# TiVo Roamio Pro: 10/100 or Gigabit?



## southerndoc (Apr 5, 2003)

I was configuring STP settings on my living room switch (need STP enabled due to a Sonos system with multiple hardwired speakers). I noticed my TiVo Roamio Pro is only connecting at 10/100.

I thought the Roamios had gigabit ethernet?


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## BiloxiGeek (Nov 18, 2001)

Mine connects with a 1GB connection.


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

Plus and Pro have 1GB. Basic unit only has 100Mb. That's what the specs indicate.


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## blacknoi (Jan 23, 2006)

geekmedic said:


> I was configuring STP settings on my living room switch (need STP enabled due to a Sonos system with multiple hardwired speakers). I noticed my TiVo Roamio Pro is only connecting at 10/100.
> 
> I thought the Roamios had gigabit ethernet?


I've had *some* ethernet cables make my GB devices connect at 100baseT before. Swapping the cable out fixed it.

Not sure if thats your issue, just something I've seen before.


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

blacknoi said:


> I've had *some* ethernet cables make my GB devices connect at 100baseT before. Swapping the cable out fixed it.
> 
> Not sure if thats your issue, just something I've seen before.


Same here. I had a really cheap CAT5 that was 100Mb and changed to a not so cheap CAT6 and the speed became 1Gb.


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## Time_Lord (Jun 4, 2012)

Cheap cables often only have 2 pairs in the cable, gig requires all 4 pairs.


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

JoeKustra said:


> Same here. I had a really cheap CAT5 that was 100Mb and changed to a not so cheap CAT6 and the speed became 1Gb.


Gagabit requires Cat5-e or Cat6. Even if a standard Cat5 cable has all 4 pairs it doesn't have enough shielding to prevent crosstalk and you'll get a sh*tty connection.


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## HDRyder9 (Aug 2, 2007)

Dan203 said:


> Gagabit requires Cat5-e or Cat6. Even if a standard Cat5 cable has all 4 pairs it doesn't have enough shielding to prevent crosstalk and you'll get a sh*tty connection.


25 years ago I pulled some CAT3 cable from end to end in my house because that's all there was back then. Over the years I've upgraded my network from 10baseT, to 100baseT to Gigabit Ethernet. I keep thinking I should pull new cable but my old CAT3 cable works perfectly with my Gigabit Ethernet. I guess I'm just lucky.


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## foghorn2 (May 4, 2004)

Dan203 said:


> Gagabit requires Cat5-e or Cat6. Even if a standard Cat5 cable has all 4 pairs it doesn't have enough shielding to prevent crosstalk and you'll get a sh*tty connection.


I gagged a bit on that comment.


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## southerndoc (Apr 5, 2003)

Will check the cable some time tomorrow. I had a CAT6 cable, but it could be bad. Will check tomorrow.


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## Diana Collins (Aug 21, 2002)

Dan203 said:


> Gagabit requires Cat5-e or Cat6. Even if a standard Cat5 cable has all 4 pairs it doesn't have enough shielding to prevent crosstalk and you'll get a sh*tty connection.





HDRyder9 said:


> 25 years ago I pulled some CAT3 cable from end to end in my house because that's all there was back then. Over the years I've upgraded my network from 10baseT, to 100baseT to Gigabit Ethernet. I keep thinking I should pull new cable but my old CAT3 cable works perfectly with my Gigabit Ethernet. I guess I'm just lucky.


Unless shielding is specially required (in high EM environments) most Cat5/5e/6/6a cable is not shielded. The crosstalk elimination is attained through more careful twisting of the pairs and isolation of signal to specific pairs. To have Cat3 cable that supports gigabit speeds is unusual, but not impossible if all 4 pairs were wired for data (when first implemented Cat3 used the "outer" pairs - as when looking at the connectors - were used for data and the center 2 pairs for voice).


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## Jed1 (Jun 18, 2013)

geekmedic said:


> Will check the cable some time tomorrow. I had a CAT6 cable, but it could be bad. Will check tomorrow.


Just use CAT5e. The termination specifications for CAT6 is very stringent and if not terminated properly you can lose any benefit that the cable provides. CAT6a has a lower termination specification but the added cost is not worth to use in home environments.
Out of simplicity CAT5e is the best choice for home use.


