# Tivo Stream just a gimmick



## flashedbios (Dec 7, 2012)

Why do we need to pay $130 to stream our shows? Is this just another money making gimmick like the "Home Media Option" for $99? in other words, why do we need to purchase what in essence is an overpriced "dongle" that tells the Tivo its okay to stream its shows? Why couldn't they just enable this feature in a software update like they did with the roamio plus? Its because they like to nickel and dime you to death. "Oh, you need to buy a 'license' to use this feature," and "You need to subscribe to the 'service' for your DVR to work." Believe me people, as much as I LOVE the TiVo interface, Im not stupid. The hardware is capible of doing this all on its own. Today, its a hardware dongle to "enable streaming" But tomorrow, its going to be something else. Maybe they will take away outputs for normal TV's, leaving only HDMI for the rich people and make us normal folks buy "adapters" to hook up the new units. So once again, anybody at TiVo wanna share what the scheme is this time?


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## moyekj (Jan 24, 2006)

It's not just a software update that's needed. It requires actual hardware to do on the fly transcoding to H.264 (with capability to do several at a time) that the Roamio Pro and Plus models have built in. Roamio basic and series 4 and earlier units don't have the hardware to be able to do it.


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## dianebrat (Jul 6, 2002)

flashedbios said:


> *So once again, anybody at TiVo wanna share what the scheme is this time?*


The desire to be profitable...


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## tre74 (Nov 12, 2010)

"Believe me people, as much as I LOVE the TiVo interface, Im not stupid."

"Maybe they will take away outputs for normal TV's, leaving only HDMI for the rich people and make us normal folks buy "adapters" to hook up the new units."

You simply cannot expect us to believe the first sentence when including the second one in your rant.


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## jrtroo (Feb 4, 2008)

Your rant is unclear, and in error.

But, for giggles, which hardware are you claiming is able to handle ios streaming with a software update? The Premiere line? The base Roamio? Something even older?


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

I thought I read even a high end PC would have difficulty doing this? The chips in the stream are capable of doing four streams in faster than realtime. There is no way it would be possible for a TiVo to do this in software. Well maybe if it had several weeks or months.


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

You have a fundamental misunderstanding how this actually works. Most TV in the US is broadcast in a format called MPEG-2. iPads, and most mobile devices, have special decoder chips that only support a format called H.264. So for TiVo to stream a show to an iPad it first has to be converted from MPEG-2 to H.264. This process requires a LOT of horsepower. A TiVo does not have enough horsepower to do this in software. So to accomplish this they built a box with a special transcoder chip that can not only convert one show faster then realtime, but can actually do 4 simultaneously. That's where the money is going. To that chip and the software inside that little box required to use that chip to pull a show from your TiVo in MPEG-2 format, convert it to H.264, then stream that to your iPad all in realtime. Is it a little overpriced? Maybe. But nothing about TiVo has ever been cheap.


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## NotVeryWitty (Oct 3, 2003)

flashedbios said:


> Believe me people, as much as I LOVE the TiVo interface, Im not stupid. The hardware is capible of doing this all on its own.


Both sentences are wrong.


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## Austin Bike (Feb 9, 2003)

I had also heard that Tivo stream has the ability to run your car on water but that Tivo was leaned on by detroit not to let that technology out...

Clearly this poster does not understand the hardware component involved.

And, Tivo trying to be profitable? Well, as we all rely on their technology, profit is a good thing. Having them be unprofitable would not be helpful.


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## TexasGrillChef (Sep 15, 2006)

It's the AMERICAN way!!!! (Makeing a a profit) Otherwise you can go socialist in North Korea! See what TiVo features you can get there!


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## NashvilleKat (Dec 25, 2013)

Them bastards!


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## gamo62 (Oct 12, 2002)

moyekj said:


> It's not just a software update that's needed. It requires actual hardware to do on the fly transcoding to H.264 (with capability to do several at a time) that the Roamio Pro and Plus models have built in. Roamio basic and series 4 and earlier units don't have the hardware to be able to do it.


If it's converted to H.264, why won't it play content that is ALREADY H.264?


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## gamo62 (Oct 12, 2002)

Dan203 said:


> You have a fundamental misunderstanding how this actually works. Most TV in the US is broadcast in a format called MPEG-2. iPads, and most mobile devices, have special decoder chips that only support a format called H.264. So for TiVo to stream a show to an iPad it first has to be converted from MPEG-2 to H.264. This process requires a LOT of horsepower. A TiVo does not have enough horsepower to do this in software. So to accomplish this they built a box with a special transcoder chip that can not only convert one show faster then realtime, but can actually do 4 simultaneously. That's where the money is going. To that chip and the software inside that little box required to use that chip to pull a show from your TiVo in MPEG-2 format, convert it to H.264, then stream that to your iPad all in realtime. Is it a little overpriced? Maybe. But nothing about TiVo has ever been cheap.


That doesn't explain why I cannot view content that is ALREADY H.264?


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

Not all h.264 is the same. iOS devices have very strict rules about what resolution, bitrate, profile/level, etc... they will play. So even an H.264 source would need to be recoded to insure that it would play properly. As to why TiVo hasn't enabled that ability... I have no idea. As far as I can tell the chip they're using supports H.264 transcoding so I don't think it's a hardware problem. Maybe it's just low priority because so few H.264 channels actually exist in the wild.


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## moyekj (Jan 24, 2006)

Not mention audio restrictions for iOS playback as well - audio needs to be transcoded from AC3 to 2 channel AAC for playback on iOS devices.


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## BigJimOutlaw (Mar 21, 2004)

Pretty sure streaming h.264 recordings is on the map, but who knows when.

See: every Android complaint for 1.5 years.


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## Austin Bike (Feb 9, 2003)

Last night I couldn't sleep. My choice was 50 channels in swedish or streaming things from home.

I'll gladly take my gimmick.


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## Scottie99 (Sep 24, 2008)

TiVo Stream having a straight up price and no monthly service fee made it completely worth it.

We are a three person one TV household - TiVo stream was just the option I needed to now have a TV and 3 additional devices as viewing options at home.


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## tamooreindy (Aug 16, 2007)

I wouldn't pay the money to buy the streaming hardware. I'm not able to stream any shows out of home. All the shows say, "Copyright holder doesn't allow streaming". Save your money. Put it toward buying content you can actually watch when away from home.


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## tamooreindy (Aug 16, 2007)

I'm curious how much time you've spent in North Korea.


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## horseplay (Jun 12, 2008)

In communist North Korea, h.264 encodes you.


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