# Roamio Plus 6 Tuner Question



## KennethW (Dec 16, 2003)

Hi All - I am considering upgrading one tivo premiere 2 tuner to a Roamio Plus 6 tuner and replacing a Series 2 with a Tivo Mini. Hoping I can get a decent 10 year loyalty customer price on lifetime service. 

My questions are: 

Are there any known issues with 6 tuners. I had loads of problems getting all my Motorola Tuning adapter channels to come thru after adding my Moca network in my new home. The Cox Omaha tech determined that I was not getting a strong enough signal to the TA. I am concerned that if I move to a 6 tuner, I will have problems again with signal strength. Does the Tivo amplify the signal internally ? Wondering if others have had any problems with the 6 tuners. 

Next, Does the Mini perform well over a MOCA network? I wondered if there was any lag using a tuner on the Roamio for the Mini and if there was any or much of a delay. I imagine there could be some for live TV. Can anyone share their experience.

Also, Is the Roamio harddrive upgrade process pretty straightforward? I upgraded hard drives in all my previous series 1, 2 and premiere tivos. I would plan to replace the 1 TB drive in the Roamio Plus with a 4 TB drive immediately. 

I appreciate any feedback,
Thanks
Ken


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## davidg716 (Jan 20, 2015)

Do you have a moca filter before the tuning adapter? (split the signal going to the tuning adapter plug one into the tivo, and the other to the filter then into the tuning adapter) If not that would probably solve that problem. The mini works very well over moca, better than it would over ethernet as it only has a 10/100 port and it gets about 250mbps over moca. 

There is little of any delay, I am very pleased with how well the mini works.


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## joewom (Dec 10, 2013)

Hard drive has been over covered on the forums. But 3tb and under plug and play. 4tb over requires some knowledge or people like weakness or dvrdaddy too get them to work.


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## tarheelblue32 (Jan 13, 2014)

The Roamio does have an internal amp to compensate for signal loss due to having 6 tuners. Because of this, many people tend to have a problem with the signal being too strong rather than too weak, and have to add extra splitters before the Roamio to get it to behave correctly.

Upgrading the hard drive on the Roamio is super easy (up to 3TB drives). Just drop in the drive and it formats automatically.

For the tuning adapter, follow the advice above. Don't use the coax passthrough on the tuning adapter, especially if you are using a MoCA network. Use a splitter and have one coax cable go to the TA and the other to the Roamio, and use a MoCA filter in front of the TA. This is exactly what the Cox TA installation instructions recommend:

http://media.cox.com/support/print_media/tv/equipment/user_guides/cable_box/InstallingYourMotoTA.pdf


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## WO312 (Jan 24, 2003)

There is a thread to do a 4 TB drive in the Tivo Upgrade Center forum.


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## KennethW (Dec 16, 2003)

Thanks everyone, I found the 4TB drive upgrade thread.

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=517860

It looks like Telemark has made it pretty easy on all of us (I hope). I went ahead and ordered the 4 TB drive (WD40EURX) drive from Newegg.

Thanks again for all the advice and support. Wish me luck.

Thanks - Ken


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## evanborkow (Mar 17, 2008)

KennethW said:


> Thanks everyone, I found the 4TB drive upgrade thread.
> 
> http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=517860
> 
> ...


Good luck! May you live long enough to watch all that programming.


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## ej42137 (Feb 16, 2014)

evanborkow said:


> Good luck! May you live long enough to watch all that programming.


What kind of wish is that? 4 TB is 637 hours of HD programming. The average person watches 4 hours of TV a night (let's kindly ignore the fact that a TCF denizen is likely to be more enthusiastic about TV and less likely to actually have a life) so your projecting about six months of life for this chap?


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## KennethW (Dec 16, 2003)

Hi Guys - Got my Roamio, Got the drive upgraded to 4 TB and I am up and running except for a not authorized channel problem posted below. I wanted to keep these threads separate.

The reason for this reply is that I have a question on the Mini which I also purchased to replace Series 2 attached to a cox cable box. I read that the Mini will not be able to tune encrypted live TV. Does that mean? Can I watch live HD channels and HD Premium channels with the Mini? If that is the case I might just decide to keep my premiere with the $2 a month cable card charge. Although I do really hate these cable cards and tuning adapters. I have not opened the mini and plugged it in yet.

Please advise.

