Transfer between units--A CAUTIONARY TALE!!

Sounds like intermittent interference. Wired or wireless?

 

While I was still trying to get wireless to work efficiently I did notice that retransmission after an error took far too long resulting in very extended transfer times.

High frequency wireless can be very strange at times, so there's lots of things that might being causing problems such as closing a door due to the cold weather, moving furniture or a neighbour buying a 2.4Ghz cordless phone. Another computer joining the network might affect bandwidth but shouldn't cause errors.

First check for any new 2.4Ghz devices and anything new blocking the directly line between devices, it's probably as well to also try with the computer off just in case. Then check for antenna placement, if the antenna is vertical the strongest signal is going to radiate out hortizontally, so if both antenna are at the same height they should both be vertical. If they were vertically seperated, such as directly above on the second floor, the antenna should be horizontal. Finally if you have an extension USB cable try moving the wireless adapter arround till you get the strongest signal.

 

You have my sympathies, TE74. I tried to set up my SA TiVo wirelessly with two different adapters before I gave up, picked up a Linksys USB-200M, 300 ft. of Cat5e cable, a pack of RJ-45 connectors, a crimping tool, a stripping tool, and a splicing tool and haven't looked back. The wireless constantly crapped out and even TiVo support gave up on it. I know they have their own solution now, but it comes six months too late for me.

 

yep sounds exactly like a typical wifi issue where it doesn't complete the transfer.

I don't have that issue since I don't 2.4 on my phone. But a number of people I know who have them do have issues each and every time they pick up the phone and chat with someone.

 

If you just want MRV and can use the phone for daily updates then you can connect the Tivo's back to back. Just get two wired adapters and a cross over cable.

For more functionality get a wireless bridge, haven't done it myself but there is information in the HMO and TTG forum. If you get a bridge with a built in switch and 2 wired adapters you can wire both tivo's to the bridge then Tivo to Tivo traffic will never leave the room, just going wired to the bridge and back out over the other wire to the second Tivo. But any broadband traffic such as daily updates will get sent over the wireless to your internet router.

 

I transferred a 1 1/2 hour movie yesterday....um...Saturday...um over the weekend. I started it Saturday evening and didnt finish until Sunday evening. wireless I have a 240 with a Netgear 802b and a 540 with Linksys 802b. Ive noticed that when I try to transfer from the 240 to the 540...the 240 will "lose" the net connection to where i have to pull and reseat the adapter multiple times throughout the transfer.

But if i transfer from the 540 to the 240 i get better than real time with no network lost.

As such i ALWAYS check the show time.

 

Each Tivo communicates with the Router, not directly to the other Tivo. So having the two units close together will results in a very strong signal from the other Tivo swamping the much weaker signal from the router.

If you really want the 2 Tivo's close together one other option might be to purchase 2 directional antennas and position the 2 antennas, so both point at the router but not at each other.

 

Couple other things to keep in mind:

• Just because your phone says it is 5.8 GHz does not mean it is purely 5.8 GHz. Many, many are really hybrids, doing 5.8GHz one way and 2.4 the other.
• Bluetooth is also 2.4 GHz -- watch for that.
• Microwaves thoroughly swamp out 2.4 GHz when running. Don't nuke the hot dog while you're transferring a show.

The best phone to get is a 900MHz, because they actually have better range and won't interfere, but good luck finding anything other than cheap entry level models. Bah.

 

My suggest to everyone is to consider moving your router to your entertainment center. That way you can wire up your TiVo(s). In most cases, this means you need to go wireless with your computer(s), but it seems to me that in most cases, computers are better at dealing with weaker signals than TiVo.

Also note, it might be a good idea to try a different channel for your wireless network. I was having a fair number of problems with interference until I moves off of channel 6. I could see 4 or 5 different networks from my house, most of which were on the same channel. That little change fixed me right up.

 

Where do you change the wireless channel within TivO? I see where to do it on all my other stuff, but not in TiVo? Will the adapter figure that out?

 

Yeah, just change it on the WAP.