# Any Reason Not to Jump on the Basic Deal? Lack of Gigabit?



## 1985BearsFan (Sep 15, 2013)

As I've mentioned in another thread, currently, I own a Roamio Plus, a Premiere, and two HDs. All of the TiVos are connected via ethernet (Cat5e or Cat 6). The Roamio Plus is in our family room and is the primary TiVo we use. The Premiere is in the master bedroom and gets quite a bit of use too. One of the HDs is in my home office and barely gets used (typically, I'll just turn it while I'm working in the home office to pay bills--basically white noise type of thing). The other HD is collecting dust while I dream of putting it up for sale (all four units have lifetime service).

Lately, I've found myself watching a lot of Netflix and have noticed it takes a lot longer to load on the Premiere than on the Roamio Plus. Everyone in the family loves the Plus so I've been wanting to upgrade the Premiere to a Roamio (in which case I would move the Premiere to the home office and mothball the HD unit that is current in there).

Now that I've learned I can use the Roamio Plus to stream from a basic Roamio, I'm wondering if there is any reason NOT to buy a basic Roamio to replace the Premiere. I don't need the two extra tuners a Plus would offer of a basic Roamio (heck, the basic Roamio would be a 2-tuner step up from the Premiere), nor do I need the extra hard drive space of the Plus over the Roamio (as I understand it, the basic Roamio offers the same storage capacity as the Premiere, plus I have external HDs on my Premiere and both HDs so I could always use one of them). I've now determined that the Plus can be used to stream from the basic Roamio. So, it seems to be that the only other significant difference between the Plus and the basic Roamio is that the Plus offers gigabit ethernet whereas the basic offers only 10/100.

In short, here are my questions:


Does gigabit ethernet make a noticeable difference for TiVos?
Are there any other significant differences between the Plus and Basic models that I haven't already addressed?
Given that the refurbished basic with lifetime service is currently only $300 total whereas a refurbished Plus with lifetme was $550 (when TiVo had the refurbished Pluses in stock), is there any compelling reason not to buy the refurbished basic Roamio now?

Thank you all in advance for your thoughts and insight.


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## DocNo (Oct 10, 2001)

The basic lacks the Tivo Stream functionality. If you have been a long time customer with Tivo (over 10 years it sounded like) you can get a new Plus with Lifetime for $500.


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## 1985BearsFan (Sep 15, 2013)

DocNo said:


> The basic lacks the Tivo Stream functionality. If you have been a long time customer with Tivo (over 10 years it sounded like) you can get a new Plus with Lifetime for $500.


Unfortunately, I haven't been with TiVo that long. My HDs were my first TiVos, and I purchased them in January 2010. My mom has an original TiVo, but I don't know if they would give me the discount on her account.

Let's assume, though, that I could qualify for the discount: $500 for new Plus with lifetime versus $300 for a refurb basic with liftime--Is the Plus worth the extra $200? Because I can use my existing Plus to stream from the basic, isn't the only difference the two extra tuners, the bigger hard drive, and the gigabit?


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## DocNo (Oct 10, 2001)

1985BearsFan said:


> Let's assume, though, that I could qualify for the discount: $500 for new Plus with lifetime versus $300 for a refurb basic with liftime--Is the Plus worth the extra $200? Because I can use my existing Plus to stream from the basic, isn't the only difference the two extra tuners, the bigger hard drive, and the gigabit?


It was worth it for me for the Stream. If you want the capability of the Tivo Stream it's $150 (or $130 if you shop around) to add one on to the basic Roamio. That is what made it a no-brainer for me - was only $50 more than the basic+Stream. The two extra tuners are nice but I rarely ran into issues where 4 wasn't enough.


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## 1985BearsFan (Sep 15, 2013)

DocNo said:


> It was worth it for me for the Stream. If you want the capability of the Tivo Stream it's $150 (or $130 if you shop around) to add one on to the basic Roamio. That is what made it a no-brainer for me - was only $50 more than the basic+Stream. The two extra tuners are nice but I rarely ran into issues where 4 wasn't enough.


I totally get your situation. For me, I already have a Plus so I wouldn't need to buy a Stream to stream from the Basic. Thus, I'm taking the TiVo Stream out of the equation.

