# Tivo Stream is relatively noisy



## cwiesner

Just as a warning, if you are sensitive to fan noise you may have issues with the Stream. I can hear it from across the room both when it's active (higher fan noise) and even when it's quieter. 

While it's not loud, it's easily the noisiest component near my TV -- louder than the Elite, Cisco tuning adapter, Airport Express router, etc.

I might think about either returning it or leaving it unplugged except when I need it (not ideal).


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## subVert

I put my stream off of a switch my my network in the basement so I didn't even realize that it made any noise. I haven't physically seen it since I plugged it in. After reading your post I had to go down and visit the little guy. It certainly is noisy.


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## jfh3

My first one was noisy. The replacement is much quieter. But it will soon go downstairs so the noise won't matter. A pretty powerful chip inside the box, so I'm glad there is a fan and not just a heat sink.


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## dsnotgood

Can you move your router or just get a long Ethernet cable and put it somewhere else, like in the next room or something.


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## Dan203

Mine is loud too. But only sometimes, and mot just when I'm using it. I have mine in my office next to my main PC. Sometimes it's quite, pther times it's whining like a bad GPU fan. I hope the fan isn't dying. Or if it is I hope it dies soon so it's covered under warranty. 

Dan


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## cwiesner

Can't move my Stream easily (in a corner of a house built on a slab foundation).

Honestly was just a constructive complaint and a caution to buyers -- I wish Tivo had engineered the box a little better to be quieter. Sure, it's transcoding, but my Elite is recording on 4 channels and is still as quiet as can be. I'm typing this on my MacBook with no audible fan. Quiet can be done.


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## modnar

Interesting. Perhaps just a more robust material in the housing could quiet it down. Maybe they imagined most of these would be in a closet or office.


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## aaronwt

modnar said:


> Interesting. Perhaps just a more robust material in the housing could quiet it down. Maybe they imagined most of these would be in a closet or office.


I wasn't planning to put mine in a closet/cabinet when I get it. But now after hearing about the noise and temps, I'll either put it next to my AP or router. They both have a small whisper quiet fan blowing air on them so that should help with the heat from the stream as well.


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## smbaker

You could always put duct tape over the vent holes in the case. That ought to quiet it. 

(no, don't do that)


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## Brad Bishop

Something I do: Get some folding cooling racks (like for cookies) and stack them up so that your Tuning Adapter, SlingBox, and TiVo Stream all have plenty of breathing room.


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## dwblessed

Can this airplane motor be put in a cabinet and still transmit to another room? I was planning on taking it back.


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## aaronwt

You only need an ethernet connection to your LAN. You can put it anywhere as long as it's connected to your LAN.

Sent from my HTC ReZound using Forum Runner


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## wrecklass

Really interesting. I wasn't even aware the Stream made any noise until I read this thread. I went over and picked it up and noticed it right next to my ear. And despite my age I hear fine. 

In the same room with the TiVo I didn't hear it at all over the noise the TiVo 4XL makes. That is quiet enough it doesn't tend to bother me at all.

I wonder if I got lucky and got a very quiet Stream, or if others got very noisy ones compared to mine.


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## Dan203

The noise mine makes seems to come and go. It doesn't seem to correlate to when it's being used, so I don't think it's just ramping up due to heat. Although maybe it is heat and it just doesn't do a good job or normalizing the heat so the fan kicks on/off over the course of a day. Mine is sitting on my desk where I work*, about 4' from my head and about eye level, so it may be in an optimal position for me to hear it.

Dan

* Only place I had an open port on my network without rearranging things.


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## robpgreer

I agree completely. The fan noise is unacceptable. I had to hang the device off a switch in my garage. If I didn't have such an option, I would have probably returned it--it's that loud.


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## SMWinnie

Has anyone cracked the case open to see whether there's a good, likely aftermarket cooling option?

My family has been enjoying the Stream but had to move it to a location where the whine is a little annoying.


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## BigJimOutlaw

If anyone's willing to hax0r it, I think the screws to open it are hidden under the rubber feet.


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## steve614

Be advised that opening any TiVo product will void the warranty.


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## button1066

The only problem I have with the fan is that it doesn't seem to do a complete job of cooling unless you stand up the Stream on one of it's edges to get better air flow. Normally it's not an issue but if you like to have it streaming out live TV for extended periods (sports games on iPad as a second screen for instance) it will overheat. At least mine did till I put it on its side.


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## habibrobert

I dont suppose you can stream live tv on this?


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## DaveWhittle

habibrobert said:


> I dont suppose you can stream live tv on this?


You can stream live TV if there's a tuner that's not recording anything.

Although technically it's not "live", it's a buffered recording, but from the iOS end it acts like live TV.


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## Davisadm

dwblessed said:


> Can this airplane motor be put in a cabinet and still transmit to another room? I was planning on taking it back.


The stream DOES NOT do any wireless transmitting from the unit itself. It utilizes your existing wireless set-up (WAP).


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## ducker

hm, mine is in my office and I don't notice any sound coming from it.
If I'm downloading a show - and touch it it is warm to the touch, but other than that it's quiet.


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## Dan203

Mine has a whine when the fan is spinning, but the fan doesn't necessarily coincide with when it's working either. It just randomly fires up several times a day even when I'm not using it.

