# Roamio and Mini perfect sync?



## krwilkins (Feb 5, 2007)

I have a Roamio setup in a living room that is open to the kitchen where a mini is setup with a small TV. We want to have them play the same show and be in sync with each other because you can here the speakers from both rooms. The scenario is my wife's in the kitchen, I'm in the living room, and we're watching the same show. Because there is a slight delay with the mini the shows and audio are not in sync.

I've tried to fix this by briefly pausing the Roamio and then start it again to be in sync with the mini, it's a hit or miss process and frustrating. Does anyone know of an easy way to accomplish what I'm going for?

Ken


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## supasta (May 6, 2006)

Connecting both TVs to the same source would be the easiest solution. Would that be possible in your case with your setup?


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## krwilkins (Feb 5, 2007)

supasta said:


> Connecting both TVs to the same source would be the easiest solution. Would that be possible in your case with your setup?


I'm not sure, an installer hooked everything up. The TV in the kitchen is probably 30 feet from the Roamio. If we were able to hook them up to the same source would we abandon the Mini and use the kitchen TV off the Roamio just like the living room TV?


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## supasta (May 6, 2006)

krwilkins said:


> I'm not sure, an installer hooked everything up. The TV in the kitchen is probably 30 feet from the Roamio. If we were able to hook them up to the same source would we abandon the Mini and use the kitchen TV off the Roamio just like the living room TV?


That would be the solution I would employ. Maybe another TCFer has anther idea, but I would think that connecting both TVs to the same source by running a HDMI cable that 30 feet would be the easiest way.


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## krwilkins (Feb 5, 2007)

supasta said:


> That would be the solution I would employ. Maybe another TCFer has anther idea, but I would think that connecting both TVs to the same source by running a HDMI cable that 30 feet would be the easiest way.


Thank you. I just checked and it should be easy to run the HDMI, both TV's are under the same crawl space with good access.

I'm trying to get my head around what functionally we would have with this recommended setup. There is never a case where we would be watching different shows in the two rooms, they are too close together. A couple questions:

Could we watch TV only in the kitchen without the living room tv being on?

When watching only in the kitchen (living room tv off) would we control the kitchen TV (19 inch Samsung just purchased) would we use the same Tivo remote we are using in the living room?

How would we select which TV was on, or if both were on for that matter.

Sorry if my questions are on the amateur side. I've been using Tivo for well over 10 years, but this is my first multi-room challenge.

Thanks in advance for any and all advice.


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## supasta (May 6, 2006)

krwilkins said:


> Could we watch TV only in the kitchen without the living room tv being on?


Yes. 


> When watching only in the kitchen (living room tv off) would we control the kitchen TV (19 inch Samsung just purchased) would we use the same Tivo remote we are using in the living room?


Sure, the TiVo remote would still control the TiVo. You would have to ensure that the TiVo remote does indeed control the TiVo well where it is currently positioned. That may or may not be another issue for you. Remember, the TiVo remote controls the TiVo (outside of the TV power and volume). 


> How would we select which TV was on, or if both were on for that matter.


The TV would either be on or off. The TiVo does not know if the TV is on or off. You could have one or both either on or off at any time.

I vaguely remember seeing a TiVo support page (that I cannot locate at the moment) that said that the Roamio models could support up to 16 HDMI displays at once.


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## krwilkins (Feb 5, 2007)

supasta said:


> Yes.
> 
> The TV would either be on or off. The TiVo does not know if the TV is on or off. You could have one or both either on or off at any time.
> .


I have the Slide Pro remote with RF. So the range is not a problem.

Thanks for your help.


