# relace xl4 with roamio vs. buy mini



## leiff (Aug 24, 2005)

im wondering if i should sell my xl4 with lifetime and buy a base roamio with lifetime or keep my xl4 and buy a mini with lifetime. It seems to me the costs of either would be about the same. Around $300. Im having a hard time justifying the cost either way but will either option be cheaper if i hold out for a sale? I worry the longer i wait the less value my xl4 has. My situation is as follows:
I have a tv in a second room currently connected with a 30 ft. Hdmi cable to my xl4. i am able to use my slide remote reasonably well from this other room. I live alone so im not bothered by the fact that i cant watch two different things simultaneously from both rooms - A conviance buying a mini for my second room would provide. The main reason i would buy a mini to go with my xl4 is to get faster apps\menus in second room. The problem with this solution is my main living room would be stuck with slow premier. Does anyone know is youtube app much better with roamio? That is only app i really use from main room.
Alternative is to sell my xl4 and buy base roamio (i dont care about streaming) and continue to mirror my living room tivo to 2nd room and avoid buying a mini. I will loose moca ability that my xl4 has if i do this but Im not currently using moca anyway. what if any will the supposed faster ethernet port on pro plus models yield? Faster transfer of shows using tivo desktop? The only thing base roamio seems to be lacking for me is analog audio. but i can buy break away cables. lastly Ive heard picture quality complaints on both mini and roamio compared to premier and wonder if i should consider this in my decision..


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## cptlapcat (Oct 4, 2007)

leiff said:


> im wondering if i should sell my xl4 with lifetime and buy a base roamio with lifetime or keep my xl4 and buy a mini with lifetime. It seems to me the costs of either would be about the same. Around $300. Im having a hard time justifying the cost either way but will either option be cheaper if i hold out for a sale? I worry the longer i wait the less value my xl4 has. My situation is as follows:
> I have a tv in a second room currently connected with a 30 ft. Hdmi cable to my xl4. i am able to use my slide remote reasonably well from this other room. I live alone so im not bothered by the fact that i cant watch two different things simultaneously from both rooms - A conviance buying a mini for my second room would provide. The main reason i would buy a mini to go with my xl4 is to get faster apps\menus in second room. The problem with this solution is my main living room would be stuck with slow premier. Does anyone know is youtube app much better with roamio? That is only app i really use from main room.
> Alternative is to sell my xl4 and buy base roamio (i dont care about streaming) and continue to mirror my living room tivo to 2nd room and avoid buying a mini. I will loose moca ability that my xl4 has if i do this but Im not currently using moca anyway. Im running Ethernet. If i do decide to keep my xl4 and buy minis and go moca i know the xl4 can serve as a bridge to other network devices. Can the minis also do this? The only thing base roamio seems to be lacking for me is analog audio. In my main tivo room i currently use component video and composite audio out to a 3rd sony crt hdtv. With base roamio are there breakout cables for component and composite? What would they cost? If i decide to replace my xl4 with roamio basic instead of buying a mini for my second room, it occurs to me instead of buying breakout cables for my 3rd crt tv i can buy a powered hdmi switch with 3 hdmi outs since my third sony tv has a dvi input. unfortunantly dvi means id have to use a hdmi/dvi cable which means no audio out of sony crt speakers but i guess i can still buy just the composite break away cables for that? Having a powered hdmi splitter has another advantage because currently im hotswapping my hdmi port on xl4 everytime i switch from Plasma for bedroom or projector for living room. Anyone know the price of a 1 in 3 out hdmi switch. lastly Ive heard picture quality complaints on both mini and roamio compared to premier and wonder if i should consider this in my decision..


If you like and can handle the XL4 slower speed I would buy the Mini as it would save you $350 and meet your general needs. It is ease to set up and very fast and you wouldn't have to worry about selling your XL and your other problems. The picture quality on my Mini is as good as my XL which is excellent. I am not sure about YouTube as I never use it.

However if you want to step up to the next level and can afford it get the Roamio.


