# What Roamio OTA looks like without the $15 Guide?



## garbhead (Mar 19, 2015)

Looks like they are discontinuing the Roamio OTA. Like mine except the $15 monthly fee for guide. Anybody use it without the guide? Still able to surf the channels? May have to switch to Tablo.


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## tarheelblue32 (Jan 13, 2014)

What are you talking about? Your Roamio OTA will continue to have a guide as long as you keep paying the $15/month. TiVo is not discontinuing the Roamio OTA, they are re-releasing it, with a larger hard drive and no monthly fee, but it too will have a guide.


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

garbhead said:


> Looks like they are discontinuing the Roamio OTA. Like mine except the $15 monthly fee for guide. Anybody use it without the guide? Still able to surf the channels? May have to switch to Tablo.


The service fee, which includes the guide, also includes the clock. Can you watch TV? Probably. Can you record like a VCR? Probably not.


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## ThAbtO (Apr 6, 2000)

tarheelblue32 said:


> What are you talking about? Your Roamio OTA will continue to have a guide as long as you keep paying the $15/month. TiVo is not discontinuing the Roamio OTA, they are re-releasing it, with a larger hard drive and no monthly fee, but it too will have a guide.


It would have the All-In (lifetime) Tivo Service.


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## Rkkeller (May 13, 2004)

Call up to cancel service and they will drop the price to $10.


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

Without service a TiVo is basically useless. You can use it to watch stuff ypu already recorded and to watch live TV, that's it. Internally TiVo reffers to this as "boat anchor mode" which gives you an idea of how much functionality it has.


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## unitron (Apr 28, 2006)

garbhead said:


> Looks like they are discontinuing the Roamio OTA. Like mine except the $15 monthly fee for guide. Anybody use it without the guide? Still able to surf the channels? May have to switch to Tablo.


That monthly fee, or however else (1 year, 3 years, lifetime) you pay for the TiVo Service covers not just the guide, but is also you paying for a license to use the proprietary TiVo software on the hardware.

It's really the propriety software that makes a TiVo a TiVo.

Think of it this way, if you bought an electric range from the same company that you get your electricity from, you'd own the hardware, but if you want to cook something, you have to pay for electricity as well, or it's only good for stacking stuff on top of.


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## shoman1994 (Jan 17, 2016)

What about using it without the monthly fee and using the input HDMI on an Xbox with the live EPG?

Sent from my XR6P10 using Tapatalk


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## ThAbtO (Apr 6, 2000)

shoman1994 said:


> What about using it without the monthly fee and using the input HDMI on an Xbox with the live EPG?


Tivo does not work at all when it does not have a subscription, whether its monthly, yearly or lifetime.
The Roamio OTA 1TB deal includes lifetime service and where it says "subscription free" is that there is no monthly charges for service.


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## jonw747 (Aug 2, 2015)

unitron said:


> Think of it this way, if you bought an electric range from the same company that you get your electricity from, you'd own the hardware, but if you want to cook something, you have to pay for electricity as well, or it's only good for stacking stuff on top of.


Solar panels! 

The service fee is just a means for monetizing the product. I spent $1000 for a DirecTivo way back and there was no extra service fee, but most people won't spend that kind of cash up front for a DVR.

As we all know, it's become very difficult for an American company to be competitive selling a product that's been turned in to a commodity with lean profit margins.

So instead TiVo tried to hook people with a $50 equipment fee in the hope they'd keep it activated for a long long time at $15/mon, so they don't lose money. That seems almost reasonable compared to what a cable companies charge per month to rent a DVR unless you need someone who will come to your home to install and fix problems.

Alas, the cord cutters are often trying to reduce their monthly subscriptions and many would prefer an affordable solution without a monthly fee. TiVo has a competitive option for them, but at $400, it's still a premium option when you consider many in that segment just won't bother with a DVR unless the price is low enough.

There are other means both legal and illegal to stream or download OTA content.


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## Tweak42 (Mar 14, 2007)

garbhead said:


> Looks like they are discontinuing the Roamio OTA. Like mine except the $15 monthly fee for guide. Anybody use it without the guide? Still able to surf the channels? May have to switch to Tablo.


It would probably behave just like a regular Roamio without service. Out of curiosity, I tried this with a used out-of-service regular Roamio I bought for parts last year.

You can run the guided setup and download guide data, but once you get to the home screen, practically anything you do will prompt you to contact Tivo for service. I was able watch live tv, change channels, pause, and the on screen guide data was accurate. I think this was so you could verify that either the antenna or cable card gets signal reception.

I guess if can stand all the pop ups you could use it to watch live tv.


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

Tweak42 said:


> It would probably behave just like a regular Roamio without service. Out of curiosity, I tried this with a used out-of-service regular Roamio I bought for parts last year.
> 
> You can run the guided setup and download guide data, but once you get to the home screen, practically anything you do will prompt you to contact Tivo for service. I was able watch live tv, change channels, pause, and the on screen guide data was accurate. I think this was so you could verify that either the antenna or cable card gets signal reception.
> 
> I guess if can stand all the pop ups you could use it to watch live tv.


