TiVo refreshes lineup with 6-tuner Roamio DVRs

[mike123abc]

Swapping the drive out is pretty easy. The hardest part was getting the top of the TiVo off. It is just one screw in the center of the back that actually holds it on. It sort of snaps off after you take that screw out. I just did not want to risk breaking it.

 

[gadgtfreek]

Yeah, seems the top is the only tricky piece, and it being plastic does not help. My drive will be here tomorrow, so when I get home Ill take some pics of the swap.

 

[gadgtfreek]

Some pics. Wasn't hard at all, will be ready to go for the 2TB AV-GP drive tomorrow.

Back of case, just take out screw over esata connector

I started at the back, right in the middle, and worked my fingers in. Keep sliding back and forth across the back slowly working the cover up. Once you get around on the sides of the plastic cover and the back is free, it'll just pop right off. Did not have to use much power at all.

Plate with drive just has 3 screws and comes right out. If you have ever installed drives in a PC before, it's that easy.

Pipeline 500gig

 

[gadgtfreek]

New 2TB drive is in, going through 1st call in and download now.

 

[gadgtfreek]

There ya go

 

[mike123abc]

Nice! I was surprised at how easy it was to upgrade the drive. The first time I did it on my S3 I had to take the drive out, boot Linux, run some special programs and copy parts of the drive to the new one then install the new one. At least the got the tools working in windows now. But, for this unit, all I had to do is put in the new drive and it took care of it for me! I hope that TiVo keeps this going forward...

 

[gadgtfreek]

Yeah, I hope they dont go in and break this feature later. Its really great. If my HDD craps out, I just get another and go to town.

 

[mike123abc]

Another GREAT thing about TiVo was that with a couple clicks of the mouse on tivo.com I was able to transfer all my season passes from my S3 to my Romeo.

I am trying to decide what to do with my S3. I am thinking I may eventually ebay it.

 

[mike123abc]

Yeah, I hope they dont go in and break this feature later. Its really great. If my HDD craps out, I just get another and go to town.

I finally got caught up on tivocommunity forums and saw your inquiries as to whether or not AV-GP is needed or not!

In my S3s I did not use AV-GP or Pipeline drives. All I can say is that my premiere (which came with a 2TB drive in it) and my now upgrade Romeo is that the AV-GP is far quieter than the non streaming drives. I have TiVo's in my bedroom, and the things can wake me up some times (I moved the s3s out of the bedroom now) sounding like a washing machine in the middle of the night. I assume it is defragging the disk or something giving the amount of seeking it does. The Romeo and Premiere just have slight fan noise if you are up close to them, the disks are whisper quite.

 

[gadgtfreek]

Ive used the AV-GP drives for awhile. I know there is some contention, but with all the DVR manufacturers using them as well as what is the stock drive in a DVR Expander, I figure why not. I mean I spent $98 on a 2TB drive with a 3yr warranty.

So far my Roamio is running fine with the new drive, we watched 4 tv shows tonight and the PQ was excellent, playback went off without a hitch. The motherboard temp seems to be running 2 degrees C cooler than I had with the Seagate, but that could be nothing.

Im still happy with the performance, OTA PQ is great and the Amazon 1080p/24 files are top notch. Hell on Wheels PQ is outstanding via Amazon download, I could only wish it looked that good on Directv or Dish. I may end up suspending Dish 6 months out of the year when football is not on. I forgot how convenient the season passes where. I bought one for Low Winter Sun since it started right around the time I got this, and its nice that it auto downloads when the new episode comes available. Ill be buying one for Sons of Anarchy here soon.

 

[mike123abc]

The only thing keeping me with cable/Dish is HBO GO/MAX GO. If they come out with an option to get them without cable I will drop cable.

 

[gadgtfreek]

Been having problems with macroblocking and lockups on Amazon tv show files, few times it required a delete and getting on Amazon chat to resend the show to my tivo. I started a thread earlier at tivocommunity and another user chimed in as seeing it. After my last post, Margret Schmidt the VP of Design chimed in and stated they thought they had fixed the issue in a beta and offered us a chance to sign up and try it out. How cool is that?

 

[mike123abc]

I have started to pad my timers on a lot of shows, and I have noticed a really cool feature of the Romeo is that it does not seem to take up extra tuners to record 2 programs at the same time on the same network. For example if I record show 1 and pad 2 minutes and have it set to record show 2 immediately following on the same network, it does not cause a timer shortage. It appears to know it is on the same tuner, and just makes 2 copies of the 2 minutes. So, show 1 gets 2 minutes, and the start of show 2 is on time and just has the same 2 minutes at the beginning.

With my Dish receivers it used to just end show 1 on time and start 2 with no recorded overlap under the same circumstances.

It is really handy when I do not watch the shows in order one right after the other. So, I have taken to padding a lot of recording now.

 

[gadgtfreek]

Cool. I set all mine to always run over 2 mins.

 

[primestar31]

I have started to pad my timers on a lot of shows, and I have noticed a really cool feature of the Romeo is that it does not seem to take up extra tuners to record 2 programs at the same time on the same network. For example if I record show 1 and pad 2 minutes and have it set to record show 2 immediately following on the same network, it does not cause a timer shortage. It appears to know it is on the same tuner, and just makes 2 copies of the 2 minutes. So, show 1 gets 2 minutes, and the start of show 2 is on time and just has the same 2 minutes at the beginning.






With my Dish receivers it used to just end show 1 on time and start 2 with no recorded overlap under the same circumstances.

It is really handy when I do not watch the shows in order one right after the other. So, I have taken to padding a lot of recording now.

That's awesome. I wish the Dish dvr's would work like that. They suck with back to back recordings, and shows being off a minute or two always.

 

[stejamand]

Tivo Roamio and Headphones

Can headphones be plugged in to the TiVo Roamio?


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[gadgtfreek]

No.

 

[riffjim4069]

I just took advantage of an upgrade offer and ordered a Roamio Pro. Tivo knocked $100 off the retail price, and an additional $25 because I asked for a good customer discount, for a total of $474.99. Not bad for a 3TB 6-tuner system. Plus, they let me rollover the account from one of my Tivo Premiere multiservice accounts I just paid ($99 year)...and as soon as I activate the Roamio they will let me purchase a Lifetime for the Premiere taken out of service for $99. Cool. The only problem is I now have one too many DVRs (a Premiere and TivoHD with Lifetime and a Premiere that I just paid for an annual subscription). I don't know if I should sell the TivoHD or just use it as a spare until the Premiere subscription expires next December which, by that time, they'll probably offer me a $99 Lifetime upgrade. Eh, I think the prudent thing to do is keep it as a spare since it's not costing me anything. Anyway, good deal IMO...and 3TB is as much as my other 3 Tivos combined. Happy Camper!

 

[jayn_j]

What do they consider a 'good customer' for the additional discount? I have been on the fence for a bit on the Roamio. I have a single Premiere on $12.99 monthly since Nov 2011

 

[riffjim4069]

What do they consider a 'good customer' for the additional discount? I have been on the fence for a bit on the Roamio. I have a single Premiere on $12.99 monthly since Nov 2011

I've been with them for six years and have three Tivos....plus, I have a nack for "being on the fence" or just plain asking for additional discounts. Call 'em tell you have a friend who was offered a Pro for the $474.99 with an option to purchase a $99 Lifetime on the Premiere and see what they say.