are still chugging along fine. If and when they finally die we'll probably drop DVRs altogether.

In a few more years, I expect all cable TiVos to become paperweights. OTA Tivos may have some future, but I just put up a HomeRun Flex 4K (4 tuners, all ATSC 1.0 or clear QAM, 2 ATSC 3.0) and am using Plex DVR as an experiment (which is going quite well).


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## tommiet (Oct 28, 2005)

In home DVR's in general are dying a slow death. I'll bet no cable company is developing any new home dvr's anymore. Cloud DVR's are the new norm and save on hardware and service calls.

At one time, 80% of my TV watching was probably DVR events. Now, its probably about 5%. TiVo is the king of DVR's and will die in a nice wooden coffin.

So, with all that said...... IMO... Buying a *new *Tivo DVR with lifetime service is just crazy.


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## Sonyad (Sep 2, 2014)

I would still get a Tivo. This morning my Fios crashed. They determined it's the outside ONT, but the repair isn't until tomorrow. I have no cable, internet or phone right now (using cellphone hotspot). However I can watch my Tivo recordings, even through my minis. I have a one pass for Law & Order SVU and a new episode is recording tonight. Since I knew my recording would be blank, I went online and scheduled the recording on my TIVO Premiere I have at my parent's house in another state. I can transfer it to my Bolt tomorrow. The Premiere also records all the hometown baseball games that I otherwise could not see.


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## connie_w (Jan 10, 2015)

I bought my Roamio OTA when they were sold at Best Buy and on the site for a mere $49. If I could buy one again at that price, I sure would. 
I wouldn't by their current OTA model because it only has 2 Tuners. Ticks me off. The Roamio OTA has 4 tuners and I sometimes wish it had 2 more. Seriously, the OTA channels have a lot of good content.


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## mattack (Apr 9, 2001)

absolutely.. and I recently answered a question on Quora saying something like "what is better about a Comcast DVR than tivo", and listed two (possible) advantages of Comcast's, and I think 4 advantages of Tivos.. (and I didn't even mention QuickPlay, which for me is a BIG BIG BIG BIG bonus, and as I have said, I would probably pay for MORE streaming, at least sporadically, IF I could do QuickPlay.. e.g. discovery+.. I also wish streaming services would allow me to export some kind of human readable + computer readable "what I've watched" format.. I use kmttg to get metadata files from recordings for some of that..)


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## SullyND (Dec 30, 2004)

If my Roamio died I’d repair it. If it was beyond repair I’d buy a used Roamio. If that were no longer an option I’d begrudgingly take an xfinity DVR.


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## dougtv (May 20, 2015)

connie_w said:


> I bought my Roamio OTA when they were sold at Best Buy and on the site for a mere $49. If I could buy one again at that price, I sure would.
> I wouldn't by their current OTA model because it only has 2 Tuners. Ticks me off. The Roamio OTA has 4 tuners and I sometimes wish it had 2 more. Seriously, the OTA channels have a lot of good content.


Good content depending on for who I would assume. I'm in my early 30s so I am a "millennial" but I love LAFF, Decades, MeTV, COZI, AntennaTV, RewindTV, and my local ABC/NBC/FOX/CBS news. PBS doesn't interest like they used to and it is nice to catch a random movie on some of the other channels, even with commercials because the I would have never thought of some of the movies or discovered them if it weren't for these networks broadcasting them. The whole nostalgia of Antenna TV I really do enjoy probably because as a kid in the early 90s, what was on NickAtNite is now considered "vintage tv" since NickAtNite now sees "Classic TV" as George Lopez and Friends 


p.s. the best TiVo DVR, especially for OTA is the Roamio. Real Hard Disk Drives, 4 tuners for OTA model...TE 3 / Roamios all the way. Bolt is lame and Premiere is slightly more of a hassle when it comes to replacing drives or upgrades, etc. Roamio is super easy for drive replacements/upgrades. I think it's the best TiVo model ever out of all their generations. 

When it comes to ANY TiVo DVR, never think of stream. I don't care if it's an Edge. 

Streaming is for Roku/AndroidTV/TiVoStream4k/AppleTV/FireTV/Nvidia/if you're lucky a SmartTV. 

