# OTA on Roamio



## troasti (Nov 13, 2008)

I currently have two 2 tuner premieres I use to record OTA. I have a decent setup with a rooftop antenna and preamp that seems to work pretty well. I also have a roku for streaming prime, netflix, hulu plus etc. My question is is there a reason to upgrade to a roamio? Only the basic does OTA from what I have read. It seems I would just gain another two tuners and some speed with the UI and apps? Not sure I care about the apps as like I said I have a roku 3 which works really well. Can anyone whose gone from a premiere to a Roamio for OTA chime in on why they did it what their experience is?
Thanks and Happy New Year!


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## steve614 (May 1, 2006)

I think you'll find that most people upgraded for the speed, others just because they had to have the latest model.

If you're perfectly happy with the Premiere, I see no reason to upgrade as the Premiere is still getting software updates.


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## stujac (Jan 26, 2002)

troasti said:


> I currently have two 2 tuner premieres I use to record OTA. I have a decent setup with a rooftop antenna and preamp that seems to work pretty well. I also have a roku for streaming prime, netflix, hulu plus etc. My question is is there a reason to upgrade to a roamio? Only the basic does OTA from what I have read. It seems I would just gain another two tuners and some speed with the UI and apps? Not sure I care about the apps as like I said I have a roku 3 which works really well. Can anyone whose gone from a premiere to a Roamio for OTA chime in on why they did it what their experience is?
> Thanks and Happy New Year!


You don't say whether the 2 Premiers are lifetime subs or monthly. If they are lifetime you can sell both and replace them with 1 4 tuner Roamio Basic. You did know they are 4 tuners in the Basic model, right? I replaced a Premier with the Basic (dropped a 2 tb drive in it first). I will sell the Premier for about $245 or something to help off set the cost of the Basic w/lifetime. BTW-once you get used to the Basic it's very difficult to go back to any other Tivo. It's that good, that much better.


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## troasti (Nov 13, 2008)

stujac said:


> You don't say whether the 2 Premiers are lifetime subs or monthly. If they are lifetime you can sell both and replace them with 1 4 tuner Roamio Basic. You did know they are 4 tuners in the Basic model, right? I replaced a Premier with the Basic (dropped a 2 tb drive in it first). I will sell the Premier for about $245 or something to help off set the cost of the Basic w/lifetime. BTW-once you get used to the Basic it's very difficult to go back to any other Tivo. It's that good, that much better.


They are both monthly. So in theory I would gain 4 more tuners between both of them. Premiere 2X2 = 4 tuners and Roamio Basic 4X2 = 8 tuners. Not sure I really need 8 tuners. I guess I could add a mini on the second tv and only have one roamio same amount of tuners and save a small amount of cash. When you say "It's that good, that much better." can you be more specific? Its a big chunk of change to upgrade especially if I purchased two.


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## spaldingclan (Aug 22, 2012)

the only diff I can see is the my Roamio basic doesnt pull in the local PBS station as well as my Premier did


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## troasti (Nov 13, 2008)

spaldingclan said:


> the only diff I can see is the my Roamio basic doesnt pull in the local PBS station as well as my Premier did


So the tuner is not quite as good? Regret the purchase?


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## stujac (Jan 26, 2002)

In my opinion it does everything better than any previous generation. I started with the old Sony SVR (Series 1), skipped Series 2 & 3 and got back in with the TivoHD and then the Premier. The menus, the lag time, just about every function of the dvr is better, faster with the Roamio. It has a faster processor. It's flat-out better than any previous model Tivo.


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## atmuscarella (Oct 11, 2005)

I currently have a Roamio, Premiere, TiVo HD, Orginial Series 3, & HTPC with HDHomeRun tuner all used for OTA. 

I have always had issues with the Premieres OTA receiption which is why I retained both the TiVo HD & Series 3, and why I purchased the HDHomeRun tuner for my HTPC (the HDHomeRun does not work any better for me than the Premiere) and my Roamio. 

