# SKIP to an upgraded TiVo & Save



## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

Here's the URL that's in the messages on my Roamio TE3 and TE4 units:

Save up to $420! TiVo Presidents Day Sale - Limited time only.


----------



## Mikeguy (Jul 28, 2005)

The Roamio OTA remains such a nice deal. Just think what you would have paid (and I did) for a TiVo box + subscription 5 years ago . . . .


----------



## celtic pride (Nov 8, 2005)

the OTA deal is only good if you can receive OTA signal where you live! Which i dont over 90 miles from the towers, believe me if i could get the signal here in southern california i would buy the ota tivo in a heartbeat! and i just dont want the tivo bolt,I prefer the tivo bolt vox for cable!


----------



## Mikeguy (Jul 28, 2005)

celtic pride said:


> the OTA deal is only good if you can receive OTA signal where you live! Which i dont over 90 miles from the towers, believe me if i could get the signal here in southern california i would buy the ota tivo in a heartbeat! and i just dont want the tivo bolt,I prefer the tivo bolt vox for cable!


There also is the Roamio cablecard adapter hack, to add a cablecard adapter to a Roamio OTA box . . . . ($15-$35 for the adapter and a small amount of work, and you're there). 

Roamio OTA cable card slot?


----------



## cwoody222 (Nov 13, 1999)

That’s a nice Bolt deal too. My 6-tuner Roamio works fine but it’s 5-years old.

Including the all-In service is great.


----------



## Mikeguy (Jul 28, 2005)

cwoody222 said:


> That's a nice Bolt deal too. My 6-tuner Roamio works fine but it's 5-years old.
> 
> Including the all-In service is great.


I missed that Lifetime is included with the Bolt--_great _deal, only $20 more than the Roamio OTA (recognizing that the Bolt is half the storage space at 500GB, and no VOX remote)! And the cost comes in_ under_ the price of the past Bolt upgrade deals (buy a new Bolt and transfer Lifetime from a Series 2-4 box for $99). Yes, it's a refurb Bolt, but I've had luck there in the past (and the majority of people seem to)--and, there's no decommissioning of your Series 2-4 box as in the earlier upgrade deals.

It's only $100 more than a Mini VOX.

I wish I could use another box.


----------



## Mr Tony (Dec 20, 2012)

Some good deals...



Mikeguy said:


> I wish I could use another box.


ditto


----------



## Mikeguy (Jul 28, 2005)

celtic pride said:


> the OTA deal is only good if you can receive OTA signal where you live! Which i dont over 90 miles from the towers, believe me if i could get the signal here in southern california i would buy the ota tivo in a heartbeat! and i just dont want the tivo bolt,I prefer the tivo bolt vox for cable!


Add a TiVo VOX remote (currently $35.93 from Amazon.com) to the Bolt deal and you now have a TiVo Bolt VOX.


----------



## cwoody222 (Nov 13, 1999)

Does the Bolt have 4K Amazon Prime yet?


----------



## Mikeguy (Jul 28, 2005)

Promotion just received via email:


----------



## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

Mikeguy said:


> Add a TiVo VOX remote (currently $35.93 from Amazon.com) to the Bolt deal and you now have a TiVo Bolt VOX.


Maybe, depending on the features & actual model implied by "BOLT VOX."

Diffs between offered BOLT and BOLT VOX:

color (white vs black)
lacks VOX Remote (comes w/ white RF remote)
In addition, if comparing to cable-only BOLT VOX:​
stock drive capacity (500 GB vs 1 or 3 TB)
4 tuners vs 6
OTA-capable vs not


----------



## Mikeguy (Jul 28, 2005)

krkaufman said:


> Maybe, depending on the features & actual model implied by "BOLT VOX."
> 
> Diffs between offered BOLT and BOLT VOX:
> 
> ...


Yep--but it's still a Bolt VOX (that is, a voice-performing Bolt, which is the determinant for most people, likely), with a particular feature set.


----------



## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

Mikeguy said:


> Yep...  Thanks for clarifying, as I wouldn't want to contribute to the confusion associated with TiVo's awful product names ...


Fixed it for ya.


----------



## Mikeguy (Jul 28, 2005)

krkaufman said:


> Fixed it for ya.


Actually, I don't think that my posts add to any purported confusion or complexity at all--as distinct from the elaborations.  Unfortunately, TiVo's naming conventions often lead to confusion and a need to pay attention to details. For most people, though, it seems to me, what makes a VOX a VOX is the voice capability--add a VOX remote to a "non-VOX Bolt" and you're there.


----------



## mdavej (Aug 13, 2015)

Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't all Bolt models have streaming server capability? So thinking ahead to the eventual release of the Tivo streaming apps for Roku, etc., any Bolt would work. But if you went for the Roamio OTA deal, you'd have to buy a Stream box. I think that makes Bolt the better deal this time around.


----------



## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

Here's a technical comparison of the OTA-/CableCARD-capable *BOLT 4-tuner vs Roamio OTA* (ignoring service), for those trying to choose b/w the sale offerings ...
*
benefits*:

OTA, but also CableCARD-capable (mitigation here)
4K (research for specific app support and requirements)
Beefier processor (faster UI, app launching, etc.)
Built-in mobile streaming capability (do you have smartphones or tablets? or any inkling you may want to use a Roku, Fire TV or Apple TV as a TiVo client come late 2019?)
Dual-band Wireless AC
Enhanced compatibility w/ upcoming TiVo Mini Wireless Adapter
Built-in MoCA 2.0 bridging capability
Gigabit Ethernet
*potential downsides:*

DIY hard drive upgrade options more limited, and costly (owing to drive form factor difference: 2.5" vs 3.5")
HDMI video output only (no built-in composite or component support)
OTA tuners reportedly inferior to Roamio OTA
appearance (white and bendy)
The VOX Remote gap in the current sale offerings can be remedied by those selecting the BOLT, but at add'l expense. (edit: NOTE: Per this later post by @pogopogo, if the VOX Remote is purchased at the same time as the sale unit, it can be had for just $20.)

_(I'll update w/ corrections, as identified: added link to new thread for Mini Wireless Adapter details; qualified MWA compatibility bullet; 22Mar2019: added form factor info)_


----------



## Mikeguy (Jul 28, 2005)

mdavej said:


> Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't all Bolt models have streaming server capability? So thinking ahead to the eventual release of the Tivo streaming apps for Roku, etc., any Bolt work work. But if you went for the Roamio OTA deal, you'd have to buy a Stream box. I think that makes Bolt the better deal this time around.


Sadly, add to that: the Stream seemingly no longer is being manufactured.


----------



## no2com (Feb 6, 2004)

@krkaufman Just so I am clear, does this Bolt 500GB support OTA? Thanks.


----------



## Mikeguy (Jul 28, 2005)

krkaufman said:


> Here's a technical comparison of the OTA-/CableCARD-capable BOLT 4-tuner vs Roamio OTA (ignoring service), for those trying to choose b/w the sale offerings ...
> *
> benefits*:
> 
> ...


@krkaufman, just a caveat that I had forgotten about earlier and that deflated me a bit when it had been raised by @TiVo_Ted: the upcoming TiVo Mini Wireless Adapter is being developed on TE4, and it's unknown if it will come to TE3.


----------



## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

no2com said:


> Just so I am clear, does this Bolt 500GB support OTA?


Yes, but with the following anecdotal caveat:


krkaufman said:


> * OTA tuners reportedly inferior to Roamio OTA


@TiVo_Ted has remarked that the tuners in the newer OTA-only BOLT OTA are the same as the Roamio OTA. I can't speak to the real world effect of this difference; my 4-tuner BOLT does just fine picking-up all our local OTA stations.


----------



## UCLABB (May 29, 2012)

Mikeguy said:


> I missed that Lifetime is included with the Bolt--_great _deal, only $20 more than the Roamio OTA (recognizing that the Bolt is half the storage space at 500GB, and no VOX remote)! And the cost comes in_ under_ the price of the past Bolt upgrade deals (buy a new Bolt and transfer Lifetime from a Series 2-4 box for $99). Yes, it's a refurb Bolt, but I've had luck there in the past (and the majority of people seem to)--and, there's no decommissioning of your Series 2-4 box as in the earlier upgrade deals.
> 
> It's only $100 more than a Mini VOX.
> 
> I wish I could use another box.


I'm a bit skeptical that lifetime is included with the Bolt. Too cheap. Note that it also says service for the life of the product indicating a monthly service plan.


----------



## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

UCLABB said:


> I'm a bit skeptical that lifetime is included with the Bolt. Too cheap. Note that it also says service for the life of the product indicating a monthly service plan.


Look at the listed retail price and the advertised savings. You don't get those numbers w/o included All-In service.


----------



## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

Mikeguy said:


> @krkaufman, just a caveat that I had forgotten about earlier and that deflated me a bit when it had been raised by @TiVo_Ted: the upcoming TiVo Mini Wireless Adapter is being developed on TE4, and it's unknown if it will come to TE3.


_Yep_, and which I don't view as relevant to the BOLT vs Roamio OTA hardware comparison. If you want to start an additional post listing all the additional TE3 vs TE4 caveats, more power to ya. (Seed bullet also irrelevant to the hardware comparison: VOX functionality requires TE4.)


----------



## cwoody222 (Nov 13, 1999)

UCLABB said:


> I'm a bit skeptical that lifetime is included with the Bolt. Too cheap. Note that it also says service for the life of the product indicating a monthly service plan.


It's not ambiguous.


----------



## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

Mikeguy said:


> I don't think that my posts add to any purported confusion


'k

OP:


celtic pride said:


> and i just dont want the tivo bolt, I prefer the tivo bolt vox for cable!


Reply:


Mikeguy said:


> Add a TiVo VOX remote...to the Bolt deal and you now have a TiVo Bolt VOX.


Objectively the reply creates confusion, as the reply implies that the poster's requirements would be met simply by adding a VOX Remote on top of the purchase of the offered renewed BOLT.


----------



## Mikeguy (Jul 28, 2005)

krkaufman said:


> _Yep_, and which I don't view as relevant to the BOLT vs Roamio OTA hardware comparison. If you want to start an additional post listing all the additional TE3 vs TE4 caveats, more power to ya. (Seed bullet also irrelevant to the hardware comparison: VOX functionality requires TE4.)


Great--I toss it out there for others' valid consideration, as I would hate for someone to purchase a Bolt now with the generally-expressed feature of using the upcoming wireless adapter only to later think, "hey, that's a 'got ya'--I now have to switch to TE4 to use it."


----------



## ThreeSoFar'sBro (Oct 10, 2004)

Just purchased the Bolt - my annual is about due and would have cost half what this new unit with LIFETIME did! I'll soon have an extra Bolt.


----------



## Mikeguy (Jul 28, 2005)

krkaufman said:


> 'k
> 
> OP:
> 
> ...


I guess I don't see your confusion and just see this discussion as adding it. 'Nuff.


----------



## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

Mikeguy said:


> Great--I toss it out there for others' valid consideration, as I would hate for someone to purchase a Bolt now with the generally-expressed feature of using the upcoming wireless adapter only to later think, "hey, that's a 'got ya'--I now have to switch to TE4 to use it."


Right, nearly the same as buying the currently-offered Roamio OTA VOX with the intent to use the voice feature, only to later think, "hey, that's a 'got ya'--I now have to stick with TE4 to use it" -- which is immediately relevant to the current choices and of which no mention was made. (In other words, please don't feel the need to make unnecessary clarifications as a defense mechanism.)



Mikeguy said:


> I guess I don't see your confusion and just see this discussion as adding it. 'Nuff.


I'm not confused at all; I just have sufficient experience on this site to know that your reply would potentially confuse others with less knowledge of the TiVo product lines. (Aside from the statement being objectively wrong, in my view, as a response to the poster to whom the reply was directed.)


----------



## samccfl99 (Sep 7, 2013)

Hi, so if I got the Bolt (and I am sure I have asked this before), and of I course I would use TE4 on it (and then really see it and b*tch about it for real...OR NOT), I could access my RP and XL4 from it and visa versa and transfer via Tivo Online? Also my TE3 Mini would still be able to access all but the Bolt? It's kind of a small drive (but I could use an additional 75 Hours of HD), but I really been dying to see the TE4 in action (why I do not know). 

The only reason I would consider it, is that it has All-In. Seems like a good deal (don't really have the money, but I got a credit card...LOL).

Can the HD be changed to a bigger one? And oh my, my receiver only has 4 HDMI's and they are all used...

And yet Another remote...OY! Also White won't show the dust! 

Thanks


----------



## lparsons21 (Feb 17, 2015)

UCLABB said:


> I'm a bit skeptical that lifetime is included with the Bolt. Too cheap. Note that it also says service for the life of the product indicating a monthly service plan.


Here's the breakdown on the Bolt I just ordered:
-------------
Product Description Qty Item Price Tax* Total
S00050 Bundle, All-in one-time TiVo service fee 1 $ 229.99 $ 14.37 $ 244.36
R8495B TiVo-renewed BOLT 500 GB 1 $ 49.99 $ 3.12 $ 53.11

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## jccfin (Aug 28, 2008)

I have a Bolt 500 already and an annual contract that's about to end. I just bought the refurb with lifetime. Does anyone know if I can just do a hard drive swap once I get the refurb so I can have all of my recorded programs on the refurb with the lifetime? I can then eBay the annual version.


----------



## Mover480 (Jan 15, 2006)

So this is the *Old* Bolt from, what, 3 years ago? Does it have the built-in stream? Built-in wifi? Can it be upgraded to the VOX by just changing the remote? Does it have the same processor and is it as fast as the Bolt VOX? Does it do OTA and cable?


----------



## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

samccfl99 said:


> Also my TE3 Mini would still be able to access all but the Bolt?


Regarding this one point, the Mini could still "access" the BOLT, in terms of directly streaming content from it ... so long as the content is accessed via the Mini's My Shows listing when the Mini is configured with either the RP or XL4 as its host DVR. The TE4 BOLT will just appear as another networked DVR in the Mini's My Shows listing.

The TE3 Mini could *NOT *select the TE4 BOLT as its host DVR (precluding Live TV access and direct content management) ... at least not without allowing the Mini to upgrade to TE4. Switching back to the TE3 RP or XL4 as host DVR would then prompt for the Mini software to be downgraded.


----------



## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

Just a bit of reformatting using the CODE attribute to make the list more readable...


lparsons21 said:


> Here's the breakdown on the Bolt I just ordered:
> -------------
> 
> ```
> ...


----------



## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

jccfin said:


> I have a Bolt 500 already and an annual contract that's about to end. I just bought the refurb with lifetime. Does anyone know if I can just do a hard drive swap once I get the refurb so I can have all of my recorded programs on the refurb with the lifetime?


MOST DEFinitely NOT! You'd need to transfer the content that is not copy-protected to get it onto the new box.

Simply moving the drive as suggested will result in loss of all drive content.


----------



## jccfin (Aug 28, 2008)

krkaufman said:


> MOST DEFinitely NOT! You'd need to transfer the content that is not copy-protected to get it onto the new box.
> 
> Simply moving the drive as suggested will result in loss of all drive content.


Thanks

Well, that sucks. That's a whole lot of activity. BTW, is there any way to know whether or not the content recorded from OTA is copy protected or not? Is there some little symbol or something in the listing? Or will it simply not transfer?


