The Tivo Mini lives.... - Page 32

moyekj · 02-19-2013, 07:03 PM

Thanks for the pics.
Looks like there is indeed a "screensaver" mode (from last picture) which you get after 90 minutes of inactivity:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mwg0415...7632803052063/
(My guess is there is also a "still watching?" kind of dialog in case you are actually still watching but have not interacted with the box for 90 minutes before the screensaver mode kicks in).

Netflix is not shown, but I guess with MSO provided TiVo hardware I wouldn't expect it. Hopefully the retail version will have Netflix.

spotterman26 · 02-19-2013, 07:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by moyekj

Thanks for the pics.
Looks like there is indeed a "screensaver" mode (from last picture) which you get after 90 minutes of inactivity:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mwg0415...7632803052063/
(My guess is there is also a "still watching?" kind of dialog in case you are actually still watching but have not interacted with the box for 90 minutes before the screensaver mode kicks in).

Yep, been waiting to take a picture of that window.

Quote:

Originally Posted by moyekj

Netflix is not shown, but I guess with MSO provided TiVo hardware I wouldn't expect it. Hopefully the retail version will have Netflix.

Correct, at least with Suddenlink, I have no Netflix or Hulu Plus anymore. I use Apple TV for those. I do have Pandora on the Mini (and Q).

sbiller · 02-19-2013, 07:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by spotterman26

Yep, been waiting to take a picture of that window.

Correct, at least with Suddenlink, I have no Netflix or Hulu Plus anymore. I use Apple TV for those. I do have Pandora on the Mini (and Q).

Can you time the launch of YouTube and Pandora and compare it to the launch time on the Q?

P42 · 02-19-2013, 08:11 PM

Interesting the circuit board is mounted upside down. Is the top of the box metal?

Thanks spotterman26!

spotterman26 · 02-19-2013, 08:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sbiller

Can you time the launch of YouTube and Pandora and compare it to the launch time on the Q?

Pandora:
Q - 5.2 sec
Mini - 4.2 sec

YouTube:
Q - 33.9 sec
Mini - 11.6 sec

spotterman26 · 02-19-2013, 08:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by P42

Is the top of the box metal?

It's all plastic. Not a fan of the pyramid shape personally, it looks like they missed a great opportunity to make a true mini tivo. Just my .02.

sbiller · 02-19-2013, 08:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by spotterman26

Pandora:
Q - 5.2 sec
Mini - 4.2 sec

YouTube:
Q - 33.9 sec
Mini - 11.6 sec

Hmmmm.... seems a bit faster. Agreed? When you are scrolling through selections in YouTube does it seem a bit quicker than the Q? I'm trying to think of something that's a bit slow on the Q. How about going into TiVo Search and typing.

Anyway, thanks for running that test. Extremely interesting... It sure seems like it might have a faster processor.

steve614 · 02-19-2013, 08:49 PM

Was that a reset button on the bottom? I couldn't make out the text next to that white dot.

spotterman26 · 02-19-2013, 08:51 PM

Navigating YouTube seems faster on the Mini. On the Q I always have lag, specifically typing into the search bar, on the Mini it wasn't as bad.

spotterman26 · 02-19-2013, 08:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by steve614

Was that a reset button on the bottom? I couldn't make out the text next to that white dot.

Sorry, tough to get good light. It's the Resolution button.

sbiller · 02-19-2013, 08:58 PM

http://suddenlinkfyi.com/2013/02/19/...get-tivo-mini/

Today, in more than 100 Suddenlink-served communities, we announced an enhancement to our Any-Room DVR offering through TiVo® Mini devices. These devices, when linked to a Suddenlink TiVo HD/DVR, make it easier and more economical to bring the TiVo experience to other TV sets in the home. We are the first cable provider in the country to offer TiVo Mini.

sbiller · 02-19-2013, 09:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by steve614

Was that a reset button on the bottom? I couldn't make out the text next to that white dot.

The photo caption says its a resolution button... doesn't TiVo call that "format" on the front of the Premiere?

moyekj · 02-19-2013, 09:14 PM

I'm pretty sure dynamic tuners are not yet released (else they should be in retail by now), but as a simple test to confirm you could make sure Mini is not on live TV and then try recording 4 things at once on the Q. Obviously if Mini is taking a tuner permanently that shouldn't be allowed.
If you do this then just for grins you could also try allocating 0 tuners to the Mini to confirm you can then record 4 things at once again. Thanks for your experimenting!

spotterman26 · 02-19-2013, 09:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by moyekj

I'm pretty sure dynamic tuners are not yet released (else they should be in retail by now), but as a simple test to confirm you could make sure Mini is not on live TV and then try recording 4 things at once on the Q. Obviously if Mini is taking a tuner permanently that shouldn't be allowed.
If you do this then just for grins you could also try allocating 0 tuners to the Mini to confirm you can then record 4 things at once again. Thanks for your experimenting!

I'll do a more thorough test tomorrow by changing the settings on my Q, but I put my 2nd Mini on standby, and confirmed the mini was shut down. The light is out, gotta assume it's shut down. I have set up 3 programs to record, and I'm getting the conflict screen. I took a picture of the "Allow Live TV on Other Devices" screen:

Gonna take some time running around the house doing all this, so this will have to be a project for tomorrow.

moyekj · 02-20-2013, 12:50 AM

OK thanks again. So it's confirmed the current software on the Mini (which matches the currently released Premiere software) doesn't have dynamic tuner allocation as expected.

davezatz · 02-20-2013, 05:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sbiller

http://suddenlinkfyi.com/2013/02/19/...get-tivo-mini/

Today, in more than 100 Suddenlink-served communities, we announced an enhancement to our Any-Room DVR offering through TiVo® Mini devices. These devices, when linked to a Suddenlink TiVo HD/DVR, make it easier and more economical to bring the TiVo experience to other TV sets in the home. We are the first cable provider in the country to offer TiVo Mini.

