Article: Hybrid shed 40 jobs in Australia. Possible sell-off on the cards

Forums › TiVo › Article: Hybrid shed 40 jobs in Australia. Possible sell-off on the cards

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CJPhoto

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#440097 16-Feb-2011 08:56

Should old-style TiVo users really complain about losing a service to a box that's now at least nine years old?

I will be happy if my Tivo lasts another 9 years. My guess is I will want to replace it before then anyway.

dolsen

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#440120 16-Feb-2011 09:43

Kiwi1971: I see they have [or will be] stopping EPG data for the original TiVo's in the UK.

(snip)

Should old-style TiVo users really complain about losing a service to a box that's now at least nine years old?

I'm sure that the UK users will move to an emulator similar to what has been used in Australia, South Africa and NZ. This means that the service just keeps running. Not much information has been made available about the emulator as it was important to not upset tivo where they provided a service. Now that Tivo have ceased providing that service to the UK people, it should be fine to set one up over there.

Not sure how similar the service is for the HD tivos as to if it would be possible for you to run an emulator if Hybrid stopped the service.

SepticSceptic

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#440220 16-Feb-2011 12:53

CJPhoto:
Should old-style TiVo users really complain about losing a service to a box that's now at least nine years old?
I will be happy if my Tivo lasts another 9 years. My guess is I will want to replace it before then anyway.

That's still several thousand useless and obsolescent boxes that now have to be dumped, another pile of e-waste for perfectly good product.

The majority of users wouldn't care of the output was SVHS or composite etc. HD or even component is not important. All they want is a good old -VCR-like function with built in EPG to record their good old Coro Street !

And as for modifying the emulator ? shhesh, probably 0.5% of end users would have any idea of how to set that up in their Tivo, let alone if there was even an emulator / EPG service running for the UK.

So I'd be pretty miffed if my 9yo perfectly good, still working product was dead due to a planned fade-out. And probably paid a bucket load back in the early days. Tivos were not cheap ...

Tivo has unfortunately taken too many red marks now, no wonder they are bleeding market share. Debacles like this (UK, Australasia) don't enthuse good consumer satisfaction. Though I think my S1 is damn marvellous, I wouldn't upgrade to a newer Tivo model, unless there was a dramatic change, though I can't see that happening.

Tivo is now the second company on my DO NOT buy / recommend list. Sony is still at the top ...

NonprayingMantis

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#440223 16-Feb-2011 12:59

SepticSceptic:
CJPhoto:
Should old-style TiVo users really complain about losing a service to a box that's now at least nine years old?
I will be happy if my Tivo lasts another 9 years. My guess is I will want to replace it before then anyway.

That's still several thousand useless and obsolescent boxes that now have to be dumped, another pile of e-waste for perfectly good product.

The majority of users wouldn't care of the output was SVHS or composite etc. HD or even component is not important. All they want is a good old -VCR-like function with built in EPG to record their good old Coro Street !

And as for modifying the emulator ? shhesh, probably 0.5% of end users would have any idea of how to set that up in their Tivo, let alone if there was even an emulator / EPG service running for the UK.

So I'd be pretty miffed if my 9yo perfectly good, still working product was dead due to a planned fade-out. And probably paid a bucket load back in the early days. Tivos were not cheap ...

Tivo has unfortunately taken too many red marks now, no wonder they are bleeding market share. Debacles like this (UK, Australasia) don't enthuse good consumer satisfaction. Though I think my S1 is damn marvellous, I wouldn't upgrade to a newer Tivo model, unless there was a dramatic change, though I can't see that happening.

Tivo is now the second company on my DO NOT buy / recommend list. Sony is still at the top ...

9 years is an incredibly good life for a piece of consumer electronics - espeically something with a hard drive.
I'd be amazed it had lasted that long at all.

SepticSceptic

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#440238 16-Feb-2011 13:15

NonprayingMantis:

9 years is an incredibly good life for a piece of consumer electronics - espeically something with a hard drive.
I'd be amazed it had lasted that long at all.

Granted, but that's still a load of consumer devices with working HDD's - there are in a moderated climate, not knocked around, and continously spinning. Once you take out the abuse factor, HDD's do last quite a long time :-)

I have PC's that have been passed down the line with their original 40 / 60 gig HDDs, and still going strong ... great for e-mail and web surfing. And playing solitaire.

