# Using Stream 4K with Roamio Plus



## mkc-1 (Nov 9, 2006)

I was thinking of purchasing the Stream 4k to use with my Roamio Plus, but I'm confused about the concept. Can I still access my Roamio content, interface, and live TV? I've researched for awhile now and I can't find anything that explains how the two would interact. Can anyone explain it to me? Thanks.


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## mdavej (Aug 13, 2015)

[email protected] said:


> I was thinking of purchasing the Stream 4k to use with my Roamio Plus, but I'm confused about the concept. Can I still access my Roamio content, interface, and live TV? I've researched for awhile now and I can't find anything that explains how the two would interact. Can anyone explain it to me? Thanks.


No. They don't interact at all. It's just a generic Android TV streaming device with the Tivo name on it. This is precisely why most of us are so deeply disappointed in the Stream 4k. The new Google Chromecast is a much better device, if you like the Android TV operating system.


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## mattyro7878 (Nov 27, 2014)

Correct. They do not interact. The sad thing is it can be done. Why they did not want to create a TiVo ecosystem so that every person with a TiVo dvr would have their own highway into the streaming world. One remote, one tv input.


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## Old Roamio 0 (Jul 19, 2020)

I have an old, from several years back ancient Roamio. So I already own a tivo tivo. It has been a great machine, and much joy over the years to my family. We have programs that are on it - [green icon :save until I delete]. Since I recorded them ota and we do not live directly in town sometimes the transmission quality is low on the ota machine. I just watch it now on the stream if the show is now currently available to view.

I think with their predictive algorithms that a person's viewing habits would get reproduced rather quickly on the the ts4k or google tv anyway.

At my house the tivo Roamio is on one input and the ts4k is on another. I can search for what shows I want to see on the Roamio (I already own it so it is not a problem to look for shows with it too) and then watch them easier on the ts4k if on one of the streaming services.

People worry because the new streamers do not show suggestions, but all they have to do it look at the "My Shows" on a tivo if they own the legacy type tivo - the dvr ones too.


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## xberk (Dec 3, 2011)

>> The new Google Chromecast is a much better device, if you like the Android TV operating system.

If you like TIVO remote .. get the TS4K .. I have both, TS4K and Chromecast with Google TV .. I don't see that Chromecast is better for what I do. I subscribe to Google TV, HBO/MAX, Disney, Netflix and Prime. All work fine with TS4K. Actually like the TIVO interface better too.

I much prefer the Tivo Remote.


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## MKREdit (Jul 19, 2002)

mattyro7878 said:


> Correct. They do not interact. The sad thing is it can be done. Why they did not want to create a TiVo ecosystem so that every person with a TiVo dvr would have their own highway into the streaming world. One remote, one tv input.


Has anyone attempted to download the android Tivo app (since this is just a android TV box) from the play store to see if it can connect to a Tivo DVR? Without this functionality I don't see a reason to purchase.


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## jlanzy (Sep 17, 2007)

I have 2 roamios and a premier plus...IT SURE WOULD BE NICE IF THE 4k STREAM WOULD COMMUNICATE WITH THEM SO I COULD WATCH BOTH RECORDED PROGRAMS AND STREAMED PROGRAMS WITHOUT HAVING TO CHANGE INPUTS...hint hint TIVO. No really, I use a Roku Ultra now and do like it a lot, but would get the tivo streamer in a heartbeat if it would allow watching my recorded tivo dvr programs also. Otherwise, tivo streamer has no advantage over my Roku at least for the apps that I use...well, alright, it will sooner than later get hbo max now that Fire TV has it.


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## xberk (Dec 3, 2011)

>> WATCH BOTH RECORDED PROGRAMS AND STREAMED PROGRAMS WITHOUT HAVING TO CHANGE INPUTS.
Wouldn't that require Tivo DVR and Tivo Stream to share one input? How would that work?


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## mattyro7878 (Nov 27, 2014)

xberk said:


> >> WATCH BOTH RECORDED PROGRAMS AND STREAMED PROGRAMS WITHOUT HAVING TO CHANGE INPUTS.
> Wouldn't that require Tivo DVR and Tivo Stream to share one input? How would that work?


if you were streaming with the ts4k, you could stay on that same device and pull up your recorded shows from your various tivos if the ts4k worked with the tivo boxes...which it does not


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## jlanzy (Sep 17, 2007)

xberk said:


> >> WATCH BOTH RECORDED PROGRAMS AND STREAMED PROGRAMS WITHOUT HAVING TO CHANGE INPUTS.
> Wouldn't that require Tivo DVR and Tivo Stream to share one input? How would that work?


