# TiVo Premiere 4 officially announced



## drebbe (Apr 11, 2012)

TiVo Launches Four Tuner 'TiVo Premiere 4'

New Product Solves the Sunday Night TV Show Pile-Up and Allows Users
to Record Four Shows at One Time

ALVISO, CA -- (Marketwire) -- 08/16/12 -- TiVo Inc. (NASDAQ: TIVO),
the creator of and leader in advanced television services including
digital video recorders (DVRs), today announced the launch of its
TiVo(R) Premiere 4, a set-top box designed to solve program
scheduling conflicts and allow families to record all of their
favorite shows, while simultaneously serving as the hub to a TiVo
whole home-setup. With four digital tuners to record four programs
simultaneously, up to 75 hours of HD recording space and access to a
massive library of web-delivered entertainment, the TiVo Premiere 4
is the ideal DVR for any household of TV enthusiasts.

....

TiVo Premiere 4 Specifications

-- TiVo Series4(TM) architecture
-- Intended for use with digital cable systems only and does not work
with analog cable or over-the-air antennas
-- Supports digital cable (QAM only), and Verizon FiOS(R)
-- Outputs: HDMI, Component video, Composite video, Optical audio, Analog
audio
-- Video output modes include: 480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i, 1080p
-- Inputs: CableCARD(TM) support, Cable coax, Ethernet connection, two
USB 2.0 ports, eSATA, MoCA
-- Audio: Dolby 5.1
-- Additional support for USB 2.0 (2 ports), eSATA for external recording
space, TiVo Wireless N or G Network Adapter
-- 500 GB of recording space for up to 75 hours of recorded HD
programming
-- Dimensions: 16.5" x 9.7" x 2.4"
-- Weight: 6.64 pounds

Also looks like the Premiere XL may be discontinued. Check out http://www.tivo.com/p4


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## atmuscarella (Oct 11, 2005)

Yes looks like the "current" Premiere lineup is now:

Premiere $150: Dual OTA/Cable Analog/Digital Tuners 500GB hd standard remote
Premiere 4 $250: quad digital cable tuner 500GB HD, standard remote
Premiere 4XL $399: quad digital cable tuner 2TB HD, THX & Glo remote


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

They still don't qualify 1080P by putting 1080P24 down. When a device is listed as supporting 1080P, it typically means it supports 1080P60 output.


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## BigJimOutlaw (Mar 21, 2004)

$250 is a pretty darn good price too.


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## scottfll954 (Jul 31, 2012)

I am still under contract for a Premier ..

will tivo allow me to upgrade the equipment and ride out the year.. 

Or do I have to wait ...till contract is over and start fresh 

If I want one..???

thanks for any input


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## robm15 (Feb 23, 2004)

I see $250 is based on a subscription plan. but pricing with no monthly obligation is available by calling tivo. has anyone done that and to find out how much it would cost? i would like to just use a existing sub and transfer it to this new model.


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## jrtroo (Feb 4, 2008)

You are asking to move lifetime to a new P-4? Not gonna happen.


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## FiveKayFt (Feb 12, 2007)

I'm surprised, albeit not greatly, that there is no integrated OTA tuner. Anyone have a guess on whether there'll be a version of the P4 in the near future that includes that?


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## CoxInPHX (Jan 14, 2011)

So is the Premiere XL 1TB model now discontinued? I do not see it list at TiVo.com.

Yep, it is in the Clearance section: https://www3.tivo.com/store/clearance.do


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

CoxInPHX said:


> So is the Premiere XL 1TB model now discontinued? I do not see it list at TiVo.com.


I don't see it either. The Premiere 4 is priced the same as the Premiere XL was.

I wonder if the Premiere 4 uses a little less power than the XL4?


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## CoxInPHX (Jan 14, 2011)

Both the Premiere and Premiere 4 are currently $12.99/mo w/o MSD

https://www3.tivo.com/store/premiere-4.do

Edit: looks like only the Premiere 4

2nd Edit: TiVo fixed the error.


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## NYHeel (Oct 7, 2003)

Do you think Comer's drive upgrade tool would work on the Premiere 4? With drive prices still around $120 it's not much of a savings over the XL4. But if drive prices fall back to where they were before the flooding, it could be a good opportunity to save $50-$70.


