The Downsides To TiVo?
from the not-all-so-wonderful dept
Almost everyone you talk to who owns a TiVo (or similar device) talks about how it revolutionized how they watch TV. They talk about how they watch what they want, when they want - and say it makes television watchable again. However, some are also realizing there's a downside to such things. Being able to store stuff up, means that you can create a backlog. Some, who haven't figured out how to manage their TiVo experience find themselves feeling chained to their TV to "catch up" on all the shows they missed. In the past, if you missed a TV show, you asked friends for a summary of what happened, or you just get on with your life and figure you'll catch up the following week. Now, though, as people realize the power of TiVo, they never miss a show. On top of that, because of the simplicity of the whole thing, they end up regularly watching a lot more TV shows than they watched in the past, so the inevitable backlog appears. Some even report feeling stressed out in having to keep up with their TiVo. It's not at all surprising that some folks feel this way. It's the sort of adjustment period that happens with plenty of new technologies. Over time, though, people learn to manage such things - though, I'm sure we'll hear about psychologists who specialize in treating "TiVo addicts" before too long.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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Re: catching up to TV backlog
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Re: catching up to TV backlog
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Tivo Newbies?
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television addiction
Have you checked the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM)? If may already be listed. On ther other hand, I expect the advertising business to try to get a law passed requiring everyone to watch three hours of television every day (or at least the commercials contained in those three hours). These two groups may end up fighting each other.
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Nitpicking
I think you guys are reaching on this one.
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Re: Nitpicking
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Fascinating topic
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I sort of understand
My 2 biggest gripes about TiVo are that I want a second unit, but I don't want to pay for the fees on the second unit and its next to impossible to save what I've recorded to my computer. Sure I can hook up my video camera and download it that way but its a major pain. Makes me wish I had a Series 1.
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No Subject Given
Can't imagine spending the money on the device/service (ok, it's the service you're buying) ... especially considering that most show's these days are being released on DVD almost as soon as the season / show is over.
Someone Pipe up and tell me what they are recording so I'll get an idea of whether this device really merits consideration. Very possible I'm missing something here ...
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Re: No Subject Given
It's true that you'll generally watch more tv w/ a TiVo. However, you'll be watching *what* you want (not just whatever drivel happens to be on), when you want (no more staying home Thursday evenings to watch ER).
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Re: No Subject Given
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TIVO Sucks
These are the same people who are likely to record " Friends " because they have a lack of any real ones.
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Re: TIVO Sucks
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No need to be chained to TiVo
(1) Stick with a small hard drive. We have 40MB. Not too much backlog there!
(2) Don't worry if shows get deleted before you see them. It's only Television!
TiVo is for people who hae lives. They get to watch anything they want in the small bits of their time that they have no better use for.
- The Precision Blogger
http://precision-blogging.blogspot.com
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Lame
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TIVO SUCKS BIG TIME
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Re: TIVO SUCKS BIG TIME
Seriously Tivo can only record Ananlog signals. You need a Landline in order to activate the box and update it's firmware. They allow Wifi with the series 2, but it's not built in, and only a select few usb wifi adapters work with the box and guess what... they are the more expensive ones.
Couple this with the fact that if you don't pay for their service it renders your DVR completely useless, and you have a crappy product.
I understand Tivo needs to make money and all, but why not offer the box for a bit more unless you get the service, much like cell phone companies do.
Untill these things can grab a digital signal, I am sticking with my $300 computer that can do exactly what Tivo does minus the monthly fees.
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Re: TIVO SUCKS BIG TIME
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Re: Re: TIVO SUCKS BIG TIME
ThIeVO took our money for a lifetime subscriptions that are now useless because they do not offer an upgrade options for dead or obsolete DVR units. I believe this was their greedy plan from the onset. They could make hundreds more from each lifetime member every few years if they would upgrade the box. However TIVO management does not understand how to make money and grow a business so say see ya to ThIeVO today because they are history tomorrow! They actual believe that the reason why they cannot accommodate customers and execute this profitable business practice is because the software they use does not have an option to transfer lifetime subscriptions, or maybe this is just the poor excuse made up by the folks who work customer service to save face. TIVO change or be changed. I have changed and no longer use ThIeVO.
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Tivo Sucks!
