# Should I Buy a Base Roamio?



## andrews777 (Aug 23, 2007)

I have had 3 Tivo HDs, 1 Premiere and now a Roamio Pro and 4 Minis. I have moved from a Fios location to one that only has AT&T Uverse servicing the area. (Comcast stops a street or two away, grrrr.)

My wife and I were looking at switching to no cable to see how it would work, but I am considering buying a base Roamio and upgrading it with a 3TB hard drive to get more storage space. I would keep the Pro around for now to see if we can talk Charter into running a few streets over (if enough neighbors express interest).

I have been less than impressed with my 48MB Uverse (max available) experience so far. I was doing some classwork and couldn't even keep an audio stream going on my Sonos speakers. That makes me wonder if I will ever be able to get decent download speeds for other media sources.

Should I spring for a base Roamio (about $150 at Amazon, including tax) with lifetime? I would even consider an OTA, but I will not pay monthly fees.

Any thoughts on the value of this approach or should I just live with what I have and even consider rolling off Tivo?


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

andrews777 said:


> I have had 3 Tivo HDs, 1 Premiere and now a Roamio Pro and 4 Minis. I have moved from a Fios location to one that only has AT&T Uverse servicing the area. (Comcast stops a street or two away, grrrr.)
> 
> My wife and I were looking at switching to no cable to see how it would work, but I am considering buying a base Roamio and upgrading it with a 3TB hard drive to get more storage space. I would keep the Pro around for now to see if we can talk Charter into running a few streets over (if enough neighbors express interest).
> 
> ...


Perhaps it's something else? I have 15Mbps and can watch Amazon trailers in HD (1080/p24) without any problems. My base Roamio is wireless also. From the Roamio to my PC, using Desktop, my transfer rate is about 95Mbps. The PC is also wireless. The router is on a different floor.

But it would seem an upgraded base Roamio with OTA would be your best selection.


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## andrews777 (Aug 23, 2007)

JoeKustra said:


> Perhaps it's something else? I have 15Mbps and can watch Amazon trailers in HD (1080/p24) without any problems. My base Roamio is wireless also. From the Roamio to my PC, using Desktop, my transfer rate is about 95Mbps. The PC is also wireless. The router is on a different floor.
> 
> But it would seem an upgraded base Roamio with OTA would be your best selection.


Possibly, but is it really worth the $550 or so that will cost me? I am looking for people's opinions here.

It is quite possible my ATT problems are due to an overloaded network, though a test at the time showed 48MB down, so they may be shaping the traffic or something annoying like that.

I would love Sling TV, as it has the two channels my wife wants: HGTV and Food Netowrk, but that has no DVR capability. Too bad the Roamio won't record that.


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## Mikeguy (Jul 28, 2005)

andrews777 said:


> Should I spring for a base Roamio (about $150 at Amazon, including tax) with lifetime? I would even consider an OTA, but I will not pay monthly fees.


Note that if going this route, you'll want the regular Roamio and not the Roamio OTA, as TiVo doesn't offer lifetime with the Roamio OTA.


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## BigJimOutlaw (Mar 21, 2004)

You didn't mention if you knew already, but first thing to do is find out what kind of OTA experience you can get at your address. (antennaweb.org is useful for that.) From there it's a judgement call if it's worth the expense.

A base Roamio can be had for $450 with spherular's ebay code (give him a reasonable offer).


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## andrews777 (Aug 23, 2007)

BigJimOutlaw said:


> You didn't mention if you knew already, but first thing to do is find out what kind of OTA experience you can get at your address. (antennaweb.org is useful for that.) From there it's a judgement call if it's worth the expense.
> 
> A base Roamio can be had for $450 with spherular's ebay code (give him a reasonable offer).


OTA looks reasonable and I already ordered the 60 mile Amazon Basics antenna. (It will hook to the TV if I don't get a Roamio with OTA capabilities.)

How do I find spherular? The link just goes to the base site. It is also not worth much more if it is above the $450 amount as I can get one from Amazon for $139+12 tax and $399 for lifetime. Not much room there in the price difference, though I am not sure what "reasonable" would be.

I suppose I could run with that unit at first, though I suspect I would just go ahead and drop a bigger hard drive in it from the start.


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## Mikeguy (Jul 28, 2005)

andrews777 said:


> How do I find spherular? The link just goes to the base site. It is also not worth much more if it is above the $450 amount as I can get one from Amazon for $139+12 tax and $399 for lifetime. Not much room there in the price difference, though I am not sure what "reasonable" would be.


And so you come out ahead through spherular rather than through Amazon, right?

You can search his user name or search for "TiVo buying service" at eBay. Or simply go here.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/TiVo-Promo-...169?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item33966cf541


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## saronian (Aug 22, 2004)

I'm using a base Roamio with antenna and the quality is outstanding. Upgrading to 3TB makes it a cord-cutters delight.

The only thing I miss if faster Ethernet, the 10Mb restriction is a disappointing one. If you aren't transferring recordings to/from TiVo then it makes no difference.

Get one, it's very satisfying and the image quality of OTA can't be beat.


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

saronian said:


> I'm using a base Roamio with antenna and the quality is outstanding. Upgrading to 3TB makes it a cord-cutters delight.
> 
> The only thing I miss if faster Ethernet, the *10Mb restriction *is a disappointing one. If you aren't transferring recordings to/from TiVo then it makes no difference.
> 
> Get one, it's very satisfying and the image quality of OTA can't be beat.


I can transfer at 99+ Mbps between a Roamio and Premiere. That is a restriction. By now TiVo should have added 1Gbps ports.


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## andrews777 (Aug 23, 2007)

I was calling Tivo after transferring one of my older Tivo HDs to someone else. They said to call for current deals.

