# Roamio's are now getting the dreaded pre-roll ads



## DeltaOne (Sep 29, 2013)

I started seeing the dreaded pre-roll ads today on my Roamio.

Sorta. When selecting a recording to play you get the large gray arrow screen for a few seconds, then a dark/blank "live" window in the upper right corner. Then the recording starts to play.

Unless the show is still recording. Then you get the large gray arrow screen for a few seconds, then a dark/blank "live" window in the upper right corner...and the TiVo locks up with an error message saying something like "can't play now." Only way I've gotten out of this lock up is the "quit the GUI trick" (thumbs down three times and then enter/last).

Only way I got a still recording show to play was to switch to that tuner and then rewind to the beginning. 

I'll be calling TiVo tomorrow (Monday?) to opt out of the pre-roll ads.


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## mustang1068 (Feb 4, 2009)

I am getting the same thing with the gray screen, then the blank live view picutre. This is incredibly annoying, takes a good 3 or 4 seconds before the show starts. There never used to be this lag. This is somehow related to ads? I was already considering pulling the plug and this might just push me over the edge.


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## DeltaOne (Sep 29, 2013)

mustang1068 said:


> I am getting the same thing with the gray screen, then the blank live view picutre. This is incredibly annoying, takes a good 3 or 4 seconds before the show starts. There never used to be this lag. This is somehow related to ads? I was already considering pulling the plug and this might just push me over the edge.


I believe so, yes. The TiVo is trying to play an ad...but there's nothing there.

I called TiVo tech support this morning and asked to opt out of the pre-roll ads. They'll ask you if you pressed "skip" to bypass the ad. I explained that skip did nothing and the ad didn't play.

They put in a ticket to remove the ads from my Roamio and explained it may take two or thee days -- exactly the same thing that was told to Bolt owners that called in to opt out.

I'll reboot and/or force a service connection tomorrow...to see if that gets me out of the ads.


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## Waco (Nov 22, 2014)

I am getting this as well, one additional issue every time I try to skip the ad The Roamio restarts.... 5 times in a row!!
WTF are the doing??


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## jfriedlund (Nov 30, 2009)

I've also experienced that same frustrating delay and if you don't fast forward the volume on the ad will blast you out of your chair. I called tech support to request removal and was at first told you can just fast forward if you don't want this. I explained, nicely, this change was unwanted, unwelcomed and stopped the DVR from working properly. He then asked me for the service number (I had identified the unit when I started the chat and told them it was the only Roamio associated with my account, if he wanted to hold I could get it) he then said he would create a ticket for the removal but that it could take 72 hours to take effect. Last night it locked up and restarted on it's own, I was hoping that was the ticket kicking in but so far the annoying ads are still with us!


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## MRL46 (Apr 4, 2020)

The grey screen with an arrow has been a problem for the past week. Along with the above, the system is really sluggish. Takes forever to use any of the commands. And now both of my Roamios are now freezing up and then after a few minutes are restarting, even when I am recording a program. Add to that the stupid TiVo channels on my guide snd I'm asking myself, this is not what I purchased. I purchased an OTA lifetime channel guide DVR. WTF is going on?!?!?!?!


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## Mikeguy (Jul 28, 2005)

Michael Lightbourne said:


> The grey screen with an arrow has been a problem for the past week. Along with the above, the system is really sluggish. Takes forever to use any of the commands. And now both of my Roamios are now freezing up and then after a few minutes are restarting, even when I am recording a program. Add to that the stupid TiVo channels on my guide snd I'm asking myself, this is not what I purchased. I purchased an OTA lifetime channel guide DVR. WTF is going on?!?!?!?!


Telephone TiVo customer support, tell them that you are having these issues, and ask that the pre-roll ads be excluded from your machine. The rep. may try to convince you otherwise, but be persistent, and the rep. ultimately will relent.


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## akbar jaffer (Dec 26, 2019)

I’m having the issues discussed above. Will call support. 
Is anyone having sound issues as well? Seems that in the last week the volume seems to be randomly going on and off as well. 
Thanks in advance


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## GeoPea (Oct 7, 2014)

Hi all. Those of you getting pre-roll ads on Roamios are using TE4, right? I hope so, since i have TE3!!


