# TiVo Guide, Downloading Shows, One pass for streams. Questions.



## Player1138 (Oct 1, 2015)

Potential buyer with a few more questions.

I am reviewing the owners manual online and have a few questions I hope some owners will be able to answer for me.

The Guide - I see it has two guide settings. A 'Live Guide' and 'Grid Guide.' Is the Grid Guide one that just has time at the top like 12, 12:30, 1, 1:30 etc where you can just scroll to easily see what is on. I see a screen shot of the live guide where it is really by channel and you have to select the channel to see upcoming shows. Not a fan of that so hopefully grid is better.

Downloading Shows - I know we currently can not stream when not on home Wi-Fi and when that comes apparently most shows will not work. What about if I download a show to my iPad? Can I do that now? Do all networks allow you to download a recorded show? Is downloading pretty easy? I would likely download a show to two overnight to watch the next day.

One Pass For Streams - So it appears that there is a way to include streaming shows in your one pass thing for easy access. Is that accurate. So could I have a Netflix show like House of Cards, then maybe a Yahoo show like Community in that area and see all episodes to easily select it and the bolt will open the app and start playing it.

Thanks. You guys are the best with all the info.


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## kgdad (Oct 27, 2015)

Guide - You have it right. The 'Grid Guide' is what we prefer. It has 8-10 channels on the left and the time across the top. So you can easily see what's on several channels at any one time. The 'Live Guide' has a list of what's on one channel for several hours.

Downloading Shows - Yes downloading to an iPad/iPhone works now and is pretty easy (I haven't tried a PC or Android device). Just select the show and hit download. You can select the quality which will affect the download speed. I usually use medium and seems to take 15min for a 30min show but YMMV. The only network I have seen that hasn't allowed downloads has been HBO but I'm sure there are others. All of the regular networks (ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX) seem to allow it. You can queue up several downloads and it will download them in order.

One Pass for Streams - Haven't tried this yet so not sure how this works exactly.


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## Player1138 (Oct 1, 2015)

kgdad said:


> Downloading Shows - Yes downloading to an iPad/iPhone works now and is pretty easy (I haven't tried a PC or Android device). Just select the show and hit download. You can select the quality which will affect the download speed. I usually use medium and seems to take 15min for a 30min show but YMMV. The only network I have seen that hasn't allowed downloads has been HBO but I'm sure there are others. All of the regular networks (ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX) seem to allow it. You can queue up several downloads and it will download them in order.


Thanks. Seems odd that you can download any show, however when you try to stream outside of the home (when available) that most networks will not let you do it. Does your cable provider have anything to do with this. I have TWC...can they somehow block what I download?

Being able to download anything that is maybe non-premium (HBO) is a big check on the plus side for me as I can usually plan what I might want to watch.

How big a file are the shows? Ballpark?

I got a 16 gig iPad, which should be more than sufficient as the only thing on it are a few apps.


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## mdavej (Aug 13, 2015)

My One Passes list all episodes and give you one click access, if they are currently available on any of the streaming services you subscribe to. If they aren't available, they're still listed, but the links are dead.

IIRC, 1080i MPEG2, typical of cable TV, runs about 5GB per hour. If your cable provider uses MPEG4, the size will be much smaller. Not sure if it gets re-encoded in a different format when you download to an iPad or not. I've never tried it.


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## Player1138 (Oct 1, 2015)

So after more research I am confused on whether or not I can download a show from my Bolt to an iPad with TWC.

Can anyone with TWC and a Bolt confirm or deny this?


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## duffboy (Aug 22, 2004)

I'm back with Tivo after about a 10 year absence. Had the Bolt with TWC in Raleigh and got tired of paying increasing rental fees for 20 year old technology.

I've only had the Bolt a week so not a good sample size to answer your questions but I would say that only 25% of the shows I've tried let me download. You can stream to an iPad fine but download no as you get the copyright message.

