I applauded TiVo many times in the past for making a relatively inexpensive 802.11g adapter for their DVRs. It's great to be able to put a TiVo on your WiFi network just by plugging in a simple adapter and having the support BUILT-IN to the DVR itself so it's drop dead simple to setup. Although 802.11g isn't the fastest in the world it does work and I've been happy with it here in my rooms where an Ethernet drop wouldn't be easy. So needless to say I got excited when I saw yesterday's announcement that they finally came out with an 802.11n version until I saw the price! $89.99 Seriously? Now I don't want to get into the "hey they can charge whatever they want and you can either buy it or not argument". I invented that argument 🙂 However, for a company that is struggling to remain relevant in this world of "we'll give you a DVR FREE if you sign up with our service", I think that this smacks of "they don't get it." The former adapter was under $40. I can't imagine that this one costs more than twice as much to produce or even invent, but hey TiVo it's your business at risk, not mine. Continue doing what you're doing. It's your call.
What about the performance?
Putting price aside for a minute. I'm even more curious about how much better this thing will perform? The reason I say that is because I have some TiVo HDs on Ethernet and some on the WiFi 802.11g adapter and from my limited testing I can't really see much if any difference in speed of transferring content from say one connected via Ethernet to my computer also connected via Ethernet vs. the one connected via WiFi. However, my daughter often complains that the TiVo in my bedroom (on WiFi) is slower when transferring shows from another TiVo in the house (on Ethernet) vs. the one in the living room which is on Ethernet transferring from another one in the house on Ethernet. So this is a test I'm willing to try. Stay tuned…
I saw that and balked at the price too. Then I looked up other adapters and the price isn’t that far off from what I can go into Best Buy and purchase.
My TiVo Premiers transfer so slowly over the old adapter that there is no way to watch a show and skip commercials without getting hung up waiting for more to transfer.
So, bottom line, I ordered the 2-pack and will hope they make a big difference. I’ve been toying with fishing some Ethernet cables, but hopefully I won’t have to yet.
I had to abandon my tivo S2 when I changed over to ATT uverse. I could kind of get it to work but I stress “kind of”. The ir repeaters are hard to position and I’m not sure if the box code was right. Anyway, I miss it. Any info I may have missed on getting these to work better w Uverse would be appreciated. (also, I wish I would have ponied up more $ for the HD one…)
Thanks Scott
hey Terry.
what’s a good source for information on setting up a system in my house to connect all my dvr’s, Tivo’s and such type entertainment system. Not sure how to control the whole system. I’m an Apple user if that helps.
It irritates me that you have to buy a proprietary USB wifi card in the first place. Its a USB port. It should work with any USB card.
I finally bought the “G” version and then found that I can’t tranfer shows from my new (and active) HD Tivo to my original Tivo in my bedroom since I’m not paying for Tivo service. I don’t need 2 active Tivos. I don’t watch enought TV to need to record more that 2 shows at once (the HD has 2 cablecards). I just wanted my wife to be able to watch her shows that I Tivoed for her in the bedroom.
Great product. Great idea. Terrible marketing. They just don’t get it (and I’m not paying for it).
Thanks Terry and keep up the good work!