# Quality of Bolt's OTA Tuner



## JonBoy49 (Jan 25, 2016)

I have seen mentioned here and on OTA boards that the Roamio's OTA tuners are not very good and that in my area I might get only 50% of the stations that would be available if my antenna were tied directly into my TV's tuner.

Does anyone here know if the Bolt uses the same tuner or if the one in the Bolt is improved?


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## DeDondeEs (Feb 20, 2004)

JonBoy49 said:


> I have seen mentioned here and on OTA boards that the Roamio's OTA tuners are not very good and that in my area I might get only 50% of the stations that would be available if my antenna were tied directly into my TV's tuner.
> 
> Does anyone here know if the Bolt uses the same tuner or if the one in the Bolt is improved?


This is what I experienced between my TV and my new Bolt. I finally had to relocate my antenna.

The best explanation I saw was that the antenna signal gets split in the Bolt due to the dual tuners so you lose some signal strength, this happens whenever you split coax be it for Cable or OTA.

I was actually just wondering if an antenna amplifier installed would help this. If so what would be the best amplifier to get? I looked on Amazon and there are amps on there for like $60, which seems ridiculous.


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## JonBoy49 (Jan 25, 2016)

DeDondeEs said:


> This is what I experienced between my TV and my new Bolt. I finally had to relocate my antenna.
> 
> <snip>
> 
> I was actually just wondering if an antenna amplifier installed would help this. If so what would be the best amplifier to get? I looked on Amazon and there are amps on there for like $60, which seems ridiculous.


I have previously been told that an amp is not necessarily going to help much as it will amplify everything - including interference. I'll be interested to hear what others have to say.


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## wmcbrine (Aug 2, 2003)

For me -- in the brief time I had the Bolt connected OTA, before switching it to Fios -- it was the best OTA tuner I've had, certainly of the TiVos; it picked up the most channels, and held the ones it picked up the most stably. YMMV.


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## atmuscarella (Oct 11, 2005)

JonBoy49 said:


> I have previously been told that an amp is not necessarily going to help much as it will amplify everything - including interference. I'll be interested to hear what others have to say.


Every OTA antenna installation is unique. A pre-amp and/or amp can help if you have a long run from your antenna or if you are splitting the signal your self. A pre-amp or amp will not help if the issue is a multipath issue.

I currently have a deep fringe roof mounted antenna with a pre-amp ran to a 4 way splitter. Right now I have my TV, Bolt, Roamio, & Premiere attached to the splitter. But I have also used/tested a SD converter box, TiVo Series 3, TiVo HD, & Silicon Dust network attached dual OTA tuner to this same splitter at various times. For me the Premiere, Silcon Dust, & SD converter box had significantly more issues than my TV, Series 3, TiVo HD, Roamio, or Bolt. The Roamio & Bolt are as good as any including my TV.

That said there are still times of the year (or maybe it is under certain weather conditions hard to tell) when one of my stations just disappears for days at a time (towers are all in the same spot). My next door neighbor doesn't have any problems with the station I loose but looses another one that I have no issues with. So go figure.


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## JTHOJNICKI (Nov 30, 2015)

I think the bolt tuner is excellent. The Bolt picks up channels on the same wire that my Samsung TVs cannot.


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## TiVoJedi (Mar 1, 2002)

Does the Bolt 4-tuner allow 4 different OTA channels to watch live TV\record simultaneously? I know for CableCard it does that, but wasn't sure if you only get one OTA channel or up to 4 tuned differently.


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## V7Goose (May 28, 2005)

Yes, four simultaneous OTA channels can be watched/recorded on the original Bolt. If the signal for one channel is weak, it affects only that channel - the other three will continue to operate independently.


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## WildBill136 (Apr 29, 2016)

I agree that the bolt OTA tuner is very good. I get all the local channels, all the time, in the Detroit area with a 2 foot antenna on the roof.


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## aspexil (Oct 16, 2015)

We ran our OTA Bolt off a Mohu leaf on the ground floor near the ceiling when we first moved into our house. We've since moved to a pair of DX8s in the attic which picks up a low power station in Terre Haute 80 miles away and gives us good coverage east, north and west we couldn't get from the Mohu.


