# If 2 Premiere 4's in the house, can the Mini only initiate recording 1?



## dmk1974 (Mar 7, 2002)

If you have 2 Premiere 4's in the house plus a Mini, can the Mini only initiate the recording and add Season Passes to the TiVo that it is sharing the tuner from? Or is there a way to have it set up recordings on the other Premiere 4? Thanks!


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

dmk1974 said:


> If you have 2 Premiere 4's in the house plus a Mini, can the Mini only initiate the recording and add Season Passes to the TiVo that it is sharing the tuner from? Or is there a way to have it set up recordings on the other Premiere 4? Thanks!


You set up a recording on the Premiere 4 that the mini is paired to. But you can also easily pair it to the second P4 if you want to initiate a recording on the second P4. It takes less than ten seconds to change the P4 that the Mini is paired to.


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## moyekj (Jan 24, 2006)

Since 20.2.2 software update you can setup and/or modify/delete season passes on remote series 4 units. This applies to series 4 units in general (Mini included):
* From My Shows browse another series 4 TiVo
* While still under remote My Shows click on Guide button
* Find a show to record in the guide and then click Select on it
* Here it&#8217;s important to choose "Season Pass & other options" (not Record this episode)
* Now you should see the name of your remote unit at top left of the screen and when you choose "Record this episode" or "Get a Season Pass" it will record on the remote unit instead of the local one.

- Modifying or deleting remote Season Pass
* From My Shows browse another series 4 TiVo
* Find a recording related to SP or recover it from Recently Deleted
* Select recording and then choose "More options" and the "Modify this Season Pass"
* Now you can change SP options or choose "Cancel this Season Pass"

i.e. No need to re-pair Mini to a different host for scheduling purposes.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

moyekj said:


> Since 20.2.2 software update you can setup and/or modify/delete season passes on remote series 4 units. This applies to series 4 units in general (Mini included):
> * From My Shows browse another series 4 TiVo
> * While still under remote My Shows click on Guide button
> * Find a show to record in the guide and then click Select on it
> ...


I know I can do this with my Premieres, but it does not work with my two TiVo Minis. The only way I've been able to schedule a show from the guide with my Minis is to have it paired to that P4.

I've had no problem modifying season passes with the Minis. But when I am in the My shows list for the un-paired P4, and then go to the guide, it will always schedule the recording on the paired P4. At least that is the way my two TiVo Minis have always worked.

EDIT: I just tried it again and it is still the same way for my Minis. I have to pair it to the other P4 to be able to schedule the recording from the guide. At least it only takes me eight seconds to pair the Mini to the other P4.


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## dmk1974 (Mar 7, 2002)

aaronwt said:


> I know I can do this with my Premieres, but it does not work with my two TiVo Minis. The only way I've been able to schedule a show from the guide with my Minis is to have it paired to that P4.
> 
> I've had no problem modifying season passes with the Minis. But when I am in the My shows list for the un-paired P4, and then go to the guide, it will always schedule the recording on the paired P4. At least that is the way my two TiVo Minis have always worked.
> 
> EDIT: I just tried it again and it is still the same way for my Minis. I have to pair it to the other P4 to be able to schedule the recording from the guide. At least it only takes me eight seconds to pair the Mini to the other P4.


Yeah, I get the pairing and re-pairing, but for the wife and kids in the house, they will have no idea how to do that.

I am likely going to convert everything over so I have 2 Premiere 4's and 2 Mini's in the house. One of the Premiere 4's (with the 2 TB hard drive) would be the central machine with all the season passes. The other would reside in the basement where we watch some tv, but is probably 4th most watched in the house.

While convenient on the Mini's, if I pair the 2 Mini's to the 2 TB Premiere 4, then only 2 tuners are free for recording/watching. If I pair the 2 Mini's to the basement, it will leave all 4 tuners on the 2 TB box free for up to 3 recordings and 1 live tuner at the same time. The downside is that if someone wants to record a show, not a season pass, from one of the Mini's, they can't do it on the 2 TB box.