----------



## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

Mover480 said:


> So this is the *Old* Bolt from, what, 3 years ago?


Yes ... though manufacture date may be more recent; this model wasn't discontinued until the introduction of the BOLT VOX lineup around Oct 2017. And the new 4-tuner BOLT VOX model is the same hardware, just with a black shell and an included VOX Remote.



Mover480 said:


> Does it have the built-in stream? Built-in wifi? Can it be upgraded to the VOX by just changing the remote? Does it have the same processor and is it as fast as the Bolt VOX? Does it do OTA and cable?


See post #16, above.


----------



## ThreeSoFar'sBro (Oct 10, 2004)

jccfin said:


> I have a Bolt 500 already and an annual contract that's about to end. I just bought the refurb with lifetime. Does anyone know if I can just do a hard drive swap once I get the refurb so I can have all of my recorded programs on the refurb with the lifetime? I can then eBay the annual version.


All you need to do is transfer the shows using online app or from unit to unit.


----------



## Mikeguy (Jul 28, 2005)

krkaufman said:


> Right, nearly the same as buying the currently-offered Roamio OTA VOX with the intent to use the voice feature, only to later think, "hey, that's a 'got ya'--I now have to stick with TE4 to use it" -- which is immediately relevant to the current choices and of which no mention was made. (In other words, please don't feel the need to make unnecessary clarifications as a defense mechanism.)


'Nuff, please (and no need for the (inaccurate) psychoanalysis, lol). You listed a feature, the mini wireless adapter, generally and it sounded like, at least to me, someone could take that feature as an absolute, where there's a potential big caveat there, as TE4 can be, for some (me included). I just thought that it would be helpful for people to be aware of that caveat (and I thought that you even had invited clarifications). Apparently, you think the caveat is unnecessary, which is fine--perhaps it will clarify matters for someone else. No need to go on.


> I'm not confused at all; I just have sufficient experience on this site to know that your reply would potentially confuse others with less knowledge of the TiVo product lines. (Aside from the statement being objectively wrong, in my view, as a response to the poster to whom the reply was directed.)


Again, 'nuff, please. I understand your posture--to me, the original statement was accurate, pretty clear, and, indeed, helpful to others, including based on my own experience at this site and many similar earlier postings on this topic; I don't understand why you are debating it. Moving on.


----------



## CloudAtlas (Oct 29, 2013)

lparsons21 said:


> Here's the breakdown on the Bolt I just ordered:
> -------------
> Product Description .................................... Item Price + Tax = Total
> S00050 Bundle, All-in one-time TiVo service $ 229.99 + $ 14.37 = $ 244.36
> R8495B TiVo-renewed BOLT 500 GB .......... $ 49.99 + $ 3.12 = $ 53.11


You can buy the above now for only $762.10 w/o offer!


----------



## lparsons21 (Feb 17, 2015)

ThreeSoFar'sBro said:


> Just purchased the Bolt - my annual is about due and would have cost half what this new unit with LIFETIME did! I'll soon have an extra Bolt.


That's where I'm at. My current Bolt renewal is coming due and the price of this one is less than 2 years of service on it. I'll sell the current one for whatever I can get and be good to go.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## jccfin (Aug 28, 2008)

ThreeSoFar'sBro said:


> All you need to do is transfer the shows using online app or from unit to unit.


Thanks, but it's going to be a pain to have to transfer all of my season passes as well. -sigh-

You would think that Tivo would have come up with a better way for people to upgrade by now....

What's the policy for transferring the all-in plan? Do they allow that? Is there a cost for doing that?


----------



## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

Mikeguy said:


> No need to go on.


And yet you do.

"'Nuff" issued as a command is unwelcome. If you wish to discontinue a discussion, quit "discussing."



Mikeguy said:


> to me, the original statement was accurate


Not if ones interprets "bolt vox for cable" as a 6-tuner, CableCARD-only model.


----------



## Mikeguy (Jul 28, 2005)

Mover480 said:


> Can it be upgraded to the VOX by just changing the remote?


Nice answer for you: yep. (If the box comes with the TE3 software, that can be upgraded to the needed TE4 software. But I thought that TiVo ships the Bolt with TE4 or automatically upgrades the Bolt to TE4 in the set-up process, at this point.)

And yep as to your other questions (with the exception as to knowing when these boxes may have been manufactured) ("So this is the *Old* Bolt from, what, 3 years ago? Does it have the built-in stream?* Built-in wifi? Can it be upgraded to the VOX by just changing the remote? Does it have the same processor and is it as fast as the Bolt VOX? Does it do OTA and cable?").

* Note that the Bolt's Stream capability is the Bolt version of that capability, slightly different from that in the Roamio boxes having it.
​


----------



## Mikeguy (Jul 28, 2005)

krkaufman said:


> And yet you do.
> 
> "'Nuff" issued as a command is unwelcome. If you wish to discontinue a discussion, quit "discussing."
> 
> Not if ones interprets "bolt vox for cable" as a 6-tuner, CableCARD-only model.


Please stop. I assure you, lest there have been a misinterpretation, that my one-syllable "'Nuff" was not intended towards you somehow as a "command"--I am sorry if you saw it as otherwise. I simply was attempting to point out the clarification, for the benefit of others, and to keep the feature point clear. As I felt was my other point. And then, to move on. My apologies to others for this colloquy.
​


----------



## pogopogo (Jan 6, 2005)

Mikeguy said:


> Add a TiVo VOX remote (currently $35.93 from Amazon.com) to the Bolt deal and you now have a TiVo Bolt VOX.


After I click Add to Cart I get the option to add a VOX remote in white or black for $19.99.


----------



## Mikeguy (Jul 28, 2005)

pogopogo said:


> After I click Add to Cart I get the option to add a VOX remote in white or black for $19.99.


Grab it (if you want it)!  Such a deal! :up:

And thanks for posting--something for others to check out, when purchasing.

Update: I just tried the above, and likewise got a pop-up window asking if I wanted to add a white or a black VOX remote to the purchase of the Bolt, for $19.99. (Tip: If you don't see the offer, try scrolling down in the pop-up window--originally, I couldn't tell that the offer was there, as there was a natural "break" in the pop-up window.) Clearly, TiVo wants people to consider turning their Bolt (non-VOX) purchase into a Bolt VOX, with the addition of the VOX remote.


----------



## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

Mikeguy said:


> Please stop. I assure you, lest there have been a misinterpretation, that my one-syllable "'Nuff" was not intended towards you somehow as a "command"--I am sorry if you saw it as otherwise. I simply was attempting to point out the clarification, for the benefit of others, and to keep the feature point clear. As I felt was my other point.


I expect the irony in repeatedly posting to tell me to "stop" is being missed. Just stop posting, and don't instruct others in what to do if you don't want statements taken as commands.



krkaufman said:


> Mikeguy said:
> 
> 
> > to me, the original statement was accurate
> ...





krkaufman said:


> Mikeguy said:
> 
> 
> > celtic pride said:
> ...


----------



## Mikeguy (Jul 28, 2005)

Again, my apologies to others here for the above colloquy and any distraction (this previous apology having been omitted from the above partial quote). Sigh.

Back to this nice sale! 
​


----------



## bleech2 (Mar 16, 2014)

I have a couple of Series 3 hdxl's that are used extensively, no problems. This sale is tempting for the Roamio OTA, but I'm hoping this is just a prelude for an even better trade up deal later this year. Could a $200 Roamio OTA be possible?


----------



## OrangeTurtle (Jul 17, 2015)

Thanks for posting about the remote- I didn't see that. 

Does it matter which color you get? Do you need to get the white one if you are getting the white refurb? Or can I just choose black and it will work with the refurb model?

Thanks!


----------



## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

Mikeguy said:


> Again, my apologies to others here for the above colloquy and any distraction


I expect the irony in repeatedly posting to apologize for off-topic posting is being missed. Just stop posting, and there's no need to apologize.​


Mikeguy said:


> (this previous apology having been omitted from the above partial quote). Sigh.


The typical approach is to quote the content to which a response is directed, not full text of the entire post. (Or is this a new post composition command to be followed?)​


----------



## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

OrangeTurtle said:


> Does it matter which color you get? Do you need to get the white one if you are getting the white refurb? Or can I just choose black and it will work with the refurb model?


Entirely up to you.


----------



## OrangeTurtle (Jul 17, 2015)

Thanks! I ordered the black, because that is what we have with the roamio, just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing an obvious compatibility issue. Happy to hear about this!


----------



## samccfl99 (Sep 7, 2013)

OrangeTurtle said:


> Thanks for posting about the remote- I didn't see that.
> 
> Does it matter which color you get? Do you need to get the white one if you are getting the white refurb? Or can I just choose black and it will work with the refurb model?
> 
> Thanks!


I would think the White one would be better for me because I already have 2 Black remotes in the LR! But they would be all different. My RP has a Roamio one, my XL4 has the old Old one and the White "Vox" one would look different too...LOL.

I guess they charge tax, but no warranty I guess. Saves money anyway!


----------



## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

OrangeTurtle said:


> I ordered the black, because that is what we have with the roamio, just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing an obvious compatibility issue.


You're ordering a VOX Remote for use with a BOLT or Roamio?

All BOLT models and the Mini VOX have VOX communication functionality built-in.

Roamios and pre-VOX Minis (v1/A92, v2/A93) require a special VOX Bluetooth USB Dongle to enable the necessary Bluetooth/BLE communication. (The dongle is included in VOX Remote packages titled "for Roamio and Minis," can be purchased separately, and can possibly be cajoled out of TiVo CS.)


----------



## Mikeguy (Jul 28, 2005)

krkaufman said:


> I expect the irony in repeatedly posting to apologize for off-topic posting is being missed. Just stop posting, and there's no need to apologize.​
> The typical approach is to quote the content to which a response is directed, not full text of the entire post. (Or is this a new post composition command to be followed?)​


Wow. And now, back to our regularly-scheduled broadcasting.


----------



## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

Mikeguy said:


> Wow. And now, back to our regularly-scheduled broadcasting.


Which we had already gotten back to, yet ...


----------



## Mikeguy (Jul 28, 2005)

OrangeTurtle said:


> Thanks! I ordered the black, because that is what we have with the roamio, just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing an obvious compatibility issue. Happy to hear about this!


Speaking from personal experience, the white remote certainly shows the effect of dally use more--there with the black, but at least not as visible.


----------



## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

Mikeguy said:


> And thank you for your observation, lol, yet . . . .


Hey, only one of us has pledged to be "moving on," or made apologies to the community for continuing this nonsense.


----------



## Mikeguy (Jul 28, 2005)

samccfl99 said:


> I would think the White one would be better for me because I already have 2 Black remotes in the LR! But they would be all different. My RP has a Roamio one, my XL4 has the old Old one and the White "Vox" one would look different too...LOL.
> 
> I guess they charge tax, but no warranty I guess. Saves money anyway!


A benefit of the white (perhaps counteracting its grime-revealing "feature"): can be easier to find (apart from in a white-decored room, lol).


----------



## OrangeTurtle (Jul 17, 2015)

krkaufman said:


> You're ordering a VOX Remote for use with a BOLT or Roamio?
> 
> All BOLT models and the Mini VOX have VOX communication functionality built-in.
> 
> Roamios and pre-VOX Minis (v1/A92, v2/A93) require a special VOX Bluetooth USB Dongle to enable the necessary Bluetooth/BLE communication. (The dongle is included in VOX Remote packages titled "for Roamio and Minis," can be purchased separately, and can possibly be cajoled out of TiVo CS.)


Going to use the remote with a "just purchased" renewed bolt- which I understand to be compatible. I have a Roamio, but I plan to replace it with today's purchase.


----------



## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

Mikeguy said:


> A benefit of the white (perhaps counteracting its grime-revealing "feature"): can be easier to find (apart from in a white-decored room, lol).


Have you or has anyone noticed any difference in recent (RF and later) TiVo remotes in terms of the button's ability to retain the symbols?


----------



## Mikeguy (Jul 28, 2005)

OrangeTurtle said:


> Going to use the remote with a "just purchased" renewed bolt- which I understand to be compatible.


Yep--and you'll now have Bolt VOX/voice functionality (under the TE4 software/user interface).


----------



## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

OrangeTurtle said:


> Going to use the remote with a "just purchased" renewed bolt- which I understand to be compatible. I have a Roamio, but I plan to replace it with today's purchase.


Ok, good; yes, the BOLT has the BLE communication built-in.

Of course, you'll need to stick w/ TE4/Hydra on your new BOLT to enable the VOX voice functionality -- which would also necessitate any Minis configured with the BOLT as their host DVR to upgrade to TE4/Hydra.


----------



## mrizzo80 (Apr 17, 2012)

jccfin said:


> Thanks, but it's going to be a pain to have to transfer all of my season passes as well. -sigh-
> 
> You would think that Tivo would have come up with a better way for people to upgrade by now....
> 
> What's the policy for transferring the all-in plan? Do they allow that? Is there a cost for doing that?


Not sure if it's still there, but there used to be a way on tivo.com to copy season passes between boxes.


----------



## shwru980r (Jun 22, 2008)

bleech2 said:


> I have a couple of Series 3 hdxl's that are used extensively, no problems. This sale is tempting for the Roamio OTA, but I'm hoping this is just a prelude for an even better trade up deal later this year. Could a $200 Roamio OTA be possible?


I bought a Roamio OTA 500G during a cyber Monday deal directly from Tivo in 2017 for $199.


----------



## Phil T (Oct 29, 2003)

So I have a Bolt VOX and 2 minis that I paid full price for a year and 1/2 ago. I also pay $150.00 per year for the subscription. 

Do I understand that I could buy this refurbished unit that includes lifetime and replace or sell my Bolt VOX? I really don’t care about recordings or season passes. We are a watch and delete family and don’t really use the VOX function.


----------



## shwru980r (Jun 22, 2008)

One advantage that a Roamio OTA has over the Bolt is that you can upgrade to an 8TB drive at a very low price. I upgraded mine with the drive from a WD Easystore 8TB drive for $129. You would probably spend more to get a 2TB or 3TB drive for a bolt.


----------



## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

Phil T said:


> So I have a Bolt VOX and 2 minis that I paid full price for a year and 1/2 ago. I also pay $150.00 per year for the subscription.
> 
> Do I understand that I could buy this refurbished unit that includes lifetime and replace or sell my Bolt VOX? I really don't care about recordings or season passes. We are a watch and delete family and don't really use the VOX function.


Assuming you have a 4-tuner BOLT VOX model (rather than 6 tuners), yes, you could do that and effectively pay off the new box in about two years of skipped subscription service payments.


----------



## shwru980r (Jun 22, 2008)

Phil T said:


> So I have a Bolt VOX and 2 minis that I paid full price for a year and 1/2 ago. I also pay $150.00 per year for the subscription.
> 
> Do I understand that I could buy this refurbished unit that includes lifetime and replace or sell my Bolt VOX? I really don't care about recordings or season passes. We are a watch and delete family and don't really use the VOX function.


