# Considering Roamio Plus on Fios and have questions



## sbhnet (Jul 11, 2014)

I have never owned a Tivo but am considering a Roamio Plus to replace my current Verizon Fios "whole house" DVR. While everyone says I'll gain a lot, my questions include:
1. What Fios features/functions will I lose?
2. Is 3D supported? I often order VOD in 3D.
3. This is going to sound stupid, but I've gotten really spoiled by CallerID on screen. It's a safe bet I'll lose this, right?

Thanks for any info you can provide!


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## dscottj (Dec 23, 2008)

You'll lose pay per view and on-demand capabilities for sure. Not certain about the rest as we've never used one of their boxes.


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## takeagabu (Oct 7, 2007)

yup, you lose all of that.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

If you really want VOD you can rent a STB and use that for VOD. I did that back in 2007 and 2008. But I found I rarely used it. Plus most content I can get elsewhere. So it wasn't worth the $10 a month back then. And it certainly isn't worth the $12 a month they charge now,. If they gave me a STB to use for free then I would take it since the more streaming options the better. But I'm not going to pay anything to use one of the FiOS STBs. It just isn't worth it.

As far as 3D. The 3D content is only top/bottom or side/side. At least when they had the ESPN 3D channel it was. And that had no problems from any of my TiVos.


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## dbenrosen (Sep 20, 2003)

You can still order live PPV events (boxing, MMA or WWE) by calling Verizon to order and then tuning to the appropriate channel.


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## The Merg (Dec 2, 2007)

To kind of add on to this as it's related...

For those that are TiVo-only with FIOS, have you been able to use the FIOS iOS apps to watch stuff on-demand without issue?

Thanks,
Merg


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

The Merg said:


> To kind of add on to this as it's related...
> 
> For those that are TiVo-only with FIOS, have you been able to use the FIOS iOS apps to watch stuff on-demand without issue?
> 
> ...


Not sure what the on Demand stuff is. I use Android and there is an app that streams a bunch of the FiOS channels. That works fine but I don't use it since it is streaming in real-time. I typically use Slingplayer instead.


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## nycityuser (Dec 30, 2004)

FIOS has been rolling out a new whole house DVR with 6 tuners and 100 hours of capacity. That might be something to consider.

I have a Roamio Pro with FIOS and think it's great. As someone else mentioned, I also have an HD box without DVR from Verizon in the event I want to watch on demand content. I almost never use the box, but they "only" charge $8/month here in New York.


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## The Merg (Dec 2, 2007)

aaronwt said:


> Not sure what the on Demand stuff is. I use Android and there is an app that streams a bunch of the FiOS channels. That works fine but I don't use it since it is streaming in real-time. I typically use Slingplayer instead.


I'm referring to the ability to download past episodes of shows from the different networks "on demand".

- Merg


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## The Merg (Dec 2, 2007)

nycityuser said:


> FIOS has been rolling out a new whole house DVR with 6 tuners and 100 hours of capacity. That might be something to consider.
> 
> I have a Roamio Pro with FIOS and think it's great. As someone else mentioned, I also have an HD box without DVR from Verizon in the event I want to watch on demand content. I almost never use the box, but they "only" charge $8/month here in New York.


Yeah, I looked into that, but am not a fan. I'd need to pay $20/month to have two STB's and then to use their new Quantum TV feature costs an additional $22/month for the 6 tuner version or $32/month for the 12 tuner version. I like the idea of having a Roamio Pro and a Mini paid all up-front and then just paying an additional $5/month for a cable card. (And if I just went with one STB and no recording capability, it would be $12/month.)

- Merg


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## Diana Collins (Aug 21, 2002)

Yes, to have the equivalent of two Roamio Pros and 5 Minis would cost $82 per month versus $10 for 2 Cablecards, plus we would only have 2TB of storage instead of 6 (the VMS1100 doesn't support drive expansion yet).

While we had a big upfront cost with TiVo and lifetime service for all units, combined with the savings on content through a FiOS bundle versus what we were paying DirecTV, we will break even on the hardware purchase in 17 months (15 more to go).


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## The Merg (Dec 2, 2007)

Diana Collins said:


> Yes, to have the equivalent of two Roamio Pros and 5 Minis would cost $82 per month versus $10 for 2 Cablecards, plus we would only have 2TB of storage instead of 6 (the VMS1100 doesn't support drive expansion yet).
> 
> While we had a big upfront cost with TiVo and lifetime service for all units, combined with the savings on content through a FiOS bundle versus what we were paying DirecTV, we will break even on the hardware purchase in 17 months (15 more to go).


Yeah, depending on which Internet package I pick (15/5 vs. 50/25), I will break even on the hardware purchase in about 12-14 months. I can live with that.

