# Nothing is easy



## HarleyRandom (Sep 17, 2015)

My original plan was to buy the TV, the TiVo and the antenna at the same time and have someone hook all that up. All I need now is the antenna because I know the indoor antenna will never give me what I want. However, I don't know yet how well the antenna is doing.

The TiVo was on sale. I kept getting messages on my Roamio and possibly the others telling me about the deal I could get. So I took advantage. It all seemed simple enough. Once it arrived on my porch (I told them send it to the post office) I took it inside. I eventually got around to hooking it up. But let's back up. I got a surge protector. Actually, two, but the smaller one was called a "power strip". And both of them had such short cords they were pretty much useless until I plugged one into the other. Before I got around to hooking up the Bolt, I plugged in my vacuum cleaner. It didn't work. I do need to add that where I used to plug in the vacuum cleaner, something is blocking the outlet and I don't have time to deal with moving stuff around. Two of my surge protectors have what looks like a light switch. This one didn't, but there was something on the side that looked like it might have been that. It worked.

So I hooked up the Bolt the next day when I had more time. I used the yellow cord I got for my Roamio. Nothing. I called TiVo tech support and was asked about the HDMI cable. Well, I haven't gotten that TV yet. I was told that was the only way. Seriously? There is a hole to plug the yellow cord into on the Bolt. Why won't it work? But what I did accomplish was getting the remote for the Bolt to operate only the Bolt and not the Roamio, and vice versa. The amber light on the Bolt responded to the Bolt remote. 

Wednesday I went to the first of two stores. I was told they don't sell TVs. Really, won't a plain computer monitor work, seeing as how I won't be changing channels? But I decided to ask where to find a TV. The person referred me to stores I wouldn't be going to for another week. I tried another nearby store. They did sell TVs! I got the smallest and cheapest. I took it out of the car when I got home, and then out of the box. That was enough for one day. It had been a very busy day.

So I unwrapped the TV. I had to remove one of the old TVs which no longer works, meaning nothing to put the Bolt and antenna on top of. And no remote! Wait. I might have left something in the box. Yes, there it is. No batteries (and why didn't the store tell me I needed them?). And no obvious place to put them. I finally looked closely and it said AAA. Fortunately, I have an electric shaver I use on vacations. I position the battery with the plus sign over the plus sign, and it fell down in the remote. Oh, right. My other remotes do that. Success! Except even after the HDMI was hooked up (and neither end fit, but those must have been covers. Oh, they were. Now which way?) "No signal". No matter what I did. It scanned for channels, which I didn't expect. I finally figured out how to get channel 3. I pushed every button there was. Well, not every button. I called the 800 number on what few instructions there were. Not even a single page that could tell me what to do. Only warranty information and safety information. Nothing about how to set it up, or even what the model number was. And whatever country she was in, all she could tell me was look for the model number. Now this is not a big heavy screen that hangs on the wall. But nothing on the back was big enough to read. Oh, and during all of this it kept coming unplugged. I kept asking if there was some button I could press on the remote to get what I needed. At some point, everything was in French and I couldn't get it back to English. While I tried to get what I thought was the model number, she hung up on me. I tried calling back but kept getting a busy signal. So I called TiVo. While pressing random buttons to get English back, I did finally see a list of options that said "HDMI". Finally, I could do something. Except I couldn't. I did have to verify the Bolt was activated. I was told look at the box when I couldn't find the number on the back. None of the numbers on the box were right (actually, I later noticed the box in a place I hadn't thought to look--the right box, with the number I needed). At some point I realized the number must be on the bottom and I read what I thought might be the number. She found it in my account information and said it was activated. 

In order to go back to watching my Roamio, I needed my Roamio remote. Wait. That one's not supposed to … I've been trying to use my TV remote on my Bolt. Okay, now it works, and I'm finding out what channels I receive. That was fast. I only saw one of the channels actually show up. Now I have to load the information. At some point one or both of the items plugged into the surge protector stopped working. When I realized I might not be getting all the channels, I checked the antenna and the cord was wrapped around other cords and had to be straightened out. The antenna is also not on top of the TV like it used to be because there is no "top of the TV". But once I got the various cords untangled, everything quit working again. As I made sure everything was plugged into the wall, I discovered the surge protector hadn't been securely plugged in. How is that even possible? Meanwhile, the converter box that had quit working is finally loose from all the other mess. All of that is enough for one night.


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## UCLABB (May 29, 2012)

So have you listened to your Yule log?


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## kpeters59 (Jun 19, 2007)

Did you include removing the protective covers on the ends of an HDMI Cable as "nothing is easy"?

-KP


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

It's better to not post than post something nasty. Just pretend it's a relative.


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## HarleyRandom (Sep 17, 2015)

kpeters59 said:


> Did you include removing the protective covers on the ends of an HDMI Cable as "nothing is easy"?
> 
> -KP


That was one of the things that made it more complicated, yes. Now that I know those are there, it won't be a problem any more.

I haven't actually used the Bolt yet.

It's possible there's nothing in there that will help anyone, but I needed to rant.


