A bittersweet day and farewell

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UCBearcat

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A bittersweet day and farewell

#1

Post by UCBearcat » Sat Nov 30, 2019 6:09 pm

It was about 8 years ago when a co-worker turned me on to WM7. Today, I pulled the CableCard out of my trusty HDHRPrime and asked Spectrum to pair it to the new TiVo Edge we purchased as a home DVR replacement.
It's been an interesting ride, and WMC served its purpose for us. There were a lot of factors that went into this decision to move on from WMC, but for our household - it was time to make a change. A big thank you to the numerous people on this forum who have always had a helpful comment or answer to my questions. I'll still check in on the site from time to time, as my lurking habits on this site will be hard to break.
Good luck to all going forward and happy watching!

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#2

Post by Space » Sat Nov 30, 2019 6:37 pm

Good luck in TiVo land! Brave move to stick with Rovi/TiVo guide data :-)

I will always remember your work on the 47 hour bug that kept me from pulling my hair out. So thanks again for that one!

I hope you have a good experience with TiVo! Let us know how it goes!

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#3

Post by adam1991 » Sat Nov 30, 2019 9:14 pm

I fully understand. Tivo is my next move, too, only it's undetermined as to exactly when.

Care to expound on the decision process?

I know that when I moved on from ReplayTV, many MANY people hung in there, jumping through whatever hoops they had to in order to survive. Some still are--they have a system that works, so why not. I don't disagree, but when it's time for another hard drive, I probably won't re-do my Win7 rig.

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#4

Post by UCBearcat » Sun Dec 01, 2019 4:09 am

Thanks both for the kind words.

The decision to switch was a culmination of a few things. Here's the abbreviated laundry list:
Microsoft abandoned WMC years ago (as we already know)
My Media Center PC was built about 8 years ago - so the hardware is aging
Win7 will officially no longer be supported next month - lack of future Security updates doesn't sound appealing
My XB360 extenders are equally as old as the Media Center PC - and we know the track record with some of the older ones

For a couple years now, I've been thinking "this will be the year the Media Center hardware starts failing (Hard Drives, power supplies, the usual stuff to go first). Fortunately, that never happened. But, I had a couple scares about 2 months ago when attempting to watch Live TV on 2 different XB360 extenders at the same time. The Media Center would BSOD randomly. But then the BSODs just stopped, and it's behaved fine since then. Very odd indeed.
The final straw was the fact that MS officially stated "no more EPG updates." We knew this would happen some day. And, I know that I could install EPG123. But, rather than flirt with hardware failure, I decided to move on.

And if I'm really honest with myself, I just don't have the patience or energy to "tinker" and troubleshoot issues on an aging system if/when it breaks. I do plenty of that every day at my job. I'm just ready for an off-the-shelf system that comes with technical support built in (i.e. TiVo support).

I realize that I may be jumping from one sinking ship (WMC) to another potentially sinking ship (TiVo), but we're just not ready to change our TV viewing and DVR'ing habits. I understand that the "old-fashioned" way of watching TV will be gone eventually, but cord cutting just isn't for us yet. But that's a completely different subject altogether.

In case you're interested, we went with TiVo's latest offering - The TiVo Edge 2TB CableCARD box. From what I understand, it's just an incremental hardware upgrade from their previous offering (Bolt) from a couple years ago. It also carries the new GUI, which has angered the TiVo loyalist with some revenue-producing "features." Again - that's a whole different matter.
We put the Edge on our main Living Room TV, and I'll put a TiVo Mini VOX (extender) in the bedroom and on the basement projector. MoCA is built into all of the units, and the Edge has the capability to be a MoCA bridge - so no additional MoCA bridge hardware required. Setup was pretty painless, however I haven't connected the extenders yet. If they're as easy as the main unit, then I'll have no complaints.

I'll stop typing now, but if interested I'll give a more thorough review of the entire ecosystem once I get it fully operational.

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#5

Post by adam1991 » Sun Dec 01, 2019 10:50 am

UCBearcat wrote: Sun Dec 01, 2019 4:09 amAnd if I'm really honest with myself, I just don't have the patience or energy to "tinker" and troubleshoot issues on an aging system if/when it breaks. I do plenty of that every day at my job. I'm just ready for an off-the-shelf system that comes with technical support built in (i.e. TiVo support).
This will be a big driver for me, for sure. Hard drive fails? Put a new one in and press the button, and be done with it and move on.

I do mostly streaming, and most of the network shows I watch anymore are on Hulu (no ads) the next day, but the CBS stuff and The Blacklist aren't. And overall, as the streaming thing fractures even more, I will no doubt continue to record OTA--and possibly even ramp it up, as it will be the only reliable way to control that bit of my world.

That all being said, WMC will remain a superior solution.

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#6

Post by Scallica » Sun Dec 01, 2019 12:09 pm

UCBearcat wrote: Sun Dec 01, 2019 4:09 am We put the Edge on our main Living Room TV, and I'll put a TiVo Mini VOX (extender) in the bedroom and on the basement projector. MoCA is built into all of the units, and the Edge has the capability to be a MoCA bridge - so no additional MoCA bridge hardware required. Setup was pretty painless, however I haven't connected the extenders yet. If they're as easy as the main unit, then I'll have no complaints.
A tip about setting up the Tivo minis. They are not like WMC extenders where you can just plop them onto the network and they magically find your WMC system. They need to be activated in a specific procedure. Log into your Tivo.com account on your computer and manually add the Tivo minis to your account. There is a TSN number on the bottom of each Tivo mini. After adding both minis to your account, wait a little while. Then, go onto your Tivo Edge and initiate a connection to Tivo. Wait a little while longer. Then, you may fire up each Tivo mini and begin the setup process.

