transfer speeds with TCD540040 ?

[dane_walther]

I've done some searching but am getting real confused on all the different scenarios that people are talking about..

I have a S2/lifetime (TCD540040) with a Tivo wireless adapter. I bought both off Craigslist so I don't have a huge history with them. Fairly new to all this.. I'm just wanting to know what is the max expected transfer rate using this combination (TCD540040 w/ Tivo wireless adapter)? I understand different models and hardware combinations offer different transfer rates.

I'm using pyTivo and transferring from PC -> Tivo (pushing).

I know I have a low grade link since the router is in another room (25yr old house, no easy way to run Cat5e), and I know I have a limitation that the router is only 802.11b to begin with... But I don't want to go out and buy a new router or do a whole lot of work if I'm already near the limit of my S2 box's hardware.

Currently it's taking many hours to push a ripped DVD main movie (~2.5GB merged & timecode-fixed .vob file, no transcoding during push). I haven't timed it specifically to know the exact rate I'm seeing. At least 4-5 hours if not longer.. I tend to set it up and let it run overnight.

Does this seem reasonable?

thanks,
..dane

[Spenner]

I can't speak about your Series 2 speeds, but my Tivo HD gets about 6-8 Mb/s with the wireless adapter, and about 11-12 Mb/s when wired. Note that your transfer speeds may be 25-50% faster if you tune the Tivo to channel(s) you don't receive (frees the Tivo's CPU for your download).

Your Tivo should have menu options where you can see the actual bitrate of recent transfers:
Tivo button
Messages & Settings
Settings
Phone & Network
View Network Diagnostics
Transfer History (this has your recent transfers categorized such as transfer from remote (pull from tivo), download (push from pytivo)).

On my HD, a 2.5 GB DVD not needing transcoding would probably transfer faster than realtime even over wireless.

[dane_walther]

Tivo button
Messages & Settings
Settings
Phone & Network
View Network Diagnostics
Transfer History (this has your recent transfers categorized such as transfer from remote (pull from tivo), download (push from pytivo)).

Thanks for the reply--

I checked the menu structure as you suggested, but under "Phone & Network" all I have is:

Connect to Tivo service now
Change network settings
Use phone instead
View network status
Test Tivo service connection

Under "View network status" all I get is the wireless network settings (MAC, SSID, signal strength (64% tonight), and various TCP/IP settings.

oh well.

thanks,
..dane

[CuriousMark]

I have a S2/lifetime (TCD540040) with a Tivo wireless adapter. ... I'm just wanting to know what is the max expected transfer rate using this combination (TCD540040 w/ Tivo wireless adapter)?
It will depend on your wireless setup

I know I have a low grade link since the router is in another room (25yr old house, no easy way to run Cat5e), and I know I have a limitation that the router is only 802.11b to begin with...
Yes, that will slow you down. The 540 can outperform 802.11b. Your network with a bad connection on top of that will guarantee unacceptable performance. Go to G, you will get an improvement.

Currently it's taking many hours to push a ripped DVD main movie (~2.5GB merged & timecode-fixed .vob file, no transcoding during push). I haven't timed it specifically to know the exact rate I'm seeing. At least 4-5 hours if not longer..
Once you get your wireless fixed it should be closer to about real time or almost twice as fast as what you see now. This assumes you get a solid wireless G connection with 80% or higher and have zero wireless interference.

If you can find a way to run Ethernet or powerline adapter based Ethernet, you will probably find the investment worthwhile.

[audiodane]

Yes, that will slow you down. The 540 can outperform 802.11b. Your network with a bad connection on top of that will guarantee unacceptable performance. Go to G, you will get an improvement.

EXACTLY what I needed to know-- Thanks!! I've read lots of conflicting information about different boxes not being able to do certain speeds, and I didn't want to waste my time and money on something that wasn't going to help..

Thanks so much -- budget is extremely limited, but I will start looking around for a 802.11g router on eBay.. By now they should be a bit cheaper with N becoming so popular..

Once you get your wireless fixed it should be closer to about real time or almost twice as fast as what you see now. This assumes you get a solid wireless G connection with 80% or higher and have zero wireless interference.

If you can find a way to run Ethernet or powerline adapter based Ethernet, you will probably find the investment worthwhile.

Cost is the limiting factor. I'd love ethernet over powerline or coax (though I have a cable-modem, not sure if ethernet-over-coax would interfere with that), but from what I've seen, a two-point connection is around $100.

thanks so much,
..dane

(yes, I changed my username)

[audiodane]

Okay, checking in to this a little more tonight..

pulling a movie from the PC to the Tivo and looking at my network traffic, it looks like I'm getting a whopping 200kbps (yes, K-bps) ... when I send the Tivo to standby, no change that I can tell.

I'm running v9.3.2b-01-2-540 software, link quality is around 65% with my dlink d-514 .11b router. Tivo wireless adapter is PN: AG0100

I'm guessing since putting tivo to standby doesn't change anything that it's somehow my link. router is a good 30-50ft away, two rooms over. but signal strength shows 65%. ALso there are only two other wireless networks that I can see near me.

Would changing the network channel (currently on ch6) make any difference? Would changing the router? I would love to try a wired connection, but seeing as I can't use it permanently (long term solution needs to be wireless), such a test would be largely a waste of money.

200kbps is stinky. but no wonder it takes hours and hours and hours to transfer a 2.5gb file..

...ideas?

thanks,
..dane

[audiodane]

picked up an 802.11g router off ebay this weekend.. hopefully that will improve things. will let everyone know once I have a chance to test it out..

..dane

[audiodane]

Router arrived. long story short, I only transferred one item, but it seemed to average around 400kbps instead of 200kbps. Signal quality is hovering between 50-75% as reported by the Tivo. I don't recall what Tivo reported earlier, but think it, too, was around 50% (new router is in the same location as the old). So the new router has marginally better signal quality, but it's an .11g link instead of an .11b link.

Took around 2-3 hours instead of 4-6 hours (best quality). :) Much better!

cheers,
..dane

[Richard Berg]

The daemon you're using to serve files from the Tivo makes a big difference too. For instance, I get about 1 MB/s when making http calls to the standard TTG service, but 4.5-5 MB/s if I serve them up with ms_ftp. I think the latter could be faster still (>8 MB/s) if I put some effort into optimizing it and/or moving key pieces from TCL into a native 64-bit binary.

(all tests using wired Ethernet, obviously)

[audiodane]

The daemon you're using to serve files from the Tivo makes a big difference too. For instance, I get about 1 MB/s when making http calls to the standard TTG service, but 4.5-5 MB/s if I serve them up with ms_ftp. I think the latter could be faster still (>8 MB/s) if I put some effort into optimizing it and/or moving key pieces from TCL into a native 64-bit binary.

(all tests using wired Ethernet, obviously)

Wow, now you have peaked my interest further... how in the world do I transfer something using ftp?? I'm assuming no guide data/etc at that point..

thanks,
..dane