Topic: Tivo

[ober]

So we've had our new Tivo for about 2 years now... and we love it.  But now it has started freezing up.  Like I'm watching something and it just stops responding for a good 30 seconds... then it's back.  I know a few of you have had Tivos, so I'm wondering if any of you have run into this.

I'm starting to think it's a hard drive issue, which I'm not fucking thrilled about.  I guess I should bitch to Tivo and ask them about it.

[KnuckleBuckett]

Good luck.  That is about how long a cable box seems to last.

[ober]

My previous Tivo lasted 6 years.  I think I need to turn off the Suggestions feature... that thing records fucking constantly, which puts the drive in CONSTANT use.

[KnuckleBuckett]

I agree.  I turned it off on ours for that reason. 

[ober]

I'm half tempted to just bail and go with a cable box if it is the HD.  Are you saying that's what you do now?  I guess I'd have to get a Roku if I did that because our Tivo is how we do Netflix and stuff right now.

Man I think there are too many things I'd miss about the Tivo, but I'm curious how 'bad' the cable box experience is in comparison.

[KnuckleBuckett]

We have a cable box DVR not a Tivo.  We looked long and hard at it and finally gave in to the Man.  Having a standalone Tivo was a drag compared to the integrated DirecTV-Tivo we had. 

Cable version is nothing special at all.

Both our TV and Blu-Ray player do Amazon Prime, Netflix, and Hulu Plus.

It may help to know you can not win this game.

[ober]

Neither my TV or DVD player can do Netflix.  So let's do the math:

1) Fix Tivo = Minimum of 150
2) Ditch Tivo = Monthly fees (??) for Cable DVR, plus Roku (let's assume $80). 

I don't know what the monthly fees to the cable company are, but let's assume it's $5 (I'm guessing more).  Let's assume that I turn off Suggestions and the new drive in the Tivo lasts me another 3 years.  I think I'm still ahead with the Tivo.

[charlie]

Don't go with the cable DVR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11!!1! 






(Switch to satellite if you can and you really want to ditch the TiVo.)

[KnuckleBuckett]

Or get a new Blue Ray player.   

[ober]

Update: emailed Tivo with the issue and they asked for some numbers from the diagnostics.  The signal strength was good on both tuners, but there is a 'RS Corrected' and 'RS Uncorrected' set of numbers on each tuner that indicates how clean or unclean the signal is.  Tivo indicated that those numbers were really high, and they said in those circumstances, the tivo can see performance issues trying to deal with all the corrections, which can cause the freezing.  They said to call the cable company.  So there is a guy here literally as I type this.  He already replaced a frayed cable end, but that hasn't corrected the issue.  I just heard him call for backup so something weird must be up.

*crosses fingers that it's not a bad HD!*

[Perspective]

Man, with all that effort you'd think they'd just replace the damn thing.

Good luck!

[ober]

I'm not sure what you are referring to. The TiVo is mine, not the cable company's. They can't replace it and I'm out of my warranty with TiVo.

Regardless, we watched some TV last night and it did not lock up so that may have actually solved the issues, but I'm not 100% convinced yet. Stay tuned!

[Perspective]

ah, didn't realize it wasn't covered by warranty.

[ober]

motherfucker... it's tanking.  Now I gotta decide if I get it repaired or just buy a new Tivo.  Probably about the same price.

[ober]

Talked to Tivo again today.  They suggested resetting all the thumbs stuff and suggestion data so I did that.  Watched about 2 hours of TV without an issue tonight.  So I guess I'll give it a few more days.