Chatting with TiVo right now to see whether I would even qualify for the long-time customer discount.


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## DocNo (Oct 10, 2001)

Yup, if you don't need the stream or the extra tuners then you can't beat the refurb+lifetime deal.

Good luck!


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

1985BearsFan said:


> I totally get your situation. For me, I already have a Plus so I wouldn't need to buy a Stream to stream from the Basic. Thus, I'm taking the TiVo Stream out of the equation. Chatting with TiVo right now to see whether I would even qualify for the long-time customer discount.


Just order the loyalty plus deal on your Mom's account and then put it on yours when she gets it.


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## jonw747 (Aug 2, 2015)

1985BearsFan said:


> As I've mentioned in another thread, currently, I own a Roamio Plus, a Premiere, and two HDs. All of the TiVos are connected via ethernet (Cat5e or Cat 6). The Roamio Plus is in our family room and is the primary TiVo we use. The Premiere is in the master bedroom and gets quite a bit of use too. One of the HDs is in my home office and barely gets used (typically, I'll just turn it while I'm working in the home office to pay bills--basically white noise type of thing). The other HD is collecting dust while I dream of putting it up for sale (all four units have lifetime service).


Another option is to load up the Plus with a big disk and add Mini's where needed.

Lack of gigabit seems like a minor factor compared to the other trade offs.


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## 1985BearsFan (Sep 15, 2013)

DocNo said:


> It was worth it for me for the Stream. If you want the capability of the Tivo Stream it's $150 (or $130 if you shop around) to add one on to the basic Roamio. That is what made it a no-brainer for me - was only $50 more than the basic+Stream. The two extra tuners are nice but I rarely ran into issues where 4 wasn't enough.





HarperVision said:


> Just order the loyalty plus deal on your Mom's account and then put it on yours when she gets it.


My parents live in a different state than I do so I'd have to find out whether TiVo will ship the unit to me rather than to my parents. For some reason, I seem to recall that TiVo once told me they will only ship to the address on the account and won't ship to an alternate address.


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## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

HarperVision said:


> Just order the loyalty plus deal on your Mom's account and then put it on yours when she gets it.


^^^^ What I was gonna say. ^^^^


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## 1985BearsFan (Sep 15, 2013)

jonw747 said:


> Another option is to load up the Plus with a big disk and add Mini's where needed.
> 
> Lack of gigabit seems like a minor factor compared to the other trade offs.


I like have two separate units for recording, and I especially like have a couple of more tuners than what comes with the Plus. We've got two kids in the house so sometimes we actually will record four or more shows at once.


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## DocNo (Oct 10, 2001)

1985BearsFan said:


> My parents live in a different state than I do so I'd have to find out whether TiVo will ship the unit to me rather than to my parents. For some reason, I seem to recall that TiVo once told me they will only ship to the address on the account and won't ship to an alternate address.


Yeah, I doubt they would do that. If you wanted it and were going to visit your parents, that would be the time to do it


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## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

Add'l:

*OTA:* base Roamio could be flipped to record antenna/OTA, rather than CableCARD; Plus/Pro can only do CableCARD;

*MoCA:* base Roamio lacks MoCA, of any sort; Plus/Pro can connect via MoCA, even create MoCA network;

*Power:* base Roamio uses an external power adapter (wall-wart); Plus/Pro power supply is internal;

*Cabling:* base Roamio requires A/V Breakout cables for composite-only AV connection to TV; Plus/Pro includes RCA-style composite and component A/V ports;

*Finder:* base Roamio lacks the Remote Finder feature;

*Form:* Curved shape to base Roamio; Plus/Pro is all right angles and a bit bigger;

Previously covered:

*Tuners:* 4-tuners in base Roamio, vs 6-tuners in Plus/Pro;

*HDD:* 500GB HDD in base Roamio, vs 1TB/3TB in Plus/Pro;

*Stream:* base Roamio requires add-on TiVo Stream for mobile streaming; Plus/Pro have Stream built-in;

*Gigabit:* base Roamio limited to 100Mbps Ethernet; Plus/Pro has Gigabit Ethernet (1000Mbps);

----
edit: Updated Cabling entry to clarify that base Roamio only supports composite A/V connection via AV jack;


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## jonw747 (Aug 2, 2015)

1985BearsFan said:


> I like have two separate units for recording, and I especially like have a couple of more tuners than what comes with the Plus. We've got two kids in the house so sometimes we actually will record four or more shows at once.


