# Raomio plus/pro uses two IPs



## stumantexas (Aug 14, 2013)

I was looking around my network and noticed an IP that I did not recognize. Chatted with support to make sure if roamio pro/plus uses one or two IP's and they told me one - then after pressing found that this is the streamer inside the roamio that is using the second IP and there does not seem to be any method of contolling how it gets it - uses dhcp without a setup screen that I can find.

Anyone know how to manually set the internal streamer's IP?

Thanks


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

I don't think there is a way. I poked around at my standalone Stream quite a bit when I first got it. There are some web based UIs you can access via special ports, but none have any editable options just information. And the setup stuff seems to all be automatic in the iOS app.

Some routers have an option to assign a static IP address to specific MAC address, you might be able to use that to force your Stream to have a specific IP. Although technically it's still using DHCP, just guaranteed to be assigned a specific IP.


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## Tivoli (Jan 24, 2002)

stumantexas said:


> I was looking around my network and noticed an IP that I did not recognize. Chatted with support to make sure if roamio pro/plus uses one or two IP's and they told me one - then after pressing found that this is the streamer inside the roamio that is using the second IP and there does not seem to be any method of contolling how it gets it - uses dhcp without a setup screen that I can find.
> 
> Anyone know how to manually set the internal streamer's IP?
> 
> Thanks


Why do you want to control what IP it gets? I do this kind of thing on my router. I enter the MAC and assign a static IP address. The device still does DHCP, but my router hands out the same IP address to that MAC.


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## consumedsoul (Jan 13, 2013)

Tivoli said:


> Why do you want to control what IP it gets? I do this kind of thing on my router. I enter the MAC and assign a static IP address. The device still does DHCP, but my router hands out the same IP address to that MAC.


Out of curiosity is there an advantage of manually assigning a MAC address w/ static IP? I do that for my wireless printer & NAS but am wondering what benefit I'd gain by doing it for the TiVo - any performance/reliability?


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

I don't think there is any advantage to static IPs with TiVo. TiVos use a broadcast/discovery protocol to find each other automatically anyway. It shouldn't matter what their IPs are.


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## crxssi (Apr 5, 2010)

Dan203 said:


> I don't think there is any advantage to static IPs with TiVo. TiVos use a broadcast/discovery protocol to find each other automatically anyway. It shouldn't matter what their IPs are.


Yes there is.

Perhaps not for the streamer or MRS, but the main IP address being static (or fixed in DHCP) is extremely convenient when wanting to test it, use filters, pointing a browser at it, using ping, etc.

I wouldn't want my TiVo potentially getting different addresses each time it reboots...


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## consumedsoul (Jan 13, 2013)

crxssi said:


> Yes there is.
> 
> Perhaps not for the streamer or MRS, but the main IP address being static (or fixed in DHCP) is extremely convenient when wanting to test it, use filters, pointing a browser at it, using ping, etc.
> 
> I wouldn't want my TiVo potentially getting different addresses each time it reboots...


Yeah - I know in the past I've had issues with my wireless printer having occasional connection issues or IP conflicts so assigned MAC/IP to it that resolved for good - so I can't imagine it wouldn't hurt to assign a dedicated IP to the TiVo device as well.


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

crxssi said:


> Perhaps not for the streamer or MRS, but the main IP address being static (or fixed in DHCP) is extremely convenient when wanting to test it, use filters, pointing a browser at it, using ping, etc.


I meant for normal operations. If you regularly access the TiVo via a browser or need to add any special rules for it to your firewall then of course a static IP would be easier to deal with. However for normal TiVo operations it doesn't really matter.


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## innocentfreak (Aug 25, 2001)

In the past static IPs seemed to help somewhat with the speed or at least it felt that way. I remember early on people finding the Premiere faster on a static IP. I always assign mine a static IP.


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

I think the way it works is every 10-15 minutes a TiVo will send out a UDP packet to the entire network saying "hear I am". If there are any other TiVos on the network they recognize that packet and cache the name and IP of that TiVo and then respond with their own "here I am" packet so the other TiVo is aware of them instantly, rather then waiting for their own timed packet. If the network changes in any way, or the TiVo reboots, it send out the packet immediately. Based on that I can't see how a static IP would provide any speed advantage.


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## consumedsoul (Jan 13, 2013)

innocentfreak said:


> In the past static IPs seemed to help somewhat with the speed or at least it felt that way. I remember early on people finding the Premiere faster on a static IP. I always assign mine a static IP.


I dunno if this is exactly 'scientific' or not - but after I set a static IP (via MAC address) earlier today, access remotely to my device via iOS app is instant now (the 'reconnecting' part) - it almost always took 5-10 seconds before.


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## astrohip (Jan 7, 2003)

stumantexas said:


> the streamer inside the roamio that is using the second IP


Question about two IPs. I was planning on connecting my Pro via ethernet. Can a single cable handle two IP addresses?


