# I'm surprised there are no unpacking videos.



## BlackBetty (Nov 6, 2004)

Or videos of the units in action.


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## innocentfreak (Aug 25, 2001)

I think the people who normally do them either don't have them yet or didn't buy.


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## wmcbrine (Aug 2, 2003)

I thought about doing an unpacking video, but didn't have the patience.

Are there really no videos of it working? I could fix that...


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## celtic pride (Nov 8, 2005)

I would like to see the tivo in action and also what the tivo looks like when all 6 lights are on while recording,i also want to see how the tivo finder works when your looking for your remote.


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## jellyandtoast (Aug 26, 2013)

Trust me, unlike Apple packaging, the TiVo Roamio packaging is truly very uninspirational --you're not missing out anything. TiVo went cheap so I'm not suprised that no one has done an upacking video.


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## aristoBrat (Dec 30, 2002)

I was making an unpacking video for my Pro, but I don't feel like editing out all of my snarky comments when I got to the point where I noticed that it doesn't include a HDMI cable.

Not that I need one, but every TiVo I've had before came with one. Sad to see this tradition gone, esp. on the highest-end model.


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

Really, no HDMI in the box? That's just cheap. Especially for a $600 Pro. :down:


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## innocentfreak (Aug 25, 2001)

Yeah no HDMI and no ethernet. I can somewhat see the ethernet since it has MoCa, but the lack of HDMI is bad.


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

You can get those both on Monoprice for < $5 total. Why would TiVo cheap out and not include them in the box.

So you don't get any video cables at all?


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## GoHokies! (Sep 21, 2005)

Nope.

Mine had the Tivo, remote, batteries, power cord.

Fortunately it's replacing a premiere, so I'm not using any of the new cords, just swapping boxes.

No unboxing video, I was too excited to get it opened up and a 3 TB drive installed.


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## innocentfreak (Aug 25, 2001)

Nope nothing.

https://tivo.com/shop/roamio
It is under Specifications. It comes only with the power cord.


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

Yikes. I'm sure these days most people have a spare HDMI cable laying around, but come on. How pissed would you be to buy a $600 toy only to open the box and find that it doesn't even have the cables you need to hook it to the TV? At the very least they should have thrown a cheap HDMI cable in there. :down:


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## innocentfreak (Aug 25, 2001)

I definitely agree. The only reason I have a spare is I kept one I ended up not needing when I setup my mom's system.


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## kherr (Aug 1, 2006)

I usually find that cables included with a device are too short anyway. Even for monitors and such I always buy a cable that is long enough to fit the installation. There's nothing like buying a device and have to wait to use it because you went cheap and relied on the manufacturer.


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

kherr said:


> There's nothing like buying a device and have to wait to use it because you went cheap and relied on the manufacturer.


Except maybe buying a device and realizing you can't even attempt to hook it up because they didn't include even a basic video cable.

HDMI cables are digital, they typically either work or they don't. Throwing a cheap one in the box wouldn't have cost much and would have at least guaranteed the user could hook it up to the TV and get GS started.

Ethernet I can understand, since it has wifi now, but without a video cable it's useless.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

Dan203 said:


> Really, no HDMI in the box? That's just cheap. Especially for a $600 Pro. :down:


I give this a huge :up::up::up:

I can't even count the number of HDMI and Ethernet cables I have from devices that have been packed in. I rarely ever use them unless I can't find any of my Monoprice cables and only then I will use one until I order some more. I wish all devices came without any cables or batteries.(I use rechargeable batteries now which is a huge change for me from several years ago)


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

Even a $40 Roku LT includes an A/V cable. A $600 Roamio Pro should include an HDMI cable whether you need it or not.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

Dan203 said:


> Even a $40 Roku LT includes an A/V cable. A $600 Roamio Pro should include an HDMI cable whether you need it or not.


I just looked at my TiVo Mini box and that has an HDMI cable in it. So if the Mini has an HDMI cable then I guess it is surprising that the Roamio Pro doesn't.

In six months they will change the Romaio Pro name and it will be THX certified and also come with an HDMI cable. 

Still though this launch seems to be much better than the Premiere launch was. Like they put more thought into it. I'm sure they had a reason not to include the HDMI cable. Maybe they figured it would be installed by HT companies or something?


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## BlackBetty (Nov 6, 2004)

Not even this thread can spur some user videos.


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

Don't have mine yet. If I get it soon I'll do one.

Weaknees said it would ship "early next week" when I asked last Friday, but still no shipping notice yet.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

Yes. Give us some UnBoxing Porn! 

I don't remember where I saw that but someone does a show called UnBoxing Porn where they unbox new products.


