# Deal-Breaker



## Danarra (Jul 26, 2008)

Considering sending the box back because I'm so frustrated.

1) Cable shows play multiple times a day and I only want to watch the new episodes. This would be an easy programming fix. Add one field to the Season Pass - "Record Only At This Time". If the Tivo just had that it would have been worth the money. As it is, I'm wasting too much time and frustration trying to record just the shows I want to watch.

Well - you say - just setup a manual recording! Bullhockey. Then the bloody thing records anything on that channel at that time. If I want to do that, might as well go back to using a VCR - it's cheaper and I'd know it was bollocks.

Tried using the Wishlist method - which is hit and miss at best. And more frustration even when it does work cause the repeat shows I don't want to record still show up in the To Do list, making my blood pressure rise every time I have to explain to my family why I spent $500 on this stupid dvr that isn't as usable as our old Moxi.

It's a simple programming fix - why haven't you done it yet?


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## ewilts (Feb 26, 2002)

It's a simple fix for the networks - just put the episode number in and we're done - the TiVo takes care of the rest.

However, for *most* programs, the way it works today really does work (make sure the Season Pass is set to record only new episodes). For a rare handful of programs, there are workarounds that aren't "hit or miss". There's a published method to get the Daily Show with John Stewart that has worked flawlessly for me.

Which show(s) are you having issues with?

Why does recording a TV show incorrectly make your blood pressure rise?


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## Danarra (Jul 26, 2008)

It makes my blood pressure rise because in this economic climate I was duped into spending a lot of money.

As far as I can see so far, Tivo's reputation is undeserved. The programmers are apparently lazy and features that were available in DVRs I got from my cable provider for free aren't available in this very expensive box. 

I had thought that because of the way people rave about Tivo that it would be the best DVR on the market. It's not. Basic features like having a field in the Season Pass screen to Record at This Time Only, or picture in picture that allows you to continue watching your recorded program while looking either at the grid or the To Do list, also speaking of the grid - there is no way to tell what programs you have set to record while looking at the program grid. EVERY DVR I had for free from my cable company had all of these features. Yet the box I spend $500 of my family's precious income on - this is the box that lacks the most basic features that make a DVR usable.

I feel tricked and that is very upsetting. It's even more upsetting cause I work with computers and I know that these things are easily fixed. They don't require any new hardware, just a few programming changes. So the programmers for Tivo are lazy and are cheating the customers out of basic features that should have been included.

I keep thinking I should just return the bloody thing and get my money back. This thing is a miserable excuse for a DVR.


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## Lazlo123 (Nov 7, 2006)

If I could get a free DVR from my cable company, I'd go with that, it's free! Why not! You don't use Cox do you? Cuz if you do, the Cox people in AZ have a lotta splaining todo! They make us pay for their DVR's.


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## Grey Griffin (May 24, 2007)

If you are that frustrated with it then I say return it. I find my cable company's DVR very frustrating, but a lot of that has to do with what you're used to. Personally, I find many things on the cable DVR annoying, including the picture in picture feature. I've had a Tivo since 2002 and am very used to it's features, my brother has only used the cable co. DVR and he thinks Tivos are annoying. To each his own.


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## tootal2 (Oct 14, 2005)

Danarra said:


> Considering sending the box back because I'm so frustrated.
> 
> 1) Cable shows play multiple times a day and I only want to watch the new episodes. This would be an easy programming fix. Add one field to the Season Pass - "Record Only At This Time". If the Tivo just had that it would have been worth the money. As it is, I'm wasting too much time and frustration trying to record just the shows I want to watch.
> 
> ...


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## WhiskeyTango (Sep 20, 2006)

Danarra said:


> Yet the box I spend $500 of my family's precious income on - this is the box that lacks the most basic features that make a DVR usable.


Really, telling the DVR to record only at this time and PiP are what makes it usable? Not recording all of your shows regardless of when they are on? If you have something else you want the Tivo to record at a given time, move it up in the SP list. If it's recording duplicates, use the repeating manual recording. So what if it records something else once in a while because your show wasn't on then, delete it from the TDL. I see absolutely no use for either of the features you deem to be 'Basic Features'. Do you ***** this much about everything? If you don't like it take it back and be done with the Tivo and us. Just because it's interface isn't exactly what you like or are used to doesn't make it 'a miserable excuse for a DVR.'

Learn how to use the Tivo properly and then maybe you'll understand why people rave about it. It's not perfect but what is? I've got 2 Tivo's with over 150 season passes and haven't missed an episode of any show I've scheduled in 4 years.


