TiVo - BOLT 500GB DVR and Streaming Media Player - White

We had an earlier series model years ago, but then canceled our cable and thus didn't need it anymore. We love being back on Tivo and we're excited about all of the new features we found. It literally replaced 4 remote controls and made it almost unnecessary to have a smart TV. I say "almost" because on thing is definitely missing that would have gotten the Tivo Bolt all 5 stars: A Web browser! Why would you make such a great electronic device and not include the ubiquitous way that everyone on Earth is connected?

I was trying to reduce cost with my cable DVR, so i got this and love it very much, the cable card you need i was able to get for FREE from my cable company as its free if its your primary source of the cable ( i turned my old box in ) and the tivo serivce is $15 a month so its saving me about 30$ a month works like my cable DVR and still allows me to access ON demand and other streaming services.

I am a 16 year owner of Tivo systems. I just purchased my Tivo Bolt to get access to some of the newer features. The first thing you will notice about the Bolt is the size it is small maybe a little less then 2/3 the size of my Tivo Premier. I love that it fits right in my tv stand. Hooking it up was no problem I am on the east coast and use Comcast so I just moved my tuner card from my older Tivo to the Bolt and when though TVIO set up I did not have to do the set up for the turner card. Once up and running I had to wait about 2 hours and I was able to go online and transfer my Tivo program record list from my old unit to the Bolt. I could have transferred any recordings I wanted also. I now have just the bolt running and I love it. One thing I love the best is when you watch a recorded show from a major station (abc cbs nbc etc..) as soon as a commercial break comes you hear a ding. That ding tells you if you press the green button "D" you skip all commercials and you are back to your show.

I love tivo. Our household cut the cord (and by cord I mean satellite) about a year ago and we purchased the Roamio OTA which was awesome. Both the Roamio and the Bolt incorporate all of the things we love, all our extra subscriptions (netflix, hulu, amazon video, youtube, plex, and the bolt included xfinity on demand with our cable subscription) We decided on the Bolt when we switched internet providers to Comcast, who offered better speeds for the same price with an added tv cable package as AT&T's JUST mediocre internet speeds (even after the first year promotional prices) so we would be saving money our first year and receive the added 140+ cable channel package and the same amount as just paying for 25 Mbps At&T offered after the year was over and having incredible upload and download speeds. Tivo is for people who know before hand they don't want anything but the provider providing the signal. I knew before hand I did not want to purchase any extra boxes, modems, routers from Comcast and I didn't really get the freedom to do so with att much less direct TV. If you have satellite you have to check and see if they offer tivo services in your area before you make your purchase. I would say the likely answer is no. I also have a TIVO mini in the living room. We don't get any of those extra charges for extra boxes or router and modem rental fees which is one of the things I love about TIVO. The con: There is a yearly fee on top of the purchase price you can either pay 14.99 a month (one-year commitment) or pay 149.99 for a year's service. If your household has more than 2 TV's it might be worth it because of the extra charges you get from the cable company's extra boxes, usually one is free and the rest are extra, Plus you get a tivo: searches every path to get the shows you want and makes pretty cool recommendations, records television for you, and as a person that hates commercials, it now offers one button skip commercials for some channels and shows (BTW it only works after the show has finished airing. So shows will only skip with the single skip button after the show has aired and ended completely) it comes in handy for some movies that air on certain channels. I love Tivo as a company, I have owned a tivo off an on since the early 2000's and was devastated when DirectTV stopped using them. if you are tech savvy you'll love it, I think you might even if you are not. Getting it connected to your computer through the plex app and having all your movies at your finger tips and all your subscriptions up on your tv without having to worry about roku, chromecast is a cool plus for us. Installation was a hassle because the Comcast guy had no idea what was happening and had no idea what the tivo was. You will need a tivo card (maybe a few) I ended up doing the installation on my own through the phone and had to pick up the 2 tivo cards. All and all it was well worth it.

The Tivo Bolt stands on its own. Compared to Cable co. DVRs ....well there is no comparison. Where most cable boxes are tuners with bolted on DVR Functionality, the Tivo is a far superior DVR that has cable box functionality. The best part is that it also is a very good streaming box and its 100% integrated. You can even record streaming channels. Its not quite an Apple TV or Roku from a streaming channel selection standpoint, but NetFlix and Amazon are there and thats what most people use. The Skip (commercials) mode function is incredible and worth the price alone. The DVR is snappy fast and 4K works great,. Best of all Tivo customer service is awesome - ask a question online, get and answer usually right away. The downside of the Bolt is you pay a fee for the service, but its still less than the rental of a cable box, and the warranty is extended for as long as you pay the service. I did not use an HDTV antenna, but the cable card install was so simple- but that depends on the cable company as well. The only other downside is that many of the advanced functions you will want over time have to be manually setup rather than the initial setup, but watch a few videos and its easy.

First time Tivo buyer. Great product that comes with numerous built in streaming apps. The DVR function was the main feature I was looking for. Features skip mode for those who don't like viewing commercials while watching recorded programs. Also has quick play where you can watch recordings at 30% faster time with adjusted audio. Some issues with set up that were a result of cable card problems but finally got that resolved.

This is my third Tivo and I bought it for my home office. I figured when I bought the Tivo that I would not watch that much TV on it so I opted for the smaller memory. Within a couple of weeks I had already purchased the memory expander. The reason for my 4 star review is two fold - 1. the unit hums constantly- audible in the room if the sound is off on the TV. I have gotten used to it, but it is still rather annoying. The other reason for my less than 5 star review is that you are forced to purchase the Tivo memory expander which only comes in a 1TB maximum size. I had hoped to transfer recordings from my Living room Tivo to save them on my office Tivo and if I did I would run out of space rather quickly. Overall I am quite satisfied with the unit just a few minor complaints keep me from awarding 5 stars.

The TiVo Bolt is the first TiVo to use 4K. There only dear drawback is I wish there were more tuners. The bolt comes with 4 tuners while ther are older version available with 8 tuners