# TiVo Bolt as Networked DVR



## jdag (Mar 14, 2006)

I have had TiVos in the past, and moved over to using a Tablo in early 2015. While Tablo does the job, the interface is brutally slow (particularly on the FireTV Stick). With the new ability to AirPlay from TiVos, is it now possible to treat the Bolt as a networked DVR? My thought...

1) Hook the TiVo up to a single TV.

2) Use AirPlay via an iPhone to play both live and recorded OTA content from the TiVo to my AppleTVs. I am only concerned with in-house use, not when I am out and about.

3) Use FireTV Stick with a native TiVo app to play via the streaming device.

4) Hope that TiVo eventually releases an app for the AppleTV 4. I assume it will happen eventually.

In effect, that is exactly how I use my Tablo now. But if the Bolt offers what I listed above, I do prefer the TiVo experience over the Tablo and would make the switch. My preferred method is to play directly on the FireTV Stick, but as mentioned, it is slow. I suspect that once Tablo releases an AppleTV app that it will be significantly improved on that platform.


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## atmuscarella (Oct 11, 2005)

If you want a whole home solution with TiVo you buy TiVo Minis. Anything else is sub-par as the TiVo has to transcode the OTA streams from MPEG 2 to MPEG 4/h.264. (which your Tablo also does and is why it is slow).


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## wmcbrine (Aug 2, 2003)

Well, it's always been possible to treat it as a networked DVR, but that assumes the use of TiVo Minis or secondary TiVos. I dunno about AirPlay or FireTV.


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## jdag (Mar 14, 2006)

I should have stated...my goal is to have a hidden box and use AppleTVs as the 1 and only connection to each TV. Tablo does that, and the video quality is adequate. The interface is what is slow. I was hoping TiVo would be an upgrade in experience.


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## atmuscarella (Oct 11, 2005)

jdag said:


> I should have stated...my goal is to have a hidden box and use AppleTVs as the 1 and only connection to each TV. Tablo does that, and the video quality is adequate. The interface is what is slow. I was hoping TiVo would be an upgrade in experience.


Even if TiVo someday provides an app for AppleTV the experience will not likely be any better than a Tablo. Transcoding on the fly slows stuff down, maybe the chips will be faster in a few generations.


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## Blakeintosh (Sep 8, 2014)

I'm curious if the experience changes with cable channels that are broadcast in MPEG4. The TiVo stores those channel recordings in their native MPEG4 format, so my assumption is that no transcoding is needed for use on mobile devices/Fire TV.


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## atmuscarella (Oct 11, 2005)

Blakeintosh said:


> I'm curious if the experience changes with cable channels that are broadcast in MPEG4. The TiVo stores those channel recordings in their native MPEG4 format, so my assumption is that no transcoding is needed for use on mobile devices/Fire TV.


Don't get me wrong using an TiVo app to watch a recorded show on a tablet/phone works fine, live TV is more difficult and channel surfing is impossible. The Bolt is fast and very responsive, using it through an app on a primary TV defeats most of it's benefits. Lots of people want what jdag wants, (to use one device for everything and never have to change HDMI inputs). The solution jdag has by using AppleTV with Tablo does that but certainly has some comprises that most of us that are DVR centric would not accept. You can do the same with a TiVo DVR and Minis, the compromise there is limited streaming apps. The best solution is still a 2 box one (3 if you still watch via blu-ray).


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## jdag (Mar 14, 2006)

atmuscarella said:


> Don't get me wrong using an TiVo app to watch a recorded show on a tablet/phone works fine, live TV is more difficult and channel surfing is impossible. The Bolt is fast and very responsive, using it through an app on a primary TV defeats most of it's benefits. Lots of people want what jdag wants, (to use one device for everything and never have to change HDMI inputs). The solution jdag has by using AppleTV with Tablo does that but certainly has some comprises that most of us that are DVR centric would not accept. You can do the same with a TiVo DVR and Minis, the compromise there is limited streaming apps. The best solution is still a 2 box one.


Thanks to all that responded. I was hoping that the TiVo solution (with my non-standard setup requirement) would be leaps and bounds better than Tablo. Again, Tablo is good (and a great concept). But the UI speed is what bugs me.

I might try a couple of different streaming boxes in place of the FireTV Stick. I would expect at least somewhat better performance from other streamers.

As mentioned, I use only AppleTVs currently on my 3 TVs (with the exception of a FireTV Stick that is used only for Tablo and only rarely). I just love my single box solution and in a perfect world...


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