# Maximum Number of Tivos and your Media Access Key



## Chiparoo (Aug 5, 2007)

Not sure if this has been covered before but thought I would just let you guys know. I found out the very hard way and after many calls to TiVo Tech Support, that 10 is the maximum number of TiVos in your account that can share your Media Access Key. And yes I have a lot of TiVos in my account ...only 5 networked together in our house. Once you reach 10, then any new TiVo added to your account won't be able to do any MRVing. After a week, Tech Support figured out the problem and manually disabled MRV from the TiVos in my account that weren't actually on my network.


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## timckelley (Oct 15, 2002)

Wow! There actually exist people with more than 10 TiVos to their name?


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## ZeoTiVo (Jan 2, 2004)

timckelley said:


> Wow! There actually exist people with more than 10 TiVos to their name?


I am close with 8.

I recall the 10 limit being mentioned when TiVo was talking about sharing shows over the internet with the FCC. Of course that circle of friends internet sharing of shows morphed into the family video feature but it seems that 10 was in place for any kind of show sharing.


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## sieglinde (Aug 11, 2002)

Does this mean that if I buy wireless adapter for my second Tivo, I ought to be able to download guide information etc.?


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## Seattle (Dec 13, 2001)

timckelley said:


> Wow! There actually exist people with more than 10 TiVos to their name?


I have 11 TiVos but a few are series ones so they cannot do MRV anyways.


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## ah30k (Jan 9, 2006)

I'd venture a guess that anyone with that many TiVos is using them at multiple locations or sharing them with friends and family.

I simply can't imagine a single home with that many television sets. Even if you double up.


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## greg_burns (May 22, 2004)

sieglinde said:


> Does this mean that if I buy wireless adapter for my second Tivo, I ought to be able to download guide information etc.?


Only if you are running a wireless network in your home. Not sure exactly what you are asking... 

You cannot access your first Tivo via the second w/ a Tivo Wireless Adapter for guide info.


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## timckelley (Oct 15, 2002)

ah30k said:


> I'd venture a guess that anyone with that many TiVos is using them at multiple locations or sharing them with friends and family.
> 
> I simply can't imagine a single home with that many television sets. Even if you double up.


We actually have 4 sets in our house, so if we doubled up, I suppose we could attach 8 TiVos. But I personally only have two TiVos. Well, actually 3, but one of them is broken with a bad motherboard.


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## 1283 (Sep 8, 2000)

ah30k said:


> I'd venture a guess that anyone with that many TiVos is using them at multiple locations or sharing them with friends and family.


or eBay sellers


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## fritolayguy (Oct 31, 2002)

ah30k said:


> I'd venture a guess that anyone with that many TiVos is using them at multiple locations or sharing them with friends and family.
> 
> I simply can't imagine a single home with that many television sets. Even if you double up.


Five TIVO's (only four connected, one with bad motherboard), five TV sets, two people....When I look at it that way it seems a bit excessive....


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## TivoZorro (Jul 16, 2000)

Actually we have 9 TVs. Almost every room has one. But I'm the only Tivo addict with four Tivos. But only three are connected via the wireless network. The other is an old Sony SVR that can't be networked. If it were up to me probably every TV would have one.


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## ah30k (Jan 9, 2006)

TivoZorro said:


> Actually we have 9 TVs. ... If it were up to me probably every TV would have one.


 Then you'd still be OK with the ten limit. There have been a few posters who have more than 10.


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## sandenurse (Dec 12, 2006)

Well, I am a single guy, with 4 networked Tivos, 3 S2 and one HD. I download some shows to my Zune to enjoy while I work (nights).

Plus a Panasonic DVR to catch the overflow / conflicts.

I need to get a life or a wife.


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## barbeedoll (Sep 26, 2005)

I feel like a piker with only seven Tivos. But all are running, networked and enjoyed. Two people, seven Tivos -- seems about right to me.

