So, I am going to have to admit that I would like to think that I have the latest in technology, but I didn’t have a TiVo until a few days ago. In fact, I was pleased that I could try out the TiVo Bolt.

If you aren’t familiar with TiVo, then where have you been? I guess the same place where I have been, but at least I know what a TiVo is. In the case of the Bolt, it is the most recent model and is supposed to be a “Unified Entertainment System”.

The biggest selling point of the TiVo Bolt is that it allows you to skip commercials entirely. That is, if the show is set up for that feature, but you better believe that my wife was pleased to see the The Bachelor without any commercials. There is also this QuickMode for watching shows 30 percent faster like sports, news, and political addresses.

I will have to say that I found it easy to use. The moment I had it set up, I was able to check the guide and then select what shows that I wanted to watch. I found out later there is this feature known as OnePass, and if you use that, then you can just select a show and have all the episodes brought to you. Okay, I am oversimplifying this process, but the TiVo bolt is there for you with Hulu, Amazon, Netflix, and much more.

I will have to say that the set-up was pretty easy. I had a chance to plug my cable directly into the TiVo Bolt box, and then connect an HDMI into the TV. I needed to get a Cable Card from my cable company, which is Time/Warner.

I will say two things that I had trouble with some things. First, my service gave me the Disney channel on channel 23, and now it’s gone. So much for that deal. Then there was a time where the Bolt just stopped working. Seriously, it just stopped. Then I had to call the cable company, and they claimed it was a cable card problem. So I replaced the card and had the same problem. That didn’t work. Then I suggested to the cable company that I could just unplug the thing, and plug it back in. So then it worked. What is up?

Still, it was worth it for what I have. I now have all the stations with Netflix and all sorts of other possible combinations. From now on, if I can watch it on my TV, I am TiVo-ing it. This allows me to watch a recorded program on my computer as well as my smartphone. The best thing about the TiVo bolt is it is set up for 4K. Yeah, I don’t have 4K either, but man, do my network shows look good on my TV, like the best.

If this is something that you want, check it out for $299.99 plus one year of service on the TiVo site.