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## NYHeel (Oct 7, 2003)

CoxInPHX said:


> Both the Premiere and Premiere 4 are currently $12.99/mo w/o MSD
> 
> https://www3.tivo.com/store/premiere-4.do
> 
> Edit: looks like only the Premiere 4


I think it's a mistake. They'll probably fix it soon.


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## CoxInPHX (Jan 14, 2011)

You can usually find the XL4 on sale for $350, so for the extra $100, I would get the XL4, You get the Glo Remote too which has a much better feel than the regular remote.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

If I were to get a four tuner Premiere now, I would get the Premiere 4 and just upgrade the drive. With a 10% coupon at BestBuy that would bring the price down a little. I paid $450 for my launch Elite and $350 for my Elite just prior to the Xl4 launch.


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## CoxInPHX (Jan 14, 2011)

I don't see the WD20EURS coming back down to much below $100 anytime soon, so the XL4 makes the most sense IMO.

Besides, with the 4 Tuner Premieres, I would want the 3yr ext warranty which would be voided by upgrading the drive.


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## Keith Plucker (Oct 14, 2002)

CoxInPHX said:


> ...I would want the 3yr ext warranty which would be voided by upgrading the drive.


TiVo can't legally void a warranty because you upgraded a drive. The only way they could do that is if the drive upgrade itself was the source of the failure.

-Keith


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## gamo62 (Oct 12, 2002)

FiveKayFt said:


> I'm surprised, albeit not greatly, that there is no integrated OTA tuner. Anyone have a guess on whether there'll be a version of the P4 in the near future that includes that?


Nope. The days of a built-in OTA tuner are history.


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## compnurd (Oct 6, 2011)

Keith Plucker said:


> TiVo can't legally void a warranty because you upgraded a drive. The only way they could do that is if the drive upgrade itself was the source of the failure.
> 
> -Keith


ummm.. Yes they can


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## CoxInPHX (Jan 14, 2011)

Keith Plucker said:


> TiVo can't legally void a warranty because you upgraded a drive. The only way they could do that is if the drive upgrade itself was the source of the failure.
> 
> -Keith


Have you read the Ext Warranty Contract?
Have you ever had any Ext Warranty Contract cancelled for no reason at all? I have.

8. LIMITATIONS OF COVERAGE This Contract Does Not Cover.
A. Any equipment located outside the United States.
B. Service or replacement required as a result of any alteration of the equipment, or
repairs made by anyone other than a participating servicing dealer, an authorized
service provider, its agents, distributors, contractors or licensees, or the use of supplies
other than those recommended by the manufacturer.
C. Damage or other equipment failure due to the failure to maintain the equipment
according to the owners manual instructions (except accidental damage from handling
claims), abuse, vandalism, theft, fire, flood, wind, freezing, power failure, inadequate
power supply, unusual atmospheric conditions. acts of war, acts of God or other force
majeure events.
D. Service or replacement necessary because of improper storage, improper ventilation,
reconfiguration of equipment, or the failure to place the equipment in an area that
complies with the manufacturers published space or environmental requirements.
E. Any utilization of equipment that is inconsistent with either the design of the
equipment or the way the manufacturer intended the equipment to be used. Any and
all cases in which the manufacturer of the equipment would not honor any warranty
regarding the equipment.
F. Equipment used commercially or in a commercial setting or equipment sold as a
rental.
G. Cosmetic damage such as, but not limited to scratches, dents, rust, stains.
H. Nonfunctional parts such as, but not limited to, plastics or finishes. Expendable or
lost items, such as, but not limited to ear buds or head phones.
I. Consumable items; consumable items are defined as any part that is considered
consumable by the manufacturer and/or any item that is designed to be consumed
(wear out) during the life of the Product, regardless if it is consumer replaceable or not.
J. Pre-existing conditions (incurred prior to the effective date of coverage) known to
You.
K. In-warranty parts not provided or shipped by the manufacturer. Operational or
mechanical failure covered by manufacturers recall, manufacturers warranty extension,
or factory bulletins, (regardless of whether or not the manufacturer is doing business
as an ongoing enterprise).
L. Consequential damages as a result of malfunctioning of or damage to an operating
part of the covered equipment, or damages as a result of any repairs or replacements
under this agreement Damages caused by delays in rendering service or loss of use
during the period that the Product is at the authorized service center or otherwise
awaiting parts are not covered. You are responsible for creating back-ups of all Your data
and software on a regular basis.
M. Operational or mechanical failure which is not reported prior to expiration of this
Contract.
N. Equipment sold without a manufacturers warranty or sold as is is not covered.
O. Loss or damage as a result of violation of existing federal, state and municipal codes
including. but not limited to power surge and spike resulting from a violation of those
codes.
P. Transit or delivery damage, damage caused by packing. unpacking, assembly,
installation, or removal. Short circuit, loss of use, lack of maintenance, bodily injury,
adjustments, periodic checkups or maintenance.
Q. Any cost recoverable under an insurance policy issued to you (in such case, this
Contract will cover any applicable deductible).
R. Any software, including but not limited to, application programs, network programs,
upgrades, formatting of any kind, databases, files, drivers, source code, object code or
proprietary data, or any support, configuration, installation or reinstallation of any
software or data where such software is not provided by TiVo.
S. Equipment where the TiVo service number does not match the Product covered
under this contract.
T. Damage or failure caused by bodily fluids, including but not limited to urine and
vomit.