Barbeedoll


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## timckelley (Oct 15, 2002)

barbeedoll said:


> I feel like a piker with only seven Tivos. But all are running, networked and enjoyed. Two people, seven Tivos -- seems about right to me.
> 
> Barbeedoll


Wow! I'm still impressed by the guy who has 9 TVs.


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## ZeoTiVo (Jan 2, 2004)

barbeedoll said:


> I feel like a piker with only seven Tivos. But all are running, networked and enjoyed. Two people, seven Tivos -- seems about right to me.
> 
> Barbeedoll


yes on the main TV we have 2 DT units and one ToshiVo DVD burner model
The two DTs (I have not moved to HD set yet) give us 4 tuners for never a conflict (I do record a lot of SCi FI and Showtime on the second DT)
and the DVD burner we use to play our DVDs and sometimes burn a show for viewing on trips etc..

so having the 3 TiVos on one TV is not exactly over the top considering I like to record SCi-Fi and movies along with regular primetime lineup and my wifes day shows etc..
Then I have a TiVo at the other two TVs so we can watch most anything at any of the 3 TVs. One extra is a lifetime I doubled up on one TV just cause it is only 3 1/2 years on lifetime and Iam waiting for when I can transfer that to aTiVo HD and replace one of the DT units on main TV

This approach has served me well during the writers strike or cold weather as there is then still plenty to choose from to wtach when we want to watch something


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## AlexK777 (Jan 20, 2008)

sandenurse said:


> Well, I am a single guy, with 4 networked Tivos, 3 S2 and one HD. I download some shows to my Zune to enjoy while I work (nights).
> 
> Plus a Panasonic DVR to catch the overflow / conflicts.
> 
> I need to get a life or a wife.


I'm curious why you would do this? Why not just one with a bigger drive? What do you get from having 3 S2s?

I am a little unusual in that I have two Tivos hooked to one TV (to keep my programming separate from the kids). The cable card guy said he had never seen anyone do that before.


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## timckelley (Oct 15, 2002)

AlexK777 said:


> I am a little unusual in that I have two Tivos hooked to one TV (to keep my programming separate from the kids). The cable card guy said he had never seen anyone do that before.


I'd think that would be a common setup. I only have 2 active, working TiVos, but at one time I had them hooked to the same TV. Not now though... mine is upstairs, and my wife's is downstairs.


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## janry (Jan 2, 2003)

AlexK777 said:


> I am a little unusual in that I have two Tivos hooked to one TV (to keep my programming separate from the kids). The cable card guy said he had never seen anyone do that before.


Nope. Not unusual at all. We only have 2 TiVos and both are hooked up to one set. This same TV also has 1 DVD player and 2 VCRs hooked up to it.

This is pretty normal, isn't it?


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## TiVoStephen (Jun 27, 2000)

I only have one TV at home. It has three TiVo DVRs, one DVD player, one VCR, one game machine, a stereo receiver, a game console, and a cable box. I feel it's pretty typical!

Some of my co-workers have eight DVRs and of course some people have more like five game consoles...


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## timckelley (Oct 15, 2002)

I feel inferior in that the most wired up TV I have is the one downstairs, and it has:

one TiVo
one DVD player/burner
one VCR
two game machines
I also have two A/B/C/D switches hooked up in such a way that I can control whether TiVo outputs to the DVD burner or VCR, and I can also control which devices send a signal to the TV.

The nice thing is that the furniture that holds it all is something I got for free because my brother-in-law was throwing it out. It's a tall vertical wooden structure with a bunch of shelves and some glass doors covering the front. I actually added an extra shelf myself by cutting and staining some wood to match. It has a bunch of pegholes on the inside, making it easy to add shelves. The back of it is open, so you can freely pass the wires all around back there. It seems perfect for the situation, and it's hard to belive my BIL was throwing it out.


