TiVo Mini On Sale for $69.99

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Woot’s clearing reburb first generation TiVo Minis, once again, for a compelling $70. As a refresher, the TiVo Mini extends a TiVo Premiere, Roamio, or Bolt to another TV in the same home – both live television and DVR recordings, carried via Ethernet or MoCA. And the primary, noticeable distinction of this original TiVo Mini, vs the current model (MSRP $130), is inclusion of an IR remote. So you can’t easily hide the extender inside a cabinet, as you can with the RF remote capabilities that ship with v2.

tivo-mini

(Thanks Greg P!)

18 thoughts on “TiVo Mini On Sale for $69.99”

  1. There is an error in your notice, “noticeable difference between this original TiVo Mini and the current model (MSRP $130) is inclusion of an IR remote.”, should be RF remote.

  2. Nope Andrew, he’s technically correct. The noticeable difference between THIS TiVo Mini is that it comes with an IR remote. :) Incidentally… Dave’s good. I came over here to let him know about this and it’s already posted.

  3. I’m correct, but the phraseology is poor. I’m heading to Starbucks now – perhaps the caffeine will allow me to improve the article. :)

  4. No personal experience, but if memory serves, doesn’t the 2nd gen Mini run OTT apps noticeably faster? When Dave gets to Starbucks, we’ll find out, if not before…

  5. I’m a bit confused by this moca stuff. I have a Roamio OTA connected to my Fios router via Ethernet. Would I need to buy/use any adapters or filters to use a Mini in the bedroom? There’s a coax connection in that room on the same line as the Fios internet.

  6. Steve, my Roamio is hooked up via Coax and I have two different minis that are also hooked up via coax. If you have FIOS with the default Actiontec router you don’t need any additional adapters, just plug in the coax and it works. I have 2 other minis hooked up via ethernet and everything communicates perfectly.

    Dave, do we know yet a rough ETA when they will update the mini? I would like one more for a guest room but if a better one is coming soon I’d love instead to update the ones I use daily and shove one of my current ones in the guest room.

  7. So I tweaked the article a little bit to be more clear. It’s still not great, but I’m doing my best to just stay awake as a new daddy. :)

    Chucky, app performance is marginally improved with v2 – most wouldn’t notice or benefit is my hunch and why I didn’t mention it. I’d certainly be fine with v1 if I had additional need.

    Steve, you probably have MoCA enabled on your network. As Kyle says, by default most FiOS setups enable MoCA. So your Mini should be able to communicate to both the Roamio OTA plus to your router and out for things like Netflix – all over coax. Roamio Pro/Plus actually bridge MoCA for you, but the OTA and Basic don’t. In FiOS households, it’s less of a consideration.

    Kyle, no word on an updated Mini. I wonder about their future retail intent given CMO’s comments last year, given Bolt sales (that we don’t know yet), and given change in leadership. Should be an interesting year for the company (and us).

  9. Amazon occasionally has a sale on the newer Minis with RF remote.

    I picked up a few on Dec 23rd for $107 each + tax..

  10. Tempting but I don’t actually need it. So I am summoning willpower to keep my $70 and not add clutter to my house.

    I am waiting for them to clear out the Stream. I don’t need it per se, but that would give me a few options for my base Roamio.

  15. For the Tivo mini v1s, can you use an RF remote with it (i.e., it jus comes with an IR remote) or is there no RF receiver at all in the unit?

  16. It would work but only in IR mode. I don’t think there is a RF receiver. I believe you can add one via the USB port though.

  18. I’ve never been able to get my Mini to connect reliably to my Roamio with an Ethernet over Powerline connection. Luckily to get 2 minutes of video before it cuts out. Most of the time it can’t even find the Roamio. Probably the worst technology purchase I’ve ever made.

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