Tivo Bolt Vox DVR review New look, same old app problem.
As time goes by, TiVo gets harder to love. The cable-box DVRs for which TiVo serves as an alternative are becoming more sophisticated, with modern interfaces, voice search, and built-in streaming apps. Forgoing cable entirely is also getting easier, thanks to a proliferation of streaming services and new over-the-air DVR solutions. TiVo’s consumer hardware business is getting squeezed from both directions.
The TiVo Bolt Vox is an attempt to push back. Like the existing TiVo Bolt, the Vox serves as either a DVR for cable subscribers or a way to record free over-the-air channels from an antenna. Its main addition is a new remote with voice search, and it also ships with a long-awaited software overhaul. (Existing TiVo Bolt and Roamio owners can upgrade to the new software for free, and buy the voice remote for $45.)
But while TiVo’s recording capabilities are still second-to-none, and its integration with streaming services is still a clever idea, the Bolt Vox’s additions only paper over deficiencies in TiVo’s app platform and hardware. Despite the new software and voice search, using a TiVo Bolt Vox still feels like stepping back into a bygone era.
