TiVo TCDA92000 TiVo Mini..
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114 of 121 people found the following review helpful.
Mini is a decent alternative to a 2nd TiVo but there's (a lot of) room for improvement
By J. Page
//Sept 5 2013 Update
I have replaced my TiVo XL4 Premiere box with a new Roamio Box and this "solves" the issue of having to dedicate a single tuner to Mini use. It has been indicated that an update will offer this same capability for the XL4/Elite boxes later this year.
The Mini also recently got an update that included Netflix. Netflix is fast and works quite well on the Mini. These two improvements on TiVos part (even though one hasn't been delivered for Elite/XL4 owners just yet) is enough to get me to grudgingly bump the review up to 4 stars.
What would it take to eek 5 stars out of me?
1. Reduce the price of the Mini + Lifetime service to $199... at least with purchase/activation of a Main TiVo (in a bundle it should really be offered for $149 for the Minis).
2. Offer some kind of management system so that Minis in other rooms of the house have permissions or profiles to control what content/channels they can consume and what they have permission to delete.
3. Increase the # of video apps to get more competitive with cheap devices like Roku.
Original view follows//
I had been following news of the TiVo Mini since the rumors first started leaking out last year. I have an old S3 TiVo in our master bedroom (which almost never gets used) and I've always wanted a TiVo for my workout room (I had been using a Slingbox for that room which was pretty miserable). A TiVo "mini" would let me retire some of these older devices and give me unified access to the great big (expensive) 2TB TiVo in my family room.
When I discovered that the Mini was finally available to ship, I purchased two of them, one from TiVo directly and one from my local Best Buy. One very important limitation of the Mini that is very important for anyone to be aware of is that the Mini is only supported with 4-tuner Premiere units at this time, and TiVo have indicated that they won't be supporting the 2 tuner boxes at any time in the near future.
Since my XL4 TiVo already has a wired ethernet connection, I enabled the MoCA on the XL4 and opted to set the Minis up with MoCA using coaxial drops in each room. The Mini has an integrated MoCA adapter in it which makes this a snap. I should point out that there is a lot of misinformation about MoCA with these devices. All 4 tuner TiVos have a built in MoCA adapter, so as long as your 4 tuner TiVo has a network connection (via ethernet or wi-fi) then all you need to do is enable MoCA (choose "both" from the setup) on your XL4/Elite and the Minis will work. You do NOT need to buy a MoCA adapter for each Mini, and you do not need one on your network at all unless your Elite/XL4 does not have network connectivity via ethernet or wi-fi.
Another little network related thing to point out is that the Mini does NOT have Wi-Fi and TiVo indicates that using the devices with a wireless bridge, etc, is not supported. This is pretty understandable since it is dealing with HD video delivery, where wi-fi can fall flat on its face.
I wish I could say that setup of the Mini was painless, but it really wasn't.
Network connectivity with the Minis (using MoCA) worked fine, but for some inexplicable reason I could not get the Mini to connect to my XL4 TiVo, I kept getting a "V70" error. It turns out that the Mini and 4-tuner TiVo both must know about each other via the activation process before they can communicate over the network. This means that after activation you might have to wait as long as 30 minutes and then manually force the 4 tuner TiVo to connect to the TiVo "mothership" by way of going into the settings-> network menu and then choosing to force a connection. Even then I was having trouble, so a TiVo technician recommended re-naming the XL4 and then rebooting everything, making new forced calls, and after that it was up and working. Wayyy more trouble then it should have been. Honestly in this day and age there's little excuse to even need to make a phone call or activate with a web page.... just have the TiVo phone home and ask you for that info during the setup process.. At a minimum, the setup should remind you that you need to activate the device before continuing. Not everyone reads the little setup cards that come with their electronics.
As to the Mini itself, it is a very slick little piece of hardware. It is very compact, and the infrared on it is very sensitive so it can easily be hidden nearly behind a TV. There are some wall mounting holes on it, and I believe TiVo will be offering some kind of bracket in the future to allow it to be mounted directly behind a TV. It has HDMI output for all modern televisions, and it has mini breakout jacks (you will have to order the cables from TiVo separately) for component video and stereo audio. Since most people will connect the TiVo directly to a TV in a secondary room of the home this arrangement will work well. Note that the Mini does not have any other connections, no optical/coaxial digital audio, no "RF" connection for ancient TVs.... the Mini is clearly designed to work with "newer" (15 years or newer) televisions. The Mini includes a TiVo peanut remote but sadly does not include the wonderful "glo" remote that comes with the higher end XL4/Elite TiVos.
