Hi! I have a question about making a cable

[iopq]

I've been searching for hours now...I can't find a thread that shows me how to make a serial cable to hook up to my SA TiVo. I'm sorry, but I just searched for such a long time!

Can someone post some good suggestions for the SA TiVo video extraction or point to posts that have those good suggestions?

I just found how to MAKE the cable (and how to buy it :D )

Now what do I do after I connect if I am running Linux? Anything special? There are so many more posts about DTiVo than SA TiVo so I am getting a little lost.

I know I will get the TyTools software and play around with that...

I need something!! I know you will be kind enough to point me in the right direction...
For hopelessness' end.

[captain_video]

Look in the DirecTV Tivo Hacking Forum in the How Tos Only sticky. There must be at least three or four different tutorials on making a Tivo serial cable. When in doubt, read the sticky threads for pertinent info. These forums originally centered around DirecTivo hacking and the development and implementation of 2.5Xtreme. SA Tivo support was added later. Any instructional info will almost always be contained in one of the sticky threads so look there first.

[mrblack51]

Originally posted by iopq
I've been searching for hours now...I can't find a thread that shows me how to make a serial cable to hook up to my SA TiVo. I'm sorry, but I just searched for such a long time!

Can someone post some good suggestions for the SA TiVo video extraction or point to posts that have those good suggestions?

it sounds like you are thinking of using the serial (BASH) cable for extraction. if you are, infact, thinking of doing that, think again. even at the highest speed, the time to extract shows over bash will be unbearable (ie: it will take at least a day or two to extract a 30 minute show).

as mentioned by captain video, most of the info people are looking for can be obtained by searching and checking the sticky threads. searching by posts will be more effective, but its no substitute for reading the whole thread.

[iopq]

Well as I've said I already found how to make the cable (on my third hour of searching :( )

What's that about taking a few days to extract a two minute show??

I was planning on extracting about 30 GB worth of data... I thought that would take like a day at most... I'm worried now!

Let me count:

Assume it transfers at 15 KB/sec
After a minute that's 900 KB
After an hour it's 54 MB
After 10 hours it's 540 MB
After 100 hours it's 5.4 GB
After 3 weeks it's about 30 GB

It would take me 3 weeks?? ....NOT GOOD
Especially since it transfers more like 12 KB/sec

I don't even leave the computer on for that long.

ANY OTHER BRIGHT IDEAS? I'm going to search on the forum

[Pro-289]

mrblack51 didn't say anything about a two minute show. He said, "(ie: it will take at least a day or two to extract a 30 minute show)".

But anyway, get yourself a TurboNet or something. Basically a network card for the Tivo. I get about 1.9-2.0 MB/sec. So with a quick calculation 4.27-4.49 hours to download 30GB. But it actually seemed faster the other day when I downloaded 2GB, but my download meter was the same.

EDIT: I just did a speed test on a 512MB file. It took me 4 minutes 35 seconds to download it. So a quick calculation again it would probably take me 4.58 hours or a bit more to download 30GB of data. I averaged total about 1.85MB down, cause once I saw it hit 0k/sec for 1-2 seconds.

[raj2001]

Originally posted by iopq
ANY OTHER BRIGHT IDEAS? I'm going to search on the forum

Which TiVo do you have? If it's a series 1 you should consider getting an ethernet card. 9thtee.com has the turbonet, but you may be able to find some other places which have it cheaper.

If it's a series 2, you can get a USB to ethernet dongle and use that.

[HereToday]

I, too, have a problem with extraction speed. I have checked all over the place on this forum and found everyone claiming 1.9-2.0MB/sec. I am lucky if I acheive 0.35MB/sec.

I'm currently 38 minutes into the transfer of a 62 minute recorded show and I'm only at 79%!

I have a DSR6000 (model R01) with TurboNet so I would think things would be much quicker. I know that my home network isn't to blame since I can transfer from PC to PC extremely fast (full 700MB CD worth of data in a couple of minutes). I have all 10/100 switches, no hubs.

Any ideas that I can try to speed this up? I'm desperate to resolve this.:confused:

[SR712]

Are you using the newest TurboNet Drivers? Also, are you connecting at 100Mb/s? And, what FTP proggy are you using, and are you using Passive Mode?

[JJBliss]

Originally posted by HereToday
I, too, have a problem with extraction speed. I have checked all over the place on this forum and found everyone claiming 1.9-2.0MB/sec. I am lucky if I acheive 0.35MB/sec.

I'm currently 38 minutes into the transfer of a 62 minute recorded show and I'm only at 79%!

