# New HD UI - Is it ever going to be finished?



## philhu (Apr 11, 2001)

Well, it has been months since the Premiere Tivo was introduced and it was years before it was introduced.

Just who does a guy have to F**k to get the UI finished? (Line stolen from The Producers )

They literally have had YEARS to get this working. They still haven't turned on dual-core, so we have a slow interface designed for dual-core.

We have a menu system that drops back into the old menu system on any menu 2 levels down.

They promised new versions with 'significant upgrades'. Anyone seen them?

The product seems half finished, and I am back to SD menus


----------



## curiousgeorge (Nov 28, 2002)

Forget "months", actually this month it's been a YEAR and no changes to the UI toward finishing it. The product IS half-finished and super-buggy.

I highly recommend tweeting @tivodesign about it. I haven't received any answers except "it will get better" (when?) and "I understand your frustration" (okay...), but maybe you can do better.


----------



## rainwater (Sep 21, 2004)

It's doubtful it will ever be finished on this platform. My guess is the next generation of TiVo SA hardware will see a more complete UI.


----------



## atmuscarella (Oct 11, 2005)

rainwater said:


> It's doubtful it will ever be finished on this platform. My guess is the next generation of TiVo SA hardware will see a more complete UI.


I'll agree with your guess and make one of my own. No new TiVo SA hardware as long as it has to use cable cards and if a good replacement (good for us & TiVo not the cable & Satellite companies) for cable cards isn't developed TiVo is done in the SA DVR market. 

Thanks,


----------



## smbaker (May 24, 2003)

I've lost any confidence that the Premiere will ever be finished. We have to be satisfied or (dissatisfied) with the product as it stands now.

As far as Tivo ever producing another SA box, it really doesn't matter to me as I don't plan on buying another one unless it's finished _before_ I purchase it and the likelihood of that is poor. It's just sloppy to deliver a product half-finished and has damaged this company and tarnished its brand.

They stopped innovating years ago and are just coasting on the work done a decade ago.

The best thing they could do at this point is to get out of the DVR business entirely, and become a patent-holding/licensing company.


----------



## Goober96 (Jun 28, 2005)

If you use your Tivo mostly to view recorded content and not play around in the menus, it really doesn't matter. As far as I'm concerned, it IS finished and works great.


----------



## smbaker (May 24, 2003)

The problem is with the use of the word 'finished'. Taking for example the definition from dictionary.com:



dictionary.com said:


> finished
> adj
> 1. perfected
> 2. (predicative) at the end of a task, activity, etc.
> 3. (predicative) without further hope of success or continuation


The word doesn't actually require completeness (definition #3 somewhat depressingly sums up the current state of the Premiere), leading to the repeated straw-man argument that "_it does what I use it for, therefore it's finished_". It's much like when every child tells his parents that he's "finished" with his homework. The child by definition has finished with his homework because he has stopped working on it, which is not the question the parent meant to ask.

What the OP meant to ask was, "Is the HDUI ever going to be complete?"

The Premiere was sold as having a HD user interface. I think we can all agree that the HDUI is not complete. Part of it is in high-definition, part of it is not.


----------



## Stevesreed (Jun 24, 2002)

Goober96 said:


> If you use your Tivo *mostly *to view recorded content and not play around in the menus, it really doesn't matter. As far as I'm concerned, it IS finished and works great.


I think at best you cans say it's _*mostly*_ finished.

If all you want is basic watch recorded video, an old Series 3 is more than enough for you.

The Premiere is advertised as having an HD interface, it does not. It is supposed to support "Netflix Streaming", but it's buggy and not integrated into the interface. The unfinished menus are not just for "playing around", but are required for various real features of the device, including setting it up. I could go on and on.

Really, even saying it's "mostly" finished is being too generous.


----------



## caddyroger (Mar 15, 2005)

Goober96 said:


> If you use your Tivo mostly to view recorded content and not play around in the menus, it really doesn't matter. As far as I'm concerned, it IS finished and works great.


So a vcr does the same ting. Tivo advertised a HDui but did not deliver it to a lot of people. It only half finished.


----------



## crxssi (Apr 5, 2010)

philhu said:


> Well, it has been months since the Premiere Tivo was introduced and it was years before it was introduced.


No, it has been over a year



> Just who does a guy have to F**k to get the UI finished? (Line stolen from The Producers )


Good question, no answer. It might never be finished. They can't work the bugs out of the Premiere, which is an even higher priority.



> They literally have had YEARS to get this working. They still haven't turned on dual-core, so we have a slow interface designed for dual-core.


We don't know how long they were working on it before it was released. And there is absolutely no evidence the "interface" was designed for "dual core". In fact, is is highly probable the UI was NOT designed to be threaded and would barely benefit at all from having two cores operational.



> We have a menu system that drops back into the old menu system on any menu 2 levels down.


That will likely never change. Besides, updating Netflix would be far more important to most people, I bet.



> They promised new versions with 'significant upgrades'. Anyone seen them?


Not really. A few bugs fixed, then a few more bugs introduced. A few "who cares" features added. Nothing of great consequence.



> The product seems half finished, and I am back to SD menus


It is somewhat finished. But going to the SD menus certainly doesn't fix everything, unfortunately. I have lost all confidence in TiVo now and will not recommend it highly like I used to. If you buy one, you have to expect it will be no different a year or two years from now.

Depending on your expectations, the Premiere can be anywhere from "OK" to "horrible". I am near the "OK" mark, myself- mostly because I only use the SD interface and just think of the Premiere as a SLIGHT upgrade over the TiVo HD. It is certainly not "great" or "wonderful" or "wow", and was not worth the money and harassment upgrading from the HD.


----------



## unitron (Apr 28, 2006)

philhu said:


> Just who does a guy have to F**k to get the UI finished? (Line stolen from The Producers )


If you bought a Premiere, some would say you've already been "F**k" ed.


----------



## orangeboy (Apr 19, 2004)

unitron said:


> If you bought a Premiere, some would say you've already been "F**k" ed.


Now that actually made me LOL! 

But in all honesty, I don't regret my purchase of the Premiere. I am able to enjoy 720p, 1080i and 1080p content that would otherwise choke my Series 3 (TCD648250). I no longer even attempt to "push" such content to the Series 3, and deem all high bitrate content "Series 4" only. My Series 3 still receives commercial-cut broadcast content from kmttg & pyTivo (hats off to William McBrine and Kevin Moye for providing such awesome open-source applications.) All of the TiVo DVRs continue to serve it's purpose in my household; from my Series 2 that serves as a security camera recorder, to the Series 3 and Premiere that record and playback HD content from my antenna and internet sources.


----------



## crxssi (Apr 5, 2010)

orangeboy said:


> kmttg & pyTivo (hats off to William McBrine and Kevin Moye for providing such awesome open-source applications.)


They have added significantly more value to the Premiere (and other models) than TiVo has since the box's release. :up:


----------



## smbaker (May 24, 2003)

crxssi said:


> They have added significantly more value to the Premiere (and other models) than TiVo has since the box's release. :up:


If only the Premiere would have been 'hackable' like the early S1. Some of our own innovators on this forum would have added streaming, completed the HDUI, and probably done half dozen other things nobody at Tivo has ever though of. (of course, the CCI bit would have also been neutered)

and +1 on pyTivo. It's given me more added value than the S3->S4 transition by far.


----------



## rahnbo (Sep 12, 2010)

I was such a huge Tivo supporter having owned 3 S2 units and now 2 Premier. It feels to me like they have given up and we've been abandoned. This is a company that has gone from first to worst (in my opinion).


----------



## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

It's certainly not the worst and it is still the first based on the DVRs I've seen from Comcast, FiOS, DirecTV, DISH, and Moxi. I would not want to replace my Premieres with any of those boxes.


----------



## greenpad (Feb 17, 2011)

orangeboy said:


> Now that actually made me LOL!
> 
> But in all honesty, I don't regret my purchase of the Premiere. I am able to enjoy 720p, 1080i and 1080p content that would otherwise choke my Series 3 (TCD648250). I no longer even attempt to "push" such content to the Series 3, and deem all high bitrate content "Series 4" only. My Series 3 still receives commercial-cut broadcast content from kmttg & pyTivo (hats off to William McBrine and Kevin Moye for providing such awesome open-source applications.) All of the TiVo DVRs continue to serve it's purpose in my household; from my Series 2 that serves as a security camera recorder, to the Series 3 and Premiere that record and playback HD content from my antenna and internet sources.


How do you play 1080p? It is greyed out as an option on my box, and although I had read that Amazon.com movies would be 1080p, the last HD one I rented was 720p (iirc). Thanks.


----------



## atmuscarella (Oct 11, 2005)

greenpad said:


> How do you play 1080p? It is greyed out as an option on my box, and although I had read that Amazon.com movies would be 1080p, the last HD one I rented was 720p (iirc). Thanks.


I believe you actually have to have 1080P content for the Premiere to play - it will not up-convert non-1080P content.

Thanks,


----------



## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

greenpad said:


> How do you play 1080p? It is greyed out as an option on my box, and although I had read that Amazon.com movies would be 1080p, the last HD one I rented was 720p (iirc). Thanks.


Have it manually test the resolutions. Once 1080P24 is tested and passes, it will be selected instead of being grayed out.


----------



## davezatz (Apr 18, 2002)

aaronwt said:


> It's certainly not the worst and it is still the first based on the DVRs I've seen from Comcast, FiOS, DirecTV, DISH, and Moxi. I would not want to replace my Premieres with any of those boxes.