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## JYoung (Jan 16, 2002)

janry said:


> Nope. Not unusual at all. We only have 2 TiVos and both are hooked up to one set. This same TV also has 1 DVD player and 2 VCRs hooked up to it.
> 
> This is pretty normal, isn't it?


Right now, I have four TiVos hooked to one TV.


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## dirtypacman (Feb 3, 2004)

I got 4 units each on their own Tv throughout the house... MRV was huge factor for me on getting additional units and this allowed us almost unlimited recording capabilities.


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## AlexK777 (Jan 20, 2008)

TiVoStephen said:


> I only have one TV at home. It has three TiVo DVRs, one DVD player, one VCR, one game machine, a stereo receiver, a game console, and a cable box. I feel it's pretty typical!
> 
> Some of my co-workers have eight DVRs and of course some people have more like five game consoles...


Well, of course *your *coworkers do.... Can't you guys just go grab one off the line whenever you need to? 

I can understand multiple game machines. Each has its own pros and cons. But why have a bunch of Tivos attached to one TV? Do you segregate the programming for each member of your household?


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## sandenurse (Dec 12, 2006)

Well, the S2s are all single tuners, I've only had the HD for 3 months. FOX and FX and SCIFI often have conflicts with network shows that I follow.

LR = S2, MBR = HD, Den = S2, Guest BR = S2. ALL have expanded storage drives.

I initially used MRV to the Den, which is a storage area next to my storeage area to watch / listen while I was working out there, before I ran a cable line to that TV.

The Guest room unit is used for odd series like PBS War, or Discovery Earth shows that I want to watch upon completion as well as for my guests pleasures.

The LR has a 55" projection TV that I plan to replace before the digital cutover next year, at which point I will probably swap units with the MBR, which currenly has a 32 HDTV wall mounted.

I bought two units with lifetime off EBAY before TiVo re introduced the lifetime subscription options.


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## ZeoTiVo (Jan 2, 2004)

AlexK777 said:


> Do you segregate the programming for each member of your household?


in a way I do. 
One DT holds the daytime/primetime shows my wife and I for some primetime wants 
the other DT I hooked to the free set top box I got and set only Sci-FI channel to digital and left the rest analog only save for the showtime tier and such that is only digital. That way all my Sci-FI records in digital and I have a couple ofmovie wishlists aimed at Showtime. Both DTs have 300 gig or more drives.
Then there is a ToShiVo with DVD burner that gets shows we might watch on roadtrips so I can burn them quick and easy plus I watch DVDs via that and the better TiVo interface :up:

Have a TiVo HD in the master bedroom with our one LCD HD TV plus it gets better OTA up there. No cable cards yet but it doubles as SCI Fi backup in case the cable box acts up. Also daytime shows my wife likes.

The kids have a ToshiVo SD H400 in the bonus room that records the shows they want A single tuner works fro them since they hone in on 5 channels or so anyhow.


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## barbeedoll (Sep 26, 2005)

JYoung said:


> Right now, I have four TiVos hooked to one TV.


You are a TiVo God! I assume you don't have that many connections on the back of the TV, so how are you splitting the inputs? Do you have to manually change from one unit to another with the inputs shared?

I have three devices hooked to a Sony, but have another I'd like to add if I weren't out of connections.

Barbeedoll


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## timckelley (Oct 15, 2002)

He probably has to split the cable using a 4 way splitter, possibly with an amplifier to prevent degradation of the signal, and then he probably uses an A/B/C/D switch to control which TiVo is sending its output to the TV.


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## 1283 (Sep 8, 2000)

You can get remote-controlled switches for HDMI, component, and composite/S-Video. Check monoprice.com. Then use a remote such as Harmony to automate the switching process.


