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Tivo Dumb.

Hi
I've purchased Tivo thinking that I could use it instead of renting a cable box from TimeWarner cable, but was apperently placed into the very dumb situation that made me look like I'm dumb.

It only decodes a small portion of HD channels out of large number provided by the cable service. Having trying to reach Tivo customer service I was told to go here there up'n'down to read some of their activation gibberish and stuff and several reps would say that I have to contact my cable provider. Poor cable techie came to my place twice and spent nearly 3 hours each to investigate the issue and I've gotta give him and the company credit for that trying to swap card, swap decoder and still nothing worked. Than I've asked him to bring his own cable box instead of Tivo and it opened all of the HD channels that I'm suppose to get -- BINGO BOOM! Now I have a grounds to pressure Tivo and started throwing some arguments that it works with cable box but doesn't with Tivo and finally figured out that I have to activate and pay an ADDITIONAL $15/mo to decode HD channels and some further dump features that I would rarely need ever.

So have I've been fooled to purchase unit that is useless without additional activation and $15/mo service or I haven't? It realy doesn't make a sense for me to double my payments for same digital cable services. the same additional $15/Mo will give me rental of cable company box that does the same job without paying fo the unit at all.

All I wanted to purchase is pure cable box or two to decode HD channels, but instead Best Buy fooled me with that usless Tivo.

Appreciate your thoughts and input.
128x128marakanetz
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drubin
3,240 posts
 
Why would you get a TiVo if you don't want a DVR?

Nevertheless, I don't believe you need a subscription to get all your channels -- that's a function of your cable provider.
rdavwhitaker
173 posts
 
Drubin has it right. TIVO is a DVR with a mandatory subscription service, not a cable box. If you don't want a DVR and TIVO's scheduling services, then TIVO isn't the product for you.

I have a TIVO, and went through the recent HD conversion with my cable provider. To get all the HD channels I subscribe for recognized by TIVO, I needed a multi-stream cable card ($2 a month from my cable provider) to insert in the back of my TIVO machine. It worked great after I followed TIVO's installation instructions.

Now, it is true that between TIVO and the cable card I am paying $15 a month for the TIVO to work, as compared to $12 a month for my cable company's DVR option. But TIVO's interface and recording options are better, so for me it is worth the extra fee.
swampwalker's avatar
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swampwalker
5,132 posts
 
TIVO is a DVR with a mandatory subscription service, not a cable box. If you don't want a DVR and TIVO's scheduling services, then TIVO isn't the product for you.
My point, exactly.
marakanetz's avatar
marakanetz OP
5,473 posts
 
Thought of Tivo being able to work instead of cable box and decode HD channels with no subscription just like a regular cable box that you don't have to pay a rent of $9/mo for, but only paying for cable card $2 and that's precisely what I've asked Best Buy sales rep for. I didn't ask for DVR at all.
chazro's avatar
chazro
575 posts
 
When TIVO 1st came on the picture it was a true breakthrough technology. When the cable companies saw how great a demand there was for this service, it developed the DVR capacity within their own cable boxes. The success of the cable companies product has been so great that I read an article placing TIVO on a list of companies that's in danger of not existing by the end of the year! Right or wrong, this is simply another example of a small fish being devoured by a shark! My bro-in-law swears by TIVO, he's owned one since the companies inception. The thing that doesn't work for me is that by using the Tivo box instead of the cable box, he doesn't have access to pay-per-view or on-demand, services that I consider much more useful than DVR!
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