# should i keep my tivo premiere when i get the roamio & mini?



## celtic pride (Nov 8, 2005)

Is it better to keep my tivo premiere xl2 in the bedroom when i get the roamio pro,or should i buy the tivo mini with lifetime and take advantage of the tivo advisory coupon? I was going to buy both the pro & mini ,but my wife thinks we dont really need to spend the extra $175.00 for the mini. what would you guys do and why?


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## lgnad (Feb 14, 2013)

So, if you don't have lifetime and have a cable card in the Premier, getting a lifetimed mini will pay for itself in under a year. If you sell the premiere, then you'll get to the break even point very fast. 

If its lifetimed, you'll probably actually make some money on the deal, based on a quick glance at what lifetimed xl2's are getting on ebay right now, and be saving money on the extra cable card right away.

($175-money recouped from Premier sale/(cable card fee+tivo service fee)= number of months to break even point.

If you arent going to sell the Premier and give it to a friend or whatever, the math would be: $4.95 per cable card (what I pay), plus 12.95 for service (with the MSD discount) so: 175/17.90=only 9.7 months till it starts saving money.

----
Upsides to the swap:
Mini much snappier in general use/launching apps/etc than Premiere
Future-proofing yourself
Lower power consumption on Mini than Premier
No fan in the mini (some people are sensitive)
Unified play list/management from either room
Mini should theoretically be more bulletproof with external power supply and no hard drive.
Save money every month once you reach the break even point.
Mini can be tucked away, use the IR extender or get a slide pro. (Increased WAF*!)

Downsides:
Lose the 2 tuners in the Premiere 
Lose the storage space on the Premiere
Time to copy shows/season passes from Premiere to Roamio
Time to list/sell/ship the Premiere (if you choose to sell it)


*Wife Acceptance Factor


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## ThAbtO (Apr 6, 2000)

$175 for the mini? You can get it for $86 at http://www.amazon.com/TiVo-TCDA9200...3?ie=UTF8&qid=1390639392&sr=8-3&keywords=Tivo


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## lgnad (Feb 14, 2013)

ThAbtO said:


> $175 for the mini? You can get it for $86 at http://www.amazon.com/TiVo-TCDA9200...3?ie=UTF8&qid=1390639392&sr=8-3&keywords=Tivo


The deal is for $175 WITH lifetime... so its actually $25 for the hardware, $150 for the service.


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## dahacker (Jan 14, 2004)

celtic pride said:


> Is it better to keep my tivo premiere xl2 in the bedroom when i get the roamio pro,or should i buy the tivo mini with lifetime and take advantage of the tivo advisory coupon? I was going to buy both the pro & mini ,but my wife thinks we dont really need to spend the extra $175.00 for the mini. what would you guys do and why?


My standing recommendation is to sell all prior Tivos and get Roamio(s) and Minis with lifetime service even at regular price. They really are that much better. Life is too short to deal with a Premier one day longer than necessary. So the Mini at $175 including lifetime is an even bigger no brainer. There are OTA reasons and a few apps that might put a wrinkle in that recommendation, but for the most part eBay is your friend.

Once you get the Roamio Pro it will become clear to you.


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## slowbiscuit (Sep 19, 2006)

Oh please, I have an Elite and it's not intolerable unless you're ADD. Some folks have no patience at all.


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## celtic pride (Nov 8, 2005)

Thanks to all your replys ! I still have a 6 days to make up my mind, you guys got me leaning,towards getting the mini ,except for the v301 error codes i get quite often when using rhaposdy since i got my LIFETIMED tivo premiere xl 2s ,i've been happy with them for the most part, but i always wanted the roamio pro, I just thought $599.00 was too high for me to pay,but $399.00 is more reasonable, even the wife surprised me when asked why i hadnt ordered it yet,except she thought i should just keep the tivo premiere in the bedroom,now i have a few days to change her mind!


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## zalusky (Apr 5, 2002)

slowbiscuit said:


> Oh please, I have an Elite and it's not intolerable unless you're ADD. Some folks have no patience at all.


