Picked up a new TiVo Stream from Weaknees and it installed without a hitch. We'll see how the experience is. What I don't expect (but what should be the reality) is an experience as fluid as that of streaming as is done with YouTube TV. All streaming options should be that simple. Somehow almost none of them are.
FWIW, all the Streams from Weaknees are
refurbished--not necessarily a bad thing, by the way. There have not been any "new" TiVo Streams produced in years. Just a friendly clarification. Looking at your avatar--if that is really you, I would NOT want you to be the least bit angry with me. You're a big-boy
.
The TiVo streaming experiences has its limitations, but can have some benifits, and I think the external Stream is a better option than the TiVo's that have it built-in. Below is what I posted in another thread in response to a complaint about the TiVo Stream that may address some of the TiVo streaming experience you might expect:
"I've had a Stream for years and it works just as well (or BAD would be more accurate) as the built-in streaming function on other TiVo DVR's. The Stream will allow MORE individual streams than the built-ins, and, I believe, provides access accross all S4 and later DVR's on same network while there is limited access with built-ins.
TiVo's entire streaming functionality across the add-on Stream and all the built-ins are quite notorious for its unreliability and "finicky" behavior. The TiVo streaming experince is greatly inferior to a Slingbox, but the Slingbox does take over the Mini or DVR, while TiVo's Stream and built-ins acts more like a remote Mini, but some TiVo owners with built-in stream have resorted to Slingbox for its reliability and its ability to stream Out of Home all content, including restricted content, that TiVo's Stream and built-ins will NOT. If all your recordings are from OTA (such is my case), then no restrictions apply and all recordings will stream, but if your recordings are from cable channels, then many restrictions apply and you won't be able to stream quite a lot of recordings.
Having said all of the above, the TiVo Stream and built-in still do provide one tremendous value, if you plan on using it: recordings can be copied to mobile devices. However, again, if there are cable TV channel content restrictions, they often those recordings can't be copied to mobile devices. Again, all OTA recordings will copy to mobile devices with no problems.
Well, give the TiVo Stream some time. Power outages can be hard on some devices, and all DVR's should be connected to a UPS (Uninterruptable Power Supply), and I would connect the Stream to that UPS, as well. I've noticed my Stream seems to be more reliable since late last year, and I do use it, but I find the Slingbox more stable. On the other hand, my Stream is really useful in sending copies of my recordings to my phone and tables for viewing without an internet connection, and that feature works very well, but it is slow because it has to transcode at the time of copy to mobile device (Dish DVR's automatically transcode immediatly after recording to allow for really fast transfers to mobile devices).
I do not regret my TiVo Stram purchase, but I did buy it a long time ago, and while I like fleabay, I've found that sometimes lemons get sold. It may be worth it to consider Weaknees Refurbished TiVo Streams. At lest you know where they are and who they are, and I would hope they could do an exchange, but you can always contact them to find out such details. Best of luck."
It is actually a decent divice, but the biggest thorn to users are the cable TV content restrictions. I hope that won't be too much of a problem for you.
