# Does the mini have lights on it and will it work on powerline network?



## tootal2 (Oct 14, 2005)

Does the mini have lights on it? its going to be in my bedroom and I like the room to be dark when I sleep. and will it work with my power line internet adapter? 

And is on all the time?

thanks


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## dianebrat (Jul 6, 2002)

It has a small very dim LED and it's on 24/7.
Mine works just fine on powerline and has for several years, if you have a running PNA network in the house and it's been working for other things, it will work just fine for a mini.


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## tootal2 (Oct 14, 2005)

I guess I cant use moca since each cable outlet has own cable that runs 200 feet to the condos main cable box.


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## Arcady (Oct 14, 2004)

You can turn off the single LED in the settings if it really bothers you. It is really dim anyway.


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## Jeeters (Feb 25, 2003)

Arcady said:


> You can turn off the single LED in the settings if it really bothers you. It is really dim anyway.


Yes, although you can turn it off, it really is pretty dim. What I find more annoying than it, actually, is the LEDs on the rear ethernet port. I have the mini on a shelf underneath my bedroom TV, and the rear LEDs reflect off the surface of the shelving and then light up the area pretty good. I have an ugly 'bandage' of black electrical tape over the rear ethernet port and cable to try and keep the LEDs covered. Not an issue if you're using Moca.


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## Pacomartin (Jun 11, 2013)

dianebrat said:


> Mine works just fine on powerline and has for several years,


It should be noted that while Powerline may work in many cases, TiVo does not recommend using powerline.


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## dianebrat (Jul 6, 2002)

Pacomartin said:


> It should be noted that while Powerline may work in many cases, TiVo does not recommend using powerline.


Care to point to your source?

Powerline networking is all but invisible to the devices using it for their ethernet ports, that's why in most cases it's great alternative, and it's in most cases faster and more reliable than wireless solutions. What Tivo PREFERS in almost all cases is MoCA, they make no bones about it, and even IMNSHO it's the preferable solution when available.


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## Arcady (Oct 14, 2004)

dianebrat said:


> Care to point to your source?


I was just reading this:
"Note: Wi-Fi and Powerline (also called HomePlug®) networking are not sufficient for streaming shows reliably. MoCA, on the other hand, provides 170 Mbit/s Net TCP throughput!"

Source: https://www.tivo.com/my-account/how-to/what-moca#overlay-context=my-account/how-to/what-moca


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## dianebrat (Jul 6, 2002)

Arcady said:


> I was just reading this:
> "Note: Wi-Fi and Powerline (also called HomePlug®) networking are not sufficient for streaming shows reliably. MoCA, on the other hand, provides 170 Mbit/s Net TCP throughput!"
> 
> Source: https://www.tivo.com/my-account/how-to/what-moca#overlay-context=my-account/how-to/what-moca


Interesting, however it also goes back to my comment that they're pushing MoCA (as they should) but PNA is IMNSHO far more stable and faster than most wifi solutions. The Tivo support sections actually have no mentions of Powerline.


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## Arcady (Oct 14, 2004)

I didn't say powerline or wifi won't work. Just that TiVo frowns on it. I have one of my Minis connected via wifi right now because I'm too lazy to run the roll of coax I already bought into that room.


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## dianebrat (Jul 6, 2002)

Arcady said:


> I didn't say powerline or wifi won't work. Just that TiVo frowns on it. I have one of my Minis connected via wifi right now because I'm too lazy to run the roll of coax I already bought into that room.


I totally understand, we all know wifi is a hit or miss for a mini, but I'd not seen the actual non-recommendation of Powerline before. We already know that MoCA is the preferred transport from the Tivo side.

There's just a group of folks on TCF that will go on to no end about how poor powerline networking is and that they'd even put wifi higher on the list of options, and I just don't get it, even with a tiny house I've always found PNA to be a stronger solution than wifi and far less prone to interference, of course that's assuming a reasonable up to code and grounded system is in the house.


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## Arcady (Oct 14, 2004)

Powerline is totally dependent on the home's wiring. It can work great, or it can completely fail. (Or anywhere in between.) If it works for someone, I say go ahead and use it. If people can make wireless networks with Pringles cans, anything is possible.


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## buckyswider (Aug 31, 2003)

Yes, that is the anti-paradox. For larger homes, where wifi can be troublesome, it's possible that powerline is also not very reliable due to long lengths of wires and outlets on different electrical phases. So I see Tivo's point in not recommending its use.


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## joewom (Dec 10, 2013)

dianebrat said:


> I totally understand, we all know wifi is a hit or miss for a mini, but I'd not seen the actual non-recommendation of Powerline before. We already know that MoCA is the preferred transport from the Tivo side.
> 
> There's just a group of folks on TCF that will go on to no end about how poor powerline networking is and that they'd even put wifi higher on the list of options, and I just don't get it, even with a tiny house I've always found PNA to be a stronger solution than wifi and far less prone to interference, of course that's assuming a reasonable up to code and grounded system is in the house.