Of course the Plus can record 6 shows at once. If it was recording 4 at once, you'd be limited to watching no more than 2 live streams.

It should work for you, but I understand there are other features/tradeoffs than just number of tuners. I've been contemplating them myself before plunking down the cash to complete my system.


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## thefisch (Jul 25, 2015)

Since you already have a plus not sure you'd benefit from another one since the basic already gives you more tuners than your premiere. It's a no brainer at $300. Even if you can order a plus for $500 under your parents, how much marginal utility are you getting from that extra $200 spent?


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## jonw747 (Aug 2, 2015)

thefisch said:


> Since you already have a plus not sure you'd benefit from another one since the basic already gives you more tuners than your premiere. It's a no brainer at $300. Even if you can order a plus for $500 under your parents, how much marginal utility are you getting from that extra $200 spent?


That was my thought regarding the Mini .vs. the Basic, but I rather like the Pro. Whether is actually is or not, it seems to be better built. Whether the extra tuners, hard drive space, features, and system redundancy is worth $200 extra?

That's for each of us to decide for ourselves.


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

1985BearsFan said:


> My parents live in a different state than I do so I'd have to find out whether TiVo will ship the unit to me rather than to my parents. For some reason, I seem to recall that TiVo once told me they will only ship to the address on the account and won't ship to an alternate address.


At least try it and tell TiVo that you manage their tivos for them since they're so old and don't understand this stuff. Say that you're planning a trip there and will take it with you to set it up. You just want it there first so you can open it up and test it out first.

If not, then just have your parents ship to you after receipt. You could even prepare a label for them and email it to them to make it even simpler.


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## 1985BearsFan (Sep 15, 2013)

jonw747 said:


> That was my thought regarding the Mini .vs. the Basic, but I rather like the Pro. Whether is actually is or not, it seems to be better built. Whether the extra tuners, hard drive space, features, and system redundancy is worth $200 extra?
> 
> That's for each of us to decide for ourselves.


You mention system redundancy. Both of my HD units are replacements under warranty. Both had external hard drives attached to increase storage. As I'm sure many fellow TiVo users can relate, it is extraordinary frustrating when a TiVo fails and the external (expansion) hard drive can't be moved to the replacement TiVo while at the same time salvaging the recordings on the expansion drive.

If having two Pluses were true redundancy (i.e., if a hard drive could be moved from one Plus to another without losing the data on it), I would say the extra $200 is worth it. Rant over.


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## 1985BearsFan (Sep 15, 2013)

krkaufman said:


> Add'l:
> 
> *OTA:* base Roamio could be flipped to record antenna/OTA, rather than CableCARD; Plus/Pro can only do CableCARD;
> 
> ...


I wasn't aware the basic Roamio uses a power brick. That really stinks! Not sure it is a $200 (or more) stink, though.


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## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

1985BearsFan said:


> I wasn't aware the basic Roamio uses a power brick. That really stinks! Not sure it is a $200 (or more) stink, though.


Well, more of a wall-wart, rather than a brick. I'll update that.

p.s. Some might consider the external adapter a bonus.


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## Mikeguy (Jul 28, 2005)

1985BearsFan said:


> I wasn't aware the basic Roamio uses a power brick. That really stinks! Not sure it is a $200 (or more) stink, though.


You might see that as a positive, in case the power circuitry goes bad--easy to replace.

Also, note that although the Roamio lacks MoCA, it easily can be gained through a MoCA adapter (although, that's extra cost).


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## 1985BearsFan (Sep 15, 2013)

Mikeguy said:


> You might see that as a positive, in case the power circuitry goes bad--easy to replace.
> 
> Also, note that although the Roamio lacks MoCA, it easily can be gained through a MoCA adapter (although, that's extra cost).


