As TiVo attempts to break into the streaming market, a number of early TiVo Stream 4K concerns have surfaced. Customer feedback on the TiVo and Channels communities are a bit mixed, with much of the expressed positivity directed towards Android TV (new to many), low $50 price point, and TiVo’s general aggregation of content from select app partners. On the flip side, some expect more of the aggregation, including meta data and deeper app linkage, with the TiVo guide seemingly the target of most disappointment. In fact, let’s start our run-down of issues there:
- Limited AirTV tuner support
One of TiVo’s primary Stream selling points is the presentation of Sling TV alongside TiVo+ content within their guide. Unfortunately, not all of Sling TV is available within the guide — specifically: AirTV locals are noticeably absent, requiring users to leave the TiVo interface and manually launch the Sling TV app… as they would on any other streamer, like Roku.
- HDMI CEC Issues
HDMI CEC has been flakey. Of course, it’s always been flakey, but seems particularly bad here with the TiVo Stream 4K turning on televisions that were expected to stay off. Further, CEC seems to work on some televisions, but not others. Or works… until it doesn’t. Further, it doesn’t sound like there are many IR remote control options to fall back on. TiVo indicates a CEC fix is in the works.
- All HDR
All content is forced into HDR and, as two folks commented here, it’s a sub-optimal approach that can result in inaccurate color/presentation and an adaptive SDR option needs to be made available as Apple TV and Fire TV provide.
(Thanks to Seth, again, for the photo!)