The dvrs see each other on the wifi network as well as Moca and lets us choose the other dvrs to see what is on them to choose and watch so I assume the the streamer would need software in its wifi to be able to 'see' the dvrs on the same network. It's just difficult to discern why tivo didn't include that ability since tivo has been a dvr since day one. They brag about how the streamer can 'aggregate' your subscribed apps ( but not your tivo recorded shows) but totally neglect the customer base that made them who are in the dvr world.


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## jlanzy (Sep 17, 2007)

jlanzy said:


> The dvrs see each other on the wifi network as well as Moca and lets us choose the other dvrs to see what is on them to choose and watch so I assume the the streamer would need software in its wifi to be able to 'see' the dvrs on the same network. It's just difficult to discern why tivo didn't include that ability since tivo has been a dvr since day one. They brag about how the streamer can 'aggregate' your subscribed apps ( but not your tivo recorded shows) but totally neglect the customer base that made them who are in the dvr world.


Oh, note to TIVO powers that be, there may some of us that have not dumped our dvrs for streaming only so please don't dump us...alright, I'm done ranting...for the moment


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## Old Roamio 0 (Jul 19, 2020)

Of course they would kill off their dvr and service fee revenue if a streamer connects to the legacy dvrs. ... Because no one with a tivo would ever buy another dvr if a $49 streamer that's henceforth free and clear of fees functioned as a dvr box replacement.!


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## jlanzy (Sep 17, 2007)

Old Roamio 0 said:


> Of course they would kill off their dvr and service fee revenue if a streamer connects to the legacy dvrs. ... Because no one with a tivo would ever buy another dvr if a $49 streamer that's henceforth free and clear of fees functioned as a dvr box replacement.!


The streamer wouldn't replace the dvr only be able to show and play whatever is on a tivo, if you have a tivo. Tivo 4K stream obviously is seeking the much much larger base of subscribers that mostly stream and don't record. You would think that Tivo would have entered the rapidly growing streamer market with a unique feature to allow 'seeing' an installed tivo programs and play them via the streamer...but, nooo, just another me too streaming product, that even some tivo-philes are favoring the google tv.


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## Old Roamio 0 (Jul 19, 2020)

Its mostly the added fee - monthy, yearly, or lifetime. A person gets a tv grid which is worth something, but not their price. None of that is paid by folks who buy a device that streams or who watch ota. Many people have multiple tivos. The reasons for doing that 20 years ago was during an era with a lot less options. Doing so today might not make as much financial sense as it once did when there are other ways to get the guides and suggestions, but in addition: plus some actual content for the money, Times change.


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## commander (May 18, 2015)

I don't own a TS4K, so I could be totally off-base on my opinion, but from what I have seen, it seems like Tivo's 4K is trying to simulate the "Homescreen" of regular tivo's. In other words. a regular tivo has your "now showing" list which is a list of recordings for of ALL your tv shows in ONE list. And as new episodes of those shows are recorded, they are added to this master list so it makes it easy to just see everything we want to watch and not cluttered with other stuff we don't.

Regular streaming devices don't really have such a "one-stop" interface - they just have a bunch of different apps and you need to go into each app to see if a particular show is available in that app. And when a show is in the app, you then have to manually go into the show's detail to see if there are any new episodes. In addition, when you run a networks streaming app, its cluttered with banners and other fluff of all the other shows of that network, just cluttering up your view.

Having a central, master list of just the shows I am interested in, and allowing me to click on an episode and watch it right away instead of having to first figure out what streaming app/network the show is on, then navigate inside that app to find the show, then play the show!

Another thing that would be cool if the TS4K doesn't already do it, is to be able to setup a "wishlist" item just like on regular tivos in which you can setup a search term and when a new movie or new tv show with that search criteria shows up on ANY streaming service, it will add a link to that show in the master "now playing" list. I don't think google tv does that.


