# Watch shows on my computer



## scott216 (Oct 2, 2010)

With Roamio can I watch recorded shows on my computer?


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

You can transfer some unprotected shows via TiVoToGo, but streaming to a PC is not yet possible. As of right now you can only stream to another TiVo, a Mini or an iOS device. Everything else is "coming soon".


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## mattack (Apr 9, 2001)

You can do that with a S3/TivoHD -- download the shows with either the official supported software or e.g. kmttg.

AFAIK, there is no information yet on a way to *STREAM* shows from your Roamio to a computer (i.e. not download them first).


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## bucm4sko24wle2mi (Aug 17, 2009)

mattack said:


> AFAIK, there is no information yet on a way to *STREAM* shows from your Roamio to a computer (i.e. not download them first).


So, there are more limitations compared to having a Slingbox then. Am I missing something?


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

Right now yes. The excitement is that TiVo has said that out of the home streaming is coming this Fall. We'll see how it works out, but if it works good then it should be better then a Slingbox because the software will have direct control over the selection and playback of the video rather then having to deal with a laggy buffer with IR blaster.


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## Bierboy (Jun 12, 2004)

Dan203 said:


> Right now yes. The excitement is that TiVo has said that out of the home streaming is coming this Fall. We'll see how it works out, but if it works good then it should be better then a Slingbox because the software will have direct control over the selection and playback of the video rather then _*having to deal with a laggy buffer with IR blaster*_.


Hmmm....don't have that problem with my Slingbox Pro....works like a charm.


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

Bierboy said:


> Hmmm....don't have that problem with my Slingbox Pro....works like a charm.


Really? So you can FF through the commercials on your TiVo and hit the right spot? With mine there is a good 4 second delay between what I'm seeing on the remote device and what's happening on the TiVo itself. That makes FF/RW nearly impossible. 30 second skip kind of works, but you still end up with a few more button presses then you normally would if you were controlling the TiVo directly. And for instant replay I always had to hit it twice because the delay was almost as much as the IR jumped back so on press was never enough.

With the steam you're controlling everything directly. So when you hit skip/IR it jumps from where you are in the stream at that moment and only takes maybe a second to start playing again. The control experience is way better then a Slingbox. Also you're not using the video output so you can be watching something stored on the TiVo while someone else is actually using it to watch something completely different. Plus there are no extra wires, devices to power, or bricks to plug in.

The only advantage a Slingbox has is the ability to stream outside the home. If TiVo adds that, and does it well, then there will be no reason for a TiVo user to own a Slingbox.


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## bareyb (Dec 1, 2000)

Dan203 said:


> Really? So you can FF through the commercials on your TiVo and hit the right spot? With mine there is a good 4 second delay between what I'm seeing on the remote device and what's happening on the TiVo itself. That makes FF/RW nearly impossible. 30 second skip kind of works, but you still end up with a few more button presses then you normally would if you were controlling the TiVo directly. And for instant replay I always had to hit it twice because the delay was almost as much as the IR jumped back so on press was never enough.
> 
> With the steam you're controlling everything directly. So when you hit skip/IR it jumps from where you are in the stream at that moment and only takes maybe a second to start playing again. The control experience is way better then a Slingbox. Also you're not using the video output so you can be watching something stored on the TiVo while someone else is actually using it to watch something completely different. Plus there are no extra wires, devices to power, or bricks to plug in.
> 
> *The only advantage a Slingbox has is the ability to stream outside the home. If TiVo adds that, and does it well, then there will be no reason for a TiVo user to own a Slingbox.*


This sounds so cool... Do you think there will be a way to stream the content from an IOS device to the TV? Or would you need something like an Apple TV and Airplay to accomplish that?


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## Surrealone (Dec 8, 2006)

Dan203 said:


> Really? So you can FF through the commercials on your TiVo and hit the right spot? With mine there is a good 4 second delay between what I'm seeing on the remote device and what's happening on the TiVo itself. That makes FF/RW nearly impossible. 30 second skip kind of works, but you still end up with a few more button presses then you normally would if you were controlling the TiVo directly. And for instant replay I always had to hit it twice because the delay was almost as much as the IR jumped back so on press was never enough.
> 
> With the steam you're controlling everything directly. So when you hit skip/IR it jumps from where you are in the stream at that moment and only takes maybe a second to start playing again. The control experience is way better then a Slingbox. Also you're not using the video output so you can be watching something stored on the TiVo while someone else is actually using it to watch something completely different. Plus there are no extra wires, devices to power, or bricks to plug in.
> 
> The only advantage a Slingbox has is the ability to stream outside the home. *If TiVo adds that, and does it well, then there will be no reason for a TiVo user to own a Slingbox*.


