Media Server Reviews

Bolt has the potential to let you down due to a limitation of Cable- CARD, the conditional access card for watching cable channels. Two days after a new episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit aired, I watched it on TiVo—only to discover that the story and characters crossed over to the following broadcast, Chicago P.D., which I hadn’t recorded. I was unable to access the network on-demand channels through TiVo. Luckily, I had the FiOS DVR hooked up to the same TV, and I was able to play the show on-demand without budging from the couch. Although the episode was free to watch, fast-forwarding was disabled, so I had to wait out the commercials. Both shows were billed as one-hour dramas, but it took 59 minutes to watch Chicago P.D. on-demand via the cable box compared with just 32 minutes for SVU with SkipMode and QuickMode deployed on Bolt.

According to TiVo, the on-demand workaround for viewers blocked by CableCARD is Internet Protocol delivery. However, that requires various contractual agreements specific to the network, cable system, and device. Unlike my experience with NBC on-demand, I had better luck watching HBO on-demand through my Bolt box. I found HBO Go listed under TiVo’s menu for Find TV, Movies & Video. Once I authenticated my FiOS HBO subscription from a code displayed by TiVo on my TV screen (which I then entered into a browser on my iPad), I could use Bolt to choose from the HBO catalog and stream the poignant documentary Becoming Mike Nichols at will.

Unified Theory
TiVo appropriately uses the phrase “unified entertainment system” to indicate that Bolt is much more than a hard disk recorder. As an Internet video and music receiver, it allows you to watch lots of top-notch online video content. The Bolt systems are the only TiVo models compatible with 4K/UHD. Currently, 4K programming can be streamed from Netflix and YouTube. Music choices include Pandora and Spotify. An account is required to access most online services.

Being able to search across cable and Internet video sources is helpful since you’ll know—thanks to TiVo’s two-weeks-out program guide—whether to record an upcoming movie from cable, save a title to a watch list, or stream it instantly from an online service. Besides titles and names, you can put in keywords. As soon as I typed in glut, seeking cooking shows featuring gluten-free food, TiVo returned an America’s Test Kitchen episode included with my Amazon Prime subscription.

As a media receiver capable of streaming content stored on a computer in another room, Bolt includes the (belatedly added) ability to show your photos and play music at the same time. And it can stream home videos from your computer, too, which wasn’t even an option in the past. It accomplishes these tasks by ditching its own TiVo Desktop utility and outsourcing home network streaming to the Plex Media Server you install on your computer.

If you’re a new TiVo user, the company won’t be giving you its TiVo Desktop computer software. This had enabled owners of older models to copy non-protected recorded shows to a PC via their home network and to designate photos and music stored on the PC for streaming back to TiVo. Still, TiVo vets may be interested to know that I was able to use the six-year-old version on my PC to copy most recordings from Bolt over my network.

In any event, TiVo now has better ways for Bolt users to share content to other screens. Using the browser on a Windows or Mac computer on your network and signing onto your TiVo Online account, you can watch a live or recorded show and set recordings. While I streamed Join or Die with Craig Ferguson from the History Channel to the 23-inch high-def computer screen in my home office, my wife watched Chopped from the Food Network on the 50-inch screen in our living room.

I also installed TiVo’s Android and iOS apps on my phone and tablet and had the same full access to Bolt as I did from my PC. Since we’re a one-TV household with two people sometimes fighting over what to watch, the ability to extend TiVo to mobile screens and a PC through multiple rooms was a blessing. Bolt supports two simultaneous streams to other devices. (Alas, SkipMode and QuickMode are unavailable on other devices.) Using a remote screen to watch a live program triggers Bolt to record the show. You can also use the mobile app as a remote, with a touch- sensitive program guide.

Commuters and parents determined to keep kids entertained on trips should be glad to hear that Bolt supports the ability to transfer shows to a tablet or phone for viewing offline. Disappointment ensued, however, when I tried to watch Bolt programs on my tablet and phone from afar. Tapping into free Wi-Fi at the public library, I was met by this message: “Your TiVo DVR does not support out-of-home streaming.” According to TiVo, a Bolt software update that was expected in March supports out-of-home download of content, and a further update before summer will support out-of-home streaming of content.

The first year of TiVo service is included in the Bolt purchase price. Subsequently, users can choose a subscription of $15/month or $150/year (the latter equaling $12.50/month) or a one-time payment of $600. By owning a Bolt, you can save the cost of leasing a cable box, but your cable operator will charge $2 to $5 each month to lease a CableCARD.

With Bolt, TiVo seamlessly integrates a vast array of cable and online offerings, makes it easy to obliterate ad glut, and embraces our mobile screens. In so doing, TiVo has managed to reawaken the thrill I felt at the mil- lennium when the DVR rendered the VCR obsolete and empowered viewers like never before.