TiVo ends DVR sales

[Theater of My Mind]

TiVo, now owned by Xperi -- the same company that owns HD Radio -- has ended sales of its physical DVRs. While the OTA models went out of production some time ago, the cable models are now no longer being manufactured and TiVo's own supply is “depleted,” the company says. TiVo claims it will continue to serve existing owners but did not specify for how long.

Some in-depth reflection from the L.A. Times...

Commentary: Say farewell to the TiVo box, the device that revolutionized how we watch television

TiVo and ReplayTV revolutionized the TV-viewing experience, but they were undone by network opposition and the rise of streaming video, as new technologies leave them behind

www.latimes.com

Archived here if the above link doesn't work for you:

https://archive.ph/3LS9w

 

[Y2kTheNewOldies]

Dang I remember when Tivo was at it peak in the early 2000's its biggest competitors were DVD players, DV tapes and VHS from Toshiba, JVC, Sony, Panasonic at that time for the Video recording market.

But yes we came a long way from when Tivo was the cutting edge tech to where we are now with streaming.

 

[K.M. Richards]

TiVo, now owned by Xperi -- the same company that owns HD Radio -- has ended sales of its physical DVRs. While the OTA models went out of production some time ago, the cable models are now no longer being manufactured and TiVo's own supply is “depleted,” the company says.

For the last several years, you could only buy the OTA boxes through ChannelMaster. I just did a quick check and they are marked "sold out" now (and I wonder why they still had them listed).

TiVo claims it will continue to serve existing owners but did not specify for how long.

I think it will be continuing as long as they stay in business. Part of Xperi is a listings provider service, to the various online TV schedule sites, as well as to on-screen guides for Internet-connected television sets.

So as long as they are being a software provider for "smart TVs" they will be maintaining listings, which is pretty much all the TiVo boxes contact the mothership for anymore anyway.

Some in-depth reflection from the L.A. Times...

Commentary: Say farewell to the TiVo box, the device that revolutionized how we watch television

TiVo and ReplayTV revolutionized the TV-viewing experience, but they were undone by network opposition and the rise of streaming video, as new technologies leave them behind

www.latimes.com

This is where I originally read the news. Michael Hiltzik is a long-time acquaintance (we occasionally correspond when I find a particular column of interest) and has been with the Times for-practically-ever. He and I also share the 1980s BBC comedy "Yes Minister" as an all-time favorite program.

 

[Theater of My Mind]

I'm amazed it took them this long to discontinue the hardware, considering it was nearly impossible for anyone to obtain and/or activate a cable card from any provider in at least the past couple of years. The return rate on the remaining boxes they managed to unload at fire sale prices must have been pretty high.

 

[davideduardo]

TiVo, now owned by Xperi -- the same company that owns HD Radio -- has ended sales of its physical DVRs. While the OTA models went out of production some time ago, the cable models are now no longer being manufactured and TiVo's own supply is “depleted,” the company says. TiVo claims it will continue to serve existing owners but did not specify for how long.

I have three of them, along with several "TivoRemote" boxes that add your main box to a subsidiary location.

TiVo and cable are still the best sources for us for local news, which is still well done in the Palm Springs market. While both news TV operations (on multiple channels) are available live from many sources, being able to see the news at my convenience is of value.

Some in-depth reflection from the L.A. Times...

Commentary: Say farewell to the TiVo box, the device that revolutionized how we watch television

TiVo and ReplayTV revolutionized the TV-viewing experience, but they were undone by network opposition and the rise of streaming video, as new technologies leave them behind

www.latimes.com

Good article.

 

[davideduardo]

I'm amazed it took them this long to discontinue the hardware, considering it was nearly impossible for anyone to obtain and/or activate a cable card from any provider in at least the past couple of years. The return rate on the remaining boxes they managed to unload at fire sale prices must have been pretty high.

When asking for a cable card, a request to talk with a supervisor and the mention of "FCC" will get one delivered overnight.

 

[davideduardo]

Another advantage of the TiVo box is "live" forward and reverse fast scan. If you missed a scene in a drama show or did not understand a news item, a quick slow reverse would take you, visually, to the place you wanted. The Netflix, Prime, Peacock et. al. services rewind on a server in a server farm somewhere a thousand miles away. So you have to kinda' guess where to stop, and I always end up at the wrong place.

I know there are legal issues but were the streamers to do a fast download (with a very fast expiration time) of the content you are viewing, you could then control it locally for that purpose.

I know in my home we often find accents such as British or Southern that we don't follow easily, so we use the quick rewind on TiVo to skip back again, maybe with captions. And the same applies when we are watching movies in Spanish where we find those made in Spain a bit difficult. And I like a lot of French cinema, and need the "instant replay" often as my French is not that good. But when watching Netflix et. al. I simply have to put on subtitles in English, which is not satisfactory.

 

[K.M. Richards]

I'm amazed it took them this long to discontinue the hardware, considering it was nearly impossible for anyone to obtain and/or activate a cable card from any provider in at least the past couple of years. The return rate on the remaining boxes they managed to unload at fire sale prices must have been pretty high.

As I recall, when they made ChannelMaster the only source for the OTA TiVos they came pre-authorized.

I originally got my Bolt in May 2017, and it still works without any hiccups. My Series 2, which I had for close to a decade prior to that, was still functional but was about to lose connectivity to the mothership.

Any returns on recent boxes would probably have been for cable-compatible boxes whose card wouldn't activate, I would think. (The Bolt was, and still is, entirely an OTA device.)

 

[yeoldeschool]

I originally got my Bolt in May 2017, and it still works without any hiccups. My Series 2, which I had for close to a decade prior to that, was still functional but was about to lose connectivity to the mothership.

How do you export your recordings to external storage, like hard drives or USB sticks?

 

[K.M. Richards]

How do you export your recordings to external storage, like hard drives or USB sticks?

The simple answer: I don't. Not to that media, anyway.

If I feel the need to save something, I still have a working Panasonic DVD recorder that I can patch the TiVo through with the push of one button that switches the HDMI output to a cable which converts it to RCA plugs for that machine.