TiVo Roamio Pro: First Impressions

[flavius]

I thought I'd share this since going TiVo could be a solution for quite a few Sage TV users.

So, your mileage might vary.

SETUP
I got the Roamio Pro last weekend, picked up the cable card today. After doing the more lengthy TiVo setup a couple days earlier (which included software updates etc) the cable card setup was a matter of minutes with the Comcast hotline. There could be issues if you have FIOS.

TUNERS
I have all six tuners functional - all capable of recording premium content and 3 TB of space which can be extended via eSata. Some of you might need a tuning adapter. Comcast users should not.

INTERFACE
I had read about TiVo's investment in a better UI experience before - and I can definitely tell you the UI on the Roamio is just as fast and snappy if not faster as on my HD300 while fetching a lot more data along the way.

Notable: when you search Netflix and Amazon are searched as well. You can jump directly to the Netflix contents and play it - Amazon content needs to be downloaded and can only be played on the Roamio itself.

EXTENDER
I had bought a TiVo Mini as well. Unfortunately it wouldn't power up so I had to return the unit. I'll try to get another unit tomorrow.

STREAMING
When you buy the Pro you don't need extra hardware. The streaming app is free and I got it to work on my iOS 6 iPad. The app has lots of functionality that i haven't had time to fully explore other then that playback of HD content is smooth and without problems. The speed of the app is more than acceptable especially when you consider the amount of information it is throwing at you (it does lazy loading etc..).

Notable: 'placeshifting' has been announced for later this year.

I couldn't get it work on my iOS 7 iPad yet.

COSTS
The Pro is $600, the Minis are $100 each. If this all pans out I will pay a little less every month since I will be returning three cable boxes to Comcast and pay for a Pro and two minis instead.

I always payed that or more for a new Sage TV server and I have three extenders to give up. Let's be frank, though - I'd pay more to have a solution that has a future, is supported and meets our needs, but it doesn't look like that I have to.

*But what about my existing content?*
I still have a couple hundred movies in Sage that nobody cares about - I might move them into iTunes - or not.

I had a TiVo from 2002 to 2005 - I sold my Series2 when I bought Sage. If this Series5 is as reliable as the older model than I'll make the switch.

[flavius]

EXTENDER

I managed to get another TiVo Mini two days ago and got it working today. Activation took about 24 hours as they had said, though, for some I hear it happened a lot faster. In my case it also required a restart of the host (the Roamio). The Mini is pretty much the same size as a HD200.

I consider myself lucky that my wireless network appears to be quite fast and stable. I have been using my sage extenders over my wireless network successfully with HD content all over my house ever since the HD200 came out, so I wasn't surprised to see the TiVo Mini working just as well.

The interface of the Mini is just as snappy as the Roamio and from the search results I can directly access a Netflix show or movie. I'm not sure how getting to Amazon content works - if at all (don't use it much).

Note: the higher end models of the new TiVos have support for MoCA build in. If you can hook up your host system via ethernet you can also enable MoCA and will need no additional hardware to connect your Minis that way. If you buy the base Roamio (or older devices) you need to get a MoCA network adapter for your router to support your extenders.

STREAMING
I have been using the apps on both iPADs (iOS 6 and 7) a lot to see how robust they are. So far, they are solid - with lots of functionality. I have sent them to sleep - reconnect and update works just as you would hope. You can manage your TiVo using one of those - and later this year we are told you will be able to use the app from outside your home.

SWITCHING
At his point I think it's very likely that Sage is on the way out in my home if the TiVo devices continue to perform as they have been of the past few days.

My wife asked my today when I will dismantle the old system - I told her that I intend to keep Sage running for another two month or so. She was very happy to hear that. She really got used to SageMC, and so did I.

I went all in with Sage eight years ago after a couple month of doing both - Sage and TiVo - Sage was a lot more reliable than BTV which I had been using before and I was shooting for a whole home solution which took TiVo out of the equation at the the time.

I think TiVo is coming back with a vengeance to seize what is left of the market. I remember reading somebody here saying that he would try to keep his Sage system alive until we don't need DVR's anymore.

Good luck with that.

The interest preventing just that is very well entrenched and will fight this to the end. And while we are watching that battle unfold we will be streaming the content from the new guys in town.

[jerryt]

Thanks for your impressions, please continue.

