# Roamio Worth the Upgrade?



## Thunderclap (Nov 28, 2005)

I currently have a Premiere with Lifetime subscription and an upgrade HDD (1TB). I'm thinking of moving over to the basic Roamio (I don't have a need for streaming to iPad, etc.) and Mini. I also have a Roku for Netflix, Amazon Instant Video, and Vudu that I would like to retire if I could.

Now that the Roamio has been out for a while, and now that the Premiere has had several updates since the Roamio came out, what is the consensus? Is it worth losing the Lifetime subscription and getting a Roamio + Mini? I would like to access Tivo on my bedroom television from time-to-time.

Are the Netflix, Amazon, and Vudu apps as good as their Roku counterpart? (Netflix and Amazon are dreadfully sluggish on Premiere.)

Thoughts?

Thanks!


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## joewom (Dec 10, 2013)

Thunderclap said:


> I currently have a Premiere 4 with Lifetime subscription and an upgrade HDD (1TB). I'm thinking of moving over to the basic Roamio (I don't have a need for streaming to iPad, etc.) and Mini. I also have a Roku for Netflix, Amazon Instant Video, and Vudu that I would like to retire if I could.
> 
> Now that the Roamio has been out for a while, and now that the Premiere has had several updates since the Roamio came out, what is the consensus? Is it worth losing the Lifetime subscription and getting a Roamio + Mini? I would like to access Tivo on my bedroom television from time-to-time.
> 
> ...


I would say no unless you need VUDU. Once the update comes in amazon will be updated and VUDU was promised later like in summer. I have two Roamios and a XL4 and see no reason to change. The speed difference is so close. So unless you were going to a plus for two extra tuners I would say save your money and just get a mini which can be connected to yours now. I have two minis connected to the XL4.


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## Thunderclap (Nov 28, 2005)

joewom said:


> So unless you were going to a plus for two extra tuners I would say save your money and just get a mini which can be connected to yours now.


Unfortunately my Premiere only has two tuners, not four.


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## joewom (Dec 10, 2013)

Thunderclap said:


> Unfortunately my Premiere only has two tuners, not four.


Sell it as you should get about 200 if not more for it. And then upgrade. I would opt for lifetime for the new one if you could. Its worth it. I that you had a 4 tuner.


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## Thunderclap (Nov 28, 2005)

How is the performance of Netflix and the like?


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## tarheelblue32 (Jan 13, 2014)

Thunderclap said:


> I currently have a Premiere 4 with Lifetime...





Thunderclap said:


> Unfortunately my Premiere only has two tuners, not four.


If you have a Premiere 4, then you have 4 tuners.


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## Thunderclap (Nov 28, 2005)

tarheelblue32 said:


> If you have a Premiere 4, then you have 4 tuners.


I misstated the Tivo version I have. I have the Tivo Premiere, NOT the Tivo Premiere 4. My bad.


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## joewom (Dec 10, 2013)

tarheelblue32 said:


> If you have a Premiere 4, then you have 4 tuners.


That was why I wrote my reply as I did. I think he meant series 4.

And Netflix takes a little longer like 30 seconds to start but once in the app I see no difference in speed worth an upgrade.


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## RoyK (Oct 22, 2004)

I think it's purely a matter of opinion. I just made the switch from a pair of HDs because my cable company has started to use MP4 encoding and HDs couldn't handle it. Having had my Roamio for a few weeks I can say I had far fewer problems (none) with the HDs.


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## gothaggis (Mar 3, 2010)

I found my Roamio to be leaps and bounds better than my Premiere...the speed upgrade alone was worth it.


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

gothaggis said:


> I found my Roamio to be leaps and bounds better than my Premiere...the speed upgrade alone was worth it.


Did the Premiere you're referencing have the Haxe software upgrade, or was it using the old flash version?


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## h2oskierc (Dec 16, 2010)

I've had my Roamio for a couple weeks now, I think.

