Huge departure from the current experience. It seems like TiVo desperately wants to be your preferred recommendation engine, but I still have to wonder if anyone really pays attention to that. To date, their What to Watch feature has felt like more of a useless annoyance to me.
If Rovi would only get their guide data working properly, maybe this would be a good thing.
A dvr without good guide data, is almost useless.
Any news about when and which devices?
I think this looks amazing. But it’s such a huge departure, I can only imagine the amount of screaming we’re gonna hear.
I would have to see it in real life, but the My Shows section seems way more confusing then just a simple list like it is now. I don’t care about the What to Watch feature or predictive suggestions. I’ve had Tivo’s for 17 years and never used that or the browse tv feature. I just want a simple to use interface and lists look a lot easier to use then this. Who knows though maybe I’m wrong and I’ll love it on my box, but really skeptical at the moment.
scarymike23, no telling. They originally indicated it would launch last year, but here we are with the first deployment (Vodafone in Spain). I assume on the retail front the Bolt is a lock. If they follow recent update patterns, the Roamio and Premiere will get this and cloud DVR too. I suspect TiVo Marvik clients, like the Fire TV, will have the new interface from the get go.
I’m having a similar lukewarm response to the recommendation portion and continued disappointment in Rovi guide. However, being able to customize the main menu (with favorite apps, no less) is appealing. Also agree I have to live with it prior to passing judgement. Wonder if it’ll be an optional toggle for a time, like the HDUI.
“What to Watch” is probably the most useless feature for an advanced TiVo user.
No mention if this is for MSO or retail TiVo’s
Mike, she specifically mentions MSO in video and Vodafone is confirmed. I can also “mention” that it’s coming to retail. :)
Just mind-numbing the number of times Margret said “I” or “personal” during that presentation, in regards to a device that has no such concept.
Without user profiles none of this personalizes the interface at all, aside for single-user DVR homes. And given the recent history, the UI already had a big enough hill to climb given TiVo’s first attempts to integrate Rovi data.
Having guide data problems? Look, pretty pictures.
Looks alright but My Shows seems weirdly too simple and confusing at the same time. Scrolling left and right? What is that going to be like for big folders with a couple of full seasons worth of stuff in it? No season selection in view.
Reminds me of the X1 interface, a lot of horizontal scrolling. Let’s hope it doesn’t lag!
I’m super excited to teach my 6-year-old how to use a brand new interface to watch Curious George on Hulu and Dinotrux on Netflix.
Can’t really figure this out, but I sure hope simplicity isn’t sacrificed for the fancy….?
I have an MSO-provided TiVo, and the guide grid is a complete mess. Season/episode info is less consistent now, and many of the channel icons are missing, outdated or completely wrong.
How about fixing that damn My Show bug that add the category column back about every day and sorts by date?
@Jim (“Having guide data problems? Look, pretty pictures.”): Sadly, good one. ;)
I actually don’t mind the look of it, but if it comes to the Roamios, I sure hope it doesn’t lag.
I’ll speak up as a user who likes “What to Watch Now.” Wife and I like movies and this feature is great for us…not as a suggestion/recommendation engine but a good way to filter all movies currently showing so we choose from there.
Am I the only one who still is content with the original TiVo SD UI? Works correctly and quickly.
It’s kind of ironic that TiVo is borrowing features from Silicondust and Plex DVRs, since they opted not to use the traditional TV guide grid supposedly because of Rovi’s patents.
They should just leave the current interface alone! I absolutely hate the thumbnail view that everyone seems to be going to. It takes up a lot more room on the screen and, IMHO, makes it much more difficult to find the show that you want to watch. Change is not necessarily progress, and in this case the change is for the worse!
In the spirit of “simple lists are simple” I’d prefer to see Tivo implement “modes” (and user profiles) so I could switch between the traditional My Show / grid UI, Recommendation driven, Social driven, Topical navigation (e.g. Sports, Kids, etc.), etc. Sometimes I just want to sit down, click on a specific program and watch it.
I just want the guide data to work again. I want shows when they are added to hulu and netflix to show in the guide. I want the kid shows to go in the kids show box and not have to look for them in the all shows. Then i’ll take a new interface
“Also agree I have to live with it prior to passing judgement”
Oh, god. I no longer have to live with it to pass judgment. They destroyed the utility of My Shows. That’s what I love about the current TiVo UX, and they’ve simply destroyed it. Worst. UX. Ever.
“Wonder if it’ll be an optional toggle for a time, like the HDUI.”
OK. Now you suddenly have me scared, Dave. I thought this was definitely an optional choice, based on your previous reportage. What has changed to make you now wonder if it’ll be optional or not?
Mostly memory loss.
““What to Watch” is probably the most useless feature for an advanced TiVo user.”
I originally thought this as well, and found it pretty annoying/distracting to boot.
But then I discovered the setting that let me restrict WtW to shows already on the box. Now, I find it rather cool and useful.
“Mostly memory loss.”
Yeah. I almost included babby-induced sleep loss as an option.
So… Just to confirm…
That one-liner means that, as far as you know, we still think, or are sure, that this will be optional for current users?
Yeah, babby keeps me busy. I don’t remember ever knowing one way or another. However, from CES, TechHive indicated:
“The upgrade will be optional, but users won’t be able to downgrade once they’ve moved to the new interface.”
“I don’t remember ever knowing one way or another. However, from CES, TechHive indicated:”
Huh. That’s a less definitive state of knowledge than I would prefer. I should tweet at Margaret to see if she’ll confirm this. Or you should, if you feel like it and think she’d be more likely to respond to you.
I like the numbers on the menu, if that means that I can directly select items using number keys on the remote.
“I like the numbers on the menu, if that means that I can directly select items using number keys on the remote.”
You can already do this!!! It’s just not marked on the screen. I’m always using “2” to get to the To Do list.
