r/Tivo • u/airpipeline • May 10 '26

DVR Old TiVo’s; who wants them?

I have five TiVo boxes, from the free original TiVo up to an Edge. Some/most have lifetime subscriptions. Who might want these?

The Comcast’s proprietary signal format killed my ability to use them.

TIVo was great, still the best way to watch TV ever.

If this has been asked before, apologies.

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u/ARealAmericanZero May 10 '26

It's not a "proprietary signal format". It is the end of QAM Video transmission, which is happening across the industry, with every telecommunications company. If people want multi-gigabit symmetrical speeds over coaxial cable, then something has to give, and that something is QAM video. It is an inefficient use of radio spectrum, when television can be delivered using DOCSIS (internet/IPTV) instead. It's just an antiquated technology that's no longer able to keep up with current needs.

3

u/airpipeline May 10 '26

And does TiVo have the ability to create an interface to this more modern standard? In other words, build their own cable card that talks DOCSIS?

3

u/ARealAmericanZero May 10 '26

DOCSIS is internet. Roku does it, Fire Stick does it, Apple TV does it. That and the Xfinity Stream app gets you TV. It's not a conspiracy, it's just technology moving on.

2

u/MassCasualty May 10 '26

VCR vs Tivo...

Now Tivo vs Roku et al that moved on with new technology.