Depends what your priorities are... DirecTV, FiOS TV DVR (IMG 1.9), and Moxi have much better whole home (streaming) implementations. DISH has a built-in Slingbox. All the above, other than Moxi, have official iPhone apps.. unlike TiVo. Some of the above allow external/expanded storage from any brand. Basically, TiVo is not the clear cut front runner the way they used to be... there are some (not all) solid alternatives out there. I'd say TiVo is still the most reliable, best guide data, and has TiVo To Go for folks who can and want to use it. But there's not this huge chasm unless you're running something like the old SARA.

Back to the topic at hand, it looks like the Virgin version of the HDUI has been completed... or is at least more complete than what we have on the Premiere. So hopefully we benefit from that work at some point - the new guide looks good.


----------



## caddyroger (Mar 15, 2005)

aaronwt said:


> It's certainly not the worst and it is still the first based on the DVRs I've seen from Comcast, FiOS, DirecTV, DISH, and Moxi. I would not want to replace my Premieres with any of those boxes.


For if it was not for the Tivo transfer to pc and back. The Moxi and Comcast box will do what I need just as good as the premiere will. Tivo delivered a machine that does not do what is advertised which is a HDUI


----------



## h2oskierc (Dec 16, 2010)

I tweeted this:



@h2oskierc said:


> @tivodesign any updates on when the @TiVo HDUI will be finished and take advantage of both processors? I love the premiere, but it is incomp


Amusing to me that incomplete is incomplete. I will let you know if I get any kind of response. Maybe we should make a hash-tag like #completeHDUI and start tweeting TiVo with it...


----------



## atmuscarella (Oct 11, 2005)

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion but I fail to see why anyone cares what a UI looks like beyond being readable. I do care how easy it is to use and how well it works and from my point of view the old UI is easy to use and works well so I don't see the problem. Unless the change is going to make it work better or become easier to use I don't want it.

As for how a Premiere stacks up against the "competition" I guess that depends on what the competition is in your mind.

For me I compare it to OTA DVRs as that is what I use it for - in that regards it beats the competition hands down in my mind.

If someone is looking for a HD DVR for Dish or Direct then it is a complete failure as it doesn't work at all.

If you want to generically compare it to all DVRs and Internet access devices in existence well then it becomes fairly easy to find a device that beats it in almost any area.

However if you look at what the current Premiere is designed to do:

Be a HD Cable DVR
Be a HD OTA DVR
Be a Internet Access device
I do not believe you will find another device that does all that any better than a TiVo Premiere. Actually other than a custom built HTPC you will not find another device that does all that a TiVo can do.

Thanks,


----------



## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

davezatz said:


> Depends what your priorities are... DirecTV, FiOS TV DVR (IMG 1.9), and Moxi have much better whole home (streaming) implementations. DISH has a built-in Slingbox. All the above, other than Moxi, have official iPhone apps.. unlike TiVo. Some of the above allow external/expanded storage from any brand. Basically, TiVo is not the clear cut front runner the way they used to be... there are some (not all) solid alternatives out there. I'd say TiVo is still the most reliable, best guide data, and has TiVo To Go for folks who can and want to use it. But there's not this huge chasm unless you're running something like the old SARA.
> 
> Back to the topic at hand, it looks like the Virgin version of the HDUI has been completed... or is at least more complete than what we have on the Premiere. So hopefully we benefit from that work at some point - the new guide looks good.


except for being red/maroon. But I guess that's also the color Virgin uses in it's logo.


----------



## davezatz (Apr 18, 2002)

aaronwt said:


> except for being red/maroon. But I guess that's also the color Virgin uses in it's logo.


Yeah, their whole color scheme is like that. I assume our Premiere's will stick with the blueish hues.



atmuscarella said:


> If you want to generically compare it to all DVRs [...] in existence well then it becomes fairly easy to find a device that beats it in almost any area.


But it didn't used to be that way...


----------



## smbaker (May 24, 2003)

atmuscarella said:


> Everyone is entitled to their own opinion but I fail to see why anyone cares what a UI looks like beyond being readable.


So you'd be fine if it looked like an old 1980s ASCII terminal program? The interface does matter. Premiere owners paid for an HD interface. It was advertised as having an HD interface.



atmuscarella said:


> If someone is looking for a HD DVR for Dish or Direct then it is a complete failure as it doesn't work at all.


My father has DirecTV at his house. The DVR seems to work fine. The interface looks good. I don't really like the flow of the interface, but to me that's more a matter of personal preference as I've owned Tivos for 11+ years. With all the dissing of dish/directv DVRs, I expected his DirectTV DVR to be a complete piece of junk, when in fact it looks and works reasonably well.


----------



## atmuscarella (Oct 11, 2005)

smbaker said:


> So you'd be fine if it looked like an old 1980s ASCII terminal program? The interface does matter. Premiere owners paid for an HD interface. It was advertised as having an HD interface.


Well I gave you my requirements in that it has to work well and be easy to use. If somehow a 1980's ASCII terminal program did that then I would be fine with it. I bought a DVR to watch TV not the DVR UI.



smbaker said:


> My father has DirecTV at his house. The DVR seems to work fine. The interface looks good. I don't really like the flow of the interface, but to me that's more a matter of personal preference as I've owned Tivos for 11+ years. With all the dissing of dish/directv DVRs, I expected his DirectTV DVR to be a complete piece of junk, when in fact it looks and works reasonably well.


I think you missed my point - sorry if I wasn't clear - I was talking about TiVo being a complete failure if your needs were to have a DVR to record Direct or Dish HD content. I was not commenting on Dish or Direct DVRs. The last one I used was a Dish 510 years ago and I liked it.

Thanks,


----------



## smbaker (May 24, 2003)

atmuscarella said:


> Well I gave you my requirements in that it has to work well and be easy to use. If somehow a 1980's ASCII terminal program did that then I would be fine with it. I bought a DVR to watch TV not the DVR UI.


The last criteria I saw was "readable". My point being that blocky monospaced 8x8 pixel green-on-black fonts are readable, but not something I'm keen on having on my fancy new TV. I could design an interface using nothing but text that was every bit as functional and easy to use as the current Tivo interface. There were quite a few programs back in the 80s that were quite easy to use, the aesthetics just aren't up to today's standards. Aesthetics matter (which is why Tivo is advertising the device as having and HDUI).



atmuscarella said:


> I think you missed my point - sorry if I wasn't clear - I was talking about TiVo being a complete failure if your needs were to have a DVR to record Direct or Dish HD content.


Yep, I did misinterpret. I think we're in agreement then on that point.


----------



## JimboG (May 27, 2007)

atmuscarella said:


> ... 510 years ago and I liked it.


I had no idea you were so _old_!


----------



## unitron (Apr 28, 2006)

JimboG said:


> I had no idea you were so _old_!


If he liked it way back then he must have been really tickled about 4 centuries later when there were actually wall sockets to plug it into and batteries for the remote control, ecstatic about 4 and 1/2 centuries later when there were finally televison sets to attach it to, and positively delirious almost 5 centuries later when there were finally satellites to beam programming down to it.


----------



## Testpattern (Dec 5, 2006)

What is this "Virgin HDUI" that is shown in maroon? Is this something available to Premiere owners?

I must confess, I placed my Premiere in the SDUI mode the first week we had it because it simply would not work well enough in the HDUI mode to use. If all it had was the HDUI mode, I would have sent it back. The SDUI mode does the basics well enough for me to hang on for awhile but my faith is waning.


----------



## atmuscarella (Oct 11, 2005)

JimboG said:


> I had no idea you were so _old_!


Just goes to show how import putting commas in is 

was a Dish 510*,* years ago​


----------



## unitron (Apr 28, 2006)

atmuscarella said:


> ... The last one I used was a Dish 510 years ago and I liked it. ...


Yeah, but what does she look like now?


----------



## atmuscarella (Oct 11, 2005)

Testpattern said:


> I must confess, I placed my Premiere in the SDUI mode the first week we had it because it simply would not work well enough in the HDUI mode to use. If all it had was the HDUI mode, I would have sent it back. The SDUI mode does the basics well enough for me to hang on for awhile but my faith is waning.


The above statement is what I find interesting. From what I can tell the people that really seem to want a HDUI somehow equate a HDUI as being better than a SDUI. My question is why? Better to me means works faster, works easier, does something better, does something more, etc.. If it is in 480i, or 1080i doesn't affect any of that.

The HDUI on my Premiere works without issue (except when/if my Internet access is down). I found nothing about it improved my ability to record or view a TV show. Given that I am still using 2 other HD TiVos with only the SDUI it made no sense to keep the HDUI as I could not find anything I was giving up going back to the SDUI, other than some eye candy that didn't make and difference to me (Ok I did like having a usage meter but after going to a 2TB drive that doesn't even matter anymore and of course the a usage meter has nothing to do with if the UI is HD or SD).

So for all those that really want a "HDUI" what is it that you actually want? I am assuming it is more than increase resolution so what is it that you want your UI to do that the current SDUI doesn't do?

I mean TiVo could take their old menu system increase the resolution and format it for a 16:9 screen and that would be a HDUI. I can not believe that is what people are looking for so what is it that everyone think HDUI means?

I rarely replace anything that isn't completely worn out or change things just for the sake of change. As an example I drive cars until they are no longer serviceable and the furniture in my living room has been in the same place for 20 years. Now I did see the advantage of replacing by 15 year old 26in CRT with a new 50 inch Plasma TV


----------



## DeWitt (Jun 30, 2004)

Since the iPad application came out I rarely see an SD menu anymore.


----------



## rahnbo (Sep 12, 2010)

atmuscarella said:


> So for all those that really want a "HDUI" what is it that you actually want? I am assuming it is more than increase resolution so what is it that you want your UI to do that the current SDUI doesn't do?
> 
> I mean TiVo could take their old menu system increase the resolution and format it for a 16:9 screen and that would be a HDUI. I can not believe that is what people are looking for so what is it that everyone think HDUI means?


