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That's funny. I've "wanted" to use TiVo services for the last 13 years. I've "wanted" to give them money for said services. Giving people what they want so that they continue to give you money isn't a bad thing. It's why they're a company in the first place - they had something people wanted.

However, their inability to be a modern technology company and instead 'double down' on streaming (because they're absurdly late to the game) is going to be their downfall. No one wants their streaming device. There's enough of those out there already. They need to focus on their services, because thats the core of their business. They need to understand that cord cutters are not their market, and focus on those who still use Cable TV. It's a dying business, but it's not going to be dead any time soon. Either way, TiVo won't survive, especially under this leadership.

Using TiVo without a cord - antenna only - with a LifeTime (ALL-IN) subscription is glorious. I love the company, but have refused to upgrade beyond the TiVo Series 4, because I love the SD Menu. There is ZERO clutter on that menu. It is truly perfect. Upgraded the internal HD to some astronomical TB size. Life is good.
 
and I’m not sure if AppleTV could support MPEG-2 or not. Without hardware support it requires a lot of power (more than my iPad Air 2 comfortably has), and also I don’t know that Apple would even let them.
As best I can tell, both VLC and the aTV Plex app can decode MPEG2.

I would love to ditch my various Mini’s for the aTV that is also on each of my TV’s. If TiVo can’t make an app that decides MPEG2, I would also be willing to buy a) a replacement for my Roamio Pro that could do the (not really necessary) transcoding and b) a TiVo remote for each aTV.

Sadly, I’m not sure TiVo knows how to make and sell hardware anymore.

As a side note, my ideal device would be a rackmount-capable TiVo with room for 2 3.5” drives and an optional OTA antenna - a whole house video server - feeding aTV 4K’s throughout the house.
 
When TIVO originally came out with the TIVO Mini was the reason I did not buy a TIVO at the time. I already had Apple TV's around the house but was interested in centrally located DVR. When the Channels App came out with a DVR Server my consideration for using TIVO ended.

And the MPEG2 comment is completely nuts as it relates to Apple TV and other clients. However, Roku had issues with MPEG2 for some time until more recently.
 
Is TiVo just a DVR? Never owned one, never understood the appeal to buy one when you can get a DVR for free from your cable company. ...and now, I don't even have cable, so I get the appeal even less. If TiVo has more to offer, then they've done a really terrible job marketing themselves.
 
I gave up on Tivo last year, when they start adding advertisements before shows. That was the last straw.

I switched to Channels DVR, which has an Apple TV app (and Roku and Fire TV apps), so now every TV in the house can watch the recordings at full quality (not transcoded). It only transcodes when I watch shows away from home.
 
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TiVo just doesn’t get it...users don’t want a TiVo app for the Apple TV. They want an Apple TV app for the TiVo. Simplicity.
As a VERY longtime user of TiVo, the company is always flirting on the edge of being truly wonderful and then they do some bone-headed thing to ruin it. I don't see why I would want a TiVo app on my AppleTV, but I sure would like an AppleTV+ and Disney+ app on my TiVo. THE STUPID TiVo+ is a an annoying joke and and the pre-roll ads for a PAID service is outrageous. I would cut the cord in a second and leave TiVo and Comcast if it wasn't for the SKIP commercials feature and the HORRIBLE Apple TV remote.

I oouldn't disagree with you fellows any more strongly. I'd *much* rather have a TiVo app on my AppleTV than the other way around.

1) The ATV hardware and software is MUCH more robust. Super speedy, super responsive, and literally has never frozen, lagged, or crashed on me in years and years of ownership of several ATVs on several displays. TiVo software, whether OG or Hydra, is a dog through and through. And even the latest Edge is a dog running Hydra.

2) The ATV App Store is MUCH more heavily supported. You're looking for 3rd party apps like Disney+ or whatever on your TiVo? Fuggeddaboutit. Literally never going to happen. On ATV stuff gets added pretty much day 1 whenever a new streaming service appears.

3) TiVo the company is forever on life support. And with recent (and future...) mergers the consumer hardware side may go away at some point. Apple will likely outlast us all.
 
I didn't know they were still around. TiVO was awesome in 2005, not so much in 2020. They have done nothing innovative or competitive in the last 15 years. Nothing. They had an edge once, but pissed it away much like Rim did with the Blackberry.
 
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How and why is TiVo still relevant nowadays? Who's still recording cable TV?


See the previous quotes about recording OTA. It's the most effective method for watching network TV without paying a subscription or having to sit through repetitive ads without skipping.

I'm in a family of 4 (two teenagers). While I do not watch network TV, overall we collectively watch enough of it to justify this setup. The major shows like Modern Family, Simpsons, etc are still best watched via Tivo as opposed to having to fight through the network apps or Hulu. We also record the night's news (and only save one previous day's) to watch whenever we get to it, and we regularly watch Colbert. All this works GREAT on the Tivo, with the experience being far better than any of their related apps on any platform.