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## Pokemon_Dad (Jan 19, 2008)

GeoPea said:


> Hi all. Those of you getting pre-roll ads on Roamios are using TE4, right? I hope so, since i have TE3!!


Correct, it only happens on TE4.


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## TomHConsumer (Apr 5, 2020)

akbar jaffer said:


> I'm having the issues discussed above. Will call support.
> Is anyone having sound issues as well? Seems that in the last week the volume seems to be randomly going on and off as well.
> Thanks in advance


I noticed this week, and even my wife made comments about the TV being broken. Thanks everyone for letting me know what was going on! I had to be persistent, but my Support chat ended with
_I apologize for the inconvenience. I will request an update so your TiVo device no longer shows an advertisement before your recording begins. I will submit the request now but please note that it will take up to 72 hours to take effect._

One thing to add that might be of interest. Technically, TiVo is reducing the performance of devices for which consumers have already paid. Apple just recently settled a huge lawsuit for a related infraction.
Apple agrees to settlement of up to $500 million from lawsuit alleging it throttled older phones - TechCrunch

I've always been a devotee, but this is beyond frustrating.


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## Gregavi (Jan 19, 2003)

Add another one to the complaint list. It really pisses me off when I try to start a recording and I get the Giant gray arrow. If I hit 30 sec skip, it goes to the recorded program. Definitely shouldn't have to do that extra step. The good news is, I thought this was normal behavior since I just got my Roamio after 13 years of using other DVRs. (I had one of the original TiVos in 2000). At least there's hope that this can be removed. I was seriously considering going back to my Cox Cable Contour 2 DVR, which is very good, because of this, along with some other issues. It isn't much leverage though to threaten TiVo that I might switch back since I have a Lifetime for the Roamio. I'm not paying them anything so they have nothing to lose except bad word-of-mouth. When I complain to Cox, I always threaten to go back to DirecTV and vise versa. Works like a charm. I'll be calling TiVo in the morning.


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## slowbiscuit (Sep 19, 2006)

Just downgrade, the ads will be back even if you call them.


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## jbh (Apr 8, 2020)

The TE4 shouldn't come with "requirements" of pre-roll ads and Tivo+ channels in my channel guide. I have been a Tivo customer for many years and chose their service because of the ability to customize options and to be able to skip content that I did not want to see. 
Leave Tivo+ under the "apps" section and we can use it if we want. However, for you to violate the entire purpose of your system in order to show us ads prior to our recordings or to try and push certain content to us, then you are going to QUICKLY lose many of your loyal customers. 
We shouldn't have to call and request removal or repeatedly call when they come back after a short time. This needs to be FIXED and SOON.


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## hairyblue (Feb 25, 2002)

I'm getting the "can't play now" and lock up too. Fustrating. I don't look forward to calling Tivo and complaining. I have been putting it off. 

I've been a Tivo customer for 2 decades now. I'm just so disappointed in them.


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## nc88keyz (Oct 24, 2005)

I send them feelgoods on twitter daily. #tivovirus . Feel free to join in. Our voice is much louder in unison.


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## jrock (Aug 27, 2002)

I keep getting lock up's and reboots after the Gray screen every couple days. Now for the last day I have been trying to watch season 2 of Succession that I have had on there since last year and I keep getting "Can't Play Now Error V117" after the grey screen or it just goes back to the main TiVo central screen when I try to play it. After going back in several times it usually starts playing. I have a TiVo Life Time membership and when I got it I did not agree to ads. This is not right. I have been a TiVo user for over 20 years. When this one dies I doubt I will continue with TiVo, I may as well just get the Comcast/Xfinity X1 DVR.


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## videobruce (Nov 30, 2012)

What F/W version do you guys have that see this?


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## jrock (Aug 27, 2002)

21.9.7.v3-840-6-840


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## videobruce (Nov 30, 2012)

Do you know when it came out, or about how long ago?


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

videobruce said:


> Do you know when it came out, or about how long ago?


