TiVo Premiere XL4 TCD758250 HD Digital Video Recorder

by TiVo

Product Features

• Four tuners to record four shows at once
• Up to 300 HD hours, up to 2,200 hours in SD
• TiVo Glo premium backlit remote
• Supports digital channels only, MoCA (multimedia over coax) bridge
• THX Certified for sound & video, Dolby 5.1

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Product Description

TiVo Premiere XL4 DVR

TV and web entertainment, made simple and searchable.

The most advanced and innovative DVR ever built, TiVo Premiere brings two worlds of entertainment together on a single screen. Its delightfully easy-to-use search and explore features enable you to maximize your cable subscription and take full advantage of seamlessly integrated web apps. It truly is the box to entertain.

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Meet the TiVo Premiere DVR family. We’ve got awesome, more awesome, and most awesome.

Experience TiVo Premiere

It looks easy because it is.

Each of Premiere's stunning menus was designed with ease-of-use in mind. They make navigating your virtually infinite entertainment choices simple, fun and intuitive.

* Broadband internet connection required and additional fees may apply for receipt of third-party services. Netflix unlimited membership required. See Netflix.com for details.
** TiVo Service Plan requirements (See tivo.com for details.) TiVo service is required and sold separately. No functionality is represented or should be expected without a paid subscription to the TiVo service.
† Designed for use only with digital cable systems. It does not receive analog programming, including over-the-air, and will not work with an over-the-air antenna. If you are unsure whether your cable operator's service provides digital simulcast of all analog programming, please contact your provider to determine whether it offers all-digital or digital simulcast service.
© 2012 TiVo Inc. All rights reserved. TiVo, the TiVo logo, the Thumbs Up logo, and the Thumbs Down logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of TiVo Inc. or its subsidiaries worldwide. iPhone and iPad are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. Android is a trademark of Google Inc. CableCARD is a trademarkof Cable Television Laboratories, Inc. Imagery from Tribune Media Services. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

215 of 219 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The best DVR on the market October 11, 2011

By Samuel J. Biller

I purchased a TiVo Premiere Elite box on launch day from Best Buy. I would have preferred to purchase on Amazon but it wasn't available. I was basically expecting a very similar experience to what is available on my TiVo Premiere. To my surprise the Elite has significantly improved performance most likely attributable to a new software build which enables dual-core support (14.9). This hasn't been completely confirmed but the Elite boots up in about 3 minutes while the traditional Premiere takes about 8 minutes to boot up. A software upgrade is probably coming to the entire Premiere platform which will increase performance on the Premiere to be equivalent to the Elite. The other pleasant surprise in the new software is the support for multi-room streaming in addition to the familiar multi-room view (transfer) that has been present in the TiVo since the beginning. The problem with transfer is the inability to transfer copy protected content. The streaming support gets around that limitation. On the hardware side of things the 2TB video optimized quiet hard drive from Western Digital works as expected and stores an enormous amount of video. Its been confirmed that the Elite includes a gigabit ethernet port so this is the first TiVo that exceeds the 100MB limit on ethernet. The Elite also includes MoCA technology which allows reliable whole-home connections over existing coaxial connections. As of this review there are some issues on the TiVo server side enabling the video on demand options so I will update the review when I can test that part of the experience. The High Definition User Interface (HDUI) menus are very snappy on the Elite compared to the Premiere. I highly recommend the Premiere Elite as the center of a whole home DVR experience....

10/28/2011 Update:
The problems associated with video on demand from Netflix, Amazon, etc. have been resolved. The multi-room streaming (MRS) which removes any issues associated with copy protected content has been disabled. I'm expecting TiVo to re-enable this in the next few weeks as this capability is starting to roll-out to TiVo Premiere boxes on the RCN cable network. The HDUI menus are definitely faster than the Premiere running 14.8 software but it has been acknowledged by TiVo and RCN that they are working on another software build that will offer a more significant improvement in menu speed. It has also been posted that TiVo is working on a 1080p Netflix app that offers an improved user experience.

11/19/2011 Update:
TiVo pushed a software update to all Elite's yesterday that brings the software to version 14.9.2. This update is mostly to resolve a number of bug fixes according to representatives of TiVo. Overall I remain very pleased with the Elite. TiVo has hinted on twitter that we will be getting a major software update in early 2012 which will hopefully update the feature set to be closer to the Virgin Media TiVo that is deployed in the UK.

2/4/2012 Update:
The major software update I hinted at in my November Update has gone live on all TiVo boxes. This is a dramatic software architecture change that makes the box even better. Unfortunately I can't add any more stars on my 5-star review. TiVo has also posted on their blog that updates to the Netflix and Youtube clients are being released this spring which will be a welcome change. Hulu Plus is now fully integrated into the TiVo Search and the user interface is much faster than it was on the 14.9.2 update. The new software is version 20.2.

6/11/2012 Update:
TiVo pushed a new software update to all TiVo Premiere (Series 4) boxes in May 2012 which replaces the Netflix app, the YouTube app, and adds Parental Controls to the high definition user interface (HDUI). There are also many bug fixes that improve the stability of the platform although there are a few users who are now reporting issues with Multi-Room Streaming (MRS). The one update that was most important to me was a fix for an Amazon Instant Video Pixelation/Macroblocking issue that is now fixed. TiVo has also released support for Comcast Xfinity On Demand in the San Francisco Bay Area and Greater Boston area which is a huge plus if you happen to be in those market areas. I'm looking forward to another software update later this summer or early fall which will add more high definition menu updates and improved support for the whole home DVR experience. This software update should accompany the release of a new TiVo Stream box and IP-only set top box. I'm interested in both boxes. The TiVo Stream transcodes live and recorded television for viewing and side-loading onto devices like my iPad. The IP set top allows a user to hijack a live tuner from the Elite/XL4 and watch live and recorded television on another TV without the need to purchase another Premiere box. This eliminates the need to have a CableCARD on that television which saves money.