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## TeamPace (Oct 23, 2013)

Yes the 4 tuner Bolt will tune 4 OTA channels but my experience with the Bolt tuners has not been as good. I have set up several of them for friends and had tuning challenges in each case. I did get one of them to eventually lock all of the channels we needed but it was the third outdoor antenna I tried to finally make it work with transmitters just 20 to 25 miles away with decent line of sight. I tried a Bolt on my own personal antenna setup (a large winegard antenna on a 40' tower) that brings in 50 channels (including subs) on my Roamio 4 tuner. One group of towers is about 15 miles out and a second group just over 50 miles. Connected to the same antenna, The Bolt could only tune about half as many. I suspect the Bolt is just more sensitive to power levels or something in that if the power is just a little too high or too low it has problems. I know other's have had good results so YMMV.


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## Puppy76 (Oct 7, 2004)

wmcbrine said:


> For me -- in the brief time I had the Bolt connected OTA, before switching it to Fios -- it was the best OTA tuner I've had, certainly of the TiVos; it picked up the most channels, and held the ones it picked up the most stably. YMMV.


Same for me. My S2 and my S3 (TiVo HD) both work fine, are as good as anything, but my Bolt seems better. Seems like it pulls stuff in more stably.

I do use an amplified (indoor) antenna though...I wouldn't want one that wasn't amplified. Moha Leaf, or whatever it's called, the one with an amp. No idea if there are better antennas, though it's the best I've used so far.


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## Bucket73521 (Apr 29, 2017)

I'm a new cord cutter. Thought I had preformed pretty good research before making the cut. Started with a ROKU, Antenna with DTV AM21. The AM21 found most channels but didn't find any that wasn't in DTV data. I have towers that are 296, 350, 126, and 225 degrees. With an antenna pointed at 300 I get all from 296 and 350. I opted for a two antenna setup. the other is pointed at 130. That direction actually results in a channel lose due to two channels are 18. All the channels at 126 are retransmitted from 225. The tower at 225 has a NM of 1.6. I need help to realign from 130 to 225. 
I bought the roamio ota and very disappointed. TIVO support has been nonexistent, but that is another issue. With the roamio recording I'm getting partial program, and poor picture quality.
If I watch a channel live the picture is perfect, but if I set a channel to record I get poor quality, believe it is called pixelating. Signal strength with the TIVO is in the 60 to low 70's. I also thought the roamio ota was the best fit for me. Was I wrong?


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## Mikeguy (Jul 28, 2005)

Bucket73521 said:


> I'm a new cord cutter. Thought I had preformed pretty good research before making the cut. Started with a ROKU, Antenna with DTV AM21. The AM21 found most channels but didn't find any that wasn't in DTV data. I have towers that are 296, 350, 126, and 225 degrees. With an antenna pointed at 300 I get all from 296 and 350. I opted for a two antenna setup. the other is pointed at 130. That direction actually results in a channel lose due to two channels are 18. All the channels at 126 are retransmitted from 225. The tower at 225 has a NM of 1.6. I need help to realign from 130 to 225.
> I bought the roamio ota and very disappointed. TIVO support has been nonexistent, but that is another issue. With the roamio recording I'm getting partial program, and poor picture quality.
> If I watch a channel live the picture is perfect, but if I set a channel to record I get poor quality, believe it is called pixelating. Signal strength with the TIVO is in the 60 to low 70's. I also thought the roamio ota was the best fit for me. Was I wrong?


When you are watching the channel live, is that through your TiVo? Or is that direct on the television and television's tuner itself?


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## Bucket73521 (Apr 29, 2017)

Through the TIVO. I disconnected the tv from the antenna to remove the splitter.
My setup is two antennas on a 22 foot utility pole with a 15 foot pipe sticking about eight feet above that. The top antenna approximately 30 feet.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

That's weird. "Live" or recording should be the same since you technically are never watching anything live with a TiVo. It gets recorded to the hard drive first, then read off the hard drive for what you actually see.


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## Bucket73521 (Apr 29, 2017)

I called TIVO support about this. They told me they had a lot on complaints and was working on getting it fixed. I actually called about another problem. I don't have any channel lineup in the guide. Only seven out of twenty nine have lineup in the guide. Tivo has been trying to fix since the end of April.


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## Puppy76 (Oct 7, 2004)

Bucket73521 said:


> I called TIVO support about this. They told me they had a lot on complaints and was working on getting it fixed. I actually called about another problem. I don't have any channel lineup in the guide. Only seven out of twenty nine have lineup in the guide. Tivo has been trying to fix since the end of April.