If my Premiere didn't have reception issues I would likely not have upgraded. That aside the Roamio is really much nicer than everything else I have and it's tuners are the best I have. Regarding streaming while the Roamio's performance is much better than the Premiere, it still lacks access to way to many sites to fully replace a Roku, however Hulu+ does work fine on the Roamio. 

Given that your Premiere units don't have lifetime if you have $150 you can spare I would buy a base Roamio and replace one of them, I think you will be pleasantly surprised how much nicer it is to use than the Premiere. 

After you get a Roamio TiVo may offer you a lifetime service retention deal ($99) on one or both of your Premiere units (assuming you have had them for awhile) which would be a good (and cheap) way to go to cover multiple TVs 

Good Luck,


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## steve614 (May 1, 2006)

atmuscarella said:


> *Given that your Premiere units don't have lifetime if you have $150 you can spare I would buy a base Roamio and replace one of them*, I think you will be pleasantly surprised how much nicer it is to use than the Premiere.
> 
> After you get a Roamio TiVo may offer you a lifetime service retention deal ($99) on one or both of your Premiere units (assuming you have had them for awhile) which would be a good (and cheap) way to go to cover multiple TVs
> 
> Good Luck,


I didn't even consider this when I made my post above. 
Buy a basic Roamio through a retail establishment and call TiVo to transfer one of the Premiere's monthly sub over to it. You're only out the cost of the Roamio, and you'll have a extra Premiere to use for spare parts on the one that is still subbed.
If for some reason Tivo won't allow transferring the sub, you can just return the Roamio back to where you bought it from, and you're out nothing but your time.
As for TiVo's lifetime retention deal for older hardware: If TiVo doesn't offer it, ask.


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## mdm08033 (Apr 23, 2007)

steve614 said:


> Buy a basic Roamio through a retail establishment and call TiVo to transfer one of the Premiere's monthly sub over to it.


Thats what I did. Tivo said I could transfer my $10 per month OTA programming fee to a Roamio. My kids love the new Neflix interface and the reception is slightly better on my troublesome CBS 3-1 out of Philadelphia. We still use the Roku for Amazon Prime, HBO Go and PBS but I am hoping that TiVo eventually adds my Roku channels but I'm not holding my breath.


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## StevesWeb (Dec 26, 2008)

I find that the two Roamio basic I bought, each OTA on a different antenna, have better tuners than my Premiere XL, which had crap tuners, and TiVo HD, which was very good. 

The numbers displayed on the signal strength indicator are lower, but all of the channels which were marginal on my Premiere XL are flawless on the Roamio. No more intermittent sync loss on low power stations. 

My previous TiVo units have been eBayed.

As far as an OTA DVR is concerned, my search for the Holy Grail of TV watching is over. 

The Roamio is a truly excellent DVR, except for the pathetic Amazon app.


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## troasti (Nov 13, 2008)

mdm08033 said:


> Thats what I did. Tivo said I could transfer my $10 per month OTA programming fee to a Roamio. My kids love the new Neflix interface and the reception is slightly better on my troublesome CBS 3-1 out of Philadelphia. We still use the Roku for Amazon Prime, HBO Go and PBS but I am hoping that TiVo eventually adds my Roku channels but I'm not holding my breath.


How did you get a 10$ fee for OTA on the Tivo? I was on cable and I cut the cord a few months ago. The free on the first tivo is 14.99$ month and the second is 12.99$ month. Kinda a rip off. I'm hoping the new DVR + from channelmaster without monthly frees and a guide that comes from online is decent I may pick one up.
http://www.channelmaster.com/Products_s/329.htm


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## tatergator1 (Mar 27, 2008)

troasti said:


> How did you get a 10$ fee for OTA on the Tivo?
> http://www.channelmaster.com/Products_s/329.htm


Tivo offered a promotion a few years ago for OTA users to get a special $9.99 monthly rate.