Yes, but a 4 tuner bolt without service is only worth about $50. You probably want to keep the bolt vox remote since the refurbished white bolt does not come with the vox remote. It might also be a good idea to keep the extra power supply and hard drive in case of a failure for troubleshooting. You would have to pay Tivo $49 for a warranty replacement anyway, so if you could resolve the issue by replacing a power supply or hard drive you save the headache of having to wait for a replacement Tivo and sending the defective tivo back.


----------



## TheTivoPenguin (Oct 12, 2002)

So does anyone have any idea if sales like this one "Sell Out"? I am very interested in the Bolt and would like to do a bit more research on upgrading etc.... before I jump in, but if there is a chance that the supplies may sell out before the end date I may jump in sooner rather than later.


----------



## Mikeguy (Jul 28, 2005)

TheTivoPenguin said:


> So does anyone have any idea if sales like this one "Sell Out"? I am very interested in the Bolt and would like to do a bit more research on upgrading etc.... before I jump in, but if there is a chance that the supplies may sell out before the end date I may jump in sooner rather than later.


In some sales, TiVo has run out of stock before the end date. Unknown how much TiVo has here. I don't know if it helps you, but there is a 30-day return guarantee here, with, I assume from how TiVo typically does this, TiVo paying the shipping both ways.


----------



## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

TheTivoPenguin said:


> if there is a chance that the supplies may sell out before the end date I may jump in sooner rather than later.


Note that TiVo's 30-day Money Back Guarantee also includes any service payment. Just need to cancel within 30 days.

FYI... as written, the policy states "The shipping charge for the return is at your expense." I've no clue if they follow this policy.


----------



## longrider (Oct 26, 2017)

TheTivoPenguin said:


> So does anyone have any idea if sales like this one "Sell Out"? I am very interested in the Bolt and would like to do a bit more research on upgrading etc.... before I jump in, but if there is a chance that the supplies may sell out before the end date I may jump in sooner rather than later.


When i placed my order today the TiVo rep was talking about selling out. Whether that was just sales pitch I dont know but it was mentioned


----------



## TheTivoPenguin (Oct 12, 2002)

Thanks for the replies - I went ahead and purchased! I missed out on the lifetime upgrade deal from last June and have been looking for a good deal since then to upgrade my Premier that includes lifetime.

Will probably go with the 3TB Toshiba upgrade to keep things easy.


----------



## dave13077 (Jan 11, 2009)

I currently have a Roamio Pro (6 tuners) with All In Service so I am hoping they offer an upgrade path to the 6 tuner Bolt at some point. 

I would have done it when the Premiere upgrade was going on but I had sold my Premiers years ago.


----------



## Phil T (Oct 29, 2003)

Can I run two Bolts on the same account until my subscription runs out in November and then drop the “non-lifetime” one? I assume I can replace one of my Minis with a Bolt. Can I watch recordings from both boxes on either box? I currently am running the Bolt and Minis via MOCA.


----------



## Mikeguy (Jul 28, 2005)

Phil T said:


> Can I run two Bolts on the same account until my subscription runs out in November and then drop the "non-lifetime" one? I assume I can replace one of my Minis with a Bolt. Can I watch recordings from both boxes on either box? I currently am running the Bolt and Minis via MOCA.


Uber yes. 

Note that the functioning is slightly different, and some of the capabilities.


----------



## Phil T (Oct 29, 2003)

Last dumb question: Is it possible to swap the cases between a black Bolt VOX and a white Bolt? Anybody try it?
My AV equipment in the living room is all black.


----------



## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

Phil T said:


> I assume I can replace one of my Minis with a Bolt.


Plus another cable card.


----------



## Phil T (Oct 29, 2003)

JoeKustra said:


> Plus another cable card.


Might just use one for OTA until subscription runs out. Then may give it to my daughter to dump her cable box.


----------



## longrider (Oct 26, 2017)

Phil T said:


> Last dumb question: Is it possible to swap the cases between a black Bolt VOX and a white Bolt? Anybody try it?
> My AV equipment in the living room is all black.


To the best of my knowledge it is possible, they are the same case except for the color. However be aware it is not a fun project with a lot of hidden plastic clips. There are threads on the process here plus you tube videos


----------



## Mikeguy (Jul 28, 2005)

Phil T said:


> Last dumb question: Is it possible to swap the cases between a black Bolt VOX and a white Bolt? Anybody try it?
> My AV equipment in the living room is all black.





longrider said:


> To the best of my knowledge it is possible, they are the same case except for the color. However be aware it is not a fun project with a lot of hidden plastic clips. There are threads on the process here plus you tube videos


Or, just use some flowery Con-Tact paper. 

Seriously, though, you might decide that the white, bend-ified Bolt is a nice change.


----------



## Mikeguy (Jul 28, 2005)

JoeKustra said:


> Phil T said:
> 
> 
> > I assume I can replace one of my Minis with a Bolt.
> ...


Even for OTA?  Kidding!


----------



## stile99 (Feb 27, 2002)

longrider said:


> When i placed my order today the TiVo rep was talking about selling out. Whether that was just sales pitch I dont know but it was mentioned


To me, it looks like a fire sale. Clearing out old inventory in prep of something new? TiVo has turned around and decided they don't care about OTA and they're clearing inventory? No idea, but my gut feeling is if someone is on the fence about this deal, they should jump off. Since there's a Bolt OTA that isn't part of this deal, I'm going to guess it's the former, and while one could make the argument that if they wait maybe the price will dip lower, one could also make the argument that if they wait, inventory that will not be replaced will be gone by the time they make a decision.


----------



## tarheelblue32 (Jan 13, 2014)

bleech2 said:


> I have a couple of Series 3 hdxl's that are used extensively, no problems. This sale is tempting for the Roamio OTA, but I'm hoping this is just a prelude for an even better trade up deal later this year. Could a $200 Roamio OTA be possible?


I'm guessing you're the kind of person that when playing blackjack hits on 20.


----------



## Phil T (Oct 29, 2003)

Order placed!


----------



## randian (Jan 15, 2014)

It's not clear what meaningful functional improvements the 4-tuner Bolt will have over my 4-tuner Roamio Basic. I've already had to replace the power supply once (I got a slightly uprated unit so it shouldn't be on the edge like the original) on the Roamio, and of course my HD is now 5+ years old and may fail at any moment, so it mostly seems to be potential reliability driving this decision.


----------



## The Singing Bush (Dec 26, 2014)

randian said:


> It's not clear what meaningful functional improvements the 4-tuner Bolt will have over my 4-tuner Roamio Basic. I've already had to replace the power supply once (I got a slightly uprated unit so it shouldn't be on the edge like the original) on the Roamio, and of course my HD is now 5+ years old and may fail at any moment, so it mostly seems to be potential reliability driving this decision.


I'm in the same boat with a Roamio Basic. I might be forgetting something but I think these are the upgrades:

4K streaming
Built-in MoCa
Built-in streaming capable
Faster processor/internals
New warranty

I can't quite decide if that's worth $280 to me.


----------



## randian (Jan 15, 2014)

The Singing Bush said:


> I'm in the same boat with a Roamio Basic. I might be forgetting something but I think these are the upgrades:
> 
> 4K streaming
> Built-in MoCa
> ...


Exactly my dilemma. In addition, if you upgraded your Roamio's drive like I did it's more like $400, since the Bolt only comes with a 500Gb drive.


----------



## lparsons21 (Feb 17, 2015)

stile99 said:


> To me, it looks like a fire sale. Clearing out old inventory in prep of something new? TiVo has turned around and decided they don't care about OTA and they're clearing inventory? No idea, but my gut feeling is if someone is on the fence about this deal, they should jump off. Since there's a Bolt OTA that isn't part of this deal, I'm going to guess it's the former, and while one could make the argument that if they wait maybe the price will dip lower, one could also make the argument that if they wait, inventory that will not be replaced will be gone by the time they make a decision.


It very well could be a fire sale, but certainly a very good one! I figure as long as i get at least two more years of Tivo service this willl have cost me nearly the same as it would have cost me to pay the annual on my current 1Gb Bolt. Any time beyond that is just gravy!

Sent from my Google Pixelbook using Tapatalk


----------



## lparsons21 (Feb 17, 2015)

randian said:


> It's not clear what meaningful functional improvements the 4-tuner Bolt will have over my 4-tuner Roamio Basic. I've already had to replace the power supply once (I got a slightly uprated unit so it shouldn't be on the edge like the original) on the Roamio, and of course my HD is now 5+ years old and may fail at any moment, so it mostly seems to be potential reliability driving this decision.


Depending on your TV, upgrading to a Bolt would give you 4K upscaling of your content as well as some 4K streaming with Netflix and Amazon apps. It also works quicker which has some value. I ordered one to replace my current 1Gb Bolt that was going to get sold/retired this year and was going to be replaced by a Mini Vox, this is a better swap out IMO, and I should be able to sell my Bolt for something. Need to sell my Roamio Plus that has been gathering dust for awhile too.

Sent from my Google Pixelbook using Tapatalk


----------



## bleech2 (Mar 16, 2014)

Ok, I'm convinced! I just ordered a Roamio OTA. If there is a better trade up deal later this year I'll use that to replace the other HD XL.


----------



## Phil T (Oct 29, 2003)

I am taking a bit of a gamble, since I am on Comcast, but figure they are years away from dropping QAM all together. I will use my Bolt VOX on cable card until the subscription runs out in November. Then I will swap it for the lifetime Bolt. In the meantime I will just use the lifetime Bolt for OTA since I have a antenna connection and the majority of what we record is OTA anyway.


----------



## jsgray (Jun 9, 2011)

So I already have a Bolt 1 gig. that I use with Comcast cable. If I replace my premier 4 with lifetime subscription on another Tv with 500 mg. Bolt is this a good move? I'm thinking that the Bolts would be compatible with each other as I can't transfer recordings from my Premier to my Bolt.


----------



## Mikeguy (Jul 28, 2005)

The Singing Bush said:


> I'm in the same boat with a Roamio Basic. I might be forgetting something but I think these are the upgrades:
> 
> 4K streaming
> Built-in MoCa
> ...


Nice summary. Just some other points: some snappier general performance (alluded to above); greater resale value, if you get there; on the streaming angle, note that TiVo Stream devices are not currently being manufactured by/for TiVo and need to be picked up on eBay/Craigslist/etc.; increased future-proofing, to a degree (e.g. the hopefully-to-be-released-in-Spring Mini wireless adapter is being developed on the Bolt platform, under TE4--unknown if it will be available on TE3 or the Roamio platform).

And, of course, you omitted the biggest advantage point: the white, bent design. (Why do people keep doing that?  )

One other point: it's $280, but then you also could sell your Roamio, off-setting part of that.


----------



## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

jsgray said:


> ... as I can't transfer recordings from my Premier to my Bolt.


Why not? Different networks? Copy protection?


----------



## samccfl99 (Sep 7, 2013)

So I am curious about the 4K. I never had a 4K TV (is there really a point to having one?). If you play a recording from a non-4K Tivo thru the Bolt, is the picture any better (of course having a 4K TV...DUH...LOL)? Still trying to figure out if it's even worth getting (being that I cannot really afford it) and I would not pay Comcast for another cable card! My Roamio Pro has 6 tuners, which I do need ALL of them!!!


----------



## Mikeguy (Jul 28, 2005)

samccfl99 said:


> Still trying to figure out if it's even worth getting (being that I cannot really afford it) *and I would not pay Comcast for another cable card! My Roamio Pro has 6 tuners, which I do need ALL of them!!!*


Doesn't that answer things?


----------



## sdsvtdriver (Mar 5, 2008)

Apologies in advance as I haven't been following Tivo world for some time. 

I have a Roamio Plus and 3 Mini's in the house and all is well. Debating on the Bolt but am unsure how it would fit in the environment. Should I get another CC and replace a Mini? If so, how does viewing recordings work? Obviously today, no matter what TV one watches, the recordings are displayed in one list as all the Mini's are connected to a single Roamio. Will a Mini user be able to see recordings on both Roamio/Bolt? Is it one simplified list or will the Mini user have to navigate to find recordings on another box?

I'm still on I guess what's called TE3 (legacy interface) and have seen no reason to update the Roamio. To use VOX remote on the Bolt, TE4 is required. How does that affect the Roamio and how much will the Mini's suck using TE4?

I'm still browsing the forums for answers but since these may sell out, I figured it's worth asking here.

Thanks.


----------



## samccfl99 (Sep 7, 2013)

Mikeguy said:


> Doesn't that answer things?


I guess you are right. For 75 extra hours of storage and to "see" TE4 in action and see how much faster it might be than a Roamio, it's really not worth the $320 with the remote and tax...Oh well...I used to have money...


----------



## stile99 (Feb 27, 2002)

samccfl99 said:


> I guess you are right. For 75 extra hours of storage and to "see" TE4 in action and see how much faster it might be than a Roamio, it's really not worth the $320 with the remote and tax...Oh well...I used to have money...


Well, crap. Now I have to refund everyone who contributed to the "How long before samccfl99 reverts to TE3" pool. House still keeps 10%!

FWIW, I had three days.


----------



## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

randian said:


> It's not clear what meaningful functional improvements the 4-tuner Bolt will have over my 4-tuner Roamio Basic.





The Singing Bush said:


> I'm in the same boat with a Roamio Basic. I might be forgetting something but I think these are the upgrades:
> 
> 4K streaming
> Built-in MoCa
> ...


See also post #16, above.


----------



## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

jsgray said:


> I'm thinking that the Bolts would be compatible with each other as I can't transfer recordings from my Premier to my Bolt.





JoeKustra said:


> Why not? Different networks? Copy protection?


Yes, inquiring minds do want to know.

Related info:

The TE4/Hydra software version lacks the Transfer option within the UI, but transfers to a TE4 box are supposed to be possible via TiVo Online.

If your transfers are prevented by copy protection, a new box won't change it.

See: How to Use Multi-Room Viewing


----------



## OrangeCrush (Feb 18, 2016)

The Singing Bush said:


> I'm in the same boat with a Roamio Basic. I might be forgetting something but I think these are the upgrades:
> 
> 4K streaming
> Built-in MoCa
> ...


It isn't for me, but only because I've already got 4k, moca & streaming covered. So really all I'd get is faster internals, new warranty and a smaller hard drive which I'd likely feel the need to upgrade and spend more for. It would make more sense if I didn't already have those additional pieces.


----------



## davezatz (Apr 18, 2002)

stile99 said:


> To me, it looks like a fire sale. Clearing out old inventory in prep of something new? TiVo has turned around and decided they don't care about OTA and they're clearing inventory?


There's no underlying mystery here. These are both refurbs. TiVo's trying to recoup some money with aggressive pricing that happens to also benefit those that partake. Win-win.


----------



## jcondon (Jul 9, 2003)

krkaufman said:


> Entirely up to you.


Does the VOX remote work with the older Premieres? I am thinking of grabbing a Bolt and a spare remote if it would work. The remotes on my Premiere are pretty beat up. I don't care about the voice part of it (which obviously will not work). Figured $20 isn't too bad for a new remote.

ETA: Seems not. Makes sense to me.

TiVo VOX Remote Control


----------



## stile99 (Feb 27, 2002)

davezatz said:


> There's no underlying mystery here. These are both refurbs. TiVo's trying to recoup some money with aggressive pricing that happens to also benefit those that partake. Win-win.


