# Can the Tivo mini work with no internet connection if I only want access to my main Tivo?



## Michael Quinn (Jun 23, 2017)

I'm not tech savvy, want to get the Tivo Mini, will it work with no internet connection if I only want to watch my main Tivo and don't care about the apps, etc? A non-technical response would be so appreciated.


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## ukwildcat4life (Apr 13, 2014)

Michael Quinn said:


> I'm not tech savvy, want to get the Tivo Mini, will it work with no internet connection if I only want to watch my main Tivo and don't care about the apps, etc? A non-technical response would be so appreciated.


You will have to have an internet connection to use the mini....the mini gets its information and borrows a tuner from the host DVR via an internet connection so you will need to have your host DVR and Mini connected via ethernet or MoCA so they can talk to each other......


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

Michael Quinn said:


> I'm not tech savvy, want to get the Tivo Mini, will it work with no internet connection if I only want to watch my main Tivo and don't care about the apps, etc? A non-technical response would be so appreciated.


Not to disagree, but the Mini will operate without an internet connection after the initial configuration. It will complain a lot. Same with the host TiVo also. All anyone needs to do to test this is kill your internet connection and see what works.

Since you will have an Ethernet or MoCA connection, what is stopping your ability to access the internet?


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## Michael Quinn (Jun 23, 2017)

ukwildcat4life said:


> You will have to have an internet connection to use the mini....the mini gets its information and borrows a tuner from the host DVR via an internet connection so you will need to have your host DVR and Mini connected via ethernet or MoCA so they can talk to each other......


I'm having a hell of a time trying to deal with Tivo and their foreign "customer service". I'm considering buying the Mini from another company just to avoid dealing with them, they're tying up my funds. But before I buy, given that you've said I must have internet let me ask this if I might. I have a tv cable outlet coming out of the wall, both cable and internet come out of that one cable. I'm not familiar with the term "MoCA", but can I plug that cable directly into the Mini or do I need to buy another modem, or use some sort of a splitter?


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## Michael Quinn (Jun 23, 2017)

JoeKustra said:


> Not to disagree, but the Mini will operate without an internet connection after the initial configuration. It will complain a lot. Same with the host TiVo also. All anyone needs to do to test this is kill your internet connection and see what works.
> 
> Since you will have an Ethernet or MoCA connection, what is stopping your ability to access the internet?


I'm not sure what "MoCA" is. I have a standard cable outlet in two rooms. In the main room where my Tivo unit is there is one cable coming out of the wall, it goes to a splitter with one going to my modem/router, the other to my Tivo. But in the second room I don't have the modem. Can I plug the Mini directly into my cable outlet or do I need a second modem or a splitter?


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

What is MoCA?

I don't use it.


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## matsalla (Jul 15, 2003)

Michael Quinn said:


> I'm not sure what "MoCA" is. I have a standard cable outlet in two rooms. In the main room where my Tivo unit is there is one cable coming out of the wall, it goes to a splitter with one going to my modem/router, the other to my Tivo. But in the second room I don't have the modem. Can I plug the Mini directly into my cable outlet or do I need a second modem or a splitter?


I think you are confusing "Internet connection" and "Network Connection" The mini does not have to have a Internet connection, but it must have a network connection to talk back to the main DVR. Normally network connections are done over ethernet cable like Cat 5/5e/6/etc (or wireless which is not applicable for the Mini). MoCA is a way to treat that cable outlet (RG6 or coax) as a network connection, that is why the mini has a connector. So in your case you will be using Internet on your Mini since you do have an Internet connection to your main Tivo, you just need to network the main Tivo and the Mini together, and in your case you would do that using MoCA.

David


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## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

Michael Quinn said:


> I have a tv cable outlet coming out of the wall, both cable and internet come out of that one cable.





Michael Quinn said:


> In the main room where my Tivo unit is there is one cable coming out of the wall, it goes to a splitter with one going to my modem/router, the other to my Tivo.