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## nrc (Nov 17, 1999)

Keith Plucker said:


> TiVo can't legally void a warranty because you upgraded a drive. The only way they could do that is if the drive upgrade itself was the source of the failure.
> 
> -Keith


They can and do. "Please note that removing the cover of the DVR for any reason voids the warranty."

http://www.tivo.com/buytivo/dvrlimitedwarranty.html

This is not a laptop or desktop computer where a consumer could reasonably expect to replace or upgrade parts without voiding the warranty. Yes, plenty of people can and do upgrade their hard drives. I have no idea of whether TiVo is strict about this clause or not, but they certainly could be.


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## aaronkn (Nov 8, 2002)

CoxInPHX said:


> Have you read the Ext Warranty Contract?
> 
> 8. LIMITATIONS OF COVERAGE This Contract Does Not Cover.
> T. Damage or failure caused by bodily fluids, including but not limited to urine and
> vomit.


I would love to hear the repair requests that came in which prompted the addition of 8.T.!


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## moyekj (Jan 24, 2006)

CoxInPHX said:


> You can usually find the XL4 on sale for $350, so for the extra $100, I would get the XL4, You get the Glo Remote too which has a much better feel than the regular remote.


 With recent Woot deal I got my Elite for $300. I would expect price to come down below $200 range on Amazon or equivalent not too long from now.


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## jjd_87 (Jan 31, 2011)

moyekj said:


> With recent Woot deal I got my Elite for $300. I would expect price to come down below $200 range on Amazon or equivalent not too long from now.


Lucky you they didn't cancel your order. I'm seriously considering the 4 instead now.


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## ajwees41 (May 7, 2006)

aaronkn said:


> I would love to hear the repair requests that came in which prompted the addition of 8.T.!


Blood


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## bmgoodman (Dec 20, 2000)

OK, so it's clear to me that major difference between the Premiere and the new Premiere 4 is in the number and type of tuners. But for the extra $100, what else changes? Can anyone summarize? Does it have a faster interface? Faster streaming? Is the Premiere end-of-line for software upgrades? Is it easier to replace the hard drive in one versus the other?

I'm considering giving one as a wedding gift and I don't want to go with a Premiere and later think, "if only I had spent an extra $100...." (No, I'm not moving up to the top-of-the-line XL4!)


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

All the Premieres have the same processor and memory. If anything the four tuner versions can be slighlty slower because of the extra overhead of constantly buffering four tuners instead of two.

I'm still hoping they announce something for the IP STB soon. Now that they have two, four tuner, models available.

I'm already down to three TiVos. I haven't used so few TiVos since the early 2000's.


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## atmuscarella (Oct 11, 2005)

bmgoodman said:


> OK, so it's clear to me that major difference between the Premiere and the new Premiere 4 is in the number and type of tuners. But for the extra $100, what else changes? Can anyone summarize? Does it have a faster interface? Faster streaming? Is the Premiere end-of-line for software upgrades? Is it easier to replace the hard drive in one versus the other?
> 
> I'm considering giving one as a wedding gift and I don't want to go with a Premiere and later think, "if only I had spent an extra $100...." (No, I'm not moving up to the top-of-the-line XL4!)