I like it, it looks similar to the sliding block look that every app is going to and the thumbnails of what’s on the other channels is nice. Not everyone will like the tile look, but in a world where touch and tablets are becoming the norm I would say get used to it, it going to be around for a while. But, as to the name…, lets send a few Marvel
movies off to Tivo and let them discover why you don’t what to call this ‘Hydra’. :)
“You can already do this!!! It’s just not marked on the screen. I’m always using “2” to get to the To Do list.”
I know, but the new menu is customizable. That seems to indicate I can have a number go directly to Netflix, for example.
To be more specific, I am hoping this means I can take whatever functions I use most and put them on the main menu and get to them with one click, instead of always having to dig down into the menus to get to them.
“I know, but the new menu is customizable. That seems to indicate I can have a number go directly to Netflix, for example.”
Huh. Good point. I’m still not going to trade-off a coherent My Shows experience to get that feature under any circumstances, but YMMV.
“Am I the only one who still is content with the original TiVo SD UI? Works correctly and quickly.”
You’re not crazy. The S3 era SDUI is indeed just fine.
But the current UX, on hardware fast enough to run it snappily – aka not the Premiere – retains all the simplicity and snap of the SDUI, and adds lots and lots of really useful features. It’s an evolutionary advance with few to zero drawbacks.
Hydra, on the other hand…
Come on, no “Hail Hydra!” replies?
The only way the integrated list works “seamlessly”, as Margaret indicated, is if the apps are much snappier, and shows appear in the list when released. I find myself simply ignoring the streaming video additions to My Shows and OnePass, because it takes forever to load Netflix/Amazon, and you can’t easily/quickly bounce back and forth. The other issue is that shows that I have setup streaming OnePasses for don’t appear in my list for sometimes up to a week after they debut (and sometimes appear in the list at random intervals, even when no new instance of the show has been released).
I hope the new UX can solve that, but not expecting too much on that front. I do like customization, even without profiles, but I don’t like the tiles. Maybe they will allow us to simply choose tiles or text… I do love the larger live tv window, vs the smallish one that we have currently.
I have a very eloquent and long-winded response to the new interface.
Ugh.
“I have a very eloquent and long-winded response to the new interface. Ugh.”
Well said. But at least Margret confirmed it will indeed be an optional upgrade.
Due to an issue with Comcast repeatedly not bringing the correct cable cards when I moved from DC last year, I just have in and tried the X1. At first – I hated it! Now, I can’t imagine not having the voice remote. I’ve been watching (periodically) about the new TiVo boxes and have been tempted to find a way back, but honestly, I don’t know if I can give up the voice remote. I really miss being able to take ANY show I recorded with me (TiVo), but with the out of home streaming and ‘most’ things being able to be downloaded (much needed on long flights) on X1, I just don’t if TiVo can make me switch back without a voice remote. Am I the only one?
I’d like a smoother and higher definition scrub bar, but I like the current interface on my Romio more than what I saw in that video.
I’m only using it over the air right now, and four tuners lets me record more than I’m interested in watching. (If I hear about a new show I might be interested in, I set up a seasons pass, then delete it after watching a few episodes and deciding it’s not worth my time.) Having upgraded the HD to a 4tb drive, I’ve got stuff going back longer than I care to notice on the unit.
I think they are missing the Key to the future. The future is all about Streaming. There are about 500 100% free streaming feeds out there right now. Some are not full time. Some are just the Local TV Station Live News that is only on say at 6 or 10, but it all Free and Legal.
TIVO needs a Menu for all these or at lease a way for the “Operator” Customer to add them to their own list. I am not talking KODI here as it often has illegal copyrighted streams but I am talking something similar either in the GUIDE or as a App to have a MENU of all the hundreds of Live video streams. As a bonus you could add the Hundreds of live Web Cam feed maybe in an other app or guide.
I think the BOLT has the hardware to do all of this. They just need a Menu.
WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT? Well anyone can make a DVR, the CATV and DISH DVRS are getting about the same as a TIVO now a day. Tivo needs to do much better, a new GUI like this will not cut it, they need MORE and more and MORE free Streaming. Maybe they should buy ROKU or try to be like ROKU and always home grown video menus.
The video is EXACTLY why Rovi bought TiVo. This new interface is really about capturing business from MSO’s with Rovi’s–I mean TiVo’s new combined Rovi+TiVo patents and tech. Margaret seemed to be clearly addressing industry people with all sorts of those terms consumers don’t necessarily understand. We should not presume based upon this video that the retail TiVo’s will have a long life under the new Rovi mangement. If it does come to retail, we shall be the Beta Testers for this new UI for the MSO’s presumably making deals to use the “Powered by TiVo” experience.
I hope they don’t push this out to any of my TiVo’s with the latest being the Roamio line that I use. I prefer the current interface as it is, and I find nothing in the new UI that I see as an enhancement for the way I use and need TiVo. I suppose what is dizzying about the new UI is how it attempts to converge so much (content and more data) coming from so many places into being easily accessable using ONE button (at least I remember most things being ONE button to see), but that can’t be blamed on TiVo because attempting that is the very problem, or the problem is too much comes from too many different sources, so ANY companies attempt be it Comcast, Dish, or TiVo is in for some really OVERLY complicated abstract notions to accessing all that in ONE place. Currently, it is somewhat hard to let subscribers know where all the extra stuff is, although the the unified search and ONEPASS does at least attempt to tie at least ONE show together from multiple sites.