Wait, you *do* have Internet access for your home. So you just need your home network extended to your Mini location, and, yes... this is possible over coax lines using MoCA networking. (MoCA == Multimedia Over Coax Alliance) MoCA is just another technology enabling networking over a different physical medium:

Ethernet runs over twisted pair cabling;
Wi-Fi over the air;
Powerline via your, well, power lines;
and MoCA over your home's coax lines.
Owing to the bandwidth requirements of TiVo streaming between the host DVR and a Mini, TiVo requires a wired connection, either Ethernet and/or MoCA, for both the host DVR and Mini, though a mix *is* allowed. (As an aside, Powerline may be a wired connection, but the technology doesn't reliably support the same bandwidth as Ethernet or MoCA.)

The main question, then, is... *what model is your "main TiVo"? * This info is needed both to determine if your DVR supports a Mini at all (4-tuner or better DVR required), and then also to determine if your main TiVo provides built-in MoCA functionality. If your DVR lacks MoCA functionality, you can simply add a standalone MoCA adapter at your cable modem/router location to act as a MoCA "access point," of sorts, to which your Mini would be able to connect as a MoCA client.

See this how-to page from TiVo (after you've reviewed the above "What is MoCA?" page) for a walk-through on getting your TiVo devices connected to your home network:

Connect your TiVo® box to your home network​


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## matsalla (Jul 15, 2003)

matsalla said:


> I think you are confusing "Internet connection" and "Network Connection" The mini does not have to have a Internet connection, but it must have a network connection to talk back to the main DVR. Normally network connections are done over ethernet cable like Cat 5/5e/6/etc (or wireless which is not applicable for the Mini). MoCA is a way to treat that cable outlet (RG6 or coax) as a network connection, that is why the mini has a connector. So in your case you will be using Internet on your Mini since you do have an Internet connection to your main Tivo, you just need to network the main Tivo and the Mini together, and in your case you would do that using MoCA.
> 
> David


BTW depending on what model main Tivo you have you may need some other items to get the MoCA working.


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## Michael Quinn (Jun 23, 2017)

krkaufman said:


> Wait, you *do* have Internet access for your home. So you just need your home network extended to your Mini location, and, yes... this is possible over coax lines using MoCA networking. (MoCA == Multimedia Over Coax Alliance) MoCA is just another technology enabling networking over a different physical medium:
> 
> Ethernet runs over twisted pair cabling;
> Wi-Fi over the air;
> ...


Thank you so much!! Great response!!


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## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

Michael Quinn said:


> Thank you so much!! Great response!!


You're quite welcome, and good to hear.

p.s. _... *what model is your "main TiVo"?*_


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## Michael Quinn (Jun 23, 2017)

krkaufman said:


> You're quite welcome, and good to hear.
> 
> p.s. _... *what model is your "main TiVo"?*_


We have the Roameo Pro... We're on the move today, running around but if you have any other suggestions they'd be more than appreciated. I'm half tempted to pay full price and order the Mini from a third party so I don't have Tivo locking up my bank account. We love our Roameo...it's head an shoulders above TWSpectrum!!


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## lpwcomp (May 6, 2002)

Michael Quinn said:


> We have the Roameo Pro... We're on the move today, running around but if you have any other suggestions they'd be more than appreciated. I'm half tempted to pay full price and order the Mini from a third party so I don't have Tivo locking up my bank account. We love our Roameo...it's head an shoulders above TWSpectrum!!


How is the Pro connected to the Internet?


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## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

Michael Quinn said:


> We have the Roameo Pro..


The Roamio Pro has a built-in MoCA bridge, and so, given that the Pro is in the same room as your modem/router and connected to the router via Ethernet (right?), you should be able to use the Pro to establish your MoCA network.

You'll just need to do the due diligence to verify that the coax outlet at the Mini location connects to the same coax plant as your Roamio Pro, and then get a "PoE" MoCA filter installed to secure and strengthen your MoCA network. (More on "PoE" MoCA filters >here<.)

p.s. You'll also want to note the specs of any splitters used in your setup, as you come across them, in case you should have issues getting MoCA working. People sometimes need to upgrade splitters and/or amplifiers to MoCA-compatible models to get things working.