Kookoo

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#441635 20-Feb-2011 12:22

From what I see, this thing was designed to fail. Honestly.
1) Crippled firmware. (This has been discussed at length already).
2) Crippled content. I don't mind Caspa, but I do mind the fact that it's the only content available. Where is my Youtube?! Why are we stuck with stupid version 11.3b (which apparently is just version 7 with local network applications enabled) crippled to TVNZ specs, when the latest version for the rest of the world is version 11.3j which also allows so much more content?!
3) Crippled sales channel. Telecom stores were never very good at selling even their own merchandise, let alone something that has little relevance to telephones.
4) Crippled service channel. All support requests are handled by Hybrid from Australia, with Telecom only acting as the messaging service between the two parties. Good stuff, eh.
5) Crippled online channel. Sales, service or information, MyTivo.co.nz is just ridiculously bad.
6) Crippled EPG. While the programming is mostly correct, the expanded info is often not. It actually looks like they are leeching off imdb, and not doing it very well either. For example, if two movies of identical names have been made, when one of them is on TV the info presented is likely to be for whichever of the two was made earlier. This sometimes affects series as well. NCIS:LA apparently stars Mark Harmon, for example.

So when something is born this crippled, I just don't see how anyone expects it to live. I know I did expect it to live, so I am proud owner, but I won't be surprised if the whole thing goes down.

Hello, Ground!

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count0nz

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Geek

#443906 27-Feb-2011 16:54

first the Old Tivo's etc..
Wow 9 Years for a S1 Tivo Thats pretty impressive i'd be happy to get 5 years life out of one..

now Back to the OP's Topic
If Tivo Goes under then I belive the Tivo Hacking comunity will just
Turn the Tivo into a Boxie system and make it even better.
just my 2c worth.

My Stuff, Sony W705 Phone, Tivo S3, P4 3.0Ghz with 1.5Gig ram, 1TB HDD, Radion 9600 - Win7
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count0nz

42 posts

Geek

#447903 12-Mar-2011 21:24

I just asked Tivo support about the Possablity of Prime EPG Data in the Future.
Refered them to check geekzone to see the comments about the Layoff's etc..

I'll keep you all updated here.

My Stuff, Sony W705 Phone, Tivo S3, P4 3.0Ghz with 1.5Gig ram, 1TB HDD, Radion 9600 - Win7
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old3eyes

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#447939 13-Mar-2011 09:34

I had a look at Caspa TV section last nite. Been really striped of content. The movies section looked much the same .. old movies..

Regards,

Old3eyes

count0nz

42 posts

Geek

#448280 14-Mar-2011 17:30

My Tivo is now geting updates via mytivo.co.nz.. it kinda fix'ed itself.

But i Did get this out of Tech Support.

"TiVo Support to me
show details 4:41 PM (46 minutes ago)

Hi,

Thanks for the feedback.

There is update on the EPG for both PRIME and the Maori channels."

When asked if Tivo will get the EPG data for Prime / Maori soon.

This will be good when it happens becose there are some good programs on Prime
I did a manual recording for Stargate Universe once but its better to have the EPG.

My Stuff, Sony W705 Phone, Tivo S3, P4 3.0Ghz with 1.5Gig ram, 1TB HDD, Radion 9600 - Win7
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Spong

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#448292 14-Mar-2011 18:27

count0nz:
But i Did get this out of Tech Support.

"TiVo Support to me
show details 4:41 PM (46 minutes ago)

Hi,

Thanks for the feedback.

There is update on the EPG for both PRIME and the Maori channels."

When asked if Tivo will get the EPG data for Prime / Maori soon.

Was that the exact wording? What's that actually mean? Good news if it's coming soon.

Tivo upgrades to operate with the new OzTivo EPG, support and service. Over 400 performed here so far. See: www.hillcrest.net.nz

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count0nz

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Geek

#448296 14-Mar-2011 18:58

No clue i'll ask if thay can provice any more info.

My Stuff, Sony W705 Phone, Tivo S3, P4 3.0Ghz with 1.5Gig ram, 1TB HDD, Radion 9600 - Win7
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