# Bring back the old Tivo guy's face!



## kujo999 (Jan 31, 2006)

What was the rationale for making the Tivo guy faceless and grey? It's so sad. If this was a design decision it was a bad one. Part of the fun of Tivo was the colorful Tivo Guy who would wiggle his attennae and tap his feet. But sadly no more.

Was that a legal decision?

If it is at all possible it would be great to have his personality black. The Tivo experience is so dull and lifeless now. I was hoping it would change with Hydra but he's still a shadow of his old self.

So sad.


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## anthem11 (May 15, 2012)




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## kujo999 (Jan 31, 2006)

LOL! The OTHER Tivo guy.


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## Mikeguy (Jul 28, 2005)

kujo999 said:


> What was the rationale for making the Tivo guy faceless and grey? It's so sad. If this was a design decision it was a bad one. Part of the fun of Tivo was the colorful Tivo Guy who would wiggle his attennae and tap his feet. But sadly no more.
> 
> Was that a legal decision?
> 
> ...


A company's perceived need to update (and/or, bureaucratic change)? "Modernization"? To try to be seen as "non-frivolous"? Design-wise, for simpler/less-expensive reproduction (only B&W/gray tones now)?


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## bradleys (Oct 31, 2007)

It certainly doesn't meet a modern design standard. It is more like a children's doodle than the brand of a mature and serious technology company. Those colorful and childish brands were rather popular in the bubblegum neon 90's, but did not age well as technology and technology firms matured. 

Reminds me of Hot Tub Time Machine, the guys are skying down in their grey and black ski wear and everyone is wearing bright colorful 1980's ski wear. 

"Dude, is there some kind of retro thing going on here?"


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## Mikeguy (Jul 28, 2005)

bradleys said:


> It certainly doesn't meet a modern design standard. It is more like a children's doodle than the brand of a mature and serious technology company. Those colorful and childish brands were rather popular in the bubblegum neon 90's, but did not age well as technology and technology firms matured.
> 
> Reminds me of Hot Tub Time Machine, the guys are skying down in their grey and black ski wear and everyone is wearing bright colorful 1980's ski wear.
> 
> "Dude, is there some kind of retro thing going on here?"


I agree with the explanation. But dang, some frivolity and fun in life is good and deserves a place.


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## philco782 (Sep 28, 2014)

I like the old animation of the tivo man sliding down the slide then morphing between time periods and stuff, at one point there was a Godzilla type thing. 

It was modern, I mean, there was a Prius in the background 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## philco782 (Sep 28, 2014)

Hmm. Looking at videos on youtube, it seems my memory has morphed the Tivo HD and Tivo Premiere startup videos into one singular memory. LOL. I don't really remember an exact date, but somewhere along the line, my Premiere stopped playing the startup animation when it was power-cycled.

Kinda sad, I thought the animation was cute.


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## philco782 (Sep 28, 2014)

Anyone know offhand what sequence of buttons need to be pressed to watch the startup animation?


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## dswallow (Dec 3, 2000)

It would have been nice to allow a few developers at TiVo to create a "classic" skin of the Hydra interface paying proper homage to the original graphic designs, and allow people to switch between the two. A "geek" mode, if you will.

Or they could take the Tesla approach and have little differences unlock and appear on special occasions/holidays.

Or perhaps a fee-based choice of UI styles...


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## philco782 (Sep 28, 2014)

dswallow said:


> Or they could take the Tesla approach and have little differences unlock and appear on special occasions/holidays.
> 
> Or perhaps a fee-based choice of UI styles...


My Roku TV is like that. There are a few free skins, a few for a small payment, and it changes up the default skins for various holidays, there were snowmen and falling snow during December.


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## Mikeguy (Jul 28, 2005)

philco782 said:


> Anyone know offhand what sequence of buttons need to be pressed to watch the startup animation?