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## JYoung (Jan 16, 2002)

barbeedoll said:


> You are a TiVo God! I assume you don't have that many connections on the back of the TV, so how are you splitting the inputs? Do you have to manually change from one unit to another with the inputs shared?
> 
> I have three devices hooked to a Sony, but have another I'd like to add if I weren't out of connections.
> 
> Barbeedoll





timckelley said:


> He probably has to split the cable using a 4 way splitter, possibly with an amplifier to prevent degradation of the signal, and then he probably uses an A/B/C/D switch to control which TiVo is sending its output to the TV.


I started with an A/B/C/D switch, then I ran the two TiVos and the VCR through my receiver and had one TiVo sharing the A/B/C/D switch with the DVD player then to the TiVo
When I got the Series 3 and the TiVo HD, I had those going through the receiver (disconnecting the VCR) for a bit there to the SD TV.

Last month, I bought an Sony Bravia HDTV and starting hooking stuff directly to it as it has:

 2 S Video inputs (for the Series 1 & 2)
 2 Component inputs (for TiVo HD and 480i DVD player)
 2 HDMI inputs (for Series 3 and 1080p upconverting DVD player)
 1 VGA input which occasionally has a pc or laptop hooked to it.
 1 Composite input (not used)


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## mattack (Apr 9, 2001)

c3 said:


> You can get remote-controlled switches for HDMI, component, and composite/S-Video. Check monoprice.com.


You mean separate types right? I certainly haven't been able to find composite switches on monoprice.com. I don't really even want remote-controlled.. But monoprice's stuff is so much cheaper than other places, I'd get one there if they had it. Mostly I just want an a/b/c or a/b/c/d switch.. I had one before but it broke.


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## mattack (Apr 9, 2001)

barbeedoll said:


> You are a TiVo God! I assume you don't have that many connections on the back of the TV, so how are you splitting the inputs? Do you have to manually change from one unit to another with the inputs shared?


I have 4 devices hooked up to a Sony TV that has only 2 inputs.
TV Input 1 gets the Toshiba XS32, and *its* inputs are my S1 Tivo, my S3 Tivo, and my PS2.
TV Input 2 gets my TivoHD.

So if the XS32 is recording something, I can't use the other devices (which is why it would be handy to have another switchbox like I said in the other message).

I am one of those who REALLY think TVs should have more inputs. I realize the "right" thing is to use an A/V receiver (and ironically I actually have an old-but-almost-unused one I bought after I brought a different one I had to work to use with my 300 CD changer -- and now my ipod instead)... but since it's in a bedroom, I don't mind that I'm listening through the TV's speakers.


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## scandia101 (Oct 20, 2007)

AlexK777 said:


> I'm curious why you would do this? Why not just one with a bigger drive? What do you get from having 3 S2s?


How big of a hard drive do you have to put in a Tivo before you get three tuners?



> I am a little unusual in that I have two Tivos hooked to one TV (to keep my programming separate from the kids). The cable card guy said he had never seen anyone do that before.


That's fairly common.
I have three Tivos on a single TV right now, but I'll be back down to two soon.


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## bubba1972 (Mar 28, 2005)

How do you control more than two Tivos with a single remote control? I thought it could only use the 1-2 toggle to support two at a time.


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## seattletoad (Jan 28, 2006)

I have 5 TiVo's connected to my 36" TV.
S1 lifetime: coax
S2 lifetime (240): vid1
S2DT lifetime: vid2
Toshiba sd-h400 dvd lifetime: vid3
Toshiba RS-TX60 DVDR monthly: component input

If the tv had another input I'd have another DVD TiVo attached.
I also have another S2 lifetime that I am thinking about using only as a MRV movie server, as I have some movies that are starting to take up too much space on the others.

This is normal right?


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## scandia101 (Oct 20, 2007)

bubba1972 said:


> How do you control more than two Tivos with a single remote control? I thought it could only use the 1-2 toggle to support two at a time.


 With Harmony.


