# dump Hydra and start over....



## joe277 (Mar 30, 2012)

Start rant...

My suggestion is easy. Just dump Hydra. It's horrible. Not worth the Voice Remote or any other feature that may or may not be coming. 
Will be rolling back the one unit I upgraded. And will not be upgrading back to Hydra. Will not be getting a new 4k box either. My next box will be from the cable company unfortunately. Love Tivo, but Hydra is horrendous. 

Can't believe they eliminated almost every small feature that made a Tivo worth having over a cable company box. While the old software needed a facelift it did not need an overhaul (at least as far as the UI... probably needed a backend overhaul to get new features like Alexa and Google Home integration). Such a disappointment. Cable companie's software caught up with Tivo and this is Tivo's response?? UGH!!! 

Sorry.. very frustrated here from an avid Tivo promoter and reseller. It was a hard enough sell before, but it's a non-starter now since I no longer personally want to use it.


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## jrtroo (Feb 4, 2008)

So go ahead and revert?


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## mattyro7878 (Nov 27, 2014)

After the years of development, there us no way they are dumping Hydra. Tweaking , yes but an entire new UI . Not happening. Businesses (maybe the inept government) just don't do that.


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## exdishguy (May 1, 2004)

I couldn't agree more. Dump Hydra. What a total cluster-f&^k I have four Tivos and the day they force me to Hydra will be my last as a Tivo customer. I cannot believe how horrible Hydra is. It's like they have no clue how to conduct VoC, UX design, or what features made them the best DVR on the planet. Shocking. 

And before you fan boys chime in about reverting...I'm copying shows off the Hydra box now and once that is done I cannot WAIT to revert back to the old UI. To anybody considering trying Hydra please heed the warnings - DON'T DO IT!


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## mrsean (May 15, 2006)

Supposedly there is already a second iteration of Hydra that will be rolling out very soon. It is rumored to be much more polished than the initial version.


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## buildersboy66 (Dec 9, 2016)

Can the Mini Vox's be rolled backwards?


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## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

buildersboy66 said:


> Can the Mini Vox's be rolled backwards?


Minis update to whatever software version is in use by their associated host DVR.


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## buildersboy66 (Dec 9, 2016)

ty


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## dfreybur (Jan 27, 2006)

Last night we selected to not change the user interface. This morning the user interface is different. That's bad.

The new interface at first glance appears to mimic the streaming provider interfaces. Okay but I don't get the point. Those thumbnails take a lot more time to scroll through shows.

The only objection I have so far is that in Suggestions it no longer tells what series, only the season number and episode number. What the bleep? They replaced the most important thing to display with a nice extra.

In a decade or so of Tivo this is something like the 3rd major user interface change. Each time I was unimpressed then got used to it. Two UIs back I used to use the position in the menus to tell if the box rebooted. It forgot across reboots, lost functionality. This time I'm not sure what was lost but it will be something,

In a few weeks I take it my reaction will be whatever.


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## CTLesq (Jan 19, 2003)

I like Hydra. My wife likes Hydra (which says something).

I realize there are legitimate issues for some members, but I think many complaints boil down to there is now a new new way to do something that had previously been done for years in the same way.

Change is hard.


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## HerronScott (Jan 1, 2002)

dfreybur said:


> Last night we selected to not change the user interface. This morning the user interface is different. That's bad.


It sounds like you accidentally did the opposite?

Scott


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## TKnight206 (Oct 20, 2016)

dfreybur said:


> In a decade or so of Tivo this is something like the 3rd major user interface change. Each time I was unimpressed then got used to it. Two UIs back I used to use the position in the menus to tell if the box rebooted. It forgot across reboots, lost functionality. This time I'm not sure what was lost but it will be something,


I never got to experience the first UI, but was it really that major of a difference between the first and second? I'm hoping that Encore will be kept around as a long-term alternative compared to Hydra.


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## dfreybur (Jan 27, 2006)

TKnight206 said:


> I never got to experience the first UI, but was it really that major of a difference between the first and second? I'm hoping that Encore will be kept around as a long-term alternative compared to Hydra.


I was on Series 2 for my first Tivo so I don't know how many UIs there were before my first. The UI lasted a long time with minor revisions per release.