Basically, the TSN of each mini must be added to your account Tivo first, and then downloaded to the Edge. If not, you will get an error on the Tivo Mini that says "DVR not found" which means the Edge does not have the mini's TSN in its inventory. If you bought all of your hardware directly from Tivo in one order, it is possible the minis are already added to your account.
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#7

Post by adam1991 » Sun Dec 01, 2019 2:22 pm

That all being said, to replace my 7MC rig with a 2TB Roamio OTA (lifetime service) with three Minis is $1019 at Weaknees.

Make that a current Edge with lifetime service plus three Minis, and that goes up to $1140.

So there's a price for that convenience.

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#8

Post by UCBearcat » Sun Dec 01, 2019 4:35 pm

Yeah... the cost of entry was the hardest pill to swallow. We didn't opt into the Lifetime Service, and we just went with the annual subscription. I realize the Lifetime plan will pay for itself in about 3.5 years, however the annual subscription model comes with the TiVo complete protection, whereas Lifetime does not. And there's the unknown - we might not like it long term, or the Cable/cord cutting landscape might finally become more enticing to us.

We also managed to get a pair of Mini VOX units for 30 bucks off each with some recent sales. So, we saved a few bucks there.

While it may not be something you're interested in - TiVo was offering a 500GB Bolt OTA for $0 down and $15/year with a 2 year commit for Black Friday. That's only 360 bucks for 2 years... at which point, I think you could roll to an annual subscription cost of about 100 bucks and the unit is paid for. I think it was just a way for them to clear the old stock of Bolts. 500GB isn't a lot of storage, but as long as you're not saving entire seasons for everything you watch - it's doable.

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#9

Post by adam1991 » Sun Dec 01, 2019 4:49 pm

yeah, I forgot to check their site on Friday. A few years ago my brother got a Roamio OTA for cheap on BF.

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#10

Post by adam1991 » Sun Dec 01, 2019 5:23 pm

While we're on the subject, has anyone made the move from 7MC to Channels DVR?

I have absolutely everything in place to make this happen, other than the Channels software itself. I could try it for 30 days, and turn off the 7MC rig during that time.

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#11

Post by UCBearcat » Sun Dec 08, 2019 2:28 am

We've had the TiVo Edge for 1 week, so I figured I would stop back in to give my 1 week assessment.
As stated before, setup of the main unit was pretty uneventful. Adding the 2 Mini Extenders went pretty smooth as well. I registered them and waited about an hour before attempting to pair them to the Edge. Each one required "verification" 3 times before they found the Edge. This only added about 5 minutes to the install on each. So, no complaints there.

Functionality - So far, I've only noticed a few idiosyncrasies. Nothing I would consider a show-stopper at this point, but our sample size of 1 week is still pretty small. The Mini units do a good job of extending the main unit, and I have no complaints with their responsiveness, etc.

We haven't been hit with any of the pre-roll ads yet, but I'm sure it's only a matter of time before we see those. In short - we've been pretty happy with the switch.

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#12

Post by cwinfield » Sun Dec 08, 2019 3:17 am

How is the TiVo online service and have you used the browser based function on any computers, laptops or phones?

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#13

Post by Scallica » Sun Dec 08, 2019 6:29 pm

cwinfield wrote: Sun Dec 08, 2019 3:17 am How is the TiVo online service and have you used the browser based function on any computers, laptops or phones?
The Tivo Online website and mobile app works great; no issues.
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#14

Post by UCBearcat » Sun Dec 15, 2019 6:44 pm

I've only used the phone app so far to schedule recordings, etc. I have no complaints with it in or out of the house. I attempted to stream a show to my phone (in house on same LAN), and it worked for the 30 seconds that I watched the show. I don't know if I'll use that feature much.
As far as some of the other PC/online features - I've not yet touched on those yet. I'm still playing w/ the new UI and feeling my way around that.

The only issue that I've had so far is a random issue immediately after powering up the TV and bringing the main TiVo unit out of standby There will be random static lines to pop on the screen accompanied by a ticking/static sound. I have not experienced this on either of the TiVo Mini units. I can rectify it by powering the TV off and on. I haven't yet attempted to switch to a different HDMI input and then back again.
I suspect there is an HDCP issue or something wonky with the HDMI connection. It has only happened a couple times, so I've not yet been able to attempt different things to diagnose. Is it a bad HDMI cable? Is a flaky HDMI port on the TV? Is it the TiVo - software issue? None of the above?
The ability to make the issue go away by power cycling the TV leads me to an HDCP handshake issue - but only time will tell. I should note that this is a new TV, so it could be the HDMI port on the TV.
It's not a show-stopper - just an annoyance.

Two weeks in, and the WAF is still pretty high. The boss took to the new UI and remote pretty quick - as would be expected. TiVo has over a decade of experience to make their system as user friendly possible.

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#15

Post by adam1991 » Sun Dec 15, 2019 6:56 pm

Bad or out of spec cable.

Yes, step one is to find and acquire a known high quality cable that meets the highest spec--be it the Tivo or the TV. Most people buy two dollar cables and then wonder why it doesn't work.

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#16

Post by UCBearcat » Sun Dec 15, 2019 7:16 pm

My hope and suspicion is HDMI cable. It's the HDMI cable that came packaged with the TiVo, so who knows what quality it is... presumably cheap.
A new quality HDMI cable doesn't hurt the wallet like back in the day. I recall the first HDMI cable I purchased, some 12 years ago, was a 6 footer for 30 bucks. And I thought that was a STEAL at the time.

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#17

Post by Scallica » Sun Dec 15, 2019 7:57 pm

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