V58 Channel Not Authorized Issue: 
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=525245

Thanks
Ken


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## Diana Collins (Aug 21, 2002)

KennethW said:


> Hi Guys - Got my Roamio, Got the drive upgraded to 4 TB and I am up and running except for a not authorized channel problem posted below. I wanted to keep these threads separate.
> 
> The reason for this reply is that I have a question on the Mini which I also purchased to replace Series 2 attached to a cox cable box. I read that the Mini will not be able to tune encrypted live TV. Does that mean? Can I watch live HD channels and HD Premium channels with the Mini? If that is the case I might just decide to keep my premiere with the $2 a month cable card charge. Although I do really hate these cable cards and tuning adapters. I have not opened the mini and plugged it in yet.
> 
> ...


The Mini absolutely does tune any channel you can get on your Roamio...it is the *Roamio* that actually tunes the channel, not the Mini!

The person in the thread you linked can't get those channels on their Premiere DVR. That is most likely a cablecard pairing issue.


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## KennethW (Dec 16, 2003)

One more question on the Roamio networking.

I may be splitting hairs here but does anyone have a compelling reason to use one method over the other for networking the Romaio : 

1. using MOCA 
2. or Ethernet (supplied via a MOCA adapter to a Gigibit switch to Tivo)
3. or both ethernet and moca (it was an option)

I am currently using the ethernet option as that i what I had rigged up to my premiere. 

FYI - I plan to use the MOCA method to network the Mini as it only has a 10/100 fast ethernet port on it (from what I understand). MOCA in this case would be faster.

Thanks
Ken


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## Arcady (Oct 14, 2004)

KennethW said:


> I may be splitting hairs here but does anyone have a compelling reason to use one method over the other for networking the Romaio :
> 
> 1. using MOCA
> 2. or Ethernet (supplied via a MOCA adapter to a Gigibit switch to Tivo)
> 3. or both ethernet and moca (it was an option)


If available, I would use MoCA directly on the TiVo.

If you have ethernet at the location, you can use it. There is no reason to use a MoCA adapter and then plug ethernet into the TiVo if the TiVo has MoCA built-in (and most MoCA adapters have 10/100 ethernet.)

You only use MoCA + ethernet if you are using that TiVo to bridge your ethernet network to the MoCA network (instead of using a MoCA adapter.)

If you have more than one TiVo on MoCA, all the streaming traffic will be contained to the MoCA network and not eat up ethernet bandwidth for use on other devices.


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## KennethW (Dec 16, 2003)

OK - Thanks, that makes sense. I will try the MOCA connection to the Tivo. 

The reason for the MOCA adapter to ethernet gigaibit switch was to wire other ethernet enabled devices such as the smart tv , slingbox, and another basement tivo premiere directly below this one wired by ethernet fished from this cabinet to the basement.

Thanks again for the reply.


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## Arcady (Oct 14, 2004)

If you still want to use the gigabit switch, you can plug coax into the TiVo, plug the switch into the TiVo (via ethernet), and then use MoCA + ethernet to use the TiVo as a bridge. You will no longer need a MoCA adapter in that cabinet at all.


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## KennethW (Dec 16, 2003)

Arcady said:


> If you still want to use the gigabit switch, you can plug coax into the TiVo, plug the switch into the TiVo (via ethernet), and then use MoCA + ethernet to use the TiVo as a bridge. You will no longer need a MoCA adapter in that cabinet at all.


Nice - Does the mini work that way too ? If so I could get rid of my moca adapters


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## joewom (Dec 10, 2013)

KennethW said:


> Nice - Does the mini work that way too ? If so I could get rid of my moca adapters


the plus and pro or prem 4 and XL4 can only bridge moca. Not a mini.


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## Arcady (Oct 14, 2004)

joewom said:


> the plus and pro or prem 4 and XL4 can only bridge moca. Not a mini.


That's my only gripe with the Mini. I wouldn't need any MoCA adapters at all if the Mini could bridge.


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## h2oskierc (Dec 16, 2010)

The mini can use moca, though. Why do to want the mini to be the bridge?


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## Arcady (Oct 14, 2004)

h2oskierc said:


> The mini can use moca, though. Why do to want the mini to be the bridge?


In one room I have a Mini and a Blu-Ray player. If the Mini could act as a bridge, I could plug the BD player into the Mini's ethernet port and get it online without any additional parts. As it is now, I either have to split the coax and use a MoCA adapter, or put the BD player on WiFi, or run ethernet to the room.

In another room I have a Premiere Elite/XL4 and a BD player. Coax runs into the Premiere, ethernet runs from the Premiere to the BD player. Simple, fast and easy.

Hopefully the next version of the Mini will contain a bridge chip.


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## Bierboy (Jun 12, 2004)

ej42137 said:


> What kind of wish is that? 4 TB is 637 hours of HD programming. The average person watches 4 hours of TV a night (let's kindly ignore the fact that a TCF denizen is likely to be more enthusiastic about TV and less likely to actually have a life) so your projecting about six months of life for this chap?