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## wco81 (Dec 28, 2001)

I guess the mini can't access xfinity on demand?

Or see the to record list?


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## leiff (Aug 24, 2005)

My math told me a mini with lifetime is $250. Sell xl4 for $400 im about $300 shy for the cost of base roamio with lifetime right making either option a very close pricepoint? Certanly less than the $350 difference you Say? base roamio with lifetme is $600 right? Wonder what will go on sale first- roameo or mini?


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## leiff (Aug 24, 2005)

Yes mini can do both those things as im aware or i wouldnt consider getting one.


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## leiff (Aug 24, 2005)

Do you all think i should buy a mini to go with my xl4 or sell my xl4 and replace it with a base roamio? Or will it be much cheaper to wait to upgrade with the risk if i decide ro replace my xl4 later its resale value might be less? Think its likely tivo will sell a roamio/mini combo later this year? In which case i would keep the mini to go with my xl4 and give the roamio to a family Member.


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## Tivogre (Jul 12, 2002)

Don't forget to factor in the monthly savings of your CableCard rental for the XL4 or the Roamio. You won't have that with the Mini. While it's likely only 30-50 annually, that will add up over time.


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## leiff (Aug 24, 2005)

1 st cable card is free. I dont pay any cable card fees. Not sure what you mean


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## poppagene (Dec 29, 2001)

leiff said:


> My math told me a mini with lifetime is $250. Sell xl4 for $400 im about $300 shy for the cost of base roamio with lifetime right making either option a very close pricepoint? Certanly less than the $350 difference you Say? base roamio with lifetme is $600 right? Wonder what will go on sale first- roameo or mini?


If you're adding a mini to an xl4, you're planning on watching tivo on a second tv. To do that you will need to either add the mini to the xl4, add the roamio to the xl4, or sell the xl4 and buy a roamio and a mini.

For my money, I would add the mini to the xl4 as the xl4 has moca built in and the ebay market appears to be awash in lifetime premieres. Roamios will go down in price and lifetime premieres on ebay will benefit from less competition (in my opinion).


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## Tivogre (Jul 12, 2002)

poppagene said:


> If you're adding a mini to an xl4, you're planning on watching tivo on a second tv. To do that you will need to either add the mini to the xl4, add the roamio to the xl4, or sell the xl4 and buy a roamio and a mini.


This is what I was saying. If you put anything other than a mini in the second tv, you would incur a CC fee for the extra Tivo.


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## leiff (Aug 24, 2005)

You guys didnt read my first post. Paragraph 2 explains. currently, Im mirroring 2 TV.s in two different rooms from my xl4 using a single bluetooth slide remote to control and watch from both rooms


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## TC25D (Aug 21, 2013)

leiff said:


> You guys didnt read my first post.


Or people grew weary of wading through the lack of consistent punctuation and capitalization to figure out your current configuration.


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## aristoBrat (Dec 30, 2002)

leiff said:


> will either option be cheaper if i hold out for a sale? I worry the longer i wait the less value my xl4 has.


That's the rub. Your XL4 loses value while you wait for some sale that may or may not happen. I don't think anyone here has definite knowledge of TiVo's plans with sales or bundles. You can look at TiVo's past history, but I'm not sure if any of their previous models have sold as well as the Roamio appears to be doing. To me, that may affect TiVo's decision on when to do a sale/bundle.

Of your two scenarios below, selling the XL4 and replacing it with a base Roamio seems like the best solution, if your main goal is to get the faster menus into both rooms.

The only other setup that would yield that would be selling the XL4, and replacing it with a Roamio and a Mini. But since you're the only one using the TiVo, I don't see you getting much of a benefit from having the two separate boxes, unless you really do want two different TV shows playing at the same time (in the different rooms).



> The main reason i would buy a mini to go with my xl4 is to get faster apps\menus in second room. The problem with this solution is my main living room would be stuck with slow premier.