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## DougJohnson (Dec 12, 2006)

HDRyder9 said:


> 25 years ago I pulled some CAT3 cable from end to end in my house because that's all there was back then. Over the years I've upgraded my network from 10baseT, to 100baseT to Gigabit Ethernet. I keep thinking I should pull new cable but my old CAT3 cable works perfectly with my Gigabit Ethernet. I guess I'm just lucky.


I pulled Cat 3 when we moved into this house 20 years ago. I mean, who could need more than 10Mb? But it runs Gigabit just fine.

The reason is that Ethernet cable is spec'ed for 100 meter lengths. It is much easier to meet those specs over shorter lengths. Since my longest run is about 50 feet, Gigabit works fine over Cat 3. -- Doug


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## RonDawg (Jan 12, 2006)

DougJohnson said:


> I pulled Cat 3 when we moved into this house 20 years ago. I mean, who could need more than 10Mb?


50 years from now, there will be posts on this forum asking "How did early 21st century people put up with Gigabit Ethernet? I mean it's SOOO SLOOOW and worse yet it's WIRED!!!!" 

I remember how ecstatic I was when PacBell Internet installed my DSL connection and I upgraded from 56k to a blistering 1Mb, and all for the low, low price of $75/month (in 2000). Now that's practically unusable.


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## passname22 (Feb 17, 2015)

RonDawg said:


> yet it's WIRED!!!!"


I will always use wired. Wireless can't beat how fast and stable wired connections are. I can't stand how new laptops don't come with Ethernet port!

it's 2015 so I have all my wires cat 6, gigabit router/switch , 100mbps internet, LTE cellphones, HDMI 2.0 Tvs (except for old LCD). Honestly all the tvs should just come with HDMI, I don't need outdated ports. I'm glad new tvs don't come with VGA. I only use HDMI on TV, on my computer I use 5 different ports, sd card, headphone, USB 3.0, Ethernet, HDMI. I was shocked that some laptop still comes with DVD slot.


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

Diana Collins said:


> Unless shielding is specially required (in high EM environments) most Cat5/5e/6/6a cable is not shielded. The crosstalk elimination is attained through more careful twisting of the pairs and isolation of signal to specific pairs. To have Cat3 cable that supports gigabit speeds is unusual, but not impossible if all 4 pairs were wired for data (when first implemented Cat3 used the "outer" pairs - as when looking at the connectors - were used for data and the center 2 pairs for voice).


Oh yeah it's the twisting not shielding. But cross talk can happen. I had a small office network years ago that we upgraded to Gigabit. When we used the existing standard Cat-5 cable it worked, but the connection was not full speed. We ended up pulling Cat5e instead and then we got full gigabit speeds. Perhaps it's just one anecdotal example I've always used as fact? I'm not really in IT so this is not my direct area of expertise. In my example we were using a central PC as sort of a NAS for our files which we would open and work on directly, so it was obvious when yhe network was not running full speed because opening/saving was slow. (these were large art files for a printshop)


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## DeltaOne (Sep 29, 2013)

Dan203 said:


> I had a small office network years ago that we upgraded to Gigabit. When we used the existing standard Cat-5 cable it worked, but the connection was not full speed.


We hired a company to come in and check our cat 5 wiring when things started going gigabit. They replaced a few runs and maybe a dozen wall plates that didn't meet the spec -- but most of the wiring was good to go. We have a few servers and about 50 to 60 users.


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## southerndoc (Apr 5, 2003)

Yep, it was the cable. Oddly, it was a newer cable that I bought from Monoprice a while back. Replaced with another CAT6 and all is well.

To those that say that CAT5e, etc. is all I need. You are right, but I usually replace with things that are more future proof. My house is wired with CAT6 cables just because of the distance issue.


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## southerndoc (Apr 5, 2003)

Just for clarification, the Mini is only 100Mbps, correct?


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## tarheelblue32 (Jan 13, 2014)

geekmedic said:


> Just for clarification, the Mini is only 100Mbps, correct?


Correct.


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## RonDawg (Jan 12, 2006)

passname22 said:


> I can't stand how new laptops don't come with Ethernet port!