Ah yes, thank you for the reminder.

Of course, this makes waiting for 'something better' even sillier. The rep was correct, when they're gone, they're gone.


----------



## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

jcondon said:


> Does the VOX remote work with the older Premieres? I am thinking of grabbing a Bolt and a spare remote if it would work. The remotes on my Premiere are pretty beat up. I don't care about the voice part of it (which obviously will not work). Figured $20 isn't too bad for a new remote.
> ETA: Seems not. Makes sense to me.
> TiVo VOX Remote Control


A VOX remote has IR mode. I'm not sure if the added buttons will cause problems. And as you said, no voice.


----------



## jcondon (Jul 9, 2003)

JoeKustra said:


> A VOX remote has IR mode. I'm not sure if the added buttons will cause problems. And as you said, no voice.


Thanks. Just placed an order for the Bolt. didn't bother with the extra remote as I am not sure it would work. I can always get a proper remote for the Premier later. They work but the buttons are all worn off.


----------



## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

jcondon said:


> Thanks. Just placed an order for the Bolt. didn't bother with the extra remote as I am not sure it would work. I can always get a proper remote for the Premier later. They work but the buttons are all worn off.


My first TiVo was a Premiere. Then I started buying Roamio units. I had to buy a Roamio remote for the Premiere to avoid hitting the wrong buttons.


----------



## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

sdsvtdriver said:


> Apologies in advance as I haven't been following Tivo world for some time.


You shall burn in hell.



> I have a Roamio Plus and 3 Mini's ... Should I get another CC and replace a Mini? If so, how does viewing recordings work? ... Will a Mini user be able to see recordings on both Roamio/Bolt? Is it one simplified list or will the Mini user have to navigate to find recordings on another box?


First, know that you can try the BOLT out for 30 days with no risk (aside from possible return shipping expense, and whatever your provider would charge for the CableCARD).

As for accessing content in a multi-DVR setup, the Minis will function the same as the DVRs ... in that there is NOT a unified content listing. How you'd access a networked DVR's content is dependent on your choice of OS on the local box (where a Mini's OS is determined by its host DVR):

TE3/Encore/"legacy": networked DVRs will appear as icons at the bottom of the My Shows listing or within the 'Devices' My Shows category;

TE4/Hydra: networked DVRs are only listed as icons within the 'DEVICES' My Shows menu.
Once you've selected the remote DVR icon, the listing will just look like a typical My Shows listing for the OS version running on the local box. And the main difference b/w accessing the networked DVR from a Mini rather than a DVR is the absence of a "Transfer" option when viewing a recording's details - though this option will also be missing if the local DVR is running TE4/Hydra. (Transfers to a TE4 DVR must be initiated via TiVo Online.)

The Minis can be quickly reconfigured to point to either DVR as their host DVR (i.e. the box from which they'd receive a tuner for live TV viewing, and whose My Shows listing would be mirrored on the Mini) - though the switch would be dramatically slowed-down if the DVRs are running different UI versions. The Mini will prompt to upgrade/downgrade its software to match the version running on the selected host DVR.



> I'm still on I guess what's called TE3 (legacy interface) and have seen no reason to update the Roamio. To use VOX remote on the Bolt, TE4 is required. How does that affect the Roamio and how much will the Mini's suck using TE4?


Yes, TE4 is required for VOX voice functionality (and you'd also need to add a VOX Remote for $20 when you buy the BOLT, since the offered BOLT is VOX-less).

As for TE4, you could give it a spin for 30 days to experience it for yourself, supplemented by reviewing any number of TE4/Hydra threads here on TCF.


----------



## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

jcondon said:


> Does the VOX remote work with the older Premieres? I am thinking of grabbing a Bolt and a spare remote if it would work. The remotes on my Premiere are pretty beat up. I don't care about the voice part of it (which obviously will not work). Figured $20 isn't too bad for a new remote.
> 
> ETA: Seems not. Makes sense to me.
> 
> TiVo VOX Remote Control


Not in BLE mode, but IR ... and the VOX voice functionality wouldn't be available 1) because VOX only works in BLE mode (similar to the Slide Pro keyboard only working when in RF mode), and 2) VOX voice functionality is only available under TE4/Hydra, for which Premieres are not eligible.

That said, you could add the VOX Remote to your purchase (for just $20), and use the VOX Remote with the BOLT, and gift the standard (though white) RF Remote that comes with the BOLT to your Premiere. If you want RF (directionless) control of the Premiere, ask TiVo for a RF USB Dongle (not the Bluetooth/BLE dongle) that ships with the "for Mini v1 & Premieres" version of the Slide Pro.

Then, if you want VOX functionality on the BOLT, you just need it to be running TE4/Hydra - which it will be, unless you downgrade after initial setup.

(You can likely get the remote added to your purchase by calling, and maybe even get the RF USB Dongle thrown-in for free.)


----------



## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

JoeKustra said:


> My first TiVo was a Premiere. Then I started buying Roamio units. I had to buy a Roamio remote for the Premiere to avoid hitting the wrong buttons.


Yeah, nice to have a uniform UI *and* remote experience across boxes. That was one thing that annoyed me when I rolled-out a Roamio DVR and v1 Minis for my mom early on: the v1 Minis were shipping with the Premiere-style remote. So, a Slide Pro purchase (and complainy post) later and Mom had uniformity. (She never uses the keyboard, probably has forgotten it's even there, so the remotes are identical to her, aside from the heft of the Slide Pro.)


----------



## jcondon (Jul 9, 2003)

krkaufman said:


> That said, you could add the VOX Remote to your purchase (for just $20), and use the VOX Remote with the BOLT, and gift the standard (though white) RF Remote that comes with the BOLT to your Premiere. If you want RF (directionless) control of the Premiere, ask TiVo for a RF USB Dongle (not the Bluetooth/BLE dongle) that ships with the "for Mini v1 & Premieres" version of the Slide Pro.


I called and they wanted $10 shipping so decided not to bother. They said it would be in a different box/order with a different carrier (one is coming Fedex and the other would be UPS). The CS rep did try to get it waived but wasn't able. Not a big deal. Thanks for the info.


----------



## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

jcondon said:


> I called and they wanted $10 shipping so decided not to bother. They said it would be in a different box/order with a different carrier (one is coming Fedex and the other would be UPS). The CS rep did try to get it waived but wasn't able. Not a big deal. Thanks for the info.


Alternative: Cancel the first order, and re-do with an included VOX Remote?


----------



## jcondon (Jul 9, 2003)

krkaufman said:


> Alternative: Cancel the first order, and re-do with an included VOX Remote?


A good idea. But I am going to leave my original order alone. I snoozed on the last deal (over the summer I think maybe spring) and they were sold out of what I ended up wanting. So decided not to let it get away this time.

If we end up wanting one I will just pay the extra and order it from Amazon. Wife might not like the remote as much as the peanut anyway who knows.


----------



## cwoody222 (Nov 13, 1999)

The Bolt is sold out!


----------



## mrizzo80 (Apr 17, 2012)

Well, I guess that makes the decision for me. I debated picking up the refurb + AIP deal.

I still love TiVo (launch day lifetime'd Roamio Plus), but over the last few months I've started thinking about whether it's time to move on. Other than Netflix, the apps on Roamio are too slow. And the fact that OTT shows can be severely delayed in getting indexed into TiVo's database is annoying for me. There's been two times in the last year where Hulu indexing was broken for weeks and/or months in a row.

I've heard the Bolt OTT apps take about 5-7 seconds to load. I resisted buying a Bolt when it came out because of the All In Pricing -vs- Lifetime change, which made an upgrade less valuable to me.

Yesterday, I went out and bought a Fire Stick 4K for $50. The main OTT apps take about 5-7 seconds to load on that, but unlike the Roamio and Bolt which pin Netflix into memory, they get purged from memory often. So, opening Netflix is actually slower on Fire Stick 4K than my Roamio. 

I love the concept of One Pass, the universal provider-agnostic "My Shows" list, and automatic commercial skip. I don't think there is another solution that offers any of that; certainly not the latter two. Apple TV has something kind of similar to "My Shows" with the TV app, but I don't think Netflix is integrated. Fire Stick has "Recent", but it's not the same as what TiVo does.

A lot of my viewing these days is via OTT. I don't record anything that is available on Hulu. I'm looking forward to the TiVo Fire TV app. I may even sign up to beta test it - I've been a TiVo customer for over 10 years and have never beta tested anything.

I'd love for TiVo to release new post-Bolt hardware based exclusively around OTT SVOD and "cable" services. I think I'd definitely stick with TiVo if they do that.


----------



## JonUrban (Dec 25, 2015)

Late to the thread but I did order a Bolt and got the shipping confirmation, so I beat the sell out. Three questions, sorry if they're common, I checked through this thread and didn't see anything about them:

1) I still have 10 months left on my normal service. Does that get refunded or am I just SOL...(I would guess SOL)

2) In a post above someone talks about a 3G Toshiba upgrade. Is there a place that I can read about that concerning what to get and how to install?

3) Can I just pull the CableCard out of the old Tivo and slap it in the Bolt without calling Charter?

THANKS

:-jon


----------



## sdsvtdriver (Mar 5, 2008)

krkaufman said:


> You shall burn in hell.
> 
> First, know that you can try the BOLT out for 30 days with no risk (aside from possible return shipping expense, and whatever your provider would charge for the CableCARD).
> 
> ...


Thank you for the detailed answer. Much appreciated. Unfortunately, the Bolt is now sold out!


----------



## OrangeTurtle (Jul 17, 2015)

krkaufman said:


> Alternative: Cancel the first order, and re-do with an included VOX Remote?


That is what I did. Glad I got the order in as they are now gone.


----------



## randian (Jan 15, 2014)

If this had been a 6-tuner Bolt sale I would have jumped on it.


----------



## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

sdsvtdriver said:


> Thank you for the detailed answer. Much appreciated. Unfortunately, the Bolt is now sold out!


tres bummiere

Keep tracking; TiVo has added add'l stock to some past sales (though I'm not sure it'd be possible for refurbs).


----------



## waterchange (Jun 29, 2010)

JonUrban said:


> Late to the thread but I did order a Bolt and got the shipping confirmation, so I beat the sell out. Three questions, sorry if they're common, I checked through this thread and didn't see anything about them:
> 
> 1) I still have 10 months left on my normal service. Does that get refunded or am I just SOL...(I would guess SOL)
> 
> ...


1. Is "normal service" an annual service contract on an existing TiVo box? _"The service fee for the ensuing annual period will be charged (to your credit card on file with TiVo) in a single, up-front, non-refundable payment."_ So there are no refunds for the annual service if you cancel that contract early. Your best bet is to continue using that TiVo for the remainder of the annual service and remember to cancel before you get charged for the next monthly service when your annual contract expires.

2. Just search for "tivo bolt hard drive upgrade" here or on google for tons of info. Here's one of a number of videos detailing the upgrade on YouTube: 




3. I don't know the answer to this.


----------



## tommage1 (Nov 6, 2008)

I noticed some people who were interested in this deal have Bolts with service contracts in effect. Now the deal is sold out. But I WONDER, if some who have monthly/yearly contracts called Tivo maybe they would add lifetime to their current box at the sale price (for the same item, a 500GB Bolt). Would be tough with the off shore support, they have little or no authority to do things like that. But if you can get the REAL escalated support (ie not an off shore "manager", one of the 5 or so support people left in the US) they might do it. Might be worth a try. Or maybe not, could spend hours on the phone with nothing happening


----------



## stile99 (Feb 27, 2002)

tommage1 said:


> I noticed some people who were interested in this deal have Bolts with service contracts in effect. Now the deal is sold out. But I WONDER, if some who have monthly/yearly contracts called Tivo maybe they would add lifetime to their current box at the sale price (for the same item, a 500GB Bolt). Would be tough with the off shore support, they have little or no authority to do things like that. But if you can get the REAL escalated support (ie not an off shore "manager", one of the 5 or so support people left in the US) they might do it. Might be worth a try. Or maybe not, could spend hours on the phone with nothing happening


I'm going to say it would be hours on the phone with nothing happening. It isn't a lifetime service sale, it's a refurb sale. To sweeten the pot, the refurbs come with lifetime service.


----------



## tommage1 (Nov 6, 2008)

JonUrban said:


> Can I just pull the CableCard out of the old Tivo and slap it in the Bolt without calling Charter?


Yes and no. At least with Comcast, since the card is activated you should get MOST of the channels on the Bolt, but not some of them and none of the premium channels. To get all the channels you will need to pair the card to the new Bolt. However SHOULD be good for a "test", if everything seems to be working fine you can then pair it to the Bolt. Before you pair it you SHOULD be able to put it back in the old Tivo and it would still be paired to the old Tivo, once you pair it to the Bolt it would no longer be paired to the old Tivo. As I said this answer is for Comcast, have never had Charter.


----------



## tommage1 (Nov 6, 2008)

stile99 said:


> I'm going to say it would be hours on the phone with nothing happening. It isn't a lifetime service sale, it's a refurb sale. To sweeten the pot, the refurbs come with lifetime service.


Never know. Adding the lifetime to a current customers Bolt for $230 costs Tivo nothing (other than missing out on possible monthly payments in the future). If someone missed out on the deal they MIGHT do it to make the customer happy, no shipping cost for Tivo, no out of pocket expenses at all. Even if someone who has a monthly Bolt now actually GOT one of the promo boxes, Tivo MIGHT add lifetime to the current box for the $230, another $230 for them since the current monthly box will most likely be shelved. Of course then the buyer would have paid $280 for the new box, plus $230 to add lifetime to their old Bolt, but they would end up with two lifetime Bolts.


----------



## tommage1 (Nov 6, 2008)

randian said:


> If this had been a 6-tuner Bolt sale I would have jumped on it.


Haha, if it was the 6 tuner model for $280 with lifetime it probably would have sold out in an hour. BUT they might have some 6 tuner (and 1TB 4 tuner) refurbs left. So maybe they will clear those out in the future with the $230 lifetime added, They would not be $280 I'm sure but maybe a discounted refurb price and the $230 lifetime. Who knows, I do think they are getting rid of all "regular" not packaged as Vox Bolts, the only ones left are probably refurb 1TB and refurb 6 tuner 3TB models.


----------



## steinbch (Nov 23, 2007)

So I had a Bolt+ (3TB/6 tuner) that was on the monthly rate. Decided to bite the bullet and nab the Bolt refurb since it included lifetime. The big question now is what do I do with my old Bolt+? I'm planning on upgrading the Bolt refurb to either a 2TB or 3TB hard drive. My options seem to be sell the Bolt+ and buy a new hard drive for ~$150-175 or be creative and swap the hard drive from the Bolt+ and see what I can get on eBay for a Bolt+ with a 500GB hard drive.


----------



## dgoto (Apr 29, 2010)

I checked Tivo web site yesterday and noticed the Tivo Bolt + 3 gig is not available, does anyone know if they have stopped production of this model or are getting ready for a newer model or version?


----------



## mmihalik (Oct 10, 2000)

Well, this sale is bringing me back into the fold.

I started my adventure, way back when, by writing a jingle that won me a 14 hour Philips TiVo. Quite satisfied connected to my DirecTV receiver, upgraded drives, and eventually found my way to a few DirecTiVo SD units. This was all before HD was a thing.

