Hi Y'all,
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geoelectric - what happens when you run with TiVo's beacon, and enter the IP address by hand? Does it work? In your message in the bug thread, you said it works without TiVo's beacon but only when you enter the IP address by hand.
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Both: a small explanation on the beacon. The beacon is used for automatic discovery. The TiVo broadcasts a message saying "are there any servers". This broadcast is sent to all machines on "the local network" (see below). If any are, they respond.
But, "the local network" is not what you think it is. It has a technical definition that is not intuitive. The local network is that area you can reach without crossing a router. Routers do not route UDP broadcast packets.
What this means: automatic discovery may not work, but you can still use the server. You just have to enter the IP address by hand. TiVo remembers it for the next time.
Heyas, John.
If TivoBeacon.exe is running, the Tivo doesn't consistently see Media Server. I've seen it pick it up at least once--on a fresh install of Media Center from scratch--but not after a reboot. Rebooting always makes it not work again. This is true whether or not I manually enter the IP. I considered the possibility that TivoBeacon.exe was failing somehow. If that happened, there'd be a total failure, since you don't seem to bring up your internal beacon code if you find TivoBeacon.exe running. Thus, I've tried (subsequently to failure) taking down Media Server and running TivoServer.exe again to make sure that TivoBeacon.exe is functional. It is, so scratch that possibility.
If TivoBeacon.exe isn't running, I can make the Tivo see Media Server by manually entering the IP. This is different than jweisler's experience, however, assuming s/he's doing everything I outlined above.
Also, TivoServer.exe is recognized by the Tivo automatically, as expected. Occasionally I have to manually refresh the list by exiting and entering HMO after booting TivoServer.exe, but other than that, it picks it up without having to be pointed there with a manual IP entry.
Just to be clear, I'm not running my own router. My home network is a collection of four static IPs, given to me from my provider on bridged DSL. My computer's on one, the Tivo's on another. They're connected by a Siemens 5-port switch, which is connected to my DSL bridge. Technically, I share a class C with a bunch of other customers. However, my ISP uses a virtual routing scheme that causes me not to see anything across any of the other bridges.
It's possible this scheme is playing hell with the broadcast on port 2190--after all, as I said, sometimes the Tivo doesn't pick up TivoServer.exe until I refresh, which would indicate it's not getting the initial UDP burst described in the protocol docs. However, it -does- pick it up after exiting and reentering the HMO screen, so if there's something awry, it's not sufficiently so to interrupt the protocol. That's why I think there's still some fundamental difference in how you're doing it vs. how Tivo Desktop does it.
Geo