[flavius]

Today I have installed the second TiVo Mini. This time I restarted the Roamio after the Mini activation came through and installation went smoothly. The software updates take quite some time, so I walked away. This one is also behind a wireless bridge.

Live-TV.
There has to be a free tuner on the Roamio and the system will tell you if there isn't. I click a channel from the guide and the screen goes black, five, ten seconds and counting. I go back to the guide and try again - this time it works. I could repeat this problem later during that session.

There apparently is an issue when first starting Live-TV session. TiVo recent changed the way the tuner allocation for Minis works. After that, I can flip through the channels at will, channel changing speed is consistently around two seconds.

One channel came in with audio issues the first time, the second time it was ok. I couldn't tune into TBSHD at all (V53) - a problem which went away later in the day. One other channel had playback issues the first time, the second time it was ok. I went through all my channels two times and those were the only problems I encountered.

I also spent some time watching a couple shows in HD and tested FFW. There's almost no difference between the Mini behind a wireless bridge and the experience on the Roamio itself.

Overall the TiVo Mini continues to impress me. I have yet to find anything that makes me doubt the path that I'm on here.

[sdsean]

Does Romio work with directv or dish.

[Fonceur]

Originally Posted by sdsean

Does Romio work with directv or dish.

That would be doubtful, as those TiVo boxes probably use CableCards... Of course they could have a custom solution for each Satellite company, but after suing Dish for hundred of millions of dollars and such, I doubt Dish would cooperate...

[PiX64]

Originally Posted by flavius

Today I have installed the second TiVo Mini. This time I restarted the Roamio after the Mini activation came through and installation went smoothly. The software updates take quite some time, so I walked away. This one is also behind a wireless bridge.

Live-TV.
There has to be a free tuner on the Roamio and the system will tell you if there isn't. I click a channel from the guide and the screen goes black, five, ten seconds and counting. I go back to the guide and try again - this time it works. I could repeat this problem later during that session.

There apparently is an issue when first starting Live-TV session. TiVo recent changed the way the tuner allocation for Minis works. After that, I can flip through the channels at will, channel changing speed is consistently around two seconds.

One channel came in with audio issues the first time, the second time it was ok. I couldn't tune into TBSHD at all (V53) - a problem which went away later in the day. One other channel had playback issues the first time, the second time it was ok. I went through all my channels two times and those were the only problems I encountered.

I also spent some time watching a couple shows in HD and tested FFW. There's almost no difference between the Mini behind a wireless bridge and the experience on the Roamio itself.

Overall the TiVo Mini continues to impress me. I have yet to find anything that makes me doubt the path that I'm on here.

Great write up. Keep them coming.

Have you been able to answer the the question as to weather or not the new Tivo system will play local media? UPnP / DLNA / etc.?

[nebulink]

I would strongly consider switching to Tivo but I am going to build a house this winter in an area that does not have Cable.

Sounds like it would have been the perfect solution for me and my family.

[PiX64]

Originally Posted by nebulink

I would strongly consider switching to Tivo but I am going to build a house this winter in an area that does not have Cable.

Sounds like it would have been the perfect solution for me and my family.

the Roamio lowest end model works with OTA Antenna...

[PiX64]

I am interested to know if the mini will stream Amazon VOD and Netflix as well? if it does, can you have mutliple minis and or the roamio accessing the same service? so roamio is watching netflix and so are 1 or more minis?

[flavius]

Originally Posted by PiX64

Have you been able to answer the the question as to weather or not the new Tivo system will play local media? UPnP / DLNA / etc.?

No UPnP or DLNA. However, there's pyTiVo and stream baby. I was going to test both. There's lots of info available here:

http://www.tivocommunity.com

Originally Posted by PiX64

I am interested to know if the mini will stream Amazon VOD and Netflix as well? if it does, can you have mutliple minis and or the roamio accessing the same service? so roamio is watching netflix and so are 1 or more minis?

When you search on the Roamio, the search results include hits from Netflix and Amazon. When you select the Netflix link, you'll be taken to the Play screen of that item (after connecting your account once) and off you go. That works on the Mini as well. Edit: I'm quite certain (didn't test) that Netflix will treat that Mini or the Roamio just like any other device, so their restrictions will apply.

