new tivo (s 1) / w turbonet - can you help / setup..

[dotdot]

hello all,
I have an S1 with altepg on already - works fine - we did however have a few problems with it a few weeks back.

So.. we went out and bought another one from ebay - thinking it'd be simple... box arrived - with remote and power cable - that's about it along with a turbonet cable...hang out of it.

Problems is..
i know nothing bout turbonet cards - how i'd get it to talk to either network or laptop - it shouldn't be too complex , right ?
Also - if i go for the default - phone home - it fails...

So can one of you kind folks advise on a few pointers to help my DR tivo , at least vaguely working..??

(and yes we do have virign cable in our area etc - but i'm simply not going over for the sake of it - my old box is fine... well almost..)

All the best

..

[Teepee]

hello all,
I have an S1 with altepg on already - works fine - we did however have a few problems with it a few weeks back.

So.. we went out and bought another one from ebay - thinking it'd be simple... box arrived - with remote and power cable - that's about it along with a turbonet cable...hang out of it.

Problems is..
i know nothing bout turbonet cards - how i'd get it to talk to either network or laptop - it shouldn't be too complex , right ?
Also - if i go for the default - phone home - it fails...

So can one of you kind folks advise on a few pointers to help my DR tivo , at least vaguely working..??

(and yes we do have virign cable in our area etc - but i'm simply not going over for the sake of it - my old box is fine... well almost..)

All the best

..

If it was working before you bought it there is a good chance that you will not need to worry too much about networking etc. If you can connect it directly to one of the yellow 'LAN' sockets on your router while displaying it on your T.V. then you can initiate a test call (on the phone setup page) to confirm that thee the Tivo is contacting the Internet. There is no need to worry about installing a tuner for this test. If the test call succeeds then the simplest way of making a 'permanent' connection is to use a long Ethernet cable and connector to extend the existing one to the router. If a wired connection is impractical then you can use a mains Ethernet transmission system like the 'Homeplug' or set up a wireless link using an Ethernet converter. The Ethernet converter turns the Tivo Ethernet output to wireless so that it can 'talk' to your router. There are a number of devices that can do this, I have had success with TP-Link (http://uk.tp-link.com) and Buffalo (http://www.buffalotech.com) gear. The wired option is probably best but if using wireless you will need to know the address of your Tivo, try 192.168.1.200 for a start.

Good luck, Terry.

[Countryman]

Terry, if I can piggyback on this thread ?

I recently acquired a 'deconstructed' TiVo with Turbonet card installed. I already have a non-networked TiVo. Is it a simple case of plugging the Turbonet card into this non-networked TiVo and the existing software on this TiVo will recognise the card and spring into life 'as-it-were' or do I need a separarte version?

Current version of TiVo is 2.5.5a-01-1-023

TIA

Roger

[DX30]

Is it a simple case of plugging the Turbonet card into this non-networked TiVo and the existing software on this TiVo will recognise the card and spring into life 'as-it-were' or do I need a separarte version?

The standard TiVo software knows nothing about network cards. You need to install the Turbonet driver before the card will work.

If however you have downloaded the AltEPG CD from this site and used it to prepare a new hard disk for your TiVo then that will have the driver already installed.

So the question is did you replace the hard drive in the TiVo in the recent past with one the required software? Or did you just change the dial prefix to use the AltEPG server?

If the latter you are going to have to remove the TiVo drive and update it in a PC. Either by installing the new AltEPG software (and so losing any existing recordings), or by manually installing the Turbonet driver.

[Countryman]

Hi DX30 and apologies for the late reply.

The good news is that the TiVo I've plugged it into is an AltEPOG one.
After plugging in the TurboNet card, I can Telnet to it OK.

I ran through the guide. The three Telnet commands worked fine but one thing left me confused and that was making a test call. It seemed to require the phone cord to be in which seemed a bit strange.

But after connecting it, everything seemed to go through OK and it is indexing its programme guide data as I type.

But I'm not sure whether it got its data via the phone line or via the network connection. Is there anyway of checking?

How often does the TiVo request guide data over the network ?

TIA

[DX30]

But I'm not sure whether it got its data via the phone line or via the network connection. Is there anyway of checking?

The easy way is to disconnect the phone line and see if you can make a call. Given however that you say you needed to connect the phone line in order to make a test call I suspect you also got the daily call data via the phone line.

Since you have the AltEPG software I'd suggest you set the network configuration to "Auto detect NIC" as explained here, just in case it has been set to "Modem" in the past

http://www.altepg.com/networkConfiguration/index.php

I'd also make sure you don't have a dial prefix set as that can cause the phone line to be used.

How often does the TiVo request guide data over the network ?

Daily, unless you have configured otherwise here (e.g. so the tivo only phones weekends because you had free calls then)

http://www.altepg.com/callScheduling/index.php

[Countryman]

Thanks for that.

So if I understand you correctly, if the network card is all set-up correctly then if I choose Make Daily Call Now then it should make the call via the network.

[DX30]

Yes, both Test and Daily calls (whether manual or automatic) should go via the network when everything is working as it should.

[Countryman]

All working now as expected, thanks.

Found TiVoWeb...truly amazing what you guys have achieved.