One of the biggest difference is the Premiere 4 only works with digital cable, while the Premiere works with analog/digital Cable and analog/digital OTA. If you are certain that the TiVo will be used for digital cable only then the extra 2 tuners certainly out ways the extra $100 cost in my mind.


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## davezatz (Apr 18, 2002)

CoxInPHX said:


> So is the Premiere XL 1TB model now discontinued?


Correct.


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## CoxInPHX (Jan 14, 2011)

CoxInPHX said:


> So is the Premiere XL 1TB model now discontinued? I do not see it list at TiVo.com.
> 
> Yep, it is in the Clearance section: https://www3.tivo.com/store/clearance.do





davezatz said:


> Correct.


That's too bad...

I think a good move would have been to bump the Premiere XL to 2TB and keep the price at $250, that would eliminate the need for most to do their own HDD upgrade.


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## jrtroo (Feb 4, 2008)

Perhaps, but they want to have a product that competes against lower cost boxes. $250 as the cheapest unit would scare too many potential customers away who don't care about 2TB.


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## CoxInPHX (Jan 14, 2011)

I wasn't saying get rid of the Premiere 500GB, @ $150

I was saying keep the Premiere XL w/ 2TB, THX, Glo-Remote and leave the price @ $250


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## twhiting9275 (Nov 17, 2006)

scottfll954 said:


> will tivo allow me to upgrade the equipment and ride out the year..


Most likely not though they might. Call and ask. I don't think you'll have a lot of luck there though, they want you to have multiple devices



FiveKayFt said:


> I'm surprised, albeit not greatly, that there is no integrated OTA tuner.


I was a bit surprised to see this with the 'Elite', but with the Premiere 4, not so much. I don't think we'll ever see an OTA tuner from Tivo again, and that's just dandy with me. Since everything is pretty much 'digital' anyways, why would they do this?

I have a Premiere going off contract in September, looks like it's time for an upgrade  . Not only will I save some monthly dough, I'll have more available tuners. Since I don't max either box out much, I think 75 hours should be good


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## MeInDallas (Jul 31, 2011)

Does anyone know if this has the same motherboard, power supply, and tuners as the regular Premiere? Or is it the same stuff the Elite/XL4 has inside? If its the same as the regular Premiere I might try one, but if its the same as the Elite/XL4 I'll pass on it since the Elite was such a nightmare for me. I just sold my Elite/XL4 on Ebay last week. Funny this comes out now after its gone. I hope there is some feedback on this one soon.


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## twhiting9275 (Nov 17, 2006)

I don't see how this could possibly have the same board, or CPU configuration. You'd need a good bit more juice to handle the additional 2 tuners


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## MeInDallas (Jul 31, 2011)

twhiting9275 said:


> I don't see how this could possibly have the same board, or CPU configuration. You'd need a good bit more juice to handle the additional 2 tuners


What a deal breaker for me, I got all excited for nothing


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## L David Matheny (Jan 29, 2011)

gamo62 said:


> Nope. The days of a built-in OTA tuner are history.


If they discontinue all models with OTA tuners, they are insane. I hope and trust that TiVo management is not that stupid.


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## compnurd (Oct 6, 2011)

twhiting9275 said:


> I don't see how this could possibly have the same board, or CPU configuration. You'd need a good bit more juice to handle the additional 2 tuners


As Stated many times, ALL of the Premieres have the same CPU, Motherboard and RAM. The Elite is the same as the regular premiere.

At this point, there is nothing to suggest this is anything different

The tuners are probably the same as the Elite, but it was noted those were different than the regular premiere


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## MeInDallas (Jul 31, 2011)

The regular Premiere does indeed have a different motherboard, power supply, and tuners from the Elite/XL4. All one has to do is get them side by side and look inside. See the pics below.


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## jfh3 (Apr 15, 2004)

Not sure where "OTA tuners are history" came from. The Premiere 4 looks like nothing more than an Elite with a smaller hard drive. Period. Not a statement by TiVo that all future DVRs are cable only.


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## rainwater (Sep 21, 2004)

twhiting9275 said:


> I was a bit surprised to see this with the 'Elite', but with the Premiere 4, not so much. I don't think we'll ever see an OTA tuner from Tivo again, and that's just dandy with me. Since everything is pretty much 'digital' anyways, why would they do this?


