# Does the mini have dynamic tuner allocation now?



## bluebsh (Jun 4, 2008)

I ask this because I keep having my main premier xl4 box going into recording 4 shows at once mode, even though I have a mini... this started in the past two months where I will turn on the mini and be told live tv isn't available now because all tuners are in use, and I have to cancel recordings just to watch live tv now...


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

Yes. They added it a few weeks ago with the Fall update.


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## ThAbtO (Apr 6, 2000)

For you to watch live TV on the mini, the main Tivo has to record it.


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

ThAbtO said:


> For you to watch live TV on the mini, the main Tivo has to record it.


That's not true. The Mini can simply borrow a live tuner from the host TiVo. But it can only do that if the host TiVo is not recording. Unfortunately it appears TiVo allows suggestions to take priority over live TV on the Mini so if you have suggestions recording then you may get a "no tuner available" message when trying to watch live TV on the Mini.

The Stream requires you to record to watch live TV, but not the Mini.


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## bluebsh (Jun 4, 2008)

Is there anyway to dedicate a tuner still? I am already getting sick of having to cancel recordings to watch live tv on my mini, sure dynamic is nice, but I don't really want it the way I have my system set up.. the device tells me it had to turn off live tv due to a "setting" on my main box... what setting? I went through all the settings menus and can't find anything tuner related... and I THOUGHT there use to be one for tuner allocation


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## razor237 (Feb 1, 2002)

I think they took that away when they went to dynamic tuner allocation, I cant find it on my mini


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## lapdog12 (Dec 14, 2013)

Dan203 said:


> That's not true. The Mini can simply borrow a live tuner from the host TiVo. But it can only do that if the host TiVo is not recording. Unfortunately it appears TiVo allows suggestions to take priority over live TV on the Mini so if you have suggestions recording then you may get a "no tuner available" message when trying to watch live TV on the Mini.
> 
> The Stream requires you to record to watch live TV, but not the Mini.


I'm trying to understand this. So if the main tivo box is recording something, even if it's just one program, you can't watch LIVE TV on the mini? This doesn't make practical sense, unless I'm missing something. I was hoping the mini is like having another box but it borrows a tuner from the main box to watch LIVE TV.

To have to stop recording something on the main box just to watch LIVE TV on a mini seems counter productive. I'm sure I'm missing something because not being able to watch LIVE TV on a mini while the main box is recording doesn't seem right.


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## BigJimOutlaw (Mar 21, 2004)

lapdog12 said:


> I'm trying to understand this. So if the main tivo box is recording something, even if it's just one program, you can't watch LIVE TV on the mini?


No, he means if all tuners are consumed by recordings (including Suggestions), no tuner will be available for live TV on the Mini. Thus something would have to be cancelled to use Live TV.


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

bluebsh said:


> Is there anyway to dedicate a tuner still? I am already getting sick of having to cancel recordings to watch live tv on my mini, sure dynamic is nice, but I don't really want it the way I have my system set up.. the device tells me it had to turn off live tv due to a "setting" on my main box... what setting? I went through all the settings menus and can't find anything tuner related... and I THOUGHT there use to be one for tuner allocation


What are you having to cancel? If they are suggestions then I suggest just turning them off. They're not worth the hassle they cause unless you really watch them a lot. If these are low priority recordings that repeat frequently then there is really nothing you can do other then to cancel them like you've been doing or get rid of the SP completely. Maybe using a Manual recording for a specific time slot would work better for you?


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## lapdog12 (Dec 14, 2013)

thanks bigjimoutlaw!


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## bluebsh (Jun 4, 2008)

Dan203 said:


> What are you having to cancel? If they are suggestions then I suggest just turning them off. They're not worth the hassle they cause unless you really watch them a lot. If these are low priority recordings that repeat frequently then there is really nothing you can do other then to cancel them like you've been doing or get rid of the SP completely. Maybe using a Manual recording for a specific time slot would work better for you?


we have suggestions already turned off, but a lot of time time we will have it try to record 4 programs, and I have to keep telling it to cancel one just to watch live tv.. I liked it better when I could say only record 3 max and allow one tuner for the mini. Now if it finds 4 possible records (say season passes that I might not really care if get recorded or not) it will throw me off the live tv to record it (well tell me it will).. even if we did manually recording I know at times we'd have 4 possible records going... because certain family members would find things to record....