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## Michael Quinn (Jun 23, 2017)

lpwcomp said:


> How is the Pro connected to the Internet?


 My Romeo pro is connected to the Internet by a standard cable coming out of the wall there's a splitter one goes to the modem one goes to the television I'm sorry one goes to the TiVo. But in the other room where I want to use the TiVo mini there's the same outlet in the wall can I hook a cable that cable directly to the TiVo mini or do I have to get another modem


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## Michael Quinn (Jun 23, 2017)

krkaufman said:


> The Roamio Pro has a built-in MoCA bridge, and so, given that the Pro is in the same room as your modem/router and connected to the router via Ethernet (right?), you should be able to use the Pro to establish your MoCA network.
> 
> You'll just need to do the due diligence to verify that the coax outlet at the Mini location connects to the same coax plant as your Roamio Pro, and then get a "PoE" MoCA filter installed to secure and strengthen your MoCA network. (More on "PoE" MoCA filters >here<.)
> 
> p.s. You'll also want to note the specs of any splitters used in your setup, as you come across them, in case you should have issues getting MoCA working. People sometimes need to upgrade splitters and/or amplifiers to MoCA-compatible models to get things working.


 Ummm, would you like to come over for the weekend? Seriously, thank you so much for all your help I think I've got enough to get started now. I'm in limbo right now with TiVo as far as placing that order for the mini because of their bookkeeping. But once I get that straightened out I'll place an order probably somewhere else and then I'll dig in. Thanks again for the help ‼


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## lpwcomp (May 6, 2002)

Michael Quinn said:


> My Romeo pro is connected to the Internet by a standard cable coming out of the wall there's a splitter one goes to the modem one goes to the television I'm sorry one goes to the TiVo. But in the other room where I want to use the TiVo mini there's the same outlet in the wall can I hook a cable that cable directly to the TiVo mini or do I have to get another modem


A TiVo cannot connect directly to the Internet. If there is no Ethernet cable connected, it is connecting through your modem/router, either wirelessly or via MoCA.

From TiVo Central, go to Settings & Messages->Settings->Network. What does it say for "Type"?


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## Michael Quinn (Jun 23, 2017)

lpwcomp said:


> A TiVo cannot connect directly to the Internet. If there is no Ethernet cable connected, it is connecting through your modem/router, either wirelessly or via MoCA.
> 
> From TiVo Central, go to Settings & Messages->Settings->Network. What does it say for "Type"?


 As soon as I get home.


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## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

Michael Quinn said:


> My Romeo pro is connected to the Internet by a standard cable coming out of the wall there's a splitter one goes to the modem one goes to the television I'm sorry one goes to the TiVo.


I doubt that this is the case. That's how your Roamio Pro is receiving the TV signal, which it is tuning for Live TV and recording.

The question is how is your Roamio Pro networked, to your home network? Have you connected it using an Ethernet cable to your home router, or did you configure the Roamio Pro for a wireless connection? You'll need to connect the Roamio Pro to your router via Ethernet, as a first step, to leverage the Pro's built-in MoCA bridging functionality.

You can check the Roamio Pro's network configuration via the "View network status" screen.


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## Michael Quinn (Jun 23, 2017)

krkaufman said:


> I doubt that this is the case. That's how your Roamio Pro is receiving the TV signal, which it is tuning for Live TV and recording.
> 
> The question is how is your Roamio Pro networked, to your home network? Have you connected it using an Ethernet cable to your home router, or did you configure the Roamio Pro for a wireless connection? You'll need to connect the Roamio Pro to your router via Ethernet, as a first step, to leverage the Pro's built-in MoCA bridging functionality.
> 
> You can check the Roamio Pro's network configuration via the "View network status" screen.


