# Great Mini Experience



## tsheley (Oct 12, 2007)

I am sure nobody probably cares but I wanted to say I purchased a Mini last night to go with my Roamio Basic and it is great! Set up was a breeze. Just went online activated the Mini waited 15 minutes and everything was ready to go. I use Ethernet and it works great. Total time of setup probably 45 minutes because the Mini had to do an update.

Just wanted to share a positive experience since sometimes all the post seem like there are nothing but problems.

Thanks,


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## southerndoc (Apr 5, 2003)

I've also had very positive experiences with my 6 Minis. Thinking of buying 2 more (one for the exercise room, one for our storm shelter because cable is now moving everything to digital).

What's the limit on the number of Minis you can have connected to a Roamio Pro? I realize only 5 can be active at one time.


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## jntc (Dec 5, 2013)

geekmedic said:


> I've also had very positive experiences with my 6 Minis. Thinking of buying 2 more (one for the exercise room, one for our storm shelter because cable is now moving everything to digital).
> 
> What's the limit on the number of Minis you can have connected to a Roamio Pro? I realize only 5 can be active at one time.


I was told 9 by Tivo support.


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## JohnnyO (Nov 3, 2002)

I too, just activated my first Mini to go with my 3 month old Roamio. Piece of cake. I'm also on wired Ethernet. Watching recorded shows, watching a live stream for 30 minutes, Pandora, Netflix -- all working as expected.


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## CrispyCritter (Feb 28, 2001)

geekmedic said:


> I've also had very positive experiences with my 6 Minis. Thinking of buying 2 more (one for the exercise room, one for our storm shelter because cable is now moving everything to digital).
> 
> What's the limit on the number of Minis you can have connected to a Roamio Pro? I realize only 5 can be active at one time.


I'm not sure there's a hard limit of 5 at once; you can only have 5 live-tv tuners on the Minis at once, but if some are streaming recorded shows, the live-tv limit doesn't apply.


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## southerndoc (Apr 5, 2003)

CrispyCritter said:


> I'm not sure there's a hard limit of 5 at once; you can only have 5 live-tv tuners on the Minis at once, but if some are streaming recorded shows, the live-tv limit doesn't apply.


You're probably right. How many streams can go simultaneously though (with the bandwidth)? I've tried 5 live streams with another live on the Roamio Pro, but haven't tried taxing the system with prerecorded plus live streams. Maybe I'll have a project to do when I get a minute.


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## DigitalDawn (Apr 26, 2009)

I believe the max number of streams is 8.


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## sbiller (May 10, 2002)

DigitalDawn said:


> I believe the max number of streams is 8.


From the Mini Frequently Asked Questions here --> https://tivo.com/shop/mini



> Up to eight TiVo Minis can be supported by one TiVo network containing either TiVo Roamio or Premiere DVRs. One tuner is used each time a TiVo Mini is being used on the network. Therefore, depending on the number of DVRs and tuners you have available, you may not be able to have all eight operating simultaneously.


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

I believe the actual limit is 9. TiVo has a limit of a 10 devices per account. So you should be able to have 1 TiVo and 9 Minis. I believe that FAQ says 8 because they were leaving one slot open for a Stream. But if you have a Roamio Plus/Pro the Stream is internal so it doesn't count toward your limit.

I think someone posted once that TiVo doesn't actually cut you off at 10 devices either. But if you have more then 10 you get wonky results where devices will claim they're not authorized and it's random based on the order they each make their daily call, or something like that.


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## lessd (Jan 23, 2005)

Dan203 said:


> I believe the actual limit is 9. TiVo has a limit of a 10 devices per account. So you should be able to have 1 TiVo and 9 Minis. I believe that FAQ says 8 because they were leaving one slot open for a Stream. But if you have a Roamio Plus/Pro the Stream is internal so it doesn't count toward your limit.
> 
> I think someone posted once that TiVo doesn't actually cut you off at 10 devices either. But if you have more then 10 you get wonky results where devices will claim they're not authorized and it's random based on the order they each make their daily call, or something like that.


TiVo does not want you to set up a motel using Minis for TV tuners for each room !!


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

Wouldn't really work anyway since the maximum tuners in a single Roamio is 6 and only 5 could be used for Minis. So to ensure every room has access to TV you'd need one Roamio for every 5 TVs. At that point you might as well set them up on different accounts.

The main reason for the limit is the MSD pricing. They don't want a bunch of friends and family sharing a single account to get the discount. They want to limit it to one account per household.