One difference is two UIs back when you went into any menu the current show did not play in a screen-in-screen window. Having that was a major improvement. In exchange the two back UI remembered where you were in every menu which saved time in proportion to how often you use menus.

I'll get used to the Hydra UI. Even though we clicked to not use it and it switched anyways. The UI is more like the UI in Hulu. I get why they did that but making the Tivo more like other boxes reduces the perception that Tivo functionality beats the competition - Okay, it looks like Hulu, so why shouldn't I just stick with a Roku? As opposed to - Look here, it concentrates the available episodes better and shows both the series and episode in the available list.


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## TKnight206 (Oct 20, 2016)

dfreybur said:


> I was on Series 2 for my first Tivo so I don't know how many UIs there were before my first. The UI lasted a long time with minor revisions per release.
> 
> One difference is two UIs back when you went into any menu the current show did not play in a screen-in-screen window. Having that was a major improvement. In exchange the two back UI remembered where you were in every menu which saved time in proportion to how often you use menus.
> 
> I'll get used to the Hydra UI. Even though we clicked to not use it and it switched anyways. The UI is more like the UI in Hulu. I get why they did that but making the Tivo more like other boxes reduces the perception that Tivo functionality beats the competition - Okay, it looks like Hulu, so why shouldn't I just stick with a Roku? As opposed to - Look here, it concentrates the available episodes better and shows both the series and episode in the available list.


Do you think Encore and Hydra are different enough that Encore won't be dropped in the foreseeable future? Currently they tell us that Hydra is an option, so hopefully it being just an option will never go away.


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## dfreybur (Jan 27, 2006)

TKnight206 said:


> Do you think Encore and Hydra are different enough that Encore won't be dropped in the foreseeable future? Currently they tell us that Hydra is an option, so hopefully it being just an option will never go away.


I don't remember a time when there was a choice between two UIs. I don't recognize the name Encore. Did the latest update include a UI change whether I said yes or not? If so then the UI I see is this Encore you mention.


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

dfreybur said:


> I don't remember a time when there was a choice between two UIs. I don't recognize the name Encore. Did the latest update include a UI change whether I said yes or not? If so then the UI I see is this Encore you mention.


Encore is TE3 is 20.7.4.RC29. Hydra is TE4 is 21.7.2.RC19. The software versions will change.

It's a lot more than an option though. An option is like SD and HD menus, or KUID. This is like comparing cats and dogs.


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## GrimmGrimms (Apr 3, 2018)

So they call this version Hydra? It’s a mess. The list turns into a thumbnail strip and back again. Their is a bunch of quirks too. 

I few years back I researched to find out why it is that companies this day and age cannot put together a good visual display guide for tv. The answer I found is because of inside company executive politics. People have no business making decisions about coding or GUI’s, are at the top making the big decisions affecting and ignoring what the coders suggest. A real world example can be seen in what was going to be the best keep it simple stupid smart TV web OS system by LG and the Silicon Valley techs they hired, most of which either were fired or quit. 

I think I’m just gonna move on to a Linux-based custom built PC system, unless I get used to this real quick 

I dissagree that it look like Hulu. Hulu has a full thumbnail mapped GUI. This is the old list system where you move up and down, turned into a system where the selector stays put and instad the entire list moves behind it. All while turning list selections into thumbnail poster strips and back again. 

They’re 2 ways they could of done this properly. 

Either make it all thumbnails like Hulu or make a small window that shows a single thumbnail that changes as you select.


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## larry121 (May 17, 2018)

I like it . aha


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## GaryD9 (Mar 1, 2002)

GrimmGrimms said:


> The answer I found is because of inside company executive politics. People have no business making decisions about coding or GUI's, are at the top making the big decisions affecting and ignoring what the coders suggest.


To be fair, I don't think they should implement an interface that a "coder" suggests. Assuming your use of the term "coders" is meant to mean a more typical software developer (instead of the more modern usage that usually indicates an outsourced menial person paid to literally just type code and not think), most developers think like engineers, and engineers will ignore *all* cosmetics in favor of "pure" function. TiVo shouldn't be a "vi" of television watching.

(I speak from experience: I've been doing software development for nearly 30 years, and while I'm very good at it, I also know to bring in other people for making things pretty.)


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