I wouldn't be surprised to see the next gen hardware include OTA tuners. The problem with the 4 tuner system is there wasn't a 4 tuner system that supported OTA and cable at the time of release. Most likely that has already changed or will by the time of the next gen hardware release.


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## mattack (Apr 9, 2001)

robm15 said:


> I see $250 is based on a subscription plan. but pricing with no monthly obligation is available by calling tivo. has anyone done that and to find out how much it would cost? i would like to just use a existing sub and transfer it to this new model.


You can also pay lifetime, as shown on the web site.. The press release wasn't clear about that.


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## slowbiscuit (Sep 19, 2006)

I'm scratching my head as to why any 4-tuner DVR would have less than 1TB installed. I know they're trying to keep costs down, but there's not a huge diff in price here for twice the storage.


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## atmuscarella (Oct 11, 2005)

slowbiscuit said:


> I'm scratching my head as to why any 4-tuner DVR would have less than 1TB installed. I know they're trying to keep costs down, but there's not a huge diff in price here for twice the storage.


I would assume it is the same 500GB drive that is now in the Premiere and that allowed them to get some better volume pricing on the drive. If saving a few dollars makes any sense or not is debatable but lots of companies worry about pennies. with enough volume they add up fast.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

atmuscarella said:


> I would assume it is the same 500GB drive that is now in the Premiere and that allowed them to get some better volume pricing on the drive. If saving a few dollars makes any sense or not is debatable but lots of companies worry about pennies. with enough volume they add up fast.


Plus the four tuner TiVo box for the cable company also uses a 500GB drive.


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## jrtroo (Feb 4, 2008)

My recollection is that the current tivo hardware is capable of processing 4 tuners max, and this is just a software (and hardware?) implementation to move two tuners away from OTA to cable. 

A (relatively) cheap change to keep their biggest income growth stream growing. They do need to get profitable. 

I don't see Tivo leaving the OTA behind, they are unique in that market and cannot abandon it. However, unless it is growing for them as fast as cable, they will not be first in line for the new toys.


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## L David Matheny (Jan 29, 2011)

jrtroo said:


> My recollection is that the current tivo hardware is capable of processing 4 tuners max, and this is just a software (and hardware?) implementation to move two tuners away from OTA to cable.


I'm not sure what you mean by that. I think a regular Premiere has two tuners (possibly within one chip), each of which can tune either OTA or cable frequencies. Presumably the new 4-tuner models use a different tuner chip (maybe 2 per chip or maybe 4 per chip) which for some reason cannot be set to use OTA frequencies. Or maybe the decoder chip(s) those models use can't decode 8-VSB encoded signals. In any case, TiVo should be able to design in as many tuner chips (dual or quad or whatever) as they want, as long as they write the software to juggle that many program steams and as long as the hard drives can handle all the data streams.



jrtroo said:


> I don't see Tivo leaving the OTA behind, they are unique in that market and cannot abandon it. However, unless it is growing for them as fast as cable, they will not be first in line for the new toys.


I agree. They surely wouldn't be that foolish.


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## mickpetey (Aug 2, 2012)

I'm a newbie. I think I currently have the Tivo Premier 2 tuner. If I upgrade to the Premier 4 for the four tuners, and pay for service on that box would I be able to network my old Tivo just for the hard drive? So I will pay for service on the Premier 4 and have 4 tuners, then by networking my old Tivo I would have twice the HD?

I was considering waiting for the Centon Q to be released, a 6 tuner would be nice but I think a 4 tuner could get me by for now...


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## Raver (Feb 25, 2009)

I was hoping they would add the ability to stream from my Tivo to any computer connection and watch my shows at lunch. Why can the app on my Kindle do more than I can access via standard computer?


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## Welshdog (Jan 4, 2005)

So Premiere XL4 + Lifetime + 3 year warranty + tax is $902.67
Even for a long time Tivo user like me that is a lot of money. Particularly for a Tivo that is known to have issues with Time Warner digital cable - which is what i have.


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## BigJimOutlaw (Mar 21, 2004)

Welshdog said:


> So Premiere XL4 + Lifetime + 3 year warranty + tax is $902.67
> Even for a long time Tivo user like me that is a lot of money. Particularly for a Tivo that is known to have issues with Time Warner digital cable - which is what i have.


