# A Question For All The Nerds...



## PaulWilkinsUK (Mar 20, 2006)

Hi Folks,

Does anyone have any idea what the max network transmission speed is out of a TiVo? Sure I guess its top limit is 10MB/sec, limited by the card but is there a limit governed by the poxy processor inside?

All answers gratefully received as long as they relate directly to the original question 

Ta


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## Rob Nespor Bellis (Feb 17, 2001)

Well, Turbo/TerboNET and CacheCARD can run at up to 100Mb/s which equates to a max transfer rate of about 12MB/s however the processor does seem to be a major limit on the speed of transfer - the most I have seen is in the region of 2 - 2.5MB/s

Rgds,

R.


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## benallenuk (Aug 1, 2005)

Nerd NO, enthusiast yes. Have only ever seen between 1.8-2.2Mb/sec doing the things we are not allowed to speak of!!


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## PaulWilkinsUK (Mar 20, 2006)

Thanks Guys,
I ask because I've currently got my TiVo connected via a wireless bridge. However, I have now discovered those lovely Netgear Mains Network plugs and wondered how fast the little chappy would do those kinda o' things that we're not allowed to speak about.. I only get about .65Mb/s out of the wireless so I think its time for more upgrades..


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## blindlemon (May 12, 2002)

Yes, that's about the fastest I've seen too.


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## PaulWilkinsUK (Mar 20, 2006)

blindlemon said:


> Yes, that's about the fastest I've seen too.


Off we trot to PC World .. on Xmas Eve! I must get my head examined !


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## cwaring (Feb 12, 2002)

What, for going on Xmas Eve or for going to PCW in the first place?  (Both, I suspect!)

Oh, and object to being called a nerd. I am a geek, thank-you very much


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## Pete77 (Aug 1, 2006)

PaulWilkinsUK said:


> Off we trot to PC World .. on Xmas Eve! I must get my head examined !


Surely you must indeed need to get your head examined (although I had always feared that might be so in any case) to buy them at PC World when they are sure to be available for a fraction of the price from the cheapest online supplier. If you must buy them from PC World then make sure to order on their website and pick up in store with the website order code as that usually saves about a third on the price.

Alternatively do www.maplins.co.uk or www.staples.co.uk have them in stock as their prices are usually cheaper.

I see a single 85Mbps Homeplug powerline adapter is £29.99 at Maplins:-

www.maplin.co.uk/Search.aspx?criteria=powerline&source=15&SD=Y

PC World will charge you £49.99 for just one of the 85Mbps Netgear units in store. Cheaper at £69.99 if you buy a pair of their Advent branded 85Mbps units online but these are not available in store.


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## TCM2007 (Dec 25, 2006)

On a wired network I can get over 3Mbps - but that has a noticeable effect on the responsiveness of the TiVo to controls.

I've had 1.2-1.5 out of a wireless G setup; the wireless element seems to add a noticeable overhead, never mind its raw transmission speed. I would not be surprised is a over-the-mains system suffered from a similar overhead, but I've never tried one.


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## PaulWilkinsUK (Mar 20, 2006)

Pete77 said:


> Surely you must indeed need to get your head examined (although I had always feared that might be so in any case) to buy them at PC World when they are sure to be available for a fraction of the price from the cheapest online supplier. If you must buy them from PC World then make sure to order on their website and pick up in store with the website order code as that usually saves about a third on the price.
> 
> Alternatively do www.maplins.co.uk or www.staples.co.uk have them in stock as their prices are usually cheaper.
> 
> ...


Price nor location is an issue  But the overriding question has to be... why is it only £29.99?? The last cheap piece of equip I bought from Maplin was a pile of sh*t . Yup, one pays for the name and also the reliability too


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## Cainam (May 25, 2004)

I get about 1.7 or 1.8 MBps from my Devolo branded 85 Mbps adapters when 'doing the unmentionable' from Tivo


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## Pete77 (Aug 1, 2006)

PaulWilkinsUK said:


> Price nor location is an issue  But the overriding question has to be... why is it only £29.99?? The last cheap piece of equip I bought from Maplin was a pile of sh*t . Yup, one pays for the name and also the reliability too


They are cheap because they are in the sale and due to the vagaries of the deal they struck with the supplier. I believe the Powerline adapters have been commended elsewhere for working well. Also the 200Mbps adapters are now in the course of replacing them so moving these products down the food chain.

Value for money at these high street emporiums is product specific. When I needed a new PCMCIA USB 4 port card urgently the sharks at Maplins in the high street charged me £30 for one plus a £10 power supply that would support more power hungry items in the USB slots.