The Mini only uses about 3-5 watts, whether viewing video or when the unit is in standby.... that compares very well to the S3 that it replaced, which consumed a hefty 30-35 watts. Many cable company provided boxes similarly use tons of juice.
Mini sets up with guided setup like a regular TiVo box, but does not ask you any questions about your cable service.... the reason for this is that the Mini does not have a tuner in it (no cable card)... it gets all guide data, programming, and live TV from the 4-tuner TiVo in the home. One nice perk here is that if you are paying a cable company "outlet" charge for rental of a cable box or cable card, you won't have to do this with the Mini. For all intents and purposes the cable company does not even know you have it.
Once Mini is set up, it is just like an extension of your main TiVo. You have access to all of your recorded programs, and can easily schedule new recordings (these recordings happen on the 4 tuner TiVo, not the Mini). It's worth noting that you need to dedicate full time 1 or 2 tuners to support Minis from your XL4/Elite TiVo and those tuners will not be available for doing recordings. This is needed in order for the Mini to watch live TV or certain other services (Comcast On Demand for example). TiVo claims this will be fixed with "dynamic allocation" of tuners in a spring update. We'll see. Assuming that you have dedicated a tuner to the Minis, it does take an extra 2-3 seconds for it to "tune in" to a channel... so if you're a frequent channel flipper you might find the tuner delay a bit annoying. It is not nearly as annoying if you "guide surf" channels.
Another honorable mention is that the menu speeds of the Mini are truly impressive. It apparently has a newer cpu/gpu than the current TiVo premiere models and boy does it show. The Mini blazes through the HD menus with very little delay of any kind. Pressing the "zoom" button to zoom in from the guide or "my shows" screens to your currently playing program is pretty much instantaneous. It will be nice when TiVo gets around to updating their "Premiere" boxes with similar hardware.
So, why the three star rating? Well, there's a few things that I am still not fully satisfied about and I will summarize them below;
* TiVo Mini can not create or modify season passes. Hopefully this gets addressed in a future software update.
* TiVo Mini does not have Netflix or certain other internet services. This is very disappointing considering the high cost of the unit with a lifetime subscription.
* TiVo Mini ties up a tuner full time. While TiVo says this will be addressed in a future update... you might want to wait until they deliver if this is a deal breaker for you... TiVo does not have a great track record of delivering on promises.... the Premiere is over 3 years old now and still does not have HD menus throughout.
* One of my TiVo Minis has locked up. The box had not been used in a few days and when I went to watch it, it was locked up. The IR LED on the front was responding but nothing on the TV. I had to power cycle and reboot it. Very disappointing.
* TiVo Mini has no access rights or permissions. What if I want to put a Mini in a kid's room and limit what channels are available (or set a ratings limit)? What if I want to put one in a guest room and prevent guests from deleting my programs? Sadly, none of this is possible today and no way of knowing if it ever will be.
* Cost. The Mini itself is $99 which is reasonable, but the service is $5.99 per month, or (for those who can do math) $149 for lifetime for a total purchase price of $249 (you will break even on Lifetime in just over 2 years, and Lifetime has resale value, so it's foolish not to do the lifetime option). While the Mini might eliminate some cost for the owner (eliminate rental of other HD cable boxes or cable cards for example)... since all it is doing is piggybacking onto another TiVo (and robbing one of its tuners) it is a sketchy proposition as to whether it is "really" worth $249. I personally think that a total purchase price for the Mini, including lifetime service, should be between $149-$199... especially considering the limitations mentioned above. As it is, I could justify the price as I was able to sell some old hardware which covered 100% of the cost of two Minis. I probably won't buy a 3rd Mini until the price drops (if it ever does) or until TiVo improves the value proposition by way of dynamic tuner allocation, added Netflix support, improved stability, etc.
All in all the Mini is a good value proposition IF you know what you are getting and can stomach the price. If TiVo improves some things I will update my review to 4 stars and add more info accordingly.
//Update 1 03/24/2013
I was watching a program on the Mini and scheduled it to record so I could go to sleep. Tried to watch the recording a couple of days later from the same Mini and it throws a V401 error and refuses to play the recording. Not good.