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

Sounds like you need a 6 tuner Roamio.


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## DEC2955 (May 3, 2009)

Pre-Purchase Question: IF two Mini's are tuned into the same channel.. does this mean that two tuners are in use? or only one with the same channel going out to the two Mini's


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## CrispyCritter (Feb 28, 2001)

DEC2955 said:


> Pre-Purchase Question: IF two Mini's are tuned into the same channel.. does this mean that two tuners are in use? or only one with the same channel going out to the two Mini's


Two tuners.


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## markfheil (Mar 22, 2006)

So its basically the identical situation to when you want to watch live TV on the actual Premier/Roamio and all tuners are in use? So not really a big deal.


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

Except that on the main TiVo if you try to change the channel it'll prompt you with the option to cancel the recording. Also if it's a Suggestion it will simply cancel the recording without prompting.

On the Mini you have to go to My Shows, find the recording, and cancel it manually. Would be nice if the Mini prompted you with a list of all recording shows and the option to cancel one of them. Also if it was smart enough to cancel Suggestions like it does on the main TiVo.


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## gweempose (Mar 23, 2003)

Dan203 said:


> On the Mini you have to go to My Shows, find the recording, and cancel it manually. Would be nice if the Mini prompted you with a list of all recording shows and the option to cancel one of them.


This would be convenient for my wife and I, but it would be bad when my mother-in-law is staying with us. There is a Mini in the guest bedroom, and I would hate for her to have the ability to so easily cancel one of my recordings. It would be ideal if you could turn this feature on and off for each individual Mini. We virtually never watch TV in the guest bedroom, so there would be no real benefit to having it on that Mini. It would be nice to have it on the Minis in the master bedroom and workout room, though.


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## SOCATivo (Jan 2, 2002)

The TiVo web site still says this:


> TiVo Roamio DVRs allow for dynamic tuner allocation, so the tuner is only used when the Mini needs it and is released back to the DVR for use when the TiVo Mini isn't in use. *TiVo Premiere DVRs do NOT support dynamic tuner allocation*, so any Mini connected to a Premiere is allocated a constantly dedicated tuner and therefore reduces the tuners available for the Premiere DVR.


Is this true or not? I have a Premier XL4 and want a Mini, but if it permanently ties up a tuner, I'm not going to go for it.


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

They released a software update in November that added dynamic tuner allocation to the Premiere.


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## lgnad (Feb 14, 2013)

SOCATivo said:


> The TiVo web site still says this:
> 
> Is this true or not? I have a Premier XL4 and want a Mini, but if it permanently ties up a tuner, I'm not going to go for it.


That is wrong, the web site needs an update. I actually submitted a ticket about a month ago with like 8 errors on the site including that one, for a laugh... Needless to say I got a cookie-cutter answer and the errors still are up there

The premieres software got an update months ago that enabled dynamic tuner allocation and removed the ability to designate specific tuner(s) for minis.


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## SOCATivo (Jan 2, 2002)

Thanks!


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## Rob_W (Jan 30, 2014)

Dan203 said:


> Unfortunately it appears TiVo allows suggestions to take priority over live TV on the Mini so if you have suggestions recording then you may get a "no tuner available" message when trying to watch live TV on the Mini.


Is this a feature or a bug? I like the idea of suggestions but even with 6 tuners I have had to cancel shows more than once to watch live shows on the mini (and I have had it less than a week). I guess I will have to just shut off suggestions which seems silly.


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## Bigg (Oct 31, 2003)

The idea of dedicating a tuner was a stupid work around. There's no reason it should be an option. Not only is it confusing, but allowing the host TiVo to use all four tuners, which, unless you're an extreme TV watcher with a big family, happens very rarely anyways.

With three roommates, an XL4, and quite a bit of stuff recording between the all of us, we rarely have all 4 tuners running. Maybe an average of half an hour to an hour a week. This week and next week it will obviously be way higher than that.