For me, the MoCA doesn't make a difference because last winter I wired the house for ethernet using Cat 5e or Cat 6 cabling (can't recall which; I think some rooms are different than others).

I just found out that sales tax is charged on the price of the device (though not the service plan). I'm still trying to find out what long-time customer discount my parents might be eligible for (the chat representative said I need to call the 1-877 number, which I haven't had a chance to do yet). However, the $49.99 refurb basic is looking even more attractive because the sales tax on the Plus will likely increase the cost by at least another $20 or so.


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## wmcbrine (Aug 2, 2003)

DocNo said:


> The basic lacks the Tivo Stream functionality.


Not an issue, because he already has a Plus with a built-in Stream -- it will stream from other units as well as from the one it's built into.

For me, the curved case top is the biggest nuisance. The lack of gigabit isn't a big deal. A Plus doesn't come near saturating its gigabit link; it gets maybe 50% faster transfers than a base Roamio.


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## waynomo (Nov 9, 2002)

I would think of the $200 over the life of the TiVo. That's just me. I purchased a pro and am very happy with it.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

1985BearsFan said:


> I wasn't aware the basic Roamio uses a power brick. That really stinks! Not sure it is a $200 (or more) stink, though.


That's one of the best things. I typically prefer external power supplies with devices. Much easier to fix if there is a power supply issue when it is external. Since it just involves replacing it. While an internal supply means sending the entire device in for service.


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## 1985BearsFan (Sep 15, 2013)

I hadn't thought of having a wall wart as a bonus. That's a very good point. The downside to the wall wart is that it takes up more space on a power strip than a regular plug. Not a huge deal, but definitely can be an inconvenience. I'd rather have a power brick (inline power supply that has a regular plug, like some laptops) than the wall wart.


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## 1985BearsFan (Sep 15, 2013)

Just called TiVo as my father (with his permission, of course). I was able to confirm that my parents are eligible for a discount on lifetime service if they pay retail for the box. Refurbished basic Roamio with lifetime service and tax is $322.48. New Roamio Plus with lifetime service and tax is $544.98. Brand new Roamio with lifetime would be $400, not including tax. They would even ship it to me (I asked if the longtime customer discount could be used to buy a gift for someone and was told yes).

The new basic Roamio just doesn't make sense to me when $100 more gets a new Roamio Plus and I could save $100 by buying the refurb basic.

So, I'm back to trying to decide whether, given my needs, the Plus is really worth $222 more than the Basic. Any additional thoughts?

The one thing that is luring me to the Plus is the bigger hard drive, but I'm guessing I could upgrade it myself for less than $200. What HDs are compatible?


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

1985BearsFan said:


> Just called TiVo as my father (with his permission, of course). I was able to confirm that my parents are eligible for a discount on lifetime service if they pay retail for the box. Refurbished basic Roamio with lifetime service and tax is $322.48. New Roamio Plus with lifetime service and tax is $544.98. Brand new Roamio with lifetime would be $400, not including tax. They would even ship it to me (I asked if the longtime customer discount could be used to buy a gift for someone and was told yes). The new basic Roamio just doesn't make sense to me when $100 more gets a new Roamio Plus and I could save $100 by buying the refurb basic. So, I'm back to trying to decide whether, given my needs, the Plus is really worth $222 more than the Basic. Any additional thoughts? The one thing that is luring me to the Plus is the bigger hard drive, but I'm guessing I could upgrade it myself for less than $200. What HDs are compatible?


If you're going to buy a bigger HDD, a moca adapter and a stream anyway after you buy the base Roamio then it will end up costing as much if not more than the $222 you're saving by not getting the plus. So in this case get the plus right off the bat, especially taking into account the two extra tuners in the plus.

If you're NOT going to buy those extras, or maybe one or two of them, the advantage starts to swing back to the base model, especially if you may cut the cord and go OTA at some point since the plus doesn't offer this capability.

That's how I would make the decision, were it me.


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## Mikeguy (Jul 28, 2005)

As noted out above, the big decision point: do you want over-the-air, either now or in the future? If so, the base Roamio. And I don't consider the base Roamio "basic" in any sense: it actually is the "most advanced," the only version to offer the option of OTA or cable. Other features (streaming and/or a MoCA connection, as well as a larger hard drive--a 3TB going for about $120 now, and a 2TB for about $90) can be added later, if desired.


