Ahead of any potential CableCARD successor, while they aren’t prepared to advertise with Sonos money, TiVo maintains their retail ambitions in bringing the entire lineup of set-tops to Woot today.
- Roamio Pro (Refurbished) – $380
- Roamio Plus (NOT Refurbished) – $250
- Roamio (Refurbished) – $100
- Mini (Refurbished) – $100
Assuming you’re in the market for a TiVo Roamio DVR and that you don’t qualify for the apparently ongoing 10 year customer appreciation bundle, the $250 Roamio Plus is a good deal – 6 cable tuners, mobile streaming, and a terabyte of DVR storage goodness. And you can very simply turn that Plus into a Pro at any time down the road with a 3tb drive for less than the $130 cost differential illustrated above. The Plus also stands out as the only new, versus “factory reconditioned,” piece of hardware in the listing. Of course, a TiVo DVR will also require service – either monthly, as low as $12.50, or Lifetime, up to $500. Also worth considering are the refurb first gen TiVo Minis for $100 a pop … but Amazon has them brand new, shipped free, and shipped faster than Woot for $115 as second gen models, with RF and a small performance boost, hit the shelves for $150 MSRP.
(Thanks Rob!)
So it looks like Woot and/or TiVo has updated the listing… the Roamio Plus is no longer new. Ha? Still a decent deal, but not quite as compelling.
“So it looks like Woot and/or TiVo has updated the listing… the Roamio Plus is no longer new.”
Maybe they only had one in stock, and someone used it?
Rob asked me if I expected new TiVo hardware this year when evaluating the deal. Beyond the Mini, I don’t anticipate a significant refresh of the Roamio Pro/Plus. I could envision an incremental upgrade like we saw with the Mini, but doubt we’ll see a retail Series 6 and/or 4K model in 2015. I could imagine a reimagining of the Roamio OTA, which currently reuses the standard Roamio enclosure but without CableCARD-related hardware. Base Roamio, who knows… in conjunction with Roamio’s Stream accessory currently out of stock in many places. Maybe there’s something there, maybe not.
“Beyond the Mini, I don’t anticipate a significant refresh of the Roamio Pro/Plus. I could envision an incremental upgrade like we saw with the Mini, but doubt we’ll see a retail Series 6 and/or 4K model in 2014.”
Yup.
What about the TiVo Mega?
At $5000 and in a rack-mountable server-like enclosure, it’s not intended to be a mass market product and why I haven’t invested much thought or discussion on it. But they have shown Mega publicly at a few tradeshows and it IS new hardware supposedly on the docket for 2015. A consumer DVR with RAID is notable, and since they’re targeting the higher end CEDIA crowd they could conceivably lead with 4K here… but it hasn’t been mentioned or demonstrated.
“doubt we’ll see a retail Series 6 and/or 4K model in 2014”
And…. what about 2015?
Got 2014 on my mind… filed taxes today. Updated the comment to reflect 2015.
$5000 and only six tuners. It still seems like a joke.
“$5000 and only six tuners. It still seems like a joke.”
I know. Should be at least $7,500.
Looks like Tivo itself is selling refurb Roamios. Woot is cheaper!
Be interesting to see the return address when my Roamio Plus arrives from Woot.
https://www.tivo.com/shop/promo/flash