I haven't been around long enough for the 10 year deal, but the agent did point out that Amazon was giving a $100 discount for those buying a Roamio to replace a Series 3 (which covers the Tivo HD) box. I never got the mail and Amazon validated that I had not after some hoops. I ended up getting the current base Roamio for about $48 after the credit. I am dropping the 3 TB hard drive in it and will add the $399 lifetime when it gets here and I hook it up. Not a bad deal.

We will keep the Roamio Pro for now, at least until my wife watches all it had recorded.

Not as cheap as I would like, but enough of a discount to make it worth the plunge. Now my Minis will get used instead of being homeless.


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## andrews777 (Aug 23, 2007)

It is now up and running, with a 3TB hard drive. I notice as well that many shows are available with my Amazon Basics HD antenna. I may even get a few more when I can mount that antenna properly in the roof.


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## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

andrews777 said:


> I have been less than impressed with my 48MB Uverse (max available) experience so far. I was doing some classwork and couldn't even keep an audio stream going on my Sonos speakers. That makes me wonder if I will ever be able to get decent download speeds for other media sources.


Are you sure the Sonos issue is related to your ISP download rate? Is your Sonos hard-wired or connected to your router via Wi-Fi? Also, my brother had sync issues w/ his Sonos and it turned-out that one of his Sonos devices had some hardware issue that was causing the problem.



> 48MB Uverse


48Mbps download? That should be more than sufficient for *any* streaming, providing that's your actual sustained rate and not some theoretical max advertised by U-Verse. (e.g. my mom has DSL and can only get 1.5Mbps d/l owing to her distance from the CO)


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## andrews777 (Aug 23, 2007)

krkaufman said:


> Are you sure the Sonos issue is related to your ISP download rate? Is your Sonos hard-wired or connected to your router via Wi-Fi? Also, my brother had sync issues w/ his Sonos and it turned-out that one of his Sonos devices had some hardware issue that was causing the problem.
> 
> 48Mbps download? That should be more than sufficient for *any* streaming, providing that's your actual sustained rate and not some theoretical max advertised by U-Verse. (e.g. my mom has DSL and can only get 1.5Mbps d/l owing to her distance from the CO)


It should be sufficient. I have read of some SONOS challenges in the WiFi area. The problem is intermittent enough that finding it may be a real pain if it is hardware. Or I just start wiring most of them, since most are close to a wire. That might help.


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## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

andrews777 said:


> It should be sufficient. I have read of some SONOS challenges in the WiFi area. The problem is intermittent enough that finding it may be a real pain if it is hardware. Or I just start wiring most of them, since most are close to a wire. That might help.


Wiring all of them, at least temporarily for purposes of isolating potentially bad hardware, *would* be a good plan -- that is, once your new TiVos are all setup and recording-away...!


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## b-ball-fanatic (Aug 5, 2003)

andrews777 said:


> It should be sufficient. I have read of some SONOS challenges in the WiFi area. The problem is intermittent enough that finding it may be a real pain if it is hardware. Or I just start wiring most of them, since most are close to a wire. That might help.


Hmm...I've used a lot of Sonos players for years and never had any issues with them. While all electronics will have _some _failure/defective rate, I think Sonos hardware is generally pretty robust and reliable.

Since you're just getting everything set up (new house, IIRC?), I would suggest you deal with just one of them at a time. I.e., get the TiVo(s) working and connected the way they're going to be, _then _start on the Sonos system. Or vice versa. Point is, make sure one is set up and stable before dealing with issues in the other.


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## DG3 (Apr 7, 2015)

I see their current pricing is a OTA with lifetime for $299.


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## Mikeguy (Jul 28, 2005)

DG3 said:


> I see their current pricing is a OTA with lifetime for $299.


Whose pricing (and for what)? Certainly not for a TiVo Roamio (of whatever type) with lifetime, unless something drastic has just occurred.


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## DG3 (Apr 7, 2015)

Mikeguy said:


> Whose pricing (and for what)? Certainly not for a TiVo Roamio (of whatever type) with lifetime, unless something drastic has just occurred.


Something DID occur. Don't be so quick to discount what a newbie says.


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## Mikeguy (Jul 28, 2005)

DG3 said:


> Something DID occur. Don't be so quick to discount what a newbie says.


Umm, I'm not, which is why I asked. Again, whose pricing (and for what)? You still haven't specified.


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## bradleys (Oct 31, 2007)

andrews777 said:


> I would love Sling TV, as it has the two channels my wife wants: HGTV and Food Netowrk, but that has no DVR capability. Too bad the Roamio won't record that.


Streaming services are never going to be available for recording, even if TiVo were to add Sling TV, it would be similar to Netflix and Amazon.

Most of those services allow on-demand viewing, don't they?


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## Mikeguy (Jul 28, 2005)

Mikeguy said:


> Umm, I'm not, which is why I asked. Again, whose pricing (and for what)? You still haven't specified.


Found the deal and pricing myself--indeed, $299.99 for the Roamio OTA _including_ lifetime. Wow, such a deal, and something drastic, indeed! 

https://www.tivo.com/TLP4


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## bradleys (Oct 31, 2007)

Wholly Sh*t, when the heck did that happen? OTA with lifetime?












> 2 - Product Lifetime service is included with the purchase of your Roamio OTA. Plus any applicable taxes on product purchased and/or service fees. Above-quoted, service-inclusive DVR offers reflect "Product Lifetime service". Duration of Product Lifetime service is the lifetime of the particular DVR unit. Product Lifetime service is not transferrable to another TiVo device (except in certain warranty replacement/repair cases).


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