Can TiviMate Record? How to Record Live TV and Where to Store It

Yes, TiviMate can record, as part of TiviMate Premium. You can record the channel you're watching or schedule programmes from the TV guide. Two things decide whether it works well: where the recordings are saved (a Fire TV Stick's own storage fills up almost immediately) and how many connections your login allows (each recording uses one). Get those right and it behaves like a normal DVR.

What you need

• TiviMate Premium. Recording is listed among TiviMate's features on its Google Play page and is part of Premium, which costs roughly $10 a year or a lifetime fee, bought in the app on Google TV or through the TiviMate Companion app on Fire TV.
• Storage. Somewhere with plenty of free space (see below).
• Enough connections. One per recording, plus one for whatever you're watching.
• A service whose terms allow it. Licensed services set their own rules on recording. Check yours.

Where to save recordings

A rough guide: an hour of HD uses somewhere between 1 and 3 GB depending on the channel's quality. 4K uses much more.

Set the location in TiviMate's recording settings before your first recording. If you're choosing hardware with recording in mind, the Nvidia Shield with a USB drive is the long-standing favourite; see our device comparison.

How to record

Record what's on now

While watching a channel, open the player's options and choose to record. TiviMate records until the programme ends, according to the guide.

Schedule from the guide

Open the TV guide, highlight a future programme, open its options (long-press the select button) and choose record. Scheduled recordings appear in TiviMate's recordings section, where you can check or cancel them.

Recordings depend on the guide being right. If a programme's times are wrong in the guide, the recording will be too. Fix guide problems first with our TiviMate EPG guide, and consider adding a few minutes of padding before and after in the recording settings, since live programmes often overrun.

The connection limit catches everyone

Your service login allows a set number of streams at once, usually one or two. A recording is a stream. So with a one-connection login:

• You can't watch a different channel while recording.
• Two overlapping scheduled recordings means one fails.
• Someone watching on another device can stop a recording.

If you record often, you'll want at least two connections. When a recording fails with a connection error, this is the usual reason.

Keep the device awake

TiviMate records on the device itself, so the device has to be on. A Fire TV or Android TV box in deep sleep, or switched off at the wall, won't record. Check the device's sleep settings, and don't cut power at the socket overnight if you have recordings scheduled.

Catch-up: the alternative to recording

Some services offer catch-up (also called TV archive): recent programmes stored on their servers for a few days, on certain channels. In TiviMate, channels with catch-up let you scroll back in the guide and play past programmes. It uses no storage on your side, but you're relying on the service to keep it, and it disappears after a few days. Recording is yours until you delete it.

Common recording problems

1. Recording failed: usually no free connection, or no free storage.
2. Recording cut short: the programme overran the guide time. Add end padding.
3. Recording didn't start: the device was asleep or off.
4. Recording is choppy: the storage is too slow (some cheap USB sticks) or the network folder is on Wi-Fi. A wired connection and a proper drive help.

On Apple devices, UHF offers recording through a free companion server on a home computer instead; see the best IPTV player for Apple TV. For a home-server approach that records for every TV in the house, look at IPTV in Jellyfin.