What's stupid about the Mini is that it can't cycle through the live tuners like the XL4 can. It's often a lot easier to find a basketball game that way, since I already set it to record.


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## nuraman00 (Dec 28, 2012)

lgnad said:


> That is wrong, the web site needs an update. I actually submitted a ticket about a month ago with like 8 errors on the site including that one, for a laugh... Needless to say I got a cookie-cutter answer and the errors still are up there
> 
> The premieres software got an update months ago that enabled dynamic tuner allocation and removed the ability to designate specific tuner(s) for minis.


The website still says this:

Mini

If I click on "How many TiVo Mini VOX boxes can be supported on one TiVo network?", it says:



> TiVo BOLT, BOLT VOX and Roamio devices allow for dynamic tuner allocation, so the tuner is only used when the TiVo Mini VOX needs it and is released back to the DVR for use when the Mini VOX isn't in use. *TiVo Premiere DVRs do NOT support dynamic tuner allocation, so any Mini VOX connected to a Premiere is allocated a constantly dedicated tuner and therefore reduces the tuners available for the Premiere DVR.*


I have one Tivo Premiere XL4 downstairs.

I am wondering, if I get a Tivo Mini upstairs, can I record 4 shows and watch one of those shows live upstairs?

(Either through the recording, or live).

How will the TV upstairs know whether I'm watching live TV or not? Will it only use a tuner if I'm actually watching live TV upstairs?

Is there a link somewhere that says officially that that the Premiere XL4 has dynamic tuner allocation?


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## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

Searching the thread for "Premiere" revealed this post:


Dan203 said:


> They released a software update in November that added dynamic tuner allocation to the Premiere.


And that would have been November 2013. So pretty awful marketing effort on TiVo's part to have the lingering static tuner info for Premieres.



nuraman00 said:


> if I get a Tivo Mini upstairs, can I record 4 shows and watch one of those shows live upstairs?


One of "those shows" (as in one of the 4 shows currently being recorded), yes.


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## nuraman00 (Dec 28, 2012)

krkaufman said:


> Searching the thread for "Premiere" revealed this post:
> ​And that would have been November 2013. So pretty awful marketing effort on TiVo's part to have the lingering static tuner info for Premieres.
> 
> One of "those shows" (as in one of the 4 shows currently being recorded), yes.


Thank you.

How will the TV upstairs know whether I'm using the tuner or not? Is it dependent on the OS of the TV? My upstairs TV is based on AndroidTV. So is there something that I go to, where if I go to it, it knows I'm using the Tivo Mini, and if I go to the AndroidTV home screen, or use a streaming app, then it knows I'm not using a tuner?

Does it use data to stream a show or watch live TV, from the downstairs Tivo, to the Tivo Mini upstairs? Or, because it doesn't leave my network, then it shouldn't use data?

How is the performance when using a Tivo mini? Does it look smooth, or are there buffering or lag issues? Or could there be such issues?


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## ej42137 (Feb 16, 2014)

The tuner the Mini uses is the one in the TiVo it's attached to; and it only uses that when you're watching live TV. The tuner in your TV is not part of the discussion.

When it streams a show or watch live TV on a TiVo, no data leaves your home so it won't get charged against your data cap. If you stream Hulu or Netflix, for example, then you would use data.

Unless you have a really slow network, streaming within your home is completely smooth with no buffering. The only time you might have a problem is if you have a WiFi hop or you've screwed up your network somehow.


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## nuraman00 (Dec 28, 2012)

This article from 2016, while it's not from Tivo's website, still shows the warning message that a tuner will be used.

How to Stream TiVo to Another TV










This Amazon Q&A comment by "Feasible Earth" from 2016 also says that the Premiere XL does not have dynamic tuner allocation.

Amazon.com: Customer Questions & Answers

Does anyone on here actually have a Premiere XL and a Tivo Mini? Can they confirm that they can record 4 shows, and watch live tv or one of the recordings from the Tivo Mini?