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## bradleys (Oct 31, 2007)

astrohip said:


> Question about two IPs. I was planning on connecting my Pro via ethernet. Can a single cable handle two IP addresses?


Absolutely!


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## kdmorse (Jan 29, 2001)

consumedsoul said:


> Out of curiosity is there an advantage of manually assigning a MAC address w/ static IP? I do that for my wireless printer & NAS but am wondering what benefit I'd gain by doing it for the TiVo - any performance/reliability?


There's an additional benefit. Most routers do not maintain the Dynamic allocation table across reboots. Most routers do not ping or arp before assigning an address.

End result, your tivo gets 192.168.1.30. The router reboots, loses it's table. Your laptop then gets 192.168.1.30. You now have an IP conflict that historically tivos (among many other devices) have not handled terribly well.

If you create a static reservation for your tivo that is outside of your normal dhcp pool, this problem can never occur.


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## unitron (Apr 28, 2006)

DHCP means the router and the device have to have a conversation and negotiate what IP address the device gets.

More chance for something to go wrong than the device just announcing what its IP address is.

Anything that doesn't travel and need to log onto some other network, I don't see any reason not to give it a fixed IP address.


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## astrohip (Jan 7, 2003)

bradleys said:


> Absolutely!


Thanks.


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## Icarus (Jun 15, 2002)

crxssi said:


> Yes there is.
> 
> Perhaps not for the streamer or MRS, but the main IP address being static (or fixed in DHCP) is extremely convenient when wanting to test it, use filters, pointing a browser at it, using ping, etc.
> 
> I wouldn't want my TiVo potentially getting different addresses each time it reboots...


you should be able to find it using bonjour.

dvr-<last 4 digits of TSN>.local

If you use safari, you can enable bonjour in the bookmarks preferences and then in bookmarks menu, under bonjour/webpages, you'll see the DVRs by their names.

-David


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## tivaulo (Apr 25, 2008)

I'm all out for giving the user control over their own network. Whatever reason tivo had for not allowing fixed ips (besides laziness) is not justifiable. If they were just being lazy I can understand... until the next software upgrade.


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## crxssi (Apr 5, 2010)

tivaulo said:


> I'm all out for giving the user control over their own network. Whatever reason tivo had for not allowing fixed ips (besides laziness) is not justifiable. If they were just being lazy I can understand... until the next software upgrade.


Lazy and presumptuous.
It is highly unlikely we will be given the option later.


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## socrplyr (Jul 19, 2006)

DHCP is the standard and has worked well for a long time. If it doesn't then there is already something wrong with your network (bad device, two servers, etc.). As for letting you set your own IP addresses, that doesn't accomplish anything (unless you have something wrong with your network) nor does it provide any performance increase. Now that being said, if you want to truly manage your network you shouldn't be doing fixed IPs that way anyways. Buy a router with the capability to set the IPs for each of your devices. 
From Tivo's standpoint fixed IPs are probably more headache for them to try to fix with support calls than it is worth. Go look at all your CE devices, how many of them let you set your IP address? Not many do. If you are worried about trying to have a consistent address to talk to your Tivo, then I suggest trying its hostname. For example, TIVO-65200018032xxxx takes me right to my TivoHD.


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## SugarBowl (Jan 5, 2007)

So there must be a switch inside the Pro/Plus? Does this explain the gigabit controller? Gigabit into the box, then 10/100 to Tivo and 10/100 to the Streamer?


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## jfh3 (Apr 15, 2004)

There is a bridge, not a switch.


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## socrplyr (Jul 19, 2006)

jfh3 said:


> There is a bridge, not a switch.


There is a switch. A bridge changes from one media type to another. For example in the Premiere's the MoCA adapter is a bridge. It does not allow you to hook multiple devices up. Of course if there is a switch behind the bridge you could.
I haven't seen a hardware breakout, but I am going to guess that connected to the switch is the SoC for the DVR, the MoCA adapter, the external ethernet port, and the stream hardware. I am going to guess that the wifi is not a wifi bridge, but connected to the SoC via USB (I could be wrong though). I figure this, because the way the 4 tuner version's spec's are, it would make sense to have a bridge. Although, they could be using a second ethernet port instead. If they did, that could make the Roamio double as a wifi extender if they hooked it to the switch as well and allowed it to be in an AP mode. I bet they don't allow for routing of wifi traffic through the box though.


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## Kolenka (Jan 2, 2013)

socrplyr said:


> I am going to guess that the wifi is not a wifi bridge, but connected to the SoC via USB (I could be wrong though). I figure this, because the way the 4 tuner version's spec's are, it would make sense to have a bridge. Although, they could be using a second ethernet port instead. If they did, that could make the Roamio double as a wifi extender if they hooked it to the switch as well and allowed it to be in an AP mode. I bet they don't allow for routing of wifi traffic through the box though.


