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Topic: TiVo on board (Read 4 times) previous topic - next topic
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TiVo on board
Yahoo Message Number: 143814
Watching TV while traveling is hardly at the top of our activity list. But because we are firmly entrenched in the TiVo time shifting model when at home. One of our minor travel frustrations has been "just barely" missing one of the shows we follow, while on the road.

TiVo recently announced the Roamio series of DVRs. The low end model is the only one that offers Over the Air recording (up to 4 simultaneous recordings). Guess what, that base model runs on a 12 volt wall wart. A simple cable should allow it to be connected to house power.  I think I will be playing with that next spring.

The base model Roamio with an external TiVo stream device now provides out of home streaming, you may be able to watch your shows on your iPad regardless of location (wifi only).

-Dave '06 MB, Indianapolis
Re: TiVo on board
Reply #1 –
Yahoo Message Number: 143828
We have a 4-tuner Roamio at home, but I'm not sure how successful off-air recording will be while travelling around. Unlike satellite, you stations will always be changing from place-to-place, and your TiVo needs to update via an internet connection. That can be a slow and time-consuming process, and you may have to re-program all your season pass info at each stop...

Steve
2004 FL
2013 Honda Fit
Re: TiVo on board
Reply #2 –
Yahoo Message Number: 143837
That is correct. Scanning broadcast channels takes a few minutes, but you have to do that with the TV anyway, and you end up only with a single show at a time.... if you remember to catch it in time  :)  It probably doesn't make sense unless you are going to be in the same location for a while.  I think setting up a wish list takes care auto setting up season passes though.

One piece i am not sure about is how much data is actually contained in the schedule download for a given zip code.  It may be prohibitive over a cell modem. But the unit does have Wifi built-in, so if there is campground wifi around, perhaps not so bad.

One of the nice hidden features of the Roamio is, to upgrade the storage all you have to do is swap the hard drive. Upon power up, it installs itself on whatever drive you happened to stick in it.  I installed a 3 TB hard drive in my unit, so I can have upwards 475 hours of stored HD content.  So even if I never record a thing while on the road, I can take the last six months of TV with me.

I've used the Out-of-Home streaming feature using a TiVo Stream device at home, to an iPad.  That shows promise, although I have found the first version of it, to be pretty flaky so far.  Hopefully it will get better. That may end up being the preferred solution

It is another pretty amazing gadget, that *could* go mobile with you, since it runs on 12V.

-Dave '06 MB, Indianapolis
Re: TiVo on board
Reply #3 –
Yahoo Message Number: 143838
Good to know about the successful HD upgrade. Also, would be interested to see how taking it on the road with recorded programs works out - I wasn't sure whether you can play the material if you have no internet connection. Also, do you have a lifetime or month-to-month agreement?

Steve
2004 FL
2013 Honda Fit
Re: TiVo on board
Reply #4 –
Yahoo Message Number: 143840
You can play existing recorded content with no Internet nor antenna at all.  The box will complain about no network when it boots, but it will come up fine.

I have a lifetime subscription on my current TiVo.  There is quite a healthy secondary market for used units with lifetime subscriptions. The service stays (and sells) with the hardware.  If I buy another TiVo for the LD, I don't know whether I would get a lifetime for it or not.   I am kind of hoping TiVo gets the bugs worked out of the Out of Home streaming operation, that might be better for me.  It is highly compressed, but the poorest quality cuts the consumed bandwidth down to less than 250 MB per hour.

-Dave '06 MB, Indianapolis