I would compare it to waiting in periodic traffic on the Elite and an empty freeway on the Roamio/Mini.

It just feels better all around.


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## lpwcomp (May 6, 2002)

I'd keep the Premiere rather than get a Mini since:

a. It can serve as a backup
b. Hook it up to an antenna and you can get OTA channels.

The main downside is that you can't really channel surf cable channels.

As far as WAF is concerned, well that would depend on the W wouldn't it?


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## sleepdragon (May 22, 2010)

It all depends on if you need the additional storage space from the Premier
I have a Premier XL with 2tb upgrade and now a Roamio Plus with 3tb upgrade
I am keeping both, Premier used to store kids shows while Roamio for me and the wife
The SD menu on Premier is not fancy but fast enough for everyday use


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## twhiting9275 (Nov 17, 2006)

slowbiscuit said:


> Oh please, I have an Elite and it's not intolerable unless you're ADD. Some folks have no patience at all.


The elite is nothing compared to the Roamio, just nothing.
Bootup time - Roamio
Menu speed - Roamio
Actual BOX speed - Roamio

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my elite, but it's getting retired at the end of it's contract, in favor of a new Roamio. The device is THAT fast!

Now, as to the OP's question, this is something that only you can really decide.
Do you want (or need) the additional tuners? Then stick with the Premiere.
Do you have a lot of data on the Premiere? Than stick with it.

I can't speak to the speed of the mini, honesty, but if you already HAVE the device, why downgrade?


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## celtic pride (Nov 8, 2005)

Lots of good information and ideas thanks ! Now i'm thinking of selling 1 premiere and getting the pro and mini,i would put the pro in the living room leave my other premiere in the bedroom and put the mini in my sons room,thats if he wants it,he s of the newer generation that only uses his tv for gaming and usually watches tv on his computer or smart phone! I prefer to watch on my big screen tv with my AV system for surround sound as well.


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## curiousgeorge (Nov 28, 2002)

ABSOLUTELY keep the Premiere and use it for OTA, Streaming, and storage. WAY more versatile than the Mini. The fact that is has OTA fixes a glaring problem with the Roamios.


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## RTPGiants (Mar 12, 2007)

I've got this same decision to make. I have a Premier with the $6.95 rate because it's an old S1 subscription. But I want to clarify whether the Premier can actually stream stuff from a Roamio? That is to say, can it just play stuff directly rather than having to transfer it first? Right now I have a Premier & HD and if they want to "talk" to each other they have to transfer programs, most of which are not eligible because of the copy flag, so I'd like to avoid that sort of issue.


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## lgnad (Feb 14, 2013)

All Premieres and Roamios can stream shows to each other.


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## supersportsfan (Sep 15, 2005)

I am in a similar predicament...I just upgraded my Premiere to a basic Roamio (should arrive by the end of the week.) I would like to keep the Premiere, but not at $12.95 a month. Do they, as someone mentioned above, allow you to buy lifetime on the old box for $99? (I did the upgrade offer and am rolling over my $6.95 grandfathered plan currently on the Premiere to this new Roamio.)


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## ThAbtO (Apr 6, 2000)

Call Tivo, its the only way to know.


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## supersportsfan (Sep 15, 2005)

ThAbtO said:


> Call Tivo, its the only way to know.


Gotcha. Well, they told me that I have to call to activate when I receive it since I am swapping boxes, so we will see what they say then. Thanks.


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## lpwcomp (May 6, 2002)

supersportsfan said:


> Gotcha. Well, they told me that I have to call to activate when I receive it since I am swapping boxes, so we will see what they say then. Thanks.


How long have you had the Premiere?


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## BP-isMe (Dec 16, 2003)

I got $99 lifetime on Both of my Premieres after getting a Roamio Basic. I also got transferred the grandfathered plan from one of my Premieres to the Roamio. The transfer took two calls as the first CSR said no.

Your Mileage may vary.

I'm hoping that they will introduce "Mini functionality" to the Premiere since one of mine donated it's cable-card to the Roamio.