I had to re-read this a couple times, and as I did, I started thinking that we are splitting hairs. Yes, in networking a bridge and switch are two different things. But they are more frequently getting embedded into the same SoC. It wouldn't surprise me at all if the TiVo is configured this way. 2 ethernet "ports" facing the Stream and the DVR portions. 1 ethernet port facing externally, and the SoC also controlling the Wifi bridge behavior.

While my knowledge is a bit rusty, I'd say that the MAC addresses are identical over Ethernet and Wifi lend some evidence to this.


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## socrplyr (Jul 19, 2006)

Kolenka said:


> I had to re-read this a couple times, and as I did, I started thinking that we are splitting hairs. Yes, in networking a bridge and switch are two different things. But they are more frequently getting embedded into the same SoC. It wouldn't surprise me at all if the TiVo is configured this way. 2 ethernet "ports" facing the Stream and the DVR portions. 1 ethernet port facing externally, and the SoC also controlling the Wifi bridge behavior.
> 
> While my knowledge is a bit rusty, I'd say that the MAC addresses are identical over Ethernet and Wifi lend some evidence to this.


I missed that the MACs are the same for both wired and wireless. Yes that would definitely point to the WiFi being hooked to the switch. I guess that would also be necessary for the stream to get internet access as well. If anyone owns the 4-tuner model, I'd be interested to see if it is the same for them as well. I am not in the industry, but I do look at chips from time to time. However, I have never seen an integrated Wifi + switch done on the same silicon. It may exist though (or even be common for that matter).


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## socrplyr (Jul 19, 2006)

SugarBowl said:


> So there must be a switch inside the Pro/Plus? Does this explain the gigabit controller? Gigabit into the box, then 10/100 to Tivo and 10/100 to the Streamer?


Yes it would. The thing I haven't found is the specs on the BCM7425/29. I would have thought that by now they might have a gigabit interface themselves.


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## Kolenka (Jan 2, 2013)

socrplyr said:


> I missed that the MACs are the same for both wired and wireless. Yes that would definitely point to the WiFi being hooked to the switch. I guess that would also be necessary for the stream to get internet access as well. If anyone owns the 4-tuner model, I'd be interested to see if it is the same for them as well. I am not in the industry, but I do look at chips from time to time. However, I have never seen an integrated Wifi + switch done on the same silicon. It may exist though (or even be common for that matter).


Hmm, I'm probably wrong on the level of integration going on it seems. Being in the cellular industry, there is a definite trend in combining multiple interfaces into the SoC or at least a single baseband chip. But we're pushing more miniaturization than the STB/Home Networking guys at the moment.

I'll agree and say the WiFi is probably just hooked up to a PHY interface for the switch, with a side channel for the main SoC for the TiVo itself to control the connection for the bridge.


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## eboydog (Mar 24, 2006)

The main Roamio Ethernet and Stream Ethernet interfaces have similer but different Mac addresses, I assign static addresses to both using my router to handle the static addresses basiced on Mac address. As mentioned in another thread, one person had a problem were pytivo found the stream ip address first and they couldn't transfer recordings, I assign a lower numbered ip address to my main pro so that one, it always finds it first when pytivo dis overs the TiVos and so I always know the addresses of my TiVos.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

eboydog said:


> The main Roamio Ethernet and Stream Ethernet interfaces have similer but different Mac addresses, I assign static addresses to both using my router to handle the static addresses basiced on Mac address. As mentioned in another thread, one person had a problem were pytivo found the stream ip address first and they couldn't transfer recordings, I assign a lower numbered ip address to my main pro so that one, it always finds it first when pytivo dis overs the TiVos and so I always know the addresses of my TiVos.


If you don't assign a static Ip does the router always assign the higher Ip address to the internal Stream?
This has always been the case on my network. I don't bother assigning a static Ip address to any of my Tivos any more since switching out to more minis and since I also have not had any issues letting my router assign them. I can't use my Stream anyway since there is no android support.


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## kdmorse (Jan 29, 2001)

aaronwt said:


> If you don't assign a static Ip does the router always assign the higher Ip address to the internal Stream?


It tends to, by coincidence, in most home networks with most consumer routers. It's not a behavior that can be relied upon, it just tends to work out that way.


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## eboydog (Mar 24, 2006)

I manage my static addresses by using the dhcp server in my router, by identifying each MAC, I just assign it staticly to avoid any issues and as far as which interface gets an address first I would guess the Stream will get an address first since techically it takes less time for Stream process to come up than the full Roamio DVR system to be operational; as the Stream interface having a higher ip dhcp addresse, that would just depend on chance and circumstances which is again why I assign static addresses to all my local TiVo devices, even the minis.


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