I later returned it for a full refund under the 14 day money back guarantee and replaced it with a Pluscom USB PCMCIA card and an external 7 port powered Pluscom USB hub for only £22 including delivery from an online supplier. Also the power supply was rubbish as it had a 4 way prong for which there was no room with all four USB sockets populated.


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## TCM2007 (Dec 25, 2006)

Pete77 said:


> When I needed a new PCMCIA USB 4 port card urgently the sharks at Maplins in the high street charged me £30 for one plus a £10 power supply that would support more power hungry items in the USB slots.
> 
> I later returned it for a full refund under the 14 day money back guarantee and replaced it with a Pluscom USB PCMCIA card and an external 7 port powered Pluscom USB hub for only £22 including delivery from an online supplier.


And had not the slightest qualm about doing so I'm sure. Do you have morals when it comes to dealing with businesses?


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## Pete77 (Aug 1, 2006)

TCM2007 said:


> And had not the slightest qualm about doing so I'm sure. Do you have morals when it comes to dealing with businesses?


The items were for once in a reclosable plastic box rather than the sort you have to cut in to oblivion. So I have very little doubt that the items would have gone back out on the shelves and since I know they were fully working I have no qualms about that.

Also they did not tell me when they sold me the supposedly USB specific power supply that it had a 4 way prong adapter that was not suitable for use in the very tight confines of a power socket on a PCMCIA card with two neighbouring USB slots.

There are other products Maplin have sold me that have been "fit for purpose" and were not any cheaper online (eg their very reasonably priced £17.99 Targus Universal Notebook power supply) that I have not returned. So I have no qualms.

By taking these goods back Maplin ensured my continued patronage in future. Whereas if you ran shop I know you would never give a customer a refund so you would lose my business forever.

Retailers who offer these policies except a certain percentage of returns and build it into their overall model.

If customers damage goods and expect a refund they are of course then taking the proverbial.


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## PaulWilkinsUK (Mar 20, 2006)

Well I think the Maplin 'returns policy' is sh*t. They'll quite happily take my money at the POS, but as soon as I want to take something back for a refund its, "Oh sorry sir, we have to send it back to HQ for an assessment, We can issue a refund!".

Strangely, they got a bit pissed when I asked if I could take the goods home on approval before I paid for them... 

Anyway, sorry for the off topic post...


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## Pete77 (Aug 1, 2006)

PaulWilkinsUK said:


> Well I think the Maplin 'returns policy' is sh*t. They'll quite happily take my money at the POS, but as soon as I want to take something back for a refund its, "Oh sorry sir, we have to send it back to HQ for an assessment, We can issue a refund!"...


That was their old policy. Returning them to test before you get a refund I mean.

They have now embraced a full 14 days money back no questions asked policy so long as the goods are still in vaguely reasonable condition.

Comet went down to 7 days and only if the goods were faulty returns policy a couple of years ago but have now returned to 28 days and no questions asked refund policy under their new teutonic management.

The stores compete on these things as if they are seriously out of line with the others they lose a lot of customers as a result.

They must all hate John Lewis for starting the trend towards the customer having the right to return goods they are not happy with. Having said that John Lewis now have a restocking fee policy on Freeview boxes. Surely having a restocking fee policy on a Plasma tv would be more reasonable.


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## TCM2007 (Dec 25, 2006)

The right to return goods you are not happy with is a great point of competition between stores and is a good thing. What you were talking about Pete was "buying" from a High Street retailer in the full knowledge that you were going to return it a few days later when the cheaper version you had bought online turned up; that's just dishonest.

I guess there must be a lot of people like you out there. I bought a Christmas tree from Argos this week and was told that their 30 day returns policy did not apply to it - presumably to stop the Pete's of this world taking it back after Christmas! I can only think it's happened or they wouldn't have to do it.

IIRC the Freeview policy is to cut the unreasonable level of returns from people who were "buying" one to check if they could get a Freeview signal and returning them if thay could not.



Pete77 said:


> f you ran shop I know you would never give a customer a refund


There goes your pathological inability to tell your opinion from fact again! You "know" that, do you?


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## Pete77 (Aug 1, 2006)

TCM2007 said:


> The right to return goods you are not happy with is a great point of competition between stores and is a good thing. What you were talking about Pete was "buying" from a High Street retailer in the full knowledge that you were going to return it a few days later when the cheaper version you had bought online turned up; that's just dishonest.


But if high street stores didn't charge such an absurd markup on these low value items then these sort of things would not be likely to happen.

Also I did not buy the item intending to return it but the huge lumpy nature of the carbuncle on a 4 Port (rather than 2 port) PCMCIA adapater was unliveable with as was the power adapter's socket which was hidden in the box and not obvious till I got it home.

