How fast should TiVo transfer

nhaigh · 05-25-2006, 09:33 AM

I've just bought a S2DT to replace my DirecTiVo as a stopgap until the S3 arrives. I'm experimenting with all the cool new things I can do and am now stunned DirecTV never adopted any of this great functionality. I may never get around to watching TV again!!!!

That aside, I'm trying to work out if I have any network bottlenecks that are impacting transfer performance. How fast in layman terms and assuming ideal conditions should I be able to get a show to transfer:

1) From my TiVo to my PC ( I understand this involves some TiVo encoding)
2) From my PC to my TiVo ( No encoding I think)

What I want to know is am I getting close to best or should I look at upgrading my PC/Network/Adaptors etc to improve things. I guess what I'm currently seeing is a transfer of about half real time, i.e. about two hours to transfer a one hour show regardless of direction.

Thanks

aus1ander · 05-25-2006, 10:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nhaigh

What I want to know is am I getting close to best or should I look at upgrading my PC/Network/Adaptors etc to improve things. I guess what I'm currently seeing is a transfer of about half real time, i.e. about two hours to transfer a one hour show regardless of direction.

Thanks

The biggest bottleneck is Tivo encoding the stream while transferring. Most have noticed between 3-8 Mbps performance when transferring Tivo to PC. If using a non-Tivo branded wireless adapter, this will likely drop as extra CPU cycles are dedicated to WEP (if using that) and other adapter-specific functions. A wired adapter will always be faster. With wireless, you may see significant gains in performance from upgrading to G if you have a B network currently.

The fastest you're going to get is using the built-in ethernet port. My Humax gets around 4-6 Mbps (400-650 kilobyte/sec) depending on what I'm doing with the DVR, but the S2DT supposedly has a more powerful processor and can transfer recordings even faster than that. Using wireless, especially with WEP, will slow down your transfers (I use the Tivo Wireless G adapter and some have said it is the fastest wireless adapter for Tivo because it is optimized for Tivotogo).

nhaigh · 05-25-2006, 10:31 AM

Looking at the recordings on the PC they seem to be about 1.6Gb in size so how do I get from 8Mbps to number of minutes to transfer 1.6Gb?

aus1ander · 05-25-2006, 10:41 AM

The way I figure it out is using the https interface of TivoToGo (https://IPaddressoftivo), the you log in with user "tivo" and pass being your media access key. When you download one of those files in IE or Firefox, it'll give you a rate in kilobytes/sec. multiply that by 8 and divide by 1000. that converts it to megabits/sec.

lessd · 05-25-2006, 10:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aus1ander

The biggest bottleneck is Tivo encoding the stream while transferring. Most have noticed between 3-8 Mbps performance when transferring Tivo to PC. If using a non-Tivo branded wireless adapter, this will likely drop as extra CPU cycles are dedicated to WEP (if using that) and other adapter-specific functions. A wired adapter will always be faster. With wireless, you may see significant gains in performance from upgrading to G if you have a B network currently.

The fastest you're going to get is using the built-in ethernet port. My Humax gets around 5-8 Mbps (300-550 Mbyte/sec) depending on what I'm doing with the DVR, but the S2DT supposedly has a more powerful processor and can transfer recordings even faster than that. Using wireless, especially with WEP, will slow down your transfers (I use the Tivo Wireless G adapter and some have said it is the fastest wireless adapter for Tivo because it is optimized for Tivotogo).

300 Mbyte/sec, I don't think so maybe 300 KB/sec. A lot of people mix up Bits and Bytes 8 Bits = 1 Byte: 1KB/s is for byte 1Mb/s is for bit so 300KB/s=2.4Mb/sec

Series 2 240 will go at about 700KB/s wireless TiVo G adapter G only system
Series 2 540-595 go about 370KB/s wireless TiVo G adapter G only system
Series 2 DT 649 go about 750KB/s wireless TiVo G adapter G only system
Series 2 DT 649 go about 1.1MB/s direct connect to router

The above is directly from the TiVo to a PC using the built in web server in the TiVo
https://192.168.XX.ZZ (the address of the TiVo)

Other people may use different abbreviations for bits and bytes

nhaigh · 05-25-2006, 11:03 AM

So tell me is my reasoning is right here:

1) If a 1.6Gb file is 1677722Kb (from a conversion site on the web) and I get it to the PC in two hours (say 7200 seconds) then I'm getting a transfer rate of around 233Kb/sec.