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## nuraman00 (Dec 28, 2012)

ej42137 said:


> *The tuner the Mini uses is the one in the TiVo it's attached to; and it only uses that when you're watching live TV.* The tuner in your TV is not part of the discussion.
> 
> When it streams a show or watch live TV on a TiVo, no data leaves your home so it won't get charged against your data cap. If you stream Hulu or Netflix, for example, then you would use data.
> 
> Unless you have a really slow network, streaming within your home is completely smooth with no buffering. The only time you might have a problem is if you have a WiFi hop or you've screwed up your network somehow.


Can you confirm whether this is true for a Premiere XL4? And how does the Tivo Mini know when I'm watching live TV?


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## snerd (Jun 6, 2008)

If you want to be sure your Mini only uses a tuner when you're watching live TV, just hit the TiVo button to return to TiVo Central before turning off your TV. That will release the tuner. The Mini will also release the tuner after 4 hours of inactivity.


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## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

nuraman00 said:


> Does anyone on here actually have a Premiere XL and a Tivo Mini? Can they confirm that they can record 4 shows, and watch live tv or one of the recordings from the Tivo Mini?


Dynamic tuner allocation or not, you wouldn't be able to be recording 4 shows *and* watch live TV ... from the Mini or its host DVR ... unless you're watching one of the currently recording shows (or are using a 6-tuner Roamio or BOLT as the host DVR). That said, from all I've seen, 4-tuner Premiere's have dynamic tuner allocation, now; you could pose the question to the Premiere forum if you need to expedite a first-hand response.

p.s. I'm assuming you meant XL4, since a 4-tuner Premiere is required. 2-tuner Premiere's are not eligible to act as host DVR's for a Mini (which is a little surprising, since it seemingly could have been enabled once dynamic tuner allocation was released, although live TV conflicts would be more frequent with just 2 tuners to work with).


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## nuraman00 (Dec 28, 2012)

krkaufman said:


> Dynamic tuner allocation or not, you wouldn't be able to be recording 4 shows *and* watch live TV ... from the Mini or its host DVR ... *unless you're watching one of the currently recording shows *(or are using a 6-tuner Roamio or BOLT as the host DVR). That said, from all I've seen, 4-tuner Premiere's have dynamic tuner allocation, now; you could pose the question to the Premiere forum if you need to expedite a first-hand response.
> 
> p.s. I'm assuming you meant XL4, since a 4-tuner Premiere is required. 2-tuner Premiere's are not eligible to act as host DVR's for a Mini (which is a little surprising, since it seemingly could have been enabled once dynamic tuner allocation was released, although live TV conflicts would be more frequent with just 2 tuners to work with).


Yes, that's what I meant. I meant record 4 shows, and watch one of those recordings live.

And yes, I also meant Premiere XL4.


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## nuraman00 (Dec 28, 2012)

Bigg said:


> The idea of dedicating a tuner was a stupid work around. There's no reason it should be an option. Not only is it confusing, but allowing the host TiVo to use all four tuners, which, unless you're an extreme TV watcher with a big family, happens very rarely anyways.
> 
> With three roommates, an XL4, and quite a bit of stuff recording between the all of us, we rarely have all 4 tuners running. Maybe an average of half an hour to an hour a week. This week and next week it will obviously be way higher than that.
> 
> *What's stupid about the Mini is that it can't cycle through the live tuners like the XL4 can.* It's often a lot easier to find a basketball game that way, since I already set it to record.


How do you cycle through the live tuners on the XL4?

And since you have a XL4, like I do, can you confirm that it has dynamic tuner allocation?


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## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

nuraman00 said:


> How do you cycle through the live tuners on the XL4?


Same as with any TiVo DVR, using the Live TV button (to cycle through the tuners); otherwise, you can use the 'Info' button on the Premiere while watching a live TV program to bring up the details and then go to the tuners panel from there to see what's playing and select a specific show.


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## nuraman00 (Dec 28, 2012)

krkaufman said:


> Same as with any TiVo DVR, using the Live TV button (to cycle through the tuners); otherwise, you can use the 'Info' button on the Premiere while watching a live TV program to bring up the details and then go to the tuners panel from there to see what's playing and select a specific show.


Thanks. I knew about the Info button way.