- Merg

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


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## leepoffaith (Apr 21, 2014)

I have Verizon FiOS and purchased a Roamio Plus with two Minis approximately 2-3 months ago. I LOVE them. I have had very few issues with them and the few I have had were easily fixed. (resetting minis after update on the Roamio in particular). I also did lifetime on all of them and my payback period is approximately 20 months. After that I will own the Tivos and have equity in them as opposed to 0 equity in fios boxes and having to continually pay them every month after that. The interface will take a little getting used to at first as will the layout of the remote, but once you get used to it you will love it. Also, having Netflix built into the Tivo box is great and I HOPE to see HBO, Showtime and other apps in the future. Also, if we are lucky, maybe Verizon will do what Comcast did and allow for on-demand use through the Tivo boxes. In all honesty I rarely used on-demand anyways so I don't even miss it. 

If you have any questions, please let me know!


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## The Merg (Dec 2, 2007)

leepoffaith said:


> I have Verizon FiOS and purchased a Roamio Plus with two Minis approximately 2-3 months ago. I LOVE them. I have had very few issues with them and the few I have had were easily fixed. (resetting minis after update on the Roamio in particular). I also did lifetime on all of them and my payback period is approximately 20 months. After that I will own the Tivos and have equity in them as opposed to 0 equity in fios boxes and having to continually pay them every month after that. The interface will take a little getting used to at first as will the layout of the remote, but once you get used to it you will love it. Also, having Netflix built into the Tivo box is great and I HOPE to see HBO, Showtime and other apps in the future. Also, if we are lucky, maybe Verizon will do what Comcast did and allow for on-demand use through the Tivo boxes. In all honesty I rarely used on-demand anyways so I don't even miss it.
> 
> If you have any questions, please let me know!


Have you tried using the FIOS app on an iPad or iPhone to try to watch on-demand content?

- Merg

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## caughey (May 26, 2007)

I have the FiOS app on an Android tablet (after VZ finally got it fixed) and I expect it would be the same or better on idevices. The free-to-watch stuff works fine. I haven't tried any of pay-to-play, but it does say you have to pay either from an STB or the website, and not from the app itself. You wouldn't be able to pay from TiVo either. Except for that, it should work the same.


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## tallmomof2 (May 3, 2014)

I switched to Tivo recently (a little over a month) and the Roamio Pro and minis are far, far superior to Fios STBs. My family doesn't miss On Demand because of all the streaming options built into the Tivo box. I added an Amazon Fire TV for missing streaming apps. As previous posters stated, you can call up Verizon and order PPV. 

If you're using the Motorola STBs you may see better picture quality with the Roamio. I did and so did everyone else in the family. We used to have 4 STBs and the picture quality was the same on all the boxes. And now it's noticeably improved.


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## The Merg (Dec 2, 2007)

I'm not concerned about the PPV stuff. I just like to use the on-demand stuff every now and then when I miss episodes of a show. I figure I will need it a bit to get caught back up on some shows that I have saved on my current DVR, but will not be able to watch before I make the switch. Do you seem to be getting the full library via the FIOS apps?


- Merg

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


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## Diana Collins (Aug 21, 2002)

You get the full library, but some things are stream only, some are TV only (which will require a Verizon STB) and some are both. Personally, we use Hulu and Netflix to "catch-up" on series. We cancelled DirecTV with a season and a half of two series unwatched on the DVR because we could buy the seasons on Amazon (which we can then download to local storage on the TiVo) for less than a single month of DirecTV service.


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## goldenmonkey (Jan 12, 2007)

The Merg said:


> I'm not concerned about the PPV stuff. I just like to use the on-demand stuff every now and then when I miss episodes of a show. I figure I will need it a bit to get caught back up on some shows that I have saved on my current DVR, but will not be able to watch before I make the switch. Do you seem to be getting the full library via the FIOS apps?
> 
> - Merg
> 
> Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


Yes. Anything that's available on the app to stream or watch on demand will work on your phone/tablet, whether or not you have a physical FiOS box or a TiVo box.

I have all TiVo boxes in the apartment (Roamio Plus and Mini), no Verizon boxes, and my iPad will play anything from on demand or stream live.


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## tarheelblue32 (Jan 13, 2014)

If you want a Roamio Plus, now is the time to buy. TiVo is running a special sale right now for a short time:

https://www.tivo.com/shop/promo/summer-savings


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

tarheelblue32 said:


> If you want a Roamio Plus, now is the time to buy. TiVo is running a special sale right now for a short time:
> 
> https://www.tivo.com/shop/promo/summer-savings


That is a nice deal. I wish they would have had that offer when the Roamio launched. I could have saved $200.


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## tarheelblue32 (Jan 13, 2014)

aaronwt said:


> That is a nice deal. I wish they would have had that offer when the Roamio launched. I could have saved $200.


You and me both.


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