I do, and in the past few days, it’s operated slower and slower. It now takes several seconds for a TV episode to pop up (first world problem, yeah, I know). I was also able to access You Tube through it, and now I can’t, or at least I’m not going to wait that long for it.
Anyone else having this issue?
I have an old Series 3 unit. Different problems, like repeatedly needing one of its CableCards replaced.
I haven’t had any problems, but then I’m using one of the High Definition DirecTV TiVo units.
Only problem I’ve had is with the TV it’s attached to rebooting on occasion. My TV doesn’t have this problem with my BluRay player, and both units are attached to the TV via separate HDMI cables.
nearwildheaven, what model do you have? New OS apps are rolling out on some models.
I’ve had a tivo since 2001. Currently have the HDTiVo, and it can be a bit slow and takes forever to boot, but I haven’t had any issues with it.
I just bought my fifth TiVo box last month (bought my first in 2001!). TiVos are essentially computers (they run a customized version of Linux) so there are a myriad of issues to consider in terms of problems with one. First and foremost though is age. Every TiVo I’ve ever had generally only lasts about five years or so, and what always causes their demise is the hard drive wears out (it’s running, reading & writing 24/7!) The telltale sign of this problem however is spontaneous reboots (of the TiVo box). When this starts happening plan on replacing it soon.
Sluggish performance w/o reboots or freezes doesn’t sound like a dying hard disk. Different model TiVo boxes use different ‘current’ versions of their software, so roll outs of updates will vary as well. Of course, make sure your internet connection is solid, this can cause sluggish performance without there being anything wrong with the TiVo itself.
The go-to place for TiVo info is The TiVo Community Forum…
I got a Roamio last summer. I don’t have any issue with recording or watching things, except for the wait. Still can’t access You Tube, although I could do that on my computer. BTW, I haven’t seen any change in my computer speed.
ETA: I replaced a previous one I purchased in 2011.
Our TiVo Roamio does the same thing once in a while. YouTube takes longer and longer to get into, and eventually you’ll start seeing interruptions in the playback of shows.
What worked for me is to reboot it.
Go to Settings > Help > Restart or Reset > Restart or Reset > Restart the Tivo Box . You have to hit one of the Thumb keys and the Enter key to confirm (the help screen tells you what to do),
TiVo will reboot itself. Takes about 4 minutes to get back to normal operation. This is just a reboot; your OnePass, saved shows, watchlists and other gubbins will still be there.
Then all is well for another couple of months.
Replacing the disk on a Tivo is easy. You unscrew the cover, unscrew the drive, detach the cables, remove the old disk, and reverse.
A pre-formatted disk from weakknees.com costs a fraction of what a lifetime subscription costs and comes with instructions and tools. There are also oodles of videos on youtube showing you how to do it.
Don’t throw away perfectly good Tivo that needs a new disk, especially if you have lifetime service. If you just want an excuse to get the newer model, sell it on ebay.
Thanks! I’m doing this right now. I’ll let you know how it works.
It did! TYVM.
As I said above, TiVos are basically computers, so when in doubt always reboot first*!* I had a SeasonPass entry that was stuck on ‘updating’ and even a regular reboot wouldn’t fix it. So I did the ‘Clear Program Information & To Do List’ option (it doesn’t delete any recordings or SeasonPasses) and that fixed it.
Yeah, I’ve bought some stuff from weakKnees before but never a hard drive to refurb an old TiVo. The reason is simply because with the subsidies TiVo always gives you on the price of a new box (with a two-year plan) it wasn’t worth buying just a new hard disk instead. I never went for the lifetime subscription offer, I knew the hardware would outpace it. When my previous box, an HD Series3 with a 750GB ext drive, started dying I considered weakKnees. But I checked tivo.com and got a 1TB refurbished Roamio Plus (six tuners and an RF remote*!*) for only $129 w/free shipping (with a two-year subscription). weakKnees gets $149 for just a replacement 1TB drive (and I wouldn’t have the newer & much faster interface and motherboard). And although the new Roamio box took a little getting used to after using the old interface for nearly a decade and a half, I quickly learned to love it!
