TiVo - Bolt 500GB Unified Entertainment System - 4K Ultra HD - White

I have used Tivo's from their beginning but I have never been a fan I always considered their software clunky, but they were only game in town. My last device was premiere with 1 terabyte add on drive only 2 tuners. I started using Windows Media center with multiple network tuners, but I like Windows 10 especially in tablet mode also with desktop no touch fast load with ssd. No Windows 10 media center it is gone! I tried Tivo Roamio 49 buck edition but so many big trees wind and tropical rainstorms made ota suck 10% of the time but some how that 10% came during my favorite recordings! I figured try new Bolt with cable card & 1 terabyte well I like it, gui not as likeable to me as Windows Media center but the skip commercials feature is incredible! The official Tivo Android app not good but Tivo DVR commander app is very good. Hey I am fan now..........not a fanboy mind you but the Tivo Bolt is a great device.

I don't know why every cable subscriber doesn't buy one of these. They are awesome. You get a Cable Card from your cable company, put it in the unit, and you can use Tivo Minis on your remote TVs and have full DVR control. The search integrates things like Amazon Prime and Net Flix. The TIVO user interface, remotes, etc. can't be beat. And the picture quality is better than my cable company boxes. Also the Tivo Minis that go on your remote TVs are small and can be mounted behind the TV on the wall. My cable companies small boxes don't have On Demand, a full guide, or DVR access, and full channels - with this I get all channels I subscribe to, on demand, Amazon Prime, etc. and full DVR access on every TV. Plus I pay no per TV fees to my cable company. It is so much better than anything the cable company provides. I had some initial issues with On Demand but it was my cable company and not TV - since then no problems. I love it!

Having owned a TiVo Premiere for four years, I decided it was time for an upgrade. After some research, I decided to purchase the brand spanking new TiVo Bolt. I wanted a TiVo that would allow for easy access to swap out the hard drive and this fit that description. While 500GB (75 hours of HD content) is decent, it is not ideal. I opted for a 2TB hard drive. The shape of this device is a little odd. I get the feeling that TiVo is trying to stick out while in your media center. But the size is considerably smaller than my old Premiere. Definitely not my favorite design, but not entirely ugly either. Swapping out the hard drive was easy, once you can get the plastic casing off. No need to install anything, literally just plug and play. Yay! I don't know if there is something wrong with my box, but my wifi doesn't like to connect online. I consider myself tech savvy, but after an evening of trying to connect, I gave up. Luckily, I already have an ethernet cable waiting from my old TiVo. I didn't want to go through the exchange process as I had already swapped out the hard drive. This thing is fast! That was the first thing I noticed after getting everything up and running. I had never used any of the apps (Netflix, Amazon Video, Hulu, etc) before because they were slow to load and not as refined as my video game consoles. This box is so fast, I have no problem using them here. I love the commercial skip feature. It doesn't work with all shows, but a good 70% of the ones I've seen. Overall, it is a great upgrade that I would highly recommend.

I never understood why someone would pay so much for a Tivo box when the cable provider offers a DVR box (for a price...more on that later). Then I got this Bolt and it is a night and day difference from the terrible Comcast DVR box. The user interface is much easier to navigate and the channel guide is head and shoulders above the Comcast guide. There are so many features on the Bolt that are better than the Comcast DVR. The one that I appreciate the most is the "Skip" button. Being able to completely and effortlessly skip commercials in recorded TV shows in invaluable. This feature alone is worth the price of admission. Another feature that I love is the integration of Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu. For the first time since we have been subscribing to Netflix and Amazon Prime are we actually getting our money's worth. We have a smart TV and an smart BR player with Netflix and Amazon apps but it was way too cumbersome and the apps were hard to navigate. The Bolt makes watching Netflix and Amazon so simple and we are watching much much more from Netflix and Amazon. Another feature that I love is the iOS/Android Tivo app that lets you watch live/recorded TV on your smartphone/tablet. You can stream the show on your home network or download the show for viewing outside your home. The Bolt does not have the capability to stream to an external network, yet. The last "feature" that I appreciate is the cost savings. We were renting a DVR and two set top boxes from Comcast for about $40/month. I turned in all of those boxes and replaced them with a Bolt, Tivo Mini, and a Google Chromecast. Comcast also gives me a $2.50 credit/month for using the Bolt. It can't be all great though. It was very difficult to get the Bolt working with Comcast. Not Tivo's fault, totally Comcast's fault. I recommend that you get a CableCard from Comcast or your provider, but keep all of your boxes until you get the Bolt working. I made the mistake of turning in my boxes and replacing it with the CableCard. The CableCard people at Comcast were so confused about what equipment was on my account that they couldn't activate the CableCard with my Bolt. The other thing that I wish for is a larger HD. I bought the 500 GB version and it is not large enough. There is an external add-on that you can purchase from Tivo, but it is overpriced. I think I will wait until my warranty period is expired and then open the Bolt up and replace the internal HD with a larger one. Other than that the whole family loves the Bolt and the mini. I wish I hadn't waited so long to switch to Tivo.

Does what it should. Set up was flawless, no issues recording so far. Skipping the commercials is probably the top selling point. Only Ding is could have more tuners and storage.

The Bolt is a great replacement for Fios Set top boxes. Fast and easy to use. The Case is funky shaped and I'm not really keen on that. The only real drawback is the upfront cost and yearly subscription. I also added 2 mini's. In my case it pays for itself in well under one year so saving a ton of $$ after and have a much more responsive box, better picture quality and it's a streaming box to boot. Should have done it sooner.

For being my first non cable company distributed box its great! I do once in a while get a quick pixelization here and there but that could be the cable card. It doesn't happen much but it could be a hard drive but I might install a new one later. I love being able to control my box from the app. If I am ever late home to watch a show I just log in and tell it to record. Cant complain too much about it. Still learning the in's and outs.Also recording 4 shows at once really does work.

The TiVo Bolt has made an excellent addition to my home. I recently replaced a DirecTV Genie and wired mini setup with this Bolt and TiVo mini's on Time Warner with a CableCard, and I haven't looked back even once. The device is nice and fast and very easy to set up. I am shocked just how simple it was to get the MoCa setup going with the right filters on the system. The mini's do an excellent job of timeshifting and viewing recorded content on the Bolt. The bolt itself is rocket fast, and easily expandable in storage by replacing the hard drive inside. The OnePass functionality works like a champ, and the Bolt's ability to pull shows not only from Cable, but from streaming sources too makes missing a show impossible. Lastly, the TiVo suggestions feature is really smart and does an excellent job at picking out shows that I would like to watch based on my thumbs up/down ratings. There's always hundreds of shows and movies waiting for me to watch at my leisure that I would enjoy watching. The Genie was never close to guessing my likes and dislikes. And access to your recordings from mobile devices is a breeze. The video/audio quality is quite excellent too. My only knock on the Bolt would be it's lack of apps. It has the important ones like Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime, but there's a big hole there where there should a lot more apps for other services. This is something to get over easily though as many smart tv's and gaming consoles already have these. I have been incredibly pleased with this device. Very worth the investment to get rid of monthly cable box fees.