Lastly, the big thing for a while, and still is with TiVo (since day one), is the whole “Suggestions” or “Predictions” features. I just don’t find them useful for me be it from TiVo, Dish, Netflix, and Hulu. Rarely do ANY of them come close to predicting or suggesting stuff I am the least bit interested in viewing, and yet, there is a PATTERN to the stuff I like and watch, but none of them have cracked my personality. I know predicting is REALLY a big deal for those who have no new ideas of their own, and find the suggestions a huge positive feature, but I still can’t feel as if all these companies are putting in too much time into it, but they do so probably to keep their subscribers watching and paying the monthly bill for fear of them NOT finding anything to watch, and I do believe some media companies PAY to get in those suggestions and predictions. Heck I would sell and charge them. I’ve not seen this confirmed in the press, but I bet it is one of the dirty little secrets that puts money in the pocket of TiVo-like companies or Netflix, etc.
Sorry, for the long post, but I guess in summary, I find this new UI completely unecessary for us (well, at leasy ME) retail TiVo users and far too complicated to even think about getting used to. I just hope TiVo allows this as an option in the way HD and SD menus are today, so that I can keep my current TiVo UI that STILL DOES THE JOB quite well enough for me.
“I hope they don’t push this out to any of my TiVo’s with the latest being the Roamio line that I use.”
Please follow the thread, HarryKerryJr.
I guess I must have trained my TiVo boxes well through my thumbing shows up and down, as I really do get many good Suggestions from TiVo. Not everything, mind you, but enough to make it worth my while.
As a UI designer (I know, I know, I didn’t spend the design time on most of my own apps), after watching the video a few times I think they actually did some impressive work.
First, although it’s confusing for somebody watching (e.g. us looking at the demo video), I think it will be intuitive “feeling” for the person holding the remote, and that’s all that really matters.
Second, they actually did an ingenious solution to the “user profiles” problem with the recommendations… this is not “what to watch”…this is “what you usually watch right now”…it’s TiVo Suggestions evolved. If the TiVo learns this properly, then you’ll have something better than user profiles… instead it becomes “Thursday Family Movie Night,” “Saturday Morning Kids Cartoons,” and “Mom’s Sunday morning politics time.”
That said, they ignored several things, notably a UI design mantra: words are easier to recognize than icons. Thumbnails help for shows you don’t know, but your regular shows you know by name – which also takes up less space.
Similarly, I’m glad they kept the regular grid guide “for those that need it”… seeing multiple titles at a glance is much better than one channel at a time (of hundreds).
I do like that they made recording an unobtrusive single click on the guide with a “toast” popup on the bottom.
I think they also focused too much on one type of user. My wife is a Live-TV-only type user… I’m sure the recommendations will only list “live TV” rather than “you usually watch these three channels on live TV at this time of day.” And I am an impatient cheapskate type user and would rather not see any of the streaming content normally. I want it to assume I want see my own saved recordings from various locations rather than wade through streaming options, app loading, prices, logins, and buffering.
I’m disappointed that it looks so much like everybody else, but there’s something to be said for familiarity. If it’s good design, use it, and differentiate yourself with content.
And of course, I’m unhappy that they didn’t leave any space for HME apps, but I am not remotely surprised, either. Maybe I’ll finally start creating things that work in the Opera app world.
What I *DIDN’T* see is whether they truly merged things by listing the content recorded on your OTHER TiVos (or archived on pyTiVo) in that main listing with all the streaming content. If they missed that obvious feature AGAIN then they dropped another major differentiating opportunity.
“I think it will be intuitive “feeling” for the person holding the remote, and that’s all that really matters.”
Frankly, I think that’s a horrible attitude to take to UX design. It’s a very popular attitude at the moment, as first impressions take precedence over all other priorities. But I think, especially in a use-case-scenario like a DVR, long-term usability should take precedence.
And however intuitive this UX may “feel” the first time a newbie grabs the remote, long-term usability of, y’know, actually accessing your recordings seems disastrous. The current, quite good, “My Shows” UX seems as if it’s been destroyed sheerly for the sake of that first time intuitive feel.
But hey, I just want a kickass DVR. So, what the hell do I know?
@David Blackledge – I think your assessment is spot on. “profiles” are not great design if you can avoid them. A user has to back out of one and navigate into another one. I am not a fan on Netflix or even Plex. It is an extra click(s) that just annoy me.
“If” they can implement this predictive model well, and “if” they can figure out a way not to treat live TV guide users as second class citizens, they will have an interesting product.
I personally want the functionality of profiles, but would rather TiVo not create separate rooms like Netflix has.
That is what they are attempting and I think it is an interesting effort.
I’ve always found Suggestions to be useless. Designing a whole interface to emphasize Suggestions (what some algorithm decides on) can’t be a good thing.
I want an interface that focuses on the content I have chosen, not what some algorithm THINKS I want to watch.
Gregory… I’m the exact opposite. I want profiles. The problem with predictive time based stuff will be the deviations from a normal schedule. I don’t want TiVo to assume we watch cartoons at 4pm because the kids are around the first time I’m taking some time off from work and want to catch the news, or catch up on some show I DVR.
I use PlayStation Vue right now and have cut the cord, so no more TiVo usage, but one of the greatest features in Vue is profiles. When the TV turns on, it shows the 4 names of our family members. And if it’s my wife that logs in, she sees all her DVRed reality shows. But if it’s me, it’s nothing but great shows. :) Because it’s trivially quick to change profiles, it works great.
I would say that they need to do one or the other, the complexity of trying to do both won’t work out.
Scott G. Lewis. I think you misread my comment. I wasn’t commenting on Profiles. I don’t want/like it when interfaces devote major screen real estate to Suggestions. The app should keep track of shows I identify, not guess and “advertise” suggestions to me. This is a separate issue from profiles.
I think profiles are necessary when there are multiple people viewing same device.
Gregory… I read your comment right. I just meant to address that to the comment above yours by bradley. :)
That said, TiVo’s big claim to fame is the suggestions it can make (and the recordings it makes on your behalf). So I think it’s save to assume they will make that a big part of the UI emphasis.
I think profiles are necessary when there are multiple people viewing same device.
