# I Love TiVo, but I'm Disappointed



## riesscar (Mar 11, 2016)

Greetings,

I'll make this short, but I want to first mention that I am a devout patron of TiVo and view their entertainment devices as so far superior to the Motorola rip-off boxes of the various cable companies (I'm a cox victim). So, this critique is in the hopes that TiVo will fix the issues I present and avoid the unethical marketing techniques that I describe below:

The main theme is that I feel as though TiVo sold the Bolt by touting a litany of features that they either haven't delivered on, and it seems as though the company is trying to act as though we should be grateful if and when they fix the features that should have worked from the outset.

1) Streaming Capability - The streaming capability (both in home and out) is so inconsistent that it is basically useless, at least insofar as its inability to function the way it was supposed to. They have completely disabled out of home streaming, and audaciously act as though we might be lucky enough to have the feature added in a future firmware update. Additionally, even in home streaming performance is dodgy at best. I have a very fast network with powerful hardware and excellent triple band AC routers, yet I can only stream to my iPad when downstairs (adjacent an AP) for about 10 mins before it buffer, freezes, tells me to download the file, and transfers at pathetically slow speeds. 

The point is that this is either an issue with the Bolt firmware or the app, and TiVo has an obligation to its customers to fix the issue.

2) The so-called 'Skip' feature - This is the biggest lie of the marketing for the Bolt. The device touted itself as an end to commercials, but the shows TiVo provides commercial skipping for are few and far between. I may watch obscure shows or something, but I have been able to utilize 'Skip' on only one show of the many I record, which is the show 'Modern Family'. It is offered on only network shows I'm pretty sure. Moreover, I have ad-detecting software on my computer that can provide commercial skipping at the click of a button, so what is so difficult about implementing it?

3) Failure to sync Onepass Info Between Devices - For those of us who own multiple devices, there is no reason that my two TiVos cannot recorded in-tandem when there are conflicts, share one-pass recording duties, and display a unified library in which shows recorded on either devices are displayed as one compiled database.

TiVo can do better than this... really :down:


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## baimo (Mar 2, 2006)

Maybe you don't really love Tivo as much as you thought


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## jrtroo (Feb 4, 2008)

Not that these are not real issues, they are. But, it also sounds like you did not do your research on how skipmode is applied or how streaming was limited at launch to in home only. Tivo has never promised a unified OP experience, and to ask for it is fine, to expect it is futile. "there is no reason" is absurd- of course they have reasons for not doing something.

Again, your problems wtih streaming in/out of home stink and I hope they are addressed. Skip mode is improving, as it does get missed from time to time. But, it was never indicated to be a greater experience than for primetime shows for only specific networks.


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## bonscott87 (Oct 3, 2000)

Skipmode is limited to certain channels I believe and some channels don't allow it. Having said that, 100% of my 20 or so season passes all have skipmode available on them. So it may just be the shows/channels you watch. I believe Tivo has a list of the channels/shows on it's web site. At least I remember seeing it when I researched the Bolt before purchase 3 months ago.


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## SolomonJ (Dec 5, 2015)

riesscar said:


> Greetings,
> 
> I'll make this short, but I want to first mention that I am a devout patron of TiVo and view their entertainment devices as so far superior to the Motorola rip-off boxes of the various cable companies (I'm a cox victim). So, this critique is in the hopes that TiVo will fix the issues I present and avoid the unethical marketing techniques that I describe below:
> 
> ...


Yes, I regret buying my Bolt in early December. I too believed the marketing material on OOH streaming coming. I went with the Bolt instead of a Roamio Pro for the 4K support. But, realistically, everything Bolt can play in 4K my TV's can do natively without the Bolt. If I'd gone Roamio Pro, I'd have my streaming, 2 more tuners, and more storage space without losing any functionality. Unfortunately, hindsight is 20/20, and I'm stuck with what I got now.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

riesscar said:


> Greetings,
> 
> I'll make this short, but I want to first mention that I am a devout patron of TiVo and view their entertainment devices as so far superior to the Motorola rip-off boxes of the various cable companies (I'm a cox victim). So, this critique is in the hopes that TiVo will fix the issues I present and avoid the unethical marketing techniques that I describe below:
> 
> ...


WHile there is no out of home streaming, I have found in home streaming rock solid on my Wireless N network. Whether I use 5Ghz or 2.4Ghz there have been no issues. I can stream to multiple devices concurrently from my two Bolts and all the streams will stay rock solid for over an hour. But I also use Android devices so maybe it just works better with them than Apple?