For starters, all the menus should be HDUI. None of this toggling back and forth. Text wouldn't overlap as it still does a year later in the HDUI. It wouldn't take 3 seconds to page down a list of recorded programs. I could think of more I'm sure. This goes back to the original theme. . . it is not complete. Not even close. Plus its buggy so I use the SDUI. That has its own punishment, errr, I mean problems but is more tolerable overall and probably the only reason I didn't return my Premieres and DIY.


----------



## CubsWin (Mar 20, 2010)

atmuscarella said:


> I'll agree with your guess and make one of my own. No new TiVo SA hardware as long as it has to use cable cards and if a good replacement (good for us & TiVo not the cable & Satellite companies) for cable cards isn't developed TiVo is done in the SA DVR market.


I also think the Premiere will be the last piece of TiVo hardware, but not because of CableCARD's specifically. I just think they have lost their competitive advantage and their niche in the market continues to shrink. On top of that, they have alienated a portion of their loyal customer-base by releasing a sluggish and unfinished device. If they don't have the resources to finish the Premiere, then nobody should expect that they will be able to release another box that is any better.


----------



## Audiovidman (Jan 21, 2011)

They have no money $$$ and No programers !!!


----------



## lessd (Jan 23, 2005)

atmuscarella said:


> The above statement is what I find interesting. From what I can tell the people that really seem to want a HDUI somehow equate a HDUI as being better than a SDUI. My question is why? Better to me means works faster, works easier, does something better, does something more, etc.. If it is in 480i, or 1080i doesn't affect any of that.
> 
> The HDUI on my Premiere works without issue (except when/if my Internet access is down). I found nothing about it improved my ability to record or view a TV show. Given that I am still using 2 other HD TiVos with only the SDUI it made no sense to keep the HDUI as I could not find anything I was giving up going back to the SDUI, other than some eye candy that didn't make and difference to me (Ok I did like having a usage meter but after going to a 2TB drive that doesn't even matter anymore and of course the a usage meter has nothing to do with if the UI is HD or SD).
> 
> ...


I agree with you as my wife found the HDUI to confusing and we got nothing more for using it except the PIP and that was confusing also sometimes, so we went back to the SDUI and never looked back, people should be spending most of their TiVo time watching a recorded program not playing with the menu system, I don't see the need to see the NBC logo in color pop up next to a recorded program as i don't select what i want to watch from the network but from the title of the program, each to their own I guess.


----------



## crxssi (Apr 5, 2010)

DeWitt said:


> Since the iPad application came out I rarely see an SD menu anymore.


My TiVo didn't include an iPad and the iTunes-required MS-Windows or Mac machine required to go with it (nor do I own any of those).

I do have an Android tablet and phone, however.


----------



## curiousgeorge (Nov 28, 2002)

lessd said:


> I agree with you as my wife found the HDUI to confusing and we got nothing more for using it except the PIP and that was confusing also sometimes, so we went back to the SDUI and never looked back, people should be spending most of their TiVo time watching a recorded program not playing with the menu system, I don't see the need to see the NBC logo in color pop up next to a recorded program as i don't select what i want to watch from the network but from the title of the program, each to their own I guess.


You lose some features if you use the SDUI, and you lose other features if you use the HDUI. Neither interface has a full set of features - which is STUPID.


----------



## smbaker (May 24, 2003)

atmuscarella said:


> So for all those that really want a "HDUI" what is it that you actually want?


I want what they've given us. The HDUI looks good and uses higher resolution graphics and better rendered fonts. It fits more information on screen. It doesn't look like it's a decade old like the SDUI does. In short, I think Tivo did a reasonable job designing the HDUI. It's not revolutionary of life-changing, but it's an adequate incremental improvement over the SDUI.

They just didn't *complete* it, nor did they get rid of the bugs. They sort of stopped working on it without explanation.

It's like hiring someone to paint your house, they get 2/3 of the job done and then you find the painter passed out drunk at the nearest bar and the remaining paint spilled all over the driveway. Unprofessional.


----------



## magnus (Nov 12, 2004)

atmuscarella said:


> I think you missed my point - sorry if I wasn't clear - I was talking about TiVo being a complete failure if your needs were to have a DVR to record Direct or Dish HD content. I was not commenting on Dish or Direct DVRs. The last one I used was a Dish 510 years ago and I liked it.
> 
> Thanks,


can't be a failure if it's closed to them. Directv and Dish should be forced to use standards too.


----------



## Testpattern (Dec 5, 2006)

atmuscarella said:


> The above statement is what I find interesting. From what I can tell the people that really seem to want a HDUI somehow equate a HDUI as being better than a SDUI.


Guess I'm just funny this way... I actually expect to get what I paid for.


----------



## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

rahnbo said:


> For starters, all the menus should be HDUI. None of this toggling back and forth. Text wouldn't overlap as it still does a year later in the HDUI. It wouldn't take 3 seconds to page down a list of recorded programs. I could think of more I'm sure. This goes back to the original theme. . . it is not complete. Not even close. Plus its buggy so I use the SDUI. That has its own punishment, errr, I mean problems but is more tolerable overall and probably the only reason I didn't return my Premieres and DIY.


I could understand not using the HDUI if it took three seconds to page down. But none of my 5 Premieres takes anywhere close to that long.

The only thing I don't like about the HDUI is that some of the menus are stilll using the SDUi. I cannot stand using the SDUI and I hate using my girfriends S3 boxes now because it only has the SDUI.

I find I'm checking the epsiode guide for many of my recorded programs that comes up in the HDUI. I've also selected a bunch of programs that were recommened at the top bar in the HDUI. Overall my TiVo experience has been greatly improved with the HDUI. I just wish they would finish it.


----------



## moyekj (Jan 24, 2006)

I like the speedy, consistent and uncluttered behavior of the SDUI but it suffers from the "does not respond to remote control" bug often enough to get very annoying. So I switch to HDUI for a while and get annoyed by the slow responsiveness and inconsistency compared to SDUI and all the clutter that I don't care about and then switch back to SDUI. Then I run into the "does not respond to remote control" bug again. i.e. Neither one works as well as I would like.


----------



## Testpattern (Dec 5, 2006)

aaronwt said:


> I could understand not using the HDUI if it took three seconds to page down. But none of my 5 Premieres takes anywhere close to that long.


You're fortunate, in that your's works. Many of us can't say this.

My HDUI mode simply isn't usable. It hangs, crashes, and forces reboots just attempting to utilize the basic stuff. Realistically, it isn't all that great an implementation even when it does work so shutting it off to permit continued, uninterrupted operation isn't a difficult decision.

So in essence, I paid to upgrade my S3 to a newer better model and all I got was my S3 without a display... Not a good way to do business with your longterm customer.

Now having said this, I am patiently waiting on TiVo to fix this thing. Historically they've done fairly well at addressing their shortcomings so I'm betting on them dealing with this. However, if they don't fix the Premiere, I've bought my last TiVo.


----------



## L David Matheny (Jan 29, 2011)

moyekj said:


> I like the speedy, consistent and uncluttered behavior of the SDUI but it suffers from the "does not respond to remote control" bug often enough to get very annoying. So I switch to HDUI for a while and get annoyed by the slow responsiveness and inconsistency compared to SDUI and all the clutter that I don't care about and then switch back to SDUI. Then I run into the "does not respond to remote control" bug again. i.e. Neither one works as well as I would like.


I've seen the "does not respond to remote control" bug about twice (using SDUI). As for "all the clutter that I don't care about" in the HDUI, I think that's why some of us don't understand all the HDUI hand-wringing. For my money, most of what it offers is exactly that: clutter (mostly ads) that I don't care about. That's the stuff that Flash can't multithread properly, and I can easily do without it.


----------



## Testpattern (Dec 5, 2006)

L David Matheny said:


> As for "all the clutter that I don't care about" in the HDUI, I think that's why some of us don't understand all the HDUI hand-wringing. For my money, most of what it offers is exactly that: clutter (mostly ads) that I don't care about. That's the stuff that Flash can't multithread properly, and I can easily do without it.


Ditto....


----------



## KungFuCow (May 6, 2004)

At what point do we stop waiting? How long has it been now? Over a year and there has been very little progress made on the interface.

Ive given up. Ill use it because its better than the Time Warner DVR but they wont get any more of my money and Ive owned or own every Tivo they've ever made. This is where I get off. I paid big bucks for my Premiere, I expected a working, polished product and I think giving them over a year, they should have been able to deliver it.

Bring on the Tivo loyalists to tell me how wrong I am!



Testpattern said:


> You're fortunate, in that your's works. Many of us can't say this.
> 
> My HDUI mode simply isn't usable. It hangs, crashes, and forces reboots just attempting to utilize the basic stuff. Realistically, it isn't all that great an implementation even when it does work so shutting it off to permit continued, uninterrupted operation isn't a difficult decision.
> 
> ...


----------



## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

KungFuCow said:


> At what point do we stop waiting? How long has it been now? Over a year and there has been very little progress made on the interface.
> 
> Ive given up. Ill use it because its better than the Time Warner DVR but they wont get any more of my money and Ive owned or own every Tivo they've ever made. This is where I get off. I paid big bucks for my Premiere, I expected a working, polished product and I think giving them over a year, they should have been able to deliver it.
> 
> Bring on the Tivo loyalists to tell me how wrong I am!


I'll continue using my Premieres until something better comes along. And so far, with how I use the TiVos, there is nothing better out there for me.

Although I am using my premieres less and less for the extraneous features as more things are added to my Boxee Boxes, but the TiVo core functionality of recording TV is still there and working great. So even if I start using other devices for all the extraneous features the Premiere offers, I will still continue to use it to record my TV programming. Plus I still have two more years left on the extended warranties I purchased for them.

