# Tivo Should Support Live Streaming to Smart TVs



## shortnuke (Jun 7, 2016)

I would like to see Tivo develop an app for Smart TVs and Streaming devices that will provide the full functionality of the Tivo Mini and/or develop a wireless, 4K Mini that's competitively priced compared to other streaming devices.

I'll start out my noting that I'm not currently a Tivo user. I'm looking for a simpler solution for my home that won't require me to function as full-time tech support for family and guests, and that eliminates the need to continue to rent boxes from the cable company. Dropping cable for OTA just isn't realistic at this point. I've been looking at the Tivo Bolt and I really like the features that it offers, but the lack of options live streaming to Smart TVs or Streaming Devices is keeping me from making the purchase.

The showstopper for me is the requirement to purchase Tivo Minis for each additional TV that I have in the house. I have a total of 6 TVs that I would ideally want to be able to connect. I can live with the 4-tuner limitation we would have if we went with a single Bolt since we never really have all 6 going at the same time. However, in order to get them all connected I would have to purchase a minimum of 1 Bolt and 5 Minis. That's around $1,000 and does not include the service subscription. I'm paying $48/month in cable box rentals today, so we're talking about payback period of over 20 months.

In addition to the upfront costs, I'm also not wild about the lack of WiFi support with the Minis. This effectively makes them nothing more than your typical cable boxes that require power and coax connections to the wall, and an HDMI cable running to the TV. A wireless solution would provide a lot more flexibility in where I can place the TV. I do realize that people have successfully used extenders and access points to effectively make the Minis work over WiFi, but that requires significant additional costs and space for the access points. It also means running another power cord to the wall.

I can buy an entry-level smart TV for less than $50 more than the price of the mini, or a streaming stick than can use the HDMI and USB ports on my current TVs for ~$40. Cable providers are making their apps available on smart TVs and streamers, and services like Sling TV and Playstation Vue are starting to mature. Given the 20-month payback period that I mentioned before, I'm inclined to hold off on Tivo and see how the market develops. 

If Tivo were to announce that they are releasing apps for smart TVs and streamers that provide the same functionality as their Minis, or if they introduced a wireless mini that supports 4K and was priced in line with the Amazon Fire TV or Roku 4, I'd dive right in.


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## lew (Mar 12, 2002)

shortnuke said:


> I would like to see Tivo develop an app for Smart TVs and Streaming devices that will provide the full functionality of the Tivo Mini and/or develop a wireless, 4K Mini that's competitively priced compared to other streaming devices.
> 
> I'll start out my noting that I'm not currently a Tivo user. I'm looking for a simpler solution for my home that won't require me to function as full-time tech support for family and guests, and that eliminates the need to continue to rent boxes from the cable company. Dropping cable for OTA just isn't realistic at this point. I've been looking at the Tivo Bolt and I really like the features that it offers, but the lack of options live streaming to Smart TVs or Streaming Devices is keeping me from making the purchase.
> 
> ...


I don't think tivo is for you. 4 tuners isn't enough to support 6 sets. You could easily have 2 or 3 tuners recording shows. I'm not sure if a 6 tuner Roamio would work. maybe if 3 of the sets are rarely used at the same time.

Tivo as no control over the bitrate (file size) of recorded shows. Tivo doesn't think wireless will always have enough bandwidth to offer the full tivo experience. That said many people are using Netgear Bridge (Access Point) not sure which is the correct term.

I don't see tivo spending resources for smart tv apps. I don't think there are enough tivo customers to motivate development of tivo apps by TV manufacturers.

A set which isn't used much. You can load the tivo app on an Amazon fire stick. It transcodes, it works on WiFi. It's OK if you just want to use the 30 second skip to go through commercials. Skip mode and quick mode don't work.


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## shortnuke (Jun 7, 2016)

We rarely have more than 2 TVs on with live broadcasts right now, so I don't think the Bolt would be an issue. We've got a TV in a guest bedroom, a game room, and on the back patio that I rarely use for live broadcasts. Right now, I don't even have them hooked up to a cable box. This is where the ability to use an inexpensive streaming stick would be really valuable.

The fact is that Tivo already supports live TV streaming for subscribers on iOS and Android devices, so I don't agree with your assessment around wireless bandwidth. My understanding of the Amazon Fire TV app is that it only allows you to access recorded content, which makes me think that Tivo is intentionally disabling live streaming on that platform. I suspect that Tivo is not porting this functionality to smart TVs and streaming devices because they want to protect their Mini product line. 

I think it comes down to a marketing decision around demand. Is there enough demand with potential customers that they don't have right now to profitably develop this functionality, taking into account some cannibalization that will likely happen with the Mini products? How much revenue/profitability does Tivo get from hardware sales vs its subscription service?


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## lew (Mar 12, 2002)

This is a suggestion forum. Its not an official forum. There is a place on tivo.com where you can make suggestions.

I'm never sure what the OP is looking for in these threads. Posters saying great idea? Discussions as to what part of the idea work and what part doesn't? How you get most of what you want with existing apps?

I'll go with the third. You can side load the tivo Android app on the fire stick. Many smart phones and tablets support HDMI output using an inexpensive cable. You can buy a somewhat over priced cable adapter to output older 30 pin apple products to HDMI.

The apps don't literally stream live. They start recording the show then transcode and stream the recording. The mini will actually stream live.

I've used mini, Android apps, apple app and fire stick. JMO any is OK for occasional use, particularly for recorded shows. You may have buffer delays particularly with"live" shows.

Tivo has a 30 day return policy. Give it a try. Not sure how long Amazon will let you wait to return


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## CCourtney (Mar 28, 2006)

shortnuke said:


> I think it comes down to a marketing decision around demand. Is there enough demand with potential customers that they don't have right now to profitably develop this functionality, taking into account some cannibalization that will likely happen with the Mini products? How much revenue/profitability does Tivo get from hardware sales vs its subscription service?


First, they'd not make money off of developing Apps for Smart TVs unless this leads to sales of more Tuner Boxes that require service. Which is where they make their major money. Other Smart TV Apps are making Apps through subscription, rental/purchases or commercials - none of which TiVo would get from a Smart TV app.

TiVo doesn't make much money on the Mini's, but retains users at a zero net gain solution for TiVo.

iOS and Android developments is more keeping with the times of being able to download and stream recorded content to. It's also two platforms to develop for, while there are a bunch of different proprietary OS platforms to develop for Smart TVs, which costs R&D money to do.

I'd not hold my breath. I think it would be a bad financial decision for them to make such an App. Note because they could make more money with the Mini, but because they'd be loosing money to do so.

And keep in mind, you can be in the positive in less than 2yrs by switching to a TiVo and Minis and on top of it, you'd now have a TiVo box instead of the crappy CableCo's DVR.


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