How can I connect my Series 2 TiVo to my PC?
May 17, 2008 by admin
rhyrs asked:
I have TiVo Desktop, and I put in the media access key, but it still says that it can’t find any DVR’s on the network. Yes, everything is plugged in, but it won’t work…Any suggestions?
Your Tivo needs to be part of your network meaning that a network cable needs to be connected between your Tivo and your network router or hub. You need to make sure that sharing is enabled on the Tivo setup. Then, you need to check your firewall to see if it is blocking access to your Tivo. Tivo needs to have access to your computer.
The following ports need to be open to your computer for Tivo to communicate to your PC.
TCP port 37
TCP port 2190
TCP port 4430
TCP port 7287
TCP port 7288
TCP port 8000
TCP ports 8080-8089
UDP port 123
UDP port 2190
How is your TiVo connected to the PC? You can’t hook the PC to it with a USB cable, for example, you need a network adaptor for the TiVo, and obviously, your PC has to be on the same network.
And not all USB network adaptors (wired or WiFi) will work with the TiVo Series-2, you have to check the compatibility list: Usually it’s a Wifi (802.11b/g) adaptor, such as the Linksys WUSB11, or TiVo’s branded 802.11g adaptor. These days, it usually says “TiVo compatible” on the box.
To wire it, you may find a USB to Ethernet device supported buy TiVo, but these are much less common. Some people will make a fuss over hooking up TiVo to wired networks (100Mb/s) or 802.11g wireless (56Mb/s), but the value of that is overstated, since the TiVo USB port is USB1.1, limited to USB’s “Full Speed” mode, which runs at 12Mb/s.
Once that’s in place, you have to got the TiVo settings/network menu and enable the TiVo on your network. Ideally, you set the TiVo to fetch an IP address on your network automatically, from the DHCP server (probably your network router, if you have one for broadband). If you don’t, you can provide a “static” IP address, which looks something like 192.168.1.x (x = 0..254)… the digits would be the same for your network, you’d typically set a mask of 255.255.255.0, etc.
If you’re running a firewall on your PC, you’ll have to ensure that TiVo Desktop can get through to the network. If it’s Windows XP’s built-in firewall, you should have set up an automatic rule when you first started TiVo Desktop. But if not, go to your “Network Connections” window, select the network you’re using, right click “Preferences”. Now go to the “Advanced” tab, click on Windows firewall “Settings”. Look at the “Exceptions” tab in that menu, find TiVo Desktop. Select it and DELETE it. Now start TiVo Desktop, and you should get a pop-up. Click “unblock” and that should let TiVo Desktop get past the firewall on that network adaptor.
For other firewalls, or to add this manually in Windows firewall, TiVo recommends enabling ports TCP/UDP 2190,
TCP 4430-4439, 8080-8089, 8100-8109, and 8200-8209.
There a numerous guides on the net, here’s one right here on Yahoo:
If you use a VPN (virtual private network) on your PC, you may need to log out of it to connect to your TiVo. I was unable to connect to my TiVo will my VPN was connected to work. When I exited the VPN, then I could finally connect to my TiVo using TiVo Desktop 2.5.1.