Networked TiVo Player (1 Viewer)

[Mike Voigt]

If you have a TiVo that has a damaged modem, don't give up on it - there's probably a fix for you. There was for me.

Recently my TiVo's modem died. It was an old unit - one of the first ones, with 14hrs of recording capacity. 'Course I had modified it, adding a 120GB drive, so it has a wee bit more storage capacity now

I tell ya what, the TiVo gets the most usage of any component in the house. We did not want to miss this.

After research, two solutions offered themselves - replace the modem, or install a network card.

I found one, sold by the folks at 9th Tee, through the TiVoCommunity discussion boards. Ordered it from 9th Tee, and a few days later it showed up. Installed the board, hooked up the unit via LAN, and set the necessary codes.

It works flawlessly. What's more, it does not tie up a phone line this way, since I have cable modem service. It is fast, very fast.

I could go in and mod the software to allow for regular access via the LAN. It is, after all, a Linux box with a few twists. Nothing terribly difficult, by and large. But I haven't done so yet.

The $80 I paid for that LAN connection was worth every penny - kept me from having to buy a new one at 3-5 times the cost. And the folks at 9th Tee were great to deal with!

Mike

 

[Stephen Tu]

After research, two solutions offered themselves - replace the modem, or install a network card.

There's a third option that's likely cheaper and easier for most people, and doesn't require a LAN -- external modem connected via the Tivo serial port. Details in the underground section of the www.tivocommunity.com boards. Requires Tivo software 3.0+, easier with a modem w/ NVRAM where you can disable flow control, else you'll have to wire up a special cable.