This seems obvious, to me, and made all the more clear by the confused “Watched Progress” bars in the existing TiVo UI, suggestions on the Discovery Bar that relate to what other people in the house like to watch, etc. It’s mind-numbing to me that TiVo hasn’t addressed this glaring deficiency in their 18 years of existence.
There are maybe 20 to 30 free sites that people actually want. The rest fall into that ‘What is that junk on Roku category’ The future is streaming and most of it worth having will be worth paying for.
Dearest Chucky, I had followed the thread (yeah, I know TiVo plans on pushing it out to retail TiVo’s), but my HOPE was that they chagne their minds about it, as companies often say they will push something out, only to decide NOT to after all. And that change of plans happen A LOT.
So, I repeat, “I hope TiVo [ultimately] does not push this new UI out to any of my TiVo’s–in the end–at the end of the day–a minuete to midnight–thinks better of it–gauging feedback and deciding it’s not worth upsetting things, etc., etc., etc., as Yule Brenner once said. However, I am almost certain they will has they need all us retail people to be their Beta testers before inking deals with MSO’s, and even satellite for all or parts of what this new UI can do and comes with (Dish recently made a deal with Rovi-TiVo to use Rovi’s–it was in the former Rovi patent portfolio, not the pre-Rovi’s TiVo patents) voice control technology.
So, don’t you worry your pretty little head about me following any threads. You just worry about getting your voluminus ego past those A380 aircraft hanger doors with no damage. We depend upon your usual intlligent, and relevant contributions, not posting as the site’s Phoebe Figalilly (I believe that’s Dave’s job :)) with presumptions of who may or may not be following a thread, please (well, since you were nice enough to use the word “please,” I though I would use, too). But should you ever feel the desire, you can perfrom such services where it would be greatly appreciated: Professor Everett and family are awaiting your arrival.
Dear HarryKerryJr, I was simply responding to this:
“I hope they don’t push this out to any of my TiVo’s” (my bolding)
They won’t. Unless you choose to have them do so. Thus, the whole “optional” thing upthread. Also, for all its sins, TiVo seems to have a rock solid track record at keeping its word on these type of issues. So, if you worry about TiVo eventually stabbing you in the back on your existing equipment with Hydra, I’d say there are better things to worry about.
The bigger problem, of course, is that this whole thing makes future TiVo’s look like they’re going to be a total usability mess, if you ever want/need to upgrade. But with the new regime running the FCC, I’d say the status of CableCARD, any replacement for CableCARD, and thus the entire existence of retail DVR’s looks incredibly grim. So the issue of future retail hardware seems unfortunately moot.
Best,
-Chucky
Can’t be worse than the current interface unless it’s laggy. With a few exceptions I have been wholly disappointed with the Bolt interface. It’s too often laggy and I have to press to many arrows to get around. I love the idea of a customizable interface where I can put links to the features I use.
Unlike others I am optimistic about the whole time of day/week/season etc. interact. iOS presents apps on the pull down screen based on apps I use at certain times of the day and I use it because it works well for me most of the time.
As a Canadian where most of the streaming services are NOT available I hope their increased integration doesn’t get in my way. Would love a faster/better Plex integration as I use plex every day. But based on the current Plex integration I am not optimistic.
Someone mentions an option for TIvo to show only suggestions on your device. Where is that option? The current suggestion engine is useless to me as it suggests things on services not available in Canada.
Also I’m glad I read this thread to hear others are having data issues. I thought it was her a other ‘Screw the Canadians’ thinf. The bold used to separate out the two dozen or so children’s shows we record but that is completely broken now. It only really fell apart in the last couple weeks.
iOS presents apps on the pull down screen based on apps I use at certain times of the day and I use it because it works well for me most of the time.
That’s partly due to your iOS device having a single-user, I suspect. I’m skeptical that TiVo’s new tech will be able to figure out our setup with 5+ users and 10+ TiVo devices.
Do we have any idea if any additional streaming services or apps are coming with the Hydra interface? As a Roamio OTA user, access to more varied and available streaming platforms, and integration of those platforms into the interface is really what makes Tivo a lock in my book.
Sweet!! I’ll be looking forward to this!!
More Hydra action here:
“More Hydra action here:”
1) Given that this video doesn’t get into the destruction of the “My Shows” functionality, which to my mind, is the core of the entire DVR experience, it looks great! (I mean, accessing your recordings is such a minor part of what a DVR does, so I can’t see this being a problem.)
2) I do question how doing the whole Hydra UI in Portuguese only will play in the US market, but I assume TiVo knows what it’s doing.
Ok two questions. One, when is it coming to Roamio and Premiere? And two, will the Mini also get this amazing UI?
Noone knows when it will be release, DebiLee… More than likely not until 2018, considering that it should of been released by now if they had their act together
I have been a Tivo customer for almost 17 years and what frustrating thing has been the slowness of updating the UI. Up to this Hydra, the UI has not really changed much in the past 17 years. Its improved some, has not really taken real advantage of HD TV resolution. I read about this new interface last year and back then it was will they or won’t they. Only time will tell when they release the next update but its exciting. Its very different, would take a lot to get use to but I think once the training wheels are off this could be a great thing for Tivo… One thing I hope, Margret Schmidt was talking about the App section and the ability to put your favorite apps here to access. I see HBO Go in the main menu and hope this is controllable by the user and not the provider only. That will be a big plus. I want the UI to be customizable more for the UI for the user experience not for the provider experience. I also hope with this update. Companies like Netflix and HBO can push down updates to their app to keep them current and not wait for Tivo to push down updates. Services like Netflix lag in functionality on Tivo since its a while before you see updates to the UI for things such as Netflix… Looking forward to an hopeful great update from Tivo with the UI…
FireTV and similar streaming boxes don’t have enough buttons on the remote for some of this UI. You can’t go left & right to get info overlayed on your video, when the left and right buttons are RW and FF.
So the full UI above cannot be done on Maverick if streaming boxes are their target.