Good Luck...Brad


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## lpwcomp (May 6, 2002)

BP-isMe said:


> I'm hoping that they will introduce "Mini functionality" to the Premiere since one of mine donated it's cable-card to the Roamio.


I doubt you'll ever see the Premiere or any other "full" TiVo given the ability to "borrow" a tuner on another TiVo for channel surfing.


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## BP-isMe (Dec 16, 2003)

lpwcomp said:


> I doubt you'll ever see the Premiere or any other "full" TiVo given the ability to "borrow" a tuner on another TiVo for channel surfing.


I don't expect it either...but you never know!

Brad


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## supersportsfan (Sep 15, 2005)

lpwcomp said:


> How long have you had the Premiere?


I got it at launch.



BP-isMe said:


> I got $99 lifetime on Both of my Premieres after getting a Roamio Basic. I also got transferred the grandfathered plan from one of my Premieres to the Roamio. The transfer took two calls as the first CSR said no.
> 
> Your Mileage may vary.
> 
> ...


Interesting. I would take the $99 deal in a heartbeat, so maybe I will get lucky and get that offer. I did the current upgrade deal, which specifically includes transferring over your grandfathered plan to the new box, so hopefully I won't have an issue with that.


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## tomhorsley (Jul 22, 2010)

I use my old Premier for OTA with a home made antenna that works pretty well, but if it ever dies, I'm sure I'll happily replace it with a mini instead and forget OTA. I bought lifetime with it so there is no monthly subscription to think about.


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## ncfoster (Jan 22, 2011)

I'm weighing the same options. The OTA part is something that I always intended to take advantage of on the Premiere, but I never installed the outdoor antenna that I bought, as I don't want to go up on my high roof. So, that is a consideration, but I am more concerned with how easy it is for my wife to do things like watch shows that are recorded on the Roamio. Even though I know that it can be done on either the Premiere or the Mini, am I right to assume that it is much more seamless on a Mini?


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## supersportsfan (Sep 15, 2005)

Just to update about activating my Roamios and potentially keeping my Premiere, I called, and the guy was really nice and swapped my plans in about 2 minutes. He didn't mention lifetime-ing my old Premiere for $99, but I asked him if they were offering anything like that right now. He said "that's a good question," looked it up, and said "it looks like you have had this box about 4 years, and after 3 years we can do lifetime for $99." So I took it!

So, it's worth a shot to ask if you are swapping boxes!


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## gigaguy (Aug 30, 2013)

With me it all came down to cost as I expect Apple and everyone else to continually offer new video options. And with Tivos' announcement this week of looking to cloud based DVRs I'd be hesitant to plop down for new Tivo boxes with lifetime. Even with TIvo, I'm still tied to the cablecos which I dislike, with their switched video, glitchy tuning adapters, no copying or streaming (TWC).

Since I never had a Tivo before now, I'm very happy with my used Premieres. I got an unused lifetimed XL4 with ext warranty for $225. and my used Premiere basic I used for 3 months got lifetimed for $99 when I added the XL4.
2 faster Roamios with these options would be well over $1300. 

I will be sad if Tivo alters their course much anytime soon, but buying Lifetime on new boxes seems to be a weightier decision than it was before.


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## ThAbtO (Apr 6, 2000)

gigaguy said:


> Even with TIvo, I'm still tied to the cablecos which I dislike, with their switched video, glitchy tuning adapters, no copying or streaming (TWC).


You can stream from a Premiere/Roamio to another, even if the recording is copy protected, just cannot copy.


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## gigaguy (Aug 30, 2013)

I guess I could have said no direct streaming to an iOS device or copying files to a Mac or to another Tivo. TWC blocks about 90%.
Yes I do sharing between boxes.


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## Game Master (Jan 11, 2013)

I got my mom the TiVo mini last Christmas because she likes the TiVo menu, the Premiere (with lifetime) in my bedroom hooked up to me 1TB DVD player, and the Roamio Pro (coming this Tuesday) will be in the dinning room


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