# Edge vs Mini



## sauerwald (Oct 21, 2009)

I have an old Roamio OTA which I am happy with, and it does what I want. We are looking at getting a second TV and the question is which TIVO product to get for that. The location for the second TV will not have as good an antenna location as I have for the Roamio, so for some OTA recordings, I expect that I will be recording them with the Roamio OTA and watching them through the new box. My choices are between the TIVO mini, and the Edge OTA - with the sale going on, there is only about $100 in difference between the Edge OTA with lifetime service, and the Mini - anybody have experience with these two boxes that they would care to share?


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## Series3Sub (Mar 14, 2010)

I take it the Mini Lux (which comes with "Lifetime" or "All-in" as part of the purchase price) is the less expensive option than the 2nd TiVo Edge? Anyway, the Mini is a _client_ that will playback recordings (or provide Live TV) to your 2nd room, so you will be viewing the good quality Live TV and Recorded TV that reaches your Roamio. Keep in mind that if you want to watch LIVE TV, the Mini will use ONE of the Roamio's 4 tuners, but if you just want to watch a Recording, then the Mini does not need to use any tuners from the Roamio.

Of course, the Edge would get you more tuners (2) at the 2nd room and more capacity to record shows on that Edge, but you would NOT benefit from the Roamio's better signal that you get at the 1st room using your Roamio for Live TV viewing. Also, the Edge provide ONLY for TE4 (the latest UI that some do not like), NO OPTION to revert to the TE3, which is what the Roamios use, and this difference in TE may impact transfers or streaming between Roamios and Edge, but I am not certain about that, and I expect a more knowledgeable forum member will set that straight for us.

Unless you are going to improve the OTA signal in the 2nd room for the Edge, than I would go with the Mini Lux. The Mini Lux is _almost_ like an experience of a 2nd TiVo with only a few things that can only be done at the DVR. Frankly, I LOVE my Mini's and the money they have saved me and the need NOT to have to get the Edge.

But if you can get the OTA signal at the 2nd room to good enough to receive channels to get good recordings, perhaps the Edge might be a better value because it gets you 2 additional tuners and more capacity to records shows.

Others will have to confirm IF the Streaming or Transfers between the Roamio and Edge is possible. I can't recall. Also, some people just despise the Edge line of TiVo DVR's. Many (including me) consider the Roamio line (Series 5) to be the BEST DVR TiVo ever produced. You might want to consider a Roamio (somtimes referred to as Roamio Basic), but NOT the Roamio Plus or Roamio Pro because they work ONLY for Cable TV. The Roamio (Basic) is the 4 tuner DVR capable of either OTA *or* cable reception (you choose OTA or cable reception in guided set-up) or the Roamio OTA (which comes with "Lifetime" at no extra charge) at Fleabay with Lifetime included at the right price for a Roamio (or the already Lifetime included Roamio OTA) instead of the Edge because you will get FOUR tuners instead of only 2 the Edge offers (that DVR was originally the Canadian version while the US Edge for OTA version had 4 tuners), and it would be what many consider to be the better DVR--IF you can get improve the OTA reception in that 2nd room where the TiVo Mini Client or TiVo DVR would be placed.


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