Tcd652160 Hard Drive Move

vtogao said:

I read that I could connect two TIVOs thru a router using peer to peer and trransfer movies. Is this worth trying? If so how do you do this? Thanks.

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Both TiVos have to be on the same account.

Both TiVos have to be on the same account.

Both TiVos have to be on the same account.

I think you have to go to TiVo's website and login to your account to activate Multi-Room Viewing (MRV). You choose names for each TiVo on the account (they have to be Series 2 or newer), or accept the default names TiVo gives them.

You can connect either Tivo via wireless adapter (provided it's one that works on that model Tivo) to a wireless-capable router, or via Ethernet cable (if the TiVo has an Ethernet jack) to a router (which may or may not be wireless as well) with Ethernet jacks.

Perhaps you could also do a wireless adapter to wireless adapter peer to peer network and get your guide data via phone line, skipping the router altogether, although I'm not certain if the software allows for that much flexibility or not.

If you have 2 (Series 2 or higher) Tivos on the same account and set up to get their guide data over the internet instead of making a phone call, you may not need to do anything else other than enabling MRV, unless for some reason you have each on different networks that can't communicate with each other.

You go into phone and network settings in the Tivo menu, and you get various options as to how to set up the network, and whether to include a wireless router. I seem to remember a peer-to-peer option that might let you do wireless adapter to wireless adapter without a router, but I'm sure you'll still need to supply a network name and password if you want any level of security.

When you get it set up, you will see the other TiVo appearing as a folder at or near the bottom of each TiVo's "Now Playing" list. You go into that folder and pick out shows to "transfer". Tivo calls it "transfer", but it's not a move, it's a copy. "Transferring" a show doesn't erase or delete it from the source Tivo.

If you're going to plug both into (or connect wirelessly to) a router and happen to have a spare computer, or one that doesn't work very hard at other stuff, and some spare hard drive space, you can use the free version of Tivo Desktop (Windows XP or newer, and there might be a Mac version) and copy the shows to the computer instead and then copy them from the computer to either TiVo.

The reasons to add that extra step?

1. Copying from one Tivo to another gives you a copy without all of the accompanying data of the original (episode number, original airdate, stuff like that) that appears to have been recorded on the date and at the time of the copy, rather than the original date and time of recording. If you've accumulated a bunch of, say, Dr. Oz episodes, or episodes of All My Children, you can't tell on the second machine in what order they were broadcast.

Using Tivo Desktop to copy them to computer and then copy them to Tivo makes it look just the same as if you'd originally recorded them to that second Tivo.

2. Parking the shows on the computer gives you a backup copy of them that can be copied to, and viewed on, the original or any other TiVo (S2 and up) on your account, when you're ready to (in case you're juggling a shortage of TiVo drive space). If you've copied them to the computer and the Tivo from which you've copied them crashes, you aren't out of luck the way you would have been in the past.

Apparently some here know what software to use to take the shows copied to computer and turn them into regular video that can be viewed elsewhere and copied to DVD, but I haven't personally gotten that far yet.

If you have more specific questions, post back with model numbers of the TiVos involved, as well as model numbers of all the networking hardware involved--adapters, routers, etc., and whether you've got a home network and whether it's internet connected.