2) My sling player tells me it is streaming at around 1000KB/s when watched on the same PC that has the TiVo desktop on it.

3) My Slingplayer and TiVo are both connected with cat 5 to a switch which in turn is connected to Powerline Adapters relaying upstairs to my router which the PC connected to it.

4) If my Slingplayer is getting 1000 Kb/sec out and my TiVo is getting 233Kb out through the same equipment then there is nothing I can do in the way of upgrades to transfer shows faster. The TiVo is working flat out.

In conclusion it is not possbile to transfer a file from a PC to a TiVo and watch it in real time.

Abner · 05-25-2006, 11:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nhaigh

What I want to know is am I getting close to best or should I look at upgrading my PC/Network/Adaptors etc to improve things. I guess what I'm currently seeing is a transfer of about half real time, i.e. about two hours to transfer a one hour show regardless of direction.

Thanks

Your network is slow. I have two S2DT using the TiVo Wireless G connecting to a Linksys Wireless G router WITHOUT WEP enabled. I transfer stuff around in about half of the time it takes to play. So a one Hour show, transfers in 1/2 hour. I'm not sure if you reverse your i.e and meant to say the same thing that I'm saying. My co-workers using the old TiVos get about the rate you claim.

If what you said is right, then you can certainly improve your transfer rate.

lingsun · 06-05-2006, 08:00 AM

Transfer speed varies according to your computer speed. I have an HP 3800+ computer and I can download a 30 minute show in basic quality in 24 minutes. Another thing, if you go into tivoserver properties you can speed up transfers that way.

jlc4 · 06-05-2006, 09:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nhaigh

What I want to know is am I getting close to best or should I look at upgrading my PC/Network/Adaptors etc to improve things. I guess what I'm currently seeing is a transfer of about half real time, i.e. about two hours to transfer a one hour show regardless of direction.

Thanks

A lot of it is the slow CPU and low memory on the Tivo. You can speed it up using wired instead of wireless networking, and by not transferring when you are recording or buffering live TV. You can even speed it up a little more by unplugging the cable line-in from the Tivo.

Here is a detailed experiment recently posted on the Tivo To Go board

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb...d.php?t=301074

BJ411 · 06-05-2006, 10:15 AM

if someone is getting a download onto their pc in 24 minutes from a 30 minute show on tivo.. then i'd be embarrassed to tell you how long it takes me

and you're right, some of us don't know too much about bit and byte.. afterall i was still sitting in math class adding on paper because calculators hadn't been invented yet!!!

I'd love to speed up my downloads.. limited memory, hard drive aren't an issue.. I have tivo's g adapter but a very basic linksys router.. is the issue there? or a setting within my pc that i can tweak ?

BJ411 · 06-05-2006, 10:17 AM

hmm it won't let me edit.. i was going to ask about a booster too, would that help ?

lingsun · 06-06-2006, 09:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BJ411

if someone is getting a download onto their pc in 24 minutes from a 30 minute show on tivo.. then i'd be embarrassed to tell you how long it takes me

and you're right, some of us don't know too much about bit and byte.. afterall i was still sitting in math class adding on paper because calculators hadn't been invented yet!!!

I'd love to speed up my downloads.. limited memory, hard drive aren't an issue.. I have tivo's g adapter but a very basic linksys router.. is the issue there? or a setting within my pc that i can tweak ?

I use a very basic Linksys router too but I use USB to Ethernet adapters and they're faster than wireless. I think once you switch to wired from wireless the next factor is your computer's processor speed and ram. My Athlon 3800+ comes with a gig of ram and I think that helps a lot. My wife's computer is an Athlon 3400+ with a gig of ram and it takes 28 minutes to transfer a 30 minute program.