And even though I paid a higher price than what is offered now, my out of pocket costs were minimal after selling one S3 and my TiVoHD boxes. Although one day I need to do something with all these orignal TiVo drives I have. I think I have over twenty of them now, sitting around gathering dust.


----------



## atmuscarella (Oct 11, 2005)

Testpattern said:


> Guess I'm just funny this way... I actually expect to get what I paid for.


See I actually find that funny. I bought a DVR not a UI and my DVR works great.

My TiVo's SDUI or HDUI are both better than the UIs in my:

Plasma TV
Receiver
Blu-Ray Play

And both the Plasma TV and Receiver cost allot more than any of my TiVo's with lifetime service.

Now if TiVo wants to make either of their UIs better or fix bugs I am all for it. Of course my idea of better will not likely be the same as other peoples 

Thanks,


----------



## atmuscarella (Oct 11, 2005)

aaronwt said:


> I'll continue using my Premieres until something better comes along. And so far, with how I use the TiVos, there is nothing better out there for me.


Frankly that is how I look at it.

I do have more of a interest in TiVo being around than I do with say Panasonic (my TV Brand) because I do need TiVo (or someone) for continuing guide data but that's it. Next time I need another DVR I will look at whats out their and buy the unit that is best for me.

I think that is what everyone should do - if TiVo isn't the best for someone they shouldn't buy it. Brand loyalty makes little or no sense to me, as an example in my life I have own the following vehicles 1 AMC, 1 Chevy, 1 Renault, 1 Mazda, 1 Dodge, 1 GMC, & 1 Ford. I guess you could say I did own 2 GM products but they were 24 model years apart.

Thanks,


----------



## curiousgeorge (Nov 28, 2002)

atmuscarella said:


> See I actually find that funny. I bought a DVR not a UI and my DVR works great.
> 
> My TiVo's SDUI or HDUI are both better than the UIs in my:
> 
> ...


My Plasma TVs, Receivers, or Blu Ray players have never crashed and caused me to miss sections of programs while they reboot for 10-15 minutes. My Premieres have - numerous times. And it's not bad premieres because we have too many in our house, family and neighborhood. All of them have spontaneously frozen and/or rebooted a number of times since last year.

Unacceptable for a video appliance, but with 12 months and precious little improvement, TiVo obviously doesn't care any more.


----------



## atmuscarella (Oct 11, 2005)

curiousgeorge said:


> My Plasma TVs, Receivers, or Blu Ray players have never crashed and caused me to miss sections of programs while they reboot for 10-15 minutes. My Premieres have - numerous times. And it's not bad premieres because we have too many in our house, family and neighborhood. All of them have spontaneously frozen and/or rebooted a number of times since last year.
> 
> Unacceptable for a video appliance, but with 12 months and precious little improvement, TiVo obviously doesn't care any more.


Notice that I said my DVRs work great. My Premiere has less problems than my Series 3 or my TiVo HD. I have been fortunate and have not had any of them cause a recording loss due to a reboot or lockup. That doesn't mean they do not have issues. The Series 3 likes to reboot with the slightest amount of movement when clearing around it and the TiVo HD does not like Pandora as well as the other 2 units and has had a few spontaneous reboots plus I normal have to pull the plug after a software update as it does not like soft reboots.

On the flip side I do not think my TV has locked up but both my receiver and blu-ray player have - usually when accessing/using their network features which I don't do much any more because the TiVos now have all the features (Pandora) and work better.

Thanks,


----------



## TheWGP (Oct 26, 2007)

atmuscarella said:


> I bought a DVR not a UI and my DVR works great.


Lordy, shh! If you give them ideas, Tivo will start thinking like a cable company and introduce the "User Interface Experience Fee" tacked on top!


Of course, even if you don't pay, your DVR will work fine... it's just that you won't be able to navigate to, manage, or play your shows without a UI to handle that end of it! 

(Since some people here have a hard time distinguishing, I'm noting that this is firmly tongue-in-cheek - but I'm sure they considered it at some point!)


----------



## smbaker (May 24, 2003)

curiousgeorge said:


> My Plasma TVs, Receivers, or Blu Ray players have never crashed and caused me to miss sections of programs while they reboot for 10-15 minutes.


Same. My TV and Blu Ray player (granted, it's a PS3) also receive _frequent _and _timely_ software updates. Bugs actually seem to be acknowledged and fixed. IMO, the interface on both of them looks better than the interface on my Premiere. Sony does a pretty good job with user interfaces.

In particular due to the last youtube-related lockup on my Tivo and the abnormally long reboot time for a consumer electronic device, I gave up using the Tivo for casual network-related content and now use the other more reliable devices. "The one box" it is not.

There's been more than one night that I gave up on the Premiere and just went to sleep after a lockup due to not wanting to sit around twiddling my thumbs while the device reboots.

Anyhow, that's all orthogonal to the main discussion - regardless of whether or not the Premiere is a buggy abandonware device receiving no love from Tivo, the HDUI is not complete. Regardless of whether or not one believes and interface is integral to use, the HDUI is not complete. We were sold a device with an HDUI, but were given a device with a hybrid SD/HD UI.


----------



## KungFuCow (May 6, 2004)

curiousgeorge said:


> My Plasma TVs, Receivers, or Blu Ray players have never crashed and caused me to miss sections of programs while they reboot for 10-15 minutes. My Premieres have - numerous times. And it's not bad premieres because we have too many in our house, family and neighborhood. All of them have spontaneously frozen and/or rebooted a number of times since last year.
> 
> Unacceptable for a video appliance, but with 12 months and precious little improvement, TiVo obviously doesn't care any more.


QFT.. Tivo doesnt give a crap about the Premiere anymore. There was an article yesterday that stated Tivo was moving away from set top boxes and into integration with TV's, etc. I wish I had saved it so I could post it here. But yea, the Premiere is done. They might push out a half baked Hulu Plus solution just to get a kickback from Hulu but the odds of Tivo doing anything that isnt going to make them money is slim to none at this point.

My dealings with Tivo and especially the Tivo people that used to post here have pretty much been a reflection of that.


----------



## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

KungFuCow said:


> QFT.. Tivo doesnt give a crap about the Premiere anymore. There was an article yesterday that stated Tivo was moving away from set top boxes and into integration with TV's, ..............


That does make sense. People in general want fewer boxes to deal with not more. By being integrated into a TV, it is a leg up from using an external box. Netflix and VUDU have been pushing bigtime into this area.

Although with TiVo you would need alot more storage to hold the recordings since it does more than just streaming.


----------



## orangeboy (Apr 19, 2004)

http://www.computerworld.com/s/arti...z_wisdom_and_other_cool_things_learned_at_SNW


----------



## unitron (Apr 28, 2006)

KungFuCow said:


> QFT.. Tivo doesnt give a crap about the Premiere anymore. There was an article yesterday that stated Tivo was moving away from set top boxes and into integration with TV's, etc. I wish I had saved it so I could post it here. But yea, the Premiere is done. They might push out a half baked Hulu Plus solution just to get a kickback from Hulu but the odds of Tivo doing anything that isnt going to make them money is slim to none at this point.
> 
> My dealings with Tivo and especially the Tivo people that used to post here have pretty much been a reflection of that.


I already gave that article it's own thread.

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=467875


----------



## WillH (May 26, 2010)

The software upgrades are coming out more slowly also. I think 14.07 came out in early January. For a while there, we were getting updates about every 6 weeks.

My biggest gripe now is that discovery bar in the HDUI - I think if there was a way to disable it, the speed of the box would drastically improve. I suspect they are pulling all those ads and content from their servers and this makes the speed of the unit dependant upon the internet, their servers and your connection to the internet. There is an option to show LESS information in the discovery bar but frankly I haven't noticed any difference when this option is selected. There should be an option to turn it OFF completely for those of us that do not use it or want it - it would free up a lot more screen space too.

Anyone have any clues as to when the next update is coming out?


----------



## rahnbo (Sep 12, 2010)

WillH said:


> My biggest gripe now is that discovery bar in the HDUI - I think if there was a way to disable it, the speed of the box would drastically improve.


I found it equally slow with a 10mbit, 40mbit, and disabled network connections. HDUI is just slow.


----------



## philhu (Apr 11, 2001)

cough...Class Action Suit...cough

We all bought a product that we expect to work as advertised!
We all waited patiently for the HDUI to be finished.
Right now it is all a half-baked BETA-type product

They obviously have done some work, re the VIRGIN DVR quide screen
Tivo DOES have money, they won huge settlements from Dish, so get 2 programmers and FIX THE BOX!

The biggest is that LAST YEAR, we were promised a HDUI that works with the dual core 'very soon'. That is when I trusted them and bought a Premiere to go with my 2 TivoHD units.

I like the idea of being able to disable the suggestions stuff in the HDUI at the top. Wish it was possible! And menus going back to SD 2 levels down is horrible.

I've had Tivo since the Phillips 12-hour (SD) unit with a 20gb disk! Never again will I buy a Tivo box, UNLESS they do what they promised and fix the UI


----------



## curiousgeorge (Nov 28, 2002)

WillH said:


> The software upgrades are coming out more slowly also. I think 14.07 came out in early January. For a while there, we were getting updates about every 6 weeks.
> 
> My biggest gripe now is that discovery bar in the HDUI - I think if there was a way to disable it, the speed of the box would drastically improve. I suspect they are pulling all those ads and content from their servers and this makes the speed of the unit dependant upon the internet, their servers and your connection to the internet. There is an option to show LESS information in the discovery bar but frankly I haven't noticed any difference when this option is selected. There should be an option to turn it OFF completely for those of us that do not use it or want it - it would free up a lot more screen space too.
> 
> Anyone have any clues as to when the next update is coming out?