FiOS came into my neighborhood, and their cable box, internet service, and HD capability won me over. Never really trusted those early TiVo HD DVRs, so I reluctantly gave up TiVo. Still helped many friends with their TiVos over the years.

Thru a business opportunity, found my way over to the Moxi DVR, and have been using 2 of them as well as the Moxi Mate for a long time. Yes, it has it's quirks, but I figured them all out, as well as swapping out HDDs as they failed and needed replacement.

Friend called me over the weekend, telling me about the Bolt sale, and with lifetime included, I ordered one; it's on the way. Will activate next week.

Everyone has a price point that will get them to try "new" technology. 

PS I'm happy that Moxi has continued to work for the last 10 years or so. Plenty of spare HDD here to fix them as needed. They've been lasting about 4 years or so.

PPS I see that my signature reminds me of all that tech I've used to watch TV.


----------



## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

mmihalik said:


> Well, this sale is bringing me back into the fold.


Your adventure isn't over. You should just scan the titles in the Bolt forum to see what you are getting into.


----------



## lparsons21 (Feb 17, 2015)

dgoto said:


> I checked Tivo web site yesterday and noticed the Tivo Bolt + 3 gig is not available, does anyone know if they have stopped production of this model or are getting ready for a newer model or version?


Yep, looks like they pared the Bolt Vox line down to 2 models. 4-tuner/500Gb and 6-tuner/1Tb models.

Interestingly I got an email telling me all about my new Bolt+ after I ordered the 500gb Bolt refurb.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## mmihalik (Oct 10, 2000)

JoeKustra said:


> Your adventure isn't over. You should just scan the titles in the Bolt forum to see what you are getting into.


You mean the grass isn't any greener on the other side?

Don't worry, I've been in the tech field for a long time, specifically the storage industry.


----------



## JonUrban (Dec 25, 2015)

waterchange said:


> 1......s.


Thanks waterchange!


----------



## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

mmihalik said:


> You mean the grass isn't any greener on the other side?
> Don't worry, I've been in the tech field for a long time, specifically the storage industry.


I'm not worried. I use a Roamio.


----------



## dgoto (Apr 29, 2010)

lparsons21 said:


> Yep, looks like they pared the Bolt Vox line down to 2 models. 4-tuner/500Gb and 6-tuner/1Tb models.
> 
> Interestingly I got an email telling me all about my new Bolt+ after I ordered the 500gb Bolt refurb.
> 
> Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro


I am have 2 premiere boxes upgraded to give me more than 3 gigs capacity total. What I would like to know is what is the major benefits of having a Tivo Bolt +3 tb box. The only real thing I see is having to use only use one box and a streaming unit plus 2 more channels? Appreciate anyone's feedback


----------



## Dr_Zoidberg (Jan 4, 2004)

Damn, I debated getting a Bolt too long.

I'm still holding out hope that I'll be able to see when they have the next (final?) upgrade path for the S2


----------



## tommage1 (Nov 6, 2008)

dgoto said:


> I checked Tivo web site yesterday and noticed the Tivo Bolt + 3 gig is not available, does anyone know if they have stopped production of this model or are getting ready for a newer model or version?


Hmm, this is interesting (I assume you mean 3TB not 3 gig). I did not even know there was a 1TB 6 tuner Vox. Has it always been that way? With the Bolt they had 500GB and 1TB 4 tuner models and the 3TB 6 tuner model, I assumed it was the same for Bolt Vox.

As for them discontinuing the 3TB model completely, maybe so? Perhaps Toshiba is no longer manufacturing the drive they were using. It's VERY hard to find a PMR 2.5" drive over 1TB (as opposed to SMR drives which should not be used in a Tivo). The largest for sure PMR 2.5 WD drive was the 1TB Black (at least out of the models sold to COMSUMERS). Now on their website even the 1TB black is gone, largest is 750GB I think. Seagate, good luck finding a PMR 2.5 drive. Other manufacturers like Toshiba not sure. Seems the choices for 2.5" drives are getting less and less and heading more towards SMR, PMR for 2.5" drives (over 1TB) may cease to exist eventually.


----------



## dgoto (Apr 29, 2010)

tommage1 said:


> Hmm, this is interesting (I assume you mean 3TB not 3 gig). I did not even know there was a 1TB 6 tuner Vox. Has it always been that way? With the Bolt they had 500GB and 1TB 4 tuner models and the 3TB 6 tuner model, I assumed it was the same for Bolt Vox.
> 
> As for them discontinuing the 3TB model completely, maybe so? Perhaps Toshiba is no longer manufacturing the drive they were using. It's VERY hard to find a PMR 2.5" drive over 1TB (as opposed to SMR drives which should not be used in a Tivo). The largest for sure PMR 2.5 WD drive was the 1TB Black (at least out of the models sold to COMSUMERS). Now on their website even the 1TB black is gone, largest is 750GB I think. Seagate, good luck finding a PMR 2.5 drive. Other manufacturers like Toshiba not sure. Seems the choices for 2.5" drives are getting less and less and heading more towards SMR, PMR for 2.5" drives (over 1TB) may cease to exist eventually.


Yes my numbers should have been 3 tb and I didn't know or realize the Tivo source for hard drives Toshiba had stopped making the hard drive being used. Very interesting. I also wonder if 3 tb is actually overkill for most users another reason to stop making? I remember a few years back when Tivo was previewing a Tivo multi drive server which I don't think ever made it to market. So with all of that said what do I gain in upgrading to. BOLT + over my upgraded Premier boxes ( steaming capability, 4k ). Is the bolt + really faster? I notice when I use Netflix pandora or plex apps on my box they are VERY slow and hard to work with. So now wondering if I should just wait to see where the next hardware box will go before updating.


----------



## tommage1 (Nov 6, 2008)

dgoto said:


> Yes my numbers should have been 3 tb and I didn't know or realize the Tivo source for hard drives Toshiba had stopped making the hard drive being used. Very interesting. I also wonder if 3 tb is actually overkill for most users another reason to stop making? I remember a few years back when Tivo was previewing a Tivo multi drive server which I don't think ever made it to market. So with all of that said what do I gain in upgrading to. BOLT + over my upgraded Premier boxes ( steaming capability, 4k ). Is the bolt + really faster? I notice when I use Netflix pandora or plex apps on my box they are VERY slow and hard to work with. So now wondering if I should just wait to see where the next hardware box will go before updating.


I don't know when/if Tivo will come out with a new box. My guess would be not for quite awhile as the Bolt has more than enough capability for current content availability. And now there are issues, cable possibly stopping cable card support, going to IPTV (that most likely WILL happen eventually) and OTA going to ATSC 3.0 from ATSC 1.0. That could take awhile also. But current boxes could be obsolete within a few years, hoping for at least 4-5 years...... For both OTA and cable.................. As for you, the Premieres are ok, I still use a couple. I like Roamios much better though, mostly because 3.5" drives and less on the flash drive (as compared to Bolt, Bolt and Roamios have flash drives in addition to the HDs, the Bolt has a lot more on the flash drive though so can make things difficult for drive updates/backups). If you are using cable only and will never need OTA I'd consider the Roamio Plus or Pro (6 tuner, cable only), easy drive upgrades (up to 10TB), more reliable (IMO, I like my Roamios and am constantly reading here about problems with Bolts). The Bolt is faster than the Roamio for apps/streaming from what I hear but myself I pretty much just record TV shows. And the Bolt has 4K though not sure how much content available, for now none for regular TV recording, quality on that is getting worse and worse, compression etc.

I don't know for sure that Toshiba has stopped production on the 3TB drive Tivo uses, just speculating. Since they are out of stock and they now offer a 1TB 6 tuner model.


----------



## Mikeguy (Jul 28, 2005)

dgoto said:


> I am have 2 premiere boxes upgraded to give me more than 3 gigs capacity total. What I would like to know is what is the major benefits of having a Tivo Bolt +3 tb box. The only real thing I see is having to use only use one box and a streaming unit plus 2 more channels? Appreciate anyone's feedback


The latest TiVo tech., including enhanced speed/responsiveness and 4K.


----------



## dgoto (Apr 29, 2010)

tommage1 said:


> I don't know when/if Tivo will come out with a new box. My guess would be not for quite awhile as the Bolt has more than enough capability for current content availability. And now there are issues, cable possibly stopping cable card support, going to IPTV (that most likely WILL happen eventually) and OTA going to ATSC 3.0 from ATSC 1.0. That could take awhile also. But current boxes could be obsolete within a few years, hoping for at least 4-5 years...... For both OTA and cable.................. As for you, the Premieres are ok, I still use a couple. I like Roamios much better though, mostly because 3.5" drives and less on the flash drive (as compared to Bolt, Bolt and Roamios have flash drives in addition to the HDs, the Bolt has a lot more on the flash drive though so can make things difficult for drive updates/backups). If you are using cable only and will never need OTA I'd consider the Roamio Plus or Pro (6 tuner, cable only), easy drive upgrades (up to 10TB), more reliable (IMO, I like my Roamios and am constantly reading here about problems with Bolts). The Bolt is faster than the Roamio for apps/streaming from what I hear but myself I pretty much just record TV shows. And the Bolt has 4K though not sure how much content available, for now none for regular TV recording, quality on that is getting worse and worse, compression etc.


I have considered Roamios before, do you know if the processor in Roamio is similar to that in the Bolt? Is the Roamio much faster than the Premiere boxes that I already have. Finally the Cable card future is certainly something to consider. Thanks for your comments.


----------



## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

tommage1 said:


> I did not even know there was a 1TB 6 tuner Vox. Has it always been that way?


TiVo just flipped the hardware behind the 1TB capacity in November.

TiVo Releases New DVR - Zatz Not Funny!


----------



## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

dgoto said:


> I notice when I use Netflix pandora or plex apps on my box they are VERY slow and hard to work with.


A Roku can be had for under $30.


----------



## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

dgoto said:


> I have considered Roamios before, do you know if the processor in Roamio is similar to that in the Bolt? Is the Roamio much faster than the Premiere boxes that I already have.


Roamios are noticeably faster than Premieres, and BOLTs faster than Roamios.


----------



## cherry ghost (Sep 13, 2005)

I thought the 3TB Bolts came with WD drives, not Toshiba?


----------



## tommage1 (Nov 6, 2008)

cherry ghost said:


> I thought the 3TB Bolts came with WD drives, not Toshiba?


Not sure, I thought I read that the 3TB was Toshiba. Perhaps they changed that. If it's a WD it's not a consumer available model, as far as I know they only sell the Black and the Blue to consumers. And the Blues are SMR I think, at least the larger size. Other WD 2.5s you see (including ones that USED to work in Tivos) were pulls from externals or models only sold to certain businesses.


----------



## cherry ghost (Sep 13, 2005)

tommage1 said:


> Not sure, I thought I read that the 3TB was Toshiba. Perhaps they changed that. If it's a WD it's not a consumer available model, as far as I know they only sell the Black and the Blue to consumers. And the Blues are SMR I think, at least the larger size. Other WD 2.5s you see (including ones that USED to work in Tivos) were pulls from externals or models only sold to certain businesses.


I believe 3TB Toshibas were what people used to upgrade when the Bolt first came out and there was no 3TB version.

Searched and found this.

3TB WD BLUE Hard Drives 2.5" - Brand New Pulls from Bolt+ Units - WD30NPRZ-00YRMT0


----------



## tommage1 (Nov 6, 2008)

cherry ghost said:


> I believe 3TB Toshibas were what people used to upgrade when the Bolt first came out and there was no 3TB version.
> 
> Searched and found this.
> 
> 3TB WD BLUE Hard Drives 2.5" - Brand New Pulls from Bolt+ Units - WD30NPRZ-00YRMT0


I've never had a 3TB Bolt so not sure of manufacturer of the standard drive. According to that auction I guess so. Current WD website info shows only black and blue available, black largest is 750GB, blue only 500GB (they used to have 1TB and 2TB blue but no longer sold). I think they are phasing out 2.5 drives, at least the ones they sell to consumers.


----------



## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

tommage1 said:


> If it's a WD it's not a consumer available model


This was my recollection, a 3TB WD drive not available to gen-pop.


----------



## dgoto (Apr 29, 2010)

krkaufman said:


> Roamios are noticeably faster than Premieres, and BOLTs faster than Roamios.


So with that said does anyone think the roamios speed advantage over the premieres is equal with an upgrade from roamios to bolt? Does roamio have gig internet acess like bolt does? Also I never liked the odd shape or bolt, I have a similarly shaped sling box which makes it difficult to stack. 
Thanks for any feedback.


----------



## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

dgoto said:


> Thanks for any feedback.


A Roamio is about 5 times faster than a Premiere. A Bolt is about 50% faster than a Roamio. I don't have a Bolt. I have not measured the differences, just going from posts. I do have a Premiere and Roamio.


----------



## dgoto (Apr 29, 2010)

JoeKustra said:


> A Roamio is about 5 times faster than a Premiere. A Bolt is about 50% faster than a Roamio. I don't have a Bolt. I have not measured the differences, just going from posts. I do have a Premiere and Roamio.


Thanks, so with your roamio do you get the app functional lag I get with my premiere, also what type of network speeds to you get? I guess I will look for an upgraded roamio on ebay


----------



## Mikeguy (Jul 28, 2005)

JoeKustra said:


> A Roamio is about 5 times faster than a Premiere. A Bolt is about 50% faster than a Roamio. I don't have a Bolt. I have not measured the differences, just going from posts. I do have a Premiere and Roamio.


Faster in what regard? I have seen people post that a Bolt loads apps faster, but then it's similar. I readily notice that a Bolt box restarts much faster than a Roamio box--there's minutes of difference. In "ordinary" DVR use, I don't notice much speed difference in normal use such that I've thought of it, but I haven't directly compared.


----------



## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

dgoto said:


> Thanks, so with your roamio do you get the app functional lag I get with my premiere, also what type of network speeds to you get? I guess I will look for an upgraded roamio on ebay


Very hard to have the remote produce a beep during navigation. I find that after hitting the TiVo button, blink once or twice. Then there is no falling behind.

Networking is easy to compare since all I have is a basic Roamio and 2-tuner Premiere. Everything is wired or wired to a bridge. Transfer from Roamio to Roamio is about 93Mbps. Transfer to/from the Premiere is about 60Mbps. Transfer from PC to/from Roamio is about 99Mbps. My internal network is all 802.11ac/WPA2. Two Roamio units do all the recording. Two other Roamio units are used for long term temporary storage. I tend to save one or more series for the summer, along with movies when HBO/Cinemax have their quarterly clear QAM weekends. Three Roamio have 3TB and one has 1TB. One unit has a network issue and I may dump it for parts later this year.

If apps are your thing, get a Bolt. It's much faster (I've been told). I use a Roku Ultra and an Amazon Fire TV. The only streaming done om my Roamio is YouTube and Amazon Prime. I also host 3 Mini units.


----------



## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

Mikeguy said:


> Faster in what regard? I have seen people post that a Bolt loads apps faster, but then it's similar. I readily notice that a Bolt box restarts much faster than a Roamio box--there's minutes of difference. In "ordinary" DVR use, I don't notice much speed difference in normal use such that I've thought of it, but I haven't directly compared.