SKip was a known limitation from the beginning. Only covering certain networks and certain time periods.

And I don't recall them ever saying anything about syncing up One Passes between devices. Personally I have my One Passes separated between two Bolts. So between that and the priority list I don't have any issues.

Well at least now that they allow clipping to be disabled.


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## justen_m (Jan 15, 2004)

aaronwt said:


> WHile there is no out of home streaming, I have found in home streaming rock solid on my Wireless N network.


I have had zero problems with 5GHz in home streaming to my Windows and Linux laptop and netbooks. All use Chrome to connect to online.tivo.com. My TiVo has a wired connection.

I do share the OP's annoyance with lack of good OOH streaming. It'll be nice to have, but certainly didn't factor into my decision to buy a TiVo. For me, my primary use is a DVR, not a streaming device. I guess if I bought a TiVo looking for perfect streaming, I'd be disappointed.



> SKip was a known limitation from the beginning. Only covering certain networks and certain time periods.


Skip mode is great, and often works as advertised.However, sometimes shows that should, logically, and according to TiVo, have skipmode, don't. e.g. last night on CBS, my Big Bang Theory has skip, Mom and 2 Broke Girls don't have skip, Elementary does have skip. All three new primetime shows on CBS. Two have skip data, two don't.


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## mikeyts (Jul 10, 2004)

Skipmode only works for the 20 most popular channels (according to TiVo), for programming between 4:30 PM and midnight (12:30 AM on channels with 11:30 late night shows). When it works it's beautiful (though sometimes it goes to a fraction of a second beyond the end of the ad break) but if most of what you record is on channels not in that list you're SOL.


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## BNBTivo (Sep 7, 2015)

I've found that at least 90% of our recordings have skip mode. My basketball games don't, but I don't care that much, either. I've found non-primetime shows that I wouldn't think would have it, do. Like House Hunters and what not.


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## TIVO_GUY_HERE (Jul 10, 2000)

Most of my recording ( if not all) have skip mode, that is they are supposed to. The Carmichael show should of been, but wasn't.


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## 7thton (Mar 3, 2005)

riesscar said:


> Greetings,
> 
> I'll make this short, but I want to first mention that I am a devout patron of TiVo and view their entertainment devices as so far superior to the Motorola rip-off boxes of the various cable companies (I'm a cox victim). So, this critique is in the hopes that TiVo will fix the issues I present and avoid the unethical marketing techniques that I describe below:
> 
> ...


Regarding point one: I have had no issues whatsoever with streaming services. Netflix runs like a champ. Amazon too. Hulu is the worst of the bunch, but it is still useable. I am able to stream content from the Bolt to my iPad reliably and with excellent quality. I have the Bolt hardwired to my router (Apple Airport Extreme) and a 100-130 megabits per second connection. If you are having the issues as described, then there is something in your set-up that is fighting the TiVo somehow.

Regarding point two. What shows are you watching? I watch a wide variety of stuff and 80% of it has the "skip" option. Note that skip isn't an option if you are watching the show time-shifted by only a small amount of time (~2 hours or so?).


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## chicagobrownblue (May 29, 2008)

aaronwt said:


> WHile there is no out of home streaming, I have found in home streaming rock solid on my Wireless N network. Whether I use 5Ghz or 2.4Ghz there have been no issues.


What wireless router do you have that has both 5Ghz and 2.4Ghz?


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

chicagobrownblue said:


> What wireless router do you have that has both 5Ghz and 2.4Ghz?


There are several makes & models. Which manufacturer do you prefer? I'm using a Netgear R8000. Everything I have is on 5GHz except a printer on 2.4GHz.


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## justen_m (Jan 15, 2004)

chicagobrownblue said:


> What wireless router do you have that has both 5Ghz and 2.4Ghz?


My TP-Link Archer C2 has both, and can use both concurrently. My ancient netbook is the only thing that uses 2.4GHz, while my newer machines use 5GHz.


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## waynomo (Nov 9, 2002)

It's funny, but I find 5GHz just about useless unless you are in the same room as the router. YMMV.


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## rpiotro (Oct 20, 2005)

waynomo said:


> It's funny, but I find 5GHz just about useless unless you are in the same room as the router. YMMV.


It seems the 2.4 has better range. But, if I use my laptop in the kitchen and connected to the 2.4 radio the signal will stop when I operate the microwave. If I am connected to the 5GHz it stays connected. Each has its own strengths I guess.

Sixth gen Apple airport extreme here.