I decided to go with the Plus. Wanted the bigger hard drive, built in streaming, and 6 tuners. I also cannot stand the way that the basic roamio looks. For a device that will be in my entertainment system for 5+ years, I felt that justified the price difference.

I currently have one Mini, and I expect to get one more. I like the dynamic tuner allocation, but I plan that with two minis, worst case scenario I can record 3 programs at once (6 tuners- 3 Live TV feeds). Coming from 2 tuners in the premiere, I feel that is a huge plus.

The interface looks the same, and may be a little faster, but not a great deal, so upgrading for speed may not be worth it. YMMV, of course.

Initially I was going to sell my premiere. I am now on the fence on that one. I had it on eBay with a $250 reserve. The listing ended unsold at $202.50. That would pay for one more mini, but doesn't offset the cost of the new Roamio box as much as I would have liked. Now the decision is to I get an additional Cable Card and have 8 tuners in my house? Or, do I go for the mini and simplify the setup? Time will tell.


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## jeremymc7 (Feb 11, 2015)

Coming from an XL4 the speed difference was very noticeable. Having everything integrated (ie Stream) also works more smoothly. Four tuners are typically enough but with six you never run into conflicts with start early and end late along with multiple shows, let alone any extra streaming.


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## dcline414 (May 1, 2014)

If you need the extra tuners or ever want to add a mini, go Roamio. Otherwise the speed difference is negligible.

Our old 2-tuner premiere with a 1TB drive and lifetime service just sold for $320&#8212;seems to be about the going rate these days.


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## tenthplanet (Mar 5, 2004)

h2oskierc said:


> I've had my Roamio for a couple weeks now, I think.
> 
> I decided to go with the Plus. Wanted the bigger hard drive, built in streaming, and 6 tuners. I also cannot stand the way that the basic roamio looks. For a device that will be in my entertainment system for 5+ years, I felt that justified the price difference.
> 
> ...


 Good choice with the plus, if you don't need an OTA tuner skip over the basic.


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## gespears (Aug 10, 2007)

I had two premiers with 2tb drives and replaced them both with a Roamio Plus and am very happy. The Roamio is MUCH faster and I rarely have conflicts anymore. I don't need to worry about going through the TDL every night to make sure everything I want to record is going to be recorded and not conflicted out. Plus now everything is in one box so I don't have to switch back and forth. Plus it's easier for my wife to use.


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## rgura (Feb 21, 2005)

I recently upgraded from 2 Series 3's to 1 Roamio Plus and 2 Mini's, overall very happy. Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Vudu all seem to run very well.


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## tds4182 (Dec 16, 2003)

Thunderclap said:


> How is the performance of Netflix and the like?


If you've got 25 Mbs internet (or faster), a good modem and good router (wired or wireless) the Netflix and Amazon Prime work very well. Almost no latency at all at start up.


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## babatunde (May 30, 2002)

Hi. 

I currently have a Tivo Premiere -- I think it's only 2 tuners, so from what I've read, I can't add a Mini. I'd like to add Tivo capability in a bedroom. So now I guess I have to buy a Roamio and add a Mini for the bedroom, or just use the Premiere to the bedroom (it has the lifetime warranty)? I wouldn't mind more drive space on the main TV's Tivo as I'm often having to delete stuff (I record pretty much only HD). 

So get a Roamio and just use the Premier in the bedroom? With two cable cards does that change my fees to Comcast?

thanks!

Brian


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## samccfl99 (Sep 7, 2013)

babatunde said:


> Hi.
> 
> I currently have a Tivo Premiere -- I think it's only 2 tuners, so from what I've read, I can't add a Mini. I'd like to add Tivo capability in a bedroom. So now I guess I have to buy a Roamio and add a Mini for the bedroom, or just use the Premiere to the bedroom (it has the lifetime warranty)? I wouldn't mind more drive space on the main TV's Tivo as I'm often having to delete stuff (I record pretty much only HD).
> 
> ...


yes, i am fairly sure that they will charge you for the extra cable card. in south florida i think it is about ten bucks a month or so. since you have a lifetime subscription on the old Premiere, i guess it would be cheaper to keep it. you would be able to transfer recordings from the roamio to the premiere and visa versa, but i think with a mini you would be able to watch something on the roamio and pick it up from the resume point with the mini. i got a Premiere XL4 in 05-2012 and it was so slow i could not run it in HD mode so i got a roamio pro in 10-2013.


