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Any Reason Not to Jump on the Basic Deal? Lack of Gigabit?

Discussion in 'TiVo Roamio DVRs' started by 1985BearsFan, Sep 4, 2015.

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  1. Sep 4, 2015 #1 of 61
    1985BearsFan

    1985BearsFan Member

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    As I've mentioned in another thread, currently, I own a Roamio Plus, a Premiere, and two HDs. All of the TiVos are connected via ethernet (Cat5e or Cat 6). The Roamio Plus is in our family room and is the primary TiVo we use. The Premiere is in the master bedroom and gets quite a bit of use too. One of the HDs is in my home office and barely gets used (typically, I'll just turn it while I'm working in the home office to pay bills--basically white noise type of thing). The other HD is collecting dust while I dream of putting it up for sale (all four units have lifetime service).

    Lately, I've found myself watching a lot of Netflix and have noticed it takes a lot longer to load on the Premiere than on the Roamio Plus. Everyone in the family loves the Plus so I've been wanting to upgrade the Premiere to a Roamio (in which case I would move the Premiere to the home office and mothball the HD unit that is current in there).

    Now that I've learned I can use the Roamio Plus to stream from a basic Roamio, I'm wondering if there is any reason NOT to buy a basic Roamio to replace the Premiere. I don't need the two extra tuners a Plus would offer of a basic Roamio (heck, the basic Roamio would be a 2-tuner step up from the Premiere), nor do I need the extra hard drive space of the Plus over the Roamio (as I understand it, the basic Roamio offers the same storage capacity as the Premiere, plus I have external HDs on my Premiere and both HDs so I could always use one of them). I've now determined that the Plus can be used to stream from the basic Roamio. So, it seems to be that the only other significant difference between the Plus and the basic Roamio is that the Plus offers gigabit ethernet whereas the basic offers only 10/100.

    In short, here are my questions:

    1. Does gigabit ethernet make a noticeable difference for TiVos?
    2. Are there any other significant differences between the Plus and Basic models that I haven't already addressed?
    3. Given that the refurbished basic with lifetime service is currently only $300 total whereas a refurbished Plus with lifetme was $550 (when TiVo had the refurbished Pluses in stock), is there any compelling reason not to buy the refurbished basic Roamio now?

    Thank you all in advance for your thoughts and insight.
     
  2. Sep 4, 2015 #2 of 61
    DocNo

    DocNo Member

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  3. Sep 4, 2015 #3 of 61
    1985BearsFan

    1985BearsFan Member

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    Unfortunately, I haven't been with TiVo that long. My HDs were my first TiVos, and I purchased them in January 2010. My mom has an original TiVo, but I don't know if they would give me the discount on her account.

    Let's assume, though, that I could qualify for the discount: $500 for new Plus with lifetime versus $300 for a refurb basic with liftime--Is the Plus worth the extra $200? Because I can use my existing Plus to stream from the basic, isn't the only difference the two extra tuners, the bigger hard drive, and the gigabit?
     
  4. Sep 4, 2015 #4 of 61
    DocNo

    DocNo Member

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    It was worth it for me for the Stream. If you want the capability of the Tivo Stream it's $150 (or $130 if you shop around) to add one on to the basic Roamio. That is what made it a no-brainer for me - was only $50 more than the basic+Stream. The two extra tuners are nice but I rarely ran into issues where 4 wasn't enough.
     
  5. Sep 4, 2015 #5 of 61
    1985BearsFan

    1985BearsFan Member

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    I totally get your situation. For me, I already have a Plus so I wouldn't need to buy a Stream to stream from the Basic. Thus, I'm taking the TiVo Stream out of the equation.

    Chatting with TiVo right now to see whether I would even qualify for the long-time customer discount.
     
  6. Sep 4, 2015 #6 of 61
    DocNo

    DocNo Member

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    Yup, if you don't need the stream or the extra tuners then you can't beat the refurb+lifetime deal.

    Good luck!
     
  7. Sep 4, 2015 #7 of 61
    HarperVision

    HarperVision TiVo's Italian Cuz!

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    Just order the loyalty plus deal on your Mom's account and then put it on yours when she gets it.
     
  8. Sep 4, 2015 #8 of 61
    jonw747

    jonw747 Active Member

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    Another option is to load up the Plus with a big disk and add Mini's where needed.

    Lack of gigabit seems like a minor factor compared to the other trade offs.
     
  9. Sep 4, 2015 #9 of 61
    1985BearsFan

    1985BearsFan Member

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    My parents live in a different state than I do so I'd have to find out whether TiVo will ship the unit to me rather than to my parents. For some reason, I seem to recall that TiVo once told me they will only ship to the address on the account and won't ship to an alternate address.
     