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## trip1eX (Apr 2, 2005)

If I don't see another unboxing video I will be a happy camper. Same with receiving another set of HDMI cables.


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## DaveDFW (Jan 25, 2005)

Dan203 said:


> Weaknees said it would ship "early next week" when I asked last Friday, but still no shipping notice yet.


Same here!


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## BlackBetty (Nov 6, 2004)

Bump


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

I'll have my Pro Tuesday. I'll take a video of the unboxing if no one else has. Not real confident about talking on camera though, so it may be silent.


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## Aero 1 (Aug 8, 2007)

Dan203 said:


> I'll have my Pro Tuesday. I'll take a video of the unboxing if no one else has. Not real confident about talking on camera though, so it may be silent.


ok, you have been nominated. do an unboxing video and a video with mini interacton. and when you are done, get off your ass and make a mac version of video redo.


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

Aero 1 said:


> mac version of video redo.


With Parallels is there really a need for a Mac version of VRD any more?


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## Fofer (Oct 29, 2000)

Dan203 said:


> With Parallels is there really a need for a Mac version of VRD any more?


Yes, there certainly is.


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

Fofer said:


> Yes, there certainly is.


I know. We'd love to do one. But we're a small company (2 developers) and there is a TON of legacy code in VRD that would be hard to port to Mac. (we use a lot of Windows specific C++ libraries) Someday maybe.


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## innocentfreak (Aug 25, 2001)

Could someone explain to me why the big deal about unboxing videos? It is packaged just like every other TiVo with less stuff.


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## ShayL (Jul 18, 2007)

Fofer said:


> Yes, there certainly is.


:up:
Parallels is not a very good experience.


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## ggieseke (May 30, 2008)

innocentfreak said:


> Could someone explain to me why the big deal about unboxing videos? It is packaged just like every other TiVo with less stuff.


Amen. The day I can't open a cardboard box without a video tutorial on youtube will be a few hours before the med students at UTMB start carving up my cadaver. Hopefully they don't post THAT video.


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## Rkkeller (May 13, 2004)

I think people expect YouTube videos like what happens with cell phones. The reason I did not video mine is this is IMPORTANT and I wanted to get it setup and WORKING as soon as possible. So no time for a video.

When my next HD comes, which should be soon, might put up an installing HD video.


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## Davisadm (Jan 19, 2008)

innocentfreak said:


> Could someone explain to me why the big deal about unboxing videos? It is packaged just like every other TiVo with less stuff.


[media]http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/images/smilies/thumb-up.gif[/media]

Agreed, you open the box, take it out, and plug it in.


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## TC25D (Aug 21, 2013)

ShayL said:


> :up:
> Parallels is not a very good experience.


Parallels works great on my Mac Mini and my MacBookAir. Ran Windws7 fine and runs Windows8 just as well.


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## Fofer (Oct 29, 2000)

Yes, we know. I have Parallels 8 (with Windows 8) on my MacBook Air and it's amazing software. 

But just try editing video video on it, via VideoReDo. It's not an ideal experience. Native Mac software for such a function would be much better indeed. Alas, Dan203's explanation as to why there isn't a Mac native version yet makes sense...


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## ggieseke (May 30, 2008)

Multimedia programming in Windows is a very specific environment, and I'm pretty sure that VRD uses DirectShow extensively.

Porting it to the Mac world would about as likely as me driving my Vette through the delta quadrant, fighting the Borg as I go.


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

Davisadm said:


> [media]http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/images/smilies/thumb-up.gif[/media]
> 
> Agreed, you open the box, take it out, and plug it in.


FYI the Thumbs smileys can be added like this...


```
:up:
:down:
```


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## bareyb (Dec 1, 2000)

Dan203 said:


> Don't have mine yet. If I get it soon I'll do one.
> 
> Weaknees said it would ship "early next week" when I asked last Friday, but still no shipping notice yet.


Why did you buy it from Weaknees? Just curious... Amazon has them in stock _now_ with PRIME.


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

ggieseke said:


> Multimedia programming in Windows is a very specific environment, and I'm pretty sure that VRD uses DirectShow extensively.
> 
> Porting it to the Mac world would about as likely as me driving my Vette through the delta quadrant, fighting the Borg as I go.


We actually don't use a lot of DirectShow. Really only for reading TiVo files and VMR for video playback. What we do use is a lot of MFC.


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

bareyb said:


> Why did you buy it from Weaknees? Just curious... Amazon has them in stock _now_ with PRIME.


They were out of stock on Amazon, with a 1-3 week wait, and Weaknees had a $40 off coupon. However Weaknees ended up delaying the order longer then I expected so I might as well have bought it from Amazon.


