accessing Tivo across the 'Net

2083 Views 18 Replies 7 Participants Last post by ajayabb, Aug 9, 2007

fatdawg

Discussion Starter · Jul 17, 2007

I have 2 TiVo Series 2 machines, on a home network. I have successfully used TiVoToGo to get TiVo content onto my laptop.

I have heard that there is a way to access my TiVo from the internet - from outside of my home network - so that I can transfer stuff from my Tivo for use with TiVoToGo, without having to be hooked up to my home network - like when travelling. I heard it works similar to a Slingbox, except that it's not streaming the video, so you need to download the whole thing before watching, which is fine with me.

Is this just a rumor? Or is it possible?

1 - 19 of 19 Posts

windracer

· #2 · Jul 17, 2007

It's possible.

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=246205

HomeUser

· #3 · Jul 17, 2007

Could this be what you are thinking about? Watch any show, anywhere you go. You need TiVo Desktop Plus to automatically transfer shows to a portable device like an iPod

fatdawg

Discussion Starter · #4 · Jul 17, 2007

Cool! I thought maybe someone was messing with me, getting my hopes up! I wonder if I can get my boss to let me go home early to work on my TiVO???

windracer

· #5 · Jul 17, 2007

Just keep in mind that when you are "downloading" from your home network, you're using your upstream broadband speed. Typically this is a lot slower than your download speed so TTG transfers could take a while.

rigger29

· #6 · Jul 18, 2007

fatdawg said:
I have 2 TiVo Series 2 machines, on a home network. I have successfully used TiVoToGo to get TiVo content onto my laptop.

I have heard that there is a way to access my TiVo from the internet - from outside of my home network - so that I can transfer stuff from my Tivo for use with TiVoToGo, without having to be hooked up to my home network - like when travelling. I heard it works similar to a Slingbox, except that it's not streaming the video, so you need to download the whole thing before watching, which is fine with me.

Is this just a rumor? Or is it possible?

Slingbox does this http://dynamic.tivo.com/2.7.1.asp

fatdawg

Discussion Starter · #7 · Jul 18, 2007

rigger29 said:
Slingbox does this

Yeah, but I don't have a slingbox, and want to do it for free... but I am having trouble

getting it to work.

windracer

· #8 · Jul 18, 2007

What kind of trouble?

Basically you need to forward two ports on your router (80 and 443) to your TiVo's IP address. Then you should be able to point your browser to your external IP address (the IP address of your cable/DSL modem, whatever) and get the login box. Login as 'tivo' with your MAK as the password and you should see the web interface of your TiVo.

The key here is you're using the web interface to download recordings, not TiVo Desktop.

edit: nevermind, I see you got it working in the other thread.

dcahoe

· #9 · Jul 18, 2007

You can also use TiVoPlayList to help access your TiVo remotely and download shows.

fatdawg

Discussion Starter · #10 · Jul 18, 2007

windracer said:
What kind of trouble?

Basically you need to forward two ports on your router (80 and 443) to your TiVo's IP address. Then you should be able to point your browser to your external IP address (the IP address of your cable/DSL modem, whatever) and get the login box. Login as 'tivo' with your MAK as the password and you should see the web interface of your TiVo.

The key here is you're using the web interface to download recordings, not TiVo Desktop.

edit: nevermind, I see you got it working in the other thread.

Other thread? Whoops, I thought it was the same one... anyway, yeah I got it working - in IE anyway - no such luck in Firefox... it just times out. Now for Step 2...

I want to be able to access my second Tivo from the internet. I have 80 and 443 forwarded to the first tivo. Can I forward port 180 and 1443 to the other Tivo's internal IP? Then access it via the web address of myIP:180? I'd try it, but my laptop battery dies last night while working on this, and I don't have a way of checking it externally until I get to work

THANKS FOR ALL YOUR HELP!

windracer

· #11 · Jul 18, 2007

fatdawg said:
Can I forward port 180 and 1443 to the other Tivo's internal IP? Then access it via the web address of myIP:180?

If your router lets you do that (forward a port to a different port) then yes, that should work. My Linksys router doesn't let me change the "source" port (I can only forward port 80 to port 80) so I can't do that.

Not sure why you can't get the original setup working with Firefox though ...

fatdawg

Discussion Starter · #12 · Jul 19, 2007

windracer said:
If your router lets you do that (forward a port to a different port) then yes, that should work. My Linksys router doesn't let me change the "source" port (I can only forward port 80 to port 80) so I can't do that.

Not sure why you can't get the original setup working with Firefox though ...

I had to change my security settings in Firefox... now it works like a charm!

How do I know if my router supports forwarding a port to a different port? What kind of term should I look for in my router set-up page? (I'm using an Airlink 101 AR430W Wireless Super G) I see port forwarding, port triggering, and DMZ under the applications/gaming section.

windracer

· #13 · Jul 19, 2007

fatdawg said:
How do I know if my router supports forwarding a port to a different port?

Here's what my Linksys router port forwarding page looks like:

Notice how I can specify a port range on the outside (i.e, 80 to 80) but am only allowed to specify a single IP address as the target (and not the port).

Due to this, I can't forward, say, port 8080 to 192.168.1.76:80. Port 8080 always has to go to 8080 on the target IP address.

If your router allows you to specify ports on "both sides" you should be good to go.

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fatdawg

Discussion Starter · #14 · Jul 19, 2007

Ahhhh... I see... it looks very similar to mine, so I guess I am out of luck there. I'll have to choose which Tivo I want to be able to access and stick with that one. Thanks again!

MirclMax

· #15 · Jul 27, 2007

Don't mean to complicate things too much here .. but just a comment on the Linksys and port redirecting .. You *could* install a 3rd party firmware (ex: dd-wrt) that would allow you to do this.

windracer

· #16 · Jul 27, 2007

Since you complicated it

, I will further complicate it by saying that only very specific Linksys router models support that third-party firmware (mine doesn't, for example).

MirclMax

· #17 · Jul 27, 2007

windracer said:
Since you complicated it , I will further complicate it by saying that only very specific Linksys router models support that third-party firmware (mine doesn't, for example).

Well yes, not every router is compatible .. However in *your* case .. I was going off the graphic you posted which lists a WRT54GS .. and that *should* be just fine Please review http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Supported_Devices
(All versions other than 7.0 of the hardware are explicitly listed as supported)

Not to hijack the thread, but I actually just did this to a WRT54GL a couple of days ago. The specific feature I was going for was the ability to boost the signal .. its actually pretty amazing the things you can do with different firmware.

windracer

· #18 · Jul 27, 2007

MirclMax said:
Well yes, not every router is compatible .. However in *your* case .. I was going off the graphic you posted which lists a WRT54GS .. and that *should* be just fine.

Interesting ... I have a v6 and I'm pretty sure when I got it I looked into the DD-WRT firmware and found it wasn't compatible and didn't want to brick it. It looks like I'd had to use the micro version, but maybe this is a Saturday afternoon project calling me. Thanks for the tip.

edit: ah, I think I was looking at the Sveasoft firmware way back then, which doesn't support my model ... but it seems DD-WRT does (after I use another utility to remove VxWorks), so I'll give that a shot this weekend. Thanks again, and sorry for the continued hijack.

ajayabb

· #19 · Aug 9, 2007

Has anyone successfully downloaded a show using this method. I think my upload speed of 600 kb/s is too slow . I can pull up my tivo programming, but when I attempt to download a show it appears to time out and I lose the page

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