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## vazquezj324 (Jul 2, 2008)

Maybe you should have researched further before spending $500 on a TiVo...or maybe have gotten a cheaper TiVo if you didn't know what you were purchasing. Either way...the fault is yours.


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## lrhorer (Aug 31, 2003)

Danarra said:


> It makes my blood pressure rise because in this economic climate I was duped into spending a lot of money.


No one duped you into anything.



Danarra said:


> As far as I can see so far, Tivo's reputation is undeserved. The programmers are apparently lazy and features that were available in DVRs I got from my cable provider for free aren't available in this very expensive box.


First of all, for most CATV providers, the TiVo is cheaper. Amortizing the cost of my Series I over its lifetime, it was a bit less than 1/2 the cost of the CATV DVR over the same time period.



Danarra said:


> I had thought that because of the way people rave about Tivo that it would be the best DVR on the market. It's not.


Bull pookey. I've worked with numerous DVRs. Some are better than others, some downright lousy. TiVos are well ahead of the pack.



Danarra said:


> Basic features like having a field in the Season Pass screen to Record at This Time Only


Not only is that not a basic feature, it's pretty irrelevant. There's really very little reason to exclude the other recordings on a TiVo. Unlike the DVR you are used to, the TiVo manages its drive space very well, so what you are calling a "basic feature" is largely meaningless. It's a little like complaining your new Corvette doesn't have training wheels like your Schwinn did. Even if the TiVo did not manage its drive space well, however, I doubt you will find 1 person in 10,000 who considered this feature to be important. Let me ask the question this way, "What does it matter that the TiVo records several episodes of some shows rather than one?"



Danarra said:


> or picture in picture that allows you to continue watching your recorded program while looking either at the grid or the To Do list, also speaking of the grid - there is no way to tell what programs you have set to record while looking at the program grid.


So don't use the guide. The guide is a poor idea. Most other DVRs don't have anything better. TheTiVo has several utilities that are vastly better than any guide can be. I have never once used the guide, and I have had TiVos for over 8 years. I record hundreds of programs a week, or rather, my TiVos do. I calculated the amount of time an average modestly avid TiVo user would waste to no advantage whatsoever over an average adult lifetime using the guide rather than intelligent use of suggestions, wishlists, and well crafted searches. It amounts to the equivalent of over two years out of one's life.



Danarra said:


> EVERY DVR I had for free


I don't know of any CATV company which offers DVRs for free, except perhaps on an introductory basis.



Danarra said:


> from my cable company had all of these features. Yet the box I spend $500 of my family's precious income on - this is the box that lacks the most basic features that make a DVR usable.


And your Schwinn had training wheels. None of the features you mentyioned add anything important to a DVR, especially not one as feature rich as the TiVo. If the TiVo did have them, I would certainly never use them.



Danarra said:


> I feel tricked and that is very upsetting.


What utter nonsense! No one claimed the TiVo had the trivial features you for some odd reason find so important. Less than 20 minutes of research would reveal all the major features available on the TiVo, and when that research failed to turn them up you could have asked questions on this forum. It's not TiVo's fault you didn't do your research before buying.

More to the point, the basic functionality of a DVR is to record programs. The TiVo makes accurately targeted recording of large volumes of relevant programs easier and more automatic than any other DVR. Since the beginning of this year, my TiVos have recorded for archiving over 2000 hours of programing, and recorded for temporary use more than 10 times that amount. Better than 90% of the materials recorded I would have considered interesting if I had had anything like enough time to watch most of it. At the same time, the TiVos filtered out more than 600,000 hours of garbage of totally no interest to me. All that required less than 3 hours of my time spent selecting programs. I would qualify that as "useful" and "useable".


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## andyw715 (Jul 31, 2007)

Another victim of the "economic crisis". You can't be doing to bad if you are dropping $500 on a TiVo...sorry no sympathy from me.

How about separating your financial "woes" from TiVo technicalities? You might then get better responses.


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## ZeoTiVo (Jan 2, 2004)

yes, your best course of action is to return the TiVo since you are way to _knowledgable_ to use it.

PS - if you truly worked with computers, instead of made use of computers in your work then you would know that suggestions are for making clear suggestions not rants


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## magnus (Nov 12, 2004)

love it... so true. why post crap like that on suggestions.



ZeoTiVo said:


> yes, your best course of action is to return the TiVo since you are way to _knowledgable_ to use it.
> 
> PS - if you truly worked with computers, instead of made use of computers in your work then you would know that suggestions are for making clear suggestions not rants


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