Besides being a legacy port that fewer people outside of an office are using, eliminating ethernet also allows for a thinner profile. But if you must have ethernet, there's always a USB-ethernet adapter, or a docking station if one is available for that laptop. That's what I plan to use with my tablet when I visit Japan later this yer, as many of their hotels still use wired ethernet rather than WiFi for internet access.



> Honestly all the tvs should just come with HDMI, I don't need outdated ports.


You don't but some folks use legacy devices, or need extra ports for things where PQ is not a high priority. If you only have a basic cable package with no HD channels, why waste an HDMI port for that?

Plus with analog connections, you'll never have to worry about HDMI handshaking issues.


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## bobdec01 (Jan 20, 2011)

This maybe a good spot to ask this question. I still have a 100MB home network, Comcast modem is 10/100/1000 , but my main router, plus an 8-port switch and a 2nd router I have set up as a remote wireless access point, are still 10/100. When I transfer Roamio to PC or PC to Roamio my network utilization pegs at 100% (100 Mb). The old Series HD never seemed to run higher than 30-40MB if I can recall. Have any of you 1Gb people out there clocked data transfer rates on your 1GB networks. The 100MB moves a 1 hr show (about 3.7Gb) in 6 mins Roamio to PC, or PC to Roamio. How's the 1Gb compare ?


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## BiloxiGeek (Nov 18, 2001)

Just looked at the bandwidth graph for the GB port that my Roamio is plugged into for the last year. The max output (port to Roamio) is about 13MBytes/second. I do a fair amount of pulling video off a pyTivo server I have set up. I'm sure the peaks I'm seeing are those instances predominantly.


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## bobdec01 (Jan 20, 2011)

My 100% network utilization is based on Windows 7 Task Manager network screen. Calculating back that's got to be incorrect. Heck.. 6 mins @ 100Mbs would be 100Mbs X 60sec X 6mins=36,000Mb or 36Gb That's 10X to high.. Thanks for the response, don't see any reason to worry about network speed yet.


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

bobdec01 said:


> My 100% network utilization is based on Windows 7 Task Manager network screen. Calculating back that's got to be incorrect. Heck.. 6 mins @ 100Mbs would be 100Mbs X 60sec X 6mins=36,000Mb or 36Gb That's 10X to high.. Thanks for the response, don't see any reason to worry about network speed yet.


The Windows 7 network performance is based on the link speed, not the actual network ability. That said, I found it quite accurate when testing the throughput on a USB 2.0 WiFi adapter while running the Desktop and transferring a program. It indicated a 20% utilization of my link speed of 433Mbps. On the TiVo, it showed a speed of 80Mbps. The hardest part is watching the display when someone uses Bytes and not bits. With Win 8 the performance shows the speed/graphics in Mbps, not in a percentage.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

Jed1 said:


> Just use CAT5e. The termination specifications for CAT6 is very stringent and if not terminated properly you can lose any benefit that the cable provides. CAT6a has a lower termination specification but the added cost is not worth to use in home environments.
> Out of simplicity CAT5e is the best choice for home use.


Cat6 termination can be no different that Cat5e. It really depends on the vendor and their design. We've been using Cat6 cables and terminations at work during the 21st century. We've terminated tens of thousands of Cat5e and Cat6 jacks from Commscope. Terminating the Cat6 jacks is identical to our terminations with our Cat5e jacks. Either way they have no problem passing certification with our FLuke cable certifiers/testers.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

geekmedic said:


> Yep, it was the cable. Oddly, it was a newer cable that I bought from Monoprice a while back. Replaced with another CAT6 and all is well.
> 
> To those that say that CAT5e, etc. is all I need. You are right, but I usually replace with things that are more future proof. My house is wired with CAT6 cables just because of the distance issue.


I don't use any of the Monoprice Cat6 patch cables any more. I've had too many issues with a wire or two becoming open on them after being moved around and connected/disconnected. I only use their Cat5e patch cables. Which I don't have any issues with and last me for many, many years.


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## Nonentity44 (Feb 7, 2018)

geekmedic said:


> I was configuring STP settings on my living room switch (need STP enabled due to a Sonos system with multiple hardwired speakers). I noticed my TiVo Roamio Pro is only connecting at 10/100.
> 
> I thought the Roamios had gigabit ethernet?


Did you have to disable STP on where the TiVo Devices where connected? Or.. did it work with STP Enabled? Did you have both Sonos and Roamio on the same Port?


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