//Update 2 05/19/2013
A few more little problems with my two TiVo Minis that further reinforce my 3 star rating. One of my Minis refused to play back anything from the host DVR until I rebooted it. When I attempted playback I would see the spinning "activity" circle and then it would return to the "shows" screen without initiating playback. Reboot cleared it. My 2nd Mini is hooked up directly to a Panasonic 42" Plasma (it's maybe 5 yrs old)... several times now this Mini has needed to be unplugged and re-plugged into the HDMI of the TV to restore the picture as initially I would get a black screen like the handshake failed. I replaced the HDMI cable and that is not the problem.
In any event, I'm looking forward to what I hope is a soon to be delivered FW update that will address some of these problems. If, after the FW update I continue to have them I will be opening up tickets with TiVo support, as, for the very high price paid for service for this box I have higher expectations than what TiVo is able to deliver currently.
//Update 3 06/14/2013
It's been almost 90 days since release of the Mini and yet TiVo still has not released any updates for it. I continue to experience the following issues (I have two Minis);
1. Periodically the Mini on a Panasonic Plasma TV will have no video connection to the TV. The HDMI connection must be pulled and restored to get it to work, or the Mini must be rebooted. I have had many devices over the years connected to this TV and none of them have had this problem. Appears to be an HDMI handshake problem.
2. Sometimes when attempting playback on the Mini I get an "no authorized TiVo found on the network" error. I must reboot the Mini to clear this up. I know the network itself is fine because I can see the XL4 TiVo and all of the recordings. This problem would be less annoying if the Mini didn't take 5 minutes to boot up. I feel for the people who have run into this issue and have the Mini in a less than accessible place.
3. Comcast on Demand seems to lose authentication with the Mini at times. You try to play back something on the Mini with On Demand and it fails saying the TiVo is not authorized. You must go down to the main TiVo, start something up from on Demand so that it's re-authenticated and then the Mini will start to work again.
4. And of course, still no dynamic tuner allocation, still no management controls, still no Netflix or other "premium" services available on $49 Roku boxes. Considering the $249 (with lifetime service price) it's somewhat inexcusable that they are not getting an update out to address some of these shortcomings more quickly.
50 of 53 people found the following review helpful.
TiVo's Long Awaited Thin-Client Extender
By Samuel J. Biller
UPDATED SEPT 2, 2013
TiVo released a software update to the TiVo Mini in conjunction with the launch of the Series 5 Roamio platform. The update is very significant and I'm raising my rating on the TiVo Mini from 4-stars to 5-stars. The update includes the long-awaited Dynamic Tuner Allocation which seamlessly allows up to 8 TiVo Mini's on a local network to steal tuners from a Roamio (Premiere coming soon) DVR host. The Mini also received an updated HTML5 app engine and new Netflix and YouTube apps that support Google's Discovery and Application Launch (DIAL) protocol. This means that a Netflix or YouTube app running on a smartphone or tablet recognize the Mini as a potential destination for video. This is an awesome feature and is better than Apple's Airplay. The Netflix app also immediately scales to 1080p24 so the annoying black screen during HDMI resolution switchover is eliminated. All-in-all, the TiVo Mini is a great device for extending the TiVo experience to multiple TVs in the home. I will update the review again when TiVo updates the Premiere software to support dynamic MultiRoom and hopefully releases some new apps with its Opera/HTML5 app platform.
ORIGINAL REVIEW
For anyone new to the TiVo world, I would recommend the TiVo Mini to extend the TiVo experience to other rooms mainly because it is so much faster due to an upgraded modern processor. TiVo has had a non-DVR extender client called the TiVo Preview for its cable operator partners for quite some time. The company decided to not release the Preview to retail which was very disappointing for me at the time. I've been waiting for a very long time for TiVo to fulfill its promise of a true Whole-Home DVR solution. The TiVo Mini meets or exceed my expectations in a number of ways but significant areas of improvement remain that will require promised software updates. TiVo indicates that these updates won't be available until later this year. I will update this review and FAQ as TiVo updates the Mini software which will likely shift my review from my current 4-star rating to 5-stars. I would not hesitate to recommend the Mini in its current-state to family or friends to enable the TiVo experience on multiple televisions in the home.