Now, as for who's recording CABLE TV, couldn't tell ya - we haven't had Cable in about four years, but from what I hear virtually every cable network has everything on demand with your subscription(?), so yeah, the Tivo is probably superfluous in that situation.
 
For anyone using an Apple TV and wanting cable tv solution, you should really be using Channels. If you've got a computer in the house, you can have DVR capabilities. An antenna gets you all the locals. If you've got a cable subscription, you can use TV Anywhere to get most every channel you get. If SiliconDust would ever ship the Prime 6, you'd have a cable card solution.

It's the slickest, easiest tv solution I've ever used. I used to love Tivo, and my parents still use it, but Channels is far superior and works on pretty much any device.
 
Tivo still exists? I'm not trying to troll or be a smart ass with this post.

I simply thought that with DVRs being as prevalent as they are, whether you rent one from your provider or buy your own.....combined with the ability to record on demand, that it was kind of a dead idea.

Admittedly......I'm sure Tivo has made some changes to try and remain competitive. I haven't kept up with their progress. That said, maybe its because they are no longer a player. Whether you "cord cut" or not, when was the last time Tivo was in the game?
Nope - it's not dead....some of us still use cable TV and use TiVo to watch, record our TV. I've invested a lot of $ into my TiVo setup over the years and like the fact that they are completely portable and that I own them. I recently moved from NY to HI and without missing a beat, I was up and running with my TiVo and previously recorded content with no hassle. Also unfortunately where I moved, there is no decent cable setup (whole house solution) and I can't do satellite or OTA easily.
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In my house, utilizing our already paid-for TiVo system is less expensive (and gives a much better user experience) than either using the cable company's NVR or switching to a streaming TV service.

The only recurring monthly equipment cost we have for our 6-tuner TiVo in the living room + four TiVo Minis in the other rooms is $4.99 to rent a single cable card.

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Thanks! That's exactly why I use it - When I look at renting an inferior cable box and how much it costs to rent a couple of cable cards, it's a no brainer. Plus when I move, I take my TiVo units with me and just repeat the same setup in a different city. I have the same interface, setup, and control that I've always had and am only at the mercy of the cable company's channel lineup - not their equipment.
 
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TiVo lately has been disgraceful (I say this as a TiVo user for many years). They no longer even sell a 3TB TiVo - just ones with smaller capacity. If my TiVo Roamio dies, I'm screwed. The TiVo iPad remote app went from being very good with occasional bugs to close to unusable. The one VITAL feature it had was the ability to slide back and forth to any spot in a recording - say you were looking for a specific play in a sporting event, or a specific guest on a talk show, etc. - you could get there almost instantly on your HDTV via the iPad remote. Gone.

Basically the only way I watch TiVo recording now is by downloading them to my Mac via cTiVo and watching them via the Infuse Pro app on my AppleTV.

Sad, very sad. What with both EyeTV and TiVo essentially dead, the DVR era is over.
 
We have a TIVO that we use for over-the-air. It's $150/year, which a lot better than the yearly cost of cable for just local channels. We still like some broadcast TV, especially local sports.

I'd be willing to pay that $150/year indefinitely if they were offer more streaming apps like Apple TV and Disney+. Then it would literally have everything I want.

I'm surprised that more people don't do this because it's cheap and you never have to watch commercials. I'm also surprised that Tivo cannot make enough money with its current model. I'm assuming they just don't have enough subscriptions.
 
I am a new TiVo customer. I purchased the Black Friday deal with lifetime service with a TiVo mini device. Before doing this, we tried a few streaming services with cloud DVR. No matter which service, there were so many problems with fast foreword and rewind. Even cable services no longer include hard drives in their DVR boxes so they’ve moved to cloud also. TiVo was the only option for a fluid experience through and through. We have been very happy with the service so far. I cannot stand the Siri remote for Apple TV so much I use the old silver remote for a better experience. Call me archaic, but it works better and more reliably.

I still don’t understand the hate for the Apple TV remote. The touchpad is intuitive because it functions like using an iPhone or iPad
 
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I'm still trying to figure out why all my purchased TV shows and movies don't show up in the app on my Fire Stick. All but one show is missing and maybe half of my movies don't show up either.
 
