Crossover..or Ethernet?

Currently I have 2 Tivos linked together so I can transfer programming for one to another. I'd like to now connect these Tivo's to my home PC network router so use the Tivo's Tivo to Go net capabilities.
The one glitch is that I need Ethernet cables to connect them to the router. I'm told I probably have a crossover cable linking the two units to each other

How can I tell if the cable is a crossover cable or a "real" Ethernet cable?

Check the ends of the cables. If both of them share the same color pattern, the cable is a straight-thru that can be used to connect to the router. If the colors are different, it's a crossover.

A crossover cable is indeed a real Ethernet cable, but I know what you mean - the guy is telling you to use a straight cable vs a crossed cable.

hiya kevin good to see ya posting

Thanks Kevin. I sincerely hope they are patch cables..but somehow I doubt it.
Could I be running two Tivos via USD Ethernet adapters on straight runs? I dont think so... I see another hald day of fishing cables in my future.

Some newer Ethernet chip sets auto-detect and switch their inputs/outputs so that they don't need cross-over cables (or a switch-able hub/router).

Give it a try, it should not hurt anything.

-Bill

All Apple computers made in the last 5 years or so have that auto-crossover capability

As for the TiVos, dropping in a network switch or hub could be 1 easy solution, or if it's a regular patch cable and you need a cross-over one, you should be able to buy a small adapter that will turn a regular cable into a cross over cable.

Saaby said:

As for the TiVos, dropping in a network switch or hub could be 1 easy solution, or if it's a regular patch cable and you need a cross-over one, you should be able to buy a small adapter that will turn a regular cable into a cross over cable.

Click to expand...

I'm told (since I'm @ work and can't verify it) that I prolly have a crossover cable directly connecting the 2 Tivos. I'll need 2 "patch or straight through" Ethernet cables if I want to connect each one to the router. I think there are adapters which should make my crossover a patch cable..a cheap solution for one of the connections..but I'll still need one cable to attach the other Tivo.

Either way..I'm shopping for at least one cable and doing some fishin'. May as well buy a second true cable and not mess with the adapters and any potential losses caused by it.

Saaby said:

All Apple computers made in the last 5 years or so have that auto-crossover capability

As for the TiVos, dropping in a network switch or hub could be 1 easy solution, or if it's a regular patch cable and you need a cross-over one, you should be able to buy a small adapter that will turn a regular cable into a cross over cable.

Click to expand...

crossover has nothing to do with the computer, it has something to do with networks, network interface cards and routers/switches.

my 10 year old pc with standard nic is also "cross-over" ready. but this says nothing. the cross-over capability comes from nic and patch cable not from the computer.

Just a bit more info...
As KevinL stated look for matching color patterns on the wires within the plastic jack (RJ45). As long as both sides are the same then you have an
ethernet cable (568B standard is pretty common). If one end has a color pattern of 568B and the other end has the 568A standard then you have a ethernet crossover cable. Since you have connected two Tivos together, I would agree with whomever told you that you have a crossover cable. All tivos are... are basically a customized Linux OS running on PC made to custom specs. Simply put, whenever you connect two PCs directly together, through their Network cards, you need a crossover.

Below are the standards, but keep in mind that some vendors using different colors rather than the color codes below. Also make sure your jack is facing the right way.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TIA-568B


568B Standard

White Orange
Orange White
White Green
Blue White
White Blue
Green White
White Brown
Brown White

568A Standard

White Green
Green White
White Orange
Blue White
White Blue
Orange White
White Brown
Brown White

Just wanted to provide a little FYI. KevinL already answered your question .

Sincerely,

Shaman

but... where did you get this cable that you have them connected with? A crossover cable is usually more expensive and sold specifically for this. Just ethernet patch cables are all over the place. If you have never purchased a specific crossover cable then it's unlikely that you got one in the box with some other hub or piece of gear.

As Ryan pointed out, most modern NIC cards are auto sensing for this and it's quite possible that the TiVO ones are too.