  10. Sep 4, 2015 #10 of 61
    krkaufman

    krkaufman TDL shepherd

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    ^^^^ What I was gonna say. ^^^^
     
  11. Sep 4, 2015 #11 of 61
    1985BearsFan

    1985BearsFan Member

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    I like have two separate units for recording, and I especially like have a couple of more tuners than what comes with the Plus. We've got two kids in the house so sometimes we actually will record four or more shows at once.
     
  12. Sep 4, 2015 #12 of 61
    DocNo

    DocNo Member

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    Yeah, I doubt they would do that. If you wanted it and were going to visit your parents, that would be the time to do it :)
     
  13. Sep 4, 2015 #13 of 61
    krkaufman

    krkaufman TDL shepherd

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    Add'l:
    • OTA: base Roamio could be flipped to record antenna/OTA, rather than CableCARD; Plus/Pro can only do CableCARD;

    • MoCA: base Roamio lacks MoCA, of any sort; Plus/Pro can connect via MoCA, even create MoCA network;

    • Power: base Roamio uses an external power adapter (wall-wart); Plus/Pro power supply is internal;

    • Cabling: base Roamio requires A/V Breakout cables for composite-only AV connection to TV; Plus/Pro includes RCA-style composite and component A/V ports;

    • Finder: base Roamio lacks the Remote Finder feature;

    • Form: Curved shape to base Roamio; Plus/Pro is all right angles and a bit bigger;

    Previously covered:
    • Tuners: 4-tuners in base Roamio, vs 6-tuners in Plus/Pro;

    • HDD: 500GB HDD in base Roamio, vs 1TB/3TB in Plus/Pro;

    • Stream: base Roamio requires add-on TiVo Stream for mobile streaming; Plus/Pro have Stream built-in;

    • Gigabit: base Roamio limited to 100Mbps Ethernet; Plus/Pro has Gigabit Ethernet (1000Mbps);

    ----
    edit: Updated Cabling entry to clarify that base Roamio only supports composite A/V connection via AV jack;
     
    Last edited: Sep 4, 2015
  14. Sep 4, 2015 #14 of 61
    jonw747

    jonw747 Active Member

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    Of course the Plus can record 6 shows at once. If it was recording 4 at once, you'd be limited to watching no more than 2 live streams.

    It should work for you, but I understand there are other features/tradeoffs than just number of tuners. I've been contemplating them myself before plunking down the cash to complete my system.
     
  15. Sep 4, 2015 #15 of 61
    thefisch

    thefisch Member

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    Since you already have a plus not sure you'd benefit from another one since the basic already gives you more tuners than your premiere. It's a no brainer at $300. Even if you can order a plus for $500 under your parents, how much marginal utility are you getting from that extra $200 spent?
     
  16. Sep 4, 2015 #16 of 61
    jonw747

    jonw747 Active Member

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    That was my thought regarding the Mini .vs. the Basic, but I rather like the Pro. Whether is actually is or not, it seems to be better built. Whether the extra tuners, hard drive space, features, and system redundancy is worth $200 extra?

    That's for each of us to decide for ourselves.
     
  17. Sep 4, 2015 #17 of 61
    HarperVision

    HarperVision TiVo's Italian Cuz!

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    At least try it and tell TiVo that you manage their tivos for them since they're so old and don't understand this stuff. Say that you're planning a trip there and will take it with you to set it up. You just want it there first so you can open it up and test it out first.

    If not, then just have your parents ship to you after receipt. You could even prepare a label for them and email it to them to make it even simpler.
     
  18. Sep 4, 2015 #18 of 61
    1985BearsFan

    1985BearsFan Member

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    You mention system redundancy. Both of my HD units are replacements under warranty. Both had external hard drives attached to increase storage. As I'm sure many fellow TiVo users can relate, it is extraordinary frustrating when a TiVo fails and the external (expansion) hard drive can't be moved to the replacement TiVo while at the same time salvaging the recordings on the expansion drive.

    If having two Pluses were true redundancy (i.e., if a hard drive could be moved from one Plus to another without losing the data on it), I would say the extra $200 is worth it. Rant over.
     
  19. Sep 4, 2015 #19 of 61
    1985BearsFan

    1985BearsFan Member

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    I wasn't aware the basic Roamio uses a power brick. That really stinks! Not sure it is a $200 (or more) stink, though. :rolleyes:
     
  20. Sep 4, 2015 #20 of 61
    krkaufman

    krkaufman TDL shepherd

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    Well, more of a wall-wart, rather than a brick. I'll update that.

    p.s. Some might consider the external adapter a bonus.
     
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