I did not buy intending to return. My dissatisfaction with the product and the better alternate options available (when I had more time available to check and no urgent print job) caused me to return it.


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## blindlemon (May 12, 2002)

Pete77 said:


> Retailers who offer these policies except a certain percentage of returns and build it into their overall model.


...and of course the same goes for warranties on hard drives that will be thrashed 24x7 in a TiVo...


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## TCM2007 (Dec 25, 2006)

Pete77 said:


> I did not buy intending to return. My dissatisfaction with the product and the better alternate options available (when I had more time available to check and no urgent print job) caused me to return it.


Ok, in that case I apologise and withdraw my comment.


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## Pete77 (Aug 1, 2006)

TCM2007 said:


> Ok, in that case I apologise and withdraw my comment.


.

I know its xmas TCM but that seems unusually magnanimous for your good self.

Are you sure you haven't been helping yourself to too much of the xmas spirit.


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## cwaring (Feb 12, 2002)

At least he does apologise when proved wrong, which is normal for most people. He also never posts opinion as fact


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## iankb (Oct 9, 2000)

I would get the Homeplug Adapters from Solwise.

I switched from the 85Mbps Maplin's adapters to the 200Mbps Solwise adapters, because they got the Editor's Choice review in PCW magazine for actual throughput, and for handling mains interference. Solwise also provide firmware upgrades, which have a significant effect on throughput.


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## PaulWilkinsUK (Mar 20, 2006)

iankb said:


> I would get the Homeplug Adapters from Solwise.
> 
> I switched from the 85Mbps Maplin's adapters to the 200Mbps Solwise adapters, because they got the Editor's Choice review in PCW magazine for actual throughput, and for handling mains interference. Solwise also provide firmware upgrades, which have a significant effect on throughput.


Interesting... Do they 'just work' out of the box or is there a certain amount of 'faff' that one has to do? If it means CDs into a Windows machine to configure them its a 'no go' for me.


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## Cainam (May 25, 2004)

PaulWilkinsUK said:


> Interesting... Do they 'just work' out of the box or is there a certain amount of 'faff' that one has to do? If it means CDs into a Windows machine to configure them its a 'no go' for me.


Can't speak for the Solwise ones, but the Devolo ones work straight out of the box. There are some Windows utilites that come with it in case you want to (a) upgrade the firmware, (b) run some diagnostics to find out how fast it is running, or (c) add some security (never found that necessary, personally!).

They are by far the easiest bit of network equipment I have ever installed, and as that used to be my job I have some experience!


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## kitschcamp (May 18, 2001)

On the other hand, I've found them the spawn of Jeremy Beadle himself. We suffer several problems with the ones we've tried:

1. They don't work on three phase electrics when the rings are on different phases. This isn't made clear in the slightest in the manuals, and I stupidly didn't think to consider it a problem.

2. They have a horrid habit of suddenly deciding not to respond and need to be unplugged for a minute or so and replugged in again before the deign to do the job they are paid to do.

I've ripped mine out and replaced them with the old, slower but more reliable, c. 2001 Netgear 802.11b devices I used previously.


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## Sherminator (Nov 24, 2004)

Pete77 said:


> Also they did not tell me when they sold me the supposedly USB specific power supply that it had a 4 way prong adapter that was not suitable for use in the very tight confines of a power socket on a PCMCIA card with two neighbouring USB slots.





TCM2007 said:


> The right to return goods you are not happy with is a great point of competition between stores and is a good thing. What you were talking about Pete was "buying" from a High Street retailer in the full knowledge that you were going to return it a few days later when the cheaper version you had bought online turned up; that's just dishonest.


I believe that the Consumer Protection Act (which must have been amended if retailers no longer have to honour a refund or exchange within 31 days of purchase), still allows for returns if the product is unusable for the purpose advertised and intended. If you cannot attach 4 USB cables to a 4 port hub because the AC adapter provided to supply power to all devices when the hub is full, this constitutes as unusable for it's advertised intent.


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## johala_reewi (Oct 30, 2002)

PaulWilkinsUK said:


> Interesting... Do they 'just work' out of the box or is there a certain amount of 'faff' that one has to do? If it means CDs into a Windows machine to configure them its a 'no go' for me.


My Solwise 85M twinpack worked out of the box. Just plugged them in and off they went - no need to do any config or install anything on the PC or Tivo. Everything needed was in the box.


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## collywobbles (Aug 19, 2002)

Another vote for Solwise. Works out of the box (just plug and go) and very reliable. Got my neighbours to buy some too as the wirless router that came with their Sky broadband didn't reach their computer room.

Russell


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