# Should I buy a TiVo Stream?



## volcs1 (May 1, 2005)

Here's the setup.

We have a TiVo Premiere 2-tuner, with lifetime and a Comcast cablecard. It is in the living room.

We recently re-did the kitchen, and we'd prefer not to have a cable box or any cable access there. We're using an LCD monitor with a TiVo Fire TV (box, not stick), and it has been working well. We're not thrilled about not being able to watch live cable, but I sideloaded the XFinity Go app, and it works, sorta.

I saw that the TiVo app is in beta, and it would supposedly allow us to stream content from our Premiere to the Amazon Fire TV. But the Premiere 2-tuner is not supported as a streaming device.

It would appear that a TiVo Stream would solve this problem for us. I think it would also add the ability to stream to any devices, etc., but that's not the concern. We just want to be able to watch the recorded TiVo shows in the kitchen without actually moving the TiVo from the living room to the kitchen.

The only other thing I've tried is to pull the shows using Archivo and then serving them up via Plex. This is inconvenient and slow.

So... worth the $129? Will it solve the problem/issue? Other options to consider?

Thanks for the advice.


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## PCurry57 (Feb 27, 2012)

volcs1 said:


> Here's the setup.
> 
> We have a TiVo Premiere 2-tuner, with lifetime and a Comcast cablecard. It is in the living room.
> 
> ...


The two tuner Premiere is absolutely supported as a streaming device. What's not supported by the two tuner Premieres as a host for live tuner is the TiVo Mini!



volcs1 said:


> It would appear that a TiVo Stream would solve this problem for us. I think it would also add the ability to stream to any devices, etc., but that's not the concern. We just want to be able to watch the recorded TiVo shows in the kitchen without actually moving the TiVo from the living room to the kitchen.
> 
> The only other thing I've tried is to pull the shows using Archivo and then serving them up via Plex. This is inconvenient and slow.
> 
> ...


The TiVo Stream could be used in this setup though in order to watch live TV you'll have to start a recording on the TiVo and stream it. Don't expect the expect same high quality resolution as though you were watching via the TiVo Premiere or a mini though. It might step down based on network congestion, especially on 2.4Ghz networks. For this reason I strongly suggest using a good quality 5Ghz AC router and connecting the Fire TV only on 5Ghz.

I have two TiVo two tuner Premieres and regularly stream video to my Samsung Galaxy S6edge while commuting from either TiVo. I also use this to provide TV via my Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 9.7 tablet while on the balcony or by the pool, or while soaking in the hot tub.


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## volcs1 (May 1, 2005)

From what I can tell, I can't stream with the two-tuner Premiere. The TiVo App status it's not supported. I need the stream, right?


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## PCurry57 (Feb 27, 2012)

volcs1 said:


> From what I can tell, I can't stream with the two-tuner Premiere. The TiVo App status it's not supported. I need the stream, right?


Yes, you need the stand alone TiVo Stream. TiVo Stream is only built into the six tuner Roamio and TiVo Bolt. All Premieres and four tuner Roamio's require the stand alone Stream device, for use with Android, iOS, and TiVo Online streaming.


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## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

PCurry57 said:


> Yes, you need the stand alone TiVo Stream. *TiVo Stream is only built into the six tuner Roamio and TiVo Bolt. *All Premieres and four tuner Roamio's require the stand alone Stream device, for use with Android, iOS, and TiVo Online streaming.


Bonus question(s)... 'TiVo Stream,' specifically, isn't actually built into the BOLT, though, right, as it is in the 6-tuner Roamio Plus and Pro models? The BOLT's streaming capabilities differ from that of the TiVo Stream, but in what way? On the other hand, is there any effective difference between the TiVo Stream standalone and the built-in Stream in the Plus and Pro?
_(I'm going to try digging around to find this info, but thought I'd ask, in case anyone out there was bored.)_​From my understanding, the main diffs b/w the BOLT's streaming and 'Stream' capabilites, now that Out-of-Home streaming is working(right?), are:

BOLT has 2 streams, max, TiVo Stream up to 4
Stream (incl. Plus/Pro built-in) can stream content from networked DVRs, BOLT cannot
I ask because if a BOLT could proxy the streaming for the Premiere, the cost of a TiVo Stream would be a big dent in the purchase price of a BOLT -- though, admittedly, with the service fee still to be dealt with.


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