MRV between two directv tivos slow

by jerry3514 August 28, 2006 11:25 AM

Posted in: Networking

I have two 6.2 directv tivos (samsung sir models). One I built with PTVnet and instantcake.  The other was just upraded with PTVnet. I ran superpatch on them and set_name to enable HMO and MRV.  HMO seems to work fine and MRV works fine except it is slow.  I have them connected via USB2.0 wired adapters and a linksys router/hub. It takes several hours to transfer a 1/2 hour show.  My first question is, is this normal or should I be able to get transfers fast enough that I can watch it as it transfers? If it is not normal, any idea how to speed up the transfer?

Discussion:

Yog-Sothoth on August 28, 2006 7:39 PM

Did you choose to use the USB 2.0 driver when installing PTVnet, on both units? With both units being wired with USB 2.0 adapters, you should only need a small buffer (few seconds) to be able to watch something as it transfers.

jerry3514 on August 29, 2006 8:02 AM

Yes, Both units have usb2.0 drivers loaded and both have usb2.0 adapters.  I did some more testing and it gets stranger.  From unit A to unit B the transfer is wicked slow, about 6 hours for a half hour show.  From unit B to unit A the transfer is very fast.  Same show in about 10 minutes. So I used my pc as a test source with smartFTP.  I transfered a 3 meg file to/from both units.  Unit B had both directions in about 5 seconds (600KB/s). I could transfer up to Unit A at about the same (600KB/s).  When I transefer down from Unit A to my pc it took 3 minutes (18KB/s).

 Unit A = samsung sir4080 that I just used PTVnet on. So it has the original tivo code and was running for about a year before ptvnet. I made sure it has the usb2.0 flag on and is loading the usb2.0 drivers. It has a netgear fa120 adapter on it.

Unit B = samsung sir4040 that I just built using Instantcake and PTVnet. I made sure it has the usb2.0 flag on and is loading the usb2.0 drivers.  

So unit A seems to have a transmit problem.  I am not positive but I think it is in the unit it self, although I guess a physical issue is possible. I grep'ed the kernel log for "duplex" and I see unit A messages that say "eth0 10meg half duplex" while unit B has a message that says "eth0 100meg full duplex"  I am not sure if this means anything as it does not show up on every boot. I am baffled as I did PTVnet on both, does instantcake make networking changes?

jerry3514 on August 30, 2006 7:39 AM

an update.  I took the Unit A and hooked it directly to the pc with a cross over cable.  The data transfers fine in both directions.  When I hooked it back to my linksys switch/router it went back to very slow transfers. So it looks like an issue between the netgear fa120 and the linksys switch.  I guess next step is to replace the switch and see if that helps.  My options seem to be new switch or new adapter.  Anyway thanks for all the help.

pstgh on September 18, 2006 10:55 AM

Can you clarify if Unit B also has an Fa120?  

Have you removed other variables, like have you tried the same adapter/cable setup from the faster of the two units on the slower of the two to see if you can isolate the problem to one of those two items?

One other thought- you might want to try the OTHER usb port on the back of the sammy and try (separately) another LAN port on the back of the router.

Good Luck! 

jerry3514 on September 18, 2006 11:12 AM

the faster unit, unit "b" has an airlink101.  I bought a netgear switch and hooked both tivos up to it.  I then hooked the netgear switch to the linksys router.  I now got fast transfer speeds and all seems fine.  So I guess the fa120 just did not like the linksys router.  My guess is it was negotiating at half duplex although I could not verify as the router now the tivo will tell what it negotiated at.  ANyway since it works I am just going to leave the netgear switch in and call it fixed.  Thanks to all who replied.