Tivo - Roamio OTA- anyone using?

[mkguitar]

The big project here at the house is weaning ourselves off of what had become a near $300 monthly for phone(s) internet and tv sat service.

we are moving to a combination of streaming services and antenna ( Over-the-air or OTA)- now looking at a tivo for OTA signals which I am realizing we could take with us in the van and use when we have shore power ( and watch stuff from the harddrive) and when we have tv signal it could function much as it does here at home.

anyone using one of these in this way?

thanks, Mike

[avanti]

Originally Posted by mkguitar

The big project here at the house is weaning ourselves off of what had become a near $300 monthly for phone(s) internet and tv sat service.

we are moving to a combination of streaming services and antenna ( Over-the-air or OTA)- now looking at a tivo for OTA signals which I am realizing we could take with us in the van and use when we have shore power ( and watch stuff from the harddrive) and when we have tv signal it could function much as it does here at home.

anyone using one of these in this way?

An alternative is to leave your TiVo at home and connect it to a SlingBox. We use all our home entertainment resources while on the road via this technique. You DO need Internet access, of course. But Sling is very good at making the best of the available bandwidth. It remains watchable even with pretty crappy connections.

[mkguitar]

- sale alert: 11/22 Roamio OTA 500 gb version with lifetime programming $200 on tivo's site this morning

Our's is on it's way and I will report on how it works in the van on our next trip.


** just ordered a 3 TB drive to swap into it

Mike

[mkguitar]

Originally Posted by avanti

...SlingBox....

The tivo will work in the boonies as content is stored on it's hard drive.
which I will swap from 500gb to 3TB- about 450 hours.
I found this tutorial:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlpXSZiVpAc&t=309s

i was an early adopter of Sling (as I travel for a living) in the early days, Sling would do a forced software update on the computer OR a firmware update to the box itself- either of these could leave one or both parts - or the router -inoperable with out further changes of setting which couldn;t be done remotely.
So say if you were on a 2 month trip and sling changed something for you on day 1...it could be 59 days before you could restore service.
I would estimate that for 2008 & 2009 my sling was inop 50% of the time I was away from home.



As Dish bought Sling they essentially bricked legacy sling devices as they removed support - mine is in a box somewhere.

So no chance I'll be using sling ( or dish).

Once I get some tivo OTA results I'll post

Mike

[pattonsr]

avanti,

If one has a Tivo Bolt at home, why use a SlingBox? Use the Tivo mobile app to stream to an IPAD. If you want to cast what is on the IPAD to a TV, use AirPlay with an AppleTV.

Barry

[avanti]

Originally Posted by pattonsr

avanti,

If one has a Tivo Bolt at home, why use a SlingBox? Use the Tivo mobile app to stream to an IPAD. If you want to cast what is on the IPAD to a TV, use AirPlay with an AppleTV.

Barry

Absolutely. That is an equivalent solution. There is also Genie-Go if you have DirecTV. The advantage of Sling is that you can have access to your entire existing setup at home--Satellite, multiple DVRs, OTA...

Of course, all of this is not long for this world. Increasingly, it is easier to directly stream stuff from the providers. Many of the channels on DirecTV (CNN, HBO...) are already available that way at no additional cost. I am sure we will be ditching our home satellite dish before much longer. In the mean time, the SlingBox is an excellent provisional solution.

[avanti]

Originally Posted by mkguitar

i was an early adopter of Sling (as I travel for a living) in the early days, Sling would do a forced software update on the computer OR a firmware update to the box itself- either of these could leave one or both parts - or the router -inoperable with out further changes of setting which couldn;t be done remotely.
So say if you were on a 2 month trip and sling changed something for you on day 1...it could be 59 days before you could restore service.
I would estimate that for 2008 & 2009 my sling was inop 50% of the time I was away from home.



As Dish bought Sling they essentially bricked legacy sling devices as they removed support - mine is in a box somewhere.

So no chance I'll be using sling ( or dish).

Well, I dunno. our 11 year old SlingBox Pro still works fine both with the current iPhone app and with the Safari plugin on our Mac. Use them both all the time--never an interruption. It is still the best streaming available in low-bandwidth situations. It is true that our paid iPad app stopped working at some point (but we always stream to an AppleTV, so the phone is at least as good for us.) Still, the longevity of these devices is well above industry standards, IMO.

That said, carrying your TiVo with you is a fine idea, as long as you don't mind interrupting your home recording to do so.

[pattonsr]

avanti,

Assuming a Tivo Bolt at home, how would one stream to two tv's in the RV? The Tivo mobile app is limited to one stream. Would having also a SlingBox 500 allow for a second streaming session with the Tivo? The SlingBox takes over the Tivo, but the mobile app shouldn't be affected. I am assuming that bandwidth will be available to allow two streams.

It appears that the SlingBox 500 takes HDMI from the Tivo and has an output HDMI connection to pass the signal onto the home TV. I wonder if there is any signal difference for a 65" TV by having the SlingBox be a pass through device.

Barry

[avanti]

Originally Posted by pattonsr

avanti,

Assuming a Tivo Bolt at home, how would one stream to two tv's in the RV? The Tivo mobile app is limited to one stream. Would having also a SlingBox 500 allow for a second streaming session with the Tivo? The SlingBox takes over the Tivo, but the mobile app shouldn't be affected. I am assuming that bandwidth will be available to allow two streams.

It appears that the SlingBox 500 takes HDMI from the Tivo and has an output HDMI connection to pass the signal onto the home TV. I wonder if there is any signal difference for a 65" TV by having the SlingBox be a pass through device.

Barry

Do you want to watch the SAME program on both sets, or DIFFERENT ones? If the latter, then you obviously need a second source at the "home" end (perhaps a TiVo Mini?). Given that, a Sling 500 should work fine (assuming adequate bandwidth, as you say). So would an M1, which you can get for like $50 on eBay. You could then use two mobile devices to stream to two sets, watching different programs.

If OTOH you want to watch the SAME show on the two sets, I would consider just using an HDMI splitter from an AppleTV (or whatever) and run a cable between the two sets. Alternatively, your BOLT+HDMI solution should work fine, albeit bandwidth extravagant.