# The Tivo Stream 4K is much improved since when it first launched last year



## omelet1978 (Mar 7, 2006)

Hi,

I decided to give the Tivo Stream 4K another try after returning it last year and am relieved that the original buggy Tivo Stream 4K seems to be working a lot better after they released some software updates. 

The major issue I had was that it seemed like “My Shows” had a mind of it’s own and the Tivo turned on my TV to the screensaver at random times. “My Shows” seems a bit better and the HDMI issue that turned the TV on looks to be fixed now. It still crashes sometimes though and I’ll have to restart it and I think for the next version a faster processor would help things be snappier. Overall, after using it a couple of weeks I’m happy with the purchase and am glad to be back with Tivo for now.


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## XRaiderV17 (Jan 15, 2021)

all I know is mine smokes my old roku for breakfast, lunch and dinner


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## ke3ju (Jan 5, 2004)

Unless they added a Pause/Play, Fast Forward, and Rewind buttons to the remote control, then there's nothing they could do to get me to use it.


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## Alex_7 (Jun 24, 2020)

They still haven't fixed the SDR/HDR issue


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## XRaiderV17 (Jan 15, 2021)

ke3ju said:


> Unless they added a Pause/Play, Fast Forward, and Rewind buttons to the remote control, then there's nothing they could do to get me to use it.


 it literally takes no thought to move thumb left or right, and press to FF or RW..and play needs no thought. I legitimately dont understand that perceived problem at all.


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## Pnyklr (Aug 4, 2015)

Agreed on both points.


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## omelet1978 (Mar 7, 2006)

Alex_7 said:


> They still haven't fixed the SDR/HDR issue


I'm not sure what that is. My main issue was an HDMI issue which caused my TV to turn on uncommanded which is now fixed at least on my tv.



ke3ju said:


> Unless they added a Pause/Play, Fast Forward, and Rewind buttons to the remote control, then there's nothing they could do to get me to use it.


It's a non issue. The circular pad on the remote works the same way. If anything you could get rid of the numbers on the bottom of the remote since I rarely use them.


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## ke3ju (Jan 5, 2004)

omelet1978 said:


> I'm not sure what that is. My main issue was an HDMI issue which caused my TV to turn on uncommanded which is now fixed at least on my tv.
> 
> It's a non issue. The circular pad on the remote works the same way. If anything you could get rid of the numbers on the bottom of the remote since I rarely use them.


The circular pad really doesn't do the same thing at all. Having to hit the select button to bring up controls before being able to pause/play is ridiculous. Every other device out there has a real pause/play button. Even a real TiVo has a real Pause/Play button. Once you're used to that, there's no going back, especially when every other device offers this (FireTV for instance). Pairing a FireTV remote makes it almost usable, but there are other things it won't do, like onscreen keyboard, so there no one remote that can do everything for this device. The idiots at TiVo that designed this should be fired.


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## XRaiderV17 (Jan 15, 2021)

nothing says you need to use the remote. grab the android remote app off your respective app store and be done with it.


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## dbpaddler (Sep 25, 2004)

Alex_7 said:


> They still haven't fixed the SDR/HDR issue


Update...









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## dbpaddler (Sep 25, 2004)

omelet1978 said:


> If anything you could get rid of the numbers on the bottom of the remote since I rarely use them.


Some still use it to watch live TV and have certain channels they tune to on a regular basis and like the direct access to them.

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## dbpaddler (Sep 25, 2004)

ke3ju said:


> The circular pad really doesn't do the same thing at all. Having to hit the select button to bring up controls before being able to pause/play is ridiculous. Every other device out there has a real pause/play button. Even a real TiVo has a real Pause/Play button. Once you're used to that, there's no going back, especially when every other device offers this (FireTV for instance). Pairing a FireTV remote makes it almost usable, but there are other things it won't do, like onscreen keyboard, so there no one remote that can do everything for this device. The idiots at TiVo that designed this should be fired.


And many streamer remotes suck... The tivo remote does many other things right, especially for those that do live TV.

No streamer is perfect. So find the one that has the least amount of evils for you. Would I like dedicated nav buttons, yep. Do I care enough to use something that doesn't work as well for my needs? Nope.

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## XRaiderV17 (Jan 15, 2021)

I just know, that for the size, its organized really well, requires a minimum of physical effort(eg look ma, I can do it all one handed..yay!) and no mental firepower.

for me? this is a good remote.

not awkward in the slightest, like roku can sometimes feel like.


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## Alex_7 (Jun 24, 2020)

dbpaddler said:


> Update...
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Finally.. almost a year later!


