# DVR to DVR transfer over Cisco ipsec VPN



## compuboy04 (Oct 10, 2006)

Ok so let me start out by saying that I am aware this has been discussed at different legnths elsewhere on the forum. I am NOT looking for links to other posts using open VPN or other technologies, or posts simply saying I cant do this with no explanation. Respect me the way I would respect you on here people lol 

I have two Tivo's on the same account that are able to share recordings when on the same network. (same /24 ip space)
I moved one to a different location and have a Cisco ipsec site-to-site VPN using two ASA 5505's between locations. Each location has 25/25mbps Fios service with ethernet direct to the ASA (no Verizon router in between) Location 1 has 10.0.1.0/24 and location 2 has 10.0.2.0/24

It is my understanding that content sharing (ability to see the other DVR in the now playing list) doesnt work either because it's not in the same subnet or because Cisco ipsec VPN's dont forward broadcast packets between lans.

My question is how can I get this to work? Is there sofware available that will parse and/or forward the necessary broadcast packets? (would strongly prefer somethign that will run on Server 2008 x64) Should I attempt to expand the subnet to include both networks? Someone please point me in the right direction.

Really would be nice to get this to work. Pytivo works WONDERFULL over ipsec VPN using a file server at one location it's useable on BOTH DVR's. It seems to just be a limitation of Tivo. I currently copy the file off and then use Tivo Desktop (it sux)

Really hoping for some good responces.


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## ggieseke (May 30, 2008)

I have a similar Cisco VPN setup using 2800 and 800 series routers, but I can't think of any way to do it. If you tried to expand the subnet to both locations I don't see how the routing tables could ever figure out where to send the packets, and the broadcast packets are only sent out to the subnet that the TiVo is on.

I _think_ MRV would work between the two units if they knew about each other. Have you tried manually adding the other TiVo by IP address under Music, Photos & Showcases?


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## jrtroo (Feb 4, 2008)

compuboy04 said:


> Respect me the way I would respect you on here people lol


I would have respected your question if you had responded to the notion that you did not understand those other posts, rather than that you are, as it appears, lazy.


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## compuboy04 (Oct 10, 2006)

jrtroo said:


> I would have respected your question if you had responded to the notion that you did not understand those other posts, rather than that you are, as it appears, lazy.


jrtoo,
As I said above. The other posts I have seen talk about getting this to work with openvpn. I want to continue using Cisco and have not found any posts related to gettign it workign that way.



ggieseke said:


> I have a similar Cisco VPN setup using 2800 and 800 series routers, but I can't think of any way to do it. If you tried to expand the subnet to both locations I don't see how the routing tables could ever figure out where to send the packets, and the broadcast packets are only sent out to the subnet that the TiVo is on.
> 
> I _think_ MRV would work between the two units if they knew about each other. Have you tried manually adding the other TiVo by IP address under Music, Photos & Showcases?


ggieseke,
I was going to get creative and divide my network in both locations into two /26's. I would then configure the VPN to reflect this change. I'd leave the Tivo's set for /24 so technically it should think it's on the same local lan segment. Probably a bad idea tho and I'd be shocked if it worked. Would not help broadcast packets over ipsec. Also i'd imagine it would create other problems for the Tivo's when accessing the network/internet.

I tried your second suggestion about manually adding just now via slingbox. It works perfectly! Guess that gives it the push it needs.
I'll look around on the forums. If that is mentioned elsewhere I cant believe I missed it. Possibly burried in one of the posts discussing other solutions. I will see if it holds up long term and let you know. Is this what you found to work for you?
As a workaround up until now, I was using kmttg to pull files and pytivo to host them  No more!


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## westside_guy (Mar 13, 2005)

Don't Tivos discover each other using Zeroconf/Bonjour? I am reasonably sure Bonjour only traverses the local network (unless you hack it).


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## ggieseke (May 30, 2008)

westside_guy said:


> Don't Tivos discover each other using Zeroconf/Bonjour? I am reasonably sure Bonjour only traverses the local network (unless you hack it).


Desktop uses Bonjour or TiVo Beacon, whichever one you configure. I'm not sure what TiVos use to discover each other but both protocols are limited to the local network.

compuboy04's results show that while the discovery protocol is limited, MRV will work if you add TiVos on other networks manually.


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## jandersen (Nov 24, 2010)

compuboy04, 

Any luck with this so far? I am not aware of any way to do it with ASAs since they don't support any Layer 2 VPN protocols to my knowledge. 

ggieseke actually *does* have the ability since he is using IOS-based routers. The idea there would be to encapsulate all traffic within a GRE tunnel and then use one of a couple of options to forward the required UDP broadcasts across the tunnel. the "ip helper-address" might be of use since you are only talking about one device on each side. A more "proper" setup, would probably be to use the 'udp broadcast to multicast mapping' ability of Cisco routers. I know that can be done... alas, I am short on detail as I have not attempted that kind of a setup.

