# Multiple Bolts and Minis



## jp12576 (Feb 18, 2017)

Hey,

I am consistently running out of tuners in my bolt. Is it possible to get a second bolt and add it to my network?

Will my mini's be able to stream off either? can i share recordings across them? use one to manage all recordings?

thanks!


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## HomeUser (Jan 12, 2003)

Yes.

I have a Roamio, Mini and a Bolt+. A Mini can stream shows from both and even manage the One Passes which can be also done on-line. Come to think of it I haven't touched the Roamio's remote for a long time. There is no connection to the TV I stole it's input and HDMI cable to use with the Bolt I use the Mini or Bolt to manage it's recordings.


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## jp12576 (Feb 18, 2017)

HomeUser said:


> Yes.
> 
> I have a Roamio, Mini and a Bolt+. A Mini can stream shows from both and even manage the One Passes which can be also done on-line. Come to think of it I haven't touched the Roamio's remote for a long time. There is no connection to the TV I stole it's input and HDMI cable to use with the Bolt I use the Mini or Bolt to manage it's recordings.


So how does it know which one to record from or save to? are all the shows on just one list to select from?


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

jp12576 said:


> So how does it know which one to record from or save to? are all the shows on just one list to select from?


A separate list for each box. From the Mini To setup a recording for a specific box you can easily change the host DVR in a few seconds. If you want to setup a recording on the other Bolt.
Although if watching content from the non host TiVo, and you select something from the guide, it will setup the recording from that box. Although that doesn't seem to work 100% of the time. Which is why I like to just quickly change the host for the Mini. I have two Bolts and use one for scripted shows and the other Bolt for news and reality shows.


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## genebopp (Dec 12, 2008)

I have 2 bolts and 3 minis. One of the minis is even wireless, the rest are using moca. The moca host unit is using a wireless bridge. No issues at all. It really works great.


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## Lord_Vader (Jan 29, 2009)

I was running out of tuners, but it was because I had "record one minute early" and "record one minute late" as the default recording settings. The kids cartoons were using up all of the tuners during overlap. I turned it back to "on time" for almost all of the shows and it's been ok. 

Just a thought.


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## chicagobrownblue (May 29, 2008)

jp12576 said:


> Hey,
> 
> I am consistently running out of tuners in my bolt. Is it possible to get a second bolt and add it to my network?
> 
> ...


Do you have network shows listed in the top of your 1Ps and cable shows in the lower half? Cable shows repeat frequently and sometimes right after the first airing of a new episode. PBS shows and even occasionally network shows now are also repeating.


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## mikeparksne (Aug 18, 2017)

genebopp said:


> I have 2 bolts and 3 minis. One of the minis is even wireless, the rest are using moca. The moca host unit is using a wireless bridge. No issues at all. It really works great.


I'm new to Tivo, but will probably have a similar setup to yours. Multiple-Bolts, and a couple Mini's over MoCA. Thinking I will need the extra tuners so why not buy a couple Bolt's since it's only $40 more than a mini.

Question - Is their a subscription fee for each Bolt? I.e $14.99x2 , I know mini's don't
Did Tivo fix the issue of merging the DVR list with multiple Bolts? 
Thanks for any and all responses in advance!


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## atmuscarella (Oct 11, 2005)

mikeparksne said:


> I'm new to Tivo, but will probably have a similar setup to yours. Multiple-Bolts, and a couple Mini's over MoCA. Thinking I will need the extra tuners so why not buy a couple Bolt's since it's only $40 more than a mini.
> 
> Question - Is their a subscription fee for each Bolt? I.e $14.99x2 , I know mini's don't
> Did Tivo fix the issue of merging the DVR list with multiple Bolts?
> Thanks for any and all responses in advance!


Yes you need separate subscriptions for each Bolt, either monthly, annual, or all in, so Bolts cost substantially more than a Mini (which includes an all in subscription).

No you can not merge the DVR lists with multiple Bolts.


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## mikeparksne (Aug 18, 2017)

Ok thanks! Couple more questions please.

Thinking of going with a cable card. Do I need one in each Bolt if I go that way?
Can I plug in an external HDD for additional storage like you can with an XBox? Thanks again!


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## atmuscarella (Oct 11, 2005)

mikeparksne said:


> Ok thanks! Couple more questions please.
> 
> Thinking of going with a cable card. Do I need one in each Bolt if I go that way?
> Can I plug in an external HDD for additional storage like you can with an XBox? Thanks again!


You need a cable card for each Bolt you want to receive cable with. Some people who get good OTA reception have one TiVo they use for cable and then a second one they just use for OTA.

Regarding the external hard drive. Technically there is ONE and only ONE discontinued Western Digital eSata drive that works. But it is mostly unavailable. Alternatively you can buy your Bolt from Weaknees.com and they can sell you a custom 2 drive setup but it is very expensive in my mind.


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## kpeters59 (Jun 19, 2007)

Also super easy to upgrade a Bolt's internal storage.

-KP


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## mikeparksne (Aug 18, 2017)

So need to go with a MoCA network setup and read through the MoCA threads but lots of info to digest and starts to get confusing. 
I'll have 1 Bolt and 3 mini's. Router is in different room as Bolt or Mini's and can't run Ethernet to any.

Do I need a bridge for "each" Tivo? Or just One hooked to my router? I've seen too many diagrams to be sure!

Also, can a tivo bridge be used to wire a computer or other internet device in any other rooms with cable jack or is there a better and/or cheaper device for that to hook to a MoCA. 

I really appreciate all the advise. Thank You.


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## kpeters59 (Jun 19, 2007)

You'll need a bridge everywhere there ISN'T a MoCA enabled device.

You can plug a Network Switch or any ethernet device in to the ethernet port of a MoCA Bridge.

Use High Frequency Splitters with low Port Isolation (15db?). As few as possible. Definitely use the POE filter.

-KP


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## mikeparksne (Aug 18, 2017)

kpeters59 said:


> You'll need a bridge everywhere there ISN'T a MoCA enabled device.
> 
> You can plug a Network Switch or any ethernet device in to the ethernet port of a MoCA Bridge.
> 
> ...


Cool. Thanks for the response! Have a good day.


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## fcfc2 (Feb 19, 2015)

kpeters59 said:


> You'll need a bridge everywhere there ISN'T a MoCA enabled device.
> 
> You can plug a Network Switch or any ethernet device in to the ethernet port of a MoCA Bridge.
> 
> ...


Hi I have seen your posts recommending those types of splitters before for MoCA problems, could you please provide the manufacturers/makes/models of those splitters. I would love to get some and do some actual testing of MoCA throughput with those and compare to some others. Thanks in advance.


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## kpeters59 (Jun 19, 2007)

These are the same ones I pulled out of the truck on that other thread...they still haven't made it back to their bin...

https://goo.gl/photos/mFhn9ZyCB1p8oQtbA

https://goo.gl/photos/vGTsAmZoEU5FAf3g9

The Vericom is rated at 15db Port Isolation and the Direct Connect I think was ~20db (depending on frequency)...

BTW, a question like this is probably best done in a PM...just sayin'...

-KP


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