For what it's worth, neither's ever been my experience with TiVo. Like another poster said, recordings should be...AFAIK HAVE to be identical to live, because "live" is really the same recording, so something's messed up with that, and my guide data's been fine, even (shockingly/thankfully) since moving to the Rovi data from Tribune.


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## Bucket73521 (Apr 29, 2017)

I called TIVO yesterday (7/27/17) and still dont have lineup in guide for 10 of my 27 channels. First contacted Tivo 5/4/17 and was told lineup would be resolved by end of May. Now I'm calling again Monday since yesterdays call was a waste of time. Recording isn't right with TIVO. When surfing channels, (only way without lineup) to see what is own. At the end of a show, and another one is starting I can push the red record button, then continue surfing, the selected channel isn't recorded. Yesterday I set a manual setting to start recording at six thirty pm and stop at seven pm. At six forty I checked my shows and the manual setting wasn't recorded.
Very disappointed with TIVO!!


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## Resist (Dec 21, 2003)

My recent experience with the Bolt hasn't been good. I'm OTA using a Clearstream 2 indoors with only about 5ft of coax. The Bolt lost 4 of my channels and they are the farthest towers from me, but my Premiere and Series 3 OLED have no problems getting these channels and with a strong signal of 70 on the Tivo signal strength meter. The Bolt doesn't even see a signal....zero. Tivo is sending me a replacement Bolt, I'm hoping I just had a bad box but if not I'll pass on the Bolt and wait for the next Tivo version to upgrade.


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## TeamPace (Oct 23, 2013)

Resist said:


> My recent experience with the Bolt hasn't been good. I'm OTA using a Clearstream 2 indoors with only about 5ft of coax. The Bolt lost 4 of my channels and they are the farthest towers from me, but my Premiere and Series 3 OLED have no problems getting these channels and with a strong signal of 70 on the Tivo signal strength meter. The Bolt doesn't even see a signal....zero. Tivo is sending me a replacement Bolt, I'm hoping I just had a bad box but if not I'll pass on the Bolt and wait for the next Tivo version to upgrade.


The Clearstream2 is an excellent antenna (particularly for UHF frequencies, not as good for VHF). I have used it in a number of installations with good results. I would really suggest trying it in several different locations. Different tuners seem to have their own characteristics for antenna placement. What works well for one tuner may not for another, so get a longer cable and experiment. You might even need to get it outside to get the reception you need. The Bolt is much more finicky with antenna placement, signal strength, etc. Don't give up too easily. Since you seem to have a good signal in your location you should be able to get it dialed in to something that will work. If not the Roamio OTA has consistently given me better results for OTA and may be the better choice for you.


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## Resist (Dec 21, 2003)

TeamPace said:


> I would really suggest trying it in several different locations. Different tuners seem to have their own characteristics for antenna placement. What works well for one tuner may not for another, so get a longer cable and experiment. You might even need to get it outside to get the reception you need.


I've already tried different locations, where it currently is works the best for both Tivo boxes (minus the missing Bolt channels). Yes, putting it outside would be perfect, but there is no way to get the cable to the location of my TV without opening up walls inside my house. And I don't want cable on the outside of my house or visible on my inside walls. I've thought about getting the VHF retrofit kit for my antenna but discovered that none of my channels are VHF, so the kit wouldn't help.


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## jacktechie (Feb 6, 2013)

The Bolt OTA tuner is definitely less sensitive than the HD series 3. Before hooking up to Comcast, I tested it with a Channelmaster 20 year old 8 bay bowtie on ~ 15' rooftop mast and got an unstable signal that broke up from a transmitter 73 miles away. The Tivo HD signal strength still varies by quite a bit and I have seen it at 70 and at 99. There are no problems with acquiring and keeping the signal on the HD.


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## Resist (Dec 21, 2003)

jacktechie said:


> The Bolt OTA tuner is definitely less sensitive than the HD series 3.


And less sensitive than the Series 3 OLED and Premiere. Yet there are those on the forum that think the Bolt's tuners are better. I believe Tivo went with lower quality tuners in the Bolt. It's all about cost over function with Tivo.

My replacement Bolt arrived however I won't be able to set it up until next week. But if I still can't get those missing channels, I'm calling Tivo to get my money back. Besides, right now I can get a 1TB Roamio for less than the 500GB Bolt deal was.