I'd stay away from a plug in adaptor for making a cross over a straight through though... Just pick up another regular pass through patch cable. They are going to be cheaper than an adaptor in any case. And then try it with this cable, if it still works then you've got a regular cable and a smart NIC on the TiVO, if it doesn't work then you use the new patch cable And you're only out a few bucks and it will definitely work one way or the other.

Rasta: huh? Sorry, can't quite follow. If you connect a dumb, non-auto sensing NIC card to another one with a straight through cable you'll be connecting the transmit pairs to the transmit pairs and the receive pairs to the receive pairs. So nothing will happen. A crossover cable swaps them so that receive hits transmit and vice versa. NIC's are now capable of realizing that their transmit cables are connected to another set of transmit cables and swapping the use of the pins to receive. So it's got everything to do with the computer, or the NIC card that is in the computer. It's got nothing to do with the OS as this happens at the hardware level and I doubt that there is even any way for the OS to know if the card has swapped it's pins or not. So it's completely dependent on what hardware you've got in your computer if that will work or not. HUB's and other network gear are generally not auto sensing, there is little point as you've got a single upstream port that is wired backwards for connecting to another hub or NIC card, and a whole bunch of regular ports wired regularly. A hub isn't smart enough to manage several different upstream ports, you'd need a router for that...

Also found a link that may or may not apply to your current scenario.

http://customersupport.tivo.com/knowbase/root/public/tv2046.htm

None the less, I agree with the above posts as well, it all depends on your Tivos (new or old). If it does turn out to be a crossover cable, I wouldn't trash it. Although the need for them has become more isolated, they are still used.

Sincerely,

Shaman

James S said:

but... where did you get this cable that you have them connected with? A crossover cable is usually more expensive and sold specifically for this. Just ethernet patch cables are all over the place. If you have never purchased a specific crossover cable then it's unlikely that you got one in the box with some other hub or piece of gear.

Click to expand...

the cable I have is from cat5Ecableguy on eBay. I dont think I specifically purchased a crossover cable. My D-Link DUB-E100 USB Network Adapters connect the Tivos to the cable....and as far as I remember the cable was NOT designated as a crossover....I'll be home @ 6pm tonight and it'll be among the first things I do to check the wiring layout on the RJ45 ends to see if they are the same (patch) or different (crossover)

Sounds like the Dlink adapters are takin care of business. You should be able to connect one to the router to test (of course that means you'll have to disconnect the ethernet cable from the other dlink USB adapter).

Sincerely,

Shaman

rastaman said:

crossover has nothing to do with the computer, it has something to do with networks, network interface cards and routers/switches.

my 10 year old pc with standard nic is also "cross-over" ready. but this says nothing. the cross-over capability comes from nic and patch cable not from the computer.

Click to expand...

All I meant was Apple has been shipping their compys with NICs that will automatically do crossover for awhile now. If you hook 2 computers together with a standard cable, it detects that and automatically flips into crossover mode so no crossover cable is needed. I'm sure other manufacturers do this too, it's a handy feature, and I wish everybody just adopted it to put an end to all this crossover madness.

Now back to your regularly scheduled topic...

Saaby said:

All I meant was Apple has been shipping their compys with NICs that will automatically do crossover for awhile now. If you hook 2 computers together with a standard cable, it detects that and automatically flips into crossover mode so no crossover cable is needed. I'm sure other manufacturers do this too, it's a handy feature, and I wish everybody just adopted it to put an end to all this crossover madness.

Now back to your regularly scheduled topic...

Click to expand...

You may get your wish soon; just about every Gigabit Ethernet (10/100/1000) adapter that I've seen has auto-MDI/MDIX functionality as you describe. Very welcome, pleasant change.

Looks like I'm all set...compared both ends of the cable and they are wired the same..so I have to run this form the upstairs Tivo over to the router...and get another cable to conect that cable to the router as well..thanks for all the info guys !