Since TIVO only supports Ethernet and MOCA it would be reasonable to think they do not recommend power line or wireless. Powerline is hit or miss for so many reasons its not even funny. Hence why they don't support it. Wireless is more consistent then powerline for user experience.


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

You do what you know or what makes you comfortable. If you don't have experience you go with something that has a lot of support. So for TiVo, MoCA is preferred since support is very good. My power is bad, with spikes jumping to 156VAC frequently. Everything is on a UPS. The house was built in the 1920's. But I know WiFi, so my Roamio (on second floor) has a 802.11ac adapter to the Mini in the kitchen with the TiVo AN0100 adapter. With a Netgear R7500 router, I have no problems. It's not my house either.


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## dianebrat (Jul 6, 2002)

joewom said:


> Since TIVO only supports Ethernet and MOCA it would be reasonable to think they do not recommend power line or wireless. Powerline is hit or miss for so many reasons its not even funny. Hence why they don't support it. *Wireless is more consistent then powerline for user experience.*


and I disagree 100% with that statement, this is why both sides need to be presented to someone considering options in adding a mini to their network.

There are plenty of things Tivo doesn't "recommend" that work fine, and more that are "unsupported" it doesn't mean they don't work, just that Tivo won't help you fix them if things don't work.


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## joewom (Dec 10, 2013)

dianebrat said:


> and I disagree 100% with that statement, this is why both sides need to be presented to someone considering options in adding a mini to their network.
> 
> There are plenty of things Tivo doesn't "recommend" that work fine, and more that are "unsupported" it doesn't mean they don't work, just that Tivo won't help you fix them if things don't work.


Sorry you do. Power line at best works in 50% of homes. My home was built in 1994 and it doesn't work well due to the upstairs on a separate (phase) something they told me but I don't remember. Power line is more sceptical to interference then wireless and definitely more then wireless in the 5ghz range.


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## LinksLaird (Feb 13, 2015)

So, I should have read this before I bought my mini. I have had a Roamio Plus installed using a Netgear 200 Powerline adaptor with absolutely no issues. I bought another TV and a mini and another 200 and they don't work. I talked to people at TiVo on at least 2 occasions about this setup and nobody told me they don't support it until I called this morning.


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## Arcady (Oct 14, 2004)

There's no coax connection where you want to put the Mini?


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## LinksLaird (Feb 13, 2015)

No, the room is essentially an island.


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## Arcady (Oct 14, 2004)

I ran a Mini using a WiFi adapter for several months. I guess that would be the only other option if you can't run ethernet or coax. (I finally drilled a hole through the block wall and ran coax yesterday. The Mini would drop the connection once or twice a day, and it finally got to be too annoying.)


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

JoeKustra said:


> You do what you know or what makes you comfortable. If you don't have experience you go with something that has a lot of support. So for TiVo, MoCA is preferred since support is very good. My power is bad, with spikes jumping to 156VAC frequently. Everything is on a UPS. The house was built in the 1920's. But I know WiFi, so my Roamio (on second floor) has a 802.11ac adapter to the Mini in the kitchen with the TiVo AN0100 adapter. With a Netgear R7500 router, I have no problems. It's not my house either.


Thats another thing with powerline networking. You can't go through a UPS. SO if the power goes out you also lose your connection. I had considered it for my GFs TiVos years ago but went with wireless instead because of the network connection going down during a power outage. With Wireless, MoCA and Ethernet there is no issue with the network going down during a power outage since everything can be running on UPSs.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

Arcady said:


> I ran a Mini using a WiFi adapter for several months. I guess that would be the only other option if you can't run ethernet or coax. (I finally drilled a hole through the block wall and ran coax yesterday. The Mini would drop the connection once or twice a day, and it finally got to be too annoying.)


If you have a robust WiFi network it will work great. I tried all of m y Minis over wireless, MoCA and wired Ethernet. Performance was identical for me with all of them. No dropped connections. They were all rock solid. But I also have multiple APs so I have plenty of bandwidth and no congestion. So I have no issues with the dozens of wifi devices I have constantly using WiFi.

Ultimately I switched to using MoCa with my Minis since I had multiple lines of coax not being used for anything


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## tootal2 (Oct 14, 2005)

I got my TiVo mini and hooked it up to my powerline network. and it works fine till I take a shower and the water heater comes on.


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## slowbiscuit (Sep 19, 2006)

dianebrat said:


> Interesting, however it also goes back to my comment that they're pushing MoCA (as they should) but PNA is IMNSHO far more stable and faster than most wifi solutions. The Tivo support sections actually have no mentions of Powerline.


Wifi sure, but MoCA is superior and preferred to either Wifi or Powerline. Which is why Tivo recommends it and builds in the hardware for it especially since the coax is already there.

Powerline is a total crapshoot just like Wifi, even if it works great for you there's no guarantee it will for others (not just once in a while, all the time). If MoCA works initially it generally works great all the time, on the other hand.


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## tootal2 (Oct 14, 2005)

I bought some flat Ethernet cable and pushed under baseboards in my home all the way to the router. I had to use a lot of cable so would not have to go across doorways. I had go all the way around 1 room with it.


but it works better the power line network


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