# Roamio OTA Deals



## mobouser (Sep 14, 2005)

Looking to replace my 2 tuner 2TB Premiere with the Roamio 1TB OTA. Prices are about $350 with lifetime right now. Which seems like a pretty good deal. We use the Premiere for OTA only and get station fade at times due to the weak tuner issues of the unit. Should I hold off on this purchase for better summer deals cause this seems like a pretty good deal right now. Thanks for any replies


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## sfhub (Jan 6, 2007)

The lowest price I've seen for Roamio 1TB OTA is around $280 for just one day. It has been around $310 a couple of days, $315 for around a week, but most of the time it bounces between $349 and $399.

The best deals I've seen were for the refurb Roamio 500GB OTAs back in CyberMonday period (direct from TiVo). They were $199 for a lifetime unit. They had another sale for the Roamio 500GB refurb (also direct from TiVo) around the time of the lifetime transfer offer from S2/S3 for $249. Haven't seen any sales since then.

If you are going to upgrade the drive anyway, the 500GB refurb would be a better deal, but who knows if you will see sales on those agin.

If the 1TB fits your needs, just get it. $349 is an ok price, not the best, not the worst. If you consider not needing to upgrade the drive because 1TB is good enough for you, that saves you another $90 (since you won't be purchasing a drive to replace the 1TB). If you have time to wait and think $40 is worth waiting for, it will probably get down to $310 sometime in the next 6mo.

Just my opinion. Other folks may feel differently.


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## Richard C (May 21, 2017)

I just purchased a Roamio OTA 1TB at Best Buy a couple of weeks ago for $399. It dropped to $349 the next day. I called and they refunded the difference back to my card. If you buy from Best Buy and the price drops, you can get the difference back as long as you are in the product return window.


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## mobouser (Sep 14, 2005)

Thanks again I got mine from Amazon. The warranty is a little cheaper just got the two year for 12 dollars. If I had thought about Best Buy might of considered that's a good deal about price matching. You cant get that with Amazon but they are good with returns. I'm hooking this up to an old radio shack amplified attic antenna in the same spot as my 2 tuner Premiere, which I will keep as a backup. I will post here how the Roamio compares to my Premiere hooked up OTA on Friday, some stations pixelated on the Premiere. I'm in Colonie NY, a good location, and should get a lot of stations.


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## elorimer (Jan 1, 2012)

Many credit cards have price protection as well.


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## mobouser (Sep 14, 2005)

Ive had the Roamio OTA over a week now and as noted elsewhere there's not a lot of hardware to it, its a small package . Four tuners, cpu, and a hard drive along with the software and that's about it. The four tuners do a good job pulling in my OTA channels stronger than my 2 tuner Premiere did. I'm not getting any picture breakup and the unit I think responds quicker than even my Roamio Pro which is a couple of years old now. The only negative of course is the price if TIVO can ever get the cost down they would score a home run with this unit for the cord cutters out there.


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## Gold51 (Apr 20, 2017)

I am getting a replacement Roamio from Tivo to swap out a Series 4 with flaky tuners. My other Premiere seems to do Ok - I do OTA only. My wife will be happy to get a DVR that doesn't cut out and ruin her shows on a regular basis. I am on the $6.95/mo plan on that box and the lady in the PI, assured me the replacement Roamio will be on the same plan. I am assuming it's a refurb box. Two weeks ago when I first called about my problems, they authorized a replacement Premiere, but this time all they had was a Roamio. Perhaps the shelves are empty of Series 4 units to swap out.


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## atmuscarella (Oct 11, 2005)

Gold51 said:


> I am getting a replacement Roamio from Tivo to swap out a Series 4 with flaky tuners. My other Premiere seems to do Ok - I do OTA only. My wife will be happy to get a DVR that doesn't cut out and ruin her shows on a regular basis. I am on the $6.95/mo plan on that box and the lady in the PI, assured me the replacement Roamio will be on the same plan. I am assuming it's a refurb box. Two weeks ago when I first called about my problems, they authorized a replacement Premiere, but this time all they had was a Roamio. Perhaps the shelves are empty of Series 4 units to swap out.


Good move it is a nice step up from a Premiere to a Roamio OTA. Most people find the Roamio OTA gets better reception than the Premiere plus it is just works better. They still sell the Roamio OTA new so I am sure they have plenty of those units.


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## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

FYI... 


scandia101 said:


> The Roamio OTA is currently at $307.94 on amazon


Amazon.com: TiVo Roamio OTA 1 TB DVR - With No Monthly Service Fees - Digital Video Recorder and Streaming Media Player - Compatible only with HDTV Antennas (does not work with cable): Electronics


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## johnfasc (Dec 24, 2014)

krkaufman said:


> FYI...
> 
> Amazon.com: TiVo Roamio OTA 1 TB DVR - With No Monthly Service Fees - Digital Video Recorder and Streaming Media Player - Compatible only with HDTV Antennas (does not work with cable): Electronics


I just seen that price point on Amazon today. Wondering if ANYTHING is different than if I purchased through Tivo? Besides the price of course. 
Also, my service runs till October, my third full year, so I could buy this one and I am wondering if they would refund any sevice fee money (three months remaining) So I could start the no fee service right away? I really do not need two tivo's running at once.


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## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

johnfasc said:


> I just seen that price point on Amazon today. Wondering if ANYTHING is different than if I purchased through Tivo?


No difference at all, aside from the device being automatically registered to your TiVo account and activated if purchased from TiVo directly. You can buy an extended warranty for a unit purchased retail within the initial 90 day warranty window, I believe.