I highly recommend tweeting @tivodesign with these questions. Filling their twitter stream with valid complaints like this and demands for answers will be much more valuable in getting results and letting potential consumers know the problems owners are experiencing than writing here.


----------



## curiousgeorge (Nov 28, 2002)

philhu said:


> cough...Class Action Suit...cough


I'm really very surprised it hasn't happened yet. Seems very clear cut what was promised vs what was delivered and the fact that we're a year down the road with no real progress.


----------



## smbaker (May 24, 2003)

curiousgeorge said:


> I'm really very surprised it hasn't happened yet. Seems very clear cut what was promised vs what was delivered and the fact that we're a year down the road with no real progress.


What damages have we suffered? I'm thinking not a whole lot. Unless HDUI is spelled out somewhere in the terms, there's plenty of wiggle room for them to get out of it. I just don't see much of a case.

Unfortunately, the best option if one is unsatisfied with the product would have been to return it under the 30-day guarantee. Failing that, don't buy another one, and pass around word of mouth to others not to purchase.


----------



## orangeboy (Apr 19, 2004)

curiousgeorge said:


> I'm really very surprised it hasn't happened yet. Seems very clear cut what was promised vs what was delivered and the fact that we're a year down the road with no real progress.


A Class Action Suit wouldn't hold water. When you agreed to the Terms Of Service, you agreed that:



> TiVo may at its discretion and from time to time change, add, or remove features and functionality of the TiVo service or the TiVo DVR without notice.


----------



## kturcotte (Dec 9, 2002)

orangeboy said:


> A Class Action Suit wouldn't hold water. When you agreed to the Terms Of Service, you agreed that:
> "TiVo may at its discretion and from time to time change, add, or remove features and functionality of the TiVo service or the TiVo DVR without notice. "


How far does that go though? Can they basically turn the DVR portion off and those who prepaid wouldn't be entitled to a refund, or those who have a commitment would still be required to pay?


----------



## smbaker (May 24, 2003)

orangeboy said:


> A Class Action Suit wouldn't hold water. When you agreed to the Terms Of Service, you agreed that:


When did he agree to the terms of service though? The item advertised was an HD DVR. If the item received is not an HD DVR in good working order, then isn't there a cause for action? It was a sale, no terms were agreed upon as part of the sale. Whether or not he cracked open the packaging, plugged in the box, and agreed to a terms of service comes afterward.

Nevertheless, there was an easy remedy available, return for money back within 30 days.



kturcotte said:


> How far does that go though? Can they basically turn the DVR portion off and those who prepaid wouldn't be entitled to a refund, or those who have a commitment would still be required to pay?


I would imagine they could turn off lifetime service if they wanted to without issuing a refund. They could also offer additional features for an additional fee, like they originally did with HMO/MRV.


----------



## orangeboy (Apr 19, 2004)

kturcotte said:


> How far does that go though? Can they basically turn the DVR portion off and those who prepaid wouldn't be entitled to a refund...


Yes. See the UK TiVo Series 1 forum for an example. From what I understand, TiVo pulled out of the UK some time ago, but allowed SKY(?) to provide Guide Data and the TiVo Service in the interim. Now that TiVo partnered with Virgin Media in a mutually exclusive agreement where TiVo would only provide Service to Virgin Media, and Virgin Media would only offer the TiVo Service for their DVRs, the TiVo Series 1 lifetimer's (and TAMs, or "Tenner A Month") will be stuck without "official" Service after June 1st. However, those folks will no longer be bound to the official TiVo Terms of Service, and are (successfully?) making an effort to "Roll their Own" Guide Data to keep their TiVo DVRs going (no agreement with TiVo, no theft of Service would be taking place.)



kturcotte said:


> or those who have a commitment would still be required to pay?


From what I've read, those in the UK with a monthly commitment were relieved of making payments (I believe) in September or October of 2010.

All said though, the UK example impacts very few subscribers, and the deal with Virgin Media has a much greater potential for positive returns for TiVo.


----------



## crxssi (Apr 5, 2010)

WillH said:


> My biggest gripe now is that discovery bar in the HDUI - I think if there was a way to disable it, the speed of the box would drastically improve. I suspect they are pulling all those ads and content from their servers and this makes the speed of the unit dependant upon the internet, their servers and your connection to the internet. There is an option to show LESS information in the discovery bar but frankly I haven't noticed any difference when this option is selected. There should be an option to turn it OFF completely for those of us that do not use it or want it - it would free up a lot more screen space too.


I don't think turning off the discovery bar would make the unit much faster. But it would make it a hell of a lot less annoying. It would also free space for something useful, except it wouldn't reorganize like that, anyway. I am agreeing 100% that we should be able to turn it off.

Part of what slows it down is that it is trying to live look-up everything about each program you move through, instead of pre-caching it like it does guide data. It would be nice to be able to turn off things I have zero interest in, also- like Amazon lookups. Or if I didn't have Netflix, the Netflix lookups.

I am afraid I might never use the HDUI on the Premiere.


----------



## Mike Pfeifer (Mar 17, 2011)

aaronwt said:


> except for being red/maroon. But I guess that's also the color Virgin uses in it's logo.


I'd take it at this point... The red doesn't really bother me, but it does look nice.


----------



## WillH (May 26, 2010)

curiousgeorge said:


> I highly recommend tweeting @tivodesign with these questions. Filling their twitter stream with valid complaints like this and demands for answers will be much more valuable in getting results and letting potential consumers know the problems owners are experiencing than writing here.


I suggested that directly to TIVO several times: Email, chat, and in those surveys they send out after firmware updates. I looked back and saw that it was one of my initial complaints back in April of last year when I first got the box. To make matters worse, they put advertising on there which I had to live with from COMCAST and now it looks like I gotta live with it from TIVO. It's sorta like those idiotic Severe Weather screens that are constantly shown whenever there is a threat of a thunderstorm: 1 person may be effected in some remote county but 3-5 million people have to watch it. I think it is just advertising to get you to watch the news which they want you to watch so you can watch the commercials. Anyway, I digress. The point is that the garbage they put up there is not wanted or needed or necessary and we have no way to turn it off. Worse, is that it slows the thing down and HURTS the performance. So, they stick with it why? Revenue.


----------



## curiousgeorge (Nov 28, 2002)

But the value of twitter over email, chat, and surveys is it's PUBLIC and anyone can see it. It's a dual function - getting action (hopefully) and a form of public shaming for TiVo and warning for people considering the product based on misleading advertising.

twitter @tivodesign any and all problems with the Premiere



WillH said:


> I suggested that directly to TIVO several times: Email, chat, and in those surveys they send out after firmware updates. I looked back and saw that it was one of my initial complaints back in April of last year when I first got the box.


----------



## steve614 (May 1, 2006)

curiousgeorge said:


> twitter @tivodesign any and all problems with the Premiere


What if I don't want to create a twitter account?
Does twitter allow anonymous (public) tweets?


----------



## poptrot (Nov 30, 2010)

It's a shame because Premier w/Desktop Plus is a great platform that really opens up the TV viewing experience. I watch all my iTunes video podcasts on Tivo (D+ dumps them automatically). I use Vuze to download and transfer torrents (again automatically). The platform has such potential but Tivo has dropped the ball on development. Their podcast app is pain to use.


----------



## curiousgeorge (Nov 28, 2002)

Funny, I just got a TiVo survey where it wants to know if finishing the HDUI is one of the "features" I would like to see. Duh, SHYEAH!

They also asked about streaming, 5 tuners (4+1), built in VOD and some other stuff.


----------



## crxssi (Apr 5, 2010)

curiousgeorge said:


> Funny, I just got a TiVo survey where it wants to know if finishing the HDUI is one of the "features" I would like to see. Duh, SHYEAH!
> 
> They also asked about streaming, 5 tuners (4+1), built in VOD and some other stuff.


Interesting. I never got one like THAT before. I think the last one wanted to know what type of programs I watch, if I owned a cell phone and what type, if I owned a house, how many people lived with me, my annual income, etc (much of which, of course, I didn't answer). The previous ones were much the same, and I never ignored ANY of them I was sent.

Maybe they already marked me down as one of those "troublemakers" who is not happy with their stuff.


----------



## davezatz (Apr 18, 2002)

curiousgeorge said:


> Funny, I just got a TiVo survey where it wants to know if finishing the HDUI is one of the "features" I would like to see. Duh, SHYEAH!


VERY interesting. Does anyone have the exact wording or a screengrab?


----------



## i2k (Apr 3, 2008)

http://www.engadget.com/2011/04/14/...campaign=Feed:+weblogsinc/engadget+(Engadget)


----------



## i2k (Apr 3, 2008)

Wonder if we will EVER get an HD Guide?!


----------



## kturcotte (Dec 9, 2002)

I'll take a 4 tuner HD Tivo with built in 2 way communication!! As long as it includes an OTA tuner as well, and can record a mix of the 4, like the current HD models.


----------



## curiousgeorge (Nov 28, 2002)

crxssi said:


> Interesting. I never got one like THAT before. I think the last one wanted to know what type of programs I watch, if I owned a cell phone and what type, if I owned a house, how many people lived with me, my annual income, etc (much of which, of course, I didn't answer). The previous ones were much the same, and I never ignored ANY of them I was sent.
> 
> Maybe they already marked me down as one of those "troublemakers" who is not happy with their stuff.