Wait I thought the Roamio has this built in???? just not turned on yet???


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## dswallow (Dec 3, 2000)

Dan203 said:


> The only advantage a Slingbox has is the ability to stream outside the home. If TiVo adds that, and does it well, then there will be no reason for a TiVo user to own a Slingbox.


Slingbox has the advantage that it works on more than just iOS devices. That's a serious advantage for quite a few people. Not to mention that various reports have the Stream performing horribly at adaptive bitrate video playback, which means it's very likely, considering TiVo's history with software development timelines, going to be a long road before that method is truly "usable" for most. I don't think they've even hinted that there is a chance they'll implement streaming to a PC or via a web browser, or anything other than the bullet point that an Android client will eventually be supported.

I'd say the Stream only has value to those wanting to stream inside the home to iOS devices currently supported, because I wouldn't go making any bets on when or if any other features get enabled or how well they function. In other words, buy it for what it does NOW, not what you think or expect or believe it'll do later.


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## crxssi (Apr 5, 2010)

Surrealone said:


> Wait I thought the Roamio has this built in???? just not turned on yet???


The Plus and Pro has all the hardware to do it. And the base does too when you add the free Stream box to it. The limitation is the software, currently. For now it is streaming only to the local network, and ONLY to iOS devices.

And knowing TiVo, when it is finally available for non-local streaming, it will be iOS-only for a stupid long time, then they will come out with a vastly inferior Android version to further piss off the users of the #1 phone and now the #1 tablet ecosystem. Not that it annoys me or anything like that...


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## miller890 (Feb 15, 2002)

scott216 said:


> With Roamio can I watch recorded shows on my computer?


Streaming to a PC as if it was a TiVo Mini would be ideal for me, not even outside of my home network. The TiVo desktop app is just a pain when you play before the download is complete and you need to close and restart the media player. Also there is no way to play live TV. It just seems silly to buy an HD Slingbox at this point with a TiVo named Roamio*.

* = iOS device required for the roam in Roamio.


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## fdisker2000 (Nov 27, 2006)

Maybe they named them RoamiOs for a reason.


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

dswallow said:


> Slingbox has the advantage that it works on more than just iOS devices. That's a serious advantage for quite a few people. Not to mention that various reports have the Stream performing horribly at adaptive bitrate video playback, which means it's very likely, considering TiVo's history with software development timelines, going to be a long road before that method is truly "usable" for most. I don't think they've even hinted that there is a chance they'll implement streaming to a PC or via a web browser, or anything other than the bullet point that an Android client will eventually be supported.
> 
> I'd say the Stream only has value to those wanting to stream inside the home to iOS devices currently supported, because I wouldn't go making any bets on when or if any other features get enabled or how well they function. In other words, buy it for what it does NOW, not what you think or expect or believe it'll do later.


That's why I said "if they do it well". It didn't get a lot of press because it was designed for some Charter CloudTV service, but at the cable show back in June TiVo showed a complete TiVo UI, including video playback, running inside a browser. If they release that to the public then we could potentially stream to any device with a browser. PC, Mac, Android, whatever. We'll just have to wait and see what they do with this.


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## Bierboy (Jun 12, 2004)

Dan203 said:


> Really? So you can FF through the commercials on your TiVo and hit the right spot? With mine there is a good 4 second delay between what I'm seeing on the remote device and what's happening on the TiVo itself. That makes FF/RW nearly impossible. 30 second skip kind of works, but you still end up with a few more button presses then you normally would if you were controlling the TiVo directly. And for instant replay I always had to hit it twice because the delay was almost as much as the IR jumped back so on press was never enough.
> 
> With the steam you're controlling everything directly. So when you hit skip/IR it jumps from where you are in the stream at that moment and only takes maybe a second to start playing again. The control experience is way better then a Slingbox. Also you're not using the video output so you can be watching something stored on the TiVo while someone else is actually using it to watch something completely different. Plus there are no extra wires, devices to power, or bricks to plug in.
> 
> The only advantage a Slingbox has is the ability to stream outside the home. If TiVo adds that, and does it well, then there will be no reason for a TiVo user to own a Slingbox.


Dan, I don't FF; as you mentioned I use 30 sec skip and it works fine. Sure there's a bit of a lag, but certainly not the four seconds you're stating. I'm apparently not having the same problems you are...I love the Slingbox, and I'll be more than happy if TiVo EVENTUALLY has something that approaches the Sling's capabiilties...