Your math is pretty wonky. You're not taking into account the fact that he continues to record shows during that period of time. You assume he records nothing during that time until he runs out of previously recorded shows to watch.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


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## ej42137 (Feb 16, 2014)

Bierboy said:


> Your math is pretty wonky. You're not taking into account the fact that he continues to record shows during that period of time. You assume he records nothing during that time until he runs out of previously recorded shows to watch.
> 
> Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


Not recording more shows was implicit in the original post. If he continues to record, there is no logical endpoint to the watching of shows, and the size of the HD is not relevant. Since the point of the post was the size of the hard drive, it must be relevant, hence the post was describing watching TiVo full of shows.

Besides the limited lifespan posited by the proposition, it also describes a very sad and lonely existence. Not to mention the limited fare that would presumably be available due to the short recording window to fill the TiVo. In my opinion this was a cruel curse being wished upon the innocent DVR upgrader. Not to see the final season of *Justified*! To miss the next season of *Walking Dead*! Never to see any more *Game of Thrones*! This is a fate I would not wish on scandia01!


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## joewom (Dec 10, 2013)

Arcady said:


> In one room I have a Mini and a Blu-Ray player. If the Mini could act as a bridge, I could plug the BD player into the Mini's ethernet port and get it online without any additional parts. As it is now, I either have to split the coax and use a MoCA adapter, or put the BD player on WiFi, or run ethernet to the room.
> 
> In another room I have a Premiere Elite/XL4 and a BD player. Coax runs into the Premiere, ethernet runs from the Premiere to the BD player. Simple, fast and easy.
> 
> Hopefully the next version of the Mini will contain a bridge chip.


Just get a 4 port moca adapter. I have two channel master 4 port adapters for the kids for online gaming as it's better then Wireless. They are like 70 bucks worked over a year flawlessly so far. My plus is the bridge for all moca in the house.


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## Arcady (Oct 14, 2004)

joewom said:


> Just get a 4 port moca adapter. I have two channel master 4 port adapters for the kids for online gaming as it's better then Wireless. They are like 70 bucks worked over a year flawlessly so far. My plus is the bridge for all moca in the house.


A four port MoCA adapter is just a MoCA adapter with a 4-port switch in it. I have stacks of switches laying around. That isn't the point. I don't want another device sitting there on the coax, splitting the available signal. Not to mention adding power costs with more wall warts. If the next version of the Mini has MoCA bridging, I'll replace at least one of my existing units.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

Arcady said:


> A four port MoCA adapter is just a MoCA adapter with a 4-port switch in it. I have stacks of switches laying around. That isn't the point. I don't want another device sitting there on the coax, splitting the available signal. Not to mention adding power costs with more wall warts. If the next version of the Mini has MoCA bridging, I'll replace at least one of my existing units.


I never liked the Bridging with the Roamio Pro. Since the speeds were lower for my transfers than when it wasn't bridged. So I got the Actiontec MoCA adapter with a GigE port to provide connectivity to my four Minis. That way I still get the fastest transfer rates to/from my Roamio Pro.


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## joewom (Dec 10, 2013)

aaronwt said:


> I never liked the Bridging with the Roamio Pro. Since the speeds were lower for my transfers than when it wasn't bridged. So I got the Actiontec MoCA adapter with a GigE port to provide connectivity to my four Minis. That way I still get the fastest transfer rates to/from my Roamio Pro.


I don't see this. My sons computer get 95mbps down. It only has a 100mbs card. I have 150 Mbps for my internet. I also got 90mbps while two were streaming via moca with tivos Netflix. Roamio handles bridging just fine. Also that's with 3 minis streaming live tv. And one kid gaming.


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## Arcady (Oct 14, 2004)

aaronwt said:


> I never liked the Bridging with the Roamio Pro. Since the speeds were lower for my transfers than when it wasn't bridged. So I got the Actiontec MoCA adapter with a GigE port to provide connectivity to my four Minis. That way I still get the fastest transfer rates to/from my Roamio Pro.


There's a gigabit switch inside the Roamio Plus/Pro, which is connected to the ethernet port, the internal MoCA bridge, and the internal TiVo Stream. It shouldn't act any differently than an external gigabit switch.


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## Diana Collins (Aug 21, 2002)

Arcady said:


> A four port MoCA adapter is just a MoCA adapter with a 4-port switch in it. I have stacks of switches laying around. That isn't the point. I don't want another device sitting there on the coax, splitting the available signal. Not to mention adding power costs with more wall warts. If the next version of the Mini has MoCA bridging, I'll replace at least one of my existing units.