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Tivo See you Later!
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Tivo Vs. Jetcast
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Tivo Vs. Jetcast
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tivo machines suck
Tivo #2 (refurbished) is now freezing after 9 months
Tivo #3 after 17 months is showing signs of being on it's way out
I just want two functioning machines for at least 2 years, is that too much to ask?
$600 in less than 2 years and I'm supposed to put more money into these machines ?? Love the TIVO service but hate the machines.
Anyone else having these problems with quality of the TIVO machine?
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Tivo ruins American Idol
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Poor customer service
Fcuk Tivo and their crappy customer service.
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TiVo is SWEET!
Whats realy special...my family lives out of state so we do not see them very often and TiVo helps us share family memories...we can share our home videos back and forth from our tivos with One True Media...we can rent movies from amazon right from the couch...listen to our music from the PC on our home stereo system..look at our photos on the TV instead of our monitor....the possibilities are ENDLESS!!!!! Give TiVo another chance guys..c'mon!!
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Re: TiVo is SWEET!
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Tivo is a disgrace
I only found this out when going back into my account to make sure that they had billed me the correct amount. My "recourse" was to cancel "my" contract early and pay a termination fee. Nice option for their error. Just to insult the prior owner, Tivo also exposed all the prior account details in my online account. Glad to see the don't care at all about safeguarding personal information.
So I will never do business with Tivo. They have proven to me that they are not trustworthy at all.
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TiVo steals... TiVo sucks
Short version: I paid for a lifetime subscription. TiVo cancelled my account, claimed I called and cancelled, and claimed they credited my account. I never called and cancelled my account and they never issued a credit to my credit card. Now I have a useless TiVo machine with no service and I'm out over $300.
Details: I used to always brag about TiVo and have purchased 6 TiVo machines. I have been a TiVo customer for years and currently have three TiVo boxes "running." I have to put quotes around running since TiVo took it upon themselves to turn off one of them, which I paid a lifetime subscription for. I received and email warning and I emailed back to TiVo and even attached screenshot showing I had a lifetime subscription and never received any response. The proceeded to shut off my box. I then had the pleasure of calling TiVo. Should you ever call them, be prepared to be on hold forever. After giving up on two previous occasions, I finally planned my day around it and was able to get through after about 20 minutes of being on hold. The customer service representative was less than helpful. He claimed I called and cancelled my account, which I had not. I explained I had a lifetime subscription and he insisted I cancelled my account and claimed my credit card was credited. My credit card was never credited and I explained that. He then claimed their records showed they issued me a credit and he blamed my credit card company and said I had to take it up with them.
I called my credit card company and they confirmed I never received a credit from TiVo.
I got online with TiVo, which still took about 30 minutes to get a representative. The guy looked at my account and agreed something did not look correct; however, he would have to send it to a supervisor to look at. Even though he did absolutely nothing to rectify the problem, except pass it along, he seemed helpful. He told me someone would call me and I asked if they would leave a message with a number I could call back without being on hold forever, since I don't answer calls I don't recognize, since they're oftentimes sales calls. He said they would leave a number that was a direct line. Did they ever call and so much as leave a message? No.
Bottom line: TiVo can take your money, claim you cancelled, claim they refunded your money, and leave you with a useless TiVo box and out hundreds of dollars. But they'll make sure they wait a few months, so you don't even have recourse with your credit card company. TiVo SUCKS.
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Fuck Tivo
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Fuck Tivo
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I hate Fucking Tivo!
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I hope
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Tivo Lifetime Ripoff
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tivo series 6 and te3 is the end
i've enjoyed tivo since series1. ive upgraded them with ethernet and wifi before those were built in. ive enjoyed it up until early 2020 - no more cable card, no more cable, i stream now to roku and still run pytivo (upgraded to python3 by itsayellow). i am done with tivo due to te4 (tivo experience four / hydra). tivo ruined the user interface with te4/hydra. ive owned series1, series2, series3, series3 thx, roamio and bolt+vox.
so now i have a bolt+vox and when that dies that will be the end of tivo. it was an impressive run up to about 2017. after that time tivo has become a burned out shell husk empty company with nothing to offer and it has been sold to nasty people.
ive never seen a company burn so much good will as tivo. sad.
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