If they're marking down complainers and troublemakers, I think I'd be on the same list. Before Premiere, I was a very happy TiVo evangelist, but Premiere is SO half-baked that I've become a complainer and stopped pushing the platform. I was glad to see the survey, but my thought is, if they have to ask US whether plainly obvious stuff like FINISHING THE BOX is a good idea, they're probably clueless or politically frozen within the TiVo org anyway.


----------



## crxssi (Apr 5, 2010)

crxssi said:


> Interesting. I never got one like THAT before. I think the last one wanted to know what type of programs I watch, if I owned a cell phone and what type, if I owned a house, how many people lived with me, my annual income, etc (much of which, of course, I didn't answer). The previous ones were much the same, and I never ignored ANY of them I was sent.
> 
> Maybe they already marked me down as one of those "troublemakers" who is not happy with their stuff.


Well tie me up and whip me with a wet noodle. Guess what JUST appeared in my Email.... a new survey. One with TONS of disclaimers about marketing stuff and how they will and will not share information. And furthermore, it DOES contain IMPORTANT questions for the first time. Here is a paraphrasing:

* Which is more important: a companion (streaming) device for the DVR for a second TV or a 4 tuner DVR?

* A whole laundry list of features to check all that are important to me. Most of them are about searching enhancements and short cuts. I checked about 1/3 of them.

* Then then wanted me to RATE the importance of my above choices within a pool of 100 points.

* Rate my feelings about getting another TiVo, if it is easy to use, better than over DVR's, and presents ads appropriately

* What non-TiVo services I use on TiVo and how often.

* Do I have an iPad (very insulting, since I use an Android tablet)

* Any comments (see below)

* Did you find this survey interesting (I rated it the highest, for the first time ever).

I copied and pasted the entire survey, but I don't think it would be appropriate to post something like that. But I will share my comments I sent them:

1) I am displeased that it has been a year and the stability and performance of the Premiere has not been greatly improved yet. There are still lots of bugs, some of which cause crashes. The performance of the HDUI is so poor, I am forced to use the old SDUI. The HDUI is not finished and the user does not have enough control over what they do or do not want to see on the screen (like limiting or turning off the Discovery Bar as an example).

2) Besides #1, above, I think the most important thing you should have is the ability to allow the customer to make a backup of all the settings and configuration of the TiVo. When it fails, it is devastating to try and get a replacement unit programmed again.

3) You need to support streaming video to and from third-party, customer-owned equipment. This is very important and if you don't do it, you will lose your market.

4) You need an Android application similar to the iPad application. There are more Android users than iOS users and within a year, there were probably be at least as many Android tablet users as iPad users.

5) You need a more official and public way to collect and display bug reports, and their statuses.

6) Your telephone customer service representatives are the best I have ever dealt with from ANY company. They are fast, polite, eager to please, and easy to understand.


----------



## kbohip (Dec 30, 2003)

I'm still using an HR10-250 Directv Tivo. I've decided to ditch Directv as I'm just not getting $90 worth of enjoyment out of it anymore. I looked at getting the Tivo Premiere, but could. not. believe they wanted $20 a month for Tivo service on it! Sorry, but that's a ripoff considering the Tivo 3 series was only $13.00 a month. I ended up buying a 3 series on Ebay for about $75 delivered. I wanted to go with a Premiere but I definitely don't see enough of an improvement over the 3 series to justify such an exorbitant monthly fee.


----------



## innocentfreak (Aug 25, 2001)

crxssi said:


> Well tie me up and whip me with a wet noodle. Guess what JUST appeared in my Email.... a new survey. One with TONS of disclaimers about marketing stuff and how they will and will not share information. And furthermore, it DOES contain IMPORTANT questions for the first time. Here is a paraphrasing:


Did yours match what Dave Zatz posted?

http://www.zatznotfunny.com/2011-04/tivo-prepping-4-tuner-hd-dvr/

There are supposed to be multiple versions for feature options out there.


----------



## curiousgeorge (Nov 28, 2002)

innocentfreak said:


> Did yours match what Dave Zatz posted?
> 
> http://www.zatznotfunny.com/2011-04/tivo-prepping-4-tuner-hd-dvr/
> 
> There are supposed to be multiple versions for feature options out there.


Yep, there has to be different versions, because mine explicitly asked that I rate the priority of finishing the HDUI.


----------



## rahnbo (Sep 12, 2010)

curiousgeorge said:


> Yep, there has to be different versions, because mine explicitly asked that I rate the priority of finishing the HDUI.


That shouldn't even be a question a company should have to ask their customers. Should we finish our product or leave it half-way done? Geeze.

If that really came from Tivo and not whoever they let steal our email addresses this would lead me to believe they have done very little to zero work on the Premiere HDUI for a year now.


----------



## WillH (May 26, 2010)

rahnbo said:


> That shouldn't even be a question a company should have to ask their customers. Should we finish our product or leave it half-way done? Geeze.
> 
> If that really came from Tivo and not whoever they let steal our email addresses this would lead me to believe they have done very little to zero work on the Premiere HDUI for a year now.


+1

Hmmmm..........Maybe a Premiere 2 in the works? Yet another income stream for Tivo with owners of existing Premieres upgrading enmasse to get an, ostensibly, finished newer product?


----------



## DocNo (Oct 10, 2001)

WillH said:


> Hmmmm..........Maybe a Premiere 2 in the works? Yet another income stream for Tivo with owners of existing Premieres upgrading enmasse to get an, ostensibly, finished newer product?


Interesting - after getting the survey I started thinking of upgrading my Series 3 (where I think I have a hard drive starting to go south) to a Premiere. I was pretty disappointed to see that Tivo has pretty much left the Premiere unfinished and people are still steamed. Sigh... it's what I had feared. Perhaps it's just time to cut the cable cord and buy ala-cart from Apple, Amazon and/or Netflix.

Or just go back to reading


----------



## curiousgeorge (Nov 28, 2002)

rahnbo said:


> That shouldn't even be a question a company should have to ask their customers. Should we finish our product or leave it half-way done? Geeze.
> 
> If that really came from Tivo and not whoever they let steal our email addresses this would lead me to believe they have done very little to zero work on the Premiere HDUI for a year now.


I told them what I've said here for a year - finishing the HD UI so all menus are in HD and the Parental Controls WORK is task #1. ALL other feature announcements and additions should be put on hold until that's done. THEN the Netflix streaming should be re-written so it isn't embarrassing compared to the other Netflix streamers out now, THEN new features can be added.


----------



## innocentfreak (Aug 25, 2001)

rahnbo said:


> That shouldn't even be a question a company should have to ask their customers. Should we finish our product or leave it half-way done? Geeze.
> 
> If that really came from Tivo and not whoever they let steal our email addresses this would lead me to believe they have done very little to zero work on the Premiere HDUI for a year now.


I don't think they were asking if they should, but what priority it should be. If they found the majority of their users had SD TV finishing the UI for example shouldn't be a priority.

While yes I do want them to finish the UI, I would love it even more if we had all these new features added. I would put it even over the UI since some of these would have to be added as options which means they could add them as they finish it rather than finishing it and having to change the screens later.


----------



## curiousgeorge (Nov 28, 2002)

innocentfreak said:


> I don't think they were asking if they should, but what priority it should be. If they found the majority of their users had SD TV finishing the UI for example shouldn't be a priority.
> 
> While yes I do want them to finish the UI, I would love it even more if we had all these new features added. I would put it even over the UI since some of these would have to be added as options which means they could add them as they finish it rather than finishing it and having to change the screens later.


But since they're *advertising* it as an HD UI, it's really a question that shouldn't even have to be asked. They're not advertising it as a half-finished HD UI...or one that you can't use if you want their Parental Controls feature.


----------



## KungFuCow (May 6, 2004)

kturcotte said:


> I'll take a 4 tuner HD Tivo with built in 2 way communication!! As long as it includes an OTA tuner as well, and can record a mix of the 4, like the current HD models.


Its 4 tuners but only 1 of them will be usable at launch and oh yea, the software wont be finished either but they'll finish it in an update "right after launch" and the two way communication only works with certain types of string and tin cans.


----------



## crxssi (Apr 5, 2010)

innocentfreak said:


> Did yours match what Dave Zatz posted?
> 
> http://www.zatznotfunny.com/2011-04/tivo-prepping-4-tuner-hd-dvr/
> 
> There are supposed to be multiple versions for feature options out there.


I didn't compare every line, but yes, it looks to be the same. And no, it didn't ask me to rate the priority of changing all the SD menus to HD (and if it had, I would have rated that a lower priority than a lot of other things I think need fixing first).


----------



## crxssi (Apr 5, 2010)

WillH said:


> Hmmmm..........Maybe a Premiere 2 in the works? Yet another income stream for Tivo with owners of existing Premieres upgrading enmasse to get an, ostensibly, finished newer product?


While I suppose that is possible, it doesn't really make much sense. There is nothing terribly wrong with the existing hardware. I would like to see more then 2 USB ports and a removable drive... plus I think it should store the settings on a removable SD card. But none of those are all that important in the big picture. The problem with the current product is 95% software issues... and those problems would likely remain on any new hardware platform.

Also, if they came out with a new machine and didn't give existing Premiere customers (especially Lifetime customers) an ULTRA-LOW upgrade fee, they would put a final nail in their coffin by totally alienating everyone still hanging around.


----------



## smbaker (May 24, 2003)

crxssi said:


> Also, if they came out with a new machine and didn't give existing Premiere customers (especially Lifetime customers) an ULTRA-LOW upgrade fee, they would put a final nail in their coffin by totally alienating everyone still hanging around.


Does this matter to them? They seem to be focused exclusively on short-term goals. Quantity over quality. I don't think they realize the damage they've done by losing a lot of long-term users and advocates.


