TiVo has rolled out an impressively small Mini set-top box.
As expected, the little device is designed to deliver live TV, recorded shows, and web entertainment to another TV in your home. However, there are a few caveats to the little set-top box that you need to keep in mind.
You need either a TiVo Premier 4 or a Premiere XL 4/Elite DVR in another room of your home. You must also have a wired network in your home, as the TiVo Mini doesn’t support wireless connectivity. If you have those requirements in your home the little box will allow you to watch live TV and recorded programs from your four-tuner TiVo DVR.
The small set top box also supports movies and music from Hulu Plus, YouTube, Pandora, and Spotify. You can schedule recordings, perform WishList searches, and program Season Pass recordings from the TiVo Mini. It’s also important to point out that the Mini does require the use of one of the tuners from your main DVR to stream live TV. The small set top box also doesn’t work with the Premier or Premiere XL TiVo boxes.
The TiVo Mini is TiVo’s answer to the whole home DVR systems offered by satellite provider such as DirecTV and Dish Network. The set-top box offers users the ability to pause, fast-forward, and rewind live TV and recordings. You can also start watching the show in one room of your home and finish it in another. One interesting on-demand video service the set-top box supports in some areas is content from Comcast Xfinity.
The TiVo Mini costs $99.99, plus the cost of service. Monthly service for the set-top box with a one-year commitment is $5.99. You can also choose to pay $149.99 to receive lifetime service for the TiVo Mini.