Dan


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## OC7

ducker said:


> hm, mine is in my office and I don't notice any sound coming from it.
> If I'm downloading a show - and touch it it is warm to the touch, but other than that it's quiet.


Same for me. Mine's in my office and I don't hear it at all, but it does get a little warm to the touch.


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## Fist of Death

When setting mine up in my home office, I was surprised by how much fan noise this little thing made. Now that it's configured and living in my network equipment closet, I don't care. I would NOT put this thing in a media room or anywhere I wanted quiet.


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## bananagrabbers

Count me among the stunned regarding how much noise this box produces. It's also warm to the touch at all times.

I'd simply like to know why. I just installed it, and transferred one show (last night) and yet it still sounds and feels like it's doing a ton of work.

I have it in my office, so I don't mind the light noise, but I do worry about how long this unit will possibly last. Sounds like an eight-year-old laptop.


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## compnurd

Mine is in my living room right near where i sit and I dont hear it at all


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## metivo

I noticed my Stream being very noisy as soon as I powered it up a few weeks ago, and the whining noise is there whether I'm streaming or not. Noise Patrol on my iPhone 4S reports the noise at 23 dB with the iPhone microphone about .5 cm from the right side of the Stream (with both flat on a desk).

I complained to TiVo, and they sent me a replacement Stream, which I got today. It is perhaps 1dB quieter, but that difference is in the margin of error (or should I say, in the noise...). Both the original and replacement are noticeably noisy.

In addition to the fan noise, the box is resonating, acting to amplify the sound a bit, which of course makes it worse. It is sometimes less amplified while I'm holding it, though the fan is just as loud then. So this seems like an acoustic design error plus a slightly noisy fan.

Standing it on an edge doesn't affect the loudness.

Because of the noise, I first moved it out of my office into the TV room, but it was too noisy in there too. So I moved it into an unoccupied room that has a network connection. Anytime I walk in there I immediately notice the annoying whine.

I was really hoping the replacement Stream would not have the noise issue, but I see here that most Streams have this problem. A poor design.

The manufacturing dates on my two unit are something like Oct 8, 2012 (original one) and Oct 25, 2012 (replacement).

If anyone has what they think is a very quiet Stream, please post the manufacturing date from the bottom of the unit. Thanks.


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## compnurd

Mine is from 10/12 and I dont hear it at all


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## mattack

Mine's in my bedroom, and I hear my Tivos, but don't hear the stream at all.. and when I first read this thread, I listened to my friend's Stream up close and though -- wow that's loud.. but in real situations, I don't hear it.


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## MacBrian

Mine's in my laundry room with the Ethernet equipment so the noise isn't a distraction in my case, but yeah it would be annoying anywhere else!

Wish they'd have worked harder on a fan-less solution. In my case I'm not as worried about noise as I am the damage that will happen to the Streams that are tucked away out of sight that will clog up with lint and then overheat and fail. Anything that's moving that much air through it for cooling through little tiny holes is bound to collect enough lint to eventually plug up and fail......and because they're noisy, many will get tucked away and hidden in places where a lint build-up won't be observed and brushed away....


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## metivo

If you're worried about *lint* clogging up Streams, isn't the laundry room the wrong place to put one? Or perhaps you simply plan to inspect it frequently for lint from the dryer. Admittedly the laundry room is probably a good place for masking the noise from a Stream.

Do other people have Streams that *don't* seem to be making noise??


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## ort

My stream is also loud as heck. Way way too loud. Sounds like something is wrong with it.

It makes it hard to hear the TV. It's incredibly annoying.

It's also totally random. It will be 100% quiet for days and then the fans spin up and it fills the whole room with an annoying whiny rattle of cheap electronics fan. And what's weird is that the fans spin up at completely random times. It will be silent for a week and then suddenly, for no reason whatsoever, spin up. Why if I haven't streamed anything in 2 days is it fairly warm to the touch and sounds like a toy car or something? Ridiculous.


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## bradleys

Why do you have it next to the TV? Is your router located in that location as well?

If you have your router in an out of the way place, just put the Stream next to with with a short little pigtail connector.


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## ort

It makes sense to have the router by the TV. Then you can hardwire all of your internet connected TV stuff right into it.

That said, this is a semi-temporary TV setup. We've moved recently and I have yet to setup my real media center room.

Plus, I'm going to get a Romeo at some point, and this little loud thing will go away.


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## Dan203

ort said:


> My stream is also loud as heck. Way way too loud. Sounds like something is wrong with it.
> 
> It makes it hard to hear the TV. It's incredibly annoying.
> 
> It's also totally random. It will be 100% quiet for days and then the fans spin up and it fills the whole room with an annoying whiny rattle of cheap electronics fan. And what's weird is that the fans spin up at completely random times. It will be silent for a week and then suddenly, for no reason whatsoever, spin up. Why if I haven't streamed anything in 2 days is it fairly warm to the touch and sounds like a toy car or something? Ridiculous.


Mine spins up randomly too, and it's loud, but it's not that loud. It's loud enough to hear in a quite room, but a TV a normal volume would easily drown it out. Sounds like something is wrong with the fan in yours. You may want to consider exchanging it if you still can as that could be a sign of imminent failure.


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