# Basic Roamio or Basic Premiere 4?



## lillevig (Dec 7, 2010)

I currently have a 2-tuner Premiere and a 4-tuner Premiere, both with lifetime. I'm thinking about replacing the 2-tuner box with another 4-tuner one (yes, sometimes we need more than 6 tuners). Tivo has the basic Roamio (4-tuner) for $200 (plus service) but the basic 4-tuner Premiere is listed at $250 (or $190 factory renewed). Am I missing something here or is Tivo just discouraging the purchase of the older boxes?


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

The Factory Renewed Premiere 4 is only $130...

https://www.tivo.com/shop/promo/september-flash-sale-2013

But I'd still get the Roamio. The speed difference alone is worth the extra $70


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## thegardentool (Oct 3, 2013)

I'm in a similar situation where I have a Premiere but I would like to go with a 4-tuner unit. I can't decide between a Premiere (XL)4 or a Roamio. I like the idea of being able to go back to using it the TiVo with OTA if I cut the cord again, but I don't think that is likely now that my wife has found a whole bunch of channels she enjoys. The ultimate goal is a simple whole-home solution that will allow me to return Cox's $18.49/month DVR along with all its shortcomings that is in the bedroom.

Dan, is the speed increase worth ~$100 difference from a XL4 to a Roamio, in your opinion? As I understand it's much easier to replace the hard drives now but that's an additional $100 for a 2TB so really it becomes about a $200 difference for equal storage space. But I would also lose OTA capabilities.


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## mattack (Apr 9, 2001)

I don't even HAVE a Roamio, but I'd say $100 is worth the speed gain, but I'd go to the 6 tuner version. (The lowest one is only 4 tuner, right?)


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## gigaguy (Aug 30, 2013)

I'm in the same boat, newbie just got a base Premiere for almost nothing to try out TIvo, I like it, but I could see having 4 tuners and bigger hard drive as a good step up.. 

If I can get an XL4 for about half the cost of the base Roamio, I'd go for it. I don't mind the $199 for Roamio but I saw one at the store and it is one cheap looking little plastic box. Hard to pay full price for it when loaded and cheap Premieres are glutting the market....

I see some XL4s ebaying for $150 so I'm willing to keep using my Premiere for a while. I'm in no rush, and it's clear the boxes themselves become almost valueless in 2-3 years, unless they are service lifetimed.

but if I see the Roamio on sale I might get it. I'm just not in a big rush, still enjoying the Tivo Premiere world.


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## fdisker2000 (Nov 27, 2006)

thegardentool said:


> I'm in a similar situation where I have a Premiere but I would like to go with a 4-tuner unit. I can't decide between a Premiere (XL)4 or a Roamio. I like the idea of being able to go back to using it the TiVo with OTA if I cut the cord again, but I don't think that is likely now that my wife has found a whole bunch of channels she enjoys. The ultimate goal is a simple whole-home solution that will allow me to return Cox's $18.49/month DVR along with all its shortcomings that is in the bedroom.
> 
> Dan, is the speed increase worth ~$100 difference from a XL4 to a Roamio, in your opinion? As I understand it's much easier to replace the hard drives now but that's an additional $100 for a 2TB so really it becomes about a $200 difference for equal storage space. But I would also lose OTA capabilities.


If you want the option to go back to ota you have to go with the base Roamio, the Premiere XL4 doesn't have ota. The Roamio Plus and Pro don't have ota either.
Also, the Roamio IS worth $100 more for the speed.


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

thegardentool said:


> Dan, is the speed increase worth ~$100 difference from a XL4 to a Roamio, in your opinion? As I understand it's much easier to replace the hard drives now but that's an additional $100 for a 2TB so really it becomes about a $200 difference for equal storage space. But I would also lose OTA capabilities.


The XL4 is $250 on that page I linked to. The Roamio Basic is $200. Throw in $95 for a 2TB WD AV-GP drive and you're only looking at about a $45 difference. Well worth it.

Now one caveat to the Roamio Basic is it does not have built in MoCa. So if you want to add a Mini then you'll need a wired connection or you'll have to get an external MoCa adapter for $50.

Now you could go for a Plus, which has built in MoCa, 6 tuners and a built in Stream, but that's that's $400 and still only has a 1TB drive so you'd still need the upgrade for it to be equivalent. So now we're at another $200. So now you have to decide if MoCa, 2 more tuners and a built in Stream are worth hat much.

I personally bought the Pro, which cost me nearly $1k with lifetime service, so I clearly thought it was worth it. But if price is an issue I'd go with the Basic and drive. Well worth the $45 upgrade there.


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## scottfll954 (Jul 31, 2012)

I have had them both...including an XL4

the min I got the basic roamio I replaced my 2 premieres ...