Above, I am assuming that if you are able to forward the proper broadcasts, the two devices will "see" each other and work, regardless of subnet. If Tivo actually has some kind of check to ensure that the devices are, indeed, on the same subnet, you would need to build an actual bridge over the tunnel but it *can* still be done. A possible way for this option would be the L2TPv3 protocol:


Another way might be to not really forward the UDP broadcasts through the tunnel at all but use static arp entries to trick the devices into thinking the other side's devices are on the local network. This also works in my mind but I haven't really tried it. 

This is an interesting problem. If possible, I will buy another Tivo and see if I can make something work...

(BTW: I tried to post some links to point to potential info on my suggested setups but since this is my very first post, I cannot.... sorry!)


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## ggieseke (May 30, 2008)

AFAIK compuboy04 solved it by manually adding the IP address under Music, Photos & Showcases. Not too sure about Bonjour, but the documentation for TiVo Beacon says:

Within this protocol, beacons transmitted via UDP are always "broadcast-based", meaning that the packets are sent blindly onto the local network, with absolutely no special acknowledgment or other handshaking required. Interested TCMs need simply "listen" passively in order to detect other TCMs.

On the other hand, beacons transmitted via TCP are "connection-based", requiring explicit twoway handshaking. This approach is required to overcome limitations of certain network configurations in which the one-way broadcasting of UDP packets isn't effective  due to network topology or policy, preventing certain TCMs from being able to "hear" each other.

Apparently setting the IP address manually overcomes the broadcast limitations. The only real downside would be if you use DHCP and it changes frequently, but setting up DHCP reservations or using static IPs would solve that. TCP port 2190 would also have to be open.


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## jandersen (Nov 24, 2010)

Good deal. For some reason I had in my mind that he had "solved" it with a Slingbox. I was thinking that the Slingbox would probably be a superior solution but it would sure be nice to use just the Tivos with a VPN for the cost conscious. If all you need to do is manually put in the IP than that is simple indeed. I was probably over-thinking it! Thanks!


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## jpwill2007 (Jun 22, 2007)

I am having the same problem. I have a tivoHD and a premiere at home and when i travel I want to watch a few recorded show. 

Has anyone found out how to setup a vpn router to use tivo desktop over a ipsec or pptp yet?

by the why i CAN NOT BUY a new tivo and a sling box. AND I do not need to watch it live.


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## Stormspace (Apr 13, 2004)

jpwill2007 said:


> I am having the same problem. I have a tivoHD and a premiere at home and when i travel I want to watch a few recorded show.
> 
> Has anyone found out how to setup a vpn router to use tivo desktop over a ipsec or pptp yet?
> 
> by the why i CAN NOT BUY a new tivo and a sling box. AND I do not need to watch it live.


A no money solution...
Dependencies:
• Kmttg or other automated TiVo transfer to a PC.
• Dropbox, free version
• DOS batch file(Optional)
• Logmein, free version. For remote management of your Kmttg server.

Install and configure Kmttg or other program to automatically transfer shows from your TiVo's and place them in your Dropbox folder. Dropbox will handle synchronization between your home PC and remote PC. You can use any video viewer* that's compatible with the files transfered.

Notes:
The free version of Dropbox only has 1GB of storage, so if you want more than that to transfer, you can set up a batch file that runs periodically to move files from your DB folder into a local folder. Dropbox will notify you when new files appear in the DB folder, assuming you don't automatically move them.

*If you use Kmttg to reencode your video into a more compressed format, MP4 or such, transfers will happen faster and you will not need TiVo desktop on the remote PC.

Kmttg encoding takes time. So you wouldn't be able to watch immediately after the show recorded.


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## ggieseke (May 30, 2008)

If you have a VPN of some kind between your travel computer and your home network, kmttg should be all you need. You can program the IP addresses of your TiVos into it manually and use it to transfer shows.

You will still need to install Desktop to get the DirectShow driver that decrypts the files, but that's no problem.


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## MichaelK (Jan 10, 2002)

curious- is this allowed per tivo's terms?

I just assumed you couldn't MRV between 2 different addresses. (I know about assume- lol)


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## ggieseke (May 30, 2008)

MichaelK said:


> curious- is this allowed per tivo's terms?
> 
> I just assumed you couldn't MRV between 2 different addresses. (I know about assume- lol)


If memory serves it's limited to your home network, but that's a gray area IMO. Who's to say that a VPN connection doesn't qualify as part of your network?

In reality, I can't see them caring one way or the other. They have to be able to show that they make a good faith effort to protect copyrighted material, but as long as you aren't making it available to others it shouldn't matter to anyone. If you copied all of your shows to a laptop BEFORE leaving on a trip it would be legal, and I can't see any difference between that and using an encrypted VPN connection.


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## Nugent (Jan 20, 2004)

I know the OP was specifically asking about Cisco ipsec vpn, but I'll just say that I have OpenVPN running on two Linksys WRT-54G's, connecting them by a TAP tunnel. My two TiVo's see each other and two pyTiVo's across the tunnel, and can transfer quite happily.

Of course upload speeds limit any practical use.


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