Problem extracting video with Tytools

[Mike Sharkey]

Hi Everyone,

As a complete novice in this area, I would like to say how much I enjoy reading the various posts on this forum. It's great to see the level of enthusiasm and depth of knowledge out there. You have taught me a lot in the last couple of months!

Just wondering if anyone can cast some light on a problem with Tytools video extraction.

I have two Phillips Series 1 units, one with a Turbonet card (T1) and the other with a Terbonet card (T2). T1 was bought from Hobotech and T2 was bought from the USA (with the Terbonet card installed by myself). Both units are running the latest Oztivo image. Both units are connected to a Netcomm router and the PC runs Windows XP with the Windows firewall activated.

I can download files from T1 using Tytools in either single or double socket mode. With T2, I can only download in single socket mode. If I try to download in double socket, it kills all network connection to the Tivo (no telnet, cannot ping, disappears from the router connected devices table) and requires a reboot.

The network cards use DHCP and have different MAC addresses and the firewall is set to allow Tytools access. Both units can get Guide data without any problems.

It's not a major issue as the single socket transfer rate is still OK at 1.3Mbps but I would like to understand why double socket transfer works for one and not the other.

I had a look at the list of processes running on both Tivos before I attempted a download and the only difference I can see is that T1 has brackets around dhclient while on T2, dhclient is running and has the -eth0 flag set. I wondered if this might have anything to do with the problem?

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Mike

[petestrash]

I haven't seen the problem before and I use both turbonet & terbonet cards in double socket modes.

There have been recent discussions where people have had intermittant networking issues and adjusting the cards timing has improved it's reliability.

If you go into nic_config_tivo and change the timing to failsafe on the terbonet equipped TiVo, it may help.

Peter.

[Mike Sharkey]

Hi Peter,


If you go into nic_config_tivo and change the timing to failsafe on the terbonet equipped TiVo, it may help.

Tried changing from optimal to failsafe and it still failed on double socket transfer.

The tserver output shows:
Telneting to the TIVO...
Connecting to '192.168.1.13'
Connected...

We got '[TiVo [p0] ~]# ' which is the prompt!
[TiVo [p0] ~]# /var/hack/tserver
Doing the Lowest PriorityFix...
Waiting for an incoming connection!
SERVER: We got a message! buf = 'SHOWING'
Waiting for an incoming connection!
SERVER: We got a message! buf = 'TYSTRM2 192.168.1.2 1649 6911/6912/6913'

And that's where it stopped!
On checking the output directory, it had created the file and downloaded 256kB before losing the connection.

Mike

[timl]

I used to have major problems with my TiVo locking up randomly after a day or so. Using Tytools (or similar) would ALWAYS lock the TiVo solid after transferring a couple of hundred MB. I gave up trying to transfer stuff off on to my PC until...

...I stopped using TiVoWeb and started using TiVoWebPlus instead.

Apparently there was a event handler bug introduced with the version 3.0 TiVo system software which is exacerbated through the use of TiVoWeb (but not TiVoWebPlus).

Try using TWP instead (if you have TW running). Hopefully you get the same mileage I did! (I happily transfer content off the TiVo now and don't have a need to carry out regular reboots).

Hope this helps and good luck! :)
Tim.

[Mike Sharkey]

Peter,

My apologies........I did not reboot the Tivo after changing to 'failsafe' timing.

I just tried it again and the double socket download worked!

The download speed seems slow at 0.95 meg/sec but otherwise it's fine.

Thanks for your help.

Regards
Mike

[petestrash]

I guess your better off with single socket @ 1.3meg/sec and optimal timings then..

Peter.