[mikeb33]

I have a second home in a rural area where cable isn't available. I have a roof antenna and get over 50 channels and we're happy with that. Internet is only DSL but has been pretty decent. I am wanting some sort of OTA dvr. At my main home I have a Roamio in my tv room and a Premiere XL(lifetime) in my office and a couple of minis other rooms.
I was thinking of bringing the Premiere to the weekend house and putting an unused mini in my office here. I have never used the antenna port on it, but I assume it works. The one snag is there is no hardwired ethernet near where I would use it. Is there a wifi dongle option for a premier? If I don't connect it to the internet there's no guide and basically useless, right?
Or I could just buy an edge for the weekend house? I just don't want more fees.

 

[ThAbtO]

If its the 2 tuner Premiere, then it can do OTA. For wireless, you need to use the Tivo Wireless G USB adapter, or Tivo Wireless N Ethernet adapter. The G doesn't require much setup except in the Premiere. The N requires it to be setup on a computer to connect to a specific wifi prior to connecting to the Premiere Ethernet port.

 

[mikeb33]

Thanks for the quick reply. Is this the adaptor that would do it?
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B...title_huc_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A1UHORTLQOIKNC

 

[krkaufman]

I was thinking of bringing the Premiere to the weekend house and putting an unused mini in my office here. I have never used the antenna port on it, but I assume it works.

As mentioned, you could use any wireless bridge w/ Ethernet or a compatible USB wireless adapter to get the Premiere networked. If the home has coax outlets in the associated rooms, MoCA (networking over coax) would be preferable.

Networking aside, if you have a Premiere capable of tuning from OTA, then it is a 2-tuner Premiere model - and, unfortunately, is not eligible to function as a host DVR for a Mini. Minis are only compatible with 4-tuner Premieres (which don't support OTA), and all Roamio, BOLT and EDGE DVRs.

 

[mikeb33]

Thinking ahead, I have a few other TVs in the house. If I want to add minis, maybe I should get a Edge OTA. I am I correct that you can only buy them from Channel Master for some reason?

 

[krkaufman]

Or a used 4-tuner Roamio or BOLT with Lifetime/All-In service. (Note that the OTA-capable EDGE model sold by ChannelMaster only has 2 tuners.)

 

[shwru980r]

Thinking ahead, I have a few other TVs in the house. If I want to add minis, maybe I should get a Edge OTA. I am I correct that you can only buy them from Channel Master for some reason?

I think you would have to have your main Tivo DVR hooked up to ethernet to use a mini. I think the current Edge being sold is only a dual tuner model without a MOCA bridge and I don't think it would work with a mini. If you want to use a mini with OTA then you should look for a 4 tuner Bolt TCD849500 or TCD849000 because these models have a built in MOCA bridge. You could still hook up your premiere along side the Bolt and access the shows with a mini as long as you have a four tuner Tivo in the mix.

 

[ThAbtO]

Thanks for the quick reply. Is this the adaptor that would do it?
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B...title_huc_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A1UHORTLQOIKNC

This is the Tivo Wireless G USB adapter and will work with Premiere.

 

[shwru980r]

Or a used 4-tuner Roamio or BOLT with Lifetime/All-In service. (Note that the OTA-capable EDGE model sold by ChannelMaster only has 2 tuners.)

I don't think a four tuner Roamio has a MOCA bridge. Not sure if the OP was using MOCA.

 

[krkaufman]

I don't think a four tuner Roamio has a MOCA bridge. Not sure if the OP was using MOCA.

It doesn't, nor do the OTA-only BOLT and EDGE DVR models, but the OP has been strictly focused on wireless/Wi-Fi and hasn't made any response as regards coax availability.

If the home has coax outlets in the associated rooms, MoCA (networking over coax) would be preferable.

That said, were MoCA being considered, a DVR not having built-in MoCA bridging isn't a limiting factor, just a consideration for planning, since a standalone MoCA adapter can be used as needed for this functionality.

 

[krkaufman]

Or a used 4-tuner Roamio or BOLT with Lifetime/All-In service. (Note that the OTA-capable EDGE model sold by ChannelMaster only has 2 tuners.)

There may be benefits of the EDGE for Antenna over the earlier series DVRs (better OTA tuners?), but one more (subjective!) drawback is that EDGE series DVRs can only run the TE4/Hydra UI. The same is true for the OTA-only "BOLT OTA" model.

I think the current Edge being sold is only a dual tuner model ... and I don't think it would work with a mini.

I haven't seen any reports that EDGE for Antenna isn't compatible with Minis (unlike the 2-tuner Premiere models); and TiVo marketing indicates support. And DVR support for Minis appears consistent across Mini models, as well.

TiVo EDGE for Antenna page:

• Add a TiVo Mini LUX to other rooms and extend the full experience. Learn more.

TiVo Mini LUX page:

[1] Requires connection to TiVo EDGE series, TiVo BOLT series, TiVo Roamio series, TiVo Premiere 4 or XL4/Elite.​