... or get the Premiere 4 + PLS + Warranty + taxes for about $700 with Lifetime discount code: PLSR. Not that $700 isn't a pretty big piece of change also, but the high resell-ability of Lifetime'd boxes can make it worthwhile.


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## bogart (Sep 24, 2002)

Hi--Do these 4 tuner machines require four cable cards from my provider (Fios)? That's $16 per month.


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## Larry M (Jul 21, 2012)

No, only one "M" card.


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## lillevig (Dec 7, 2010)

CoxInPHX said:


> You can usually find the XL4 on sale for $350, so for the extra $100, I would get the XL4, You get the Glo Remote too which has a much better feel than the regular remote.


It's a matter of perspective. Some of us would never need that much extra space, but if the drive goes out you can't replace it with less than 2TB.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

lillevig said:


> It's a matter of perspective. Some of us would never need that much extra space, but if the drive goes out you can't replace it with less than 2TB.


Which is fine. 2 TB drives are around $110. Not the $70 they used to be but even at $110 it's not an outrageous price. Certainly much cheaper than 250GB drives used to cost me.

Sent from my HTC ReZound using Forum Runner


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## bogart (Sep 24, 2002)

Thanks, Larry. 

When the Premiere first came out there were many complaints about it. People said it was essentially a beta released as a finished product. Do those problems still exist?


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## L David Matheny (Jan 29, 2011)

mickpetey said:


> I'm a newbie. I think I currently have the Tivo Premier 2 tuner. If I upgrade to the Premier 4 for the four tuners, and pay for service on that box would I be able to network my old Tivo just for the hard drive? So I will pay for service on the Premier 4 and have 4 tuners, then by networking my old Tivo I would have twice the HD?


TiVo offers no way to use the combined hard drives automatically. If you network the TiVos, you could manually transfer recordings from one to another, but you would need paid-up subscriptions on both units to do so.


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## Finalrinse (Jan 13, 2005)

I have a new Premier 4 on the way, plus a new Western Digital AV-GP 2 TB SATA II Intellipower 64 MB Cache Bulk/OEM Internal Hard Drive - WD20EURS. $115 = $364 for both. Not saving too much over the Elite except I end up with a back-up drive including paired cable card info. Adding a Slide-Out Glo remote for $38 will bring the total price to $402. No THX certification if that matters? Like I say, the only advantage for doing it this way is a back-up drive with my paired cable card data if I have a drive failure down the road. My cable company requires a truck-roll to pair an M-card so its nice to have a back-up ready to go.


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## CoxInPHX (Jan 14, 2011)

Has anyone tried using jmfs live on an Elite/XL4? Does it work?


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## jjd_87 (Jan 31, 2011)

If anyone cares I pulled the trigger on a 4 over the weekend to replace my 45Hr Premiere that was destroyed in a fire earlier in the summer. Cost a little more than I wanted to pay for the Tivo+Lifetime Sub, but for 4 tuners it's worth it. (Especially since Woot canceled my Elite order two weeks ago. GRRR)


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## h2oskierc (Dec 16, 2010)

Finalrinse said:


> My cable company requires a truck-roll to pair an M-card so its nice to have a back-up ready to go.


Didn't the FCC say they could no longer do that???


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## compnurd (Oct 6, 2011)

h2oskierc said:


> Didn't the FCC say they could no longer do that???


Correct Then can not require that. My local company tried to pull that with me.. I contacted the FCC and now have a letter from the cable companies lawyer saying they screwed up


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## Finalrinse (Jan 13, 2005)

h2oskierc said:


> Didn't the FCC say they could no longer do that???


A year ago that's what they said. This Wednesday when my new TiVo arrives I'll see what they say. I'll report back


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## Jonathan_S (Oct 23, 2001)

L David Matheny said:


> I'm not sure what you mean by that. I think a regular Premiere has two tuners (possibly within one chip), each of which can tune either OTA or cable frequencies. Presumably the new 4-tuner models use a different tuner chip (maybe 2 per chip or maybe 4 per chip) which for some reason cannot be set to use OTA frequencies. Or maybe the decoder chip(s) those models use can't decode 8-VSB encoded signals. In any case, TiVo should be able to design in as many tuner chips (dual or quad or whatever) as they want, as long as they write the software to juggle that many program steams and as long as the hard drives can handle all the data streams.


My understanding is the that main DVR chipset for all the Premieres comes from Broadcom, and it can handle 4 inputs from tuners.