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## Rev. Noch (Dec 29, 2003)

Just to be clear as well, you'd need an HDMI splitter to get the signal to both displays. I would recommend something from monoprice. Here seems to be the most inexpensive one:
http://www.monoprice.com/Product?c_id=101&cp_id=10113&cs_id=1011306&p_id=8204&seq=1&format=2
Though there is the entire list of HDMI Splitters/matrices/etc that would get this job done:
http://www.monoprice.com/Search/Index?keyword=hdmi+splitter


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## krwilkins (Feb 5, 2007)

Rev. Noch said:


> Just to be clear as well, you'd need an HDMI splitter to get the signal to both displays. I would recommend something from monoprice. Here seems to be the most inexpensive one:
> http://www.monoprice.com/Product?c_id=101&cp_id=10113&cs_id=1011306&p_id=8204&seq=1&format=2
> Though there is the entire list of HDMI Splitters/matrices/etc that would get this job done:
> http://www.monoprice.com/Search/Index?keyword=hdmi+splitter


Got it. Thanks for the help.


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## jrtroo (Feb 4, 2008)

krwilkins said:


> If we were able to hook them up to the same source would we abandon the Mini and use the kitchen TV off the Roamio just like the living room TV?


The only issue would be that the Roamio only has one output, so the tvs would ALWAYS show the same thing.


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## krwilkins (Feb 5, 2007)

jrtroo said:


> The only issue would be that the Roamio only has one output, so the tvs would ALWAYS show the same thing.


That's exactly what I need. The TV's are so close to each other that we wouldn't be able to have two different shows on without hearing both at the same time. I want both TV's to show the same show with audio and video in perfect sync with each other.


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## lew-wolfgang (Sep 24, 2013)

krwilkins said:


> That's exactly what I need. The TV's are so close to each other that we wouldn't be able to have two different shows on without hearing both at the same time. I want both TV's to show the same show with audio and video in perfect sync with each other.


You do realize that you might get an "echo" effect if both TV's are in perfect sync? If your ears were perfectly equidistant between the sound sources you'd be okay. But move a bit and you might hear the sound as if it was coming down a long, echoing pipe. I've had this happen with analog TV's in separate rooms tuned to the same channel.

BTW, the Mini lags the master due to the transfer buffering it has to do to avoid stuttering. It can't be avoided.

Regards,
Lew


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## jaredmwright (Sep 6, 2004)

I do this currently for my master bedroom and bathroom on the other side of the wall. As long as the volume levels are appropriate for each room, there is no discernable different in audio and definitely no issue with hearing them out of sync. The only thing you may notice is if the TV farther away is louder than the local TV, which is easily fixed by turning up the TV closest to you or turning down the TV farthest. 

Good luck and report back.


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## krwilkins (Feb 5, 2007)

lew-wolfgang said:


> You do realize that you might get an "echo" effect if both TV's are in perfect sync? If your ears were perfectly equidistant between the sound sources you'd be okay. But move a bit and you might hear the sound as if it was coming down a long, echoing pipe. I've had this happen with analog TV's in separate rooms tuned to the same channel.
> 
> BTW, the Mini lags the master due to the transfer buffering it has to do to avoid stuttering. It can't be avoided.
> 
> ...


Sadly I found out about the Mini lagging the main TV after the install was complete, the delay made this unworkable. I removed the Mini from the kitchen and installed an HDMI splitter to solve the problem. All is working well now.


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

They are playing two different copies of the program anyway. So even if there wasn't a lag if one person paused the other would continue to play and you'd never be able to get them back into sync again. A splitter is a much better solution for your particular setup.


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## Arcady (Oct 14, 2004)

I had a TV in the kitchen connected via component, using a RJ-45 balun. The video signals came directly off the TiVo, while the audio came from the coax digital audio output from the main TV. This ensured that the audio on both was always in sync. However, the main TV had to be on for this setup to work, so it probably wouldn't work for the OP.


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## krwilkins (Feb 5, 2007)

Dan203 said:


> They are playing two different copies of the program anyway. So even if there wasn't a lag if one person paused the other would continue to play and you'd never be able to get them back into sync again. A splitter is a much better solution for your particular setup.


Yes, I learned this the hard way. It's all working perfectly now with the splitter.


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