And one of the best things about the new Roamio box is it takes less than half the time to reboot*!!*
The issue of older TiVo models and what to do with them is one that concerns many owners.
The analog Series 1 and 2’s are of course pretty much dead ends. Rare to find a situation where one is reasonably useful. So you can get lifetime Series 2s for basically nothing.
TiVo has been running a promo for a while where you can get lifetime for Series 3 and 4 (Premieres) for $99. First, this a good deal if you qualify (which depends on the CSR you get when you call). Second, this means that a lot of people are putting lifetimed TiVos on the market, lowering prices for those.
So I bought a cheap Premiere XL over a year ago, called TiVo said I wanted to cancel my TiVo HD’s sub, got the deal on that. Two lifetime TiVos for not much.
I had long ago swapped out the HDD on my HD for a 1TB disk. Easy to do and a lot cheaper than going with weaKnees. Much better to do this before the drive fails. (But you can get images from TiVoCommunity.)
My concern about the HD, being a Series 3, is that it can’t handle mpeg4 streams which cable companies are starting to roll out. So my recommendation is to not waste a lot of resources on fixing/upgrading a Series 3. Working, lifetimed 3s are still worth something on the market. For now but maybe not much longer. If you’ve got one and are thinking about selling it, maybe hurry up. (But lifetimed only.)
Premieres are still good for the foreseeable future except for one thing:
Cable companies hate cable cards and all non-cable company DVRs. So support for these is getting worse and worse. The days of buy-your-own DVR may be numbered.
Note that it’s not just HDDs that are failing on these older TiVos. The power supply is a very common source of problems. You can get replacements or if a real DIYer, replace the bad caps.
While Roamio’s are clearly better, etc., you can’t get them lifetimed for $99, yet.
I thought for sure this would be a zombie thread.
The reboot can definitely do wonders. I have a Tivo Roamio and I haven’t had to do it, but generally it works well to get the cobwebs out (I did it a few times on my Premiere). Though with the new updates, its really been running pretty darned quick. (and now the Android app is really fast as well).
I don’t think that TiVos (i.e. standalone DVRs) will disappear any time soon. The govt actually forced cable companies to invent the CableCARD so consumers would have greater options beyond the ubiquitous cablebox. So even if cable companies hate them (and yes, they do*!*) they are required by law to continue to offer them. And because of ‘smart’ TVs they have a use other than just for TiVos.
It wasn’t even DVRs that originally spurred interest in developing them, it was so TVs and accessories (back then primarily VCRs) could remain ‘cable-ready’. With the advent of addressable digital cableboxes this had become impossible, you always had to have a separate cablebox (and remote) so you couldn’t watch one show while recording another (nor change the channel with your TV’s remote). This is one of the few times where govt intervention in consumer electronics was a good idea. If not for CableCARDs TiVos ***would ***be obsolete today (unless you have just an antenna)…
Unfortunately, we do not live in an ideal world. The TivoCommunity website has loads of horror tales about the troubles people have in getting a working cable card. It took 2 trips to the cable office and 2 home visits to get the last one of mine installed. And that was followed by months of billing nightmares. You can get them for really cheap off eBay, but the cable companies rarely allow you to use your own. They are deliberately throttling the use of them.
The government is not exactly adverse to allowing monopolies to do whatever they damn well want, regardless of the actual law.
FWIW, while CableVision made it a minor pain in the ass to get a CableCard for my TiVo (I had to trudge out to the precise middle of nowhere in like, Bensonhurst or something, to pick it up) once I stuck it in the TiVo and called them it was working within five minutes.
I haven’t had any problems with my CableCARDs but I was required to use a tuning adapter to use all the channels on Time Warner Cable. That is a pain in the ass.
Anyone had any experience using a new HD TiVo with Comcast XFinity? I was just thinking about splurging on one when I saw this thread.