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## ggieseke (May 30, 2008)

Dan203 said:


> We actually don't use a lot of DirectShow. Really only for reading TiVo files and VMR for video playback. What we do use is a lot of MFC.


Interesting - I'd have guessed more. It would probably still be a b*tch to port.


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## bareyb (Dec 1, 2000)

Dan203 said:


> They were out of stock on Amazon, with a 1-3 week wait, and Weaknees had a $40 off coupon. However Weaknees ended up delaying the order longer then I expected so I might as well have bought it from Amazon.


They are selling like hot cakes now. Amazon sold 17 of them yesterday and they just got 18 more. In the 30 minutes I've been here at the Hotel they sold 3 and now have 15 left (more on the way!). It would appear TiVo may have a winner on their hands. I hope so...


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

ggieseke said:


> Interesting - I'd have guessed more. It would probably still be a b*tch to port.


It would be. We'd like to eventually boil all the core functionality down into a few libraries and then switch to a cross platform UI like QT, but that's a very ambitious goal.


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## BlackBetty (Nov 6, 2004)

Dan203 said:


> I'll have my Pro Tuesday. I'll take a video of the unboxing if no one else has. Not real confident about talking on camera though, so it may be silent.


Get it yet?


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

No, stupid UPS is taking forever. I have dinner plans at 6:00pm so it'll have to wait until late tonight after my wife goes to bed and all the shows we have recording are done.


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

Just heard a knock at the door and it was UPS. My Roamio is here. Don't have time to set it up though.


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## bareyb (Dec 1, 2000)

Dan203 said:


> Just heard a knock at the door and it was UPS. My Roamio is here. Don't have time to set it up though.


Sweet! I'm waiting to see how Comcast pans out. If it works out for you, I'm gonna pull the trigger. If it's still a major nightmare I'm gonna have to put this off for a bit.


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

FYI I'm on Charter, not Comcast.


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## bareyb (Dec 1, 2000)

Dan203 said:


> FYI I'm on Charter, not Comcast.


Oh.... Didn't know that. That's what I get for making assumptions. Sorry to hear they are a nightmare too. Good luck. I'm crossing my fingers for you. It could very well be a piece of cake, you never know... A lot of folks seem to be having good luck these days.


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

Alright here is my video...

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEbRMTtin7w[/media]

And here is a quick one showing how you open the remote, it's a bit strange...

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kErrwtW_x1Y[/media]


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## HenryFarpolo (Dec 1, 2008)

Thanks Dan...I'll park it next to my "watching Paint Dry" video.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

I never even opened the top box except to get the remote. I guess I should open it sometime to see what is in it? If the remote would not have been RF, I would have never even touched it. Although I have not used the Roamio remote since connecting my Slide remote.


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

The top box only had the remote, batteries and power cord.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

Dan203 said:


> The top box only had the remote, batteries and power cord.


I thought I saw a bunch of paperwork in there? I was going to see if there was some crazy welcome letter, but I never got around to it.


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

aaronwt said:


> I thought I saw a bunch of paperwork in there? I was going to see if there was some crazy welcome letter, but I never got around to it.


Nah it was just a "getting started" poster, a CableCARD setup guide and a "connecting your DVR to the internet" guide. I did not get one of those hand signed thank you notes.


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## JasonD (Mar 30, 2003)

Dan,

thanks for the Vid, reminds me of my unboxing experience. It was cool to relive it again!

Jason


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## BlackBetty (Nov 6, 2004)

HenryFarpolo said:


> Thanks Dan...I'll park it next to my "watching Paint Dry" video.


Never fails to amaze me why people feel the need to go poo poo on someone's thread. Yeah we get it, you have no interest in an unpacking video. That's why you had to just come into this thread to show how little interest you have.


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## Devx (Jun 1, 2006)

An unboxing video can be useful to serve as a visual record of what's included, size of items and how (awful) the packaging is. Sometimes manufacturers do an unusually poor job of identifying those things or make that information difficult to find.


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## MeInDallas (Jul 31, 2011)

I wouldve love to of heard some theme music in the background like "Misirlou" that wouldve been nice


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

I considered putting in the music from 2001, but I decided it was a bit hokey


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## HenryFarpolo (Dec 1, 2008)

BlackBetty said:


> Never fails to amaze me why people feel the need to go poo poo on someone's thread. Yeah we get it, you have no interest in an unpacking video. That's why you had to just come into this thread to show how little interest you have.


Jeez Betty lighten up. Just kidding, hence the happy face added to my post. No "poo poo" intended.


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## bareyb (Dec 1, 2000)

So... When is hookup day? I have a good feeling...


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## BlackBetty (Nov 6, 2004)

Dan203 said:


> I considered putting in the music from 2001, but I decided it was a bit hokey


Dan any videos of the roamio in action? Would like to see the speed improvements over my premiere units.