If it works for your box/model: TiVo + 0 (if I recall correctly, doesn't work on, e.g., the Bolt and Roamio)

*Secret TiVo Tips and Tweaks*

Less cool, but YouTube is a good playing source, and people have posted YouTube links/TiVo animation videos here as well.​Walking TIVO Man


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## rdrrepair (Nov 24, 2006)

Or... It's an attempt to appease "The Greys". A push to a neutral based gender ideology. Your pick


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## Anotherpyr (May 6, 2015)

It’s symbolic of what Rovi is doing to TiVo. It’s a shell of its former self.


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## Mikeguy (Jul 28, 2005)

rdrrepair said:


> Or... It's an attempt to appease "The Greys". A push to a neutral based gender ideology. Your pick


What does the TiVo logo's face or not have to do with "neutral based gender ideology"?


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## John Gillespie (Oct 27, 2016)

I thought it was TiVO turning its back on their customers.


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

Mikeguy said:


> What does the TiVo logo's face or not have to do with "neutral based gender ideology"?


These threads are like weeds. I can't explain it. Too much free time?


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## rdrrepair (Nov 24, 2006)

Mikeguy said:


> What does the TiVo logo's face or not have to do with "neutral based gender ideology"?


 almost every post, in multiple threads, have called the rendering a guy, dude, man, etc. I was shining a light, while making lite, of that fact. Why call the TiVo insignia anything gender based at all? It's simply a logo made by a company who decided it was time to refresh their brand as they see fit. Labeling it any other way sounds weird to me.


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## Mikeguy (Jul 28, 2005)

rdrrepair said:


> almost every post, in multiple threads, have called the rendering a guy, dude, man, etc. I was shining a light, while making lite, of that fact. Why call the TiVo insignia anything gender based at all? It's simply a logo made by a company who decided it was time to refresh their brand as they see fit. Labeling it any other way sounds weird to me.


I think it's a facet of the English language: we don't have a short, gender-neutral term for a personification--"person" might be the shortest (although some people would say that "guy," especially when used in the plural, is an option). And the logo does have legs, and used to have a face, and so the anthropomorphizing seems a natural, which we seem to like to do (Dory the fish does not really speak English). But there often does seem to have been a default in language to the masculine singular when gender has been unknown, changing in the past more recent years, to a degree.


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## sharkster (Jul 3, 2004)

I grew in CA, FWIW, and phrases like 'you guys' or 'hey, guys', etc, were pretty much gender neutral. I've heard some (very few) women being offended by this, but not I nor anybody I really know.

When I've seen 'Tivo guy' I've never actually thought 'man'. 

Not that any of this really matters.  I did like the Tivo guy having a face and I really thought the animated start up bits were really cute and fun. I have missed both of those things. I don't fret it, however.


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## Mikeguy (Jul 28, 2005)

sharkster said:


> I grew in CA, FWIW, and phrases like 'you guys' or 'hey, guys', etc, were pretty much gender neutral. I've heard some (very few) women being offended by this, but not I nor anybody I really know.
> 
> *When I've seen 'Tivo guy' I've never actually thought 'man'. *
> 
> Not that any of this really matters.  I did like the Tivo guy having a face and I really thought the animated start up bits were really cute and fun. I have missed both of those things. I don't fret it, however.


We're having a Freaky Friday (well, Saturday) event: when I hear "TiVo guy," I always think male and the assumption/use bugs me a bit (well, in a small fashion--it's all relative)--but I don't see an equivalent alternative. "TiVo dude" also seems male; and "TiVo figurine," well, no.



I would like the start-up videos back; they always make me smile, when I come across them.  Great marketing--TiVo could rotate them and even have special, surprise holiday editions, a la Google.


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## sharkster (Jul 3, 2004)

Mikeguy said:


> We're having a Freaky Friday (well, Saturday) event: when I hear "TiVo guy," I always think male and the assumption/use bugs me a bit (well, in a small fashion--it's all relative)--but I don't see an equivalent alternative. "TiVo dude" also seems male; and "TiVo figurine," well, no.
> 
> 
> 
> I would like the start-up videos back; they always make me smile, when I come across them.  Great marketing--TiVo could rotate them and even have special, surprise holiday editions, a la Google.


