Networking Diff Models

[sheriffA]

I have the original Series 3 Tivo for my living room and I want to purchase the Tivo HD DVR for my bedroom. I want to ensure that I can network the two of them and share tv shows back and forth. For example, If i record Family Guy in my living room can I watch it in my bedroom?

[socrplyr]

There are three issues
1) Speed, at least for HD shows, many times it won't transfer in real time. Thus, you can't start watching right away. (This may or may not be an issue for your setup.)
2) Copyright proection, if your cable provider marks all your shows as "copy once," then you won't be able to transfer them. They cannot do this for local channels or analogs (so you should be able to transfer at least some things). I believe you can check your current recordings by hitting the info button when you are on the recording information page (CCI=0x02 is copy protected).
3) Tivo Account, they must be on the same Tivo account (and thus have the same Media Access Key - MAK), otherwise they won't talk to each other.

Other than those little issues, the boxes were made to talk to each other.

[LifeIsABeach]

3) Tivo Account, they must be on the same Tivo account (and thus have the same Media Access Key - MAK), otherwise they won't talk to each other.

In case it is not clear, part of them both being on the same account includes the fact that both TiVos must be subscribed to transfer shows between them.

[sheriffA]

1) Speed is not an issue, i have a gigabit(1000) network setup
2) This upsets me. Say I start watching a movie recorded from HBO in my living room and want to finish it in my bedroom. This most likely will not be supported. I get rather upset about this. My goal is to setup a DVR in my bedroom for minimum cost. I wanted to purchase the refurbished Tivo HD DVR which has minimal storage and trasnfer shows from my larger Tivo.
3) It will be on the same account.

Another question, what if i have an External Hard drive in my living room and want to watch some content from it in my bedroom. Is that possible?

[sheriffA]

In case it is not clear, part of them both being on the same account includes the fact that both TiVos must be subscribed to transfer shows between them.

Does this cost extra. Currently i'm paying 12.95/mo and if I get a second Tivo I believe the monthly cost is a little lower. Is there even an additional cost that I'm not seeing?

[jbernardis]

By external hard drive, I assume you mean a supported tivo extender. This does not appear an a separate disk drive - from the tivo user interface point of view, you just have a larger single disk drive. You have no knowledge as to where a particular program is stored. Programs stored on the external drive can be transferred to another tivo with the same restrictions as have already been discussed.

[dbenrosen]

Does this cost extra. Currently i'm paying 12.95/mo and if I get a second Tivo I believe the monthly cost is a little lower. Is there even an additional cost that I'm not seeing?

No additional costs for this. Just the normal subscription cost.

[aaronwt]

1) Speed is not an issue, i have a gigabit(1000) network setup
2) This upsets me. Say I start watching a movie recorded from HBO in my living room and want to finish it in my bedroom. This most likely will not be supported. I get rather upset about this. My goal is to setup a DVR in my bedroom for minimum cost. I wanted to purchase the refurbished Tivo HD DVR which has minimal storage and trasnfer shows from my larger Tivo.
3) It will be on the same account.

Another question, what if i have an External Hard drive in my living room and want to watch some content from it in my bedroom. Is that possible?

I have a gigabit network too. Whether you are on a 100mbs or 1000mbs network will not make a difference.(assuming you don't have multiple transfers going on between multiple boxes) The transfer rate is realtively slow. Although mine all still transfer at fatser than realtime. They seem to range between 22mbs and 45mbs transfer rates for me. With the fastest transfer rates when the TiVos are tuned to vacant channels.

[socrplyr]

No additional costs for this. Just the normal subscription cost.

I just wanted to further clarify this, there are no extra costs over the subscription. However, if you are paying monthly at $12.95 for your first Tivo, the second will cost $9.95 a month for its subscription cost (they must both be subscribed, but extra Tivos get a small discount). So the total will be about $23 a month.

[socrplyr]

2) This upsets me. Say I start watching a movie recorded from HBO in my living room and want to finish it in my bedroom. This most likely will not be supported. I get rather upset about this. My goal is to setup a DVR in my bedroom for minimum cost. I wanted to purchase the refurbished Tivo HD DVR which has minimal storage and trasnfer shows from my larger Tivo.


Yeah, there isn't a good solution for that. One thing that you might consider is getting a slingbox HD-Pro ($299 MSRP) and a sling catcher ($199 MSRP). This would mean you still only have the one DVR in the living room, but when in the bedroom you can use it to watch your shows remotely. The caveat is that you can't also use the TV in the living room at the same time. But a benefit is that you could watch TV on your computer or remotely as well.

[LifeIsABeach]

What type of tv do you have in the bedroom? I have a dinky analog 13" set. I use Terk Leapfrog to send the TiVo HD signal from my living room to my bedroom. Works great and no need for a second TiVo, copying programs, etc. The picture looks fine on my tv. Not sure how it would look on an HD tv.