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.

Talked with sales man Brent at tulsa 71/169 store and he is a cord cutter himself and has the same system ( tivo plus mini), so a trusted him and cut the cord, and boy am I glad I did, it has saved my family $117 a month and I feel we are getting more quality programming now than with cable. we got the lifetime service so all we pay is $99 a year to prime and I watch any thing i want for free. If it is a series that is not free it is normally 19.99 on average for 12-15 shows so that's about $1.25-1.57 per show so may monthly cost to watch tv is ($99 for prime per yr) $8.25 a month plus + 4 (series like ax men) $1.57 x 4 = $6.28 and they air weekly so that would be times 4 weeks = $25.12 so $8.25 (prime)+ $25.12(series)= 33.37 a month to watch more programming than I was paying for cable. I have had the system for a month and a half and I love it we watch 5 hrs of tv a day and I could not go back to cable after this. I have had "o" problems and just love the user friendliness of the system

I've been a Tivo customer for ten years, and upgraded from an older Series 3 unit to this, and I just love it. It's a good deal too, with a year of Tivo service included, I've never encountered such a promotion before with Tivo. Very slick unit, you can just tell that people passionate about their work made this thing with a very decent user interface, it does what all the other DVR's try to do. If you have some tech ability, download pyTivo too (free open-source) for great integration with home media and allows for uploading/downloading video to your computer. The Bolt will max out my network and transfer at 100 Mbps, so it may well go to 1 Gbps if your network supports it. In other words, it's very fast.

I've been a Tivo user since the 2004 and have also used the Tivo Roamio and the Tivo mini. The Tivo Bolt is a very nice upgrade especially for cord cutters. I find it works a lot better with my HD antenna than the Roamio did. The commerical skip feature is the highlight of this Tivo. It's smaller than the Tivo Roamio so it fits nicely on my TV stand. I have a white stand so the white color was perfect. I believe they are planning for it to come out in black for anyone who prefers it. It also works well with the Mini. When I set it up, I was able to transfer all my recorded shows from the Roamio to it via a network connection. I would definitely recommend it to first time buyers, as well as, to those looking to upgrade. Worth every penny!

Never owned a Tivo before but have had cable and Satelite DVRs before and none of them can compare to the bolt. It's easy to setup and super easy to find the shows you want to record not to mention how many shows you can record at one time. Plus it has streaming video apps built right in so Netflix, Hulu, Amazon and You Tube are all integrated in ready to watch. Cost of Tivo service is about equal to DVR rental from cable or satelite plus you can use over the air antenna and internet only if you want.

This replaces a Comcast DVR with second outlet at $30 / month. The first year cost is about the same with 50% savings after that. The overall quality is excellent, but it only gets 4 stars because of some weaknesses in the user interface. 1. No quick way to delete a recording if you watch a few minutes and decide you don't like it. 2. 'Back' does not switch between Live TV and Recordings. 3. Quick Play only has one speed, should have an intermediate speed. 4. 'Back' does not go from 'Tivo' to recording. 5. Would like to globally turn off all the secondary sources for content unless I explicitly ask for it. 6. Sometimes does not find free content on 'On Demand' while finding paid content on Hulu, etc. 7. Tivo app does not work outside of the local network. 8. Commercial skip unevenly applied to late night shows.

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.

Let's make 1 thing clear...if you have an existing Tivo Roamio and you do not have a 4K TV the Tivo Bolt does not provide enough value for me to recommend making a change. For the people that either do not have Tivo at all or for those that are considering the upgrade from Tivo Premiere (or a previous Tivo), this is well worth the purchase. The interface is more responsive, the guide is more clearly understood (with station icons added), the streaming connects and resumes quickly (Netflix, Amazon, Vudu, etc.) The added "Skip" feature is limited but still great when it's available. The best use I've found for "Quick" mode is getting through a 3 hour sporting event - it does take getting used to since the voices talk fast. The new box design is a smaller so it doesn't take up as much space. Even the remote is slightly smaller to make it easier to handle - my only complaint about the remote is that they moved the Guide button which is now the zoom.