Giving up on tivo

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Gilco2

708 posts

Ultimate Geek

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Topic # 106635 28-Jul-2012 09:00
Well I am giving up on Tivo. Great idea easy to use and excellent suggestions feature. Pity they werent reliable. Bought 2 units a month apart. First one after 4 months went into reboot loop. Unplugging overnight and same thing next day. Now get home yesterday and I thought the second unit sounded loud. Sure enough the fan was going full speed. Turn TV on and 4 x 3 grey screen. unplug and turn back on straight tot grey screen. 4months old. I prefer to have a unit with less functions if it is reliable. I know i can take the units back where I bought them but i wont make a special 60km round trip for them So stick with the ultraplus for satellite as been so reliable. Stick with Strong Srt7000 for terrestrial. only problem with ultraplus is no series record. The strong no epg in NZ. But the Strong does pick up time slots so as long as I know when the program will be on just get it to record that time slot. Then rename the file when finished. Bit more hassle than Tivo but can live with that for the reliability So with my Tivo experience, I wont recommend Tivo to anyone. HTPC AMD A4-5300 cpu, Gigabyte ga2fa75m-d3h motherboard, , 4GB DDR3 ram, onboard graphics. Hauppuage HVR 3300 tuner, Antec 2480B case, Windows 7 home premium 64 bit using media center

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57 posts

Master Geek

Reply # 663182 28-Jul-2012 09:22
Seems odd considering refurbs are tested before going back to stores/customers, a decent amount of us here have had no issues with our first units

Cloudy

102 posts

Master Geek

Reply # 663183 28-Jul-2012 09:27
Iv'e just gotten up to the same thing. TiVo was set to record olympics opening only to find it in grey screen. It has rebooted this time, remains to be seen if it continues to run. I got iot off Trade me new and unopened. One of the Telecom promotional items that someone did not want. I've had it just a month. I am glad I kept my Areilbox T1020. that works well just will have to make do with single tuner again if it comes to that

Gilco2

708 posts

Ultimate Geek

Subscriber

Reply # 663199 28-Jul-2012 10:18
Both my units are new not refurbished. Strange both only lasted 4 months. So they are now sitting in spare room. HTPC AMD A4-5300 cpu, Gigabyte ga2fa75m-d3h motherboard, , 4GB DDR3 ram, onboard graphics. Hauppuage HVR 3300 tuner, Antec 2480B case, Windows 7 home premium 64 bit using media center

Behodar

3007 posts

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Reply # 663207 28-Jul-2012 10:39
My parents are on their third box since January. It's a pity that they're so unreliable because they do the job when they work (although the UI could also use some improvement).

freitasm

BDFL
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Geekzone

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Reply # 663222 28-Jul-2012 11:29
Interesting... I have a TiVo since before launch (received from their PR team) and it never failed. It's been pretty reliable here. Mauricio Freitas (Geekzone Admin, Devil's Advocate, my blog, technology disclosure, my tweets, Web Performance Optimization) Geekzone Price comparison \| Amazon Kindle order page \| How to get the best out of Geekzone \| New Zealand IT Jobs \| Geekzone News \| Jinglebugs

wallop

331 posts

Ultimate Geek

Reply # 663227 28-Jul-2012 11:51
I got my first one the week they launched in NZ and never had a problem. My second one must be a couple of years old and again no problems and thats with going through all the shakes down here in Christchurch. I presume you did not have the Tivo on it's side, I read somewhere that they do not like that.

PimpMyMagic

222 posts

Master Geek

Subscriber

Reply # 663256 28-Jul-2012 12:38
People who have had them for longer seem to have experienced fewer problems, apart from maybe the remotes. I wonder if the more recent "fire sale" distributions have suffered from having spent 2 or 3 years unused in warehouse storage. I got my 2nd unit as a refurbished one, so any problems it may have had, had perhaps already been rectified. It's been good so far. Most of the problems I've had have been with bad epg data, which I'm guessing has been the fault of the broadcasters.

pageweon

388 posts

Ultimate Geek

Reply # 663262 28-Jul-2012 12:50
i had to get my first tivo replaced out for a new one (which i recieved after about 3 weeks of calling) but the replacement model has beren fantastic this is where a signature goes

scuwp

1082 posts

Uber Geek

Reply # 663264 28-Jul-2012 13:05
Gilco2: I know i can take the units back where I bought them but i wont make a special 60km round trip for them If they are under warranty just ring the 0800mytivo (telecom) number, they will courier a replacement out to you and provide a courier ticket to get the old one collected. You don't have to take it back to the store. Artificial intelligence is no match, for natural stupidity!

