Is TiVo still a thing?

[greg mann]

We have Spectrum internet and TV and have had very poor experiences with their DVRs. The memory becomes full and we cannot delete anything, and therefore lose the ability to record. I have found their support personnel to be excellent but their hardware very unreliable. They have replaced five DVRs in six months and the present one has failed as well. For those of you who use various hardware what solutions have you found to be satisfactory?
I am thinking of acquiring an TiVo unit but am unclear what the pluses and minuses might be. My impression is that the unit would at least be as user friendly and functional, and significantly more reliable. Am I missing anything?

 

[squall_line]

I still have an over-the-air 4-tuner model TiVo from like 2012 or 2015 or something.  I wish I could get a lifetime subscription for it, because I've spent well over too many hundreds of dollars on the monthly fee just to have access to the updated guide and remote access.

I back up shows that I want to keep (2016 World Series Game 7, for example) to a Mac Mini using cTivo and then to my NAS so that I can help keep the DVR cleaned off.  I could theoretically move everything to the NAS automatically and watch it from my devices, but I tend to watch everything on the TiVo at +30% speed and use Commercial Skip, which I can't do with the Apple TV app.

The latest specials are on cable versions and usually offer lifetime subscription.  It's up to you whether you think you'll keep it long enough to recoup the monthly/lifetime difference.  I don't know how stable the new ones are, but this old one is still going strong.  You'd still need a CableCard or some other activation through your cable company, I would imagine; the results on that could vary wildly.

 

[rmwarren]

Greg we've had Tivo for nearly 20 years, last 5-6 with 6-tuner Bolt and a couple mini's that stream from it. Still works reliably and they seem to be maintaining the platform. I've been half expecting them to go belly up for years.

Our unit uses a cable card, I think they may have moved to different tech now as I'm not even sure xfinity offers them anymore.

Full disclosure, the boss is the only regular household user, I'm just the IT guy. I do use it to record Eagles games during the season, then wait until halftime to star watching then skip thru commercials. Cuts game watching down to ~2 hours.

Overall it works as well as it ever did.

RMW

 

[greg mann]

Thanks, guys, for the responses. I will probably go to a local dealer and ask what the state of the art is? I pretty sure I will still need a sSpectrum cable box but I can do away with their DVR system. They do have a new platform for streaming called Zumu, or something like that but we don’t really get into streaming much. All the different access challenges trying to understand what platform carries what programs is a pain. Our viewing patterns aren’t that comprehensive.

We are just tired of switching out boxes that fail after a month or so. I am okay with Spectrum refurbishing units to keep them out of the landfill but they just don’t do a good job of it. Either that, or there is a fatal flaw in the design to begin with.

 

[cpw]

We use a Tivo with a Cablecard from FiOS.  There is no cable box involved.  Most of what we watch is streaming from Apple TV, but I still need the Tivo for live sports on MSG (ESPN+ blacks out the Islander games that MSG carries).  I occasionally will use it for live news as well.

 

[rmhinden]

I have owned a series of Tivo's since they started, all with unlimited service (not per month).  The current one (HD I think) has number of tuners and works with a Cable Card.  While it has lots of other features, I mainly use it for watching and recording/time-shifting cable TV.  I really like the UI.

At some point, I plan to dump cable TV and switch to over the air.  I wish there was some way to use my current Tivo for this, but it only works with cable :-(

Bob

 

[Crazyraceguy]

I looked into TiVO many years ago and decided against it because of the lifetime subscription thing.
The "lifetime" isn't you or even until the company is sold/acquired by someone else, it is literally the life of the unit itself. The thing could conk out in a year and your "lifetime" is over. To be fair, their estimated/expected service life is 5-6 years, but there is no guarantee of that, no minimum lifetime.
I went with a DVR from Warner (now Spectrum) and it lasted about the same, but they replaced/upgraded it at that time. That second one lasted much longer, well over 10, before I "cut the cable" entirely and gave it back. It has been over 5 years, cable free.