# Cat5 Crossover Cable works to rapidly transfer content between Series 3 & Roamio



## Photo_Joe (Feb 18, 2014)

A Cat5 Crossover Cable works to rapidly transfer content between Series 3 & Roamio

A 30 minute show transferred in less than 5 minutes and an hour show in less than 10 minutes.

I have a new Roamio and several older TiVos in the house.

I wanted to move some content between my Series 3 TCD652160 and my new Roamio. My first thought was to use a router or a switch between the two units. When I was looking for cables to connect to a router I found a Cat 5 Crossover Cable that I had on hand to connect directly between two computers. Since the TiVo is really a basic computer, I thought that I would give it a try. I did and it worked.

The only downside was that I couldn't see the content on the Series 3 on my Mac in TiVo Transfer via a wireless connection (usb TiVo adapter) with the crossover cable connected to the Ethernet ports.

*Can I use the Crossover cable to connect from my Roamio to my MacBook Pro to speed up the transfer of shows?*

When I did a search on this Site I didn't find anything newer than 2010 that addressed connecting two TiVo units.

My first post here  I have read posts on the Site for years, but I just recently registered.


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## DeltaOne (Sep 29, 2013)

Photo_Joe said:


> Can I use the Crossover cable to connect from my Roamio to my MacBook Pro to speed up the transfer of shows?


Modern Macs, for at least the last five years, have been able to use a crossover cable. You can use either a regular or crossover cable.


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## mpnret (Dec 4, 2012)

I am not sure if the crossover is saving you any time. I have both my XL4 and Roamio wired into my router and it takes the same 5 minutes to transfer a 30 minute show. It previously took 40 minutes to transfer when the XL4 was on a wireless connection.


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## Photo_Joe (Feb 18, 2014)

A MoCA network is next in my plans. 

I have some cable connection issues to work out. I may have to run some new coax cable.

For now, the crossover cable is much faster than using a wireless connection.


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## TiVoJimmy (Jan 3, 2005)

Photo_Joe said:


> A MoCA network is next in my plans.
> 
> I have some cable connection issues to work out. I may have to run some new coax cable.


Consider running CAT5E cable instead of COAX. It gives you future flexibility. You need two Baluns which adds expense.

http://www.rakuten.com/prod/muxlab-catv-balun-ii/223284509.html?listingId=-1

https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=navclient-ff#q=CATV+Balun+II+75ohm+Coax+VideoEase+CAT5+Balun

Of course if you are running COAX for a Mini, just run CAT5E, no Baluns needed.


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## Photo_Joe (Feb 18, 2014)

A balun can be used to couple video signals to twisted-pair cables instead of using coaxial cable.

If I have an S3 HD in the back of the house, don't I need coax to get the connection to Comcast to the S3 HD?

How do I get both the Comcast content and the local network combined in the coax before the balun and then seperated again after the CAT5E cable run to the back of the house?



TiVoJimmy said:


> Consider running CAT5E cable instead of COAX. It gives you future flexibility. You need two Baluns which adds expense.
> 
> http://www.rakuten.com/prod/muxlab-catv-balun-ii/223284509.html?listingId=-1
> 
> ...


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## Bigg (Oct 31, 2003)

UGH. Running coax over CAT-5 will likely NOT work. CAT-5 is rated to 350mhz, coax is rated to about 3000mhz, Comcast uses signals up to 860mhz is most areas, some are 650mhz or 750mhz. You could run a small, modulated system with low numbered analog channels over CAT cable, but not a modern digital cable system. Best bet is to run both, and use CAT-5 for data, coax for TV.

Also, crossover cables are a royal PITA, as you lose internet and the rest of the network. A network switch is a much better idea if you have one on hand. Making a crossover cable isn't hard, but their use is very limited these days with auto-negotiating switches and cheap switches/routers all over the place.


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## DonnieZ (Feb 12, 2007)

If you're going to run cable, just run both. You'll thank yourself in the long run. The cost is in the labor, whether it be an out of pocket cost or your cost in time.

