# Is DirecTV TiVo worth it?



## digs0 (Oct 5, 2007)

I just switched (back) to DirecTV after a hiatus of many years, during which I was happy (happier than I knew) with my Premiere and then Roamio Plus units. Now that AT&T has gigabit fiber in my neighborhood, I made the jump back to DirecTV. Even though I've been all-in on TiVo for awhile, I'm shocked at how much worse their Genie box is than a TiVo. 

It's tough to find information on the DTV TiVo. I know it has only 2 tuners, but that might be a sacrifice I'm willing to make to get the TiVo UI back. I don't care too much about having Netflix or anything since I have other boxes for that. I'd miss the commercial skip feature if the DTV boxes don't have it. In short: has anyone found that it's worth it to pay extra for a DirecTV TiVo unit?


----------



## stevel (Aug 23, 2000)

If you really like the TiVo UI and don’t care about on-demand, streaming or other features that the non-TiVo boxes have, it works fine. It’s essentially a Series 2 that doesn’t need a phone line, and costs $5 extra a month.

I don’t agree that the Genie is worse than a TiVo. The UI is a bit of a mess, I’ll agree, but in most other ways I like it better (I have both). No commercial skip on either.


----------



## digs0 (Oct 5, 2007)

Thanks for the reply, stevel. Maybe I just have to learn to use it. The things I dislike about Genie, aside from the outdated aesthetics of the UI, are the inability to select tuners (as far as I can tell, you can only switch between 2 active tuners), the confusing nature of creating season pass equivalents, and the inferior way it handles fast-forwarding ads. Thanks to TiVo, it's been a long time since I had to deal with the fast forward/skip back/skip back again/oops too far/skip forward dance. I had a Comcast box for a couple of days when I first moved and that seemed more up to date.


----------



## stevel (Aug 23, 2000)

I never use the switch tuner feature, so I can’t comment on that. I never had an issue with forwarding through ads - it seemed to work similarly to TiVo in my experience. Setting up season passes is just different, with most of the same options available. One thing you do give up with the Genie is TiVo’s “Deleted Shows” folder. But the Genie has a nice feature where if you tune into a program in the middle, chances are you’ll be offered the option to watch from the beginning (many but not all channels have this enabled.) Also, as I hinted above, on-demand (with downloading, not the PPV channels) simply doesn’t work on the THR22, even though it’s supposed to. Five tuners is also quite nice...


----------



## Series3Sub (Mar 14, 2010)

The THR22 (the latest DirecTV that can record HD) is like an S3 experience because it does record HD. Also the THR22 has virtually NONE of the features found on RETAIL TiVo's. Unless things have changed you can't tranfer between shows nor can you do many other things a retail TiVo can do, but I think you can access some DirecTV On Demand content, and that's about it. But it does have that S3 UI with the moving menus and animated TiVo critter, but no Picture in Guide, etc. In every other way, it functions like an S3.

The THR22 is really for hard core TiVo fans who just have to have a TiVo or simply prefer the old, but still adequate S2/S3 UI that feels familiar and comfy for some TiVo users. Good luck.


----------



## compnurd (Oct 6, 2011)

Correct The THR is on there OLD HR22 Platform and still has the Older Tivo Interface.. it will have very little in common with your premiere... There is a new Directv Interface in the process of being rolled out


----------



## MighTiVo (Oct 26, 2000)

stevel said:


> I don't agree that the Genie is worse than a TiVo. The UI is a bit of a mess, I'll agree, but in most other ways I like it better (I have both). No commercial skip on either.


Oh I have to agree with OP, Genie is no TiVo!

The genie does have near seamless dealing with broadcast vs on demand and this is a boon for those with great broadband. But the inability to FF on demand to pick up where you left off just about kills that improvement.

Personally I wish AT&T would have bought TiVo years ago and used it for UVerse then updating the DirecTV experience when they bought DirectTV.

TiVo working directly with many cable operators is likely what caused the DTV TiVo to be nearly abandoned and left in the legacy condition it is in.

I am a TiVo fan, have been since 1999, I have several in use daily for broadcast TV, Premiere, Romio, and Bolt. I recently retired an HD, and a have pile of retired S1, S2, Humax DVD and S1 DTV TiVo's.

But today for DirecTV, I reluctantly use the Genie and Wireless Genie Mini's, If DTV has updated TiVo that could participate in MRV with the current devices I would quickly convert!


----------



## emuman100 (Jul 3, 2003)

What drives me up a wall is having to use what Directv tells me to. I have hated their UI since the D10 boxes rolled out many years ago. I still hate it. I also don't like their "leased" rigamarole. I don't like cable, but these days, I feel forced. My hacked Tivo HD works well with a cable card.


----------



## Diana Collins (Aug 21, 2002)

The THR-22 exists solely as artifact of the settlement of a breech of contract lawsuit. DirecTV dragged their feet giving Tivo the required support, and refused to turn on support for things like multi-room viewing. It is a crippled DVR and having used both, I have to say the Genie is far more functional and feature rich.


----------