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

Mikeguy said:


> As noted out above, the big decision point: do you want over-the-air, either now or in the future? If so, the base Roamio. And I don't consider the base Roamio "basic" in any sense: it actually is the "most advanced," the only version to offer the option of OTA or cable. Other features (streaming and/or a MoCA connection, as well as a larger hard drive--a 3TB going for about $120 now, and a 2TB for about $90) can be added later, if desired.


The extra two tuners can't!


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## 1985BearsFan (Sep 15, 2013)

HarperVision said:


> If you're going to buy a bigger HDD, a moca adapter and a stream anyway after you buy the base Roamio then it will end up costing as much if not more than the $222 you're saving by not getting the plus. So in this case get the plus right off the bat, especially taking into account the two extra tuners in the plus.
> 
> If you're NOT going to buy those extras, or maybe one or two of them, the advantage starts to swing back to the base model, especially if you may cut the cord and go OTA at some point since the plus doesn't offer this capability.
> 
> That's how I would make the decision, were it me.


Because I'm already wired with Ethernet, I don't need MoCA. Because I already have a Plus, I don't need to buy a Stream. I already have six tuners with the Plus and will keep the Premiere I have so the base Roamio would give me 12 total. That should be plenty for a family of four.

What I am concerned about is HD space. I already have an external HD on the Premiere, and I'm getting a new one to take the place of the Premiere. Thus, it seems the biggest factor in the decision is cost of a hard drive--either internal or external. If it's not too time consuming to replace the internal HD, my preference would be to replace the internal. I just don't what type of HD is recommended or the cost.

Btw, the OTA option is very nice in case I decide to cut the cord with Cox.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk.


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## Mikeguy (Jul 28, 2005)

HarperVision said:


> The extra two tuners can't!


Well yes, that's true. But 4 tuners already is nice.  And if you're going OTA, the extra 2 tuners in the Plus or Pro aren't really going to help you much.


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

1985BearsFan said:


> Because I'm already wired with Ethernet, I don't need MoCA. Because I already have a Plus, I don't need to buy a Stream. I already have six tuners with the Plus and will keep the Premiere I have so the base Roamio would give me 12 total. That should be plenty for a family of four. What I am concerned about is HD space. I already have an external HD on the Premiere, and I'm getting a new one to take the place of the Premiere. Thus, it seems the biggest factor in the decision is cost of a hard drive--either internal or external. If it's not too time consuming to replace the internal HD, my preference would be to replace the internal. I just don't what type of HD is recommended or the cost. Btw, the OTA option is very nice in case I decide to cut the cord with Cox. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk.


Excellent, that was my entire point and you answered your own questions and seemed to have come to the proper decision......Roamio base model it is! 

As for the HDD, yes the internal upgrade is a WAY better solution than using an external. It is super simple to do too. The recommended drive is the WD AV-GP EURX green drives. A 3TB can be had in the $100-120 range from my current knowledge.

So your overall savings by getting a refurb base vs a plus would be about $100-120, give or take. If you went with a smaller than 3TB HDD then add a little more savings.


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

Mikeguy said:


> Well yes, that's true. But 4 tuners already is nice.  And if you're going OTA, the extra 2 tuners in the Plus or Pro aren't really going to help you much.


I'm pickin' up what yer puttin' down Holmes!


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## Mikeguy (Jul 28, 2005)

1985BearsFan said:


> If it's not too time consuming to replace the internal HD, my preference would be to replace the internal. I just don't what type of HD is recommended or the cost.


Easily done, and prices have come down dramatically this Summer--you now can get a 3TB replacement drive for what used to be the price of a 2TB.

Often recommended as replacements:

http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digit...n_feature_keywords_four_browse-bin:8067153011 -- 3TB drive, currently $110 (down $10 from a few days ago)

http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digit...n_feature_keywords_four_browse-bin:8067152011 -- 2TB drive, currently around $87 (down $30 or so from the Spring!)


