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802.11b on your Tivo
Otto writes: "Those who don't regularly read the Tivo Community Forums may not know that a 802.11b wireless adapter for the Tivo, called AirNet, is in the works. It's being made by jafa, who also created the TurboNet card, a similar device to the TivoNet adapters available at 9thTee but faster. Long story short, he's auctioning off 4 beta boards of the AirNet adapter for the Tivo and giving the proceeds to the Elf Foundation, a group which brings Home Theater to ill children by setting up mini-theaters in children's hospitals nationwide. Good fun techie geek stuff, and for charity too! You can't beat that. The auction is here on ebay." Looks like the guy's home page is silicondust.com.
I'd rather use ethernet, but if you're trying to keep a cord free house I guess this could be useful. The networking additions for the TiVos allow you to access the mpeg video from your PC -- which makes it easy to share or archive them.
For starters, a LAN Internet connection would seem adequate enough for the programming updates it normally does via dialup. If you don't have a land line, I can see this as being a big deal. Second, if you don't want to run Cat5 from your home theater to your wiring closet/office/whatever, you don't have to anymore.
Even not knowing the video format, how hard could it be to hack two tivos such that one broadcasts the data it's storing over the wireless link, and the other stores said data. Combine that with a good antenna, and one guy on the block could provide cable for everyone.
vi is my shepard, I shall not font.
Sure, here's a quick rundown:
#1 - No more phone line needed. The TiVo can get it's next 14 days worth of programming via the 802.11b card and PPP.
#2 - You can install a web server on your TiVo and browse through the TiVo's menus over the web. This includes scheduling show recordings while you're at work, for example.
#3 - You can backup shows on your TiVo to your computer rather than to VHS. You can also stream the shows to your PC to watch them there, rather than on your TV.
I'm sure there are plenty more, but those are the biggies.
Great stuff!
Don
my smug mug is on smugmug
When will someone get on the ball and just develop an Ethernet->802.11b adapter that can be pugged in to any device that has standard 10/100 Ethernet jack so it could be put on a Wireless network?
Is this just an impossibility? Am I the only one who thinks this would be a hot seller? I want to buy a new ReplayTV 4000, but I have no desire to run Cat5 to it. I want to eliminate extra wiring hassle from my home theater.
Ah, well - probably just a pipe dream.
The card itself is just a tivo->PCMCIA(cardbus?) bridge. It should support any flavor wireless you want to stick in it. The enabling factor here is the Prism2 driver software. What would kick some serious ass is if he'd slap on a nic too. That way you could have your tivo and AP in the same box... hack on an antenna and an amp and you'd have a seriously cool broadcasting rig. Keep your power below 1w and nobody's gonna bug you.