[Gordon Watson]

I plan to purchase a Tivo Bolt TiVo Bolt VOX 1TB for Cable or Antenna
and provide service from an existing roof-mounted antenna and an internet router. We have five different televisions, and we want a remote for each. I do not intend to use satellite or cable (but that would be possible in the future). We will have Amazon or other streaming services from the net. We have coax to each of the five televisions from a central junction box. What equipment will I need besides the Tivo Bolt VOX 1TB? If I knew what equipment, I think I can hook it up. Is there a diagram of a similar setup somewhere on the internet?

 

[JeanGirard]

So you don't stream YouTube TV or Philo, or Sling or similar that allows you to skip the Tivo altogether?

 

[ThAbtO]

If you do not need to record shows at the other TVs, then you can put minis there, provih Mided that it has network access. That would be Ethernet (wireless not supported with Minis) or Moca (networking through coax.)

 

[Gordon Watson]

Thank you for the rapid response. What if I want to be able to record at all five TV's?

 

[ThAbtO]

You would need Tivo DVRs like Bolt or Roamio 4 tuner on those locations. A 6 tuner is cable only.

 

[Gordon Watson]

So you don't stream YouTube TV or Philo, or Sling or similar that allows you to skip the Tivo altogether?

I am entirely new to the idea of cutting the cord. Here is what I know:
1. We have Direct TV. We pay additionally for Netflix and Amazon Prime. We want to get rid of Direct TV.
2. I have a good roof-top antenna and, being near Houston, we get lots of channels.
3. We have five different TVs. We would like to record from two or three of them.
4. We want to playback recordings for all five.
5. Bascially, we want to get rid of Direct TV and its associated costs. We intend to keep Netflix and Amazon Prime.
6. We have an internet router and we have coax to every televison.
7. My question is what specific equipment should I buy to accomplish all of he above.
Thank you!

 

[JeanGirard]

Are all the TV's smart or dumb TV's. Meaning do any of them have Roku, Android, or similar streaming but in?

 

[JeanGirard]

Also you don't record from each TV. If you have streaming TV's you can just use YouTube TV or Sling to watch and record shows from anywhere and playback on the TV's.

I'd ditch Tivo at this point and just stream to each tv via cheap streaming devices you can plug into each TV.

 

[H2ZX]

Look into Tablo. Network-Connected Tablo DVRs and How They Work | Over The Air (OTA) DVR | Tablo (tablotv.com) --

 

[ThAbtO]

The downside is they do no share the recorded content.

 

[H2ZX]

The downside is they do no share the recorded content.

I assume your not referring to Tablo --- Instead, these DVRs connect to your home's router and use WiFi or Ethernet to stream live and recorded Over-the-Air TV to Tablo apps on a wide variety of internet-connected devices inside or outside your home.

 

[JeanGirard]

Looking at these device options will be costly and most likely a headache to set up and deal with in the long run.

Subscribe to YTTV for the free 30 days and use the app on each tv (if smart tvs) or grab a Chromecast with GoogleTV and you will be shocked how quick and easy tv viewing will be.

 

[krkaufman]

Thank you for the rapid response. What if I want to be able to record at all five TV's?

You don't really need to. The TiVo DVR handles the recording and feeds the content over the home network to the TiVo Minis. Effectively your own little mini streaming service for OTA TV.

 

[krkaufman]

We can help build a setup and parts list for a TiVo-centric OTA solution (leveraging MoCA for coax networking), but the main drawback that needs to be understood Re: a TiVo setup is that the streaming service support is *exceedingly* limited, requiring use of alternative streaming devices to support those services (or features) unavailable on a TiVo box. (e.g. Want to briefly sub to AppleTV+ and binge Ted Lasso? You won’t be doing so via a TiVo, as the necessary app isn’t available for TiVo.)

Once you need streaming boxes for other services, it might make sense to at least consider alternative OTA solutions where streaming boxes are used as clients, rather than the proprietary TiVo Mini boxes.

If OTA, Netflix and Amazon Prime are all you seek, then a TiVo setup should be able to deliver all you need — as things stand today.

 

[ThAbtO]

Netflix and Amazon Prime are all you seek

and youtube.

 

[krkaufman]

and youtube.

They had only mentioned Netflix and Amazon Prime. Yes, YouTube and a few other services are supported (one of our favorites, VUDU), but I don't consider TiVo a good platform for YouTube viewing; the app performs poorly, in my experience, but better hardware might make a difference.

 

[ThAbtO]

I use my phone and pair it with youtube to make a playlist to watch. Its better than the search on either.

 

[brobin]

With 5 TV's you need one Bolt or Edge and 4 Mini's. The Bolt or Edge will record all the shows which can be watched from any of the 5 TV's. Amazon & Netflix will run on all 5 TV's as well. The Bolt or Edge is the hub. I have the exact same thing using A Roamio Plus and 11 Mini's. Tivo allows a maximum of 12 devices on one account. I use Ethernet to all the devices but if you don't have thst you can use MoCA coax.

 

[JeanGirard]

A setup like that will be over $1000 investment plus Tivo possible fees. You'd be way better off buying 5 Chromecasts w/Google TV dongles or the Onn 4K streamer ($20 vs. $50 each) and signing up for Youtube TV. You will end up very frustrated trying to deal with Tivo stuff, especially since all you'll get for $1000 is local channels.

 

[ThAbtO]

signing up for Youtube TV.

If only they are willing to pay $65 per month for YTTV.