You wouldn't need to split the coax, just run it to the 4 port adapter and connect the Mini via ethernet to the adapter.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

Arcady said:


> There's a gigabit switch inside the Roamio Plus/Pro, which is connected to the ethernet port, the internal MoCA bridge, and the internal TiVo Stream. It shouldn't act any differently than an external gigabit switch.


It's been awhile since I did my testing but they were noticeably slower than the normal 170Mb/s speeds I get without using Bridging.

Besides all GigE switches are not the same. For instance My Actiontec GigE MoCA adapter. The GigE switch tops out around 600Mb/s. WHile all my Dlink GigE switches have never had any problem getting close to 950Mb/s throughput between PCs. My initial plan wwas to replace one of my Dlinks with the Actiontec. But I needed to leave the Actiontec in place so I could still get faster transfer rates between my TiVo Desktop/KMTTG/Blue Iris machine and my other PCs.


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## joewom (Dec 10, 2013)

aaronwt said:


> It's been awhile since I did my testing but they were noticeably slower than the normal 170Mb/s speeds I get without using Bridging.
> 
> Besides all GigE switches are not the same. For instance My Actiontec GigE MoCA adapter. The GigE switch tops out around 600Mb/s. WHile all my Dlink GigE switches have never had any problem getting close to 950Mb/s throughput between PCs. My initial plan wwas to replace one of my Dlinks with the Actiontec. But I needed to leave the Actiontec in place so I could still get faster transfer rates between my TiVo Desktop/KMTTG/Blue Iris machine and my other PCs.


I gave my test a few lost above. Yes it's not as fast as Ethernet complety network but that's not what you were talking about. The roamio does great bridging and as stated going on 1 year 3 months.


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## Arcady (Oct 14, 2004)

I'm using both a Roamio Pro and a Premiere Elite/XL4 as MoCA bridges, and network traffic (even going through both bridges) exceeds 800Mbps from any device on the network with a gigabit port. That's certainly enough to have four or five 100Mb devices hanging off one of them on a switch. Most of my AV gear that includes ethernet is only 10/100 anyway.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

joewom said:


> I gave my test a few lost above. Yes it's not as fast as Ethernet complety network but that's not what you were talking about. The roamio does great bridging and as stated going on 1 year 3 months.


If my transfer rates to my KMTTG PC were not slower then I wouldn't have had an issue using the Bridging feature of the Roamio Pro.


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## joewom (Dec 10, 2013)

aaronwt said:


> If my transfer rates to my KMTTG PC were not slower then I wouldn't have had an issue using the Bridging feature of the Roamio Pro.


What are you using to create MOCA. I have no issue with speed now with the plus doing it but when it reboots which is not often but when it does the kids get kicked off during a game.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

joewom said:


> What are you using to create MOCA. I have no issue with speed now with the plus doing it but when it reboots which is not often but when it does the kids get kicked off during a game.


I use the Actiontec MoCA adapter that has a built in GigE four port switch. That gets internet access to my four Minis. One of it's GigE ports is connected to a Dlink GigE switch that is also connected to other Dlink GigE switches which my Roamio Pro, Roamio Basic, Premiere, and KMTTG PC is connected to.


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## joewom (Dec 10, 2013)

aaronwt said:


> I use the Actiontec MoCA adapter that has a built in GigE four port switch. That gets internet access to my four Minis. One of it's GigE ports is connected to a Dlink GigE switch that is also connected to other Dlink GigE switches which my Roamio Pro, Roamio Basic, Premiere, and KMTTG PC is connected to.


If I by a Actiontec MOCA adapter and attach it to my router will that give MOCA to all my moca clients? Like the Roamio does now?

Or can I put it before the Roamio and attach it to the switch the Roamio is attached to?


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

joewom said:


> If I by a Actiontec MOCA adapter and attach it to my router will that give MOCA to all my moca clients? Like the Roamio does now?
> 
> Or can I put it before the Roamio and attach it to the switch the Roamio is attached to?


It shouldn't matter where it's attached as long as it's connected to you network for the Internet access and connected to the cable for MoCA access. At least this is how it worked for me.


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## Bigg (Oct 31, 2003)

davidg716 said:


> Do you have a moca filter before the tuning adapter? (split the signal going to the tuning adapter plug one into the tivo, and the other to the filter then into the tuning adapter) If not that would probably solve that problem. The mini works very well over moca, better than it would over ethernet as it only has a 10/100 port and it gets about 250mbps over moca.
> 
> There is little of any delay, I am very pleased with how well the mini works.


Bandwidth doesn't matter for the Mini- 100mbps is more than enough. Just use whatever is convenient. There is a delay when starting a show, at least with my XL4. It seems like it hangs for a few seconds, but then the show comes up and everything works fine.


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