# Roamio



## Sixto (Nov 18, 2005)

FiOS. Roamio. Awesome. 

Enough said.


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## sangs (Apr 2, 2008)

Can the Roamio do On Demand from FiOS, or is that still a limitation? Because if it is, then not so awesome for this household.


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## Sixto (Nov 18, 2005)

No FiOS OnDemand, but can do Amazon, Netflix, and Hulu. For Amazon it gets linked to your account and you can download purchased content. For Netflix, it's your regular Netflix account with the Netflix app. Also does YouTube, with DIAL support.


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## Nick (Apr 23, 2002)

As I understand it, Roamio (better, Roameo?) is not provider-specific, e.g., Verizon FiOS. Perhaps this thread s/b moved to a more provider-neutral forum. What say you, oh wise ones?


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## Sixto (Nov 18, 2005)

Yep, there's already a thread: http://www.dbstalk.com/topic/207221-tivo-roamio-dvr/

Just figured would mention the goodness with FiOS, but do agree, it's certainly cross provider.


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## inkahauts (Nov 13, 2006)

Anyone hear any word on cable card II that was eventually supposed to hit and solve the Video On Demand issue with cable cards? Or is it dead and buried?


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## LI-SVT (May 18, 2006)

TiVo has a way of providing cable company on demand to their customers. The limitation in this case is Fios. Comcast for example has on demand for retail Premiers and Roamios.


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## bidger (Nov 19, 2005)

Nick said:


> As I understand it, Roamio (better, Roameo?) is not provider-specific, e.g., Verizon FiOS. Perhaps this thread s/b moved to a more provider-neutral forum. What say you, oh wise ones?


The difference being the TiVo with FIOS service does not require the dreaded tuning adapter like you would need with most any other cable provider.


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## dmurphy (Sep 28, 2006)

LI-SVT said:


> TiVo has a way of providing cable company on demand to their customers. The limitation in this case is Fios. Comcast for example has on demand for retail Premiers and Roamios.


That would be a game changer for sure ... the reason I haven't even looked at a TiVo with my FiOS is because of the On Demand... my son uses it ALL THE TIME.


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## sangs (Apr 2, 2008)

Well, I've had a couple Roamios going with FiOS for a few days now. What I was sure would be a limited trial run has quickly become a full-blown obsession. As the man above said. Fios. Roamio. Awesome.


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## Sixto (Nov 18, 2005)

sangs said:



> Well, I've had a couple Roamios going with FiOS for a few days now. What I was sure would be a limited trial run has quickly become a full-blown obsession. As the man above said. Fios. Roamio. Awesome.


Yep, I'm going on several weeks now. Very nice.


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## sangs (Apr 2, 2008)

Hey Sixto, since you seem to know these things, can you help me with an issue I'm having? (I posted it in the Tivo forums too.)

Here's the setup. Have a Roamio Pro, Roamio Plus and a Mini. The Roamio Pro is connected with a coax and ethernet cable, MOCA connection enabled so that the Plus and Mini can simply connect through coax. The Tivos communicate properly. The Mini hiccups at times, but I've read that might happen. 

The problem is with my FiOS internet connection. 

I've had it for several years and it has been rock solid. No dropped signals, weird disconnects, nothing. However, since installing the Tivos, something is up. While I still receive fast speeds, the signal goes in-and-out with alarming frequency. This happens with the hardwired connection on the Actiontech Router, the wireless connection on the Actiontech Router and the wireless connection on our Airport Extreme, which is placed in Bridge Mode and has been for a couple years. As I mentioned, I've have never had any issues with this setup before introducing the Tivos into the equation.

Also, I probably should have mentioned that the Actiontech is provisioned for ethernet, if that makes a difference. I have a Cat 6 cable connected the ONT and the Actiontech. (There's a coax connection to the Actiontech too, but I thought that was for the FiOS guide and On Demand content for its DVRs/STBs.)


Any ideas, suggestions or solutions? As somebody that does a lot of work at home, I need my FiOS internet to go back to what it was. Thanks in advance.


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## Sixto (Nov 18, 2005)

Be careful, with FiOS you don't want the Roamio to do both Ethernet and MoCA, since the Actiontec already provides network access via MoCA within the house if you have a coax connection from the ONT to the Actiontec.

In your scenario, the Roamio would be on your home network via Ethernet, it then would also be on your network via MoCA because the Actiontec natively supports MoCA over that same coax. That's a problem.

Remove the Ethernet cable and your problem may go away.


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## sangs (Apr 2, 2008)

Sixto said:


> Be careful, with FiOS you don't want the Roamio to do both Ethernet and MoCA, since the Actiontec already provides network access via MoCA within the house if you have a coax connection from the ONT to the Actiontec.
> 
> In your scenario, the Roamio would be on your home network via Ethernet, it then would also be on your network via MoCA because the Actiontec natively supports MoCA over that same coax. That's a problem.
> 
> Remove the Ethernet cable and your problem may go away.


I'll give that a shot, thanks. (However, what about the setting on the Roamio to make it a Moca Bridge - or something like that, can't recall the specific wording right now - in order for the Mini to access it? Are you saying that's not necessary in this case?)