So if you need a good quality DVR, I would always go with a used lifetime Roamio.


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## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

I would still be using my Roamio Base model for cable TV today if Spectrum had been halfway reasonable to deal with, even putting up with having to power-cycle the Tuning Adapter every few weeks. I just got fed up with their frequent huge price hikes and the hassle of trying to bargain them down.

That is not quite the same as saying I would buy one of the current models. Not sure about that. I lack confidence about the viability of TiVo. I think it would be a different story if the transition to digital TV (with CableCARD and Tuning Adapter issues) had not soured so many people on TiVo. That wasn't TiVo's fault. It resulted from trying to foist something on Cable cos that was a real PITA to them. Anyway it stunted TiVo's growth so much that their viability is in question.


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## mrsean (May 15, 2006)

I see that Tivo has finally brought the Edge for cable down to a $550 price point with All-In. They should have done this more than a year ago. Now, it's too late to matter.


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## gibby (Feb 26, 2002)

Me and my Family have been big time tivo users, I think over the years I have purchased about 10 tivos. Would I buy another Tivo Today ?
the answer is, I still use tivo but its NO, Unless they intergrade the Tivo 4k stick into the tivo box, 
having to use a streaming stick and tivo because the Tivo does not support the newer apps or anything more than amazon and netflix is a major problem. I Know Tivo can do this but they choose not to..
makes me very upset that the end users do not matter in these big companies EYES


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## DocNo (Oct 10, 2001)

I've recently moved. Was on FIOS with cablecards and a 6 tuner bolt. Have zero desire to go down that path with any cable provider (and doubly so against doing so with Cox, who covers my new area). YouTube TV is suprisingly good - but I've found I just don't watch much corporate programming. I watch far more from Youtube, rumble or other sites dominated by independant content creators. Far more interesting and useful stuff - and it's far easier to weed out the preaching too


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## lesrhorer (Oct 10, 2020)

Not only no, but HELL NO! A number of impossible things would have to happen. First of all, they would have to ditch the Rovi guide service and get a decent one. Unlikely, since TiVo owns Rovi (or vice versa, if you like). Secondly, they would have to beat CableLabs into working out a reasonable integrated two way security system not reliant upon the CATV stream. In other words, an internet based two way security system. Thirdly, the CATV companies would have to abandon their nearly universal ties with the movie studio owners' irrational paranoia. Fourthly, the CATV systems would need to abandon their narrow-minded focus on traditional content. In particular, they would need to completely eliminate the requirement that customer pay for local and sports programming. Finally, the CATV companies would need to drastically cut their prices.

Oh, I almost forgot! TiVo would need to dump Plex, or at least provide an alternative means of viewing content on a user's server. An update to the push utility not requiring a third party server would be great.


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## Guy Fleegman (Jan 15, 2022)

Dropped TiVo, went Roku. Only miss rewind during the local news. Stupid Spectrum app.


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## mazman (Nov 13, 2002)

I've been with TiVo for 20 years but am hanging on by a string. The HDMI output on my Romeo Pro failed a few months ago and last week one of my Mini's got the reboot of death. When the Romeo finally dies, I'll get the X1 box from Comcast and use the Roku Xfinity TV Beta app in place of my Mini's. It's been a great run, but it's about over.


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## MrDell (Jul 8, 2012)

I too have enjoyed TiVo for many years and I still am using it without any issues, but I really don’t think I would invest in new hardware at this time. Not really sure what direction Tivo is heading and my household is streaming more and more these days (Acorn, Britbox, Prime.. etc)…. Although I would invest in another hard drive if one failed in my existing TiVos.


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## zalusky (Apr 5, 2002)

My Roamio has been sitting unplugged for almost a year now. We live in the YT/YTTV/Channels DVRstreamer world. My wife used to search the guide for cooking shows every night. Now she spends all her time in YouTube.
I don't think we would go back even if the UI and hardware was better. Streaming is just so much more flexible.


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## connie_w (Jan 10, 2015)

Not until they improve the OTA model to again have at least 4 tuners and reduce the price. My original Roamio OTA was $49.00 and you could buy lifetime service or do monthly.
Heck now they want a lot of money for the Edge OTA with only 2 tuners. They keep sending me offers to get the Edge for Cable - I DON"T have cable.


