# Considering purchase - Bolt or T6?



## PixelFreak (Jun 11, 2002)

I currently have a T6 through Wave Cable, and have their 2 minis attached and working over MoCA (ch 15). All is well, but for the monthly recurring charges ($20 for T6, $10 each for Minis).

Pros - Tivo service is included in that price, and Minis are new version, so RF remotes (I have one in a cabinet, so that's a nice feature.) It also allows me to use the Wave On-Demand services (which I have not used once in five months - so not really a pro).

Cons - monthly recurring charges equal $480/year for this setup, and not able to stream out of home (restricted by Wave software).

I do NOT use OTA, and this has a cablecard internal to be able to get digital cable channels.

So, got a deal on Woot! to buy 3 Minis (first gen - IR only) with lifetime service at $70/per box. Bought them, hooked them up, won't play nice with Wave T6. All are on same network, using same cables, registered and activated with Tivo on same account, but getting V70 error when guided setup attempts to complete.

Long story dull, this is a known issue, Tivo has washed their hands of it and blame Wave, and Wave claims it's a Tivo problem on their end. For over a month I have played the Tivo/Wave tech support game and have decided that I want to remove the Wave component and just purchase outright and own the boxes so I only deal with Tivo (and also can set up out of home streaming).

So, here's my question:

Should I purchase a new Bolt with lifetime (if so, any deals?), thereby going down to 4 tuners (not a problem, that's fine)? I have HD, but not 4K (and not worried about upgrading any time soon).

Are there any setbacks with the Bolt that I am not aware of that would preclude me from using an M-Card from Wave (necessary to get digital programming) and the existing 3 92000 series Minis with lifetime over MoCA (IOW, do I need an external MoCA device which is currently built into the T6 - and therefore I do not have)?

Or, should I surf the eBay sites and hope to find a non-cable branded T6 with lifetime? What version is a T6, anyway (Premiere XL because I have six tuners?)

Thanks for all your help. I did some searching, but can't quite find the assurances I need to make sure I don't mess this purchase up before dropping serious cash on a Bolt or eBay transaction.


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## atmuscarella (Oct 11, 2005)

Your T6 is the same as a Roamio Plus/Pro (the only difference between a Roamio Plus & Pro is hard drive size). 

The Bolt can not currently do out of home streaming, TiVo is working on it but no idea when it will happen.


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## BigJimOutlaw (Mar 21, 2004)

Bolt + Lifetime is kind of a bad deal right now... It's a good box but I wouldn't pay $900-$1000 for it. But with the year of service included and $150 annual after that, that seems tolerable.

If you *like* the T6, there may be some good deals on the Roamio Pro if you check that forum. I love mine. (A Roamio Pro is identical to the T6 but with a larger 3TB hard drive.)

For what it's worth, the Bolt doesn't support out of home streaming YET but there's reason to believe it'll happen sooner rather than later.

A cablecard will work the same way it works for the T6.

All the Minis should be fine.


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## PixelFreak (Jun 11, 2002)

atmuscarella said:


> Your T6 is the same as a Roamio Plus/Pro (the only difference between a Roamio Plus & Pro is hard drive size).
> 
> The Bolt can not currently do out of home streaming, TiVo is working on it but no idea when it will happen.


OK, so did some more digging.

I am inclined to go with the Roamio Plus because I don't need the extra hard drive space. It appears to have the MoCA bridge internally, and can stream directly to iOS devices without the need for a Tivo Stream.

My only hesitation is that while it accepts a cable card, it does NOT accept OTA signals. I don't have the need yet, but want to look into it in the future. Is there a device that would allow me to input OTA signals into a Roamio Plus at a later date if I so chose?


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## Chris Gerhard (Apr 27, 2002)

PixelFreak said:


> Is there a device that would allow me to input OTA signals into a Roamio Plus at a later date if I so chose?


No.


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## CoxInPHX (Jan 14, 2011)

PixelFreak said:


> I am inclined to go with the Roamio Plus because I don't need the extra hard drive space. It appears to have the MoCA bridge internally, and can stream directly to iOS devices without the need for a Tivo Stream.


The Roamio Plus is no longer available new, you would have to find a used one with Lifetime Service.

The Roamio Pro is the only 6-Tuner TiVo available new.


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