Joshua Goldman/CNET
The TiVo Mini lets you borrow tuners from a TiVo Roamio or four-tuner Premiere DVR to stream content to additional rooms without the need to buy more DVRs.
It’s a generally excellent device and it’s well priced at $99, but the rub is TiVo requires either a $5.99 monthly subscription fee or a $149 lifetime fee. That is no longer the case — at least temporarily — as TiVo has changed the price to a flat $149 with lifetime service.
The change was spotted first on Best Buy’s site, but the pricing is now listed on the Mini product page on TiVo’s site. It also says the promotion ends on January 6, 2015. You may not want to jump on that offer, however.
A story on Engadget points to an FCC filing for a new Mini with ZigBee wireless. Putting ZigBee chips in the Mini (and perhaps eventually new DVRs) could let you create a wireless mesh network for home automation, for things like dimming your lights or adjusting your room temperature without leaving the couch. Broader remote control or other input device options are also possibilities.
If home automation doesn’t flip your switch, though, now’s the time to buy.