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## schatham (Mar 17, 2007)

Deja Vu, I know you posted this before.


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## HarleyRandom (Sep 17, 2015)

That's impossible. I just opened the box a couple of weeks ago and finally posted when I tried to use it.

Everything from this point on (except maybe the next paragraph since it's specific to my case) could be useful to others, so this isn't just a rant.

Now that I found out how to get it started, I attempted to use it and that ended up being far more complicated than I had imagined. What this means is that the Bolt will be for storing shows and trying out an outdoor antenna to see if it works before I commit to connecting the Roamio to the antenna and disconnecting from cable, which still seems unlikely. Even if I record shows on the Bolt I can watch them on the Roamio. If the tech support person was right about the Roamio and it will quit working soon, I need to move the Series 3 assuming it still works can get a CableCard for it, and use it and the Series 2 for cable. And I will get whatever TiVo will let me use the Roamio software and connect that to the antenna. Or if it works for both the antenna and cable, then I'll get a CableCard (could I still use the one from the Roamio in boith the cases I mentioned) and put the Series 3 back where it was.

So here's what happened. I started using the Bolt and found out nothing is as it was on the Roamio. NOTHING. I had to ask for help with every little thing. The first thing I had to start remembering was that there's a back button. I needed this knowledge before but for most purposes the left arrow worked. But let's back up. The first thing I said was that I wanted to go back to using the Roamio software. Turns out I could! That made me so happy. Until the directions for doing that didn't work. The person accused me of not doing what I was told, but I did misunderstand about two thumbs down and rewind twice. Three thumbs down and enter is for repeating guided setup, which ended up happening at least once when I thought there would be another option to follow. While I was doing something, the person disappeared and I had to hang up and call again. This time the person let me know he was investigating and I was being put on hold. He told me this particular Bolt wouldn't allow me to use the Roamio software.

So at that point I had to ask how to do absolutely everything. I did finally discover manual recording and succeeded n doing that. Not that I got the results I wanted because the antenna is not on top of the TV anymore, but that's a separate issue. What I really needed was to transfer shows in case the Roamio quits working. I was told the computer would be necessary, so I quit. I was told I'd get a link to directions in an email. I did not, so when I finished with everything else I was doing on the computer the next time I used it, I called and got help. Transferring didn't work. I was told to go to both the Bolt and the Roamio and change the settings to allow me to access both from the computer. And restart both. By the way, the remote for my new TV has a "French" button. Who would have guessed?

So I have a nice neat list of shows recorded on my Roamio ready to go on my computer. I'm told do a few. When those finish, I add more. But at some point when I checked, the shows were not all on the Bolt. In fact, I had multiple copies of all but the last episode transferred. Also, the Bolt's green light was not on. It had a green light and a yellow light on earlier. And a red light, but I don't know what that was about. I turned on the Bolt and it was starting up after being asleep. I deleted all the duplicate episodes (I can do that from my Roamio!) and then deleted them from the Roamio. But I decided not to transfer any more episodes. I have no uncheck all the boxes of episodes already transferred. The good news is I won't have trouble figuring out which episodes were already transferred because those have been deleted from the Roamio.


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## HarleyRandom (Sep 17, 2015)

UCLABB said:


> So have you listened to your Yule log?


Twice, from the Series 2, once when putting up the tree and once when taking it down. And it will go to the Bolt when I get ready to do that.


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## HarleyRandom (Sep 17, 2015)

So things aren't getting better. 

Knowing the Bolt was waking up every time I turned on the TV and then the Bolt, I turned on the TV and then the Bolt when I did the transfer. I eventually turned off the TV without noticing whether the transfers had completed. Some shows had not been transferred. Most had two or three copies. And when I turned on the TV and the Bolt, the Bolt woke up. There is no green light when the Bolt is not waked up, but then how is it I can transfer shows from the Bolt to the Roamio when this is true? Is the Bolt able to record in these situations? I don't understand any of this. The Roamio, the Series 3 and the Series 2 never sleep. 

One good thing: the signal on the one channel the Bolt will pick up was nearly perfect. Last night would have been a good time to check for more channels. However, another reason I won't be watching using the Bolt is that people look so weird. I'm sure most of you have experienced this for years, but I haven't. Maybe I have an HD receiver, which has never been true before. I definitely prefer the traditional look that my old TVs have, as long as they work. This is one reason I never upgraded to a flat screen.


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## Mikeguy (Jul 28, 2005)

The Bolt's standby mode can be turned off under its settings.


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## HarleyRandom (Sep 17, 2015)

I figured there had to be something like that.


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## HarleyRandom (Sep 17, 2015)

Mikeguy said:


> The Bolt's standby mode can be turned off under its settings.


It wasn't standby mode, as it turned out, but the power saving feature. As usual, the tech support person made it sound like what I'd have to do was more complicated than necessary. She said I'd have to transfer the shows one at a time, which of course I wasn't going to do. It's not that big a deal since the Roamio will probably last a long time, despite what I was told about the noise. But I don't want to keep getting close to 100 percent.