Really want to cut the cord the one thing keeping me tethered is TiVo but this decision may be the nail in their coffin for me
 
As a VERY longtime user of TiVo, the company is always flirting on the edge of being truly wonderful and then they do some bone-headed thing to ruin it. I don't see why I would want a TiVo app on my AppleTV, but I sure would like an AppleTV+ and Disney+ app on my TiVo. THE STUPID TiVo+ is a an annoying joke and and the pre-roll ads for a PAID service is outrageous. I would cut the cord in a second and leave TiVo and Comcast if it wasn't for the SKIP commercials feature and the HORRIBLE Apple TV remote.
I too was a long time user of TiVo and cut them this year. Cox high speed internet and Apple TV's just made it easy. With Hulu, I get the DVR and can at least fast forward through most commercials, though not as nice as the skip mode TiVo offers.
 
I feel like TiVo has (or maybe had) something great, but never managed to capitalize on it.
 
I am, along with millions of others. I greatly prefer the consistent interface of my DirecTV DVRs for recording network content, the low latency of FF and REW functions, the ability to keep programs for as long as I want, the ability to skip commercials, etc


I digress:: https://tivoidp.tivo.com/tivoCommun...Recorded-or-Was-Deleted-Early-Troubleshooting

"Keep until" & "Keep at most" says its restricted.. (to me)

they do have 28 days, but that is still not "for as long as I want"

When you deal with services, nothing is kept for as long as you want, they all expire at some point... Apple has a good history of keeping purchases but only because of the model they run.. and business negotiations.

The only way around is is keep a physical copy.. never a digital one, particularly when someone else owns it. As we know "digital is torture" unless you have it yourself, including through other "less legal avenues"
 
I digress:: https://tivoidp.tivo.com/tivoCommun...Recorded-or-Was-Deleted-Early-Troubleshooting

"Keep until" & "Keep at most" says its restricted.. (to me)

they do have 28 days, but that is still not "for as long as I want"

When you deal with services, nothing is kept for as long as you want, they all expire at some point... Apple has a good history of keeping purchases but only because of the model they run.. and business negotiations.

The only way around is is keep a physical copy.. never a digital one, particularly when someone else owns it. As we know "digital is torture" unless you have it yourself, including through other "less legal avenues"

Mine has "keep until I delete" and I have numerous recordings that are over a year old.
 
Not sure why TiVo gets the level of hate that it does. I never use the DVR, but I have seven boxes...why would I be better off paying Verizon $500/yr, year in, year out...?
 
I'm a long-time TiVo user that used to be very passionate about it, but over a year ago it started to become the #2 input on my TVs. I primarily concern myself with two rooms in my house (LR and MBR), though my daughter also watches TV in her room. I have one TiVo in the LR, a Mini the MBR, and my daughter has to get by with just an Apple TV. The Apple TV has become the #1 input on my TV now. I still use the TiVo when watching live NFL games and some other recorded network shows, but primarily out of concern for running into my Comcast/Xfinity bandwidth cap. I've been on an older plan called Blast! Plus, which was 150Mbps internet with a limited digital TV lineup (missing a couple of big ones like ESPN, HGTV, and Food Network). Over time, they've increased the price, but also the internet speed (now 300Mbps). They haven't improved the channel lineup, though. So what was once costing me about $85/month is now over $125/month.

Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like I have great options for cheaper plans with similar internet speeds. Instead, they want to upsell me to more expensive plans with more channels and phone service (which I don't need). Even with using TiVo for the major networks, we somehow still used about 750 GB last month, and I believe that 1 TB is the limit before they start charging overage fees. So while I'd be happy to switch to an all-streaming option (even if it meant being forced to watch commercials again), there are still complications with trying to do that.
 
I digress:: https://tivoidp.tivo.com/tivoCommun...Recorded-or-Was-Deleted-Early-Troubleshooting

"Keep until" & "Keep at most" says its restricted.. (to me)

they do have 28 days, but that is still not "for as long as I want"

When you deal with services, nothing is kept for as long as you want, they all expire at some point... Apple has a good history of keeping purchases but only because of the model they run.. and business negotiations.

The only way around is is keep a physical copy.. never a digital one, particularly when someone else owns it. As we know "digital is torture" unless you have it yourself, including through other "less legal avenues"
FWIW, TiVo recordings can be kept literally for as long as you want. To your point about keeping a physical copy, there are free tools (like KMTTG) that let you download and make additional physical copies of your programs on whatever media you want to (HDD, burn it to a DVD, whatever). This assumes the content isn't marked as protected (your TV provider sets this flag, not TiVo). On FiOS, the only content I've seen marked as protected is the stuff from the pay channels (HBO, Showtime, etc)

TiVo doesn't license/distribute the content like Apple/Amazon/etc does so they don't remove recordings from your box because of licensing/distribution issues with content creators (like "services" do). With a TiVo, if you record it, it stays on your TiVo for as long as you have it so for, or the HDD poops out, whichever comes first. :)

Here's my Season Pass for The Walking Dead. You can see where I've set it to "Keep until I delete".

IMG_C6253F86D414-1.jpeg
 
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