Watch recorded shows, live TV and web entertainment on another TV in the house

The TiVo Mini lets you enjoy recorded shows and web entertainment on another TV. The subscription for the Mini costs $5.99/month.

The TiVo Mini is great news for owners of TiVo's latest 4-tuner DVRs, like the Premiere 4 or Premiere Elite XL4. It lets you enjoy all the entertainment from your TiVo DVR in another room through your home network without buying another DVR. As you'd expect from a TiVo product, you can watch live TV and recorded shows, with functions like pause, fast forward and rewind. You can even start watching a show in one room and finish it in another.

Wired for entertainment

To stream live or recorded material to the Mini, connect your Premiere 4 or Premiere Elite XL4 to the Internet using either a Ethernet cable or Ethernet over coax cable (MoCA). If you're currently using a Wi-Fi® adapter with your Premiere 4/XL4 you won't be able to stream to the Mini. Wi-Fi and Powerline networking aren't fast enough to provide reliable streaming of high-def shows. You need to use a wired Ethernet or MoCA connection. If you go with MoCA, you'll also need two MoCA Network Adapters: one that connects to your home network and one that connects to your DVR. See "What is MoCA" below.

Setup requires only a couple steps. To stream content to the Mini it has to be on the same network your TiVo DVR is. For starters, make sure your TiVo Premiere 4/XL4 is hooked up to both a cable connection and to your wired/wireless router. Another option is to connect the TiVo Mini directly to your TiVo DVR via Ethernet cable (using a single cable or through the router). After that, just hook the TiVo Mini up to your HDTV via HDMI.

That famously great TiVo interface

Why would you choose the Mini over competing streaming video devices? TiVo owners know — the TiVo onscreen interface is unbelievably smart and intuitive. It's optimized both for finding the stuff you know you want to watch, and for discovering new shows that match your interests. With the Mini connected to a TV you can access movies and shows from services like Hulu Plus and YouTube (but not Netflix or Amazon Instant at this time). You can also tap into music from Pandora Internet radio and Spotify.

What is MoCA?

MoCA (pronounced "mocha," like the chocolate coffee drink) stands for Multimedia over Coax. It's a great networking option if you can't easily make a wired Ethernet connection. MoCA delivers the same high-speed network connection you get with an Ethernet cable, and delivers it through your existing coax cable (the wire you use to receive cable TV) to any room in your home. When you set up a MoCA adapter in your home, your TiVo DVR will receive cable TV and connect to your home network through your existing coax cable.