Looking for Recommendation on 8 port Network switch.

I just bought this. Works great.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00A121WN6/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

Pretty much at this point, any gigabit network switch works. Your needs are light, so spending more than $50 on one doesn't make sense. Just get whatever is on sale anywhere.

That link gives you one that'll be good enough.

 

I've been using this one since May 2016 with zero issues. Go for it!

 

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I'd say the netgear one on the comparison table is better than the toilet paper link one. Cheaper too.

 

How better? Your "toilet paper" suggests a bias against TP-Link --- why?

 

Managed switches then PoE will jump you up in price tier over basic unmanaged hubs. If you don't need those features there are less differences in manufacturers in my opinion.

 

Performance-wise probably pretty similar.

I never tested the back-plane if they could do 16Gbps when all ports are saturated in both directions so maybe there is a difference there, maybe not.

Power-wise I think they were around 1-3W depending on if they were idle, but it wouldn't be a huge difference in absolute numbers.

I like the Netgear GS108 V4s because they don't use electrolytic capacitors. The TP-Link I looked at used the standard off-brand capacitors.

If you move up to managed or smart switches, you probably need to turn off IGMP snooping to get it working with multiple TiVos as they will sometimes filter TiVo broadcast packets.

 

Interesting that the chart shows IGMP Snooping on an unmanaged switch. Having that on has caused issues for Mini's at least and if it's unmanaged then you would have no way to disable it.



Their website indicates this is V2 and later versions.

Support 802.1p/DSCP QoS1 and IGMP Snooping function1

1. For V2 and later version

Scott

 

OK, so I have a single TiVo and a single mini. Using the TP-Link unmanaged switch (presumably with IGMP snooping that can't be turned off) I have no problems with either pyTiVo or the mini. Does this prove that IGMP is not a problem with this switch for TiVo's and Mini's in general? Or does it depend on how many TiVo's or Mini's are used?

 

I can think of a couple of explanations
1) TP-Link implementation of IGMP snooping does not affect TiVo (or it is triggered to turn on after encountering some packets that aren't present in your system)
2) You switch is V1 variety, before they added IGMP Snooping.
3) TiVo adjusted their implementation so the switch thinks they are an IGMP listener (and thus won't filter the packets to the port TiVo is attached to)

 

Personally I think it is safest, but it doesn't mean it will or won't work. People have had issues before with TiVo's seeing each other and it was fixed by disabling IGMP snooping. Whether that was a bug in IGMP snooping or a feature of IGMP snooping was never determined. I don't think this TP-Link has DIP switches, but sometimes unmanaged switches can still be configured with DIP switches.

 

This is what Netgear KB says on the topic of IGMP snooping in their routers
Default IGMP settings may affect multicast streams on NETGEAR Web Managed Plus Switches | Answer | NETGEAR Support

 

In addition, I believe that most (but perhaps not all) issues with TiVo and IGMP Snooping have been related to problematic Moca installations. Since it appears the OP's setup is not Moca, this may not be an issue. However, for future-proofing, it still may make sense to have a non-IGMP Snooping switch. In my case, all my switches (3), are cheap Netgear unmanaged 8-port GB switches. Rock solid.

 

Could you explain why this is a Moca related issue? TiVo would seem to send the same broadcast packets for device discovery whether using Moca or Ethernet since those are layer 1/2 and TiVo broadcasts are layer 3.

 

I've seen the IGMP problem happen in non-moca environments. I really wish I had been in a position to take packet traces.

There are far to many unanswered questions both about Tivo's Minis multicast use, how they interact with IGMP on a good day, how the subject switches implement IGMP Snooping when turned on, whether they include a built in IGMP Querier, etc... to assign blame.

 

I agree as well. If it were me, I'd buy a different one just to avoid something that could potentially cause a problem. I may be a bit biased as I've had issues with IGMP snooping at work when it's accidentally been left enabled on our server ports (DHCP issues typically) and this is in an enterprise environment (Cisco switches/routers, Dell and Cisco servers).

Scott

 

Moca plays absolutely no part in my network, yet turning on IGMP causes my TiVo devices to fail to connect to each other. Hence, I conclude any advice from this post should be ignored.

Regarding IGMP and "managed" switches, NetGear doesn't seem to consider its ProSafe line to be "fully managed", but its options may be set from a browser connection, including turning IGMP off. I like the NetGear ProSafe series since I learned to turn off IGMP.

Some people here on TCF have reported problems with "green" switches; because of these warnings I have avoided them and have no personal experience with them. These days I suspect any switch that is "web managed", like the ProSafe series for example, is suitable for use with TiVos because problematic options will be configurable.