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## slyone (Jul 22, 2005)

Prior to this Holiday season I had 1 RS-TX20 with just basic 
but have added 2 S2 ST (1yr prepaid) and 2 HD (1-1yr.prepaid..debating Lifetime??) and the 2nd I haven't activated yet?? I would love to add Lifetime to the 2 HD but the $400ea. is tough to afford right now


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## bubba1972 (Mar 28, 2005)

scandia101 said:


> With Harmony.


I have a Harmony and it controls my two Tivos with the discrete remote code 1 and remote code 2 commands. How does it control a third or fourth tivo without sending duplicate commands to one of the other Tivos?


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## scandia101 (Oct 20, 2007)

bubba1972 said:


> I have a Harmony and it controls my two Tivos with the discrete remote code 1 and remote code 2 commands. How does it control a third or fourth tivo without sending duplicate commands to one of the other Tivos?


By using the other 7 (not counting '0' of course) remote codes.


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## Worf (Sep 15, 2000)

Well, strangely enough, I have 4 TiVos, and while there are 4 TVs, 2 of them are hooked to the godawful Motorola cable boxes. (Canada doesn't use CableCARD, so to get HD requires using those POS things).

Of the 4 TiVos, my TV has two - a series 1 (all hacked up unsubbed) and a nice Series 3 I bought (a month before TiVoHD came out. That's OK - for $100 more after rebates, I got the nice OLED display giving me the time). There's a series 2 hooked to a regular standard def cablebox (I use MRV to catch shows on the cablebox). The last TiVo was a DirecTiVo I bought when I had DirecTV.

Love TiVo. Hate Canadian cable companies for not supporting CableCARD, forcing the crappy Motorola boxes on us that have the firewire outputs disabled, etc. (These are the HD PVRs...).

TiVo before TV. I give up HDTV before I give up TiVo!


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## d_anders (Oct 12, 2000)

sieglinde said:


> Does this mean that if I buy wireless adapter for my second Tivo, I ought to be able to download guide information etc.?


Don't quite follow you in relation to this thread, but all tivo's need to be "subbed" in order to get guide info (unless you got one of those older units that had TiVo Basic/TiVO Plus).

If you get a wireless adapter for your 2nd TiVo, you will be able to get guide data to it via the internet, plus be able to enjoy multi-room viewing, etc....all of which is dependent on the "2nd (series 2 or higher) Tivo" being subscribed and linked to the same household account as your first TiVo.

Is this what you were looking for?


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## barbeedoll (Sep 26, 2005)

JYoung said:


> I started with an A/B/C/D switch, then I ran the two TiVos and the VCR through my receiver and had one TiVo sharing the A/B/C/D switch with the DVD player then to the TiVo
> When I got the Series 3 and the TiVo HD, I had those going through the receiver (disconnecting the VCR) for a bit there to the SD TV.
> 
> Last month, I bought an Sony Bravia HDTV and starting hooking stuff directly to it as it has:
> ...


Thanks. As fortune would have it, I also have a Sony Bravia HDTV, but I have it in another part of the house. It looks as though what I need is a new Sony Bravia HDTV for the bedroom where I want to hook up the multiple devices.

Thanks to JYoung and all who responded.

Barbeedoll


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## CharlesH (Aug 29, 2002)

bubba1972 said:


> I have a Harmony and it controls my two Tivos with the discrete remote code 1 and remote code 2 commands. How does it control a third or fourth tivo without sending duplicate commands to one of the other Tivos?


I think the confusion results from the "1" and "2" switch on the remote, vs. the 7 distinct code sets TiVos can respond to. The "1" and "2" switch do not indicate that the remote will send code sets 1 or 2. In switch position 1 you can assign any code set 1-7, or the universal set 0. Ditto for position 2. The (TiVo+Pause)<digit><RIGHT-arrow> sequence tells the remote to use code set <digit> for the current switch position. So you can have the remote in switch position 1 send code set 5, and in position 2, send code set 1.

To tell the Harmony which code set to use, you can use a TiVo remote currently configured for the desired code set. There is a place in the Harmony setup where you can press a button on the TiVo remote so it can read which set to use.


