Series1 (1999)

The Series1 (retronym) was the original TiVo digital video recorder.

Series1 TiVo systems are based on PowerPC processors connected to MPEG-2 encoder/decoder chips and IDE/ATA hard drives. Series1 TiVo units used one or two drives of 13–60 GB. Although not supported by TiVo or equipment manufacturers, larger drives can be added.

Series2 (2002)

Front view of a Series2 TCD540040 TiVo unit

Back view of a Series2 TCD540040 TiVo unit

The Series2 was a complete redesign of the TiVo hardware. It includes USB ports (for Ethernet and Wi-Fi adapters), a new CPU, and more RAM. The availability of network connectivity has spread to the software side, where new features like TiVoToGo and Home Media Engine applications are now supported.

Series2 TiVo systems are based on MIPS processors connected to MPEG-2 encoder/decoder chips and high-capacity IDE/ATA hard drives. Series2 units had drives of 40–250GB in size. Although not supported by TiVo or equipment manufacturers, larger drives can be added.

Series3 HD (2006)

The Series3 TiVo was officially unveiled at the 2006 Consumer Electronics Show,^[7] and was released to the public on September 12, 2006. In April 2010, it was superseded by the Series 4 "TiVo Premiere" and is supported but no longer manufactured by TiVo for North American markets.

The Series3 DVR features support for high-definition broadcasts and has two tuners. In North America, they each can receive analog and HDTV over-the-air (NTSC and ATSC) in addition to both analog and digital cable (QAM). Encrypted digital cable is decoded through CableCARDs available from the cable providers. As of September 2009 satellite TV connections are not supported. In Australia and New Zealand, the dual tuners support the recording of two digital (DVB-T) over-the-air signals at the same time, whilst playing back a third.

With the dual tuners, it can record or view any two sources simultaneously. For example, two over-the-air broadcasts, two cable programs, or any combination can be recorded at the same time. The initial hardware release (TCD648250B) was unable to take advantage of Multi-Stream CableCARDs and required the use of a pair of CableCARDs to enable its dual tuners with encrypted digital cable. The follow-up Series3 models had an option of using either one Multi-Stream card or two single stream cards.

Switched Digital Video (SDV), a technology which allows cable providers to only send the channel streams being watched instead of the entire channel lineup in order to better manage bandwidth, requires a USB attachment to a separate tuning adapter available from the cable providers.

One HDMI port and two sets of component, S-video, and composite outputs are included. The Series 3 is also the first DVR to feature THX-certified audio and video. The unit is also equipped with two USB 2.0 ports, a Fast Ethernet port, and a telephone modem, which are all used to connect to the TiVo service. The built-in wired Ethernet or an optional USB 802.11 wireless adapter could download video on demand from various providers. Multi-room viewing and transferring programs to and from a PC is allowed. HD content may only be transferred between Series 3 units, or Series 3 and later models.

A Series 3 can be connected to several types of televisions and if necessary convert to the appropriate resolution. This allows displaying HD channels on older TVs using composite or s-video connections.

Storage can be increased to 2 TB by replacement of the hard drive—something that can be done professionally, but is usually done by users familiar with how to perform PC drive replacement. An external SATA port allows up to 1TB in additional storage when using TiVo-certified external hard drives.

• CPU: Broadcom BCM7038
• RAM: 128 MB for general CPU use- more for the encoders

Series4 Premiere (2010)