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## Gold51 (Apr 20, 2017)

We like the Roamio a lot more than the Premiere for OTA- so much so, that I just sold my other Premiere. Tivo did me a favor and swapped out my Premiere on lifetime for a Roamio refurb on lifetime for $79.95. They made the old, working fine, Premiere lifetime box, my $6.95/mo box and then dropped my bad box off my account. ( the RMA said don't return the bad Series 4 to Tivo- recycle) Next, I am going to buy a Mini so I can use the all Roamio features in the man-cave on my 55" TCL Roku 4K HDR TV.
Lessons learned on buying used--- expenses on Ebay in April- one Premiere eligible ( w/ weak OTA tuners, I found out) for $6.95 plan= $30
( now a parts donor)
One Premiere eligible for Lifetime, $75 + $100 for Lifetime = $175
Tivo box swap - for refurb Roamio- $80 = *$285 spent on two Tivos *
sold my good Premiere on $6.95 plan for- $115 = $175 for one Roamio on Lifetime
-purchasing a refub Tivo Mini $99.99 (Summer sale today)+ $175 = *total $275 for Tivo in 2 rooms*- Lifetime, no monthly payments.
The aggravation of making 10 calls to Tivo in the Philippines to get the Lifetime and $6.95 plan started and the bad Premiere swapped out for a refurb , put on hold for 15 minutes at a time was aggravation I don't wish on anyone.
Based on my experience, I *won't buy used Tivos again.*
My Roamio could be used on Cable, but I don't see me ever going back to Comcast.


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## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

Gold51 said:


> Next, I am going to buy a Mini


FYI... TiVo Summer Sale addition: TiVo-renewed Mini for $99.99


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## Gold51 (Apr 20, 2017)

krkaufman said:


> FYI... TiVo Summer Sale addition: TiVo-renewed Mini for $99.99


Thank you for the heads up


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## Millionaire2K (Jun 16, 2008)

Roamio OTA 48-hour Flash Sale, only $299.99 

TiVo DVR Summer Meltdown Sale 2017 - Buy Now and Save.


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## MikeekiM (Jun 25, 2002)

Millionaire2K said:


> Roamio OTA 48-hour Flash Sale, only $299.99
> 
> TiVo DVR Summer Meltdown Sale 2017 - Buy Now and Save.


Interesting... It says that you can stream to a tablet or smartphone. Doesn't TiVo Roamio OTA require the TiVo Stream box to enable this? Or am I mistaken?


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## lpwcomp (May 6, 2002)

MikeekiM said:


> Interesting... It says that you can stream to a tablet or smartphone. Doesn't TiVo Roamio OTA require the TiVo Stream box to enable this? Or am I mistaken?


It doesn't say that for the Roamio OTA, only for the Plus and the Bolts.

Edit: My mistake, it does make that claim and it is indeed a false one.


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## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

MikeekiM said:


> Interesting... It says that you can stream to a tablet or smartphone. Doesn't TiVo Roamio OTA require the TiVo Stream box to enable this? Or am I mistaken?


Yep, and though they've footnoted the claim (#4), the footnote fails to mention that the Roamio OTA would require the assistance of a Stream module, standalone or within a Roamio Plus|Pro, to enable the mobile streaming functionality.

Curiously, reviewing footnote #4, they seem to be understating the number of out-of-home streams possible, amiright (at least for the Stream and Roamio Plus or Pro)?

_4 Compatible tablets and mobile devices consist solely of an iPad®, iPhone® or iPod touch® device running iOS 7.0 or later, or an Android™ mobile device running 4.1 or above with a non-Intel or AMD chipset (sold separately). Not all recorded content can be streamed or downloaded to a laptop, tablet or mobile device (due to copy protection assigned by content provider and/or other technical limitations). Some recorded content can only be streamed/downloaded to your laptop, tablet or mobile device while you are on the same network as your TiVo BOLT or Roamio. Out-of-home streaming (a) will support streaming to only one of your devices at a time and (b) may not be available for all recorded content._​
edit: Error communicated to @Ira Bahr via Twitter DM; he was pretty quick with the Mini correction, yesterday. edit2: Ira's acknowledged the error, but still not remedied.


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## MikeekiM (Jun 25, 2002)

Interesting... I was looking back at my receipts the other day and discovered that the Roamio OTA box that I bought during the big winter shows up as a 1TB Roamio OTA, but I know that the box I received is a 500GB OTA... I only show 75 hour HD capacity (which is 500GB, right)?


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

MikeekiM said:


> Interesting... I was looking back at my receipts the other day and discovered that the Roamio OTA box that I bought during the big winter shows up as a 1TB Roamio OTA, but I know that the box I received is a 500GB OTA... I only show 75 hour HD capacity (which is 500GB, right)?


Right. 1TB is 155 HD hours.


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## lpwcomp (May 6, 2002)

krkaufman said:


> Yep, and though they've footnoted the claim (#4), the footnote fails to mention that the Roamio OTA would require the assistance of a Stream module, standalone or within a Roamio Plus|Pro, to enable the mobile streaming functionality.
> 
> Curiously, reviewing footnote #4, they seem to be understating the number of out-of-home streams possible, amiright (at least for the Stream and Roamio Plus or Pro)?
> 
> ...


I reported the "error" about stream capability and received the following response:


> Thank you for contacting TiVo Customer Support in regards with the Roamio OTA information on TiVo's Summer Meltdown Sale website.
> 
> The streaming capability of this device is correct, you can access your recording or stream through the TiVo App however, it needs a TiVo Stream since Roamio OTA does not have a built-in Stream. Unlike the TiVo devices that has built-in Stream (e.g. Bolt+, Bolt, Roamio Pro and Roamio Plus) that can let you do streaming through the app right away. With the presence of TiVo Stream, Roamio OTA will also have the same capability.
> 
> ...


I guess they never heard of the concept of "lying by omission".


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