 Yes the Romeo pro is connected to the Internet through an ethernet cable from the cable company provided modem/router. But I don't have a router for the other bedroom, do I need to get one?


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## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

Michael Quinn said:


> Yes the Romeo pro is connected to the Internet through an ethernet cable from the cable company provided modem/router.


Great.


Michael Quinn said:


> But I don't have a router for the other bedroom, do I need to get one?


Nope. See above post re: MoCA being just another networking variant like Wi-Fi. You'll extend your home network from your router's built-in switch to the Mini location via MoCA over coax, using the Roamio Pro as the bridging device between Ethernet and MoCA/coax. (As an aside, you don't need to do anything similar for wireless clients because your router includes a built-in wireless access point.)

Once you've enabled the MoCA bridging within the Roamio Pro -- and assuming your coax plant is MoCA-compatible -- you'll be able to connect the Mini to its coax outlet and configure the Mini as a MoCA networking client, using the "Connect using MoCA" option in the Mini's networking setup.

Followup questions, though, when you can...

What's the model number for your cable company-provided modem/router?

Who is your cable provider?
(It's not impossible that your cable provider's gateway supports establishing the MoCA network, so that'd be good info to nail down.)


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## Michael Quinn (Jun 23, 2017)

krkaufman said:


> Great.
> 
> Nope. See above post re: MoCA being just another networking variant like Wi-Fi. You'll extend your home network from your router's built-in switch to the Mini location via MoCA over coax, using the Roamio Pro as the bridging device between Ethernet and MoCA/coax. (You don't need to do anything similar for wireless clients because your router includes a built-in wireless access point.)
> 
> ...


 Fantastic, I'll get that to you as soon as I get home. Thank you


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## lpwcomp (May 6, 2002)

Michael Quinn said:


> Yes the Romeo pro is connected to the Internet through an ethernet cable from the cable company provided modem/router. But I don't have a router for the other bedroom, do I need to get one?


No. Just follow the directions for Option 3 under Connect your TiVo® box to your home network

Then the Mini can connect to the TiVo via MoCA and to the Internet through the TiVo.


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## Michael Quinn (Jun 23, 2017)

krkaufman said:


> Great.
> 
> Nope. See above post re: MoCA being just another networking variant like Wi-Fi. You'll extend your home network from your router's built-in switch to the Mini location via MoCA over coax, using the Roamio Pro as the bridging device between Ethernet and MoCA/coax. (As an aside, you don't need to do anything similar for wireless clients because your router includes a built-in wireless access point.)
> 
> ...


My modem / router looks like an Arris, model TG1672 and my provider is TimeWarner Spectrum.


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## Michael Quinn (Jun 23, 2017)

lpwcomp said:


> A TiVo cannot connect directly to the Internet. If there is no Ethernet cable connected, it is connecting through your modem/router, either wirelessly or via MoCA.
> 
> From TiVo Central, go to Settings & Messages->Settings->Network. What does it say for "Type"?


It says Ethernet connection.


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## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

Michael Quinn said:


> My modem / router looks like an Arris, model TG1672 and my provider is TimeWarner Spectrum.


The *TG1672G* user manual indicates it supports creation of a MoCA network; however, it's my understanding that *TWC doesn't support enabling MoCA on the gateways they supply*.

So... it looks like you're good-to-go with configuring the Roamio Pro as your MoCA bridge.

p.s. If curious, you can check your gateway for the MoCA status LED to determine if the gateway has the potential to support MoCA networking. Though, again, as strictly an informational exercise, since TWC doesn't permit enabling MoCA on their gateways.






​


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## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

Oh, right... also...

Time Warner adds another twist to setting up a CableCARD DVR... the need to pair a Switched Digital Video (SDV) tuning adapter with each DVR. The proper setup for a tuning adapter in a MoCA environment is well described in the Cox tuning adapter setup guide, as detailed in this post:


krkaufman said:


> No. You definitely need a MoCA filter in place on the input to your tuning adapter. You're looking to prevent any stray tuning adapter frequencies from interfering with your MoCA signals, and blocking MoCA signals from confusing the tuning adapter. (The result of mixing is not Reese's Peanut Butter Cup goodness.)
> 
> Here's some more info, mostly copied from a recent post discussing tuning adapter setup...
> ------
> ...


p.s. In answer to "what exactly is a tuning adapter?" ... see this post.