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## tbielowicz (Apr 16, 2009)

Didn't I read somewhere that the outside the home streaming would only work via a wi-fi network. Does that mean it will not work on my phone via my 4g connection?


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

tbielowicz said:


> Didn't I read somewhere that the outside the home streaming would only work via a wi-fi network. Does that mean it will not work on my phone via my 4g connection?


I think I read that too. I think Apple has a special qualification process they require software to go through to allow streaming over cellular. I think TiVo said they are going to go through that but it wont be available right away.


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## ggieseke (May 30, 2008)

tbielowicz said:


> Didn't I read somewhere that the outside the home streaming would only work via a wi-fi network. Does that mean it will not work on my phone via my 4g connection?


Yeah, outside streaming will be limited to WiFi, at least for now. Hot spots should be fine as long as it looks like WiFi to the IOS device in question.

Apple is responsible for this limitation, not TiVo. It applies to iTunes too.


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## Bierboy (Jun 12, 2004)

Dan203 said:


> ...it wont be available right away.


hmmm....and no dates mentioned. I think I've heard promises before from not only TiVo but other tech firms that either never panned out, or did so MUCH later than anyone anticipated. Seems like TiVo is "promising" a lot of future features with this unit. I would hesitate to buy anything based on promises...

Now, follow through, and I would consider buying one (when the prices come down). I was a first day adopter of the original S3 and paid the premium for it. But TiVo didn't make any promises on future features of the S3 that I recall....


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

I'm buying my Roamio for what it can do now. Which is basically everything my Premiere and Stream can do, but faster. I'm basically spending several hundred dollars because I'm frustrated at how slow my Elite is. If they happen to add these features down the road, which I'm confident will happen at least to some extent, it's just a bonus.

For me they've done what I wanted already. Put in a faster processor and created usable apps.


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## bareyb (Dec 1, 2000)

Exactly Dan. I'm getting one because they are an improvement over what I have now (I have an Elite as well). I don't spare much expense when it comes to TV. It's the one big ticket item in the house that I can honestly say everyone uses every day.


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## Rose4uKY (Mar 28, 2003)

We were happy with our Premiere we got a few weeks ago thinking it's better than our old series 3's we had. We loved it and I knew about buying the Tivo Stream box extra but we don't have IOS and we thought we were fine with what we had until I went to TiVo.com to figure out about transferring my season pass from my lifetime series 3 to my Premiere and I see these ads for Roamio and immediately came back here to read. But being able to watch my shows at work on break on wifi with my Android tablet. I hope that happens soon! But bought the Roamio also for what it does now and to have the latest one. We got the Plus and it's less than our Premiere were sending back but it's ok just the two of us and will be fine.

just got delivered a few minutes ago now to pack up the Premiere for return. I didn't mess with the Premiere much but we also bought 2 mini's. I like that it has built in stream and I know it will eventually have Android. But reading all the good reviews and people say it's faster than the Premiere and my boyfriend loves it having the RF remote too. I feel like we didn't have the Premiere long enough to experience it only 3 weeks or so but now I am looking forward to the Roamio. I wish he'd wake up and hook it up.



Dan203 said:


> I'm buying my Roamio for what it can do now. Which is basically everything my Premiere and Stream can do, but faster. I'm basically spending several hundred dollars because I'm frustrated at how slow my Elite is. If they happen to add these features down the road, which I'm confident will happen at least to some extent, it's just a bonus.
> 
> For me they've done what I wanted already. Put in a faster processor and created usable apps.


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## pmdesign3 (Aug 31, 2013)

hi, I just upgraded from my series 3 hd. I previously used a slingbox 350 to watch live and recorded programming while traveling for work. While there was some delay in the remote, it worked pretty well.

I just tried to connect to my new roamio via the slingbox. Slingbox does not have the new remote in its files and therefore i can not control the roamio via the slingbox.

i called slingbox, they said call Tivo. I called Tivo they said they offer no support for slingbox issues. i called slingbox, they said it was because the new remote is RF not IR. I then switched my remote to IR, but still no luck.

Anyone having similar problems or have a solution? I only watch remotely on a laptop so streaming to ipad or iphone is not a solution


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## Bierboy (Jun 12, 2004)

My guess is that the Slingbox tech support is talking out its rear end (they're notoriously bad, and, last I checked they charged you if you even sneezed during a call). I would suspect Sling will eventually update their plugin(s) to correct this issue, but who knows how long that will take...


