# Multiple TVs, 1 TiVo, suggestions appreciated



## mcaaronice (May 15, 2010)

I currently own a Series3 TiVo with a lifetime plan on it hooked up to my one TV, but I'm moving to a much larger house and may have anywhere from 3-5 TVs before it's all said and done. It's just me and my wife, so the 2 tuners in my current TiVo covers us 95% of the time, and I've been a subscriber since 2003, so watching live TV isn't important to me at all. Basically I just want a way to watch my recorded shows in other rooms of the house. The idea of putting Comcast DVRs on all those TVs is rather gross, but I also am reluctant to pay the monthly service for the additional TiVos if I went that route. I have read that a TiVo without service can't do the network streaming, correct? I've even thought about having a networked PC that downloads shows, but that would take a lot of maintenance, not to mention it's illegal. So far all I can come up with is to buy additional TiVos and put the lifetime service on them, even though I may never actually hook cable up to them. Anyone have any better implementations they've done or have any better and/or cheaper ideas? Thanks in advance.


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## socrplyr (Jul 19, 2006)

To be honest, I don't think Tivo has a good product for your situation. In reality, there are two options that would work better for you I think. I don't know how much you want to spend though. One option is to use a PC with windows media center on it and cable tuners. Then use extenders (Xbox 360) at each of the other TVs. That would be the expensive route. The cheaper route is moxi's solution. It works similar to the windows media center one, but it has dedicated hardware like the Tivo. A three room solution is $999, but if you like it you can sell your Tivo.
http://moxi.com/us/home.html


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## innocentfreak (Aug 25, 2001)

One option to consider is something like WDTV Live or one of the Popcorn boxes and using a program like KMTTG to download your .Tivo files to your PC and converting them to Mpeg2 which the media streamers would then recognize.

It also depends on whether your content is flagged as copy protected or not. 

If it is I would look into a Windows 7 HTPC setup using Ceton and other tuners and then using a couple of 360s as extenders.


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## bud8man (Feb 13, 2004)

One TiVo...out put to video distribution...but every tv would have to be happy to watch the same output. avcast, crossbarmedia, or box, http://www.myxtender.com/
__________________


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## mcaaronice (May 15, 2010)

The moxi thing sounds interesting, although it doesn't have wireless either. Moxi + 2 mates is $999 or, since I already own a Series 3, 2 more premieres with lifetime service is $1200 (of course I'd make some back on selling the series 3). I really like my TiVo though, so I don't know if I could bring myself to part with it.

Man, I really wish TiVo would sell a little extender. I think they'd be really popular.


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## innocentfreak (Aug 25, 2001)

The whole problem with extenders is the hardware would be expensive enough to make money for TiVo just on hardware sales. Then there is the whole part of incorporating streaming into TiVo.


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## bud8man (Feb 13, 2004)

put the tivo before your split to all your tv's and find an rf xtender remote so you can control it from any room through walls


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## DogFace (Apr 26, 2005)

Here what I do.

1. Run a single cable from the Comcast drop to a coax splitter feeding a Series 3 Tivo and a (free) Comcast DTA Adapter set to output on channel 3.

2. The component Tivo output feeds the sole HD set in the house. One composite Tivo output feeds an inexpensive RF Modulator outputting a signal (in my case) channel 16.

3. I use a second coax spitter in reverse to join the outputs of the DTA adpater and the TIVO's rf modulator. The joined output is wired via coax back to what used to be the Comcast installed splitter feeding outlets in five separate rooms. 

4. I use the SmartHome coax IR extenders to send remote control signals back from three remote TVs to both the TIVO and the Comcast DTA.

My wife an I can select either the DTA adapter output or TIVO output by (selecting channel 3 or 16 on our old non-digital tvs) in any given room, and then use the appropriate remote to select choose a channel or recorded program. We had to acquire additional remote controls.

This is an inexpensive setup. Disadvantages:

1) HD only in the living room.
2) Only one RECORDED program can be watched at any time, on however many sets you may want to simultaneously set to the "TIVO" channel.

I find this simultaneous playback useful when I am buzzing around the house on some project. I can pick up the thread (pause, rewind, etc) of what I'm watching as I move from room to room. It also works out pretty well when my wife and I are in different rooms for some reason, but want to watch and control the playback of a single program simultaneously. This is usually a newscast or documentary of some kind in our case. I doubt it would work as well for a narrative programs.


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## solutionsetc (Apr 2, 2009)

If you have a main computer running iTunes, AppleTVs are great for this. They can be had (40gb equipped gen 1 units) on ebay for about a hundred bucks. They have built-in 'N' wifi, and can stream or sync content from iTunes.

Then just have iTivo or KMTTG copy your shows from TiVo to iTunes.


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## tiassa (Jul 2, 2008)

Your future situation is similar to my current one, just me and my wife and 3 TV's. Here is what we do:
Main TV in living room: Tivo HD, with 500GB DVR extender
Smaller HD TV in home ofice: Tivo HD
SD TV in workout/bedroom: regular SD Cable box

The point here is that we do most of the TV watching in the living room, we use the Office Tivo to record stuff when we need a 3rd tuner, like when we need to record 2 things while watching something (usually sports) live. It helps that we have RCN who only copy protect the premium channels. The 3rd TV we only watch while working out or if there is something on really early in the morning or very late at night that we want to catch. 
This works out well price wise as well, as RCN charges $9.95 for an HD cable box, but only $1.50 for cable cards, so it is worth having a 2nd Tivo on an HDTV. The cable box on the SDTV in the workout room is the "free" box that comes with an RCN subscription.