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## Michael Quinn (Jun 23, 2017)

lpwcomp said:


> No. Just follow the directions for Option 3 under Connect your TiVo® box to your home network
> 
> Then the Mini can connect to the TiVo via MoCA and to the Internet through the TiVo.





krkaufman said:


> The *TG1672G* user manual indicates it supports creation of a MoCA network; however, it's my understanding that *TWC doesn't support enabling MoCA on the gateways they supply*.
> 
> So... it looks like you're good-to-go with configuring the Roamio Pro as your MoCA bridge.
> 
> ...


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## Michael Quinn (Jun 23, 2017)

I see the MoCA light on my modem but it's not lit. I'll go through all of this again when I get the Mini if Tivo can get over their technical problems on the selling end. But am I to more or less understand that my equipment because of it's nature as discussed here will simply need to be installed with the cable that comes out of my wall as described? Or is there some technical set up procedure beyond what is described here. It sounds like due to the equipment I have the MoCA will automatically function. Sorry to be so dense...I'm a morning person!


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## Michael Quinn (Jun 23, 2017)

krkaufman said:


> Oh, right... also...
> 
> Time Warner adds another twist to setting up a CableCARD DVR... the need to pair a Switched Digital Video (SDV) tuning adapter with each DVR. The proper setup for a tuning adapter in a MoCA environment is well described in the Cox tuning adapter setup guide, as detailed in this post:
> ​p.s. In answer to "what exactly is a tuning adapter?" ... see this post.


TWSpectrum told me I don't need the "tuning adapter" and so far it seems to be working fine without it.


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## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

Michael Quinn said:


> TWSpectrum told me I don't need the "tuning adapter" and so far it seems to be working fine without it.


That's a plus. If you're tuning all the channels in your package as-is, then TWC support would appear to be correct!  Simplifies the setup a bit.


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## Michael Quinn (Jun 23, 2017)

krkaufman said:


> That's a plus. If you're tuning all the channels in your package as-is, then TWC support would appear to be correct!  Simplifies the setup a bit.


Yes, it seems like it's all functioning. Movie channels, etc. What an unbelievable upgrade from the archaic TWSpectrum DVR...that thing is pathetic.


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## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

Michael Quinn said:


> ... But am I to more or less understand that my equipment because of it's nature as discussed here will simply need to be installed with the cable that comes out of my wall as described? Or is there some technical set up procedure beyond what is described here. It sounds like due to the equipment I have the MoCA will automatically function.


Yes, what you'll need to do has been covered in this thread (here, here), assuming you also follow the links to the additional resources that have been linked.

If you hit any speed bumps, don't hesitate to resuscitate the thread.


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## Michael Quinn (Jun 23, 2017)

I can't thank you guys enough!! I think I'll be OK now but it sure is nice to have this life line! While I'm here a quick question: With my Roameo, is there any way that I can watch my recorded programming by streaming somehow to my ipad or iphone? Not asking you to take the time to explain how, only if. Thanks again.


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## lpwcomp (May 6, 2002)

Michael Quinn said:


> I can't thank you guys enough!! I think I'll be OK now but it sure is nice to have this life line! While I'm here a quick question: With my Roameo, is there any way that I can watch my recorded programming by streaming somehow to my ipad or iphone? Not asking you to take the time to explain how, only if. Thanks again.


Install the TiVo app on your phone and pad and you should be able to using the built-in Stream of your Roamio Pro.


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## Michael Quinn (Jun 23, 2017)

lpwcomp said:


> Install the TiVo app on your phone and pad and you should be able to using the built-in Stream of your Roamio Pro.


Many thanks!!


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