The Series4 TiVo Premiere was officially unveiled on March 2, 2010,^[17] and was released to the public on March 28, 2010. The higher-end Premiere model features a more sophisticated remote and larger hard drive. The TiVo Premiere has the features of the Series 3 TiVos with the addition of support for 1080p high definition video, and a new high definition user interface using Haxe.^[18] It is also Energy Star compliant after cutting power consumption by 35% to 45%. The slimmer unit relies on a single Multi-stream CableCARD ("M-Card") slot and uses a dual core processor delivering greater performance. Communication speeds are claimed to be 3 to 5 times faster than a TiVo HD, and supports an optional QWERTY keyboard remote that communicates via Bluetooth (recently discontinued) . Like the Series 3, it does not support analog video input from devices such as satellite television or AT&T U-verse set top boxes as do the Series 2 TiVos. The new user interface is meant to seamlessly integrate features such as Rhapsody, Netflix, Amazon, Blockbuster, Hulu, and YouTube video, and make development of such applications easier through use of Adobe Stagecraft (Flash Lite 3.1 + Actionscript 2.0). The operating system enhancement allows third party Flash applications similar to those possible with HME, and other Flash Lite consumer devices such as Chumby. Such applications will be available from TiVo's application store.^[19]

Hardware:

• CPU: Broadcom BCM7413 400MHZ dual core 1100 Dhrystone MIPS vs. TiVo HD's 400 DMIPS

Series5 Roamio (2013)

The TiVo Roamio was made available on August 20, 2013.^[31]

Hardware:

• CPU: Broadcom BCM7241 3000 Dhrystone MIPS
• Transcoder: NXP (Freescale / Zenverge) ZN200 (Roamio Plus and Pro only)

Series6 Bolt (2015)

The Bolt was made available for sale on September 30, 2015.^[33]

Hardware:

• CPU: Broadcom BCM7449

Series7 Edge (2019)

This is the first TiVo to be manufactured by Arris. It is also the first TiVo that can only use TE4 (TiVo Experience 4) and not TE3.

Mini

Mini VOX Specs:

• 12,000 DMIPS CPU
• 2GB DRAM
• 8GB eMMC Flash
• Video decode up to 4Kp60
• Graphics 1.2 Gp/s OpenGL ES3.1, scalable video-in-graphics
• HDMI 2.0a output (supporting HDR10)
• Gigabit Ethernet 10/100/1000
• MoCA 2.0 Interface (400+Mbps)

Stream

Introduced in 2012, Stream (not to be confused with Stream 4K) is an accessory that enables streaming (sometimes called "second-screen" viewing) from TiVo Premiere or Roamio DVRs to mobile devices, including iOS and Android smartphones and tablets using the TiVo app.

Stream is a transcoder. It converts recorded MPEG-2 content from the Premiere or Roamio DVR to a reduced data rate format suitable for the mobile client on a wireless connection (H.264, usually at 720p.) Stream's hardware core is a specialized chip: the NXP (formerly Zenverge) ZN200.

Stream connects to the TiVo DVR via Ethernet on the customer's local network. On the mobile device, TiVo App discovers Stream and sets it up for use. The TiVo App user then selects a program from their DVR for viewing or downloading on their device. Downloading is at up to 4x the display rate; view-while-download is also possible. Stream can handle multiple mobile TiVo App client sessions at the same time.

Roamio Plus and Roamio Pro have Stream capability built-in, with identical capabilities to standalone Stream.

TiVo BOLT supports streaming with its own transcoder. It is also compatible with Stream for users who need to support more clients or faster downloading.

TiVo announced at CES 2020 on January 7, 2020, a new streaming product called TiVo Stream 4K.^[37] This is a new product and has no relation to the previously released TiVo Stream hardware.

Bridge

Bridge is an accessory to connect an Ethernet network to MoCA. It supports Ethernet (10/100/Gbit) and MoCA 2.0 (up to 450Mbit/s) connections. The Bridge is most often used to connect a whole-home TiVo DVR + Mini network to the household WAN/LAN router. It can also be used to add MoCA networking to TiVo DVRs that do not include it, such as the two-tuner Premiere and the Roamio.

MoCA networking is a popular choice for whole-home DVR systems because, unlike Ethernet, it uses ordinary RG-6 coaxial cabling which may already be installed in the customer's home. It is also often used in place of wireless as it provides a reliable, fade-free connection robust enough to handle even high-rate MPEG-2 video from the DVR.