New TiVo Interface sucks

[Claude Greiner]

Bought a VOX mini the other day to work with my bolt. Found out I needed to upgrade to the new interface to make it work.

The good news is that the Mini VOX has the same functionality as my Bolt.

The thing that sucks is the interface, and the fact both my TiVo bolt and mini VOX have rebooted on their own due to the software.

 

[osu1991]

You can downgrade it back to the old OS, you will lose any recordings on the dvr and will no longer have access to the voice features as voice requires Hydra. There is a downgrade thread on TiVo community and there may be instructions of the button sequence on the TiVo website too.

I have Hydra on one of my Roamios and have had no problems with it. It’s a little faster on my Roamio. Some things I like about, such as the right arrow to show the other tuners and the larger video windows when in menus. It does still needs some work though. I’ve left my other Roamios and Minis on the old OS so I don’t get phone calls and have to explain the changes to my parents when things work don’t quite work the same.

How to Rollback Hydra from Roamio and Mini's v1

 

[primestar31]

Yep, I refused to upgrade mine for now, as I REFUSE to be one of their beta testers. Hydra is NOT being pushed out to everybody, so if you downgrade, you'll be good to go and won't have to worry about it upgrading itself when you aren't looking. As said above though, you lose all recordings, and One Passes, and it's just like starting over from scratch. However, it's worth it until they get Hydra really working properly (if ever)

 

[osu1991]

Just don’t do it till after the TiVo hamsters come back from the Holidays, as many are having trouble connecting to the servers for updates over this Holiday weekend.

 

[cfunk]

TiVo has been sucking for years

 

[harshness]

You can downgrade it back to the old OS, you will lose any recordings on the dvr and will no longer have access to the voice features as voice requires Hydra.

So you're saying that the Mini Vox will work with the old software sans voice features?

 

[Claude Greiner]

So you're saying that the Mini Vox will work with the old software sans voice features?

Mini VOX requires the new software.

That’s why I upgraded.

However the mini VOX works good or just as good as my bolt.

 

[harshness]

Mini VOX requires the new software.

You made that clear in the OP. I was just wondering if osu1991 ignored what you stated or had better information.

 

[Phil T]

I got the Bolt VOX in November, right after hey came out. I had one reboot a couple days after I installed it. None since.

I really like the Hydra interface, although I never experienced the old one. I like it much better then the new DirecTV one and the Comcast X1. The speed blows both of them away.

I also have a Tivo Mini VOX and a Mini v2 connected via Moca. They both work great!

 

[osu1991]

So you're saying that the Mini Vox will work with the old software sans voice features?

The Mini Vox just requires Hydra for the voice features. It can be rolled back to Gen 3 OS just like the a Roamio or Bolt (Vox) and work perfectly fine minus voice features.

 

[osu1991]

Mini VOX requires the new software.

That’s why I upgraded.

However the mini VOX works good or just as good as my bolt.

It does not require the Hydra Gen 4 OS unless you want the voice features. The mini vox can be rolled back to Gen 03 OS just like the Roamio and Bolt(Vox).

 

[Claude Greiner]

How do you roll back the mini VOX?

 

[Claude Greiner]

How do you roll back the mini VOX?

 

[jcrandall]

You can roll back but would need to roll back your Roamio/Bolt, the Mini's pull the same software that the server uses.
If your Roamio/Bolt is upgraded you would need to call tech support and request to downgrade back to the previous interface. I don't believe there is another way.

They setup the VOX that when the voice command is used it will trigger the upgrade to the new interface. The old interface doesn't support any voice capability.

I will say the new interface had some bugs but it is much improved over the past few weeks stability wise. It still takes some serious getting used to, but it is functional.
I've used if for a couple months and I"m used to it and have no complaints. I wish the shows list was cleaner and showed more details, but the guide and rest of the UI is pretty good.

 

[osu1991]

You don’t have to call tech support to ask to roll back. I posted the thread with the instructions to roll back. earlier

 

[primestar31]

How do you roll back the mini VOX?

Once you roll back your actual Tivo to the regular version, the mini VOX will automatically roll itself back. Click osu1991's link above for instructions.

 

[Claude Greiner]

My hard drive died. I got 4 flashing lights on the front.

Looks like the perfect opportunity to go to the old interface

 

[Larry1]

There are a few different hard drives that can be used with the Bolt. Just do not use any of the shingled drives. Hard drives upto and including 3TB can just be installed with no software and the TiVo will auto format and install.

 

[harshness]

Just do not use any of the shingled drives.

Read: stay away from Seagate and SMR technology in general.

In theory SMR appears to be a bad idea for drives that write a lot as existing data must often be rewritten and that slows write performance significantly. Of course if the drive is rated for 16 cameras or better, that should handle any TiVo activity. The WD Purple drives are rated for 64+ cameras. TiVo ships the Bolt with a 2.5" WD Green drive IIRC that is certainly not a performance giant.

 

[Claude Greiner]

Well I ended up formatting another TiVo and downgraded the software. Works much better and I don’t miss accidentally hitting the voice remote button