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## spaldingclan (Aug 22, 2012)

troasti said:


> So the tuner is not quite as good? Regret the purchase?


oh heck no...i love everything about the new box...I think my antenna is not as good too


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## eric102 (Oct 31, 2012)

troasti said:


> How did you get a 10$ fee for OTA on the Tivo? I was on cable and I cut the cord a few months ago. The free on the first tivo is 14.99$ month and the second is 12.99$ month. Kinda a rip off. I'm hoping the new DVR + from channelmaster without monthly frees and a guide that comes from online is decent I may pick one up.
> http://www.channelmaster.com/Products_s/329.htm


Looks expensive by the time you add a hard drive, why not get lifetime on the Tivo for a few bucks more?


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

Why not just buy one Romaio and use it to replace both Premiere units? If you need access in two rooms you can get a Mini for the second room. Minis are $86 + $5/mo, so even if you have to pay full price for the monthly service on the Roamio you're in the same boat. ($15 Roamio + $5 Mini = $10 Premiere + $10 Premiere)

The advantages of this setup compared to two Premieres, besides what's already been stated (i.e. speed, better tuners, easier upgrade) is that it consolidates all your recordings onto a single device so you no longer have to manage the To Do List of two separate TiVos or remember which TiVo has which show. It also allows for cheaper expansion down the road because you can add support for another room by simply buying another Mini. And you don't even need access to the antenna in that room. All you need it a network connection which can be added with various method including powerline or even wifi. The Mini is also smaller and draws less power so you'll save energy. And the Roamio basic has an external power supply so if it goes bad you can simply buy a new power brick for $20 and be back up and running. (power supplies are the second most common point of failure in a TiVo next to the hard drive)

The only disadvantage is you'll be losing a bit of space. The basic Roamio has a 500GB drive and the basic Premiere units had either 320GB or 500GB depending on how old it was. So combined they had more space then a single Roamio. Although the Romaios support simple drop in drive upgrades up to 3TB, so if you need more space it's really easy to upgrade. 

That being said since your current TiVos don't have lifetime you're probably not going to be able to sell them. So this will likely be a 100% out of pocket upgrade. The Roamio can be had from Amazon for $150 and the Mini for $86, so you have to decide if it's worth spending $240 for this upgrade.


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## troasti (Nov 13, 2008)

eric102 said:


> Looks expensive by the time you add a hard drive, why not get lifetime on the Tivo for a few bucks more?


I already have the 1 TB DVR expander I could use for the Channel Master. So the cost would just be the 250$ for it with no monthly fees. To push my tivo premiere to lifetime it's 400$ - quite a bit more actually. Plus, I feel really let down by the tivo's apps (no amazon prime, crappy netflix) they are barely usuable on the premiere and I already have a roku which is much better for that purpose. If you tell me I should buy the new roamio and get a lifetime now were talking $150 + 400$ ? I guess I could get the roamio and stick with a monthly sub to keep up front costs down.


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

Have you checked Netflix recently. It just got upgraded a few days ago. It's way better, even on the Premiere. The rumor is that a new Amazon app is coming and should be announced next week at CES.


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## the_Skywise (Nov 27, 2000)

But with the Roamios, aren't you limited to OTA *OR* cable card (not both at the same time as you could with the two tuner Premieres?)


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

the_Skywise said:


> But with the Roamios, aren't you limited to OTA *OR* cable card (not both at the same time as you could with the two tuner Premieres?)


Yes. The OP said he was using OTA only, so that's not an issue for him.


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## troasti (Nov 13, 2008)

Yes ota only thanks. I have software version 20.3.8 not noticing much difference with Netflix app. Still takes forever to load interface looks same? Maybe a little snappier ? I guess the one thing I would miss with tivo is scheduling recordings remotely from phone when I am out and extending nfl recordings. Is there only certain brands of hd's you can drop into roamios to upgrade ?


