# Live TV from an antenna on a Mini?



## phositadc (May 7, 2014)

I understand that the Mini can be used to view live TV, and that it essentially takes up one of the tuners on the base Tivo unit (in my case, it will be a Roamio).

Is this true even if the Roamio is hooked up to an antenna, rather than to digital cable or FIOS?

If anybody is using an antenna connected to base TIVO to view live TV from the antenna on the Mini, I'd appreciate if you share your thoughts about how well it works.

Thanks.


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## eric102 (Oct 31, 2012)

Yep, live viewing of OTA channels works the same as with cable, takes up one tuner on the Roamio.


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## phositadc (May 7, 2014)

eric102 said:


> Yep, live viewing of OTA channels works the same as with cable, takes up one tuner on the Roamio.


Excellent. Thanks for the confirmation.


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## tre74 (Nov 12, 2010)

I have a base Roamio in living room using OTA. The Mini is in the bedroom connected to the Roamio via CAT6 ethernet cable on a gigabit network. No, the Mini and base Roamio do not have gigabit connections, but I have noticed improved transfer feeds on the network compared to my old Premiere. The Mini is speedy and tunes channels nicely when it grabs a tuner from the Roamio. Picture quality is very nice.


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## aia832003 (May 30, 2014)

I am trying to setup a similar setup with Roamio and Mini, but ethernet is not an option. Any suggestions on how to establish a strong enough network to use the Mini?


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## dianebrat (Jul 6, 2002)

aia832003 said:


> I am trying to setup a similar setup with Roamio and Mini, but ethernet is not an option. Any suggestions on how to establish a strong enough network to use the Mini?


MoCA or powerline PNA are 2 very viable options that will outperform most wireless installations.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

aia832003 said:


> I am trying to setup a similar setup with Roamio and Mini, but ethernet is not an option. Any suggestions on how to establish a strong enough network to use the Mini?


MoCA works great and wireless works great if the Wi-Fi network is setup properly. You can use a wireless bridge to connect the Mini. In my setup, whether I use wireless, MoCA, or EThernet, the user experience is identical with the Mini. But if your Wi-Fi network is not setup right, there will be issues. Since you need to be able to provide a consistent stream over wireless.


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## aia832003 (May 30, 2014)

dianebrat said:


> MoCA or powerline PNA are 2 very viable options that will outperform most wireless installations.


I've attempted both wireless and PNA adapters with consistent 35 Mbps connection and all I get is a stuttering mess. Any thoughts? I really want this Mini to work...


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

What were you using for wireless? was it 2.4Ghz N or 5Ghz N? Is there alot of congestion in your area or do you have alot of devices on wireless without having multiple Access Points?


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## aia832003 (May 30, 2014)

aaronwt said:


> What were you using for wireless? was it 2.4Ghz N or 5Ghz N? Is there alot of congestion in your area or do you have alot of devices on wireless without having multiple Access Points?


Tried both bands. I have completely cut the cord so wireless is pretty taxed in my house with multiple devices and the mini is the furthest room from my router. Due to this, I was hoping the PNA route would work.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

aia832003 said:


> Tried both bands. I have completely cut the cord so wireless is pretty taxed in my house with multiple devices and the mini is the furthest room from my router. Due to this, I was hoping the PNA route would work.


Add another Access Point to give you more wireless bandwidth.


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## Forcelite (Mar 19, 2006)

Or you could use the 5ghz band for the mini only and make all other devices use the 2.4ghz band.

I am wondering myself about using the AC spec.

Force


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

Forcelite said:


> Or you could use the 5ghz band for the mini only and make all other devices use the 2.4ghz band.
> 
> I am wondering myself about using the AC spec.
> 
> Force


The only problem with 5Ghz is that you don't get the distance like you can get from 2.4Ghz. And it doesn't penetrate walls a well either. And since aia832003 said the Mini is at the farthest point, that could be an issue with 5Ghz. But i've only used 5Ghz wireless N. I've not used an AC devices yet since 5Ghz N, on multiple APs, works well with my cameras connected to wireless bridges.


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## dcline414 (May 1, 2014)

Couldn't you connect secondary TVs to both the OTA antenna (via distribution amplifier) and the mini? That would allow DVR playback but also live viewing without tying up one of the four tuners on the primary unit. The only downside I can see is having to change inputs on the TV, and possible degradation of the signal on the primary unit.

Has anyone hooked their minis up this way, and if so how does it work?


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

Why would you want to? Then you would truly be watching live Tv with no way to pause or rewind. Which is rather useless unless I want to go back to decades ago before you could time shift TV watching.


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## aia832003 (May 30, 2014)

I've added another AP and get 25mbps from both connections in the room with the Mini but still have no steady TV experience.... I'm getting frustrated and considering TabloTV.


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## Diana Collins (Aug 21, 2002)

aia832003 said:


> I've attempted both wireless and PNA adapters with consistent 35 Mbps connection and all I get is a stuttering mess. Any thoughts? I really want this Mini to work...


The fact that it stutters on PNA eliminates wireless as the source of the problem. If you have enough devices using the LAN the problem might be that the router is being overloaded. What make and model router are you using? Does it show CPU utilization anywhere (usually on the Admin or Log pages)? Do you have anyway to measure the total volume of data passing through the router? If you start a Live TV session from the Mini and it starts stuttering, can you try a Netflix session at the same time and if you do does that stay at low res?


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## aia832003 (May 30, 2014)

Diana Collins said:


> The fact that it stutters on PNA eliminates wireless as the source of the problem. If you have enough devices using the LAN the problem might be that the router is being overloaded. What make and model router are you using? Does it show CPU utilization anywhere (usually on the Admin or Log pages)? Do you have anyway to measure the total volume of data passing through the router? If you start a Live TV session from the Mini and it starts stuttering, can you try a Netflix session at the same time and if you do does that stay at low res?


Thanks for the response. I really do appreciate any advise on this. The stuttering is present on WiFi as well as the PNA but not an issue with any other streaming option in my home via wireless. I can simultaneously watch Netflix on 3 TVs and Plex videos in HD on my fourth with no stuttering. Router wise I'm running a Buffalo N router with 50mbps Comcast connection. I have noticed the Mini destroys the connection on other devices. I cannot stream anything else while its trying to play Live TV.

I just don't understand why I can use any alternative streaming method with no issues and the Mini can't get through 30 seconds of Live TV.


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## telemark (Nov 12, 2013)

aia832003: I would suggest testing the Mini from the same room as the Tivo, with both connected to wired Ethernet. Whether it's still broken there or fixed would be informative for us.

Other streaming typically uses mpeg4 / h264 (new codecs). It can't compare to what the Tivo's need.



> Buffalo N router


If you tell us the model number, we'll look up what it does or might not do, that could be related to your problem.


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## CrispyCritter (Feb 28, 2001)

aia832003 said:


> I just don't understand why I can use any alternative streaming method with no issues and the Mini can't get through 30 seconds of Live TV.


Netflix max is generally 2-3 Mbps. OTA max is for live-tv is around 18 Mbps; it puts a lot more stress on your wireless network.


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