That seems to refute my issue with getting a clock. I would have thought it would fail authorization during an update. I guess it will work like a VCR after all.


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## ej42137 (Feb 16, 2014)

JoeKustra said:


> That seems to refute my issue with getting a clock. I would have thought it would fail authorization during an update. I guess it will work like a VCR after all.


Yes, it will work exactly like a VCR without a working tape drive.


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

ej42137 said:


> Yes, it will work exactly like a VCR without a working tape drive.


Oops. Missed that part.


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

I'm not sure that's 100% true. I'm pretty sure I was able to setup a manual recording on my unsubscribed Roamio OTA when I was messing with it.


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## lessd (Jan 23, 2005)

HarperVision said:


> I'm not sure that's 100% true. I'm pretty sure I was able to setup a manual recording on my unsubscribed Roamio OTA when I was messing with it.


In the first week you can set up recording, sometimes. but after that the un-activated TiVo will not work. Over the years some on this Forum have said they could use their non activated TiVo (non Series 1) to record, never saw this myself, but no way to argue with someone on this Forum, it like saying I just made $100 mill on my TiVo stock, if it was true you could not spend it anyways, and if it false I could not spend it. (It is false in case your wondering )


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

lessd said:


> In the first week you can set up recording, sometimes. but after that the un-activated TiVo will not work. Over the years some on this Forum have said they could use their non activated TiVo (non Series 1) to record, never saw this myself, but no way to argue with someone on this Forum, it like saying I just made $100 mill on my TiVo stock, if it was true you could not spend it anyways, and if it false I could not spend it. (It is false in case your wondering )


Hmmm, interesting. Maybe I'll hook it up for awhile to play with it more.


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## shwru980r (Jun 22, 2008)

I thought a band new tivo had a 14 day trial period, where you set up recordings.


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## ThAbtO (Apr 6, 2000)

shwru980r said:


> I thought a band new tivo had a 14 day trial period, where you set up recordings.


Use the Guide, Luke.


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## Mr Tony (Dec 20, 2012)

HarperVision said:


> I'm not sure that's 100% true. I'm pretty sure I was able to setup a manual recording on my unsubscribed Roamio OTA when I was messing with it.


I have a previously subbed OTA Roamio here (I moved and have cable. Tivo upgraded me to the Basic at a nice price)  that I tried it on recently (after reading these posts)

Anywho I hooked up my Roamio OTA to see if I could "manually record" something off my antenna. Nope. Its greyed out and if I try to select it I get the "need to sub" popup.


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

unclehonkey said:


> I have a unsubbed OTA Roamio here (I moved and have cable. Tivo upgraded me to the Basic at a nice price)  that I tried it on recently (after reading these posts) Anywho I hooked up my Roamio OTA to see if I could "manually record" something off my antenna. Nope. Its greyed out and if I try to select it I get the "need to sub" popup.


Are you talking about seeing a show live or listed in the guide and hitting the record button, or going into the menus and actually setting up a manual recording by channel number, date and time?


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## schatham (Mar 17, 2007)

My guess is nothing will function without activation. I bet it won't even search for channels to set up. Now an activated Romeo that was deactivated should then have the channels saved so you could watch live tv and my shows. 

I doubt it will allow manual recording. That went out after the series 2. Even the series 2 you had to make sure it did not connect after canceling service to get manual recording to work.

A test could be someone who buys one try's this before activating. Then we'll know for sure.


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## HD_Dude (Sep 11, 2006)

jonw747 said:


> Solar panels!


I think you mean 'Generators!'

Because if you have solar panels, you can't power your own house with them. The power flows into the local utility which credits you for the power you generate.

Even with solar, if the grid goes down so do you.

Generators!


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## ThAbtO (Apr 6, 2000)

HD_Dude said:


> I think you mean 'Generators!'
> 
> Because if you have solar panels, you can't power your own house with them. The power flows into the local utility which credits you for the power you generate.
> 
> ...


That is incorrect, Solar panels does power the home. Its basically 12V DC which gets converted to 120vAC using inverters and it goes directly to the home. The excess goes to the grid and credits your power bill by 'selling' it. There is an option to store the power using batteries and using it during times when there is low or no solar activity to generate power.


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## tampa8 (Jan 26, 2016)

HD_Dude said:


> I think you mean 'Generators!'
> 
> Because if you have solar panels, you can't power your own house with them. The power flows into the local utility which credits you for the power you generate.
> 
> ...


As the Commercial says, "That's not how this works that's not how any of it works" 
Of course solar panels can power a whole home and it does not go to the grid and back. You would have power when the grid goes down. In the US there are many homes that rely solely on it. If you have excess the power company has to buy it if you want to sell it in many States.


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