PROS
* Performance of the User Experience due to the upgraded processor
* Built-in Multimedia over Coax (MoCA) networking
* Minimal power use (~5 Watts)
* Silent Operation - No fan or moving parts
* No need for another CableCARD saves money
* Whole-home experience
CONS
* Dynamic Tuner Allocation (DTA) not currently available
* Cost of entry
* Missing Netflix and Amazon apps
* Inability to completely manage host DVR
* 4-tuner requirement (Premiere 4/XL4) for Host DVR
* Increased channel change time for live-TV surfing
DETAILS
TiVo has supported the ability to place multiple TiVo boxes around the home to share content via Multi-Room Viewing (MRV) or Multi-Room Streaming (MRS) for quite some time. The cost of entry for this type of solution was a minimum of $300 (two TiVo Premiere's at $149 each) plus $28/mo subscription or $900 Product Lifetime Subscription (PLS). At times TiVo offers discounts/sales on the DVR hardware that slightly lowers the cost but the subscription fees have remained relatively constant for quite some time. In addition to the $28/mo this whole-home solution required a CableCARD device in each DVR in-order to watch live television at both TVs. The cost of a CableCARD varies by provider but its at least a few dollars per month. Some cable operators like Comcast charge a digital outlet fee for some of their subscribers which can bump the cost of a 2nd TiVo box even higher. The TiVo Mini is a very-small, low-power, thin-client device that steals a tuner from a host 4-tuner DVR. TiVo currently offers two-flavors of 4-tuner DVRs - the TiVo Premiere 4 ($249) or the TiVo Premiere XL4 ($399). The Premiere 4/XL4 perform identically but the XL4 has a larger hard drive, an upgraded remote, and THX certification. If we Compare the cost-of-entry for a two-TV household we get a minimum of $399 (Premiere 4 + Mini) plus a monthly subscription of $22/mo for a saving of $6/mo not including CableCARD, additional outlet fees, and power savings, over the 2-DVR solution. If a consumer opts to buy lifetime on both the $650 cost ($499+$149) is a savings of $250 over the lifetime cost of 2 Premiere DVRs. In many ways the Mini solution is more elegant and simplifies the management of a whole-home advanced television solution. For three and four television homes, the Mini is an even more compelling device.
PERFORMANCE OF THE USER EXPERIENCE WITH THE UPGRADED PROCESSOR
The Mini is equipped with a more modern Broadcom processor than the currently available Premiere DVRs which results in very snappy performance of the HD user experience and the available apps like Hulu+, Pandora, and Spotify. All signs point to a refresh of the DVR-line later this year with more modern processors that should offer similar performance improvements. The performance of the Mini is so good that I've decided to attach it to my my family-room television while relegating the host XL4 to my 3rd bedroom.
BUILT-IN MULTIMEDIA OVER COAX (MoCA) NETWORKING
The fact that the Mini supports MoCA greatly simplifies my whole-home setup. I essentially connect the power adapter, an HDMI cable (included), and my coax to the Mini. The coax supports both the video transmission and the high-speed data connection required for the Mini. The Premiere XL4 is a MoCA bridge so if its co-located with a homes router there is no-need for additional adapters. TiVo sells the Actiontec MoCA adapter for $50 if its required for your setup.
MINIMAL POWER USE (~5 WATTS) / SILENT OPERATION
I haven't calculated what saving this yields over my Premeire-DVR, but its a bonus that the Mini is low-power. Since it doesn't even have a fan, it a silent device. The Mini has zero moving parts (e.g., Fan, Disc drive) so its reliability should be much higher than the host Premiere DVR.
NO NEED FOR ANOTHER CABLECARD SAVES MONEY
I already mentioned this above but its probably worth mentioning again. One less thing that requires pairing with your cable operators systems. If you live in a location that uses Switched Digital Video (SDV), there is one less box required on your 2nd TV.
WHOLE-HOME EXPERIENCE
The Mini steals a tuner from the host Premiere 4/XL4 DVR and presents the user with a nearly identical experience that's available on the DVR. One of the management screens is currently missing. I'm hoping TiVo will enable that in a future software upgrade. It's refreshing for me now that I only need to manage one set of Season Passes, Wish Lists, etc. My Premiere XL4 has 2 TB of storage so the only occasional issue is a tuner conflict especially at this point since my Mini's hijack one tuner from the host box. TiVo has told a number of bloggers and reviewers that dynamic tuner allocation (DTA) is coming later this year which should nearly eliminate that issue for me.