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## 1985BearsFan (Sep 15, 2013)

Thank you all for the replies and comments. I just looked at the Premiere. It shows 37% full and has an Expander attached. I can't read the information on the Expander casing (it is too small). However, the TiVo Premiere shows the model as WDC WD10EURX-73FH1Y0. When I Google that model, it comes up as a 1TB model. The Premiere also shows that my recording capacity is 208 HD hours, and I have up to 129 HD hours of free space. That would be consistent with 1.5TB total, right?

If I'm correct that the Expander is only 1TB, I could throw a 2GB drive into the Base Roamio and still have more storage space than I have now (2GB vs. 1.5GB).

Okay, I'm about 95% convinced the way to go is the Base Roamio and then swap out the internal HD with a 2TB. If I can get TiVo to throw in a couple of Slides, that would seal the deal. :-D


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## thefisch (Jul 25, 2015)

Don't stop at 2tb, go for 3tb for only a few $ more. Unless you already own the 2tb drive.

Keep calling tivo until you get a rep who will throw in a slide remote.


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## Mikeguy (Jul 28, 2005)

1985BearsFan said:


> If I can get TiVo to throw in a couple of Slides, that would seal the deal. :-D


A _couple_ of slides? With this pricing, I don't know if TiVo would through in an antenna ball.  But do let us know.


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## 1985BearsFan (Sep 15, 2013)

I thought someone else posted success in getting two slides even with this deal. Did I misread a post or two?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk.


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## jonw747 (Aug 2, 2015)

1985BearsFan said:


> You mention system redundancy. Both of my HD units are replacements under warranty. Both had external hard drives attached to increase storage. As I'm sure many fellow TiVo users can relate, it is extraordinary frustrating when a TiVo fails and the external (expansion) hard drive can't be moved to the replacement TiVo while at the same time salvaging the recordings on the expansion drive.
> 
> If having two Pluses were true redundancy (i.e., if a hard drive could be moved from one Plus to another without losing the data on it), I would say the extra $200 is worth it. Rant over.


That would be nice, but you can copy shows to the other unit and let it take over recording if the primary starts to fail.


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## zerdian1 (Apr 19, 2015)

I have the Roamio Pro, Roamio Basic, Stream, Moca.
I put two Minis in the 3rd and 4th rooms. I have cable throughout the house so Moca was the choice for me.
THE MINIs now have the power to Stream themselves I was told by TiVo.
So Adding a Mini would seem to be the way to go if you primarily want to stream.
I have not yet tested this myself.


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## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

zerdian1 said:


> I have the Roamio Pro, Roamio Basic, Stream, Moca.
> I put two Minis in the 3rd and 4th rooms. I have cable throughout the house so Moca was the choice for me.
> THE MINIs now have the power to Stream themselves I was told by TiVo.
> So Adding a Mini would seem to be the way to go if you primarily want to stream.
> I have not yet tested this myself.


Mini streaming is different from Stream streaming. Minis stream unaltered TiVo content (recordings, live TV) from their host DVR and from the various streaming services. The Stream component is for mobile streaming, getting TiVo content, transcoded as needed, to iBlah & Android mobile devices, and to laptops/PCs w/ the help of TiVo Online.

And in your setup, that additional Stream shouldn't be needed, I believe. You *should* be able to rely on the Stream built into Pro.


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## Nelson2009 (Mar 21, 2009)

I called TiVo Sale Rep on phone They were nice They don't have any more sale for Roamio Plus with Lifetime I was weight on it to replace my TiVo HD. 
I was thinking about Roamio basic summer sale but I want to get Tive Steam. I realize I don't want to add too many devices at home. 
Nice to heard that customers who own renewed product which work fine.


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## mdavej (Aug 13, 2015)

Nelson2009 said:


> I was thinking about Roamio basic summer sale but I want to get Tive Steam. I realize I don't want to add too many devices at home.


So you'd rather have nothing than add a tiny $130 box that can be hidden anywhere? What difference could one more device possibly make, unless you live in one of those tiny houses they show on FYI network? The Basic deal with lifetime and a Stream would be $430. A Plus with lifetime would be $900. Seems like a no-brainer to me.