I have a DSR6000 (model R01) with TurboNet so I would think things would be much quicker. I know that my home network isn't to blame since I can transfer from PC to PC extremely fast (full 700MB CD worth of data in a couple of minutes). I have all 10/100 switches, no hubs.

Any ideas that I can try to speed this up? I'm desperate to resolve this.:confused:

make sure you're running the latest driver. You can get the latest update directly from www.silicondust.com

[HereToday]

Thanks for the quick responses.
Let me see if I can answer the questions.
--------------------------------------------------------
Are you using the newest TurboNet Drivers?
--------------------------------------------------------
I would imagine so since I just bought the entire upgrade drive and card from PTVUpgrade.com just about 3 weeks ago. What's the easiest way to check?

-------------------------------------------------------
Also, are you connecting at 100Mb/s?
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Yes, I have checked to verify that I am connecting at 100Mb/s.

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And, what FTP proggy are you using, and are you using Passive Mode?
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I'm using tyStudio (latest version) to pull the .ty across. Forgive my ignorance but I guess that I don't know for sure about the Passive mode - which side are you referring to, PC or DTiVo?

Thanks

[mavrcksd]

Well - we found in another thread - and it was posted by Riley - that

in your bootpage if you have runideturbo=false things speed up.

I has having huge issues with extractions before, but I suggest you install MFS_FTP in your tivo and use that to extract, tmf, ty files.

It's a great tool. And FLASHFXP works really well with me.

I have a registered version of WS_FTP PRO - and it doesn't do nearly the speed of flashfxp. but it does work.

MAV

[SR712]

The older version of ax88796.o has a file size of 8104, while the newer version is 8492. I don't use TyStudio, I thought you were using FTP via mfs_ftp. Sorry. Also, put the TiVo in standby (stops buffering both tuners) and extract when there are no recordings in process. It makes a big difference.

[Pro-289]

I'm using extreme 2.5.2's built-in turbonet drivers, and tserver_mfs6 with TyTool and am getting the 1.9-2.0. When I turn the unit off/standby, I get about 2.0-2.2.

Try tserver_mfs6 on the Tivo, and TyTool to get your .TYs. Maybe you'll get faster rates with that.

[newbie]

Windows XP set the speed at 100MBS (NOT AUTO). Try running without AV and programs like zone alarm.

[HereToday]

Thanks for all of the replies! Fantastic responses.

I just got back from a business trip and am eager to try this stuff out. I will go try everything and then post my results.

[airf00]

Installing new nic drivers... I have 2.5.2 upgraded via superzap's upgrade file. Seems that the drivers are the older 8104 file size.

Can I just rename the ax88796.o file and copy over the new file or do I have to go through the install like it says on the nic_install.txt file.

Thanks.

edited to say, I just copied them over and rebooted. Made sure to hexedit them and change eth0 to net0. Seems to work fine, now to test the speed.

[HereToday]

Before I go making any major changes, does it matter if I leave tyServer and tyIndex (from tyStudio) running with the other tools in use (i.e. tyTool, mfs_ftp, tserver_mfs6, etc.). In other words, will they all play nice together on the TiVo?

[HereToday]

I am posting an answer to both of my previous questions in case it might help someone else.

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Before I go making any major changes, does it matter if I leave tyServer and tyIndex (from tyStudio) running with the other tools in use (i.e. tyTool, mfs_ftp, tserver_mfs6, etc.). In other words, will they all play nice together on the TiVo?

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Answer: They all work fine together. I have not had any problem leaving tyServer and tyIndex running while using tyTool.

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[Paraphrased] Why am I only acheiving ~ 0.35 MB/s transfer with TurboNet?

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Answer: With tyStudio I get 0.334 MB/s but switching to tyTool I get 1.800 MB/s with the same file. I don't know why but everything else is equal and the transfer is almost 5 times as fast!

Hope this helps someone.

[newbie]

Originally posted by HereToday
: With tyStudio I get 0.334 MB/s but switching to tyTool I get 1.800 MB/s with the same file. I don't know why but everything else is equal and the transfer is almost 5 times as fast!

Hope this helps someone.

With tystudio try using the option to copy to PC first. On the fly processing can slow your extractions to a crawl depending on your PC power.

[HereToday]

The speed I gave of 0.334 MB/s is with the Copy to PC option checked. I always copy over first and then do my processing later.

[Pro-289]

Originally posted by HereToday
The speed I gave of 0.334 MB/s is with the Copy to PC option checked. I always copy over first and then do my processing later.
On one PC I get the same speed as you with TyStudio, but on another PC I get the max ~2MB/s. I run the same versions on both computers. So for me, it's gotta be a PC issue. Either my PC network card doesn't like communicating with TyServer, or TyServer is picky about its network setting. Although TyTool gets the max speed on both PCs.