Huge departure from the current experience. It seems like TiVo desperately wants to be your preferred recommendation engine, but I still have to wonder if anyone really pays attention to that. To date, their What to Watch feature has felt like more of a useless annoyance to me.
If Rovi would only get their guide data working properly, maybe this would be a good thing.
A dvr without good guide data, is almost useless.
Any news about when and which devices?
I think this looks amazing. But it’s such a huge departure, I can only imagine the amount of screaming we’re gonna hear.
I would have to see it in real life, but the My Shows section seems way more confusing then just a simple list like it is now. I don’t care about the What to Watch feature or predictive suggestions. I’ve had Tivo’s for 17 years and never used that or the browse tv feature. I just want a simple to use interface and lists look a lot easier to use then this. Who knows though maybe I’m wrong and I’ll love it on my box, but really skeptical at the moment.
scarymike23, no telling. They originally indicated it would launch last year, but here we are with the first deployment (Vodafone in Spain). I assume on the retail front the Bolt is a lock. If they follow recent update patterns, the Roamio and Premiere will get this and cloud DVR too. I suspect TiVo Marvik clients, like the Fire TV, will have the new interface from the get go.
I’m having a similar lukewarm response to the recommendation portion and continued disappointment in Rovi guide. However, being able to customize the main menu (with favorite apps, no less) is appealing. Also agree I have to live with it prior to passing judgement. Wonder if it’ll be an optional toggle for a time, like the HDUI.
Here’s my prior Hydra coverage:
https://zatznotfunny.com/2016-09/tivo-unveils-new-interface-completing-existing/
https://zatznotfunny.com/2017-01/tivo-hydra-interface/
“What to Watch” is probably the most useless feature for an advanced TiVo user.
No mention if this is for MSO or retail TiVo’s
Mike, she specifically mentions MSO in video and Vodafone is confirmed. I can also “mention” that it’s coming to retail. :)
Just mind-numbing the number of times Margret said “I” or “personal” during that presentation, in regards to a device that has no such concept.
Without user profiles none of this personalizes the interface at all, aside for single-user DVR homes. And given the recent history, the UI already had a big enough hill to climb given TiVo’s first attempts to integrate Rovi data.
Having guide data problems? Look, pretty pictures.
Looks alright but My Shows seems weirdly too simple and confusing at the same time. Scrolling left and right? What is that going to be like for big folders with a couple of full seasons worth of stuff in it? No season selection in view.
Reminds me of the X1 interface, a lot of horizontal scrolling. Let’s hope it doesn’t lag!
I’m super excited to teach my 6-year-old how to use a brand new interface to watch Curious George on Hulu and Dinotrux on Netflix.
Can’t really figure this out, but I sure hope simplicity isn’t sacrificed for the fancy….?
I have an MSO-provided TiVo, and the guide grid is a complete mess. Season/episode info is less consistent now, and many of the channel icons are missing, outdated or completely wrong.
How about fixing that damn My Show bug that add the category column back about every day and sorts by date?
@Jim (“Having guide data problems? Look, pretty pictures.”): Sadly, good one. ;)
I actually don’t mind the look of it, but if it comes to the Roamios, I sure hope it doesn’t lag.
I’ll speak up as a user who likes “What to Watch Now.” Wife and I like movies and this feature is great for us…not as a suggestion/recommendation engine but a good way to filter all movies currently showing so we choose from there.
Am I the only one who still is content with the original TiVo SD UI? Works correctly and quickly.
It’s kind of ironic that TiVo is borrowing features from Silicondust and Plex DVRs, since they opted not to use the traditional TV guide grid supposedly because of Rovi’s patents.
They should just leave the current interface alone! I absolutely hate the thumbnail view that everyone seems to be going to. It takes up a lot more room on the screen and, IMHO, makes it much more difficult to find the show that you want to watch. Change is not necessarily progress, and in this case the change is for the worse!
In the spirit of “simple lists are simple” I’d prefer to see Tivo implement “modes” (and user profiles) so I could switch between the traditional My Show / grid UI, Recommendation driven, Social driven, Topical navigation (e.g. Sports, Kids, etc.), etc. Sometimes I just want to sit down, click on a specific program and watch it.
I just want the guide data to work again. I want shows when they are added to hulu and netflix to show in the guide. I want the kid shows to go in the kids show box and not have to look for them in the all shows. Then i’ll take a new interface
“Also agree I have to live with it prior to passing judgement”
Oh, god. I no longer have to live with it to pass judgment. They destroyed the utility of My Shows. That’s what I love about the current TiVo UX, and they’ve simply destroyed it. Worst. UX. Ever.
“Wonder if it’ll be an optional toggle for a time, like the HDUI.”
OK. Now you suddenly have me scared, Dave. I thought this was definitely an optional choice, based on your previous reportage. What has changed to make you now wonder if it’ll be optional or not?
Mostly memory loss.
““What to Watch” is probably the most useless feature for an advanced TiVo user.”
I originally thought this as well, and found it pretty annoying/distracting to boot.
But then I discovered the setting that let me restrict WtW to shows already on the box. Now, I find it rather cool and useful.
“Mostly memory loss.”
Yeah. I almost included babby-induced sleep loss as an option.
So… Just to confirm…
That one-liner means that, as far as you know, we still think, or are sure, that this will be optional for current users?
Yeah, babby keeps me busy. I don’t remember ever knowing one way or another. However, from CES, TechHive indicated:
“The upgrade will be optional, but users won’t be able to downgrade once they’ve moved to the new interface.”
“I don’t remember ever knowing one way or another. However, from CES, TechHive indicated:”
Huh. That’s a less definitive state of knowledge than I would prefer. I should tweet at Margaret to see if she’ll confirm this. Or you should, if you feel like it and think she’d be more likely to respond to you.
I like the numbers on the menu, if that means that I can directly select items using number keys on the remote.
