# 802.11G Network Speed



## ttocsmi (Jan 6, 2007)

my apologies if this question has been asked previously...

my series 2 tivo is WEP connected to my wireless 802.11G linksys router, which in turn is connected wirelessly to my laptop. it's taking just over an hour to transfer a 1 hour 1.5 GB file from the tivo to the laptop. this seems slow to me.

i'm considering re-locating my router and hardwiring it to the tivo using an ethernet cable. same with the laptop - it would also be hardwired to the router when transferring files.

does my network speed seem slow to anyone else? anyone else have a similar experience?

thanks.

s


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## JWThiers (Apr 13, 2005)

ttocsmi said:


> my apologies if this question has been asked previously...
> 
> my series 2 tivo is WEP connected to my wireless 802.11G linksys router, which in turn is connected wirelessly to my laptop. it's taking just over an hour to transfer a 1 hour 1.5 GB file from the tivo to the laptop. this seems slow to me.
> 
> ...


Yes that seems slow for a G connection, it seems more like B speed. I have never tried to a laptop wirelessly connected BUT I have don MRV transfers between 2 wirelessly connected DTivo's using 802.11g, A 1 hour show should be over in well under 10 minutes. But a lot does depend on signal quality what you are transmitting thru, other wireless traffic, make sure your router is in g mode only and are you sure that both the tivo and laptop are using G?


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## BTUx9 (Nov 13, 2003)

The OP didn't specify, but a tivo desktop extraction tends to have a MUCH slower xfer than an MRV (because the tivo needs to do a lot more work re-encrypting)


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## ttocsmi (Jan 6, 2007)

what's an MRV?

i've written a few .tivo files to a DVD-R. will DRM preclude these files from being played on a different PC?

is file conversion from .tivo to .mpg/.avi/etc a forbidden topic?

thanks again.


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## JWThiers (Apr 13, 2005)

BTUx9 said:


> The OP didn't specify, but a tivo desktop extraction tends to have a MUCH slower xfer than an MRV (because the tivo needs to do a lot more work re-encrypting)


Didn't we have this discussion before??? 

Very true. The encrypt/decrypt can take considerable time.


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## JWThiers (Apr 13, 2005)

ttocsmi said:


> what's an MRV?
> 
> i've written a few .tivo files to a DVD-R. will DRM preclude these files from being played on a different PC?
> 
> ...


MRV = Multi-Room Viewing

Assuming that you are using Tivo Desktop to transfer content to your PC ( I often forget about Tivo desktop because the latest version doesn't work with Directv Tivo so I can't use it to burn content) it is common for it to take longer than other means to move content to your PC. this is a consequence of encryption/decryption rather than the the actual moving of the bits. But the type of connection can also have an effect (how much has been a subject of debate in the past)

The big 3 forbiden topics
1. Theft of Service or TOS.
2. Extraction - Non tivo approved means of getting the content off the tivo.
3. Conversion of the .tivo file.


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## alk (Oct 6, 2007)

So what would be considered a reasonable transfer speed for a Series 2 DVR using TivoToGo? I have one connected to my wired network via a Linksys USB200M USB Ethernet adapter, but it also takes me about a hour or so to transfer a 1.6 GB file. This seems unreasonably slow to me... In fact, it seems as though the transfer is only moving at about 4 Mbps (that comes out to about 1.75 GB per hour which matches nicely my observed transfer rates) which is nowhere near the possible throughput of my network (100base-TX ethernet).

So can anyone say what is a reasonable transfer speed for a network connected Tivo?

Peace,
alk


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## BTUx9 (Nov 13, 2003)

again, it's not the network slowing you down... if you tuned the channel to a station you don't receive, you may see an improvement, but the tivo does a LOT of work for a TTG transfer


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## alk (Oct 6, 2007)

BTUx9 said:


> again, it's not the network slowing you down... if you tuned the channel to a station you don't receive, you may see an improvement, but the tivo does a LOT of work for a TTG transfer


That's fine, but what is nominal throughput with TTG? Is it 4 Mbps? This is very close to realtime or 1:1 speeds (45 minutes to transfer 60 minutes of video). Can the decrypter on the Tivo really have so little headroom while decrypting a file?

[edit: Gloucester, MA, eh? My brother and my sister live there. Small world. I'm in Colorado, though.]

Peace,
Drew


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## BTUx9 (Nov 13, 2003)

alk said:


> [edit: Gloucester, MA, eh? My brother and my sister live there. Small world. I'm in Colorado, though.]


Thanx for reminding me... I moved in August (but it's the next town over)

re: TTG speeds, I can't really say, as I only have dtivos (no TTG available). I know there's more info on DDB. The tivo has VERY little headroom (in network testing, it's often CPU-bound rather than anything else), but for TTG, I've read that it's having to decrypt AND re-encrypt... thus, the slowdown. (MRV xfers between tivos do neither, so are MUCH faster)


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## ttocsmi (Jan 6, 2007)

JWThiers said:


> Assuming that you are using Tivo Desktop to transfer content to your PC ... it is common for it to take longer than other means to move content to your PC.


hmmmm. thanks.

OK, so how do i decrypt the .tivo file?


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## BTUx9 (Nov 13, 2003)

Ummm... did you READ what he said at first?



JWThiers said:


> The big 3 forbiden topics
> 1. Theft of Service or TOS.
> 2. Extraction - Non tivo approved means of getting the content off the tivo.
> 3. Conversion of the .tivo file.


seriously, it's even in the thread name near the top of the page:

```
Sticky: NOTICE: We do not allow for the talk of .tivo file conversion   - David Bott
```


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## Da Goon (Oct 22, 2006)

ttocsmi said:


> OK, so how do i decrypt the .tivo file?


Go to sourceforge.net and search around.

Some assembly required.


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