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## moyekj (Jan 24, 2006)

aaronwt said:


> I know I can do this with my Premieres, but it does not work with my two TiVo Minis. The only way I've been able to schedule a show from the guide with my Minis is to have it paired to that P4.
> 
> I've had no problem modifying season passes with the Minis. But when I am in the My shows list for the un-paired P4, and then go to the guide, it will always schedule the recording on the paired P4. At least that is the way my two TiVo Minis have always worked.
> 
> EDIT: I just tried it again and it is still the same way for my Minis. I have to pair it to the other P4 to be able to schedule the recording from the guide. At least it only takes me eight seconds to pair the Mini to the other P4.


 OK, my bad, I just assumed it worked same way from Minis. Personally I do all my scheduling and conflict management from kmttg so never schedule from the GUIs anymore. iOS/Android apps are OK for scheduling as well though switching between TiVos on them is kind of a pain.


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## dmk1974 (Mar 7, 2002)

dmk1974 said:


> Yeah, I get the pairing and re-pairing, but for the wife and kids in the house, they will have no idea how to do that.
> 
> I am likely going to convert everything over so I have 2 Premiere 4's and 2 Mini's in the house. One of the Premiere 4's (with the 2 TB hard drive) would be the central machine with all the season passes. The other would reside in the basement where we watch some tv, but is probably 4th most watched in the house.
> 
> While convenient on the Mini's, if I pair the 2 Mini's to the 2 TB Premiere 4, then only 2 tuners are free for recording/watching. If I pair the 2 Mini's to the basement, it will leave all 4 tuners on the 2 TB box free for up to 3 recordings and 1 live tuner at the same time. The downside is that if someone wants to record a show, not a season pass, from one of the Mini's, they can't do it on the 2 TB box.


Well, I have the 2nd Mini now and am getting the 2nd Premiere 4 today. I just have to decide which box will go where depending on how I want the tuners shared and so on.

The rooms are:
Family Room
Master Bedroom
Basement
Kitchen


Kitchen will definitely remain with a Mini.
Family Room I think makes sense with the 2TB Premiere 4 since it is the main TV watching location in the house and has the direct connection from the cable and ethernet.
Basement is the least watched TV which is why I thought a Premiere 4 would be good there with the 2 tuners allocated to the Mini's. Just too bad that the Mini's will default to record to that TiVo instead of the Family Room. The basement also has cable and ethernet connections.
Bedroom only has a cable connection and previously was using the TiVo Wireless N adapter. But I just put a Mini there and have it connected via coax cable using MoCA and it seems to be fine. But again, once I get this 2nd Premiere 4 today, I have to then figure if it makes sense to have that room share from the Family Room or the Basement.

I could have each Mini pick off from each Premiere 4 so the boxes have then 3 tuners each available (Kitchen would likely pair to Basement and Bedroom to Family Room).

Need to basically figure out the setup for Bedroom and Basement....


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## atmuscarella (Oct 11, 2005)

dmk1974 said:


> Need to basically figure out the setup for Bedroom and Basement....


I would have one Premiere four share 2 tuners that leaves you with a Premiere 4 that can record 4 things at once and one that can do 2 more if needed. Easier to avoid conflicts that way and maybe most of your recordings can be done with one Premiere.

If you watch allot of Live TV I would put the Premiere with 4 tuners available for recording somewhere that you use the least that way you have 4 tuners available for recording on it the maximum amount of time.

Good luck,


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## dmk1974 (Mar 7, 2002)

atmuscarella said:


> I would have one Premiere four share 2 tuners that leaves you with a Premiere 4 that can record 4 things at once and one that can do 2 more if needed. Easier to avoid conflicts that way and maybe most of your recordings can be done with one Premiere.
> 
> If you watch allot of Live TV I would put the Premiere with 4 tuners available for recording somewhere that you use the least that way you have 4 tuners available for recording on it the maximum amount of time.
> 
> Good luck,


Yeah, I am leaning towards pairing both Mini's to the same Premiere 4 instead of 1 of each. My initial thought though was to pair them to the Basement since that's the least watched. Then the Family Room, which is the most watched, still has 3 tuners free for recording plus 1 for live.