----------



## kturcotte (Dec 9, 2002)

crxssi said:


> While I suppose that is possible, it doesn't really make much sense. There is nothing terribly wrong with the existing hardware. I would like to see more then 2 USB ports and a removable drive... plus I think it should store the settings on a removable SD card. But none of those are all that important in the big picture. The problem with the current product is 95% software issues... and those problems would likely remain on any new hardware platform.
> 
> Also, if they came out with a new machine and didn't give existing Premiere customers (especially Lifetime customers) an ULTRA-LOW upgrade fee, they would put a final nail in their coffin by totally alienating everyone still hanging around.


For me it would have to be around $100 for just an "updated" Premiere unless there were added features (4+ tuners, faster hardware, support for 4TBs or more of hard drive space).


----------



## atmuscarella (Oct 11, 2005)

kturcotte said:


> For me it would have to be around $100 for just an "updated" Premiere unless there were added features (4+ tuners, faster hardware, support for 4TBs or more of hard drive space).


You do understand that just a 4 tuner digital cable card with cable card support for a computer costs $299? Yes just the tuner card costs $299 and somehow you expect TiVo to provide you a whole DVR for $100?? Well I guess they could if you don't mind paying $50/mo for the service fee.


----------



## kturcotte (Dec 9, 2002)

atmuscarella said:


> You do understand that just a 4 tuner digital cable card with cable card support for a computer costs $299? Yes just the tuner card costs $299 and somehow you expect TiVo to provide you a whole DVR for $100?? Well I guess they could if you don't mind paying $50/mo for the service fee.


I'd expect to pay more for the 4 tuner model.


----------



## trip1eX (Apr 2, 2005)

They'll fix the HDUI in the Premiere 2. You will get a $200 discount to upgrade.


----------



## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

trip1eX said:


> They'll fix the HDUI in the Premiere 2. You will get a $200 discount to upgrade.


sounds good if they will also do lifetime transfers too


----------



## archer75 (Apr 13, 2004)

Just got my premiere and it's on the SD menus. Can't see where to switch it to the HD menus?


----------



## kturcotte (Dec 9, 2002)

Really, though, they don't NEED a Premiere 2, at least not for the HD menus. Just do a TOTAL rewrite, and DROP the flash. Other DVRS handle HD GUIs just fine on LESS hardware.


----------



## curiousgeorge (Nov 28, 2002)

archer75 said:


> Just got my premiere and it's on the SD menus. Can't see where to switch it to the HD menus?


Settings& Messages -> Settings -> Displays -> Choose TiVo Menus

If your display won't handle HD, you won't get an HD option, though.


----------



## smbaker (May 24, 2003)

kturcotte said:


> Really, though, they don't NEED a Premiere 2, at least not for the HD menus. Just do a TOTAL rewrite, and DROP the flash. Other DVRS handle HD GUIs just fine on LESS hardware.


Yes, but are they going to run the new Flash Ads as well? 

(and no, nobody has said anything about flash ads, but just sayin', they're a pretty popular form of online advertising)


----------



## kturcotte (Dec 9, 2002)

smbaker said:


> Yes, but are they going to run the new Flash Ads as well?
> 
> (and no, nobody has said anything about flash ads, but just sayin', they're a pretty popular form of online advertising)


Flash just needs to DIE anyway!


----------



## WillH (May 26, 2010)

Another thing that is worth noting is that the basic HDUI has not been changed since the box came out last year. All the firmware updates have addressed the really slow response and frequent lockups. I have had the Premiere since day 1 (preorder) and nothing has really changed to any extent that I can notice. The lockups were the biggie and they seem to have addressed that and for the most part the speed is better but as far as any changes of any significance, there are none. So, they have had a year now and all they have done is "sort of" fixed the worst parts of it. No actual improvements or betterments that I can tell. And, no updates at all since January. Maybe they think they are done.

Some time last year a few veteran Tivo users and computer experts lamented the fact that they went with FLASH for the HDUI. If the FLASH is the problem then nothing short of a total revamp of the HDUI will make things significantly better. Since Tivo is not talking and has never admitted to anything being wrong with the Premiere, I wonder if we are all just wasting our time hoping things will get better. I had a job like that once - Hung around too long and then it was too late.


----------



## slowbiscuit (Sep 19, 2006)

atmuscarella said:


> You do understand that just a 4 tuner digital cable card with cable card support for a computer costs $299? Yes just the tuner card costs $299 and somehow you expect TiVo to provide you a whole DVR for $100?? Well I guess they could if you don't mind paying $50/mo for the service fee.


The Ceton card costs $399, not $299. Tons of markup for a limited market there though, since they are the only game in town until Silicon Dust finally delivers their 3-tuner device.


----------



## innocentfreak (Aug 25, 2001)

$299 for Microsoft employees through Zones. I am sure other companies have discounts with them as well though it may not be as high.


----------



## dswallow (Dec 3, 2000)

Their first priority should be firing management that is responsible for deprioritizing finishing the HD interface on the Premiere. After that, the only acceptable priority is to finish the damn HD interface of the Premiere.

Then once that's done I don't care if they waste time asking marketing questions about potential products that I doubt I'd live long enough ever to see completed by TiVo.


----------



## crxssi (Apr 5, 2010)

WillH said:


> Another thing that is worth noting is that the basic HDUI has not been changed since the box came out last year. All the firmware updates have addressed the really slow response and frequent lockups.


But they haven't addressed it very well.



> I have had the Premiere since day 1 (preorder) and nothing has really changed to any extent that I can notice. The lockups were the biggie and they seem to have addressed that and for the most part


Tell that to the people (including me) in this thread: http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=456559 They actually INTRODUCED that problem with updates.



> the speed is better


Agreed. The HDUI went from a "D" to maybe a "C" or "C-", depending on expectations and what you are doing with it. Some people seem satisfied with it. It is way below where I would need it to be in order to give up the SDUI.



> but as far as any changes of any significance, there are none. So, they have had a year now and all they have done is "sort of" fixed the worst parts of it. No actual improvements or betterments that I can tell. And, no updates at all since January. Maybe they think they are done.


They did add a few features (like Pandora, for example)- none of which interested me.



> Some time last year a few veteran Tivo users and computer experts lamented the fact that they went with FLASH for the HDUI. If the FLASH is the problem then nothing short of a total revamp of the HDUI will make things significantly better.


We don't really know that. There could still be some significant choke points that they could correct. Or at least allow the user to turn off certain things that might slow the UI down. They might be able to thread it (which I doubt) and activate the second core. However, I suspect that anything that was "easy" to try and address the issues was already done. Now we are just stuck with the really difficult. Generally I am NOT thrilled with the idea of using Flash.



> Since Tivo is not talking and has never admitted to anything being wrong with the Premiere, I wonder if we are all just wasting our time hoping things will get better.


Probably. I doubt any amount of complaining here will do anything, that is for sure. But I filled out the surveys, told them every time I called, sent Email. It's about all we can do (other than take the Premiere off my "recommend" list, which I mostly have), then sit and wait. And wait. And wait....


----------



## trip1eX (Apr 2, 2005)

aaronwt said:


> sounds good if they will also do lifetime transfers too


Yeah that's the $200 discount. Buy the box for $300 and then get $200 off lifetime if you already have lifetime.


----------



## trip1eX (Apr 2, 2005)

I see them just adopting Android or something and putting Tivo on top of it.

OR putting WMC on the box with a Tivo front-end. This would seem like a decent marriage. 

They need a partner at this stage.

This will help fix the HDUI.


----------



## L David Matheny (Jan 29, 2011)

crxssi said:


> There could still be some significant choke points that they could correct. Or at least allow the user to turn off certain things that might slow the UI down. They might be able to thread it (which I doubt) and activate the second core. However, I suspect that anything that was "easy" to try and address the issues was already done. Now we are just stuck with the really difficult. Generally I am NOT thrilled with the idea of using Flash.


If TiVo's programmers could manage to run just one thread per processor, maybe Flash could have one processor dedicated to loading eye candy, and the code for the other processor could use a real programming language to do the user-requested stuff like menus, Now Playing List, To-Do List, etc. Do they still have programmers working?


----------



## HellFish (Jan 28, 2007)

crxssi said:


> Part of what slows it down is that it is trying to live look-up everything about each program you move through, instead of pre-caching it like it does guide data. It would be nice to be able to turn off things I have zero interest in, also- like Amazon lookups. Or if I didn't have Netflix, the Netflix lookups.
> 
> I am afraid I might never use the HDUI on the Premiere.


If you use the HDUI, you can go to

Settings -> Channels -> Video Provider List 
Here you can remove Amazon, BBV & Netflix from your searches.


----------



## curiousgeorge (Nov 28, 2002)

L David Matheny said:


> If TiVo's programmers could manage to run just one thread per processor, maybe Flash could have one processor dedicated to loading eye candy, and the code for the other processor could use a real programming language to do the user-requested stuff like menus, Now Playing List, To-Do List, etc. Do they still have programmers working?


Since they're consistently advertising for more on the TiVo Now Playing of our TiVos, I would say probably "not enough".

EDIT: I also think it's sad and ironic that the tagline for the current Premiere promotional banners online is "Never Settle", and yet with an unfinished, buggy box, "settling" is exactly what TiVo is asking customers to do AFTER they've bought it.


----------



## rahnbo (Sep 12, 2010)

curiousgeorge said:


> I also think it's sad and ironic that the tagline for the current Premiere promotional banners online is "Never Settle", and yet with an unfinished, buggy box, "settling" is exactly what TiVo is asking customers to do AFTER they've bought it.


Sort of like this hoot they had on their site (and perhaps still do) right after the Premiere release:


----------



## slowbiscuit (Sep 19, 2006)

Heh, that's pretty funny - the Premiere is the definition of 'half-baked'.