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## bubba1972 (Mar 28, 2005)

Thanks. I wasn't aware of the additional code sets.


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## scandia101 (Oct 20, 2007)

There are actually 9 remote code sets (1 - 9) plus the universal code.


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## unitron (Apr 28, 2006)

Dragging this thread back out of its coffin to ask if anyone knows an only mildly painful and time consuming way to get TiVo to change which 10 TiVos get to use the MAK?


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## mattack (Apr 9, 2001)

unitron said:


> Dragging this thread back out of its coffin to ask if anyone knows an only mildly painful and time consuming way to get TiVo to change which 10 TiVos get to use the MAK?


I think you can do this on each Tivo.. But you can also go to 
https://www.tivo.com/tivo-mma/dvrpref.do

and it looks like if you turn off video sharing for relevant ones, leave them connected for long enough to 'realize' they're no longer enabled (maybe just force a connection?), then other ones will work???????


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## unitron (Apr 28, 2006)

mattack said:


> I think you can do this on each Tivo.. But you can also go to
> https://www.tivo.com/tivo-mma/dvrpref.do
> 
> and it looks like if you turn off video sharing for relevant ones, leave them connected for long enough to 'realize' they're no longer enabled (maybe just force a connection?), then other ones will work???????


I should have thought of/remembered that. Thanks.


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

With Minis in every room I'm almost at the limit. I have two Roamio Pros (his/hers), I just ordered an Roamio OTA (one station I can only get OTA), plus I have Minis in 4 rooms, and I have my Mom's 2 Premier units on my account. That's 9. One more and I've hit the limit. Although I could move my Mom's TiVos to the secondary account I have my Sister's on. I just haven't because they're lifetime and it hasn't mattered.

Edit: Crap I'm actually already at 10, before the OTA. My Wife has an old Pioneer S2 DVD unit still she uses just as a DVD player and there is a Mini on the account that I returned because it was DOA but it was never removed from the account. (I activated it before I set it up and realized it was DOA) I just requested they remove the DOA Mini from the account via chat. But once the OTA is added I will be back up to the limit again. Might need to move my Mom's Premiere units over to her own account.


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## unitron (Apr 28, 2006)

Dan203 said:


> With Minis in every room I'm almost at the limit. I have two Roamio Pros (his/hers), I just ordered an Roamio OTA (one station I can only get OTA), plus I have Minis in 4 rooms, and I have my Mom's 2 Premier units on my account. That's 9. One more and I've hit the limit. Although I could move my Mom's TiVos to the secondary account I have my Sister's on. I just haven't because they're lifetime and it hasn't mattered.
> 
> Edit: Crap I'm actually already at 10, before the OTA. My Wife has an old Pioneer S2 DVD unit still she uses just as a DVD player and there is a Mini on the account that I returned because it was DOA but it was never removed from the account. (I activated it before I set it up and realized it was DOA) I just requested they remove the DOA Mini from the account via chat. But once the OTA is added I will be back up to the limit again. Might need to move my Mom's Premiere units over to her own account.


If she doesn't need to copy shows off of the Pioneer to PC or onto the Pioneer from PC, you could go to that DVR Preferences link that mattack posted and uncheck the boxes for it, and that should free up a slot in a day or so.


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## HomeUser (Jan 12, 2003)

With the arrival of the Minis I am positive the 10 limit was removed. unitron How many TiVos do you have on you're network / account?


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## lessd (Jan 23, 2005)

HomeUser said:


> With the arrival of the Minis I am positive the 10 limit was removed. unitron How many TiVos do you have on you're network / account?


It still may be a limit of 10 for any TiVo device that can xfer, but the Mini can't xfer so they may not count toward the number: 10 units.


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

They count. But I think I remember reading that they bumped the limit ot 12 after the Mini came out. I forgot about that.


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