On the Roamio Amazon shows need to be downloaded first (not sure if in full) - then you can play them - the downloads are not available on the Mini and you can't download to the Mini, so..

[panteragstk]

So it sounds like once they work out the few kinks mentioned that it will be a pretty nice system. Thanks for sharing. Having to download the Amazon videos is pretty strange though.

The cable only thing kills it for me. Won't give up my sunday ticket.

[bcjenkins]

FWIW - Sunday Ticket works on Chromecast. Of course there is also the DirecTV Genie and mini clients. No Amazon, but there is Netflix and DirecTV's own library of movies

[sdsean]

Yeah that's a good point, now that you can buy Sunday Ticket through DirecTV and just stream it rather than actually having DirecTV service, I could maybe be convinced of going the cablecard route.

On the other hand. . .DRM / copy restrictions. . . I sure do like being able to record pay-per view :P

[Skirge01]

Originally Posted by sdsean

Yeah that's a good point, now that you can buy Sunday Ticket through DirecTV and just stream it rather than actually having DirecTV service, I could maybe be convinced of going the cablecard route.

On the other hand. . .DRM / copy restrictions. . . I sure do like being able to record pay-per view :P

Three things tore me away from Tivo and DirecTV's DVR:

1. Shows flagged so as not to allow them to be recorded.
2. Losing all recordings when there's a hardware failure.
3. PPVs being unwatchable after 24 hours.

Until these "features" are removed, I'll continue using my own DVR.

Additionally, since getting used to having my own server, there's an additional reason:

4. Limited storage space for recordings.

[flavius]

Originally Posted by Skirge01

Three things tore me away from Tivo and DirecTV's DVR:
1. Shows flagged so as not to allow them to be recorded.

As far as TiVo is concerned I can tell you that I can record anything with my Roamio. I asked around before I pulled the trigger and was told that I can record everything and stream it to my registered devices within my network (all of which I can confirm).

They also said that when 'place shifting' will arrive later this year you won't be able to stream premium content outside your network.

[Clift]

For me:
$14.99/month plus 2 year commitment. That's on top of the cost of the hardware. Are they kidding?

[davefred99]

Originally Posted by Clift

For me:
$14.99/month plus 2 year commitment. That's on top of the cost of the hardware. Are they kidding?

The $14.99 monthly fee plus $4.99 cable card rental, is has and always will be an issue for me.
If some how they could bundle Netflix and maybe Hulu then maybe I could warm up to the monthly fees but as it stands I think its too expensive.

[flavius]

One of the TiVo engineers writing about channel encryption:

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb...=507973&page=8

[flavius]

Just yesterday I finished converting everything in SageTV that I intend to keep - altogether around 200 movies and TV show episodes. That's a lot of work and and about half of it hasn't been imported into iTunes yet.

The Roamio has been recording now for 11 days or so. And so far, some 400 recordings in I haven't been able to find a single problem with any of them. Of course, I haven't watched or even checked them all, but I did check every day a fair amount of the new recordings while training the TiVo suggestion engine.

I also checked the Minis regularly to see how much TLC they require. None - they wake up in just a few seconds and start playing pretty much instantly after a very brief reconnect with the Roamio.

There was one problem - one day the Mini upstairs would not play and throw an error code at me. After a little bit of investigation I found that one of my sons computer had latched onto the wireless bridge that the Mini was using (I have placed a number of time capsules and airport base stations in bridge mode around the house) and clogged the connection with his activities. The problem went away after I set the bridge with the TiVo Mini behind it not to allow wireless clients.

I also replaced my 2nd generation main bridge that puts the wireless network up with the latest (6th generation) AC capable model - but that was probably overkill.

iOS APP
That's all good so far, but what really excites me the most is the TiVo streaming app. It's quite nice to look at and works very reliably. I find myself using it all the time. I tried all kinds of things to confuse it and get it to crash - no success yet. I find that amazing given the complexities of wireless streaming. I guess a lot of that stability is due to my luck of having a fast and stable wireless network.

ANDROID APP
So, I installed that too, since I got my self an android phone recently, running 4.2.2 (I think). The app works and complains during startup that it is made for a 1024x resolution. Maybe as a result of that it's not very pretty but it is functional. It's pretty much a remote control for your TiVo that allows some management functions but you can't watch anything on it which makes sense since it's not functional outside the home,