Tivo Politics

[angelaira]

I am pretty upset with Tivo right now. They refuse to offer any operating code for any after market cable box. They told me that the aftermarket cable boxes can be used for illegal activity, and Tivo refuses to condone such activity. I am angry about this because :
1. If my cable company won't provide more than one box, I have to buy a box.
2. If the box I happen to have is not on Tivo's list, they won't support it regardless of whether it can be used for illegal activity or not, rendering the Tivo useless.
So, I paid for the Tivo, gave it to my son for Christmas, and now I can't use it, and I can't return it because of their mail-in-rebate offer. Hence, I am stuck with a useless box that they won't support.

Who are they to do that? We are the customers, we pay for their service, we pay for their box, what right do they have to regulate what cable box we use?
And, as icing on the cake, thei setup system tells you that if your box isn't listed on their setup screen, contact Tivo support for help. It took me three different reps, and twenty three minutes to be told that they don't support after market cable boxes.

Comments?

 

[ReiAyanami]

So, I paid for the Tivo, gave it to my son for Christmas, and now I can't use it,

i would have imagined giving it to your son would have prevented you from using it

oh well, there's probably tivo hacks off google

 

[Looney]

Just wanted to say that sucks, never knew that was Tivo's policy, and seems pretty dumb... but i guess since the cable companies and networks aren't happy with them to begin with, they're doing what they can to appease them.

But why is it that your cable company won't provide you with a 2nd box?

 

[jammur21]

Pay the lifetime membership and then ebay it?

Or try buying one of those universal remotes with the IR (infrared) remote codes printed in the back. Look for your box maker and there whould be a code given for your box. Usually there are one or two codes for each brand/model. Then look for that same code in one of the other major cablebox manufacturers' code list.

Let's say you find a match for a Phillips 868 (making this up), then input that cable box as your cable box in TiVo setup. There is not much to the IR codes, nor the cable box (I'm assuming just needed for channel changing purposes) so this might work for you.

ReplayTV has a built in tuner so you could run the Coaxial (cable TV) cable straight into your ReplayTv, then to your TV with no cable box. However then you would lose any added "benefits" that you may or may not be getting with the use of your 3rd party box (not saying you are or aren't).