# Mini and Roamio in the same room?



## DEC2955 (May 3, 2009)

Can a Roamio & Mini sit side by side with out ""IR"" crash?

The reason that I ask is that my Roamio is set up for off air recordings.
I have a Premier-4 that will be set up for my local cable system.

I "Thought" that since 90% of the programming that my wife and I watch is recorded and watched later.. streaming from the "P-4" to the Roamio would not be an issue..

But tonight the wife laid down the law that she wants to "Channel Surf".
I really don't want to have to pay for cable box rental!!
}} I originally thought that one of the P-4 tuners could be assigned to the Roamio for 'LIVE Channel Surfing'.. while I know I can stream.. just can not "Surf" ?? If the MINI can do it why can't the Roamio?? {{

I need to keep the Roamio for off air programming due to disputes with local cable and broadcast stations.. may loose two stations due to the disputes.

avid


----------



## dianebrat (Jul 6, 2002)

You can set the remote channels just like any other Tivo, no reason they can't both be in the same room, however I still don't get why you need both.


----------



## CrispyCritter (Feb 28, 2001)

dianebrat said:


> You can set the remote channels just like any other Tivo, no reason they can't both be in the same room, however I still don't get why you need both.


I assume they have another TV in another room with the Premiere, but want to channel surf on both OTA and cable in the room with the Roamio and Mini.

I ran both Roamio and Mini in the same room for a while with no problems, setting the remote addresses of both their remotes to different non-zero settings. The only slightly tricky part is setting the Roamio address to non-zero - it's easiest to use the Mini remote for that.


----------



## poppagene (Dec 29, 2001)

If you set the roamio remote to rf mode, you shouldn't have to worry about your signals getting crossed.


----------



## 59er (Mar 27, 2008)

So the OP is getting the mini only so his wife can channel surf using the Premiere's cable?


----------



## dianebrat (Jul 6, 2002)

59er said:


> So the OP is getting the mini only so his wife can channel surf using the Premiere's cable?


But if that's the case it still steals a tuner from the host box, so I see no advantage over just using the Roamio.


----------



## poppagene (Dec 29, 2001)

dianebrat said:


> But if that's the case it still steals a tuner from the host box, so I see no advantage over just using the Roamio.


The premiere doesn't have OTA

The roamio is set up for OTA

The premiere has cable

The roamio doesn't have cable because it's set for OTA


----------



## ThAbtO (Apr 6, 2000)

The mini cannot channel surf, but the Roamio can and you may not even need the Mini.
The basic Roamio is a 4 tuner DVR which can record from 4 channels at the same time from either antenna or cable, not both at the same time. 6 tuner Roamio models is digital cable only.
Roamio can share the recordings with the Premiere, transfer/copy is possible only if the shows are not copy protected, streaming is always possible regardless.

The Mini does not have any tuners and no storage for transfers, basically its like a Tivo extension box to another TV using ethernet or MoCa connection only.


----------



## DEC2955 (May 3, 2009)

poppagene said:


> The premiere doesn't have OTA
> 
> The roamio is set up for OTA
> 
> ...


 The Premiere will be set up next to my cable provided internet in another room.

But now I am confused on the statement by: ThAbtO


> The mini cannot channel surf,


It was my understanding that the MINI would use one of the four tuners from the Premiere-4 (thats ok as that still leave 3 use to only have two for recording with DirecTV!)

Some where I read that I could tell the Roamio to use "RF ONLY" how can I do that?
Or can somebody point out where the "IR" sensor for the Roamio is so that I can cover it up when I don't need to control the Roamio alone. (Tried to find it on the device itself but could not find it.)

avid


----------



## ThAbtO (Apr 6, 2000)

Roamio uses RFwhich is paired right out of the box and the remote can be switched between RF and IR modes.

My question is why do you need the Mini? Is it for a 3rd TV?

For the remotes, you can set "Remote addresses" for each Tivo so they do not interact with another box at the same time.

I have another thread elsewhere on this forum, "How to control a Roamio and an older Tivo with only the Roamio remote."


----------



## Arcady (Oct 14, 2004)

Get a 2-tuner Premiere. Hook it up to both cable and OTA. Make your wife use that.


----------



## DEC2955 (May 3, 2009)

ThAbtO said:


> ....
> My question is why do you need the Mini? Is it for a 3rd TV?
> ....


No not for a third TV.
(1) Roamio(Basic) is set up for off air programs only, in the living/media room.. 

(A) Many local Low Power Digital stations showing older TV not on any current cable station!!
(B) As I type this two of my local off air stations contracts with local cable expires due to rebroadcast fee dispute.
(2) Premiere*-4* is set up in another room where the cable lead for the internet connection is located. House is already wired networked due to early DirecTV whole home set-up that is getting boxed up to go to back to DirecTV due to a* too many *rate increases pushing my DirecTV bill to close to $200.00 a month!

(3) The *Mini* was originally planned for the bedroom.. but wife demands to be able to ''Cable Channel Surf" in the living room! So now plan on setting up a MINI in the living room, paired with the Premiere*-4* which will have the cable connection.

By purchasing the TIVO hardware I not only have more recording turners than I had w/DirecTV but also after 10 months the TIVO's would pay for themselves based on "LEASE/RENTAL" charges I would of paid my local cable provider for their HD Tuners alone. (not counting the cost of DVR fees which even out for the TIVO service fees).

When I started this project it was my understanding that I could assign one of the Premiere's tuners to the Roamio... which was a misunderstanding on my part.


----------



## DEC2955 (May 3, 2009)

I want to thank everybody for their help today (well really Saturday) as all three of my devices are now up and running, Tivo remotes programmed (still need to program my Harmony's)... The biggest issue that I had was after the network was up and running my "P-4" suddenly would no share data as it kept telling the other two devices they were not on the same account... I ended up having to unplug everything, including all network routers/modem, and do a power cycle on all devices.... everything has now been working for six hours+..
avid


----------