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## b-ball-fanatic (Aug 5, 2003)

Just to add another data point:

I think previous posters' comments about "speed differences" between the Roamio and Premieres vary so much because it really depends on what you're doing. In just normal use, navigating the menus, etc., the Roamio's a little faster, but it's not night & day. Not enough to warrant the upgrade. Honestly, the only "speed" difference I really notice is that I can backup Roamio programs about twice as fast as with the Premieres (with kmttg). Its transfer rates are routinely over 100Mbps, while the Premieres back up at around 45Mbps. But even that isn't especially important, as it doesn't impact the day-to-day user experience.

As for the streaming services, I find all the TiVos pale in comparison to other devices I have. The Roku and my Oppo BD player are much faster, so I use the Oppo for Netflix (great picture quality as well) and the Roku for Amazon Prime. The only streaming I _have _to use the Roamio for is Xfinity VOD. Navigating that menu is relatively slow, start-up lag is noticeable (compared to streaming on other devices), but once it's up & running, it's fine.

The last comment I'd make isn't about performance. As someone who has owned, I think, eight TiVos over nearly 15 years....I believe their build quality has declined. The Series 3s really look and feel like workhorses...I have two that just keep plugging away, never had a problem. The Premieres got a little plasticky, but again, neither of mine have ever had a serious problem. (Just the occasional software snafu.) But now the Roamios, IMHO, look and feel (and in my experience, hold up) like the throwaway, hire-the-lowest-bidder consumer electronics that TiVo considers them to be. It says a lot that TiVo finds it cheaper to just replace them (with refurbishes) rather than bother any kind of repair. (Literally _any _repair....if that little rinky-dink fan breaks, TiVo replaces the whole machine!) Now, it's not like TiVo is the first company to consider their products "throwaway" devices that they hope you'll upgrade more frequently (let's just call it "the Apple model" ), but I do think it's wise to factor that into buying Lifetime Service. I suspect that's a different value on the older TiVos than it will turn out to be with the Roamios and other models going forward.

If I were you, I might add a Roamio if I really wanted service in another room, but I would hang onto the Premiere.


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## gespears (Aug 10, 2007)

I sold 3 Premieres and replaced them and a cable box with a Roamio Pro and two mini's. I could not be happier. It's much, much faster and the MoCA and integration between the Roamio and Mini's is much more functional, easier, and user friendly than trying to get the Premieres to work together. It feels like a modern integrated system rather than a dinosaur.

Just my opinion. Don't get me wrong, I love the fact that people still want the Premieres, because the ones I sold brought a pretty penny and really helped me finance the Roamio and Minis. And bonus, I'm saving money on my cable bill because I turned in the cable box, cable cards, and tuning adapters.


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## ChitownCraig (Mar 5, 2015)

I just upgraded to a roamio and haven't noticed a difference from my xl4 besides having the stream capability.


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## Tinker15 (Apr 4, 2015)

I love my roamio basic and mini! I love the you tube, Amazon, Hulu, vudu,Netflix,xfinity vod apps! I also love that u can start watching on one and finishing on the other and see what is recorded on both! Something that I was not able to do on cable dvrs for 40.00 a month! Now there is a special for minis lifetime for free and yearly 150.00 which is 12.00 a month! Much cheaper than 40.00 from cable and all my apps in one place! This is so worth it!


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## altern8545 (Mar 23, 2015)

def worth the upgrade, i replaced a 2 tuner premiere with a 6 tuner roamio and while streaming did not exactly work out the way i expected (more used to slingbox where you can flip channels easily vs. having to record each channel before a stream starts), im happy i spent the extra dough to upgrade


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