About March 11: Bolt New Software Loaded (21.9.7.v3-USC-849)


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## jrock (Aug 27, 2002)

No I never look at that unless there is a problem like now. I hadn't had problems in a long time before this issue.


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## pfiagra (Oct 13, 2014)

jrock said:


> I keep getting lock up's and reboots after the Gray screen every couple days. Now for the last day I have been trying to watch season 2 of Succession that I have had on there since last year and I keep getting "Can't Play Now Error V117" after the grey screen or it just goes back to the main TiVo central screen when I try to play it. After going back in several times it usually starts playing. I have a TiVo Life Time membership and when I got it I did not agree to ads. This is not right. I have been a TiVo user for over 20 years. When this one dies I doubt I will continue with TiVo, I may as well just get the Comcast/Xfinity X1 DVR.


FIX: Removing Ads Before Watching a Recorded Event


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## videobruce (Nov 30, 2012)

jrock said:


> No I never look at that unless there is a problem like now. I hadn't had problems in a long time before this issue.


Same here.
On my 846 (cheap plastic case wonder) it's 20.7.4b RC3
.


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## josim (May 22, 2016)

No pre-roll ads yet but, I have been getting the gray arrow screen for about 3 weeks. I received a survey from Tivo yesterday and complained about that screen and poor guide data.


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## Mike444 (Nov 24, 2017)

I am getting the large gray arrow screen for a few seconds, then a dark/blank "live" window in the upper right corner before a recording starts to play and the occasional can't play now message also. Things have really slowed down on my Roamio. 
Anyone notice that this seems to coincide with the addition of the new "TIVO" Channels spaced throughout the guide? What is happening?


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## jrock (Aug 27, 2002)

The new gray arrow screen seems to be the loading screen for the new Ads they added. For several days ad's played after that screen then the video would start. The last few days it seems to be having problems loading the ad so instead its causing all the issues we are having. No matter what we do now any video we play will try to load an ad. It really sucks and slows it down and ruins the TiVo experience.


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## Mike444 (Nov 24, 2017)

When I contacted Tivo support to have the pre-roll ads excluded from my Roamio the tech stated that the other problems I was experiencing (general slowdown, "can't play now" messages, etc.) were not related to the pre-roll ads even though they coincided exactly with the software update.


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## nshahzad (Apr 20, 2014)

Mike444 said:


> I am getting the large gray arrow screen for a few seconds, then a dark/blank "live" window in the upper right corner before a recording starts to play and the occasional can't play now message also. Things have really slowed down on my Roamio.
> Anyone notice that this seems to coincide with the addition of the new "TIVO" Channels spaced throughout the guide? What is happening?


Yes! I'm getting this now. I can't wait for my contract to be over in June, finally going to say good-bye to TiVo.




Mike444 said:


> When I contacted Tivo support to have the pre-roll ads excluded from my Roamio the tech stated that the other problems I was experiencing (general slowdown, "can't play now" messages, etc.) were not related to the pre-roll ads even though they coincided exactly with the software update.


Of course it isn't related :unamused: Did they exclude your device? Wondering if it's even worth calling.


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## Mike444 (Nov 24, 2017)

nshahzad said:


> Did they exclude your device? Wondering if it's even worth calling.


Tivo told me perhaps 3 days for the exclusion to take place, but the gray arrow and loading screen are gone after 24 hours. Maybe my imagination but things seen to be running smoother and so far no "can't play now message".

We have lifetime service and the expense of other options would be prohibitive for us.


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## Mikeguy (Jul 28, 2005)

jrock said:


> The new gray arrow screen seems to be the loading screen for the new Ads they added. For several days ad's played after that screen then the video would start. The last few days it seems to be having problems loading the ad so instead its causing all the issues we are having. No matter what we do now any video we play will try to load an ad. It really sucks and slows it down and ruins the TiVo experience.


Call TiVo telephone support, explain this, and ask them to turn the pre-roll ads off for you. After they say something to try to get you to change your mind, say "No, thank you, please turn the pre-roll off" and they'll follow your original request (that's the customer support script--really).