“I like the numbers on the menu, if that means that I can directly select items using number keys on the remote.”
You can already do this!!! It’s just not marked on the screen. I’m always using “2” to get to the To Do list.
I like it, it looks similar to the sliding block look that every app is going to and the thumbnails of what’s on the other channels is nice. Not everyone will like the tile look, but in a world where touch and tablets are becoming the norm I would say get used to it, it going to be around for a while. But, as to the name…, lets send a few Marvel
movies off to Tivo and let them discover why you don’t what to call this ‘Hydra’. :)
“You can already do this!!! It’s just not marked on the screen. I’m always using “2” to get to the To Do list.”
I know, but the new menu is customizable. That seems to indicate I can have a number go directly to Netflix, for example.
To be more specific, I am hoping this means I can take whatever functions I use most and put them on the main menu and get to them with one click, instead of always having to dig down into the menus to get to them.
“I know, but the new menu is customizable. That seems to indicate I can have a number go directly to Netflix, for example.”
Huh. Good point. I’m still not going to trade-off a coherent My Shows experience to get that feature under any circumstances, but YMMV.
“Am I the only one who still is content with the original TiVo SD UI? Works correctly and quickly.”
You’re not crazy. The S3 era SDUI is indeed just fine.
But the current UX, on hardware fast enough to run it snappily – aka not the Premiere – retains all the simplicity and snap of the SDUI, and adds lots and lots of really useful features. It’s an evolutionary advance with few to zero drawbacks.
Hydra, on the other hand…
Come on, no “Hail Hydra!” replies?
The only way the integrated list works “seamlessly”, as Margaret indicated, is if the apps are much snappier, and shows appear in the list when released. I find myself simply ignoring the streaming video additions to My Shows and OnePass, because it takes forever to load Netflix/Amazon, and you can’t easily/quickly bounce back and forth. The other issue is that shows that I have setup streaming OnePasses for don’t appear in my list for sometimes up to a week after they debut (and sometimes appear in the list at random intervals, even when no new instance of the show has been released).
I hope the new UX can solve that, but not expecting too much on that front. I do like customization, even without profiles, but I don’t like the tiles. Maybe they will allow us to simply choose tiles or text… I do love the larger live tv window, vs the smallish one that we have currently.
I have a very eloquent and long-winded response to the new interface.
Ugh.
“I have a very eloquent and long-winded response to the new interface. Ugh.”
Well said. But at least Margret confirmed it will indeed be an optional upgrade.
Due to an issue with Comcast repeatedly not bringing the correct cable cards when I moved from DC last year, I just have in and tried the X1. At first – I hated it! Now, I can’t imagine not having the voice remote. I’ve been watching (periodically) about the new TiVo boxes and have been tempted to find a way back, but honestly, I don’t know if I can give up the voice remote. I really miss being able to take ANY show I recorded with me (TiVo), but with the out of home streaming and ‘most’ things being able to be downloaded (much needed on long flights) on X1, I just don’t if TiVo can make me switch back without a voice remote. Am I the only one?
I’d like a smoother and higher definition scrub bar, but I like the current interface on my Romio more than what I saw in that video.
I’m only using it over the air right now, and four tuners lets me record more than I’m interested in watching. (If I hear about a new show I might be interested in, I set up a seasons pass, then delete it after watching a few episodes and deciding it’s not worth my time.) Having upgraded the HD to a 4tb drive, I’ve got stuff going back longer than I care to notice on the unit.
I think they are missing the Key to the future. The future is all about Streaming. There are about 500 100% free streaming feeds out there right now. Some are not full time. Some are just the Local TV Station Live News that is only on say at 6 or 10, but it all Free and Legal.
TIVO needs a Menu for all these or at lease a way for the “Operator” Customer to add them to their own list. I am not talking KODI here as it often has illegal copyrighted streams but I am talking something similar either in the GUIDE or as a App to have a MENU of all the hundreds of Live video streams. As a bonus you could add the Hundreds of live Web Cam feed maybe in an other app or guide.
I think the BOLT has the hardware to do all of this. They just need a Menu.
WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT? Well anyone can make a DVR, the CATV and DISH DVRS are getting about the same as a TIVO now a day. Tivo needs to do much better, a new GUI like this will not cut it, they need MORE and more and MORE free Streaming. Maybe they should buy ROKU or try to be like ROKU and always home grown video menus.
The video is EXACTLY why Rovi bought TiVo. This new interface is really about capturing business from MSO’s with Rovi’s–I mean TiVo’s new combined Rovi+TiVo patents and tech. Margaret seemed to be clearly addressing industry people with all sorts of those terms consumers don’t necessarily understand. We should not presume based upon this video that the retail TiVo’s will have a long life under the new Rovi mangement. If it does come to retail, we shall be the Beta Testers for this new UI for the MSO’s presumably making deals to use the “Powered by TiVo” experience.
I hope they don’t push this out to any of my TiVo’s with the latest being the Roamio line that I use. I prefer the current interface as it is, and I find nothing in the new UI that I see as an enhancement for the way I use and need TiVo. I suppose what is dizzying about the new UI is how it attempts to converge so much (content and more data) coming from so many places into being easily accessable using ONE button (at least I remember most things being ONE button to see), but that can’t be blamed on TiVo because attempting that is the very problem, or the problem is too much comes from too many different sources, so ANY companies attempt be it Comcast, Dish, or TiVo is in for some really OVERLY complicated abstract notions to accessing all that in ONE place. Currently, it is somewhat hard to let subscribers know where all the extra stuff is, although the the unified search and ONEPASS does at least attempt to tie at least ONE show together from multiple sites.