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## waynomo (Nov 9, 2002)

rpiotro said:


> It seems the 2.4 has better range. But, if I use my laptop in the kitchen and connected to the 2.4 radio the signal will stop when I operate the microwave. If I am connected to the 5GHz it stays connected. Each has its own strengths I guess.
> 
> Sixth gen Apple airport extreme here.


I didn't know Apple made microwaves.


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## chicagobrownblue (May 29, 2008)

aaronwt said:


> WHile there is no out of home streaming, I have found in home streaming rock solid on my *Wireless N network*.





JoeKustra said:


> There are several makes & models. Which manufacturer do you prefer? I'm using a Netgear R8000. Everything I have is on 5GHz except a printer on 2.4GHz.


I would call your network a wireless AC network. I'm guessing that is what aaronwt has. Thought I missed a 2.4/5.0 wireless N router.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

chicagobrownblue said:


> What wireless router do you have that has both 5Ghz and 2.4Ghz?


I use an Asus RT-N56U as my router and then an RT-N56U and a couple of RT-65U models in AP mode. They all allow 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz concurrent WiFi. I also use the Padavan custom firmware with them which is better than the stock Asus firmware.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

chicagobrownblue said:


> I would call your network a wireless AC network. I'm guessing that is what aaronwt has. Thought I missed a 2.4/5.0 wireless N router.


No I have Wireless N. My routers do not support AC since they are rather old now. The N56U came out in 2010 and I think the N65U came out a year later. I use them because along with the custom firmware they have been rock solid. I never had any problem getting 150Mb/s throughput over WiFi, with devices that support it. I've had no need to move to AC because I also have a wired gigabit network. So the devices that need those fast speeds are wired.


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## HerronScott (Jan 1, 2002)

chicagobrownblue said:


> I would call your network a wireless AC network. I'm guessing that is what aaronwt has. Thought I missed a 2.4/5.0 wireless N router.


I've got an older Netgear WNDR4000 that's 2.4GHz/5.0Ghz 802.11n as well - no AC here either.

Scott


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## chicagobrownblue (May 29, 2008)

JoeKustra said:


> There are several makes & models. Which manufacturer do you prefer? I'm using a* Netgear R8000*. Everything I have is on 5GHz except a printer on 2.4GHz.


My comment was on JoeKustra's Netgear R8000 which is AC:

IEEE® 802.11 b/g/n 2.4GHz-256QAM support
IEEE® 802.11 a/n/ac 5.0 GHz



aaronwt said:


> I use an *Asus RT-N56U* as my router and then an RT-N56U and a couple of RT-65U models in AP mode. They all allow 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz concurrent WiFi. I also use the Padavan custom firmware with them which is better than the stock Asus firmware.


This is a dual-band N. I missed those routers when they came out.


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

It's a nice router, but sort of ugly.

Every notice how many threads are started by someone that keeps their post count at 1? There should be a name for that. 

I have about 13 wireless devices. Two are Mini boxes off an AP and one Roamio using an ASUS EA-N66R. Everything spread over two floors, three rooms and two adjacent houses. No problems.


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## riesscar (Mar 11, 2016)

Thanks for all of the replies,

If no one else is experiencing issues with in home streaming, I do acknowledge that it could have as much to do with an issues on my end. I'll do some more research. T clarify, I don't have any issue with streaming and connectivity except for when streaming to my iPad from my Bolt. Everything else (apps and the like on the Bolt) works fine, and streaming to and from my Bolt and other TiVo devices (Premiere XL4 and a Mini) I have had no issues.

My third point about unification of OnePass recording responsibilities is not something that TiVo promised on, just something I felt was intuitive... but thank you to the individual who pointed that out 

I really didn't want to slam TiVo, and I really like the Bolt. It just disappoints me a littlle. I wish that I'd known the skip feature would only be available on the top 20 must recorded shows... hardly how it was marketed, but buyer beware I guess. I think that there is room for improvement. The hardware is there -- now some FW and SW improvements could allow the device to reach a fuller potential.


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## 7thton (Mar 3, 2005)

riesscar said:


> I wish that I'd known the skip feature would only be available on the top 20 must recorded shows


Top 20 most popular CHANNELS, not shows.


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## Beavertail Tivo (Nov 7, 2015)

I had the 10 minute problem until I changed from a good Netgear router to one of the latest and greatest and used the 5G signal. You're not crazy. I've had many of the same problems. Netflix still doesn't work with Cox cable. They tell me it's a known issue.


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## trip1eX (Apr 2, 2005)

Were any of those issues not known before purchase?

Also out of home streaming on the Roamio doesn't exactly work great so not sure you're missing anything.


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