TiVo Community Forums Archives - Just bought from amazon things could use help on..

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Just bought from amazon things could use help on..
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Posted by: synch22

well amazon lowered to $214, and i can get the $50 rebate so i went ahead and took the plunge. I have seen here with the series 2 u can hook up via broadband with an adapter, my pc is next to my tv is it possible to pop the ethernet cord in from my pc into the back of my tivo.. say during the night or sometime in the day and get the updates i need, and then unplug the ethernet cord..? if it only downloads once a day, i think ive read, why does the ethernet need to be plugged in at all times. I dont want to go get a router and set up a network. I plan on taking to my friends and use his phone line for inital setup.

Also i have read but it is not clear, if i do month to month say the first 2 months, can i then switch over to lifetime and have $12.95 x2 subtracted from the $299 if i decide to go lifetime? At what point does that run out, 1month 6 months, not sure i want to go lifetime off the bat if i can test the waters for a bit. Also i have cable but no box so will i not notice the delay in channel changing as much? thats it thanks and this forum was a great help in me deciding to give this piece of equipment a try, and the fact im a electronics geek

Posted by: cwoody222

No, you can't plug your Ethernet into your TiVo directly. First, you'll need an Ethernet-to-USB adapter. Second, you need a router. TiVo can't be plugged directly into your cable modem. The router needs to talk to your cable modem in order to get an IP address for your TiVo.

You can switch to lifetime and they'll credit your $12.99 towards purchase for the first 30 days. If you decide to switch to lifetime after 30 days you will pay the full $299.

Without a cable box your channel changes will be very quick.

Posted by: rsnaider

Connected by either Phone or Network TiVo dials out every 30 hours, so it will not be at the same time each day. The reason to leave things connected is so you just forget about it and TiVo does it thing behind the scenes.

Posted by: jmace57

synch,

You can buy a router for $5 or so. They are very easy to set up.

As cwoody said, buy a USB to ethernet adapter ($10 - $15).

Regards,
Jim

Posted by: ThreeSoFar

Well, haven't seen $5 routers. But I see a Siemens one on pricewatch.com for $17 shipped.

Posted by: JPriller

You could get by without a router, swapping the line from your PC and forcing a daily call every morning or evening, if you're willing to go through the effort. First, if your provider gives you a static IP address you'd have to program the TiVo with the same address. If you're set up for DHCP ("obtain an IP address automatically", I think it says in Windows network setup) then set the TiVo for the same thing. Whenever you want to swap, turn off or unplug the power to your cable modem, swap the ethernet line to the TiVo, and power up the cable modem again. Most providers set up their cable modems to track what ethernet card hardware "MAC" address has connected to them (your PC) and won't allow anything else to communicate through them, not unless you pay them for more than one concurrent connection (then they'll track two MAC addresses, or whatever you're paying for). By powering off/on the cable modem you make it forget about the PC's MAC address. You'd need to power the cable modem off and on again when swapping back to your PC, to make it forget about the TiVo's USB/Ethernet adapter MAC address.

Ungainly, but possible. Unless your provider is even more anal, and requires you to formally register your MAC address with them before they grant internet access. In that case you'd absolutely have to get a router, one that can "clone" or "spoof" the MAC address you've registered with your provider.

My advice: get a router. It has its own MAC address and acts as the one thing your cable modem will allow to communicate through it, hiding your home network from the cable company. You'll be a happier TiVo owner that way, trust me. :)

Posted by: synch22

i have comcast so i think it does it automatically i plug in and out of my xbox or ps2 when i decide to go online and never have a problem, sounds like router may be best option but not sure i will have the setup initally thanks for the replys, the true question now is lifetime or monthly, will tivo lower rates once the competition hits ??? its a gamble lol i may go lifetime because of resale value , that i hope will be there in case i decide to sell it.

Posted by: jmace57

quote:
Originally posted by ThreeSoFar
Well, haven't seen $5 routers. But I see a Siemens one on pricewatch.com for $17 shipped.

Here's one on Outpost.com (Fry's) free after rebate: http://shop1.outpost.com/product/3881957

Here's one from TigerDirect for free after rebate: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicat...RCCODE=WEM601AA

Regards,
Jim

Posted by: Hibernia

Or build one for freeeee - check http://www.coyotelinux.com as an example. Practically any old PC will do - it doesn't even need a harddrive, as coyote fits onto a floppy. You could take the defaults and have a DHCP enabled network with a decent firewall out of the box, or you can customize it using IPTABLES and port forwarding rules. I use it and love it - unfortuantely due to port forwarding I have to have static IPs (which is gonna be a problem when I hook the Tivo up to my DSL) but for most mom and pop types out of the box should be fine. There is even a Windows configuration build if you don't have a Linux box to configure the floppy on.

Then again, you could do what every other normal person on the planet does and schlep down to yer fav computer store (or even walmart) and pick up a 4 port router, which would solve your problem in about two seconds :D

Posted by: rseligman

quote:
Originally posted by rsnaider
The reason to leave things connected is so you just forget about it and TiVo does it thing behind the scenes.

Of, if you have HMO, so you can do remote scheduling.

Posted by: ThreeSoFar

I stand corrected. But I wouldn't trust either of those names as much as the $25 SMC I just got (refurb./shipped). And I hate HATE rebates.

quote:
Originally posted by jmace57
Here's one on Outpost.com (Fry's) free after rebate: http://shop1.outpost.com/product/3881957

Here's one from TigerDirect for free after rebate: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicat...RCCODE=WEM601AA

Regards,
Jim