Lastly, the big thing for a while, and still is with TiVo (since day one), is the whole “Suggestions” or “Predictions” features. I just don’t find them useful for me be it from TiVo, Dish, Netflix, and Hulu. Rarely do ANY of them come close to predicting or suggesting stuff I am the least bit interested in viewing, and yet, there is a PATTERN to the stuff I like and watch, but none of them have cracked my personality. I know predicting is REALLY a big deal for those who have no new ideas of their own, and find the suggestions a huge positive feature, but I still can’t feel as if all these companies are putting in too much time into it, but they do so probably to keep their subscribers watching and paying the monthly bill for fear of them NOT finding anything to watch, and I do believe some media companies PAY to get in those suggestions and predictions. Heck I would sell and charge them. I’ve not seen this confirmed in the press, but I bet it is one of the dirty little secrets that puts money in the pocket of TiVo-like companies or Netflix, etc.
Sorry, for the long post, but I guess in summary, I find this new UI completely unecessary for us (well, at leasy ME) retail TiVo users and far too complicated to even think about getting used to. I just hope TiVo allows this as an option in the way HD and SD menus are today, so that I can keep my current TiVo UI that STILL DOES THE JOB quite well enough for me.
“I hope they don’t push this out to any of my TiVo’s with the latest being the Roamio line that I use.”
Please follow the thread, HarryKerryJr.
I guess I must have trained my TiVo boxes well through my thumbing shows up and down, as I really do get many good Suggestions from TiVo. Not everything, mind you, but enough to make it worth my while.
As a UI designer (I know, I know, I didn’t spend the design time on most of my own apps), after watching the video a few times I think they actually did some impressive work.
First, although it’s confusing for somebody watching (e.g. us looking at the demo video), I think it will be intuitive “feeling” for the person holding the remote, and that’s all that really matters.
Second, they actually did an ingenious solution to the “user profiles” problem with the recommendations… this is not “what to watch”…this is “what you usually watch right now”…it’s TiVo Suggestions evolved. If the TiVo learns this properly, then you’ll have something better than user profiles… instead it becomes “Thursday Family Movie Night,” “Saturday Morning Kids Cartoons,” and “Mom’s Sunday morning politics time.”
That said, they ignored several things, notably a UI design mantra: words are easier to recognize than icons. Thumbnails help for shows you don’t know, but your regular shows you know by name – which also takes up less space.
Similarly, I’m glad they kept the regular grid guide “for those that need it”… seeing multiple titles at a glance is much better than one channel at a time (of hundreds).
I do like that they made recording an unobtrusive single click on the guide with a “toast” popup on the bottom.
I think they also focused too much on one type of user. My wife is a Live-TV-only type user… I’m sure the recommendations will only list “live TV” rather than “you usually watch these three channels on live TV at this time of day.” And I am an impatient cheapskate type user and would rather not see any of the streaming content normally. I want it to assume I want see my own saved recordings from various locations rather than wade through streaming options, app loading, prices, logins, and buffering.
I’m disappointed that it looks so much like everybody else, but there’s something to be said for familiarity. If it’s good design, use it, and differentiate yourself with content.
And of course, I’m unhappy that they didn’t leave any space for HME apps, but I am not remotely surprised, either. Maybe I’ll finally start creating things that work in the Opera app world.
What I *DIDN’T* see is whether they truly merged things by listing the content recorded on your OTHER TiVos (or archived on pyTiVo) in that main listing with all the streaming content. If they missed that obvious feature AGAIN then they dropped another major differentiating opportunity.
“I think it will be intuitive “feeling” for the person holding the remote, and that’s all that really matters.”
Frankly, I think that’s a horrible attitude to take to UX design. It’s a very popular attitude at the moment, as first impressions take precedence over all other priorities. But I think, especially in a use-case-scenario like a DVR, long-term usability should take precedence.
And however intuitive this UX may “feel” the first time a newbie grabs the remote, long-term usability of, y’know, actually accessing your recordings seems disastrous. The current, quite good, “My Shows” UX seems as if it’s been destroyed sheerly for the sake of that first time intuitive feel.
But hey, I just want a kickass DVR. So, what the hell do I know?
@David Blackledge – I think your assessment is spot on. “profiles” are not great design if you can avoid them. A user has to back out of one and navigate into another one. I am not a fan on Netflix or even Plex. It is an extra click(s) that just annoy me.
“If” they can implement this predictive model well, and “if” they can figure out a way not to treat live TV guide users as second class citizens, they will have an interesting product.
I personally want the functionality of profiles, but would rather TiVo not create separate rooms like Netflix has.
That is what they are attempting and I think it is an interesting effort.
I’ve always found Suggestions to be useless. Designing a whole interface to emphasize Suggestions (what some algorithm decides on) can’t be a good thing.
I want an interface that focuses on the content I have chosen, not what some algorithm THINKS I want to watch.
Gregory… I’m the exact opposite. I want profiles. The problem with predictive time based stuff will be the deviations from a normal schedule. I don’t want TiVo to assume we watch cartoons at 4pm because the kids are around the first time I’m taking some time off from work and want to catch the news, or catch up on some show I DVR.
I use PlayStation Vue right now and have cut the cord, so no more TiVo usage, but one of the greatest features in Vue is profiles. When the TV turns on, it shows the 4 names of our family members. And if it’s my wife that logs in, she sees all her DVRed reality shows. But if it’s me, it’s nothing but great shows. :) Because it’s trivially quick to change profiles, it works great.
I would say that they need to do one or the other, the complexity of trying to do both won’t work out.
Scott G. Lewis. I think you misread my comment. I wasn’t commenting on Profiles. I don’t want/like it when interfaces devote major screen real estate to Suggestions. The app should keep track of shows I identify, not guess and “advertise” suggestions to me. This is a separate issue from profiles.
I think profiles are necessary when there are multiple people viewing same device.
Gregory… I read your comment right. I just meant to address that to the comment above yours by bradley. :)
That said, TiVo’s big claim to fame is the suggestions it can make (and the recordings it makes on your behalf). So I think it’s save to assume they will make that a big part of the UI emphasis.