> Alternative is to sell my xl4 and buy base roamio (i dont care about streaming) and continue to mirror my living room tivo to 2nd room and avoid buying a mini.


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## jmpage2 (Jan 21, 2004)

leiff said:


> Do you all think i should buy a mini to go with my xl4 or sell my xl4 and replace it with a base roamio? Or will it be much cheaper to wait to upgrade with the risk if i decide ro replace my xl4 later its resale value might be less? Think its likely tivo will sell a roamio/mini combo later this year? In which case i would keep the mini to go with my xl4 and give the roamio to a family Member.


XL4 resale value has already taken a pretty good hit. I don't see any harm in waiting.

Besides, the base Roamio is something of a loser if you ask me. Small hard drive, no integrated stream function, cheaper chassis, 4 tuners instead of six. The Plus is only $200 more and is much more capable.


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## overFEDEXed (Nov 11, 2002)

jmpage2 said:


> XL4 resale value has already taken a pretty good hit. I don't see any harm in waiting.
> 
> Besides, the base Roamio is something of a loser if you ask me. Small hard drive, no integrated stream function, cheaper chassis, 4 tuners instead of six. The Plus is only $200 more and is much more capable.


I was going to sell my Elite/XL4, just before the Roamio was available. The eBay price was around $650-$750.

After the announcement and the easy hard drive upgrade find, I was lucky to get $525 plus shipping. $550 seems to be around the average going price now.

I had $750 into it and got around 18 months use so....

Now, like Aaron, if I could just get them to transfer my $6.95 Premiere plan to another Roamio.


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## jmpage2 (Jan 21, 2004)

I sold an XL4 with Lifetime + BB 4 year warranty + Stream for $580 and feel I was lucky to get that, so ya, resale on the XL4 has tanked, but might actually rebound after the first glut of resales is cleared off of eBay.


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## leiff (Aug 24, 2005)

Obviously upgrading my series 3 to a xl4 with lifetime was a costly mistake. Basically will have cost me $300 to lease it for about a years time. And here i thought buying lifetime would be saving me $. Call me burned.


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## jmpage2 (Jan 21, 2004)

leiff said:


> Obviously upgrading my series 3 to a xl4 with lifetime was a costly mistake. Basically will have cost me $300 to lease it for about a years time. And here i thought buying lifetime would be saving me $. Call me burned.


Same here. You're not the only one. In my case the XL4 was $499 plus lifetime, plus a Stream. Probably paid $500 or so for 16 months of use. Ouch.


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## poppagene (Dec 29, 2001)

leiff said:


> You guys didnt read my first post. Paragraph 2 explains. currently, Im mirroring 2 TV.s in two different rooms from my xl4 using a single bluetooth slide remote to control and watch from both rooms


Since you're planning on mirroring the picture, get the mini plus lifetime now and use it to provide video to both of your tvs. at some point you may find it advantagous to sell the xl4 and replace it with a roamio. The resale value of premieres has already taken a hit and it may go up a bit after the glut of them has cleared the market. There may be deals on roamios (maybe tivo remanufactured ones) in the future and your mini will be compatible with the roamio should you find a need for two tvs with different content being displayed at some future date. If not the mini plus lifetime will likely be worth a reasonable amount should you want to resell it in the future.

In any case, you can go to Best Buy and pick up a mini and see whether it meets your expectations regarding functionality and improved speed. If not take it back for a refund and go with the Roamio.


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## DaveDFW (Jan 25, 2005)

jmpage2 said:


> Same here. You're not the only one. In my case the XL4 was $499 plus lifetime, plus a Stream. Probably paid $500 or so for 16 months of use. Ouch.


Same here. In retrospect, I should have held onto my S3's for one more year and jumped directly to the Roamio rather than making the interim XL4 purchase. But one year ago, I didn't know that such an improved model was on the horizon.

The S3's appear to be selling for about $100 less than when I sold mine, and my actual loss on the XL4 was about $400. With perfect prescience, I could have saved about $200 by skipping the Premiere experience.


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