I'm still on the fence about purchasing. If I can get the plus for $100-$150 off, then I'll probably pull the trigger. Also I'll probably wait to see how the out of home streaming works in oct/nov.

I paid full price at launch for my premieres. That still leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Figures now tivo gets it right with the roamio. Should have released this box 3 years ago instead.


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

bareyb said:


> So... When is hookup day? I have a good feeling...


Already done. Completely smooth. Total time on the phone was just 14 minutes, most of which was spent waiting for a supervisor to unpair the card from my old TiVo before the CSR I was talking to could pair it to the new one.


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

BlackBetty said:


> Dan any videos of the roamio in action? Would like to see the speed improvements over my premiere units.


I think the Engadget review had an action video showing the speed.

I'll tell you this the speed is exactly what you'd want it to be. Every button press is responded to immediately. Even if the UI isn't ready because it's downloading something from the internet you're met with an immediate bong telling you it received the button press. Unlike the Premiere which regularly would simply ignore button presses or queue them up and then respond to them randomly. I can navigate the Roamio UI as quickly as my fingers can push the buttons. It's worth the upgrade just for the speed improvement alone.


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## andrews777 (Aug 23, 2007)

I would agree with the idea that unpacking videos would have limited value. Our box got pretty mashed up by the time we picked it up at WalMart (site to store purchase), but I decided to check the unit out before just returning it. It turns out that very little is in the box other than the Roamio and the remote. So it had plenty of empty space to absorb the crushes (perhaps allowing them in the first place?).

An unpacking video would have been very boring and quite brief. "Here it is in the box. Here it is moved to the shelf. Here it is hooked up."

I can't see that being very helpful or worth the effort.


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

andrews777 said:


> An unpacking video would have been very boring and quite brief. "Here it is in the box. Here it is moved to the shelf. Here it is hooked up."


It was very brief and boring, but they asked so I obliged...

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=9798315#post9798315


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## jmpage2 (Jan 21, 2004)

BlackBetty said:


> Dan any videos of the roamio in action? Would like to see the speed improvements over my premiere units.
> 
> I'm still on the fence about purchasing. If I can get the plus for $100-$150 off, then I'll probably pull the trigger. Also I'll probably wait to see how the out of home streaming works in oct/nov.
> 
> I paid full price at launch for my premieres. That still leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Figures now tivo gets it right with the roamio. Should have released this box 3 years ago instead.


There are already videos on Youtube of the Roamio menu speeds. Do a search there and you will find them.


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## bareyb (Dec 1, 2000)

Dan203 said:


> Already done. Completely smooth. Total time on the phone was just 14 minutes, most of which was spent waiting for a supervisor to unpair the card from my old TiVo before the CSR I was talking to could pair it to the new one.


Wow... I just lost my last excuse not to upgrade.


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

I don't know, you did just spend $85K on a car, that seems like a viable excuse if you're really looking for one.  (jealous)


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## bareyb (Dec 1, 2000)

Hey Dan. Have you happened to try the YouTube App yet? I'm trying to watch some videos and it's so laggy it's almost unusable. Did this improve significantly with the new model?


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## innocentfreak (Aug 25, 2001)

Not Dan, but I have used the DIAL functionality a few times via my iPad for Youtube videos and was impressed. I never bothered with Youtube on my Premieres/Elite.


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## bareyb (Dec 1, 2000)

innocentfreak said:


> Not Dan, but I have used the DIAL functionality a few times via my iPad for Youtube videos and was impressed. I never bothered with Youtube on my Premieres/Elite.


Oh cool. Thanks! That's good news. It's pretty bad on my Elite too... The only concern I have now is PyTiVo playing nice with it. I'm seeing for some it's not working properly. That would be... bad... for me. I use PyTiVo all the time.


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## Fofer (Oct 29, 2000)

bareyb said:


> Oh cool. Thanks! That's good news. It's pretty bad on my Elite too... The only concern I have now is PyTiVo playing nice with it. I'm seeing for some it's not working properly. That would be... bad... for me. I use PyTiVo all the time.


Where is mention of that? Got a link?


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## bareyb (Dec 1, 2000)

Fofer said:


> Where is mention of that? Got a link?


http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=508772


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

Used pyTiVo to transfer something this morning. Worked great was super fast too. Uploaded a 45 minute video in just a couple minutes.


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## bareyb (Dec 1, 2000)

Dan203 said:


> Used pyTiVo to transfer something this morning. Worked great was super fast too. Uploaded a 45 minute video in just a couple minutes.


Huh. It's obviously not a problem for everyone. Did you read that post I linked to? Could just be related to his config...


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