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## troasti (Nov 13, 2008)

I just rebooted my premier and got the new netflix app. Works almost as good as roku 3. I am happier. Now if we could only get amazon prime


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

troasti said:


> I currently have two 2 tuner premieres I use to record OTA. I have a decent setup with a rooftop antenna and preamp that seems to work pretty well. I also have a roku for streaming prime, netflix, hulu plus etc. My question is is there a reason to upgrade to a roamio? Only the basic does OTA from what I have read. It seems I would just gain another two tuners and some speed with the UI and apps? Not sure I care about the apps as like I said I have a roku 3 which works really well. Can anyone whose gone from a premiere to a Roamio for OTA chime in on why they did it what their experience is?
> Thanks and Happy New Year!


I used to use my Roku 3 and Roku 2 boxes for Netflix alot. But now I rarely ever use them. The Roamio Netflix client is better. My Roamio and Minis are now my primary devices to watch Netflix on.


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## troasti (Nov 13, 2008)

OK, I got a 99$ lifetime on my premiere so I think I'm going to ebay it and buy the 4 tuner roamio and a mini (as someone suggested above). Question I see amazon has it for 150$ is there any difference buying it there vs anywhere else? Same warranty? Same monthly fee? I assume it would be 15$ plus 5$ for mini? Is that the cheapest place to get a 4 tuner? Thanks!


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## StevesWeb (Dec 26, 2008)

If you buy it at Amazon you'll pay less. Only difference.

Since you are an existing customer you also have the option of $399 lifetime on the Roamio and $149 on the Mini. You end up with one less monthly bill, and you'll love this so you will be keeping it for 3 years to break even on the lifetime. It's an option.


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## mdm08033 (Apr 23, 2007)

tatergator1 said:


> Tivo offered a promotion a few years ago for OTA users to get a special $9.99 monthly rate.


What he said. I cut the cord just over two years ago. My Verizon Fios service was impeccable but the $188 per month was killing me.


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## Peter G (Jan 3, 2012)

I got my Roamio Basic last week and can report on my experience so far.

I am OTA only. I decided couple of years ago that $100+ per month for Satellite or Cable was not a good value. I started with a base Premiere with the Antenna special $9.99 per month. I figured I would try it for a while before I committed to lifetime. The unit was $99 at BB so my entry costs were low.

I liked the concept of Tivo as a cord cutter and Netflix (via Roku) user. Saw that I could also use the Tivo for Netflix - hoped it would be my one-box solution.

Concept was good but execution was flawed. I had trouble from day 1 with reception, even returning the first unit as defective when I could not get any reception. I had a decent off-air antenna in the attic with distribution amplifier and was getting good reception on my HD TVs on all local and several distant stations. But when I plugged the cable into the Tivo Premiere - nothing. Long story but I finally got it working by using a second, dedicated antenna, no amplifier, and 50 ft of cable for attenuation. The Premiere would not tolerate any amplifier and seemed to need the length of cable. However even after all this the reception was often spotty and some channels were un-watchable at times. Recordings were often so garbled and broken up as to be useless. Needless to say my wife was unimpressed by this "technology" and my tinkering, and begged me to sign us up for cable.

After checking feedback on this forum, it seemed the tuners on Roamio might be improved over Premiere, so as a last ditch effort I ordered one (direct from Tivo at $175- not tax - no shipping) so I could transfer my $10 per month plan. (If I ordered from Amazon for $150, Tivo said I could not transfer service.).

I can now say that the tuners in the Roamio function far superior to the Premiere. I was able to use the amplified signal, ditch the second antenna, and get more channels with the Roamio. With premiere I could only get the main channels with uneven reception. Premiere did not even acknowledge existence of several channels that were strong on the HD TVs. Roamio sees all the channels, even the weak ones that are not really watchable - at least they are found.

In summary, the OTA performance of Roamio is much better and almost as good as my best results on best of the HD sets. I will continue to monitor but am optimistic that I have a workable solution. Next step will be a Mini in the bedroom.

As for other features, Roamio seems much quicker through the menus, more responsive. In my situation it was definitely worth upgrading from Premiere to Roamio. Also has twice the storage of my first Premiere.

Anyone want a 2 year old Premiere?

Peter G


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