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## NashGuy (May 2, 2015)

zalusky said:


> My Roamio has been sitting unplugged for almost a year now.


If that thing has lifetime service on it, you may as well sell it so it can get some use from someone else and you can recoup a little cash back out of it. That's what I did with my old Roamio OTA.


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## zalusky (Apr 5, 2002)

NashGuy said:


> If that thing has lifetime service on it, you may as well sell it so it can get some use from someone else and you can recoup a little cash back out of it. That's what I did with my old Roamio OTA.


I have thought about it. I have 3 mini's as well.


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## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

lesrhorer said:


> Not only no, but HELL NO! A number of impossible things would have to happen. First of all, they would have to ditch the Rovi guide service and get a decent one. Unlikely, since TiVo owns Rovi (or vice versa, if you like). Secondly, they would have to beat CableLabs into working out a reasonable integrated two way security system not reliant upon the CATV stream. In other words, an internet based two way security system. Thirdly, the CATV companies would have to abandon their nearly universal ties with the movie studio owners' irrational paranoia. Fourthly, the CATV systems would need to abandon their narrow-minded focus on traditional content. In particular, they would need to completely eliminate the requirement that customer pay for local and sports programming. Finally, the CATV companies would need to drastically cut their prices.
> 
> Oh, I almost forgot! TiVo would need to dump Plex, or at least provide an alternative means of viewing content on a user's server. An update to the push utility not requiring a third party server would be great.


TL;DR When pigs fly!


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## tommage1 (Nov 6, 2008)

Would I buy a Tivo today? I have lifetime Tivos of most models. I might buy a lifetime cable Edge for kicks, if it was $200-250. Any other model the most I'd pay is $200 for a lifetime unit, most less, or much less.


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## seanandrsn (Dec 12, 2010)

gigaquad said:


> Today? Absolutely not. They lost me as a fan when they killed off the transfer feature from computers. Roamio is as far as I went with them. All my TV is OTA now too. Cable got up to over $120/month for just the basics so I told them to stuff it. Now I buy $120 worth of beer and I feel like I'm better off. No contest.


PyTivo (open source 3rd party app) will allow you to transfer to & from your TiVo to your computer. I have a 10 TB external drive on my computer that allows me to serve media on demand to either on of my Bolts. I use MoCA with the TiVo bridge and can transfer a 2.5 hour movie in about 30 to 45 seconds on my network.


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## javabird (Oct 13, 2006)

mazman said:


> I've been with TiVo for 20 years but am hanging on by a string. The HDMI output on my Romeo Pro failed a few months ago and last week one of my Mini's got the reboot of death. When the Romeo finally dies, I'll get the X1 box from Comcast and use the Roku Xfinity TV Beta app in place of my Mini's. It's been a great run, but it's about over.


I’ll probably do the same (with the XFINITY app on my Apple TV).


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## betamax (Mar 5, 2002)

Nope. I dropped cable too.


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## mdavej (Aug 13, 2015)

I just bought a Tivo to use as an OTA DVR. Should still work fine for that purpose for at least another 5 years.


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## connie_w (Jan 10, 2015)

I would if they would come out with another OTA DVR at a decent price that had 4 or more tuners like my Roamio. I'm not buying the Edge OTA with only 2 tuners.
When I bought my Roamio they were selling them on the site and at Best Buy for $49. But sheesh, other than recently they decided to give a fairly decent deal on the Edges with Lifetime service, whatever they call it. But that's still a lot of money to pay.


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## mdavej (Aug 13, 2015)

connie_w said:


> I would if they would come out with another OTA DVR at a decent price that had 4 or more tuners like my Roamio. I'm not buying the Edge OTA with only 2 tuners.
> When I bought my Roamio they were selling them on the site and at Best Buy for $49. But sheesh, other than recently they decided to give a fairly decent deal on the Edges with Lifetime service, whatever they call it. But that's still a lot of money to pay.


Used lifetime Roamios are very cheap. You can probably find one for a hundred bucks or so these days.


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