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The Hartford Courant Kevin Hunt column [The Hartford Courant :: ](Hartford Courant (CT) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Feb. 03--TiVo isn't exactly breaking up with its longtime partner, the household television, but it now has permission to pursue other relationships. The new DVR-about-town, ready for action, is Roamio. The big attraction in TiVo's latest digital video recorders takes cable or satellite programming out of the home and into the world of Apple devices. This feature, coming to Android devices in 2014, allows users to watch live or recorded shows by downloading a free TiVo app and connecting to a wireless network. It's available on two of the three new TiVo DVRs, the Roamio Plus ($399.99) and the Roamio Pro ($599.99). The base-model Roamio ($199.99) needs a TiVo Stream adapter for mobile streaming. TiVo says streaming via 4G/LTE wireless service will be coming too. TiVo owners/subscribers must also pay $14.99 a month or $499.99 for lifetime service. TiVo, playing catch-up in luring mobile users, now answers Dish Network's all-in Sling and cable companies' limited, in-home-only viewing apps. Sling, however, has no programming restrictions: What's available in the home is viewable on the road. Roamio has few restrictions, most notably premium channels such as HBO and Showtime. Cable's mobile apps typically offer no major networks or premium channels and nothing beyond the subscriber's in-home wireless network. In an audition that started just before the service was introduced in October, Roamio proved not as good as Sling and oddly deficient even with a potent wireless network. For the moment, anyway, it's more important that TiVo has introduced the service. It should get better. A morning at a local coffee shop with the TiVo and Sling apps and a third, for lowly cable users (Monsoon Multimedia's Vulkano), showed the differences between the streamers. The shop's Wi-Fi checked in at a fully caffeinated 16.39 megabits per second, comparable to a home network powered by a cable model. speedtest.netSo speed was not a problem. Yet poor Dr. Phil looked washed out and a little hazy on my iPad, as if maybe he should have called in sick. Over at CNN, the "Newsroom" crew looked equally hazy, and type in the endless crawl at the bottom of the screen was barely legible. With Sling, NBA highlights on ESPN "SportsCenter" were an obvious upgrade in picture quality. trim Roamio's "live" showings are actually recorded to the user's TiVo, with an option to record directly to the mobile device for superior picture quality. It wasn't much of an option, at least in the coffee shop. The TiVo app cautioned that recording to the mobile device drains the battery and suggested a direct power source, frequently not an option at a hot spot. The app indicated it would take an hour to record the remainder of "SportsCenter." No thanks. For most live viewings, users will likely prefer recording to the Roamio, while simultaneously streaming the slightly delayed (at least 20 seconds of buffering) "live" program. The Roamio Pro at my home, on loan from TiVo, is a powerhouse DVR with six tuners and a hard drive capable of storing up to 450 hours of high-definition recordings. It has plenty of room for a pale Dr. Phil. The Vulkano Flow ($99.99, monsoonmultimedia.com), a low-profile box that attaches to a cable box or satellite receiver, streams all available programming, like Sling. On some channels, like HBO's showing of "Ray," picture quality approached Sling's. Elsewhere, it became mired in a Roamio-like haze. Roamio buyers should know that they are getting the best-yet TiVo and a video streamer bound to improve. [email protected] TiVo Roamio Pro Cost: $399.99 ($14.99 monthly service) Good: Out-of-home streaming comes to TiVo, superb DVR. Not so good: Lower-quality mobile streaming, expensive. Information: tivo.com ___ (c)2014 The Hartford Courant (Hartford, Conn.) Visit The Hartford Courant (Hartford, Conn.) at www.courant.com Distributed by MCT Information Services |