Well that's F-ed up... I think. They ran my photo, my hand, and my wedding ring.

Edit: Maybe we're square since I had imported their TiVo Mini commercial into my YouTube account.

sbiller · 02-20-2013, 06:34 AM

Mayber Spotterman can lend them a photo that includes the Suddenlink logo?!?

Their bloggers are on a very tight budget!

DigitalDawn · 02-20-2013, 07:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by spotterman26

Ah, gotcha. Yes it has a USB port, I haven't seen any Bluetooth support.

Spotterman,

Can you confirm that the Mini is using Infrared rather than an RF remote. To test this you can put your hand over the front of the Mini remote to see if it still works.

davezatz · 02-20-2013, 07:54 AM

If there was RF and TiVo submitted under their name, we'd have seen the Mini pass thru the FCC.

aaronwt · 02-20-2013, 07:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by crxssi

I think it is very poor form to use any bandwidth unnecessarily. All it would take is a few non-friendly devices to ruin a network, especially if it had any wireless components in it.

I run around sixty devices on my network. A number of them are constantly streaming data(with a number of them wireless). I've never had any issues with devices constantly streaming data over my network. When I need to, I can still transfer between wired PCs at 900+Mb/s.(and between wireless PCs at up to 150Mb/s)
If the wireless and wired network is setup properly, there will not be issues.

moyekj · 02-20-2013, 08:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aaronwt

I run around sixty devices on my network. A number of them are constantly streaming data(with a number of them wireless). I've never had any issues with devices constantly streaming data over my network. When I need to, I can still transfer between wired PCs at 900+Mb/s.(and between wireless PCs at up to 150Mb/s)
If the wireless and wired network is setup properly, there will not be issues.

My 3 TiVos area already noisy enough on the network with their Bonjour and TiVo Beacon activity and I for one don't want additional needless streaming activity over MoCA part of my network when nobody is using the equipment. Perhaps more importantly it also adds unnecessary I/O and CPU overhead to the host unit - and those 4 tuner units running HDUI already tend to be sluggish (even though I know you think they are great speeds for you running HDUI).

aaronwt · 02-20-2013, 08:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by moyekj

My 3 TiVos area already noisy enough on the network with their Bonjour and TiVo Beacon activity and I for one don't want additional needless streaming activity over MoCA part of my network when nobody is using the equipment. It also adds unnecessary I/O and CPU overhead to the host unit - and those 4 tuner units running HDUI already tend to be sluggish (even though I know you think they are great speeds for you running HDUI).

I never said the UI speeds were great, but they have been acceptable to me. But of course, faster would be better.

P42 · 02-20-2013, 09:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by davezatz

Well that's F-ed up... I think. They ran my photo, my hand, and my wedding ring.

Have you ever though about become a hand model?

mr_smits · 02-20-2013, 10:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by spotterman26

. I took a picture of the "Allow Live TV on Other Devices" screen:

Thanks for posting this. Hopefully dynamic tuner issue is resolved sooner rather than later. Can you imagine explaining to customers why their 4 tuner Tivo can no longer record 4 shows at once? Not very "easy", Tivo.

Test · 02-20-2013, 01:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by moyekj

Because Mini is a special case of streaming "live TV" from a host unit. Would you want the Mini default "screensaver" to be live TV and therefore stream most of the time when not being used and therefore take up network bandwidth and burden the host TiVo all the time with that extra stream? I sure wouldn't.

I wouldn't either. Even if the "screensaver" is just the main menu it'll be better than needlessly streaming to a TV that someone might not even be using.

RichB · 02-20-2013, 01:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by moyekj

Because Mini is a special case of streaming "live TV" from a host unit. Would you want the Mini default "screensaver" to be live TV and therefore stream most of the time when not being used and therefore take up network bandwidth and burden the host TiVo all the time with that extra stream? I sure wouldn't.

Isn't it possible for the mini to recognize that the HDMI sink (TV) is off and relinquish the tuner?

- Rich

RichB · 02-20-2013, 01:46 PM

This is off Topic but wouldn't it be nice if TiVo would support RVU so we could have TV's without boxes in kitchens and bedrooms...

http://hdguru.com/what-is-rvu-youll-...963/#more-9963

- Rich

P42 · 02-20-2013, 03:02 PM

Maybe the Best Buy TVs are or were meant to be that. What ever happened to them, and what was their purpose?

davezatz · 02-20-2013, 03:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by P42

Maybe the Best Buy TVs are or were meant to be that. What ever happened to them, and what was their purpose?

Discontinued.

Time_Lord · 02-20-2013, 03:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by moyekj

My 3 TiVos area already noisy enough on the network with their Bonjour and TiVo Beacon activity and I for one don't want additional needless streaming activity over MoCA part of my network when nobody is using the equipment. Perhaps more importantly it also adds unnecessary I/O and CPU overhead to the host unit - and those 4 tuner units running HDUI already tend to be sluggish (even though I know you think they are great speeds for you running HDUI).

How noisy do you really think they are? Keep in mind 100 mb Ethernet has a maximum theoretical pps rate of roughly 140K for minimum sized packets and just over 8K pps for maximum sized frames, so a few small broadcast frames are insignificant.

Ok moca is half duplex but higher throughout so again the broadcast traffic is insignificant.

If you are so concerned about using up all your bandwidth use an Ethernet switch instead, now you are no longer sharing bandwidth with multiple devices except for broadcast (and multicast if your switch is unaware of multicast)

-TL