Its all about the speed... Roamio is MUCH FASTER and all FLOWS better


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## TxDan (Aug 26, 2013)

Dallas Best Buys have the XL4 clearanced for $99.


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## lillevig (Dec 7, 2010)

Thanks for the comments but I'm not sure what "speed" refers to in many of the posts. I have absolutely no desire for a Stream or Mini box and my transfer speeds between the living room and bedroom Tivos are good enough for my purposes. Don't do Netflix or Hulu and the few times we've done Amazon it was a complete download and not a stream. We also don't need much storage space because we typically record a bunch of shows but watch and delete in a timely fashion. Going to a 6-tuner Roamio is an extra $200 over the cost of the basic so I can't see that as an option unless I was going to cut down to a single Tivo and then I'd still potentially be short of tuners.


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## jmpage2 (Jan 21, 2004)

Speed refers to the speed of navigating the TiVo menus. As well as the speed of things like applications.

For example. The time to navigate to a show in the "my shows" menu and begin playback on the Premiere is about 5-7 seconds, on the Roamio it is just 2-3 seconds.

Time to launch Netflix app on Premiere about 30 seconds, time to launch on Roamio about 7-8 seconds.

Additionally there are newer versions of apps available on the Roamio that will very likely not come to the Premiere.

Premiere is effectively end of line after 1 or 2 more updates, where-as Roamio should see robust development for at least the next 12-24 months.

Rather boggling to me that anyone would choose a Premiere over a Roamio to save a few bucks.


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## lillevig (Dec 7, 2010)

TxDan said:


> Dallas Best Buys have the XL4 clearanced for $99.


Unfortunately I live in San Angelo.


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## lillevig (Dec 7, 2010)

jmpage2 said:


> Speed refers to the speed of navigating the TiVo menus. As well as the speed of things like applications.
> 
> For example. The time to navigate to a show in the "my shows" menu and begin playback on the Premiere is about 5-7 seconds, on the Roamio it is just 2-3 seconds.
> 
> ...


If that's all there is to the "speed" factor then it isn't a selling point for me.


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## jmpage2 (Jan 21, 2004)

lillevig said:


> If that's all there is to the "speed" factor then it isn't a selling point for me.


Whatever floats your boat.

The "all there is to speed" thing that you are so dismissive of is the reason the Roamio has gotten glowing reviews across the techno-sphere, where-as the reviews of the Premiere were rather lackluster.


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## bradleys (Oct 31, 2007)

More than just the speed - which is a huge improvement...

You also get the new HTML5 platform. This is where a lot of the future improvements and OTT services are going to come from.

We have already seen an Improved Netflix and Youtube - with DIAL support. I think we will see many more now that the hardware meets minimal standards. Updated Amazon streaming? HBO Go app? 

OTT is the future distribution model for content and the Premiere is not aligned to support that model. The Roamio line is.

Get the Premiere, it is a good unit and has served me well for a several years now. But don't be one of those guys complaining that you are not getting all the new content or services because you are on an older platform.

The Premiere is what it is, and offers what it offers. It will never be anything more then that.


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## jjd_87 (Jan 31, 2011)

Woot has a new P4 bundled with a Stream for $149.99, and a refurb XL4 w/Stream for $249.99.

http://tech.woot.com/offers/tivo-premiere-4-dvr-stream-bundle-7

http://tech.woot.com/offers/tivo-premiere-xl4-dvr-stream-bundle-6


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## swerver (May 18, 2012)

I think it all depends on where you are coming from. When you come out of the ghetto (cable co dvrs) you think it's a miracle to live in a modest functional neighborhood (premiere or older). Really that's all you need. But if you are an enthusiast, you want more, you want the best (nicer upper class neighborhood) and you just can't settle for the premiere when the roamio is right there.


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## leiff (Aug 24, 2005)

selling point for me on basic romeo is small form factor: much more portable. Im also assuming it runs more quiet with an internal fan which is also important to me


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## jmpage2 (Jan 21, 2004)

LOL @ leiff. How many people need a DVR to be "portable"?


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## leiff (Aug 24, 2005)

Dvr with ota & wifi and ill consider taking it with me on trips.


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## jmpage2 (Jan 21, 2004)

eh, I guess I just don't watch TV as much as some of you guys. I will just side-load some shows onto a tablet if going on a trip, no need to transport the DVR physically.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

jmpage2 said:


> LOL @ leiff. How many people need a DVR to be "portable"?


I would love to replace my OTA Premiere with a Romaio Basic for OTA. Right now I take the Premiere with me to my GFs house so we can watch some shows recorded from cable on my Roamio Pro. It would be even better with the smaller form factor of the Roamio Basic. If I could transfer the $6.95 a month I pay for the Premiere over to the Roamio I would do it in a heartbeat.

i tried the media player / USB drive route for a while, but it was just easier and quicker to transfer the content to the TiVo and carry the premiere to her house. Although when the Stream capabilities come to android, i'll give a shot to transferring content to a tablet for playback.