This seems obvious, to me, and made all the more clear by the confused “Watched Progress” bars in the existing TiVo UI, suggestions on the Discovery Bar that relate to what other people in the house like to watch, etc. It’s mind-numbing to me that TiVo hasn’t addressed this glaring deficiency in their 18 years of existence.
There are maybe 20 to 30 free sites that people actually want. The rest fall into that ‘What is that junk on Roku category’ The future is streaming and most of it worth having will be worth paying for.
Dearest Chucky, I had followed the thread (yeah, I know TiVo plans on pushing it out to retail TiVo’s), but my HOPE was that they chagne their minds about it, as companies often say they will push something out, only to decide NOT to after all. And that change of plans happen A LOT.
So, I repeat, “I hope TiVo [ultimately] does not push this new UI out to any of my TiVo’s–in the end–at the end of the day–a minuete to midnight–thinks better of it–gauging feedback and deciding it’s not worth upsetting things, etc., etc., etc., as Yule Brenner once said. However, I am almost certain they will has they need all us retail people to be their Beta testers before inking deals with MSO’s, and even satellite for all or parts of what this new UI can do and comes with (Dish recently made a deal with Rovi-TiVo to use Rovi’s–it was in the former Rovi patent portfolio, not the pre-Rovi’s TiVo patents) voice control technology.
So, don’t you worry your pretty little head about me following any threads. You just worry about getting your voluminus ego past those A380 aircraft hanger doors with no damage. We depend upon your usual intlligent, and relevant contributions, not posting as the site’s Phoebe Figalilly (I believe that’s Dave’s job :)) with presumptions of who may or may not be following a thread, please (well, since you were nice enough to use the word “please,” I though I would use, too). But should you ever feel the desire, you can perfrom such services where it would be greatly appreciated: Professor Everett and family are awaiting your arrival.
Dear HarryKerryJr, I was simply responding to this:
“I hope they don’t push this out to any of my TiVo’s” (my bolding)
They won’t. Unless you choose to have them do so. Thus, the whole “optional” thing upthread. Also, for all its sins, TiVo seems to have a rock solid track record at keeping its word on these type of issues. So, if you worry about TiVo eventually stabbing you in the back on your existing equipment with Hydra, I’d say there are better things to worry about.
The bigger problem, of course, is that this whole thing makes future TiVo’s look like they’re going to be a total usability mess, if you ever want/need to upgrade. But with the new regime running the FCC, I’d say the status of CableCARD, any replacement for CableCARD, and thus the entire existence of retail DVR’s looks incredibly grim. So the issue of future retail hardware seems unfortunately moot.
Best,
-Chucky
Can’t be worse than the current interface unless it’s laggy. With a few exceptions I have been wholly disappointed with the Bolt interface. It’s too often laggy and I have to press to many arrows to get around. I love the idea of a customizable interface where I can put links to the features I use.
Unlike others I am optimistic about the whole time of day/week/season etc. interact. iOS presents apps on the pull down screen based on apps I use at certain times of the day and I use it because it works well for me most of the time.
As a Canadian where most of the streaming services are NOT available I hope their increased integration doesn’t get in my way. Would love a faster/better Plex integration as I use plex every day. But based on the current Plex integration I am not optimistic.
Someone mentions an option for TIvo to show only suggestions on your device. Where is that option? The current suggestion engine is useless to me as it suggests things on services not available in Canada.
Also I’m glad I read this thread to hear others are having data issues. I thought it was her a other ‘Screw the Canadians’ thinf. The bold used to separate out the two dozen or so children’s shows we record but that is completely broken now. It only really fell apart in the last couple weeks.
That’s partly due to your iOS device having a single-user, I suspect. I’m skeptical that TiVo’s new tech will be able to figure out our setup with 5+ users and 10+ TiVo devices.
Do we have any idea if any additional streaming services or apps are coming with the Hydra interface? As a Roamio OTA user, access to more varied and available streaming platforms, and integration of those platforms into the interface is really what makes Tivo a lock in my book.
Sweet!! I’ll be looking forward to this!!
More Hydra action here:
“More Hydra action here:”
1) Given that this video doesn’t get into the destruction of the “My Shows” functionality, which to my mind, is the core of the entire DVR experience, it looks great! (I mean, accessing your recordings is such a minor part of what a DVR does, so I can’t see this being a problem.)
2) I do question how doing the whole Hydra UI in Portuguese only will play in the US market, but I assume TiVo knows what it’s doing.
Ok two questions. One, when is it coming to Roamio and Premiere? And two, will the Mini also get this amazing UI?
Noone knows when it will be release, DebiLee… More than likely not until 2018, considering that it should of been released by now if they had their act together
I have been a Tivo customer for almost 17 years and what frustrating thing has been the slowness of updating the UI. Up to this Hydra, the UI has not really changed much in the past 17 years. Its improved some, has not really taken real advantage of HD TV resolution. I read about this new interface last year and back then it was will they or won’t they. Only time will tell when they release the next update but its exciting. Its very different, would take a lot to get use to but I think once the training wheels are off this could be a great thing for Tivo… One thing I hope, Margret Schmidt was talking about the App section and the ability to put your favorite apps here to access. I see HBO Go in the main menu and hope this is controllable by the user and not the provider only. That will be a big plus. I want the UI to be customizable more for the UI for the user experience not for the provider experience. I also hope with this update. Companies like Netflix and HBO can push down updates to their app to keep them current and not wait for Tivo to push down updates. Services like Netflix lag in functionality on Tivo since its a while before you see updates to the UI for things such as Netflix… Looking forward to an hopeful great update from Tivo with the UI…
FireTV and similar streaming boxes don’t have enough buttons on the remote for some of this UI. You can’t go left & right to get info overlayed on your video, when the left and right buttons are RW and FF.
So the full UI above cannot be done on Maverick if streaming boxes are their target.