The Premiere uses a pair of QAM digital cable hardware tuners and a pair of ATSC/NTSC OTA/NTSC analog cable hardware tuners connected to that chip and blends them together in software to make it act like two tuners which can each tune from any source. (I believe, if TiVo wanted to, they could, with a software change, allow you to record up to four things at once with a normal Premeire, but because of the limited hardware nature of the tuners 2 would have to be from cable and 2 from over-the-air/analog. What they can't do with software is make the ATSC tuner record from digital cable (QAM))

The Premiere 4 and Premier 4XL/Elite have four QAM tuners connected to that same DVR chipset but software exposes all four tuners.

If someone came out with cheap hardware that could tune from ATSC/NTSC/QAM then TiVo might well offer a quad tuner box that could record from any source. Or if Broadcom's next DVR chipset offered 6 or 8 tuner inputs then TiVo might expand their options that way.


CoxInPHX said:


> Has anyone tried using jmfs live on an Elite/XL4? Does it work?


From what I understand the JMFS appears to understand the Elite/XL4 drive, but since the Premieres can only support up to 2 TB in a single drive it's kind of pointless to use JMS because you can't actually upgrade it's stock drive.

But JMFS _should_ work to upgrade a Premiere 4's drive with one up to 2 TB.


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## Finalrinse (Jan 13, 2005)

Jonathan_S said:


> But JMFS _should_ work to upgrade a Premiere 4's drive with one up to 2 TB.


I will be trying this tomorrow and will report back my results.


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## kupe (Apr 10, 2003)

Larry M said:


> Hi--Do these 4 tuner machines require four cable cards from my provider
> No, only one "M" card.


Interesting. We currently have a Tivo HD with one Comcast M card. Can we transfer the M card to a new Tivo 4 ourselves, or does this require a truck roll?

Thanks!

Kupe


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## kupe (Apr 10, 2003)

Hey gang-

Our beloved TV HD is showing signs of nearing the end...like needing hourly reboots. Luckily I'm almost sold on a new Tivo 4...

Curious if our WD My DVR Expander (1TB) will work with a new Premiere or Tivo 4?

Thanks!

Kupe


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## mattack (Apr 9, 2001)

kupe said:


> Interesting. We currently have a Tivo HD with one Comcast M card. Can we transfer the M card to a new Tivo 4 ourselves, or does this require a truck roll?


You have to at least call your cable company and get it re-paired with the new TiVo.



kupe said:


> Curious if our WD My DVR Expander (1TB) will work with a new Premiere or Tivo 4?


You definitely would lose all programming on it (and the original Tivo).


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## don129 (Jun 29, 2010)

Nice!


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## chiguy50 (Nov 9, 2009)

kupe said:


> Interesting. We currently have a Tivo HD with one Comcast M card. Can we transfer the M card to a new Tivo 4 ourselves, or does this require a truck roll?
> 
> Thanks!
> 
> Kupe


YMMV, but you should be able to move the CC to the new box yourself and, once you accomplish set-up of the new box, it should receive all your non-premium authorized channels without pairing. The card will have to be paired to the new box for premium channels and VOD or other interactive cable services. But, barring complications, re-pairing should not require more than a telephone call to Comcast (1-877-405-2298).


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## bmgoodman (Dec 20, 2000)

kupe said:


> Hey gang-
> 
> Our beloved TV HD is showing signs of nearing the end...like needing hourly reboots. Luckily I'm almost sold on a new Tivo 4...
> 
> ...


What's the age of the expander? If it fails, don't you lose *all* your recordings? If yes, and it's as old as your Tivo HD, I'd be wary.


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## kupe (Apr 10, 2003)

chiguy50 said:


> YMMV, but you should be able to move the CC to the new box yourself and, once you accomplish set-up of the new box, it should receive all your non-premium authorized channels without pairing. The card will have to be paired to the new box for premium channels and VOD or other interactive cable services. But, barring complications, re-pairing should not require more than a telephone call to Comcast (1-877-405-2298).


Thanks everyone!

Kupe


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## kupe (Apr 10, 2003)

bmgoodman said:


> What's the age of the expander? If it fails, don't you lose *all* your recordings? If yes, and it's as old as your Tivo HD, I'd be wary.


Lemme think...we bought the Expander to record tons of the 2000 Winter Olympics, so just over 2 1/2 years old.