I might have forgotten about the Live button way, I probably haven't used it since the first few days I had the Tivo in 2013. I'll try it next time, just to see how I like using that method.


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## Bigg (Oct 31, 2003)

This thread didn't come back from the dead or anything. Yeah, I was referring to the info button. It's no longer an issue for me, as I've mothballed the XL4 in favor of a Roamio OTA, and for OTA, I don't care about flipping between channels, or even watching anything at all live. It's good for stuff like the NCAA March Madness. My previous post was during Sochi, which overlapped with basketball season, and at the time I had roommates, so the demands on my XL4 were quite high.


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## nuraman00 (Dec 28, 2012)

Bigg said:


> This thread didn't come back from the dead or anything. Yeah, I was referring to the info button. It's no longer an issue for me, as I've mothballed the XL4 in favor of a Roamio OTA, and for OTA, I don't care about flipping between channels, or even watching anything at all live. It's good for stuff like the NCAA March Madness. My previous post was during Sochi, which overlapped with basketball season, and at the time I had roommates, so the demands on my XL4 were quite high.


What was the issue you were having during the Sochi Olympics in 2014? When you hit Info using the Tivo Mini remote, you weren't able to switch tuners?

Was that a temporary bug, or is it just not possible?


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

nuraman00 said:


> Was that a temporary bug, or is it just not possible?


A Mini has always been able to switch tuners. But it has no control over which tuner it will switch to. Do you want further explanation?


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## nuraman00 (Dec 28, 2012)

JoeKustra said:


> A Mini has always been able to switch tuners. But it has no control over which tuner it will switch to. Do you want further explanation?


Sure.


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

nuraman00 said:


> Sure.


My basic Roamio host has four tuners. Unless I do a restart, they are on different channels*. When I take my Mini out of Standby, and select Live TV, it will acquire the tuner that has been inactive the longest and is not in use by the host.

So I have a chance of getting tuner 1, 2 or 3 since 0 is used by the host. In this world all three tuners available are on different channels. So when I hit Live TV I get the tuner and its buffer.

If I change to a channel already on a tuner, I get it and its buffer. If I choose a channel not on a tuner, my tuner changes channels and I start with an empty buffer. If I hit Back I go to my previous channel but no buffered content. At any time I can change to a tuner already on a tuner and get its buffer.

How I use this: My host is viewing MSNBC. Other tuners are on NBC, CBS, and CNBC. When I hit Live TV I will get NBC or CBS since I moved the CNBC tuner from its usual spot on Comedy Central. I then switch to MSNBC. At this time I have two tuners on MSNBC. I sometimes switch the Mini to ABC or TWC. When I am finished, I go to the original channel (NBC or CBS), put the Mini into Standby and turn off the TV.

*Due to having three Roamio units, this host is always on NBC, CBS, Comedy Central and MSNBC. Another Roamio is always on ABC and whatever else I need for the day's recording.


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## nuraman00 (Dec 28, 2012)

JoeKustra said:


> My basic Roamio host has four tuners. Unless I do a restart, they are on different channels*. When I take my Mini out of Standby, and select Live TV, it will acquire the tuner that has been inactive the longest and is not in use by the host.
> 
> So I have a chance of getting tuner 1, 2 or 3 since 0 is used by the host. In this world all three tuners available are on different channels. So when I hit Live TV I get the tuner and its buffer.
> 
> ...


Thanks for the explanation.

Does the host Roamio ever go in standby, or is it capable of doing so? Just so I can compare what happens on each device.


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

nuraman00 said:


> Thanks for the explanation.
> Does the host Roamio ever go in standby, or is it capable of doing so? Just so I can compare what happens on each device.


Series5 and 6 both have explicit Standby and a Power Saving mode that will cause Standby after a two or four hour idle (no remote activity). See: 20.4.6 issue? It applies to TE3 and TE4.

When the host goes into Standby, a Mini (with TE3) will need a few seconds to wake up a tuner. That has changed with TE4, but I don't know the process that makes it work better. I'm going to speculate it's a networking change. If a TE4 Mini is powered off, it will display a grayed-out device name in My Shows of a TE3 Roamio.


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