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## osu1991 (Mar 6, 2015)

Loaded on mine that's been plugged in this morning. Everything seems to work as it has been de-tivo'd. I will have to connect the other one and update then put one back on the 4K living room tv and see how it handles the HDR now.


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## dbpaddler (Sep 25, 2004)

Alex_7 said:


> Finally.. almost a year later!


Yeah. Took two updates on the beta. The initial one fixed hdr but it broke something else that I didn't experience. And they pushed a second one a week later. Guess that fixed what the first one broke. That was probably the biggest deal breaker for most.

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## dbpaddler (Sep 25, 2004)

XRaiderV17 said:


> I just know, that for the size, its organized really well, requires a minimum of physical effort(eg look ma, I can do it all one handed..yay!) and no mental firepower.
> 
> for me? this is a good remote.
> 
> not awkward in the slightest, like roku can sometimes feel like.


I like it, but I just don't get how or why the removal of the dedicated nav buttons started. While we can accomplish the same thing th td-pad, it's not nearly as intuitive or convenient as it's one to two extra button presses to accomplish the same task a dedicated button can do.

It's like Apple making a solution to a problem that didn't exist until they created it. Have fun charging your iPhone 13 when the isn't a mag connector available because they removed the lightning connector. But you can fit more stuff inside now without it. Just like you can have less buttons (when no one asked for less buttons) on the emote by incorporating nav into the d-pad. 

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## ke3ju (Jan 5, 2004)

dbpaddler said:


> And many streamer remotes suck... The tivo remote does many other things right, especially for those that do live TV.
> 
> No streamer is perfect. So find the one that has the least amount of evils for you. Would I like dedicated nav buttons, yep. Do I care enough to use something that doesn't work as well for my needs? Nope.
> 
> Sent from my SM-N981U using Tapatalk


My 10 FireStick 4Ks do everything perfectly, the TiVo Stream 4K is about a 3 on that same scale...and I do use them for Live TV mostly. I would've bought 10 TiVo Stream 4Ks if the remote didn't suck.


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## dbpaddler (Sep 25, 2004)

ke3ju said:


> My 10 FireStick 4Ks do everything perfectly, the TiVo Stream 4K is about a 3 on that same scale...and I do use them for Live TV mostly. I would've bought 10 TiVo Stream 4Ks if the remote didn't suck.


I'm kind of fond the live, skip and guide buttons on the TS4k remote. I will direct enter a few channel numbers from time to time too.

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## Vm19 (Feb 10, 2021)

The device itself is nice but TiVo’s software implementation is garbage. Just buy google’s Sabrina or save for a shield.


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## XRaiderV17 (Jan 15, 2021)

guys...pull up your phones' camera apps, switch to selfie mode...aim the TS4K remote at it, hit the home button....if you see 2 purple glowy dots on the image..you're not losing your minds. something's gone terribly wrong with the remote's own firmware in this update.

this happens for the tivo button, live button, home button, or guide button.


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## dbpaddler (Sep 25, 2004)

Vm19 said:


> The device itself is nice but TiVo's software implementation is garbage. Just buy google's Sabrina or save for a shield.


Sabrina sucks and is just one big advertising page with no way to customize to one's liking unlike the TS4k's Android tv home screen. Shield is overpriced and overkill for most's needs. Only way I would justify it is if I used it as my channels server and ditched the mini pc.

And who gives a f about their software? Just disable everything tivo related if you don't care for it and Stream.

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## dbpaddler (Sep 25, 2004)

XRaiderV17 said:


> guys...pull up your phones' camera apps, switch to selfie mode...aim the TS4K remote at it, hit the home button....if you see 2 purple glowy dots on the image..you're not losing your minds. something's gone terribly wrong with the remote's own firmware in this update.
> 
> this happens for the tivo button, live button, home button, or guide button.


Confused. My buttons are mapped to Channels and work just fine. Circle takes me it android tv home. Guide takes me to Channels guide. Live takes me to the last channel I was watching in Channels. I don't touch the tivo button.

I've disabled anything stream related and the update re-enables Stream and the tivo plus player. So you need to disable them again. If you did in the first place.

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## XRaiderV17 (Jan 15, 2021)

my point was..buttons that have zero business interacting with my tv via the infrared blaster are triggering the blaster and getting that 'not available' error from the tv itself(not the tivo..tivo doesn't care its working just fine)

I think they did something to the remote's firmware with the update.