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## MikeAndrews (Jan 17, 2002)

DogFace said:


> 2. The component Tivo output feeds the sole HD set in the house. One composite Tivo output feeds an inexpensive RF Modulator outputting a signal (in my case) channel 16.
> 
> 3. I use a second coax spitter in reverse to join the outputs of the DTA adpater and the TIVO's rf modulator. The joined output is wired via coax back to what used to be the Comcast installed splitter feeding outlets in five separate rooms.
> ...


 Does that work when the TiVo is outputting HD? I never tested it, but I assumed that the "SD outputs" go dead when the TiVo is outputting an HD signal.

What are you suing for an RF modulator? I could use one to send my CCTV feed to the other TVs.

I know you aren't doing this but allow me to mention that if you add a feed into the splitter used for the cable feed, you'd be sending it to your neighbors. That might be embarrassing to say the least.


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## trip1eX (Apr 2, 2005)

Just set it up so you can easily unplug your Tivo and move it to a different room when needed. 

Or transfer Tivo shows to your computer and play them over a media extender/ATV/iPod on the other TVs. 

Really I would just suffer during the 5&#37; other room tv watching and watch a movie or, gasp, live TV instead.


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## JoeTaxpayer (Dec 23, 2008)

Lifetime series 2 TiVos are going for under $150* on eBay. They make a great non-HD TV addon and would help your situation a bit. They talk well to the Comcast DTA with a wire you can add for about $10.

edit - recent BIN went for $142


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## shwru980r (Jun 22, 2008)

Get an HDMI splitter and wire the TIVO to all your TVs. Get an RF remote extender to control the TIVO from different parts of the house.


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## DogFace (Apr 26, 2005)

Netringer,

Component outputs work simultaneously with composite. I believe the use of the hdmi output shuts off all both the component and composite outputs. I have an S3.

I use the Channel Plus 3015 rf modulator. Works fine. It costs about $70.

Before I had the Comcast DTA adapter I sent the analog cable signal to all remote TVs. This required the use of a bandpass filter to prevent broadcasting to the neighbors, as you note.

A second TIVO could be used instead of the Comcast DTA adapter, along with a two channel version of this RF modulator. Then two recorded program could be played back separately in different room. Again no HD at the remote sets.


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## mcaaronice (May 15, 2010)

Thanks for all the great suggestions. I think for me, the best thing is to buy used TiVos with lifetime service off ebay or craigslist. I can't believe I never thought of that. (Although it'd be real nice to get the HD menus of a Premiere... can't believe the Series 3 never got them.)


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

Well the Premiere only has some HD menus right now. Most are still in SD.


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## JoeTaxpayer (Dec 23, 2008)

mcaaronice said:


> I think for me, the best thing is to buy used TiVos with lifetime service off ebay or craigslist. I can't believe I never thought of that.


I thought of you yesterday when I saw a Series 2 with LT sell at "buy it now" price of $130 + $12 shipping. It went fast, but they're out there.
(This may be obvious, but whichever model you decide on, set up an automatic search which will email you the latest new auctions that match. I use "tivo lifetime series 2" for the one I mentioned. After a few days you'll see the going prices and have an idea whether it's worth it to you. I think these are the undiscovered value out there $150 or so to add any non-HD TV to your network. In my Comcast area, it will only tune OTA channels, eg 2-20 from Comcast, but the DTA works well on it.)


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## mcaaronice (May 15, 2010)

You can buy a refurbished Tivo HD for $99 from Tivo themselves. Couple that with the lifetime plan and it's cheaper than most of what I'm seeing on Ebay. If they're still selling those when I move, I might just get one.


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## bakerja (Sep 3, 2008)

I distribute the HD component output to 2 HD tv's and several SD tv's. Component out to 4x2 component matrix switch. One output to main HD TV, other component out gets converted to cat5 cabling via balun (cheap $20 one off ebay). SD feed gets distributed with OTA antenna via RG6 cable. As I replace old SD sets, I plan to buy a component DA 1x4 or better and use balun's to convert to cat5 for those sets. I use leapfrog remote extenders. Cheapest solution I could come up with for multiple HD tv's.


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## 9300170 (Feb 21, 2003)

I'm with shwru980r. I run HDMI to all of TVs with an HDMI splitter. I use a wired IR extender and keep my TiVo, receiver, vcr, dvd, etc. in a central closet.


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## ZeoTiVo (Jan 2, 2004)

Get a moxi with streaming extenders - you basically are the poster child for that

if you are OK with satellite TV then go DirecTV and its new "whole house" idea where you can get one HD DVR and then HD receivers at other outlets that can watch shows from the DVR. Each receiver for that is 3$ a month


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## bud8man (Feb 13, 2004)

Buy.com Cables To Go Remote Control Repeater Kit 40430 for $32.49 (List Price: $89.99) 
The kit includes 4 emitters. These emitters are connected from the repeater system and placed over the IR receiver of the equipment. Simple installation and hook up while using your existing remotes. Cables To Go remote control repeater kit contains all equipment necessary to remotely operate 4 components (expandable to 12 components) using your standard Infrared remotes. 
Free Shipping

http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=208190096


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## killzone (Oct 19, 2000)

mcaaronice said:


> The moxi thing sounds interesting, although it doesn't have wireless either. Moxi + 2 mates is $999 or, since I already own a Series 3, 2 more premieres with lifetime service is $1200 (of course I'd make some back on selling the series 3). I really like my TiVo though, so I don't know if I could bring myself to part with it.
> 
> Man, I really wish TiVo would sell a little extender. I think they'd be really popular.


Yeah they should. The premier should have had 3 or 4 tuners and they should have offered an extender and streamed media. I guess they just got lazy and didn't feel like putting any effort into a new box.


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## csm10495 (Nov 15, 2008)

Maybe a Slingbox Solo might be good with a sling catcher or two... or hey, even a Solo with cheap PCs on the other TVs and then you can even watch on the go, might cost less in the end but not sure.


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