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## dswallow (Dec 3, 2000)

pmdesign3 said:


> Anyone having similar problems or have a solution? I only watch remotely on a laptop so streaming to ipad or iphone is not a solution


There's nothing special you need to do; it works just like every other TiVo does with IR remotes. I use the same universal remote to control my Roamio Pro that I use to control a Premiere or a Series 3 unit; pick a remote address, use the system information screen to switch the TiVo to just that remote address (default is address 0 which makes it recognize IR signals from any address instead of just one).

The IR sensor on the Plus/Pro is about one inch to the left of the TiVo shadow logo on the front panel.


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## aadam101 (Jul 15, 2002)

bucm4sko24wle2mi said:


> So, there are more limitations compared to having a Slingbox then. Am I missing something?


If you want a Slingbox, buy one.

Personally, I don't like Slingbox because it means someone at home can't watch the TV while I'm using the Slingbox. With Tivo, they can.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

miller890 said:


> Streaming to a PC as if it was a TiVo Mini would be ideal for me, not even outside of my home network. The TiVo desktop app is just a pain when you play before the download is complete and you need to close and restart the media player. Also there is no way to play live TV. It just seems silly to buy an HD Slingbox at this point with a TiVo named Roamio*.
> 
> * = iOS device required for the roam in Roamio.


AT least transfer speeds to TiVo Desktop from the Roamio Pro are close to 2.5 times the speed when transferring from the Premiere.
So you can get it to the PC much, much faster when transferring content from a Roamio Plus or Romaio Pro.


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## Bierboy (Jun 12, 2004)

aadam101 said:


> If you want a Slingbox, buy one.
> 
> Personally, I don't like Slingbox because it means someone at home can't watch the TV while I'm using the Slingbox. With Tivo, they can.


They certainly _*can*_ watch the TV when you're using the Slingbox...


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

Bierboy said:


> They certainly _*can*_ watch the TV when you're using the Slingbox...


He's referring to the fact that since you're using the video outputs of the TiVo you're taking control of it while watching the Slingbox. Someone could watch the same thing as you, or something connected to another input on the TV, but they can't use the TiVo to watch something else. The Stream is pure network based, so it does not effect the source TiVo in any way. You could watch something via the Stream while someone else watches something completely different via the TiVo.

The only way to get this same effect with a Slingbox is to buy a Mini and dedicate it to the Slingbox.


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

pmdesign3 said:


> hi, I just upgraded from my series 3 hd. I previously used a slingbox 350 to watch live and recorded programming while traveling for work. While there was some delay in the remote, it worked pretty well.
> 
> I just tried to connect to my new roamio via the slingbox. Slingbox does not have the new remote in its files and therefore i can not control the roamio via the slingbox.
> 
> ...


Just set it up as a TiVo Premiere. The remote has all the same buttons and should work fine. (except Back, but that doesn't do anything anyway) If they don't have the Premiere remote you can use the S3 remote to get most of the functions. However it wont have the A, B, C & D buttons.


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## MikeAndrews (Jan 17, 2002)

Dan203 said:


> I'm buying my Roamio for what it can do now. Which is basically everything my Premiere and Stream can do, but faster. I'm basically spending several hundred dollars because I'm frustrated at how slow my Elite is. If they happen to add these features down the road, which I'm confident will happen at least to some extent, it's just a bonus.
> 
> For me they've done what I wanted already. Put in a faster processor and created usable apps.


Dan, Dan, Dan...are you really going to let TiVo let you down with another "will happen?"

Lucy promised that she wouldn't yank the ball this time, Charlie Brown.

I'm sure that the usable HD UI on my Premiere "will happen," too.


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

netringer said:


> Dan, Dan, Dan...are you really going to let TiVo let you down with another "will happen?"
> 
> Lucy promised that she wouldn't yank the ball this time, Charlie Brown.
> 
> I'm sure that the usable HD UI on my Premiere "will happen," too.


A usable HDUI is not a "will happen" for the Roamio, it's a reality. There are some promised features that I'm looking forward to, but the main reason I'm buying a Roamio is because of the faster UI. The Elite is frustratingly slow, and Roamio fixes that with raw horsepower. That in itself is enough for me to spend the money. Anything else that comes along down the road is a bonus, but I'm not holding my breath.

My only hesitation, which caused me to wait a week to order a Roamio, was the dread of having to deal with Charter to get the CableCARD re-paired. It's always such a freaking nightmare.


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