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## Sixto (Nov 18, 2005)

With FiOS, you don't need a MoCA bridge, the FiOS Actiontec router is the MoCA bridge.

The FiOS Actiontec router provides home network / internet access to every device on the coax as long as the Actiontec router is connected by coax to the ONT.

Think of it this way ...

If the Actiontec router is coax connected to the ONT, then it's providing home network/internet access to any MoCA compliant device on the coax.

If the Actiontec router is Ethernet connected to other devices, including any switches, then it's providing home network/internet access to those Ethernet devices.

You should not have any device that is both coax connected with MoCA enabled and Ethernet connected, because then those devices would be connected to the same home network twice, and that is not good.


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## sangs (Apr 2, 2008)

Sixto said:


> With FiOS, you don't need a MoCA bridge, the FiOS Actiontec router is the MoCA bridge.
> 
> The FiOS Actiontec router provides home network / internet access to every device on the coax as long as the Actiontec router is connected by coax to the ONT.
> 
> ...


Gotcha.

You know, the Tivo setup poster is a little unclear about the whole MoCA thing. I knew that's what FiOS used, but in the break out green box it read like you were supposed to connect an ethernet cable to the primary Roamio - as well as the coax - to enable MoCA.

Anyway, I've disconnected the ethernet cable from the Roamio. I'll see what transpires now. Thanks again.


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## Sixto (Nov 18, 2005)

You can also have some devices on Ethernet and some on MoCA, they still can all talk.

Personally, I like to have all the TV devices on one or the other, because they're all then not bridging from one form to another thru the router, but it works either way.


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## sangs (Apr 2, 2008)

Sixto said:


> You can also have some devices on Ethernet and some on MoCA, they still can all talk.
> 
> Personally, I like to have all the TV devices on one or the other, because they're all then not bridging from one form to another thru the router, but it works either way.


Yeah, in a perfect world I'd have everything ethernet, but that won't work for the current and future Mini. So MoCA it is for the Tivos.


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## Sixto (Nov 18, 2005)

sangs said:


> Yeah, in a perfect world I'd have everything ethernet, but that won't work for the current and future Mini. So MoCA it is for the Tivos.


Yep, I started with all MoCA, then I tested Ethernet and got 200Mbps for recording transfers between Roamio's and I switched, but both are fine for streaming.


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## sangs (Apr 2, 2008)

Network-wise, everything is working great since disconnecting the Ethernet. Let me ask you though - what are your SNR readings? Mine are all 42 or 41. I've always had minor pixelation and hiccups with the FiOS DVRs, but never thought it could be related to a too hot SNR. I've been reading that 42 might be way too hot for Tivo and I'm wondering if that's why I'm seeing what I would describe as increased pixelation on some channels. Thinking of adding in a splitter or two before the Roamio to knock back the SNR.


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## Sixto (Nov 18, 2005)

sangs said:


> Network-wise, everything is working great since disconnecting the Ethernet. Let me ask you though - what are your SNR readings? Mine are all 42 or 41. I've always had minor pixelation and hiccups with the FiOS DVRs, but never thought it could be related to a too hot SNR. I've been reading that 42 might be way too hot for Tivo and I'm wondering if that's why I'm seeing what I would describe as increased pixelation on some channels. Thinking of adding in a splitter or two before the Roamio to knock back the SNR.


Yep, same readings here. I added a splitter.


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## Sixto (Nov 18, 2005)

Have posted my Roamio thoughts: http://forums.solidsignal.com/showthread.php/5920-My-TiVo-Roamio-amp-Mini-Thoughts-amp-Observations


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## sangs (Apr 2, 2008)

Unfortunately, I bailed on the Roamio experience. It just wasn't working well enough and didn't want to miss my return/refund window. (Not with that much upfront money in play.) As comparatively weak feature-wise as the FiOS Motorola DVRs are, they've always worked well. So back into service they go.


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## Sixto (Nov 18, 2005)

sangs said:


> Unfortunately, I bailed on the Roamio experience. It just wasn't working well enough and didn't want to miss my return/refund window. (Not with that much upfront money in play.) As comparatively weak feature-wise as the FiOS Motorola DVRs are, they've always worked well. So back into service they go.


Sorry to hear it.

My Roamio/Mini setup has been perfect since I switched to the FiOS splitters. Still 100% signal strength, but I needed to tone down the signal a little. I only had one tuning issue a few weeks ago, but it was showing some tuning errors (corrected/uncorrected) on the DVR Diagnostics screen. It's been issue free with a zero error count since I switched to the officially supported splitters. I went with the new MoCA 2.0 FiOS splitters, though it's only MoCA 1.1.

Will keep my summary post updated: http://forums.solidsignal.com/showthread.php/5920-My-TiVo-Roamio-amp-Mini-Thoughts-amp-Observations


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## sangs (Apr 2, 2008)

Yeah, I tried a bunch of things with splitters and attenuators, MoCA, Ethernet, etc. but it was just too flaky. I may have been able to get it all working perfectly with more time, but if I didn't, I'd have been stuck with a big cost and bigger frustration. Oh well. Maybe down the road again sometime. Have fun.


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## damondlt (Feb 27, 2006)

Sounds Awesome, I'm getting excited. :righton:

I wish I could get Fios as well though.


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