How to record and run multi-view on Tivo8k with TiviMate Premium

Tivo8k Team · posted October 12, 2026 · 7 min read

Two matches kick off at the same moment on different channels, and the household wants both on the big screen. A documentary airs at three in the morning on a channel that keeps no archive. A series finale clashes with a family dinner. These are the evenings TiviMate Premium was built for, with its recording and multi-view features, and both work on a Tivo8k line exactly as they would on any other. There is one rule that catches people out, though, and it is worth knowing before the first big night: every window on the screen and every recording in the background is a separate stream, and every stream counts as a screen on your plan. This guide covers setting both features up, the storage recordings need, and how sound and subtitles behave in each.

What TiviMate Premium adds to a Tivo8k line

Premium adds recording, multi-view, several playlists, favorites and the option to hide channel groups, and it is bought from the TiviMate developer through its companion app, not from us. The free version already plays every channel and every title in the library, so Premium is about convenience and features rather than access. Your plan, its price and its login stay exactly the same either way.

Two practical limits apply before anything else:

• TiviMate runs only on Android. That means Android TV and Google TV sets, Android boxes and Fire OS sticks. The Fire TV Stick 4K Select runs Vega OS and cannot install it, and there is no version for Samsung or LG televisions, Apple devices or computers.
• The developer sets the Premium terms. The price and the number of devices one purchase covers are theirs to decide, so check those with them before buying.

If TiviMate is not installed yet, start with the Tivo8k setup guide for TiviMate, which covers adding the login and loading the guide. Everything below assumes the player already shows your channels and a filled program grid.

Every window and every recording is a screen

Each stream TiviMate opens counts against the number of screens your plan allows, whether you are watching it or not. A recording running in the background is a stream. Each window in a multi-view layout is a stream. The table shows what common evenings ask of a plan.

When the plan runs out of screens, the next stream is refused, and the player usually reports that the maximum number of connections has been reached. On a recording night, that can mean a scheduled recording quietly fails because someone started watching in another room. The Tivo8k prices for one, two, three and five screens list every combination, and extra screens can be added part way through a term by paying the difference for the time left.

Recording a program from the guide

Choose where recordings will be saved first, then schedule them from the program grid. Menu names shift between TiviMate versions, so read these steps as directions rather than exact labels.

1. Set the recording folder. In the settings, find the recording section and pick a location: the device’s own storage, a USB drive, or, in versions that offer it, a shared folder on another computer on your network.
2. Schedule from the grid. Move to a future program in the guide, press OK or hold the button down, and choose to record it. A small marker usually appears on the program once it is scheduled.
3. Record what is on now. During live playback, open the playback menu and choose record to start straight away.
4. Watch it back. Finished recordings sit in the player’s recordings section and play like any library title, with pause and rewind.

Recordings follow the guide, so the guide has to be right. If the listings run an hour early or late, a scheduled recording catches the wrong hour and misses the start. The Tivo8k TV guide and EPG page explains how to check the grid against your clock and correct an offset. Live events also overrun, sport above all, so where your version lets you start a recording a few minutes early and end it a few minutes late, use that margin generously.

Storage, and when a recording is worth the space

Plan on roughly two gigabytes for each hour of HD, and several times that for 4K. Streaming sticks have little free internal storage, often only enough for a few hours, so anyone who records regularly will want something larger.

Before recording at all, check whether you need to. On channels that keep an archive, a program can be replayed for a while after it airs without using any storage, which how Tivo8k catch-up works explains in full. Recording earns its space on channels without an archive, for programs you want to keep longer than an archive holds them, and for anything that clashes with an evening when the replay would come too late.

Habits that keep recordings reliable

Most failed recordings come down to the device, the guide or the screen count rather than the stream itself, and a few habits rule all three out.

• Leave the device powered. A stick switched off at the wall, or a box unplugged to save power, records nothing. Standby is usually fine, but check that a recording scheduled overnight actually appears in the list the next morning before trusting it with something important.
• Keep the guide fresh. A recording scheduled a week ahead relies on listings that may change. Glance at the scheduled list the day before, especially for live events that broadcasters move.
• Protect a screen for it. If a recording matters, make sure the household will not use every screen on the plan while it runs.
• Delete as you watch. A drive that is nearly full is the usual reason a long recording stops early. Clear watched programs once a week.

None of these depend on your line. They are the same routine anyone with a recording box follows, which is part of why TiviMate with Premium feels so close to the cable box it often replaces.

Multi-view for match nights

Multi-view puts several channels on one screen at once, and only one of them plays its sound at any moment. Open it from the playback menu during live viewing, choose a layout, and fill each window with a channel. Moving the highlight from window to window moves the sound with it, so you choose whose commentary you hear while keeping an eye on everything else.

Three things decide how smooth it feels:

• The device’s power. Each window is decoded separately. A recent 4K stick usually copes with two windows, while four is a job for a stronger Android box. If windows stutter while a single channel plays smoothly, the device is the limit.
• The copy in each window. A quarter of the screen cannot show 4K detail anyway, so fill small windows with the HD or FHD copies of each channel. They decode more easily and leave more of the line free.
• The connection. Streams add up. Four HD windows ask for something like 40 Mbps held steady, so a cable to the box makes a real difference on a big night.

To find out which broadcasters carry the games you want side by side, browse the Tivo8k sports channels and check kick-off times in the guide before the evening starts.

Sound and subtitles in recordings and multi-view

Whether a recording keeps every audio track and subtitle track depends on how the player writes the file, so test it before relying on it. Record ten minutes of a channel or program you know carries two languages, then play the recording back and open the audio menu. If both tracks are listed, your setup keeps them; if only one appears, the recording holds only that one, and replay or the library is the better route for that program.

In multi-view, the audio follows the highlighted window, and each window plays whichever track that channel starts on. If you want a particular commentary language in one window, the simplest approach is to choose a channel that carries it as its main track, rather than switching tracks inside a small window. Choosing the audio language on Tivo8k explains how to tell a second track from a separate channel. Subtitles are rarely practical in small windows; save them for full-screen viewing.

Trying recording and multi-view on Tivo8k

The 24-hour trial is a full account, so it can show you the guide, the recording controls and the quality of the channels you care about. A trial login is normally meant for one screen at a time, so for a multi-view test ask in the chat how many streams your trial can open before building a four-window layout.

1. Install TiviMate on an Android TV device or a Fire OS stick and add the login.
2. Let the guide load and check one listing against the clock.
3. With Premium active, schedule a short recording on a channel you know, with nothing else playing.
4. Play the recording back and check its audio tracks.
5. If your trial allows two streams, open a two-window multi-view and move the sound between windows.

Ask for a free Tivo8k trial login on WhatsApp or through the form; it takes no card and stops by itself after 24 hours. When you choose a plan, count the windows and recordings along with the people, and the plan will match the evenings you actually have.

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