COST OF ENTRY
This is probably the most controversial aspect of the TiVo Mini. In addition to the $99 up-front cost, the Mini requires a subscription of $5.99/mo or $149 for lifetime. Although its likely that TiVo has some fixed recurring cost associated with servicing the Mini, the subscription is more likely related to their business model and as many posters over on the TiVo Community Forums (TCF) have pointed out, "because they can." As you can see from my calculations above, the Mini does offer cost-savings over an alternative solution and when stacked against many of their competitors, TiVo's whole-home solution stands up favorably and in most cases offers similar or greater capabilities.
LACK OF NETFLIX AND AMAZON APPS
Surprisingly, the TiVo Mini launched without a Netflix app. I wasn't surprised to see Amazon missing because the Mini would require a complete re-write of the app to support streaming versus downloading. The missing Netflix app is a mystery. TiVo hasn't provided an explanation on the omission other than confirming that they are working on providing both apps later this year. Its worth noting that I already own the Apple TV (ATV) and multiple Roku boxes so the missing apps are not a huge impact for me. I would prefer to have everything, including program search, unified on my one TiVO box, but until that point I use the ATV and Roku(s) to supplement my TiVo viewing.
INABILITY TO COMPLETELY MANAGE THE HOST DVR
The Mini is missing the 'Manage Recordings & Downloads' menu entry. This allows a user to manage season passes, set-up manual recordings, view history, etc. TiVo hasn't offered an explanation on why its missing nor have they indicated that it will be enabled in a future release. I personally view this as a somewhat minor omission since I manage most of my recordings via the iOS app on my iPad. I expect that there is some nuance that requires them to make a software update and we will see this in a later release.
4-TUNER REQUIREMENT ON HOST DVR
Apart from the cost , the Premiere 4/XL4 requirement for the host-DVR is probably the most controversial. TiVo has not explained the rationale, technical or business, for excluding the base Premiere boxes from the list but its something that needs to be considered for a potential purchaser. Since the base Premiere doesn't have built-in MoCA, I'm sure that factored in the decision. TiVo also informed Josh Goldman at Cnet that the two-tuner boxes will not be supported in the future even after DTA is enabled. As a Premiere XL4 owner, I wasn't impacted by this decision. Its probably also worth noting that the Mini has no problem streaming from a 2-tuner Premiere that might be on a consumers network.
INCREASED CHANNEL CHANGE TIME FOR LIVE-TV VIEWING
Since the Mini steals a tuner from the host DVR, its channel change time is a few seconds slower than the channel change speed on the host Premiere 4/XL4. Its slow but for me its not a show-stopper. Its unclear whether there are things TiVo can do in the future to speed-up this process. I'll note that the Broadcom chip that TiVo is using in the Mini, the BCM 7418, claims to have some proprietary technology to speed up channel changes.
_______________________________________________________________
THE FAQ
I will try to keep this section as objective (factual) as possible.
Q: Why would I want a TiVo Mini?
A: The TiVo Mini connects to a 4-tuner host DVR (currently Premiere 4/XL4 only) and extends the TiVo experience to another television. When compared to using another TiVo DVR to extend the TiVo experience, the TiVo Mini saves you money and is built on a much faster processor so user interface speed is snappy and the few apps present launch much quicker than they do on the host DVR.
Q: Why would I not want a TiVo Mini?
A: The TiVo Mini hijacks a tuner from the host DVR effectively turning the host 4-tuner DVR into a 3-tuner model. That tuner is no longer available to record programs. It is possible to disable tuner hijacking on the host DVR effectively disabling live-television viewing on the Mini. There are work-arounds to watch live TV even with tuner hijacking disabled but the most seamless setup is to allow the Mini to hijack the tuner.
Q: What cables does the TiVo Mini include?
A: The TiVo Mini includes a 6ft HDMI cable for connection to most HDTVs. It also includes a power cable.
Q: How much power does the TiVo Mini use?
A: Preliminary data posted on TiVo Community indicates that the TiVo Mini draws about 5 watts which is a significant savings over the 20 watts that the host DVR draws.
Q: Does the TiVo Mini require a subscription?
A: Yes. In addition to the subscription on the host-DVR the TiVo Mini requires a $5.99/mo or $149 Product Lifetime subscription.
Q: Why does the TiVo Mini require a subscription when it gets so much data from the host DVR?