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## HarleyRandom (Sep 17, 2015)

Forgot to mention this, though it's not relevant to anything TiVo related. At least so far.

The "French" button didn't work. And then I realized it said "PREVCH".


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## HarleyRandom (Sep 17, 2015)

I'm still not getting all the shows I want to transfer. And most of them show up two or three times when they do.


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## HarleyRandom (Sep 17, 2015)

No answer?

Anyway, I was concerned if I turned off the computer the transfer would stop. When I did, the light on the Roamio was behaving the same way as when the computer was on.


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## dianebrat (Jul 6, 2002)

HarleyRandom said:


> It wasn't standby mode, as it turned out, but the power saving feature.


power saving = standby
in the Tivo world so the answer is "yes it was standby"


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## HarleyRandom (Sep 17, 2015)

dianebrat said:


> power saving = standby
> in the Tivo world so the answer is "yes it was standby"


The point is it wasn't called that. When I need advice, I need it to be exact.


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## dianebrat (Jul 6, 2002)

HarleyRandom said:


> The point is it wasn't called that. When I need advice, I need it to be exact.


Nevermind, I won't bother participating in the thread again, it's just not worth it, I have no desire to bang my head on the wall repeatedly.


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

dianebrat said:


> Nevermind, I won't bother participating in the thread again, it's just not worth it, I have no desire to bang my head on the wall repeatedly.


True wisdom.


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## HarleyRandom (Sep 17, 2015)

I wasn't criticizing the advice, but what I was expecting wasn't there. Anyone should know by now that anything that confuses me just makes things harder and I won't automatically figure things out just because what I see is close.


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## mdavej (Aug 13, 2015)

dianebrat said:


> Nevermind, I won't bother participating in the thread again, it's just not worth it, I have no desire to bang my head on the wall repeatedly.


Yet you are compelled like a moth to a flame. You'll post in his next thread and the one after that. They're too irresistible.


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## bobfrank (Mar 17, 2005)

dianebrat said:


> Nevermind, I won't bother participating in the thread again, it's just not worth it, I have no desire to bang my head on the wall repeatedly.


And you're the one in his Christmas music thread that said to me when I tried to help him:



dianebrat said:


> No it won't, HR will have some other off the wall issue, concern, complaint, it's clear you're a masochist enjoying the pain


Apparently I'm not the only masochist posting here.


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## Mikeguy (Jul 28, 2005)

bobfrank said:


> Apparently I'm not the only masochist posting here.


Some might suggest, many of us posting in TiVo threads nowadays are masochists.* 

* I should refrain from posting at the end of long days, lol.


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## dianebrat (Jul 6, 2002)

bobfrank said:


> And you're the one in his Christmas music thread that said to me when I tried to help him:
> Apparently I'm not the only masochist posting here.


*sigh* occasionally I can be an optimist.. I need to do something about that 


Mikeguy said:


> Some might suggest, many of us posting in TiVo threads nowadays are masochists.*


Reminds me of the joke about the 2 masochists and one asks the other "so why do you hang around with that sadist?" and they answer "beats me"


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## BobCamp1 (May 15, 2002)

Well, if the OP's experience is real, then it goes to show that Tivos are difficult to set up for the average user. That's why they never became popular. We're all technically savvy but most people are not. We've all been to other people's houses where they have had the HD box plugged into the coaxial or composite input of their HDTV. Or they think the service has been out for days, so they call the cable company and the technician comes over and simply plugs the box back into the electrical outlet. And charges her $60 for it.


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## HarleyRandom (Sep 17, 2015)

Trust me. It's all real. And in a couple of weeks if I don't change my mind, I'm getting someone to install an outdoor antenna or tell me the trees will make it useless given the distance I am from the towers.


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## snerd (Jun 6, 2008)

dianebrat said:


> Reminds me of the joke about the 2 masochists and one asks the other "so why do you hang around with that sadist?" and they answer "beats me"


That reminds me of the joke where the masochist says "beat me" and the sadist says "No!"


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## mattyro7878 (Nov 27, 2014)

I have said many times Tivo is not for your average Joe. Unless someone in the house is technically adept and patient.


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## Mikeguy (Jul 28, 2005)

mattyro7878 said:


> I have said many times Tivo is not for your average Joe. Unless someone in the house is technically adept and patient.


Which is kind of funny, because it really_ should_ be and TiVo wanted it to be. Having said that, a singular OTA set-up can be pretty easy.


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## chiguy50 (Nov 9, 2009)

mattyro7878 said:


> I have said many times Tivo is not for your average Joe. Unless someone in the house is technically adept and patient.


I would disagree with that statement. Perhaps not everyone is prepared to deal with (or needs) a DVR, but as far as the technology goes I find TiVo very user-friendly.

It's all relative if you want to assess complexity of the user interface. For a comparison, just think back to the days of the VCR and how many users couldn't even manage to set the clock!


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## mattyro7878 (Nov 27, 2014)

Actually, my present set up is with Xfinity. The lack of a tuning adaptor makes things really nice. If any issues pop up there is one less item to troubleshoot. Makes a big difference.


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