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

leiff said:


> Dvr with ota & wifi and ill consider taking it with me on trips.


That's what the Stream is for. Right now you can copy shows over to your tablet to take with your on trips. And in the future you'll be able to stream shows remotely. (ala Slingbox) So there is no need to take the whole DVR on a trip with you.

Plus even if you did take it on a trip, and used OTA exclusively, you'd have to rerun Guided Setup for every location which is hardly ideal.


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## lillevig (Dec 7, 2010)

jmpage2 said:


> Whatever floats your boat.
> 
> The "all there is to speed" thing that you are so dismissive of is the reason the Roamio has gotten glowing reviews across the techno-sphere, where-as the reviews of the Premiere were rather lackluster.





swerver said:


> I think it all depends on where you are coming from. When you come out of the ghetto (cable co dvrs) you think it's a miracle to live in a modest functional neighborhood (premiere or older). Really that's all you need. But if you are an enthusiast, you want more, you want the best (nicer upper class neighborhood) and you just can't settle for the premiere when the roamio is right there.


"Dismissive" is a rather abrasive term and not at all helpful to this discussion. I evaluated your rationale and decided that the speed factors you cited are not important to me. A better response was the one following yours that listed the actual tech upgrades beyond what the Premiere is capable of. Those don't appeal to me either and I can't see them being something I will regret not having in the future. No, I'm not tech challenged. In fact I'm a retired engineer who is comfortable in both the HW and SW realms. On the other hand, I'm practical and buy what I need without regard for the desire to have the "best".


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## apw2607 (Nov 17, 2012)

Speed translates to overall user experience. There's nothing worse in any device than having to wait for a response. Sadly for all the good tivo provides with its ease of use experience, the premier platform just failed to deliver.

Roamio also provides a Netflix client that doesn't suffer the famous black screen problem. It can upscale 720p or 1080i to 1080p unlike premier locked at 1080i. It does a great job upscaling 720p to 1080p btw, unlike premiers mediocre upscaling abilities. It has the power that can support apps ... again unlike premier that doesn't have the horsepower. The base Roamio is compatible with stream, unlike base Premier.

I wouldn't pay $1 for a premier now or take one even if they were giving then away free. Sorry, time to move on. You have to consider total cost of ownership ..... And what you get out of it.

Spending 15 bucks a month or adding 399/499 to a mediocre platform makes no sense.


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## dave13077 (Jan 11, 2009)

I believe Tivo knew that the Premiere line was under powered when they released it. It never lived up to their own hype and that is Tivos fault. Why they didn't offer some sort of reduced (olive branch) cost upgrade offer to the Romano from the Premiere I will never know. I think it would have been the right thing to do, but then again what do I know.


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## cram501 (Oct 23, 2002)

The Roamio is a better user experience. If the prices/features your looking at are in the same ball park, the Roamio would be a better buy.

One thing to keep in mind since you already have a couple of Premieres is the increased speed of the Roamio. Now that I have a Roamio, the lag on my old S3's is irritating as hell when I use them.


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## jmpage2 (Jan 21, 2004)

lillevig said:


> "Dismissive" is a rather abrasive term and not at all helpful to this discussion. .


Honestly I don't see that you have evaluated anything other than subjective comments from the members here (many of whom have been TiVo owners for over a decade).

If you haven't evaluated a Roamio unit, or at a minimum looked at demo videos on Youtube that tout the speed of the interface (as well as the speed of apps like Netflix) then you haven't done an evaluation.

You asked for advice.... the overwhelming advice is that for the $70 or so difference in coast between a refurbished XL4 and a new Roamio basic, you'd be crazy not to get the Roamio due to it being a new platform that will continue getting development which is increasingly important with more content going online in the future. The one advantage an XL4 would have over a Roamio Basic is the larger hard drive, however, replacing the hard drive in the Basic with a larger one is a pretty trivial thing, and 1 or 2 TB drives are also not very expensive.

You're an engineer, got it. Lots of engineers around here, including myself.


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

jmpage2 said:


> ....
> 
> You're an engineer, got it. Lots of engineers around here, including myself.


Wow, you're an engineer? Here this whole time I thought you were an awesome guitar player for Led Zeppelin, who knew!!!


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## JasonD (Mar 30, 2003)

Hey I'm an Engineer too electrical, and I recommend getting a Roamio also. Using a Premiere is like taking a. Shower with your socks on. Sure you can do it, but why?


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## jmpage2 (Jan 21, 2004)

HarperVision said:


> Wow, you're an engineer? Here this whole time I thought you were an awesome guitar player for Led Zeppelin, who knew!!!


Engineering is a pretty good day-job-gig. Led Zeppelin not selling as many records these days.


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