A: This is probably the most hotly debated topic. TiVo's official answer is because it extends the TiVo experience to other rooms. There is likely some recurring cost for TiVo to support the Mini. In comparison to other devices that extend DVR experiences to other devices, the TiVo Mini is priced somewhat competitively. It is a PREMIUM product. The bottom-line is that it has a subscription fee because TiVo CAN charge a subscription fee due to lack of competition in this market. In general, TiVo's cable operator partners charge a similar subscription fee for the TiVo Mini with zero upfront cost.
Q: How do I connect the TiVo Mini to the host DVR?
A: The TiVo Mini connects to the host DVR via MoCA (multimedia over coax) or ethernet. Wireless is not a 'supported' option due to the bandwidth constraints of streaming high quality MPEG2 video (~15-20 mbps).
Q: Is Component or Composite Video available on the Mini?
A: Yes but they require special breakout cables available only from the TiVo store.
Q: Is the Mini quiet?
A: The Mini is silent. It has no moving parts.
Q: How many Mini's can I have on my network?
A: The number of Mini's is limited by the 10-device limit on a TiVo account. Theoretically you could have 1 host-DVR and 9-Mini's on a network although it is my understanding that a host DVR can only stream 4 programs simultaneously. Until I see other evidence, I would say the limit per host DVR is 3 Mini's where 2 Mini's can stream live television if the host-DVR is configured to allow 2 devices to watch live TV. TiVo has promised a software update to support Dynamic Tuner Allocation (DTA) in the future.
Q: What streaming video apps are available on the Mini?
A: Currently, the TiVo Mini supports Hulu Plus and YouTube. Amazon and Netflix are missing.
Q: What remote comes with the TiVo Mini?
A: The standard non-glow/backlit TiVo remote.
Q: Can the Mini stream from two different Premiere's DVRs on the home network?
A: Yes. The Mini 'pairs' with one host-DVR but can stream from any Premiere on the home network. There are links to other TiVo's on the network from the Mini's 'My Shows' list.
Q: Can I set-up recordings and season passes from the Mini?
A: Yes. Recordings can be initiated from TiVo search, browse movies and TV, the Guide, etc. Currently, the full management of season passes via the 'Manage downloads and recordings' selection is missing. The workaround is to use the iOS or Android app or manage via the host-DVR.
Q: Can the iOS and Android App(s) manage the Mini?
A: Not currently but a software app upgrade is expected this summer/fall (2013) to improve the 2nd screen app control for diskless devices like the Mini.
Q: How do I release a tuner from that the Mini is using so other Mini's on the network can use it?
A: Press the TiVo button to release the tuner. The hijacked tuner also automatically releases after 90 minutes of inactivity. There is presently no way to change the time-out.
Q: Does the Mini support Comcast Xfinity on Demand?
A: Yes, in markets where TiVo supports Xfinity On Demand.
Q: We have two rooms where we want to put Minis. In one room I have CAT 6 link to the Premiere unit. In the other room there is no ethernet drop. Can I use the ethernet to one unit and MOCA to the other? Also, does using Moca require a Moca unit on the Premiere unit?
A: Yes. You can have one Mini connected to MoCA and the other Mini on ethernet. You will need to enable ethernet+MoCA on the Premiere 4/XL4 if you haven't already. The Premiere 4/XL4 can act as a MoCA bridge so no other adapters are required.
Q: When will dynamic tuner allocation be available?
A: A blog posting from TiVo's MSO partner RCN indicates a planned software upgrade in the late summer or early fall (2013) that, "enhances MultiRoom and the way a tuner is allocated for use with the Mini."
Q: Is MoCA or Ethernet preferred for the Mini?
A: The optimal connection appears to be MoCA. Some users are experiencing difficulties with Live TV when connected via Ethernet which may have something to do with the underlying protocol used by the Mini to communicate with the Host DVR. Indications are that a MoCA connection does not have this problem.
Q: My cable company uses something called Switched Digital Video (SDV) and I need a Tuning Adapter (TA) in addition to a CableCARD (CC). How do I set-up MoCA on my Premiere 4/XL4 with a TA?
