# Tivo Mini and OTA Roamio



## stryton (May 19, 2004)

I have been with Directv for 13 years and I cut the cord a few weeks ago due to the price and not wanting to call in every year ti haggle. I bought an OTA antenna and the Tivo OTA Roamio unit with lifetime subscription of $249.99 that tivo is currently running. I get about 45 channels and at first was going to buy another Tivo Roamio and do the same thing for my media room, but then I started reading about Tivo Minis.

I have some questions:

It looks like a couple of years ago Tivo Minis didn't work with OTA tivos, but now do. Is this correct?

If so, I have my OTA Roamio hooked up to wifi. I read that that the Mini is wired only. How does this work with a wifi setup with trying to watch live tv from the antenna that is hooked up to the Roamio? 

Are there any downfalls, things that won't work, or anything I should know about a setup like this?

Sorry for all the questions. I'm just trying to get as much information as possible before making my decision.

Thanks,


----------



## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

stryton said:


> I have been with Directv for 13 years and I cut the cord a few weeks ago due to the price and not wanting to call in every year ti haggle. I bought an OTA antenna and the Tivo OTA Roamio unit with lifetime subscription of $249.99 that tivo is currently running. I get about 45 channels and at first was going to buy another Tivo Roamio and do the same thing for my media room, but then I started reading about Tivo Minis.
> 
> I have some questions:
> 
> ...


Your first statement is sort of correct since the "OTA" Premiere was the model with two tuners and it did OTA/cable but you need four tuners for a Mini host. The Roamio (Series 5) starts with four tuners so it will support a Mini and OTA. It will not support OTA and cable at the same time. A Roamio OTA doesn't support cable at all, as you know, so this is just extra information.

Your second issue is with WiFi. A Mini should be used with Ethernet or MoCA to use its host's tuner. This is how TiVo supports it. That said, a Roamio needs to use its Ethernet port (or MoCA coax) and the Mini needs to use its Ethernet port (or MoCA coax) to get data from the Roamio. However, with a good environment and a very good router you can use wired to wireless adapter. My Roamio is using an ASUS EA-N66R and my Mini shares a Linksys WUMC710. This is not supported by TiVo, but a few have done it. The TiVo wireless "N" adapter also works on a Mini but it's not so powerful or reliable.

I hope this helps and someone else will give you better information. My experience is not that great.


----------



## fcfc2 (Feb 19, 2015)

stryton said:


> I have been with Directv for 13 years and I cut the cord a few weeks ago due to the price and not wanting to call in every year ti haggle. I bought an OTA antenna and the Tivo OTA Roamio unit with lifetime subscription of $249.99 that tivo is currently running. I get about 45 channels and at first was going to buy another Tivo Roamio and do the same thing for my media room, but then I started reading about Tivo Minis.
> 
> I have some questions:
> 
> ...


Hi, 
The thing with the mini is you will need to have ethernet or MoCA enabled to use it with the OTA, which means you will have to have at least one or possibly 2 MoCA adapters unless you have ethernet to all. If you end up having to buy 2 MoCA adapters plus a mini, you are starting to approach the cost of another Roamio OTA or Base which are on sale right now. You might be better off going with the 2nd Roamio in the long run. If you do decide to go the Roamio route, consider getting the one with the cable card option as this will take nothing away but add possible value down the line.


----------



## snerd (Jun 6, 2008)

If your antenna connects directly to the Roamio without connecting to the coax that was used for Directv, then you may have another option. If there is unused/"dark" coax running between both rooms, you could use DECA adapters for a wired connection between the Roamio and the Mini. The advantage is that the DECA adapters are much cheaper than MoCA adapters (less than $10 each on Amazon). With this setup, you would use short Cat5 Ethernet cables to attach to the DECA adapters because the Roamio and Mini can't talk to the DECA adapters through coax.


----------



## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

JoeKustra said:


> ....... It will not support OTA and cable at the same time. A Roamio OTA doesn't support cable at all, as you know, so this is just extra information. .........


Well......not completely true actually......


----------