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## Phil T (Oct 29, 2003)

I have done an online chat twice to have the ads removed from my Bolt but it never happens. 
I was told the second time my request had been escalated to engineering. 
Going the telephone route next week to it will happen but I don't have much hope.


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## Richhatch (Jul 16, 2013)

I have the TiVo Roamio Pro, and I have been experiencing the same problems with the pre-roll ads. Once the pre-roll ads start, I noticed most of the pre-roll videos are from Xumo, I hit the fast-forward button and TiVo Jumps to the beginning of the show and bypass the pre-roll ad. Other times it won't play my show at all, and I get an error message V117, at this point; I have to reboot TiVo by unplugging the TiVo, or sometimes it will reboot on it owns. If it reboots on its own, TiVo might be recording something at that time, and now I will be missing about 10 minutes of the show while TiVo reboots. 

I also notice that TiVo runs slow from time to time. 

I don't feel it is right for us to be forced to view these ads that they may be getting paid to display to us. We also should be getting paid to view these videos from TiVo. I purchased my TiVo back in 1999 to be able to record shows and to bypass commercials. I can't believe TiVo is now injecting commercials for us to watch.


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## Mikeguy (Jul 28, 2005)

Richhatch said:


> I have the TiVo Roamio Pro, and I have been experiencing the same problems with the pre-roll ads. Once the pre-roll ads start, I noticed most of the pre-roll videos are from Xumo, I hit the fast-forward button and TiVo Jumps to the beginning of the show and bypass the pre-roll ad. Other times it won't play my show at all, and I get an error message V117, at this point; I have to reboot TiVo by unplugging the TiVo, or sometimes it will reboot on it owns. If it reboots on its own, TiVo might be recording something at that time, and now I will be missing about 10 minutes of the show while TiVo reboots.
> 
> I also notice that TiVo runs slow from time to time.
> 
> I don't feel it is right for us to be forced to view these ads that they may be getting paid to display to us. We also should be getting paid to view these videos from TiVo. I purchased my TiVo back in 1999 to be able to record shows and to bypass commercials. I can't believe TiVo is now injecting commercials for us to watch.


Simply call TiVo support and ask them to remove the pre-roll ads. After an obligatory support script explanation to you about how you can skip the ads, if you then repeat your request that the ads be removed, they'll agree to do so (takes 2-3 days).


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## Richhatch (Jul 16, 2013)

Mikeguy said:


> Simply call TiVo support and ask them to remove the pre-roll ads. After an obligatory support script explanation to you about how you can skip the ads, if you then repeat your request that the ads be removed, they'll agree to do so (takes 2-3 days).


Thanks


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## Phil T (Oct 29, 2003)

I have requested pre-roll ads be removed twice during CSR chats and was told twice they would be.

Never happened...


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## Mikeguy (Jul 28, 2005)

Phil T said:


> I have requested pre-roll ads be removed twice during CSR chats and was told twice they would be.
> 
> Never happened...


That's horrible. The only thing I can suggest is, try it in a telephone call and mention the prior failures to the rep. Hopefully, the third time is the charm.


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## 53richart (Feb 26, 2019)

Someone in another forum recommended blocking mm1.tivoservice.com at your firewall or router to eliminate the pre-roll ads. Has anyone tried that yet?


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## Phil T (Oct 29, 2003)

Mikeguy said:


> That's horrible. The only thing I can suggest is, try it in a telephone call and mention the prior failures to the rep. Hopefully, the third time is the charm.


Did that today. I even gave them the case # from my first chat. Was told the same thing, wait 3 or 4 days...


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## jrock (Aug 27, 2002)

I decided to try the online chat today and contacted them about opting out of the pre roll ads. It looks like they had a pre typed up response because he replied pretty fast.

"We apologize for the inconvenience this might have caused you. TiVo launched a new feature content called Pre-Roll. DVR pre-roll advertisements are short video ads that appear at the beginning of playback of most DVR recordings. No worries, we will submit a request for the removal of these ads on your device. This process will take between 2-3 business days before the feature will be removed from your DVR."


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