Yet _another _option...does it make sense for the Family Room to have a Mini instead? While most watched, the Mini always has it's own live TV tuner available with no chance at conflicts, right? And since it can watch any recorded show from the other two Premiere 4 boxes, that would result in zero conflicts for the Family Room. Only downside of course...can't organize Season Passes from the most watched TV. And if someone wants to record a show there, it goes to the TiVo with only 2 available tuners.

Can they release a 6-tuner TiVo already?


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## atmuscarella (Oct 11, 2005)

dmk1974 said:


> Yeah, I am leaning towards pairing both Mini's to the same Premiere 4 instead of 1 of each. My initial thought though was to pair them to the Basement since that's the least watched. Then the Family Room, which is the most watched, still has 3 tuners free for recording plus 1 for live.
> 
> Yet _another _option...does it make sense for the Family Room to have a Mini instead? While most watched, the Mini always has it's own live TV tuner available with no chance at conflicts, right? And since it can watch any recorded show from the other two Premiere 4 boxes, that would result in zero conflicts for the Family Room. Only downside of course...can't organize Season Passes from the most watched TV. And if someone wants to record a show there, it goes to the TiVo with only 2 available tuners.
> 
> Can they release a 6-tuner TiVo already?


Sounds like a Mini in your Family Room would make sense with a TiVo in basement & TiVo sharing tuners bedroom. If you have an IOS or Android device around you might see if the remote apps might factor into your decision - they can control allot from any location.


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## dmk1974 (Mar 7, 2002)

atmuscarella said:


> Sounds like a Mini in your Family Room would make sense with a TiVo in basement & TiVo sharing tuners bedroom. If you have an IOS or Android device around you might see if the remote apps might factor into your decision - they can control allot from any location.


Well, at least for now, I went with putting the second Premiere 4 in the basement. Partly because it's an easy swap from the 2-tuner Premiere that was there. Also, another detail that I forgot to add, is that I have my Slingbox connected to that Basement TiVo because it is the least watched of the 4 TVs. If I put a Mini in the basement, I'd have to also get one of those $20 TiVo component cables.

I have the Bedroom and Kitchen Mini's paired with the new Basement TiVo. The Family Room has none of the 4 tuners paired and if we run into a situation where 4 shows are recording that nobody wants to watch live, then we have problems 

ALSO, I _was_ able to do that trick that moyekj described with the Mini's tonight. Not sure why it didn't work the other day, but it did tonight. I may be the only one in the house that knows how to do that though. My wife thinks I'm a nut for all this TiVo swapping. But it's nice to pay for 1 less cable card (once I return it) and have a single TiVo with all the main Season Passes. We'll see how it goes!


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## moyekj (Jan 24, 2006)

moyekj said:


> Since 20.2.2 software update you can setup and/or modify/delete season passes on remote series 4 units. This applies to series 4 units in general (Mini included):
> * From My Shows browse another series 4 TiVo
> * While still under remote My Shows click on Guide button
> * Find a show to record in the guide and then click Select on it
> ...





aaronwt said:


> I know I can do this with my Premieres, but it does not work with my two TiVo Minis. The only way I've been able to schedule a show from the guide with my Minis is to have it paired to that P4.
> 
> I've had no problem modifying season passes with the Minis. But when I am in the My shows list for the un-paired P4, and then go to the guide, it will always schedule the recording on the paired P4. At least that is the way my two TiVo Minis have always worked.
> 
> EDIT: I just tried it again and it is still the same way for my Minis. I have to pair it to the other P4 to be able to schedule the recording from the guide. At least it only takes me eight seconds to pair the Mini to the other P4.


I just tried these tonight using Mini to schedule on my 2 tuner Premiere (which is obviously not the Mini host) and it worked just the same as from Series 4->Series 4 units, so as mentioned above yes this does work fine with Minis as well. It's not exactly intuitive but it does work.


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