The digital video recorder known as TiVo was introduced in 1999 and as far as I was concerned, it was the greatest scientific breakthrough since Ben Franklin flew his kite in the rain. I immediately bought a Series 1 (or whatever they called it) and for about six months, I was the only person I knew who'd ever heard of such a thing. I demonstrated it for every friend who came by and every friend who came by asked, "Where do I get one?"
I loved my TiVo and all the many models of TiVo I have owned since. I still love TiVo but sometimes, you have to say goodbye to people or things that you love.
These days, most people have DVRs of some sort but few of them have TiVos. TiVo is still around and selling TiVos, this despite decades of predictions that the company would soon disappear. Such rumors began when most outifts that brought cable or satellite TV to your home introduced their own proprietary DVRs and supplied them to you free with your subscription. There's no doubt that TiVo's existence was threatened by these offerings.
But TiVo is still here, despite all forecasts of its demise. This, I would attribute to the fact that TiVos are smartly designed by smart people whereas the DVRs designed by others are designed by utter morons with the collective I.Q. of an earthworm. Or maybe it just felt that way the times I tried them.
I have had several different companies provide me with my TV signal over the last few decades. Beginning well before the turn of the century, whenever I had a problem with one — no picture, bad picture, missing channels, etc. — the first thing the TV provider would say I had to do was to junk my TiVos and install their DVRs. One technician who came out to fix things here took it upon himself to uninstall my TiVo and, install his company's DVR when I wasn't looking. "I've upgraded you," he proudly announced. I made him put things back the way he found them and then actually fix the problem.
I forget which company he was from. I do recall that when I had DirecTV — the satellite version — one of their guys told me I had to install their DVR because TiVo was going out of business. He knew this because he'd read an article in an industry journal or something…anyway, it was a lie. That was many decades ago, TiVo is still here and that man is currently an anchor on Newsmax. Most likely.
For the last decade or so, I've been a subscriber to a cable/Internet/phone system which shall remain unidentified in this post. Let's just say its name reminds you of autism. Through those years, I've spent way too much of my life on the phone to their Tech people and sometimes their Billing people…and sometimes, I can't reach either because of an Artificial Intelligence Phone Operator Voice that drops my calls, routes me to the wrong divisions, nags me to buy services I don't want or already have and/or leaves me on "hold" for what feels like hours at a time.
In one of my favorite movies, Billy Wilder's Ace in the Hole, there's a scene with a man who is trapped in a hillside cavern for many long days and nights. Workers are attempting to reach him with a powerful drill that pounds away at the rocks above him…and after days and days of hearing that pounding sound, over and over and over and over, he decides he can take it no longer. He would rather die than listen to that pounding for a minute longer.
That's kind of how I feel about listening to this company's "hold" music.
I took my Internet service to another provider and got a faster, better, more reliable connection for a better price. I took my phone service away from them and am happier now, as well. I was down to just getting my TV service from them but last week, I could not get the HBO I've been paying for and this is like the eighth time it's happened. Their tech folks are usually very nice and very competent when you can talk to one and they usually tell me they can't solve the problem unless I scrap my TiVo and use their DVR.
The way it's gone in the past is like this: I tell them I want to keep my TiVo and if we can't fix it, I'll cancel my service with their company. They then find a way to fix it. Then half the time two days later, UPS delivers me a box containing one of this cable company's DVRs that I did not request. Once or twice, I've given it a try. I've installed their device, played with it, decided my TiVo was much better, uninstalled their DVR and put it back in its box and had my assistant take it back to their store while I reconnected my beloved TiVo.
I shouldn't have to do this every time I want to watch or record John Oliver.
This last time, I spent around twenty minutes on the phone with a smart, affable tech guy discussing the problem. This time, he couldn't solve it and was just offering to send out a technician when suddenly, a different male voice said, "To whom do I have the pleasure of speaking?" The crackerjack phone service at the company from which I used to get my phone service had cut off the discussion-in-progress and connected me to a different guy in their tech division.
He had no idea how to get me back to the first guy and no notes from the call. He wanted me to start over with him but instead I asked him, "Please connect me to whoever I have to talk to in order to cancel my service. He said, "Really? According to my computer here, you've been with us for 41 years." Actually, I signed up with another company for Internet 41 years ago and when they went out of business, they passed me to another company.
And when that company went out of business, they passed me to another company. And when that company went out of business, they passed me to another company. And when that company went out of business, they passed me to another company. And I'm not sure how many more there were before I arrived at this company, nor can I imagine where they'd connect me if I'd stayed when as, when seems inevitable, they get out of the cable/TV/phone service and become a business that sprays your yard for mosquitoes…or something else they're more qualified to do. I made four instant decisions…
- Even if they could get my HBO working again — even if they'd refund me for all the weeks I was paying for it and couldn't watch it, which is something they told me they simply couldn't do — I couldn't deal with them any longer and…
- Even if I could still use my Tivo with them, there will soon come a day when I can't…
- And I don't know where to turn for a provider who can provide me a TV signal for my TiVo and so…
- Maybe it's time to abandon my TiVo and investigate streaming systems.
So that's what I'm doing now. I've severed all dealings with the cable company and am doing seven-day free trials of companies that will give me television programming and other goodies over my high-speed Internet. I shall use their DVR-in-the-cloud feature and learn to adapt. Please do not send me suggestions for streaming services or roof antennas or how to reconnect my TiVo somewhere it will do me good. I have to do this for myself. Mankind has survived for its entire existence by learning to adapt and I can do this. I think.