I have no numbers. To get 12 day's worth of guide my Premiere takes about 2 1/2 hours. The Roamio takes about 30 minutes (OTA & Cable, so about 500 channels). I really don't "app surf", so slower loading of a streaming source never really bothered me. I have noticed that my Mini VOX powers up quicker than the A93. But that's not something I do a lot.


----------



## tommage1 (Nov 6, 2008)

dgoto said:


> So with that said does anyone think the roamios speed advantage over the premieres is equal with an upgrade from roamios to bolt? Does roamio have gig internet acess like bolt does? Also I never liked the odd shape or bolt, I have a similarly shaped sling box which makes it difficult to stack.
> Thanks for any feedback.


The Roamio Plus and Pro have gig Ethernet ports. The "basic" Roamio does not (4 tuner model). Choosing between a Plus and a Pro I'd go for the Plus if you can get it cheaper. Only difference is size of the drive I believe, 1TB vs 3TB and HDs are easy and cheap to upgrade in Roamios.


----------



## dgoto (Apr 29, 2010)

JoeKustra said:


> Very hard to have the remote produce a beep during navigation. I find that after hitting the TiVo button, blink once or twice. Then there is no falling behind.
> 
> Networking is easy to compare since all I have is a basic Roamio and 2-tuner Premiere. Everything is wired or wired to a bridge. Transfer from Roamio to Roamio is about 93Mbps. Transfer to/from the Premiere is about 60Mbps. Transfer from PC to/from Roamio is about 99Mbps. My internal network is all 802.11ac/WPA2. Two Roamio units do all the recording. Two other Roamio units are used for long term temporary storage. I tend to save one or more series for the summer, along with movies when HBO/Cinemax have their quarterly clear QAM weekends. Three Roamio have 3TB and one has 1TB. One unit has a network issue and I may dump it for parts later this year.
> 
> If apps are your thing, get a Bolt. It's much faster (I've been told). I use a Roku Ultra and an Amazon Fire TV. The only streaming done om my Roamio is YouTube and Amazon Prime. I also host 3 Mini units.


Thanks for your feedback. I recommend getting a NAS drive like Qnap to store your files longterm vs keeping on a old Tivo machine. I use an 8TB drive for storage and Plex to manage files and Pav Video Converter to convert my Tivo TV shows to a mkv or Mp4 format. I only occasionally use the Apps in Tivo but they run SOOO slowly they are basically non functional which was one of the reason I considered updating. I have my 2 tivo networked and use Tivo Desktop to transfer files around.


----------



## dgoto (Apr 29, 2010)

tommage1 said:


> The Roamio Plus and Pro have gig Ethernet ports. The "basic" Roamio does not (4 tuner model). Choosing between a Plus and a Pro I'd go for the Plus if you can get it cheaper. Only difference is size of the drive I believe, 1TB vs 3TB and HDs are easy and cheap to upgrade in Roamios.


 Interesting, thank you for your insight.


----------



## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

tommage1 said:


> The Roamio Plus and Pro have gig Ethernet ports. The "basic" Roamio does not (4 tuner model).


Specifically, 4-tuner Roamios have a Fast Ethernet port, same as Premieres.

Also, the Roamio Plus & Pro have MoCA 1.1 bridging built-in; 4 tuner Roamios lack any MoCA functionality. All BOLTs, aside from the BOLT OTA, have standard MoCA 2.0 bridging built-in; the BOLT OTA lacks any MoCA functionality.


----------



## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

dgoto said:


> Thanks for your feedback. I recommend getting a NAS drive like Qnap to store your files longterm vs keeping on a old Tivo machine. I use an 8TB drive for storage and Plex to manage files and Pav Video Converter to convert my Tivo TV shows to a mkv or Mp4 format. I only occasionally use the Apps in Tivo but they run SOOO slowly they are basically non functional which was one of the reason I considered updating. I have my 2 tivo networked and use Tivo Desktop to transfer files around.


"Old TiVo"? You've made my TiVo feel bad.  The TiVo I use for Storage is a basic Roamio one year younger than my most active TiVo. It has TE4 installed also but no cable card. The 3TB drive is about 1/2 full. I have another Roamio with a 3TB drive I use for some recording and the drive has never become full since I added it in 10/1/2017. IOW, that's the oldest file in my deleted recordings folder. While I have used the "new" pyTiVo and Desktop, I find the ease of a having a networked TiVo worth it. One Roamio and the Premiere are only powered up when testing something or on Saturday. I bought the last Roamio since it was on sale from Weeknees and one of my boxes has a failing Ethernet port. Different thread.


----------



## tommage1 (Nov 6, 2008)

dgoto said:


> So with that said does anyone think the roamios speed advantage over the premieres is equal with an upgrade from roamios to bolt? Does roamio have gig internet acess like bolt does? Also I never liked the odd shape or bolt, I have a similarly shaped sling box which makes it difficult to stack.
> Thanks for any feedback.


The Roamio Plus and Pro have gig Ethernet ports. The "basic" Roamio is not (4 tuner model). Choosing between a Plus and a Pro I'd go for the Plus if you can get it cheaper. Only difference is size of the drive I believe, 1TB vs 3TB and HDs are easy and cheap to up


dgoto said:


> So with that said does anyone think the roamios speed advantage over the premieres is equal with an upgrade from roamios to bolt? Does roamio have gig internet acess like bolt does? Also I never liked the odd shape or bolt, I have a similarly shaped sling box which makes it difficult to stack.
> Thanks for any feedback.


Oh, not sure if anyone mentioned but with the Roamio you can run TE4 (Hydra) operating system (kind of like a cable company box) or TE3 classic interface. Which is like your Premieres. I prefer TE3 (partially because it is what I am used to), but some like TE4/Hydra.


----------



## Phil T (Oct 29, 2003)

Received the referb Bolt today. Mfg date of 11/17 but looks new. Even had all the plastic wrap like a new one.
Guided set up went fine. I set it up for OTA because I don’t want to pay for another CableCARD.

At some point I will swap the card from my Bolt VOX into this one. I hope it is not a huge issue but it looks like some folks are having trouble finding the right people at Comcast to get it paired correctly. The one in my Bolt VOX works fine even with on demand.


----------



## longrider (Oct 26, 2017)

Received mine too and same reaction -it looks brand new. Have not done anything yet as the 2TB drive is not due until tomorrow


----------



## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

Phil T said:


> I set it up for OTA because I don't want to pay for another CableCARD.


Might still be worth the brief hassle to grab a new CableCARD to test the CableCARD functionality within the warranty window. (A new card is easier to pair than moving a card back-and-forth.)


----------



## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

longrider said:


> Received mine too and same reaction -it looks brand new. Have not done anything yet as the 2TB drive is not due until tomorrow


I received a refurb two weeks ago. I wanted to be sure it was ok. I ran through GS and set all options. Configured for cable, I was able to get my two clear QAM channels and test manual recording. I let it run for a day. I then pulled power for a day. I tested every function possible. I suggest you be sure all is good before opening the case. Warm it up. Cool it down. Even if you can't record anything from the cable/OTA, you can transfer files with the network.

A tip. If there are any operating TiVo units nearby, either power them off or move the new unit somewhere far away. That remote will pair with the first TiVo it finds.


----------



## tommage1 (Nov 6, 2008)

krkaufman said:


> Might still be worth the brief hassle to grab a new CableCARD to test the CableCARD functionality within the warranty window. (A new card is easier to pair than moving a card back-and-forth.)


Definitely, I got mine today also, am running setup right now (OTA). Since I will be using it OTA rather than getting another cable card to test it I am planning on taking the one cable card I have out of the Roamio Plus and putting it in the Bolt. But will not pair it. Should get enough channels to test even though not paired to the Bolt. Once I determine cable works on the Bolt I will put the card back in the Roamio. Since am not pairing to the Bolt it should still be paired to the Roamio, at least I hope so  Definitely want to test both OTA and cable within the 30 day return period.


----------



## Phil T (Oct 29, 2003)

Did a lot of testing today and can view and play back recordings from either Bolt. Also tested some apps. 

Decided I will do the CableCARD swap next week since I want this new/referb Bolt to be my main unit and want to make sure all is well. I need some quiet time to set up all the season passes, but we are dog sitting this week and the in and out the door game is driving me nuts. 

I will keep the Bolt VOX hooked up until my wife watches all her recordings, but long term it will be disconnected because my Mini on that TV serves the same purpose. I really don’t need the extra tuners or disk space. Also the goal here was to save $ by not paying the annual TiVo service fee.


----------



## mrizzo80 (Apr 17, 2012)

Phil T said:


> I need some quiet time to set up all the season passes, but we are dog sitting this week and the in and out the door game is driving me nuts.


Isn't this screen capable of transferring the OnePasses?

http://online.tivo.com/start/manage

"transfer OnePasses and Season Passes"

TiVo Roamio Welcome Center | Let the fun begin


----------



## Phil T (Oct 29, 2003)

mrizzo80 said:


> Isn't this screen capable of transferring the OnePasses?
> 
> http://online.tivo.com/start/manage
> 
> ...


That would be great but will it work Bolt to Bolt with both on Hydra?


----------



## Phil T (Oct 29, 2003)

It actually looks like it might!


----------



## tommage1 (Nov 6, 2008)

Well mine is setup for OTA and all seems well. It did install TE4/Hydra during guided setup. I had to connect it direct to the 4K TV as I don't have a 4K receiver. And use optical back to the receiver. Will do recordings etc for a couple days, then try the cable card. Whew, since I am a die hard TE3 person this is hard to get used to...... But that is why I bought it, test TE4 with a big external 3.5 PMR drive. Will not do the drive upgrade for at least 30 days though.


----------



## lparsons21 (Feb 17, 2015)

Phil T said:


> That would be great but will it work Bolt to Bolt with both on Hydra?


Yes it will. Did that when I got my Bolt+.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## Phil T (Oct 29, 2003)

I did get my season passes and recordings transferred! I tried to pair the CableCARD last night online but it wouldn’t work. I called Comcast this morning and in 15 minutes they unpaired it from the VOX Bolt and paired it to the new/referb one. Only pain is then going through the channel list, but got that accomplished so my project is complete. This Bolt is a lot quieter then my old one so this was a good move.

If I could only get used to the white!


----------



## Mikeguy (Jul 28, 2005)

Phil T said:


> If I could only get used to the white!


You will, a few weeks from now when you notice a layer of dust on your black electronics, but the white Bolt appearing dust-free.


----------



## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

Mikeguy said:


> You will, a few weeks from now when you notice a layer of dust on your black electronics, but the white Bolt appearing dust-free.


My Mini VOX is a magnet for dust and fingerprints. I found 120mm air filters that make a good cover.


----------



## Mikeguy (Jul 28, 2005)

JoeKustra said:


> My Mini VOX is a magnet for dust and fingerprints. I found 120mm air filters that make a good cover.


Whoever originally thought that glossy black plastic was a good idea needs to be given a major time-out.


----------



## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

Phil T said:


> Only pain is then going through the channel list


Bit late, but KMTTG can be used to replicate channel lists between boxes.


----------



## lparsons21 (Feb 17, 2015)

Got my Bolt yesterday and setup went as smooth as I expected it to. Earlier I got out my out of service Roamio Plus to virginize it and found that I hadn't taken out the cablecard when I shut down service for it. So I had a cablecard ready to go into the Bolt when it got here. This Bolt replaces a previouse Bolt that has annual service on it, I was going to take it down and replace it with a Mini Vox when the sale showed up. Just made more sense to get the Bolt w/all-in service than to get a Vox. Didn't need the extra tuners as my Bolt+ is providing me all the tuners I need.

Cablecard activation took awhile as the person who I dealt with hadn't unpaired and re=paired a cablecard before. I'm with Mediacom and calling is the only way to get it done. Didn't take a horrible amount of time, which was good.

Now I need to figure out if it is worth selling the Bolt and Roamio Plus, both without service. Or I might just keep the Bolt as a parts bin.

Sent from my Google Chromebook Pixel (2015) using Tapatalk


----------



## JohnnyO (Nov 3, 2002)

My refurb Bolt arrived today. It is so...white... Oh well. I knew that going in. Mine shows a manufacture date of October 2017.

My 3TB drive won't show up until next week (I guess MacSales/OWC was backordered although their site didn't show that on Sunday when I ordered). Not sure if there is any value (or any harm) in powering it up now, and running through setup vs. waiting until the new drive shows up. I know I'll have to run through setup again, but not sure if doing it once with the 500GB drive, and a week later with the 3TB drive will confuse anything.


----------



## jj2me (Mar 18, 2013)

Got my refurb Bolt today, sealed box, even cellophane over most of the top, manufacture date 12/22/17. Except the seal for the remote was broken, so probably tested and returned and refurbed.


----------



## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

JohnnyO said:


> I know I'll have to run through setup again, but not sure if doing it once with the 500GB drive, and a week later with the 3TB drive will confuse anything.


I've done that several times without harm. Don't be surprised when some of the values are set from the old drive and some are not.


----------



## J3ff (Nov 18, 2007)

Got my bolt refurb today and even though it looked new with plastic still on it, a piece of plastic fell off it, no idea where it came from, but if you shake mine it sounds like 3 or 4 little bits are inside moving around... sent CS an email, hopefully they'll swap it out.


----------



## JonUrban (Dec 25, 2015)

Got mine today as well. Opened it up and also had those little white tabs floating around. They are part of the removable side cover, no big deal for me.

Pulled the CableCard out of my Roamio Pro, popped it into the Bolt, fired it up and let it do its thing. It rebooted and downloaded a few times and then it was ready, but no channels. Called Charter (Spectrum) and the asked for the MAC Address of the Tivo, reauthorized the CableCard and I was rockin'.

Pretty easy. It was VERY NICE to get a Charter person on the phone who actually knew what she was doing, and knew what a CableCard was!

PS - I had no issues with the Tuning Adapter, which was somewhat of a surprise.


----------



## Phil T (Oct 29, 2003)

Amazed how quiet this referb unit is. My Bolt VOX made a constant whirring sound and always seemed hot. This one doesn’t. Got me wondering if it’s hard drive or fan is going out. It is still hooked up to OTA and now running in the basement. Not really sure what I am going to do with it. My annual guide data/service plan runs through October.


----------



## J3ff (Nov 18, 2007)

JonUrban said:


> Got mine today as well. Opened it up and also had those little white tabs floating around. They are part of the removable side cover, no big deal for me.
> 
> Pulled the CableCard out of my Roamio Pro, popped it into the Bolt, fired it up and let it do its thing. It rebooted and downloaded a few times and then it was ready, but no channels. Called Charter (Spectrum) and the asked for the MAC Address of the Tivo, reauthorized the CableCard and I was rockin'.
> 
> ...


Yeah, the piece that fell out into my hand wasn't such a big deal, but if you shake mine there are definitely "things" floating around in there... not sure I want to deal with that on a 300 dollar box.