Already have coax and you want to run Cat-5 easily? Read on...
One trick that you can use if you have in wall cable and would like to run Cat-5 down the same wall as your coax, and don't feel like fishing down the wall is to use the existing coax as your "Fish line"

Just remove the wall plate from your coax outlet. Tie 3 lengths of kite string to the end of the in-wall Coax, being sure to use a REALLY GOOD KNOT. 

Now go up into the attic with your length of Cat-5. Find the coax in the attic as it goes down the wall. Pull the coax up through the wall into the attic until you see the coax end with the kite strings tied to it. Cut two of them so you're left with two pieces of free string and one piece of string still attached to your coax. While holding on to your two "free" pieces of sting, have a helper pull the piece of string that's attached to your coax. Now your coax should be back down the wall. Tie a piece of the kite string to the coax and have your helper pull that down the wall. You now have a third string that can be used to fish another wire down the wall easily in the future, or in case one of the other strings in this process accidentally fell down the hole.

Repeat for the other end of the Cat-5 and you're in business. I've ran Cat-5 in my entire condo this way. The effort involved is totally worth it with improved performance from your streaming devices. If you live in high density housing like condos/townhomes or even in neighborhoods with average housing density, you'll enjoy having a wired connection vs. using the overcrowded Wi-Fi bands. Buffering is a thing of the past with wired connections!


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## bparker (Mar 5, 2014)

Any cable is better than wireless. My wired Ethernet transfers around 75MB per second without issue. Crossover versus switch shouldn't show any difference unless you have an also switch versus new ports on the end product.


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## steve614 (May 1, 2006)

Photo_Joe said:


> A Cat5 Crossover Cable works to rapidly transfer content between Series 3 & Roamio
> 
> A 30 minute show transferred in less than 5 minutes and an hour show in less than 10 minutes.
> 
> ...


Crossover cables are becoming obsolete (if they haven't already). Chances are you would have had the same result with a regular Ethernet cable.
IIRC, Tivos have Ethernet ports that auto-negotiate.


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## Bigg (Oct 31, 2003)

DonnieZ said:


> If you're going to run cable, just run both. You'll thank yourself in the long run. The cost is in the labor, whether it be an out of pocket cost or your cost in time.
> 
> Already have coax and you want to run Cat-5 easily? Read on...
> One trick that you can use if you have in wall cable and would like to run Cat-5 down the same wall as your coax, and don't feel like fishing down the wall is to use the existing coax as your "Fish line"
> ...


Assuming that no one stapled it to the wall. Most cabling that's already in houses is so stapled in and routed all over the place such that it would be completely useless for something like that. If you have basement or attic access, running new wiring isn't that hard, it just takes some time and patience. It gets really tough when you have a finished basement that doesn't have a drop ceiling, or in a house with 3 stories above grade where you don't have any good access to the 2nd floor, and often the 3rd floor, since you wouldn't have direct attic access to what effectively is the attic...

There's always just wrapping the wire on the outside of the building, although at time it can be ugly. We did two coax jacks that way here, although we don't own the building, so we don't really care what it looks like, as long as it's neat. The Comcast guy actually did a really nice job with them.


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## mattack (Apr 9, 2001)

Did something change in this area? At least between my S3 & TivoHD, I seem to remember I *needed* a router between them (to supply IP addresses with DHCP?). Or maybe I wasn't using a crossover cable? (I thought devices for a long time have been able to automagically do that without a separately done cable.)


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## JYoung (Jan 16, 2002)

mattack said:


> Did something change in this area? At least between my S3 & TivoHD, I seem to remember I *needed* a router between them (to supply IP addresses with DHCP?). Or maybe I wasn't using a crossover cable? (I thought devices for a long time have been able to automagically do that without a separately done cable.)


IIRC, you can set a static IP address on a TiVo or use the setting that has the TiVo determine it's own IP address (No, I don't know how that works as I've never used it).


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