TiVo Mini extenders have begun to arrive in Suddenlink customer homes. And, thanks to numerous contributions by TiVo Community forum member spotterman26, retail launch functionality has been clarified. While true dynamic tuner allocation remains out of reach, and pushed back on TiVo’s roadmap according to sources, the situation isn’t as dire as it appeared at first glance. Each 4 tuner TiVo DVR can host a max of two TiVo Mini clients, yet two Minis can hijack share a single tuner… if you don’t intend to use them simultaneously. As described by TiVo:
Do you want to allow devices on your home network to use a tuner on this TiVo Box to watch live TV? Only select 2 tuners if you expect 2 networked devices to watch live TV at the SAME TIME.
NOTE: Any tuner that is made available for watching live TV on other devices can NO LONGER BE USED TO RECORD SHOWS on this DVR. If you allow 1 tuner to be used, this DVR will only be able to record 3 shows at a time. If you allow 2 tuners to be used, this DVR will only be able to record 2 shows at a time.
Further, it appears the TiVo Mini may release a tuner it believes is unused after 90 minutes resulting in the “PRESS TiVo or Live TV” screensaver of sorts displayed below.
Some additional good news, in that spotterman has run a few speed comparisons and confirms the Mini is noticeably faster than his TiVo Q DVR in several areas. For example, YouTube launches in under 15 seconds on his Mini versus more than 30 on the TiVo. Further, navigating within an app like YouTube and accessing TiVo Search feel less laggy overall. Whether it’s due to less overhead or an updated processor remains to be see. But we’ll count it as a victory either way. Sources indicate a retail TiVo Mini announcement is just weeks away, so all that really remains is pricing details.
Update: Looks like several people, including this TiVo Employee, can confirm the TiVo Mini runs a significantly faster Broadcom BCM7418.
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