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## Noelmel (Nov 6, 2014)

commander said:


> I don't own a TS4K, so I could be totally off-base on my opinion, but from what I have seen, it seems like Tivo's 4K is trying to simulate the "Homescreen" of regular tivo's. In other words. a regular tivo has your "now showing" list which is a list of recordings for of ALL your tv shows in ONE list. And as new episodes of those shows are recorded, they are added to this master list so it makes it easy to just see everything we want to watch and not cluttered with other stuff we don't.
> 
> Regular streaming devices don't really have such a "one-stop" interface - they just have a bunch of different apps and you need to go into each app to see if a particular show is available in that app. And when a show is in the app, you then have to manually go into the show's detail to see if there are any new episodes. In addition, when you run a networks streaming app, its cluttered with banners and other fluff of all the other shows of that network, just cluttering up your view.
> 
> ...


This is basically what I want too. I have a Roamio Pro / TIVO Stream 4K / Chomecast w Google TV / TCL Roku TV & Apple TV. I was hopeful the Stream would do this when it didn't I tried the Chromecast. Ended up going back to my Apple TV it comes the closest if they could just get a deal w Netflix to work with "Up Next" it would be PERFECT. Stream and Chromecast are at least doing lots of updates and working on them so maybe they could get there.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## jlanzy (Sep 17, 2007)

I have a Roku Ultra, and when they were dilly dallying for months on getting HBO Max I looked seriously at the Tivo 4K. I have 2 Roamio Pro and a Premier, so I love my Tivos, but when I found out that the streamer couldn't communicate with my tivo dvrs I decided to wait until Roku finally got HBO Max. I hope that Tivo wakes up and the next product they offer is a 4k streamer that communicates with our Tivo dvrs, I would say adios to my Roku then. Although I think I read that the 4K streamer on some apps didn't track what you watched already and offer the 'next episode' which would be a deal killer for me since I can never recall what my last episode watched was. The Roku does this for all apps, at least for the all the major ones that I watch.


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## Noelmel (Nov 6, 2014)

jlanzy said:


> I have a Roku Ultra, and when they were dilly dallying for months on getting HBO Max I looked seriously at the Tivo 4K. I have 2 Roamio Pro and a Premier, so I love my Tivos, but when I found out that the streamer couldn't communicate with my tivo dvrs I decided to wait until Roku finally got HBO Max. I hope that Tivo wakes up and the next product they offer is a 4k streamer that communicates with our Tivo dvrs, I would say adios to my Roku then. Although I think I read that the 4K streamer on some apps didn't track what you watched already and offer the 'next episode' which would be a deal killer for me since I can never recall what my last episode watched was. The Roku does this for all apps, at least for the all the major ones that I watch.


The Tivo stream 4k doesn't track ANY episodes or seasons. You just select shows you like and they are in "my shows" but it's just a shortcut to click to open in their individual apps. I'm sure they are working on this or it's coming hopefully. I have suggested it to them in surveys many times. The new Google TV Chromecast is supposed to do this even with Netflix and I could never get it to work and then it was hit or miss for diff people on diff apps then I believe there was some disagreement and Netflix stopped participating. If I had an android phone and could download the Google tv app it probably would be easier and it hasn't been released for iPhone yet so you rely on the device or inside chrome to build your watchlist. I haven't used the device in a few months there could be updates since then fixing those issues. All I want is similar to Hulu / Apple TV ALL shows in one row I watch. New episodes come to front of list when they air. When you are caught up they go to the end of the list of the list. If tivo could get it to work along with connecting dvr shows that would be the best!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## jlanzy (Sep 17, 2007)

Holy moly, 4K streamer doesn't track any watched programs!! Maybe many folks have better memories than I do of where they left off watching a series but I rarely can so having to figure out each time I watch something of where I left off would be painful and frustrating. I'm surprised to hear that even the new Google TV streamer is still struggling with this. I guess there is a reason why Roku is as popular as it is...of course during its many months lack of HBO Max many owners were coming up the mountainside with the torches...all the while Tivo 4K streamer had HBO Max.


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## josequinones (Aug 19, 2010)

xberk said:


> >> WATCH BOTH RECORDED PROGRAMS AND STREAMED PROGRAMS WITHOUT HAVING TO CHANGE INPUTS.
> Wouldn't that require Tivo DVR and Tivo Stream to share one input? How would that work?


A Tablo network OTA DVR and a Tivo TS4K would let you do that. I believe there are other options (HDhomerun+Channels), that can handle cable TV, etc. Just not Tivo + Tivo, for whatever reason.


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