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## 1985BearsFan (Sep 15, 2013)

Well, I went ahead and pulled the trigger yesterday and ordered the renewed base Roamio with lifetime. Waited about 10-15 minutes on hold before I was able to speak with a sales rep. She was very nice. During the course of my conversation, I discovered that I actually had a Pro, not a Plus. (Never thought I would splurge, but apparently I did.). Asked if she could throw in a pair of Slide remotes. She put me on a hold for about five minutes, after which she said she could throw in one Slide but not two. I decided not to push it and to be happy with the one. 

My only concern is that she said they were having computer issues so the order would have to be manually entered into the system. I haven't received a confirmation email yet, and she warned me that I might not receive it until Wednesday. So now I'm just nervously waiting and hoping the order doesn't get messed up. 

Now all that is left is for me to decide whether to buy the 2TB drive or go with the 3TB. Any recommendations on how/when to replace the internal drive. For example, would you recommend replacing the drive on day one to ensure shows don't later need to be transferred? Or would you wait until the 30 day money back guaranty period is over or wait until the 90 day initial warranty period is over?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk.


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## mdavej (Aug 13, 2015)

Pop in a 3TB right away. If you have to send it back for whatever reason, pop the original drive back in first. Basic uses two torx bits (security I think), one for the case and a different one for the drive. Youtube shows step by step. Very simple.


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## Mikeguy (Jul 28, 2005)

1985BearsFan said:


> Well, I went ahead and pulled the trigger yesterday and ordered the renewed base Roamio with lifetime. Waited about 10-15 minutes on hold before I was able to speak with a sales rep. She was very nice. During the course of my conversation, I discovered that I actually had a Pro, not a Plus. (Never thought I would splurge, but apparently I did.). Asked if she could throw in a pair of Slide remotes. She put me on a hold for about five minutes, after which she said she could throw in one Slide but not two. I decided not to push it and to be happy with the one.
> 
> My only concern is that she said they were having computer issues so the order would have to be manually entered into the system. I haven't received a confirmation email yet, and she warned me that I might not receive it until Wednesday. So now I'm just nervously waiting and hoping the order doesn't get messed up.
> 
> ...


Thanks for the update--good show!


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

1985BearsFan said:


> Well, I went ahead and pulled the trigger yesterday and ordered the renewed base Roamio with lifetime. Waited about 10-15 minutes on hold before I was able to speak with a sales rep. She was very nice. During the course of my conversation, I discovered that I actually had a Pro, not a Plus. (Never thought I would splurge, but apparently I did.). Asked if she could throw in a pair of Slide remotes. She put me on a hold for about five minutes, after which she said she could throw in one Slide but not two. I decided not to push it and to be happy with the one.
> 
> My only concern is that she said they were having computer issues so the order would have to be manually entered into the system. I haven't received a confirmation email yet, and she warned me that I might not receive it until Wednesday. So now I'm just nervously waiting and hoping the order doesn't get messed up.
> 
> ...


SInce it's a refurb I would run it for a couple weeks before replacing the hard drive. Just to make sure everything works properly.

With my Refurb ROamio I'm waiting until the Bolt announcement to upgrade the drive. If I don't get a bolt then I will just use the 3TB drive I removed from my ROamio Pro, earlier this year, and use that in my refurb Roamio.


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## NickTheGreat (Aug 31, 2015)

I went with the basic refurb, and figured I'd buy the stream separately, which I'd prefer.

But I had also planned to just add an external drive. What is the disadvantage of swapping the internal drive? Warranty issue I presume?


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

NickTheGreat said:


> I went with the basic refurb, and figured I'd buy the stream separately, which I'd prefer.
> 
> But I had also planned to just add an external drive. What is the disadvantage of swapping the internal drive? Warranty issue I presume?


Your phrasing is hard to answer. The advantage of swapping the internal drive for a larger drive in increase reliability. I would not suggest an external drive for a TiVo. Ever.

Well, maybe if they change how it is used and make it a normal NTFS (or otherwise) type of partition.


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## 1985BearsFan (Sep 15, 2013)

JoeKustra said:


> Your phrasing is hard to answer. The advantage of swapping the internal drive for a larger drive in increase reliability. I would not suggest an external drive for a TiVo. Ever.
> 
> Well, maybe if they change how it is used and make it a normal NTFS (or otherwise) type of partition.