Yes, you're correct in that if the external dies, it takes all your recordings. I guess I was mostly curious if the My DVR Expanders of that vintage work at all with Premieres or Tivo 4s.

Thanks!

Kupe


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## moedaman (Aug 21, 2012)

h2oskierc said:


> Didn't the FCC say they could no longer do that???


But honestly, it might be worth paying for a truck roll. Especially if you're a first-timer. Cable cards can be flakey and a tech will usually have more than one card on hand, or can quickly get another card, if the initial card being installed is bad.


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## jrm01 (Oct 17, 2003)

moedaman said:


> But honestly, it might be worth paying for a truck roll. Especially if you're a first-timer. Cable cards can be flakey and a tech will usually have more than one card on hand, or can quickly get another card, if the initial card being installed is bad.


I couldn't disagree more on this statement. Truck rolls are rarely worth anything except more aggrevation. Just follow the directions included with TiVo, update the software via Guided Setup (without cards), take a look at the info on-line concerning installing cablecards and then call the activation phone number.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

Yes. A truck roll should be a last resort.


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## moedaman (Aug 21, 2012)

jrm01 said:


> I couldn't disagree more on this statement. Truck rolls are rarely worth anything except more aggrevation. Just follow the directions included with TiVo, update the software via Guided Setup (without cards), take a look at the info on-line concerning installing cablecards and then call the activation phone number.





aaronwt said:


> Yes. A truck roll should be a last resort.


While you're probably both correct. I've read plenty of horror stories about having to go back to the store multiple times to get a cable card that works correctly. Really sucks if you live a good distance away from the nearest location.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

moedaman said:


> While you're probably both correct. I've read plenty of horror stories about having to go back to the store multiple times to get a cable card that works correctly. Really sucks if you live a good distance away from the nearest location.


The same thing can happen with a truck roll. They end up having only one or two cable cards with them and have to make a return visit.


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## Tony Chick (Jun 20, 2002)

compnurd said:


> Correct Then can not require that. My local company tried to pull that with me.. I contacted the FCC and now have a letter from the cable companies lawyer saying they screwed up


My local Time-Warner people found a way around that. They let me pick up the cableCard for self-install but said they don't keep Tuning Adapters in stock for pickup, they are all on the trucks and someone would drop one by. Of course, when the truck showed up they said it was their stock they'd signed for and couldn't release it unless they installed it, and charged me $35 for the pleasure. I'm still disputing that one.


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## innocentfreak (Aug 25, 2001)

Tony Chick said:


> My local Time-Warner people found a way around that. They let me pick up the cableCard for self-install but said they don't keep Tuning Adapters in stock for pickup, they are all on the trucks and someone would drop one by. Of course, when the truck showed up they said it was their stock they'd signed for and couldn't release it unless they installed it, and charged me $35 for the pleasure. I'm still disputing that one.


I would also file a FCC complaint. http://www.fcc.gov/complaints.


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## lamontcranston (Nov 14, 2003)

Now on pre-order at solid signal: http://www.solidsignal.com/pview.asp?mc=03&p=TCD750500


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## compnurd (Oct 6, 2011)

lamontcranston said:


> Now on pre-order at solid signal: http://www.solidsignal.com/pview.asp?mc=03&p=TCD750500


You can order it now From Tivo and Best Buy


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## jjd_87 (Jan 31, 2011)

Received mine in the mail yesterday


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## KenVa (Aug 31, 2005)

Finalrinse said:


> I will be trying this tomorrow and will report back my results.


so how did it go?? I really want to know before I consider buying one of these.


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## Finalrinse (Jan 13, 2005)

KenVa said:


> so how did it go?? I really want to know before I consider buying one of these.


It went well, at first I had an issue recognizing both drives with the JMSF software in my PC but I think that was my fault, I got it worked out and my new P4 now has 317 HD hours. All is good!


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## mattack (Apr 9, 2001)

compnurd said:


> You can order it now From Tivo and Best Buy


The Best Buy info says it has a DVD recorder... I wish!! (err, I wish it had a BluRay recorder.)

Wait, so does the Solid Signal info.. I wonder if these sites got info from Tivo that they interpreted incorrectly.


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## innocentfreak (Aug 25, 2001)

That would be a really nice surprise, but I don't see it.


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