I have not figured out what can or cannot yet with any certainty. MNF I could but a 4 year old repeat of Chopped on the Food Network, I could not. A Tivo rep told me that non-HD shows may work better.

For watching shows within your network, I think the TWC app is better as you don't have to start a recording to stream which the Tivo app requires and seems to have better pic quality than the Tivo App. I have not tried out of network streaming with Tivo yet (which the TWC app is very limited).

I will say so far the setup of the Tivo with a TWC cable card and tuning adapter went fine. Pretty straight forward, shockingly TWC was fairly helpful.

If downloading shows is your primary reason for purchasing the Bolt, I would be wary with TWC. However, I still feel it is worthwhile investment for better technology even if for a slight premium. Also you still get access to the TWC app with Tivo.


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## Player1138 (Oct 1, 2015)

duffboy said:


> Also you still get access to the TWC app with Tivo.


So the TWC app is available on the Bolt?

That would help eliminate the issue of no on demand with a cable card as the TWC App has all of that stuff.

Too bad about downloading. I have read network shows work, but not cable shows. I was hoping to download and episode of whatever overnight to watch during lunch breaks or something.

Streaming the live TV is not as exciting to me, even when it is available for out of home streaming.


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## abovethesink (Aug 26, 2013)

I can chime in here. I don't have anything that has a stream (Roamio Basic and original Premiere), but I that TWC copy protects EVERYTHING but the over the air broadcast networks in ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, CW, and PBS. So if they show was on one of those six networks, ala the aforementioned Monday Night Football, then you will be able to transfer it to your iPad. If not, then nope. Other providers are, I guess, much better about this and only protect pay channels like HBO.


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## abovethesink (Aug 26, 2013)

Oh, and no TWC app on the Bolt. But you still have access to it if you have something that will play it, like your iPad or a Roku. So you can watch the On Demand library you are entitled to through that. Other providers have put On Demand apps directly on TiVo, but TWC has not.

All in all TWC is not very TiVo friendly compared to some others, but it will still be a better experience than the terrible hardware they provide. They are my only choice anyway.


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## duffboy (Aug 22, 2004)

Sorry for the confusion. Correct on the TWC app that it is stand alone and still gives you their ondemand. 

I will probably only use the Tivo app to stream whatever I recorded and use the TWC app for live tv or ondemand on a device.

It's not elegant but between the two apps you get full feature options minus downloads.


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## Player1138 (Oct 1, 2015)

kgdad said:


> Guide - You have it right. The 'Grid Guide' is what we prefer. It has 8-10 channels on the left and the time across the top. So you can easily see what's on several channels at any one time. The 'Live Guide' has a list of what's on one channel for several hours.


If you use the grid guide do you still see the show you are watching in a smaller box in the upper right hand corner of the screen?


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## mdavej (Aug 13, 2015)

Yes


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## wscottcross (Dec 24, 2014)

Player1138 said:


> Thanks. Seems odd that you can download any show, however when you try to stream outside of the home (when available) that most networks will not let you do it. Does your cable provider have anything to do with this. I have TWC...can they somehow block what I download?
> 
> Being able to download anything that is maybe non-premium (HBO) is a big check on the plus side for me as I can usually plan what I might want to watch.
> 
> ...


Downloading shows to the iPad requires that they are converted to a format the iPad can play. When you select a show or movie to transfer, it asks you what quality you want. Most shows end up being 1-2GB per hour in the highest quality setting. It takes up to 30 minutes per hour of recording to convert and transfer to the iPad. I have an iPad Mini (64GB) and I'm very happy with the recordings I've transferred so far.

Lucky for me, Comcast only protects HBO, and, strangely, they don't protect HBO2.


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## Player1138 (Oct 1, 2015)

Too bad TWC blocks the downloads.

I assume they will not likely change this given the small percentage of people who use a TiVo.


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## jrtroo (Feb 4, 2008)

It's their competitive advantage.


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