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## lessd (Jan 23, 2005)

Dan203 said:


> The main reason for the limit is the MSD pricing. They don't want a bunch of friends and family sharing a single account to get the discount. They want to limit it to one account per household.


But that easy to do now, if I have a MSD TiVo account I could activate my friends new first TiVo, than xfer that TiVo to him, or tell him to use the PLSR code.


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

Obviously there is a loophole for lifetime, but not for monthly MSD


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## lessd (Jan 23, 2005)

Dan203 said:


> Obviously there is a loophole for lifetime, but not for monthly MSD


If someone wants to pay monthly in place of Lifetime they don't need any loophole !!


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## jwbelcher (Nov 13, 2007)

Dan203 said:


> I believe the actual limit is 9. TiVo has a limit of a 10 devices per account. So you should be able to have 1 TiVo and 9 Minis. I believe that FAQ says 8 because they were leaving one slot open for a Stream. But if you have a Roamio Plus/Pro the Stream is internal so it doesn't count toward your limit.
> 
> I think someone posted once that TiVo doesn't actually cut you off at 10 devices either. But if you have more then 10 you get wonky results where devices will claim they're not authorized and it's random based on the order they each make their daily call, or something like that.


I've read in an older post that inactive devices (sold or returned) count toward the account cap. I would assume this would also effect the number of mini's that can be hooked up. Any truth to this?


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## lessd (Jan 23, 2005)

jwbelcher said:


> I've read in an older post that inactive devices (sold or returned) count toward the account cap. I would assume this would also effect the number of mini's that can be hooked up. Any truth to this?


*NO!* I have 16 old or sold units on my TiVo account and 5 more units that are active on my account (for a total of 21 TiVos) (when I go to _*device preferences*_ I see only the 5 active TiVos)


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## jwbelcher (Nov 13, 2007)

Awesome! Its great to hear from you. I was reading a thread about removing inactive TiVos that you'd posted on back in 2010. I was really hoping it wouldn't cause the issue the one poster had back then with the 11th device (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=8154547#post8154547). Sounds like it got fixed :up:


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## gweempose (Mar 23, 2003)

tsheley said:


> I am sure nobody probably cares, but I wanted to say I purchased a Mini last night to go with my Roamio Basic and it is great!


On the contrary, it's quite refreshing to hear something positive on these boards every once in a while. I'm glad you're enjoying your new Mini. I have two that have been rock solid, and I just ordered a third one yesterday. I wish you could run apps like streambaby on them, but other than that, I have no complaints.


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## Luckyluc (Jan 24, 2014)

I am leaning more and more to a mini... these help a lot as I review my options.


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

lessd said:


> If someone wants to pay monthly in place of Lifetime they don't need any loophole !!


MSD gives someone a $2/mo discount. The reason there is a 10 device limit is to prevent one account from being used to service a bunch of different TiVos and getting that discount on all of them. This policy was put into place years ago when TiVos still only had 1 tuner so 10 was a reasonable ceiling for one household. (I had 6 at one point) The Mini doesn't use the same pricing scheme, but because it uses the same encryption/sharing system it's still limited to the 10 device limit.


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## jwbelcher (Nov 13, 2007)

Dan203 said:


> I believe the actual limit is 9. TiVo has a limit of a 10 devices per account. So you should be able to have 1 TiVo and 9 Minis. I believe that FAQ says 8 because they were leaving one slot open for a Stream. But if you have a Roamio Plus/Pro the Stream is internal so it doesn't count toward your limit.
> 
> I think someone posted once that TiVo doesn't actually cut you off at 10 devices either. But if you have more then 10 you get wonky results where devices will claim they're not authorized and it's random based on the order they each make their daily call, or something like that.


Old topic, but this Mini Installation article (last updated 03/25/2014 01:09 PM) is quoting max 12 TiVo devices per account:

http://support.tivo.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/2557

Home Network and Account Requirements

- All TiVo devices must be on the same TiVo account.
- Your TiVo account must be activated and in good standing.
- A maximum of 12 TiVo devices per account, including TiVo Mini, can share programming.
- The host DVR must be a Roamio Series DVR or a 4-tuner TiVo Premiere Series DVR running software 20.2.2 or above. ​However, their terms of the User Agreement (Effective as of August 20, 2013) has :

https://www.tivo.com/legal/terms

Restrictions

You may have a maximum number of 10 TiVo devices (excluding only the TiVo Stream) on the same account.​
Anyone know for sure which it is?


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

Back when they released TiVoToGo and the MSD discount I specifically remember a TiVo employee (TiVoPony) posting here that there was a 10 device limit. So unless they increased it somewhere along the lines then it's 10.


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