Fast from 240 to 240, SLOW from 240 to 540 or 540 to 240

[TampaDon]

Hi.

I’ve got TWO Series 2 240 units, and ONE Series 2 540 unit.

I am using the new TIVO brand wireless network adapters with my D-Link router using Wireless G only.

When I transfer an hour program between the two 240 units things FLY from room to room and take just a few minutes.

When I transfer anything from a 540 series to any 240 series or from any 240 series to my 540 series things seem to CRAWL and it takes almost an hour for an hour program to transfer.

I’ve checked the signal strength and all units are running at about 80-90% all the time.

I’ve even moved the units all over the house and the signal strength remains about the same. And I even moved all three units in the same room to double check that it’s not a distance issue. I get the same results. Fast from 240 to 240, slow from 240 to 540 and from 540 to 240.

All three units are running the same version of the software (8.1-01-2-140).

Is there a known issue with the 540 series and transfers to 240 series units? It’s driving me nuts. And TIVO support has given no suggestion or fixes other than hardwire my house, which is something I just don’t want to invest in.

Part of me wants to ditch the TIVOs and move to my FIOS DVRs which are all connected via my existing Coax and transfers are instant. But part of me wants to remain a LOYAL TIVO customer.

Does anyone have any comments or suggestion?

Thanks in advance.

Don

[wscannell]

The problem is with the USB chipset inside the 540. It puts more of the work onto the processor. So you are limited by processor speed when the transfer involves the 540. You do have the TiVo wireless adapter which does help the speed as it is designed to offload some of the wireless networking requirements from the processor. So in short, your TiVos are working normally. A wired connection to the 540 will probably improve speed somewhat, but it still will not be the same as the 240 to 240.

[TampaDon]

Hi.

Thanks for the information. It's the first solid answer I've been given by anyone.

It just amazes me that I go out and buy a 'newer' TIVO for an extra bedroom and it's SLOWER than my original two TIVOs.

I've also had lot of drop-offs with the 540. It will fall out of the network in the middle of a transfer and I'm required to pull out the network adapter, wait 30 seconds and then pop it back in. This sometimes RESETS the TIVO and reboots it, which is frustrating. This has NEVER ever happened with transfer between the 2 240's in the more than two years I've had them and we transfer stuff constantly. TIVO says it's 'room interference' and suggested I move it to another room. I've moved it all over the house, even right next to the 2 240's and it STILL drops off all the time. The 240's NEVER drop, ever. Again their solution is to go HARD WIRED.

Why would they put out a product that does this crap and then try and BLAME the problems on my house instead of their own hardware?

Thanks TIVO!

Frustrated in Tampa,
Don

[greg_burns]

It just amazes me that I go out and buy a 'newer' TIVO for an extra bedroom and it's SLOWER than my original two TIVOs.

FYI, The newer DT's are faster than the 240s.

[TampaDon]

Hi.

I saw a Pending Restart Message on my 540 TIVO the other day and rebooted. I didn't see an updating software message. Anyway, I know have NO issues with the 540 dropping out of the network and transfers are almost as fast between the 540 and 240 as the transfers from a 240 to a 240. It's definitely MUCH faster than it was a few days ago.

Maybe the TIVO recognized I moved over to the new TIVO adapter and 'fixed' my problem?

Odd huh?

Don

[F8ster]

I've also had lot of drop-offs with the 540. It will fall out of the network in the middle of a transfer and I'm required to pull out the network adapter, wait 30 seconds and then pop it back in

Try changing the wireless channel on your router. The default for many brands is 6; try changing it to 11 or 1. A lot of times you'll get interference (wireless phones, microwave ovens) at that specific frequency which can hang the adapter. You can change this in the configuration interface for your wireless router; there is no need to reconfigure the wireless adapters -- they'll pick up the change automatically. My Dad's new TiVo, with the TiVo adapter, was having this problem; after changing the channel to 11, it hasn't dropped out a single time. GL -- Dave