----------



## martzta (Nov 11, 2003)

Got my refurbished bolt yesterday. Setup and card pairing (FIOS) took a couple of calls but worked fine. Seems to run fine although coming from a roamio pro with 6 tuners and 3tb will require some changes in our viewing habits. With it sitting on the shelf raised only 1/2 inch runs at 70 deg. Put it on a laptop cooler with 2 fans that draw air away/down and the temp dropped it to 65 deg. Tried taking off the mcard door and now at 59/60 deg. One fan centered below the units exhaust fan and the other basically centered. Didn't want to effect the intake holes on the right side. Think I will leave it that way for now. I don't think it should be a problem for the mcard with dust accumulation since it's underneath.


----------



## jccfin (Aug 28, 2008)

Got mine yesterday with a manufacturing date of Nov 2017. Ordered a WD20NPVZ from Amazon and will do the swap when it arrives. Does anyone know if you can use the Disk Utility on a Mac to check the drive instead of a PC? I think I may have a cable to connect the drive to a USB C port?


----------



## tommage1 (Nov 6, 2008)

J3ff said:


> Yeah, the piece that fell out into my hand wasn't such a big deal, but if you shake mine there are definitely "things" floating around in there... not sure I want to deal with that on a 300 dollar box.


Well you know that does not bode well for "refurbs" If they actually took them apart and tested/refurbed/replaced drive they would at least take out broken tabs. I suppose they could have broken the tabs themselves if they took it apart. OR the person who returned it in the first place opened it, broke the tabs and returned it. Who knows what the original buyer "tried", and why they ended up sending it back. Ah well, can always send these back within 30 days but definitely a good idea to give them a good amount of use/testing within that 30 days. Mine, if I let it sit for awhile sometimes the screen on the TV goes black. Have to turn the TV off and on to get the picture back. I am using the Bolt connected directly to the TV with 4K (yes it's a 4K TV). My other Tivos are connected to a receiver and the receiver is connected to the TV at 1080p. Not sure if issue is with the Tivo or the TV or some combination of switching back and forth on the TV to devices that have different input resolutions to the TV. When the screen is black it's usually when I've been watching the 1080p input for awhile, then switch back to the 4K Bolt input on the TV.

No the Bolt is not going into standby, I don't use standby on any of my Tivos anymore, tested the power savings with kill-a-watt, it is minimal.


----------



## Phil T (Oct 29, 2003)

Don’t know if it is just luck of the draw, but I couldn’t be happier with my “referb” Bolt. I purchased a new Bolt VOX in November 2017 from Best Buy and this referb this week. Honestly could not tell the difference except maybe the box. The referb is noticeably quieter and no marks or scratches. I turned it over to install a CableCARD and didn’t notice any “things floating around”, but I never did shake it. Remote looks new to me.

If I was to complain about anything it would be that the remote batteries they sent, in plastic wrap and with a 2022 expiration date, were doa.


----------



## dgoto (Apr 29, 2010)

[Quote
No the Bolt is not going into standby, I don't use standby on any of my Tivos anymore, tested the power savings with kill-a-watt, it is minimal.[/QUOTE]

Does anyone know how to calculate the actual hard drive size based on the HD or SD capacity shown in Tivo info? Also is there any utility which can be used to determine the make or model of your hard drive in your tivo without opening it Thanks


----------



## longrider (Oct 26, 2017)

dgoto said:


> Does anyone know how to calculate the actual hard drive size based on the HD or SD capacity shown in Tivo info? Also is there any utility which can be used to determine the make or model of your hard drive in your tivo without opening it Thanks


Each TB is roughly 150 hrs HD. I dont think there is any way to ID the hard drive


----------



## dgoto (Apr 29, 2010)

longrider said:


> Each TB is roughly 150 hrs HD. I dont think there is any way to ID the hard drive


so most older Tivos have less than 1 TB drive could you modifiy that to the MB level?
Thanks


----------



## longrider (Oct 26, 2017)

dgoto said:


> so most older Tivos have less than 1 TB drive could you modifiy that to the MB level?
> Thanks


I assume you mean GB, not MB as a MB would be just seconds of video. A TB is 1024 GB so using a round number of 1000GB every 100GB would be 15 hours of HD. 1 GB is 9 minutes of HD


----------



## Mikeguy (Jul 28, 2005)

Phil T said:


> Don't know if it is just luck of the draw, but I couldn't be happier with my "referb" Bolt. I purchased a new Bolt VOX in November 2017 from Best Buy and this referb this week. Honestly could not tell the difference except maybe the box. The referb is noticeably quieter and no marks or scratches. I turned it over to install a CableCARD and didn't notice any "things floating around", but I never did shake it. Remote looks new to me.
> 
> *If I was to complain about anything it would be that the remote batteries they sent, in plastic wrap and with a 2022 expiration date, were doa.*


I'd be tempted to chat them up about that.


----------



## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

longrider said:


> I assume you mean GB, not MB as a MB would be just seconds of video. A TB is 1024 GB so using a round number of 1000GB every 100GB would be 15 hours of HD. 1 GB is 9 minutes of HD


But then you get into GB vs GiB, as well.

MB vs MiB / GB vs GiB


----------



## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

longrider said:


> I assume you mean GB, not MB as a MB would be just seconds of video. A TB is 1024 GB so using a round number of 1000GB every 100GB would be 15 hours of HD. 1 GB is 9 minutes of HD


The side of the box of my 500GB Roamio shows 75 hours of HD. My 1TB Roamio has 155 hours of HD capacity of which 3 hours are used before any programs are recorded. A 1 hour HD recording of a bit starved channel is 4.79GB. That's 10.89Mbps, where a nice number would be 16Mbps but that's before everybody added sub-channels.


----------



## dgoto (Apr 29, 2010)

longrider said:


> I assume you mean GB, not MB as a MB would be just seconds of video. A TB is 1024 GB so using a round number of 1000GB every 100GB would be 15 hours of HD. 1 GB is 9 minutes of HD


oops yep meant GB thanks for the reply


----------



## Phil T (Oct 29, 2003)

Mikeguy said:


> I'd be tempted to chat them up about that.


Nope, I am a happy camper. It did throw me for a second when the box wouldn't respond to the remote. Then i noticed no light when I pushed the buttons. My 40 pack of Costco Duracell AA's saved the day!


----------



## Mr Tony (Dec 20, 2012)

JoeKustra said:


> A 1 hour HD recording of a bit starved channel is 4.79GB. That's 10.89Mbps, where a nice number would be 16Mbps but that's before everybody added sub-channels.


I wish my local FOX would be that high. Its usually between 7.5-8Mbps.....But since its a subchannel on the CBS and when there is sports "Tiffany" gets what she wants (alot more bandwidth) FOX usually pulls between 6.1-6.7 and looks like mush (its the only 2 stations in the mux).


----------



## jefny (Feb 13, 2008)

I got my refurb Bolt on Thursday and set up went relatively smoothly. I had to call Verizon to activate the M Card but this was done in about 5 minutes. The unit looks brand new. I had a glitch when the image coming out of the Bolt on the 4K TV appeared scrambled and did not respond to the remote. This happened when I was fooling around with the video and I had to pull the power which brought back the image. It happened again when I added an external hard drive. Afterwards I discovered the coaxial cable was not tightened which I proceeded to do. This seemed to resolve the problem and everything has been working fine for the last two days. A call to Tivo resulted in them saying I should call as the scrambled image was happening before they would consider a replacement. As stated the problem seems to have been resolved.

I consider the Bolt with life service a real deal though I did spend the extra $40 for a 3 year warranty. I am considering the addition of the voice controlled remote. I should mention that an old TIVO remote from the HD seems to work perfectly well with my new Bolt.


----------



## OrangeTurtle (Jul 17, 2015)

My box arrived Thursday, didn't get a chance to get things put together until Friday night and a bit more on Saturday. Here are a few thoughts.

Arrived in good condition with the plastic still on it. I thought the BOLT was frozen and unresponsive as I tried both new remotes, luckily I took the batteries out of my old remote and tried them. Turns out the batteries shipped to me were dead. Bolt and Remote were fine. Swapped cable card out of my roamio to my bolt had charter resend signal, all good, everything worked fine- except switch digital channels- more on that in a moment.

Vox remote got paired in IR instead of RF- but managed to fix that.

Was able to transfer shows from my roamio running te3 to my new bolt which runs hydra by using tivo online. Was surprised as I thought I would have to upgrade the roamio to hydra to do this. "Updated" upon initial set up and I had Hydra right away. Not sure I love Hydra, but going to give it a try for a few days and see if we want to stick with it or roll back- I think I read I can do that with a reset to factory settings (not sure though).

TUNING ADAPTER and CHARTER CABLE.

So- my tuning adapter hadn't worked with my Roamio and I just gave up on it after a couple Charter visits because they were going to start charging me for the visits, but decided I wanted to make Charter try again now that I have a new box. The tech was a great guy, good attitude, so I am not putting him down here. Just surprised about some stuff.

The tech comes out and said they don't carry tuning adapters anymore, so if mine doesn't work it might be difficult to get me a replacement. He said he had heard the new Tivos don't need a cable card and that they work without a tuning adapter. I explained this is NOT TRUE. Blew my mind that they thought this. 

He said not many people in Northern Michigan use Tivos anymore and I thought well, maybe I should consider just going with their box- but was then reminded about the $20 monthly fee for one box and a DVR. Quickly reminded myself of not wanting to pay that fee. 

Ultimately we got the tuning adapter to work (they added an extra splitter to get it done), so my switch digital channels work- not that I have many with the lower level cable package.

As for the Harddrive- I was going to upgrade to a 1TB drive, but have decided to just live with the 500gb. I have a 3tb in the roamio that I plan to sell and I used it as a storage device for movies, but will now just delete stuff after I watch it. Deciding against cracking open the smaller plastic case and not wanting to mess with my warranty as well as saving $70 on the extra drive.

So far (24 hours in), so good. Will update if needed. Keep the updates coming from others with how your set up is going.


----------



## Phil T (Oct 29, 2003)

jefny said:


> It happened again when I added an external hard drive.


Curious about this. I thought the only way to do this was to solder a cable to the circuit board unless you had the drive kit TiVO used to sell?


----------



## jefny (Feb 13, 2008)

The added hard drive was something I purchased 4 or 5 years ago to use with my Tivo HD. It is external and comes with a cable to attach to the Tivo's sata port. It was only 500 mb but it was sanctioned by Tivo (Western Digital) and sold both by Tivo and Amazon at the time. In the process of attaching the cable to the Tivo sata port I did move it around affecting the slightly loose coaxial connection. 

As previously stated, I thought this President's Day sale was a great deal and I am glad that the took the plunge. I should also say that I have another Bolt which I got a year and a half ago when they allowed transfer of lifetime service for $99. That Bolt is working well. I should also mention that my old remotes for my Tivo HD's, both retired and sitting on a shelf, seem to work perfectly fine with the new Bolt.

JohnF


----------



## tommage1 (Nov 6, 2008)

jefny said:


> I should also mention that my old remotes for my Tivo HD's, both retired and sitting on a shelf, seem to work perfectly fine with the new Bolt.


But they don't have the colored A B C D buttons do they? And no "back"? So could not really use them efficiently with the Bolt? Plus no RF mode.


----------



## Mikeguy (Jul 28, 2005)

OrangeTurtle said:


> My box arrived Thursday, didn't get a chance to get things put together until Friday night and a bit more on Saturday. Here are a few thoughts.
> 
> Arrived in good condition with the plastic still on it. I thought the BOLT was frozen and unresponsive as I tried both new remotes, luckily I took the batteries out of my old remote and tried them. *Turns out the batteries shipped to me were dead. *Bolt and Remote were fine.


You're at least the second person to note this. Something for others to be aware of.


----------



## Phil T (Oct 29, 2003)

I noticed the TiVo indicates “unknown” on remote pairing. I tried to unpair and pair again but the screen still shows unknown. The remote flashes yellow with each button press and works fine. Is this a software bug?


----------



## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

Phil T said:


> I noticed the TiVo indicates "unknown" on remote pairing. I tried to unpair and pair again but the screen still shows unknown. The remote flashes yellow with each button press and works fine. Is this a software bug?


TiVo has never finished those diagnostics.

@TiVo_Ted


----------



## OrangeTurtle (Jul 17, 2015)

Mine blinked yellow until I managed to RF pair it instead of the IR pairing.


----------



## HerronScott (Jan 1, 2002)

OrangeTurtle said:


> Mine blinked yellow until I managed to RF pair it instead of the IR pairing.


Note there is no IR pairing although you can set a specific remote address so you can control multiple TiVo's in the same room with different remotes (or 1 remote that has the ability to support multiple remote addresses). By default TiVo remotes are set to remote address 0 in IR mode which will control any TiVo no matter what remote address the TiVo is set to.

https://support.tivo.com/articles/Features_Use/TiVo-Remotes-RF-Pairing-Instructions

Scott


----------



## CloudAtlas (Oct 29, 2013)

dgoto said:


> I have considered Roamios before, do you know if the processor in Roamio is similar to that in the Bolt? ...Thanks for your comments.


"TiVo executives say the *processing power of the Bolt is 3.5 times that of the Roamio.* TiVo has also bulked up the RAM to 3GB; the previous model featured just 1GB of DDR RAM. The additional memory helps apps like Netflix launch faster and pick up immediately where you left off, courtesy of an Instant Resume feature." -Tom's Hardware, TiVo Bolt Lets You Completely Skip Ads, Streams 4K


----------



## jcondon (Jul 9, 2003)

I got my Bolt Thursday last week and set it up then. I went to the local Cablevision store on my lunch hour and got the cable card (took just under 15 mins). 

Took about an hour with the clowns at Optimum/Cablevision on the phone to get it activated properly. First woman had no clue. She tried but after 15 mins figured she better pass it on to someone who knows what they are doing. Maybe they can also show her how to transfer calls without disconnecting them.

Second guy had no clue either. Asked me what TV I had. I said the card is going inside a Tivo Bolt not a TV. Sir the screen is asking for it. Ok fine Panasonic (not true). He couldn't get it to work either. Perhaps he needed the card's ID which he didn't think he needed. Even after I offered it to him a couple of times. He was however able to transfer my call successfully to someone with a brain. Still took maybe 20 mins but I could just tell this third person knew what he was doing. No stupid questions. Other then a unneeded reboot of the Bolt he seemed to work as efficiently as he could to get it resolved. He DID ask for the card's ID.

I didn't check the manufacture date of the Bolt but it had that plastic wrap on it and didn't have any plastic debris in the box like my first refurbished Premiere did (that box was almost DOA and had to go back).

Anyway so far so good. Not sure which TV it will end up stay connected to. Might move some stuff around.


----------



## Phil T (Oct 29, 2003)

My wife wants me to hide the white TiVo since it really sticks out in our all black TV stand. I suggested we just move our Mini VOX there but she wants the picture in guide feature the mini doesn’t have. Our TV stand sits in a corner so I do have room behind it to hide things. Thinking a just getting a inexpensive stand to keep it off the floor. Don’t want to necessarily mount it on the wall or TV.

Anybody have a good solution you have used?