Yes! Wasn't that fun? I remember the start-up animation when I got my first two Tivos, and for quite some time, was like an acid trip or something - colors and fun with the plinky music. Good stuff! Then, the next one - I'll be darned if I've completely forgotten that one but I just remember that I liked it, maybe not as much. Then now - nothing.


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## Mikeguy (Jul 28, 2005)

sharkster said:


> Yes! Wasn't that fun? I remember the start-up animation when I got my first two Tivos, and for quite some time, was like an acid trip or something - colors and fun with the plinky music. Good stuff! Then, the next one - I'll be darned if I've completely forgotten that one but I just remember that I liked it, maybe not as much. Then now - nothing.


TiVo start-up animations (multiple): tivo animation - YouTube


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## sharkster (Jul 3, 2004)

Oh yay! Thanks, Mike!  I'm going to have to explore the others. That one on the upper right must have been before my time but I will have to view that one, too.


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## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

sharkster said:


> Yes! Wasn't that fun? I remember the start-up animation when I got my first two Tivos, and for quite some time, was like an acid trip or something - colors and fun with the plinky music. Good stuff! Then, the next one - I'll be darned if I've completely forgotten that one but I just remember that I liked it, maybe not as much. Then now - nothing.


Yeah, too bad they didn't continue the trend and include a separate audio track for those with surround sound, giving it the feel of one of those THX test clips.


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## kujo999 (Jan 31, 2006)

John Gillespie said:


> I thought it was TiVO turning its back on their customers.


Good point. That's is really what it looks like. No eyes, no mouth, no motion, just a surly Tivo Dude dissing us by turning his back on us. I know it sounds silly, but really who came up with this idea? It's sucked the fun and personality out of the Tivo experience. Please bring this back. Sort of related, I've been using Hydra for about 2 weeks. It is an improvement, but I still have to wonder, how is it possible for a company who were the pioneers in DVRs with plenty of year of practice in their corner come up with UIs that are just so average? I don't mean to slam Tivo, but really, I think you could hire someone fresh out of high school to design a more compelling UI.


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## Furmaniac (Apr 3, 2018)

philco782 said:


> Hmm. Looking at videos on youtube, it seems my memory has morphed the Tivo HD and Tivo Premiere startup videos into one singular memory. LOL. I don't really remember an exact date, but somewhere along the line, my Premiere stopped playing the startup animation when it was power-cycled.
> 
> Kinda sad, I thought the animation was cute.


... And it's depressing to view YouTube videos about TiVo ... looking at the great encore TiVo screens, the yellow on blue, the larger fonts, the smaller pictures, the different folders in the My Show screen. It's sad to see all that gone


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## Lurker1 (Jun 4, 2004)

Furmaniac said:


> ... And it's depressing to view YouTube videos about TiVo ... looking at the great encore TiVo screens, the yellow on blue, the larger fonts, the smaller pictures, the different folders in the My Show screen. It's sad to see all that gone


Yikes! Seeing the original interface again almost makes me cry. I had nearly forgotten how much better TiVo used to be before it became washed out and hard to read.


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

Lurker1 said:


> Yikes! Seeing the original interface again almost makes me cry. I had nearly forgotten how much better TiVo used to be before it became washed out and hard to read.


When power is applied to a series 4 or 5 (including Mini), the color logo appears for a few seconds. On a Mini VOX it has been replaced with a blank display for the same amount of time.


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## Furmaniac (Apr 3, 2018)

The only good thing about the new software is that the Vox remote search will bring up every old movie & TV show in their database and allow you to put a onesearch or a bookmark for the streaming apps. That's the only reason I'm not bringing back the old UI.
By the way, this expanded Vox search has not even been documented by TiVo.


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## LarryAtHome (Feb 18, 2008)

Even the remote for my Bolt no longer has the TiVo guys face. Just a silver button.


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