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## TeamPace (Oct 23, 2013)

Resist said:


> And less sensitive than the Series 3 OLED and Premiere. Yet there are those on the forum that think the Bolt's tuners are better. I believe Tivo went with lower quality tuners in the Bolt. It's all about cost over function with Tivo.
> 
> My replacement Bolt arrived however I won't be able to set it up until next week. But if I still can't get those missing channels, I'm calling Tivo to get my money back. Besides, right now I can get a 1TB Roamio for less than the 500GB Bolt deal was.


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## TeamPace (Oct 23, 2013)

I’ve definitely had better results with Roamio tuners for OTA. Plus if you get the Roamio OTA model with “All In” service you’ll eliminate monthly fees. In my experience with a dozen installs the Roamio Tuners are pretty close to the series 3 units in reception capability. But every location has different reception characteristics so YMMV.


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## mahermusic (Mar 12, 2003)

I ditched Comcast and their cable card, and installed a Clearstream antenna in my attic. I'm using my Bolt for OTA, and I receive 40 channels, all crystal clear. It's a great antenna. No OTA problems with the Bolt.


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## TexasDVR (Feb 20, 2013)

In my case the Bolt VOX 4 OTA tuners have been a lot better than the old Premiere 2 tuner. The Bolt tuners have been equal to are slightly better than the other tuners in the house.


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## rthurlow (Jan 21, 2004)

How are folks comparing tuners? If they are different tech (and don't they have to be?), comparing the signal-strength numbers might not be reliable. I know that during the scan (which the Bolt did super-fast), some channels I expected were skipped over. So I added them, and most worked. One signal on the "wrong" side of my CM-4228 did not lock, so I tried on the Premiere - and it couldn't lock, either. I compared my Premiere with my Bolt after that, and the channels matched up. From experience, I mostly have problems with weak signals, not multipath. I would be interested to know if people having problems might have more multipath.

It's interesting - I hoped the Bolt would be better, because my LG OLED TV has the best tuner I have ever seen, sometimes picking up stuff well that pixelate on these Tivos. But I get more tuners that seem no worse so far.


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## cldlhd (Sep 23, 2018)

mahermusic said:


> I ditched Comcast and their cable card, and installed a Clearstream antenna in my attic. I'm using my Bolt for OTA, and I receive 40 channels, all crystal clear. It's a great antenna. No OTA problems with the Bolt.


Thanks. I installed a clearstream 4max in the attic last week and am contemplating ditching cable. I have no experience with Tivo and I'm currently trying to figure out what gives a better OTA picture the Roamio OTA or the Bolt VOX. Streaming quality isn't that important as I'll probably continue to use the native apps on my LG OLED.


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## TeamPace (Oct 23, 2013)

cldlhd said:


> Thanks. I installed a clearstream 4max in the attic last week and am contemplating ditching cable. I have no experience with Tivo and I'm currently trying to figure out what gives a better OTA picture the Roamio OTA or the Bolt VOX. Streaming quality isn't that important as I'll probably continue to use the native apps on my LG OLED.


 Reading thru this thread will show there are different opinions on your question. For my experience Roamio has consistently given better results. I've set up Bolts in 4 or 5 different locations and situations and have always had some difficulties with tuning all the channels I expected to get. Trying a Roamio in the same application produced better results each time. Currently I've helped over a dozen folks with OTA setups using Roamios successfully. It does seem though that different markets, setups, antennas can produce different results.


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## NEOhero (Sep 15, 2018)

rthurlow said:


> How are folks comparing tuners? If they are different tech (and don't they have to be?), comparing the signal-strength numbers might not be reliable. I know that during the scan (which the Bolt did super-fast), some channels I expected were skipped over. So I added them, and most worked. One signal on the "wrong" side of my CM-4228 did not lock, so I tried on the Premiere - and it couldn't lock, either. I compared my Premiere with my Bolt after that, and the channels matched up. From experience, I mostly have problems with weak signals, not multipath. I would be interested to know if people having problems might have more multipath.
> 
> It's interesting - I hoped the Bolt would be better, because my LG OLED TV has the best tuner I have ever seen, sometimes picking up stuff well that pixelate on these Tivos. But I get more tuners that seem no worse so far.


I actually tried comparing OTA in my apartment and some signals are either pixelated or even unusable on the Bolt. Hence, that's why I'm keeping my Bolt with CableCARD until I'm in an area that can get all major networks (Eye, Peacock, Alphabet, Wild Animal, and WC)


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