----------



## dgoto (Apr 29, 2010)

I am now considering dumping both of my Premiere Tivo and buying a 3TB Tivo Bolt+ and a Tivo mini or Mini vox 4K, putting the Mini in the bedroom and Bolt+ in family room. My understanding is Mini will require one of the channels from the Bolt to operate. My question does the Mini 4K adequately replace a full Tivo unit or are their limitations in their capability which could present issues? thanks for any lessons learned


----------



## DrewTivo (Mar 30, 2005)

dgoto said:


> I am now considering dumping both of my Premiere Tivo and buying a 3TB Tivo Bolt+ and a Tivo mini or Mini vox 4K, putting the Mini in the bedroom and Bolt+ in family room. My understanding is Mini will require one of the channels from the Bolt to operate. My question does the Mini 4K adequately replace a full Tivo unit or are their limitations in their capability which could present issues? thanks for any lessons learned


I'm very happy with minis. They're a bit slower to respond and surfing live TV is much slower. But if you're just looking to watch content you've recorded, or stick with whatever you want on a single channel live, it's excellent.


----------



## dgoto (Apr 29, 2010)

DrewTivo said:


> I'm very happy with minis. They're a bit slower to respond and surfing live TV is much slower. But if you're just looking to watch content you've recorded, or stick with whatever you want on a single channel live, it's excellent.


So the Tivo Mini is more like a streaming device vs an actual Tivo box? When you want to get the guide or watch a recording the action take place just with a slower response. The reason for getting it is to do away with another subscription and also cable card. 
But don't want to lose any capability. thanks


----------



## Phil T (Oct 29, 2003)

You are watching from a tuner on your TiVO, not streaming. For secondary tv’s they are great. The only capacity you lose is picture in guide while you are using the guide. The older version (non-VOX) has a AV output that is great for hooking up a SlingBox.


----------



## dgoto (Apr 29, 2010)

Phil T said:


> You are watching from a tuner on your TiVO, not streaming. For secondary tv's they are great. The only capacity you lose is picture in guide while you are using the guide. The older version (non-VOX) has a AV output that is great for hooking up a SlingBox.


Losing picture while using guide is good to know thanks, can I use apps and everything else like set channels, delete programs, etc from mini and are the processes slower than on Tivo box?


----------



## Phil T (Oct 29, 2003)

I have not noticed the processes being slower. It may be but I have not noticed it, but I don’t uses the minis a whole lot. Yes you can use apps, set and delete recordings and do almost everything else the TiVO box can do.

One thing I like is once you set the channel list on your TiVo, the mini’s mirror it. You don’t have to set it on each box like the DirecTV HR series boxes. Not sure if each mini can have a different channel list or favorites. 

I have noticed on Apps you have to sign in separately on each mini for things like YouTube.


----------



## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

dgoto said:


> I am now considering dumping both of my Premiere Tivo and buying a 3TB Tivo Bolt+ ...


Too Late. Read this: TiVo BOLT VOX 3TB out of stock?


----------



## dgoto (Apr 29, 2010)

JoeKustra said:


> Too Late. Read this: TiVo BOLT VOX 3TB out of stock?


Thanks for update, I expected that for a few weeks, I think a cloud based storage Tivo is coming. Also 3TB Tivo Bolt isn't worth fighting for, I think buying a 1TB and upgrading the drive if need be, will work.


----------



## Mikeguy (Jul 28, 2005)

Or, simply purchase the least expensive Bolt that is available and replace the hard drive with a 3TB (or 2, or 1, TB) hard drive. And save some $ in the process.

Toshiba MQ03ABB300 3.0TB 2.5-inch 15.0mm SATA... at MacSales.com


----------



## dgoto (Apr 29, 2010)

Mikeguy said:


> Or, simply purchase the least expensive Bolt that is available and replace the hard drive with a 3TB (or 2, or 1, TB) hard drive. And save some $ in the process.
> 
> Toshiba MQ03ABB300 3.0TB 2.5-inch 15.0mm SATA... at MacSales.com


Is this the drive no longer available that is used in 3TB bolt? Thanks


----------



## longrider (Oct 26, 2017)

Phil T said:


> My wife wants me to hide the white TiVo since it really sticks out in our all black TV stand. I suggested we just move our Mini VOX there but she wants the picture in guide feature the mini doesn't have. Our TV stand sits in a corner so I do have room behind it to hide things. Thinking a just getting a inexpensive stand to keep it off the floor. Don't want to necessarily mount it on the wall or TV.
> 
> Anybody have a good solution you have used?


I thought you were going to swap the case from your Bolt VOX? I can tell you after putting the 2TB drive in my new Bolt that opening up the case is really not that hard, you just need a gentle touch on the first cover


----------



## Mikeguy (Jul 28, 2005)

dgoto said:


> Is the drive no longer available that is used in 3TB bolt? Thanks


From a post TiVo_Ted placed here earlier today, that's one of the reasons the 3TB Bolt is not available. (Pricing being another: people flocking to the 1TB Bolt instead.)


----------



## Mikeguy (Jul 28, 2005)

Phil T said:


> My wife wants me to hide the white TiVo since it really sticks out in our all black TV stand. I suggested we just move our Mini VOX there but she wants the picture in guide feature the mini doesn't have. Our TV stand sits in a corner so I do have room behind it to hide things. Thinking a just getting a inexpensive stand to keep it off the floor. Don't want to necessarily mount it on the wall or TV.
> 
> Anybody have a good solution you have used?


I was going to suggest what you had tossed out: simply mounting the TiVo on the back of the TV. Metal mounts are available at Amazon and elsewhere, and some people have used Velcro-like strips.


----------



## cherry ghost (Sep 13, 2005)

dgoto said:


> Is this the drive no longer available that is used in 3TB bolt? Thanks


No, the 3TB Bolt had a WD drive


----------



## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

Phil T said:


> Anybody have a good solution you have used?


I have my Roamio units blocked by wood or card stock painted flat black. Even the amber LED bothers me. It also blocks IR since I have a Premiere in my rack too. You would have to consider cooling. A Roamio vents out the right side. A Bolt is different. I don't have one.


----------



## Phil T (Oct 29, 2003)

longrider said:


> I thought you were going to swap the case from your Bolt VOX? I can tell you after putting the 2TB drive in my new Bolt that opening up the case is really not that hard, you just need a gentle touch on the first cover


I might have a buyer for the Bolt VOX. If that falls through I might do the case swap when the referb warranty is up. Hiding it is the best option right now.


----------



## Mikeguy (Jul 28, 2005)

Phil T said:


> I might have a buyer for the Bolt VOX. If that falls through I might do the case swap when the referb warranty is up. Hiding it is the best option right now.


Or, you could do the case swap and then sell the now white-encased Bolt VOX.


----------



## dgoto (Apr 29, 2010)

cherry ghost said:


> No, the 3TB Bolt had a WD drive


Any idea if that drive would work as an upgrade?


----------



## cherry ghost (Sep 13, 2005)

dgoto said:


> Any idea if that drive would work as an upgrade?


I think some have had problems with them recently.

I'd ask here

Bolt Hard Drive Upgrade Choice


----------



## Michael Miranda (Jan 21, 2019)

As a Premier user since 2011 (referb with $12.99 monthly that I used OTA for a couple of years) about a year ago I subscribed again which cost me $14.95 which I cheerfully used when I got rid of cable TV. I took advantage of the Roamio deal with the all in service. The TiVo's have always worked well for me. I had an early Huges DirecTiVo and loved it, never a problem. Anyway ordered the 1TB Roamio and couldn't be happier with it. 

The story doesn't end there. I went to the website and disconnected the Premier from monthly billing and to my surprise was presented with an offer to make it all in for $100. Not sure what I'll do. Guess I could sell it or find someone who appreciates it as much as I do.


----------



## DrewTivo (Mar 30, 2005)

Phil T said:


> I have not noticed the processes being slower.


The only things I've noticed being slower are tuning to a live TV channel and starting watching a recorded program. In both cases it may take 1.5s instead of .5s to start (just as an idea - I haven't timed it). Responsiveness of menus etc is basically the same. In other words, there's a bit of a delay because it needs to buffer the stream from your main Tivo (and it is a stream, just over your home network rather than the Internet).


----------



## dgoto (Apr 29, 2010)

dgoto said:


> Is this the drive no longer available that is used in 3TB bolt? Thanks


I was looking at the weaknees web site and think getting the 4 tuner 3tb model which includes OTA as the best option. Does any here have this model. Having the ota option seems like a good option TiVo BOLT VOX


----------



## JonUrban (Dec 25, 2015)

I just noticed that my refurb Bolt does not include the MLB TV app. It was on my ROAMIO PRO. Is that something that Tivo dumped? I can still get it on a Roku, but why would they remove that app from the newer machine?

Odd.


----------



## Phil T (Oct 29, 2003)

This lifetime Bolt kept me busy today. Wife didn’t like the white box on the TV stand. Went to Big Lots and bought a Keeper brand 2 shelf corner dish rack. Put the TiVo on the lower shelf and put my T-Mobile M-Cell on the top shelf. Then used another wire rack to put my router/modem on. These wire racks are open on all sides and should supply better cooling then the glass shelves on the stand. Now my TV stand has only the 65” TV, soundbar, Apple TV and blue ray player on it. Everything else is on racks hidden behind the TV and stand. The TV and stand sit in a corner so there is room for the equipment and racks behind the stand. Then swapped remotes with my now unused TiVo Bolt VOX. (Wife didn’t like the white remote either).

Project is done for now. Planning to give the Bolt VOX to my daughter so she can turn in the X1 box she is renting, with the understanding that she pays the TiVo service fees beginning in November. 

If that doesn’t work I have a friend who is interested in it for a OTA DVR.


----------



## Phil T (Oct 29, 2003)

JonUrban said:


> I just noticed that my refurb Bolt does not include the MLB TV app. It was on my ROAMIO PRO. Is that something that Tivo dumped? I can still get it on a Roku, but why would they remove that app from the newer machine?
> 
> Odd.


MLB TV dropped TIVo and a bunch of other's for 2019. I saw a message about it when I tried to access it on my Bolt VOX. Here is the link on what they do support: MLB.TV Connected Device FAQs


----------



## Phil T (Oct 29, 2003)

No MLB TV on TiVo?


----------



## JonUrban (Dec 25, 2015)

Phil T said:


> MLB TV dropped TIVo and a bunch of other's for 2019. I saw a message about it when I tried to access it on my Bolt VOX. Here is the link on what they do support: MLB.TV Connected Device FAQs


Thanks Phil. I didn't see that. Sorta sucks!


----------



## shwru980r (Jun 22, 2008)

Seems like there were always issues with MLB TV on Tivo the past few years. They probably got lots of complaints and demands for refunds.


----------



## martzta (Nov 11, 2003)

So I got one of the refurbished all-in Bolts and it seems to working fine so I am planning on keeping it. Is the extended warranty useful/worth the cost? My understanding is that the drive and power supply seem to be the main failure items and I can fix those myself. Really want to keep the all-in service going for at least 2 years. Any advice?


----------



## Mikeguy (Jul 28, 2005)

martzta said:


> So I got one of the refurbished all-in Bolts and it seems to working fine so I am planning on keeping it. Is the extended warranty useful/worth the cost? My understanding is that the drive and power supply seem to be the main failure items and I can fix those myself. Really want to keep the all-in service going for at least 2 years. Any advice?


Just a data-point: no issue with my refurb. Roamio OTA from 2+ years ago. I was considering the extended warranty and then, candidly, time passed and I just forgot. I know that the extended warranty is relatively inexpensive, but it's just one more thing--I haven't purchased it for any of my boxes (but I thought about it each time). But then, I have poor luck with extended warranties: the few times I have purchased them, the item only breaks down right after the warranty expires. 

If you can self-repair, I would be tempted to let it go--you have 90 days and then through the year, now, to make sure that the box is fine, under the standard warranty. But my opinion and $3 will get you a grande at Starbucks.


----------



## gbshuler (Feb 25, 2008)

JonUrban said:


> I just noticed that my refurb Bolt does not include the MLB TV app.
> 
> Odd.


Just an on/off topic comment if you are unaware ...

T-Mobile has an annual special that lasts only a few days. I missed it last year and kicked myself for weeks. You could use Wifi to beam your phone to Apple TV or Chromecast on the flatscreen. Also get free Netflix (HD). You will need a special, free mobile app to sign up (T-Mobile Tuesdays).

Join T-Mobile and get free MLB.TV, starting 3/26
_Limited-time offer; subject to change. For T-Mobile customers only. Must access T-Mobile Tuesdays and sign up for MLB.TV between 3/26/19 at 5 a.m. ET and 4/1/19 at 11:59 p.m. ET.
_
Yes.. Coverage can be spotty. I live in a big metro. Their coverage web app is accurate down to the city block.

I work for neither T-Mobile nor MLB.


----------



## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

Since the thread was bumped, it seems worthwhile to add that TiVo has another sale going-on, though not an "upgrade" promo:

Bracket Buster sale; ad tile now on carousel​


----------



## ClefCruiser (Apr 25, 2019)

Phil T said:


> That would be great but will it work Bolt to Bolt with both on Hydra?


yes- I transfer recordings and lists between the Premiers and the bolts often- I use my Bolt-VOX as the master and replicate to the others...
(seeded the VOX with the lists from the Premiere-XL to start things off)


----------



## jsgray (Jun 9, 2011)

My Bolt doesn’t give me the option to transfer to it as it did. Now I have to go online to transfer. I have several Premiers and Bolts but this really bothers me. Looking around. I’ve had Tivo from the first one they made.


----------



## ajwees41 (May 7, 2006)

jsgray said:


> My Bolt doesn't give me the option to transfer to it as it did. Now I have to go online to transfer. I have several Premiers and Bolts but this really bothers me. Looking around. I've had Tivo from the first one they made.


because your tivo is running on hydra


----------



## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

I was going to write an app that would transfer everything from one TiVo to another (1Ps, Recordings, Thumbs, Preferences, etc...) to make upgrading to a new unit easier. All the APIs exist to do it. But when I contacted TiVo about getting an official certificate for it they couldn't figure out how to do it. No one I talked to even knew how to issue a certificate or who would know how to do it.


----------



## Mikeguy (Jul 28, 2005)

Dan203 said:


> I was going to write an app that would transfer everything from one TiVo to another (1Ps, Recordings, Thumbs, Preferences, etc...) to make upgrading to a new unit easier. All the APIs exist to do it. But when I contacted TiVo about getting an official certificate for it they couldn't figure out how to do it. No one I talked to even knew how to issue a certificate or who would know how to do it.


Does TiVo philosophically support such 3rd-party development at this point?


----------



## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

Mikeguy said:


> Does TiVo philosophically support such 3rd-party development at this point?


I don't know. They still have a web page for developers but apparently no one there is actually running the program anymore.


----------



## jsgray (Jun 9, 2011)

ajwees41 said:


> because your tivo is running on hydra


Wow. Thank you for telling me about hydra. I've never heard of it. So I guess that's why I don't have thumbs too. I was so satisfied with my TiVos so I replaced my Premiers with Bolts and still have two premiers left (4 units total). I don't know why Tivo would go backwards like this - take away features that worked so well. I went by the Fios store the other day. Thinking about it. I have Comcast now but their DVR is terrible.


----------



## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

jsgray said:


> I don't know why Tivo would go backwards like this - take away features that worked so well.


You can rollback the software to the previous UI, at the cost of all recordings and settings. Backup what's needed and possible for restoration after the rollback.


----------