I've had external drives (all of them the official WD DVR Expanders) for my two HDs and my Premiere. All of them have failed. In at least one case, I was able to reformat the external drive and re-use it; however, I lost all the shows that had been recorded (because the HD spreads the recordings across the internal and external drives, ALL the recordings were lost). In fact, currently, one of my HDs is stuck at the "Welcome...Powering Up" screen, which I'm pretty certain is due to the external drive failing (when I disconnect the external drive, the HD starts up just fine but is unusable because the external drive is missing--unless, of course, I tell it to dis-associate the external drive).

In light of all my previous problems with the DVR Expanders, I've decided to foregoing an Expander with my base Roamio (expected delivery this Friday) and, instead, swap out the internal HD. NewEgg has the 3TB WD internal drive (WD30EURX) for $111.99, which seems like a better price that Amazon (currently $116). Plus, with NewEgg, I don't have to pay sales tax, which saves me another $8-9. Probably will order the drive tonight for deliver on Friday.


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## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

1985BearsFan said:


> NewEgg has the 3TB WD internal drive (WD30EURX) for $111.99, which seems like a better price that *Amazon (currently $116)*. Plus, with NewEgg, I don't have to pay sales tax, which saves me another $8-9. Probably will order the drive tonight for deliver on Friday.


Good call re: going internal only.

As for price, I'm showing $109.99 at Amazon on the 3TB EURX.


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## Mikeguy (Jul 28, 2005)

That seems to be the Amazon this-week pricing, down around $10 from only a week ago.


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## 1985BearsFan (Sep 15, 2013)

krkaufman said:


> Good call re: going internal only.
> 
> As for price, I'm showing $109.99 at Amazon on the 3TB EURX.


Weird. When I click the link in your post, it shows the Amazon price as $118.76 with free shipping from Limited Goods (apparently, an Amazon partner).


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## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

1985BearsFan said:


> Weird. When I click the link in your post, it shows the Amazon price as $118.76 with free shipping from Limited Goods (apparently, an Amazon partner).


And that's all I'm seeing now, as well. I don't see Amazon, as the seller, listed anywhere in the "New from ..." listing. Must've sold out.


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## skypros (May 19, 2015)

I have been watching the WD WD30EURX on Amazon for 3 months now.
It bounces around allot.... I have actually seen it as low as $95 "new" from a 3rd party w/ free ship... But I felt buying from a 3rd party was not such a good idea.
What looks to be the "normal" Amazon Prime price is $111 So if you want one, just wait... It will be lower again, as these look to be tied to the Tivo summer sale (IE: folks with the small 500gb HD looking to upgrade).


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## 1985BearsFan (Sep 15, 2013)

I went ahead and placed my order with NewEgg for $111.99. I save on the sales tax, and, thanks to ShopRunner, I get free two-day shipping. Hopefully, both the hard drive and Roamio will arrive this Friday.


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## NickTheGreat (Aug 31, 2015)

JoeKustra said:


> Your phrasing is hard to answer. The advantage of swapping the internal drive for a larger drive in increase reliability. I would not suggest an external drive for a TiVo. Ever.
> 
> Well, maybe if they change how it is used and make it a normal NTFS (or otherwise) type of partition.


Thanks Joe. My phrasing was wonky. But noted on the external drive. :up:


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## 1985BearsFan (Sep 15, 2013)

Wouldn't you know it; Amazon price is back to $109.99 with free shipping for Prime customers. Because I'm saving on the sales tax, I'm not going to sweat my NewEgg order. Both the hard drive and the Roamio should arrive tomorrow.


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## Mikeguy (Jul 28, 2005)

Don't you just _love_ Amazon's dynamic minute-by-minute pricing? LOL.


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## 1985BearsFan (Sep 15, 2013)

Mikeguy said:


> Don't you just _love_ Amazon's dynamic minute-by-minute pricing? LOL.


Ha. It is terribly frustrating. The good news, though, is that my 3TB drive from NewEgg has already arrived, and it's not even 9:00 a.m. local time. The Roamio should be arriving later today so I'm expecting to perform a bit of surgery soon.


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