Cloudy

102 posts

Master Geek

Reply # 663272 28-Jul-2012 13:31
Unfortunately for me I bought mine off Trademe. I've emailed the people I bought it off, they offered a 30 day return to base warranty, which ends basically today. hows that for bad luck. still waiting to here back from them. I have a feeling I will just have to write this of to fate. Does anyone know what it costs roughly to get these things serviced to make them reliable?

old3eyes

4175 posts

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Reply # 663314 28-Jul-2012 15:10
My first one died with the GSOD after about 11 months. The second one is still going after 9 months so here's hoping it stays that way.. Regards, Old3eyes

sbiddle

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Biddle Corp

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Reply # 663333 28-Jul-2012 16:11
PimpMyMagic:Most of the problems I've had have been with bad epg data, which I'm guessing has been the fault of the broadcasters. Broadcasters have nothing to do with the EPG - Tivo source EPG data from broadcasters (who typically want $ for this), and host it on their own servers which the Tivo connects to and downloads it from. *Need help configuring your Linksys ATA or IP Phones for New Zealand? Check my blog post

Behodar

3007 posts

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Reply # 663334 28-Jul-2012 16:12
sbiddle: Broadcasters have nothing to do with the EPG - Tivo source EPG data from broadcasters Didn't you just contradict yourself?

mattwnz

4434 posts

Uber Geek

Reply # 663342 28-Jul-2012 16:57
Gilco2: Well I am giving up on Tivo.? Great idea easy to use and excellent suggestions feature.? Pity they werent reliable.? Bought 2 units a month apart.? First one after 4 months went into reboot loop.? Unplugging overnight and same thing next day.? Now get home yesterday and I thought the second unit sounded loud.? Sure enough the fan was going full speed.? Turn TV on and 4 x 3 grey screen. unplug and turn back on straight tot grey screen.? 4months old.?? I prefer to have a unit with less functions if it is reliable.?? I know i can take the units back where I bought them but i wont make a special 60km round trip for them So stick with the ultraplus for satellite as been so reliable.?? Stick with Strong Srt7000 for terrestrial. only problem with ultraplus is no series record. The strong no epg in NZ. But the Strong does pick up time slots so as long as I know when the program will be on just get it to record that time slot.? Then rename the file when finished. Bit more hassle than Tivo but can live with that for the reliability So with my Tivo experience, I wont recommend Tivo to anyone. They should send you new ones, as you don't have to make any special trips. I have 3 tivos, one is 2 years old, no problems, so has been reliable The other 2 were DOA, but the switched ones have been fine, but are around 6 months old. Grey screen and fan on full is what my DOA units did, so they do have a problem it sounds like.

mxpress

300 posts

Ultimate Geek

Reply # 663355 28-Jul-2012 17:12
Gilco2: Well I am giving up on Tivo. Great idea easy to use and excellent suggestions feature. Pity they werent reliable. Bought 2 units a month apart. First one after 4 months went into reboot loop. Unplugging overnight and same thing next day. Now get home yesterday and I thought the second unit sounded loud. Sure enough the fan was going full speed. Turn TV on and 4 x 3 grey screen. unplug and turn back on straight tot grey screen. 4months old. I prefer to have a unit with less functions if it is reliable. I know i can take the units back where I bought them but i wont make a special 60km round trip for them So stick with the ultraplus for satellite as been so reliable. Stick with Strong Srt7000 for terrestrial. only problem with ultraplus is no series record. The strong no epg in NZ. But the Strong does pick up time slots so as long as I know when the program will be on just get it to record that time slot. Then rename the file when finished. Bit more hassle than Tivo but can live with that for the reliability So with my Tivo experience, I wont recommend Tivo to anyone. Ring 0800mytivo and you might just be pleasantly surprised. mxpress

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