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## Vm19 (Feb 10, 2021)

dbpaddler said:


> Sabrina sucks and is just one big advertising page with no way to customize to one's liking unlike the TS4k's Android tv home screen. Shield is overpriced and overkill for most's needs. Only way I would justify it is if I used it as my channels server and ditched the mini pc.
> 
> And who gives a f about their software? Just disable everything tivo related if you don't care for it and Stream.
> 
> Sent from my SM-N981U using Tapatalk


I'm not talking about the tivo stuff, I removed that garbage on day one, I'm talking about basic features like hdr, autoframerate, proper audio, and other things that are half assed.

I have a chromecast and I like it a lot, the launcher is the exact same as the new android tv launcher that is coming to all devices. Right now you can uninstall the update but eventually tivo is going to push it with the firmware so you're going to be on the same boat. But guess what? sideloading a third party launcher takes like 5 minutes.


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## dbpaddler (Sep 25, 2004)

Vm19 said:


> I'm not talking about the tivo stuff, I removed that garbage on day one, I'm talking about basic features like hdr, autoframerate, proper audio, and other things that are half assed.
> 
> I have a chromecast and I like it a lot, the launcher is the exact same as the new android tv launcher that is coming to all devices. Right now you can uninstall the update but eventually tivo is going to push it with the firmware so you're going to be on the same boat. But guess what? sideloading a third party launcher takes like 5 minutes.


Tivo will not be updating to Android 10 anytime soon which the Google TV Home screen is associated with. So no, Google TV Home screen will not be coming for a long while. People are so focused on the big ad at the top when that is the least of the issues.

Google TV = aggregated content based on your viewing habits + pushed content they want you to purchase.

Android TV: dedicated app rows where you can choose the apps you want to see.

Big difference. One is customizable to your liking. The other is for people who can't figure out what to watch on their own and want content shoved in their faces.

Side launchers are just big static app drawers with no real live content. Pointless.

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## NashGuy (May 2, 2015)

dbpaddler said:


> Tivo will not be updating to Android 10 anytime soon which the Google TV Home screen is associated with. So no, Google TV Home screen will not be coming for a long while. People are so focused on the big ad at the top when that is the least of the issues.
> 
> Google TV = aggregated content based on your viewing habits + pushed content they want you to purchase.
> 
> ...


Also:

Google TV = Watchlist to save titles for later viewing from various apps (accessible from the device as well as from Google search in a web browser), plus a Continue Watching feature to jump back into content you've started from across apps

Android TV = Play Next row that in theory acts as a combination of Google TV's Watchlist and Continue Watching queues but in reality isn't very useful because so few apps support it

Aside from that, Google TV also integrates Rotten Tomatoes scores and movie trailers into its UI while, AFAIK, the Android TV home screen does neither. Yes, it's nice that Android TV is a little more customizable (add, remove, or re-arrange app-specific content recommendation rows) but I think the Google TV UI/system is actually much more useful.


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## dbpaddler (Sep 25, 2004)

It all depends on what you want presented to you on your home screen.

I personally don't care about all the aggregation from all the sources. Rotten tomatoes and all that blah blah. Haven't had one person yet say, "have you seen xxxx?", and I haven't heard of it, bookmarked it or so on. There's enough advertising everywhere I go.

And for all expanded on, it all falls under aggregation. You either want it at the expense of actual personalization or you don't. And you can't be in for penny because you automatically get a pound. Neither is perfect. It's what evils or lack of content/info do you want to deal with?

But the main point which is getting lost is people are somewhat tunnel visioned by the big ad when in the grand scheme, that's the least of the overall issues. 

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## NashGuy (May 2, 2015)

dbpaddler said:


> It all depends on what you want presented to you on your home screen.
> 
> I personally don't care about all the aggregation from all the sources. Rotten tomatoes and all that blah blah. Haven't had one person yet say, "have you seen xxxx?", and I haven't heard of it, bookmarked it or so on. There's enough advertising everywhere I go.
> 
> ...


Sounds like what you actually want is either a Roku or Google TV's apps-only mode. In other words, just a grid of apps. (Of course, the problems with those pesky apps is that they endlessly advertise their own content to you within their own UIs, right? Each of those content tiles is an ad!)


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## dbpaddler (Sep 25, 2004)

NashGuy said:


> Sounds like what you actually want is either a Roku or Google TV's apps-only mode. In other words, just a grid of apps. (Of course, the problems with those pesky apps is that they endlessly advertise their own content to you within their own UIs, right? Each of those content tiles is an ad!)


Umm, no. Not even worth expanding on as I've said countless times what I like about the android tv home screen.

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## Diacritical (Jan 10, 2003)

One issue I have not seen mentions in this thread… YouTubeTV works in Android 10 and is buggy as hell in Android 9.


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