11/6/2012 Update:
TiVo is pushing a new software update to TiVo Premiere (Series 4) boxes in November 2012 which further upgrades the user experience and performance of the boxes. The most visible change to the experience are three (3) new high definition screens. They are the Season Pass Manager, To Do List, and History. There are also new HD screens associated with scheduling manual recordings, and finding programs by time or channel. TiVo didn't just convert the screens to HD, they added functionality liek the ability to easily see conflicts in the To Do List. You'll also notice that you can now manage favorites and channels right from the Grid Guide and you can click left in the Grid Guide to go back in time which is something I've been wanting for a long time. When it comes to handling a multi-TiVo household, you now have better control of a remote Premiere DVR and the remote shows list is also in HD. You now have the ability to manage the remote DVR as well - this feature was likely established for the upcoming TiVo Mini IP Set Top box and the Preview non-DVR box that is already released to TiVo's cable partners. Another minor update is you can change the name of the DVR without the need to go to the TiVo web site. Since my last update, TiVo also released the TiVo Stream box (separate purchase required) that connects to your home network and allows you to stream your recordings or pseudo-live TV to iOS devices (Android coming in early 2013) from any Premiere that is hard-wired (MoCA or Ethernet) to your local network. Finally, TiVo has made a number of performance tweaks. My Elite/XL4 is noticeably faster (less sluggish) when navigating the menus. Season Pass re-ordering is now done in the background. There are many bug fixes as well but TiVo has not released the details on those. I will update this review again when TiVo released the Mini IP Set Top box to retail sometime next year with another software update for dynamic tuner hijacking. Read more ›

48 of 50 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Holy MAC, FOUR Tuners, this is unreal! October 30, 2011

By Sincerely Yours TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Amazon Verified Purchase

We are the TiVo family: as it is all in the timing, we were seeking to get a new TiVo and so glad we waited for the few weeks as the new model revealed the four tuners! Very easy to set up and we are Verizon Fios Customer and now you can grab a cable card from the Verizon shop or pay postal for it to be delivered to you.; now you can initiative the cable card on your own via the automated phone or website. It took all of 15 minutes to activate the cable card! Sooo easy. no more making an appointment with a technician.

So with four tuners it means we can record four channels simultaneously, record one Internet program whilst watching a pre-recorded show!! We were coming up with needing to record three programs and our two tuner TiVo couldn't cope! So much storage that we don't need to buy an external hard drive to store the HD program that we have for our TiVo Series 3.

We love that out TiVo series three and Elite can talk to each other. We notices if we started watching one program in one room, we can pick it up where we left off on the other TiVo! How cool is this. The transfer replay quality is great as if your were watching it from the original TiVo that recorded the show. Note that transfer is wireless and hence if you have N then it will be a lot quicker.

We love that the IPad has an app for TiVo and now I can search for programs to record without interrupting the program that we are watching. How cool is that! The new TiVo interface allows a smaller screen of the program that you are watching (top right of TV screen) whilst you are searching for shows to record or to search in 'my shows' that were previously recorded....

Didnt even think about it, we bought the lifetime license for it as most TiVo last about 7 to 8 years for us; so it really pays off for us.

Only wished they kept the clock on the front screen! Read more ›

47 of 49 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Disappointed - UPDATE June 2013 August 30, 2012

By M. Thomas

Amazon Verified Purchase

I ordered the Tivo XL4 because, let's face it, who wouldn't want 4 tuners - especially with my wife and I and all the shows we watch? As a Cablevision customer, I was pleasantly surprised when I was able to switch the cable card from my oldest model, the HD and seamlessly pair it to the XL4 over the phone. Then, I was amazed at the boot up time of but a few minutes - compared to the other models which you could shower, shave and eat breakfast and it still wouldn't be finished. Using the iPad Tivo app, I was able to easily transfer all of our season passes to the XL4 and cancel them on the HD XL, which will now be my secondary machine. I like the the look of the new interface and many of the new added features. After that - the fun ends. For all of the chest-beating by Tivo about how revolutionary the XL 4 is, I have found it to be incredibly SLOW when trying to work the menus and select programs to watch. It goes at a snail's pace. At this point, I would be happy if the XL4 would operate at least as quickly as the HD XL. Furthermore, the Hulu Plus app doesn't work and keeps returning me to the main menu telling me to try later. Thank God I have Apple TV or my $7.99/mo. subscription would be wasting away. I sure hope a software update fixes the HuluPlus issues and, most importantly, SPEEDS UP the damn machine. Seriously, I'm not joking - the XL4 is like buying a Ferrari with a 4-cylinder from a Ford Focus. This long time Tivo customer is xtremely disappointed....

****UPDATE JUNE 2013****

One would have thought that a company like TiVo, which makes DVRs and nothing else, facing renewed stiff competition from cable company DVRs, would have done something in the way of a software update to speed up the incredibly, annoyingly, unacceptably SLOW as molasses XL4, but they apparently have no problem letting their customers suffer on a daily basis navigating an interface that is easily surpassed by the movement of a sloth. Evidently, they have no respect for their customers who parted with $400-500 of their money to buy what TiVo advertised as their best machine. I should have realized they were asleep at the wheel the past 4 years as Cablevision, et. al., have caught up to them in the DVR wars. A company has little respect for its customers when they make them pay another $150 to stream to their tablets. I guarantee you when I've passed the break even point, or if I can sell this machine, I will return to a Cablevision DVR. Shame on you, TiVo. Read more ›