----------



## WillH (May 26, 2010)

LOL............It appears that trial lawyers are running Tivo now.


----------



## crxssi (Apr 5, 2010)

trip1eX said:


> I see them just adopting Android or something and putting Tivo on top of it.


The problems are not the Linux underpinnings, it is their choice and coding of the user interface (which is 100% custom to TiVO). If they simply swap out one Linux OS (their own right now) for another (Android Linux), I don't see how that would help anything.



> OR putting WMC on the box with a Tivo front-end. This would seem like a decent marriage.


If that happened, I would absolutely throw away the box and not look back.



> They need a partner at this stage..


It is true that they seem to need help. But I wonder if they DID contract out the UI and that is why they can't seem to get anything fixed!


----------



## crxssi (Apr 5, 2010)

HellFish said:


> If you use the HDUI, you can go to
> 
> Settings -> Channels -> Video Provider List
> Here you can remove Amazon, BBV & Netflix from your searches.


VERY good observation. Has anyone reading this turned them off? Did it make any difference in the overall HDUI speed or stability?


----------



## Mike Pfeifer (Mar 17, 2011)

crxssi said:


> VERY good observation. Has anyone reading this turned them off? Did it make any difference in the overall HDUI speed or stability?


I have them turned off, but I am not sure if there was any speed improvement as I turned them off as soon as I got it hooked up. I just know its alot faster than my HR20 that I had before. Still room for improvement though.


----------



## rahnbo (Sep 12, 2010)

crxssi said:


> VERY good observation. Has anyone reading this turned them off? Did it make any difference in the overall HDUI speed or stability?


All off, no difference.


----------



## DaveWhittle (Jul 25, 2002)

Mike Pfeifer said:


> I just know its alot faster than my HR20 that I had before. Still room for improvement though.


QFT (both points).

The Premiere's HD-UI is slightly frustrating speed-wise, and the mixture of SD menus is sloppy... but at least it acts smoothly as a DVR.

I think back to my HR20 and how annoying it was to try to fast forward through commercials -- the unit wouldn't fast-forward at first, it acted like it had to "wake up"... then at the end of the commercials it would overshoot and not respond to the remote. And searching for a show to record...? A mess.

Thankfully no lockups on my setup. I'm happy with my Premiere.


----------



## Mike Pfeifer (Mar 17, 2011)

DaveWhittle said:


> QFT (both points).
> 
> The Premiere's HD-UI is slightly frustrating speed-wise, and the mixture of SD menus is sloppy... but at least it acts smoothly as a DVR.
> 
> ...


I totally agree about the SD menu change being irritating. That needs to get fixed. But that aside, I'm pretty happy with the performance. I have not had any lockups ever.

Dont get me wrong, though, I would like to see it get a speed boost.


----------



## tgrim1 (Sep 11, 2006)

I noticed that my formerly SD menus are now 720p, was there an update?


----------



## crxssi (Apr 5, 2010)

tgrim1 said:


> I noticed that my formerly SD menus are now 720p, was there an update?


No. They have always been 720P on the Premiere (and I believe the HD also). But they are not taking advantage of the 1280x720 resolution- so it is the same "real estate" as the older 480i/p SD menus. Thus, it is still called the "SDUI".


----------



## Dr_Diablo (Nov 24, 2003)

It's sad state, that in order to use the Premiere, one has to revert to the SD menu just to get through the menu without locking up or constant reboots


----------



## orangeboy (Apr 19, 2004)

Dr_Diablo said:


> It's sad state, that in order to use the Premiere, one has to revert to the SD menu just to get through the menu without locking up or constant reboots


One mustn't.
I have never used the SDUI with my Premiere, and it certainly doesn't suffer from lockups or reboots.


----------



## jcthorne (Jan 28, 2002)

Same for me. I have never used the SDUI other than the initial setup. I do not have lockups. The partial HD menus are irritating but if it locked up on a regular basis, the spousal unit would have had it gone long ago.

Its every bit as reliable as my TivoHD it relpaced, just unfinished and could be SO much more if they did or opened it up to outside developers with a new SDK.


----------



## DaveWhittle (Jul 25, 2002)

Happy with the HD-UI menus here... no lockups or freezes. 

I'm glad I don't have to go back to the SD menus.


----------



## moyekj (Jan 24, 2006)

Dr_Diablo said:


> It's sad state, that in order to use the Premiere, one has to revert to the SD menu just to get through the menu without locking up or constant reboots


 As much as I despise the HDUI I have the opposite experience: The SDUI suffers from the "Does not respond to remote control" bug quite frequently. The only fix for that problem for me is to switch to HDUI which while much slower and inconsistent and I still don't like, actually fixes that issue. If TiVo gave us an option to turn off the navigation bar (or whatever it's called) at the top of the HDUI screen I would be much happier. As an option this would still satisfy people that actually like it. Why not have an option? I realize there are probably ad revenues for TiVo tied to it, but there is indirect option to get rid of it already by switching to SDUI.


----------



## atmuscarella (Oct 11, 2005)

I use the SDUI on my Premiere because:

I like the SDUI better than the HDUI, of course I put more value on functionality than visual appeal. Flashy pictures do not matter to me unless the functionality is improved also. 
I like having the same UI on all my TiVos
While the HDUI worked fine most of the time I have enough issues with my ISP that there are times when the HDUI was a pain to use because it couldn't access the Internet. This is the only weakness I really found with the HDUI - all of it's flashy visual appeal was dependent on good Internet access. 

Thanks,


----------



## PedjaR (Jan 4, 2010)

moyekj said:


> As much as I despise the HDUI I have the opposite experience: The SDUI suffers from the "Does not respond to remote control" bug quite frequently. The only fix for that problem for me is to switch to HDUI which while much slower and inconsistent and I still don't like, actually fixes that issue. If TiVo gave us an option to turn off the navigation bar (or whatever it's called) at the top of the HDUI screen I would be much happier. As an option this would still satisfy people that actually like it. Why not have an option? I realize there are probably ad revenues for TiVo tied to it, but there is indirect option to get rid of it already by switching to SDUI.


Same here. I switched to HDUI exactly a month ago to try and see if "Does not respond to remote control" bug will go away. So far (knock on wood, etc.) it has gone away. No lockups/reboots. The only similar thing that happened during that month is that when my internet went completely down (which happened only once), the TiVo froze (but was awoken immediately with thumbs down|thumbs up|play|play|play thing). No ridiculously long wait times on anything, either. So, based on admittedly very limited experience, Id say HDUI is worth a try if you are suffering from "Does not respond to remote control" bug. It was not that frequent with me (once I stopped using Tivo button), but it was still happening.

On the other hand, HDUI is quite noticeably slower than SDUI, so that may be irritating (it is not that much of a bother to me, as it is still faster than TWC DVR I suffered for a while). I also completely agree that Discovery Bar should be optional. Actualy, what would be realy nice is to have Tivo use its space if you turn it off (at least in My Shows, it could probably add 4-5 lines). 
Some of HDUI design choices are very curious - in some browse screens, it shows 3 rows of tiles, where the bottom of the lowest row is obscured, and hence the tile title is unreadable without scrolling, so the readable part is only two rows. It only needed just a little bit more to be able to read it, why not make tiles just that much smaller so you can actually see all 3 rows?


----------



## Dr_Diablo (Nov 24, 2003)

orangeboy said:


> One mustn't.
> I have never used the SDUI with my Premiere, and it certainly doesn't suffer from lockups or reboots.


Your lucky then, for I suffered through the new an improve menu until I grew tried of watching that freaking green circle...

Insanely slow load times using that HD menu, thus I had no option but to go back to the SD menu, downside it's at 720i

I pay for this service an don't want to see SPAM advertising of any sort


----------



## KungFuCow (May 6, 2004)

I also get the green circle on the regular. I doubt its ever going to be fixed or the HDUI finished. Im just making the best of it.


----------



## WillH (May 26, 2010)

It seems to me, and this is just a subjective opinion, that it is much slower at times than others which leads me to think that it is something to do with their server loads. Yesterday, it was horribly slow from about 5:30PM EDT until 10PM EDT (after that, I don't know cuz I went to bed early). I have noticed this before. I even changed the batteries in the remote to make sure. What bugs me is that when it is this slow, I will hit the remote button a couple of times and nothing happens and then all of the sudden it catches up........Also, the green spinning circle hangs longer. If I am doing the 30 sec skip, it will also jump to the end of the program as if I held it down and I only pushed it once or twice. Just my opinion why I think it has to do with their server load because other times of the day and other days, it is OK: Not fast, but not so painfully slow that it appears unresponsive. I am on a fast hard-wired ethernet connection.


----------



## Renesis (Feb 27, 2007)

It's not your imagination. Tivo gets show information from their server so when their end is slow it slows down your experience. Having the interface slow down and wait for information to download is poor programming and inexcusable.

If you disconnect your network connection you will notice the menus will be much faster but tivo will complain it can't provide you with certain information because the network is down.



WillH said:


> It seems to me, and this is just a subjective opinion, that it is much slower at times than others which leads me to think that it is something to do with their server loads. Yesterday, it was horribly slow from about 5:30PM EDT until 10PM EDT (after that, I don't know cuz I went to bed early). I have noticed this before. I even changed the batteries in the remote to make sure. What bugs me is that when it is this slow, I will hit the remote button a couple of times and nothing happens and then all of the sudden it catches up........Also, the green spinning circle hangs longer. If I am doing the 30 sec skip, it will also jump to the end of the program as if I held it down and I only pushed it once or twice. Just my opinion why I think it has to do with their server load because other times of the day and other days, it is OK: Not fast, but not so painfully slow that it appears unresponsive. I am on a fast hard-wired ethernet connection.


----------