A: My cable operator is Bright House Networks uses SDV so I've learned the following set-up the hard way. Bright House wants you to hook up the TA directly from the wall and route the output of the TA to the Premier 4/XL4. This is almost guaranteed to stop MoCA from working properly. The only consistent reliable configuration for using a TA with MoCA is with a splitter from you cable wall connection. One output of the splitter goes to the TA and the other output of the splitter goes to the Premiere 4/XL4. This allows a direct connection to your cable wiring from the Premiere 4/XL4. Bottom-line, if you have a tuning adapter attached to the DVR, you must have a splitter for the coaxial cable with one line going into the Tivo & the other going into the tuning adapter. The only thing connecting the Tivo to the tuning adapter is the USB cable. Also note that you need to check the settings on the TiVo to ensure that MoCA is enabled on the Premiere 4/XL4.
30 of 34 people found the following review helpful.
Pain to setup & overpriced, but finally worked nicely
By vgsmike
There are already some good detailed reviews available here, so I won't go to the same level of detail. Now that I've owned it for a while, I'll just share my experience with the Mini thus far.
Before I get started, I'll preface by saying I may be using some "Tivo-ese" language. These are things some of the more long-time Tivo users understand. But I'll try to keep it fairly straight-forward. :)
The bad news comes first. Setup was a pain.
The instructions tell you to activate the product (this can be done online) and then wait 15 minutes before continuing. I waited approximately 1 hour. I set my 4-tuner Elite DVR to allocate 1 tuner to the Mini for live TV, and forced a service connection so that the Elite knows that there is a Mini on my account.
Then I began the Mini's physical setup. I connected the Mini to a kitchen TV, and used my house's MoCA for networking. During Guided Setup, it connected to the MoCA network immediately. But when it came time to select the host DVR, the Elite DVR was blocked off. I could not select it as a host, even though I had waited a full hour for activation to go through.
I forced another service connection on the Elite and then rebooted it. I then unplugged the Mini and restarted Guided Setup, and that solved the problem with not being able to select the Elite as a host DVR. I was able to complete the Guided Setup.
Then there was a new problem. The Mini displayed the list of recorded shows on my Elite, but I couldn't stream any of them or connect to Live TV. It gave me an Error v94 -- "my ethernet wasn't plugged in." That is weird for 2 reasons. I was using MoCA which was working fine, and there is no V94 error described on Tivo's website. So that's useless.
Luckily, I remembered that some other new owners mentioned that a software update would be available right away. So I forced a service connection on the Mini. Ah ha! There was a software update. This left me scratching my head. It already connected to the servers during Guided Setup -- why didn't it download this update automatically then? That software update may be vital and it should have been automatically downloaded from the start. It would have saved me confusion and hassle. Forcing reboots and service connections on everything shouldn't even be necessary.
After the software update was downloaded and installed, everything worked as it should. I could finally stream recordings and watch live TV on the Mini.
Until the next morning.
The following morning, my "activated" Mini apparently became deactivated again on Tivo's servers for some reason. This broke its ability to watch live TV or stream recordings. I tried rebooting the Mini, the Elite DVR and my router multiple times among a number of other things over the course of 5 hours, only to later find out the issue was on Tivo's end. Once the Mini was activated on their servers again, it worked fine. I could have gone without that bonus 5 hour headache.
The good news is that SINCE then, the Mini has worked as it should. Streaming recordings and live TV over MoCA is very good. The menu performance is night and day compared to the famously sluggish 4-tuner Tivo DVR. The kitchen TV is easily getting used twice as much now that it has a Mini connected to it. It is a pleasure to use.
As a matter of pricing, the Mini itself is easily worth the $100. Easily. I would have paid $150 happily for what it is, and maybe even up to $200. What I don't like is the $6/mo service fee, or $150 Lifetime, bringing the "all-in" cost all the way up to $250 or more.
The fee has no good reason to exist. The box is completely dependent on the 4-tuner Tivo that Tivo + Lifetime service customers already paid as much as $1000 for less than 2 years ago. It is Tivo's equivalent to an "Additional Outlet Fee" that cable providers screw customers with.
Tivo should have raised the base price of the Mini to maybe $150 or so instead of making up a big fee just because "others are doing it", as an executive miserably explained it. Cable companies have some of the lowest customer satisfaction ratings for a reason; they aren't models to follow if you care about product and customers.
Stars are docked for the setup experience and the all-in cost.
In summary:
- Setup was a pain. Tivo's derpy servers made it a 24 hour rollercoaster.
- The $150 service fee is insulting to those that already invested as much as $1000.
- Once (finally) set up, the Mini worked well.
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