Home > Consumer Reviews > TiVo AG0100 Wireless G USB Network Adapter for TiVo Series 2 and Series 3 DVRs

Experience was as follows:

1 ) Plugged unit into TIVO USB port.
2 ) Went to TIVO network setup menu.
3 ) Network immediately recognized.
4 ) Clicked on network name.
5 ) Entered WEP password using alpha-numeric alternative.
6 ) Network link established.
7 ) Used on-screen signal strength to reposition Adapter and router antenna.
8 ) Connected to Tivo service.

Good product. Recommended.

First, thank you to the previous reviewers: I had several questions regarding this product such as "does it support Wireless Encryption?" and the previous reviews really helped...by the way yes, it supports WEP.

What you will need if you want to use this:
1) Wireless Internet Access (Wireless Router and Connection to Internet) within range of your DVR
2) Series 2 DVR (with USB plug)
3) A computer for some of the advanced features

Once you have these two things then using this product is amazingly simple to set up for about 80% of "Lucky People."
1) Plug it In
2) Follow the Instructions
3) Enter your WEP key (alphanumeric or hexadecimal --- alphanumeric is much easier)
4) I had to restart my DVR
5) If you're connecting a computer and using TivoToGo, you have to install the software on your computer...which also has to be connected to the network for your TIVO to see it and for your computer to see your TIVO and you'll need your Media Access Key.

Benefits I received from this product:
1) I don't have to use a phone line to get updates (no dialing)
2) TIVO updates come much faster over Broadband (Faster updates)
3) I bought TIVO to Go Plus --extra $$ from TIVO for the license key that you use with the computer software and I can listen to my iPod music through my Bose in my living room
4) I have my picture library shared....baby pictures are nice on the television....but caution, the quality of the pictures will only be as good as your TV....ie HDTV is still not as good as a good laptop screen and if you don't have HDTV, they'll only look as good as your TVs best resolution. Its still very cool to show baby pictures on the big TV.
5) I have a huge Attached Hard Drive array on my computer...its really a Server...so I offload movies I plan to keep and they're always there when I want to watch them so the 180hour DVR size limit kindof doesn't apply.

Issues / Challenges:
1) You have to know a little bit about computers if you want to get some of the more complex benefits such as share pictures, music, download movies.....ie you have to know about firewalls, how to install software, IP addresses and things like that.

2) If you have wireless access already set up and just want to use it to connect to the internet and get program updates instead of using your phone line, its pretty easy but you'll have to a) have DHCP turned on or b) assign it a static IP......for those of you who think I just typed in Greek, chances are that you have DHCP but if you happen not to, you could bump into problems.

3) If you want to listen to your IPod, share pictures, download to your computer, please make sure to read the software/hardware requirements for your computer.

Overall, these are my thoughts on the average person installing this easily:

A) 80% of the people who buy this should have Zero problems installing this product because you have a standard network configuration, know your way around networks, or are just lucky.

B) 20% of the people who buy this who don't have a standard Wireless network configuration AND don't have some knowledge of networking....you could become frustrated at trying to connect this product ESPECIALLY if you want to use some of the advanced functionality.

My Luck:
1) Start to finish it took me 5 minutes to install this to get its updates through the wireless network.

2) It took me about 30 minutes to install all the other software and get everything configured to share music, pictures and enable TivoToGo on my computer.

This Tivo Wireless Adapter is way better than the D-Link usb wireless adapter I was using on my Tivo. The performance increase (transfer speed from Tivo to PC using Tivo Desktop software) was about 25-40%. Signal reception also improved as displayed on the Tivo itself to "Good 70%" instead of "Fair 50%".

I highly recommend this adapter if you are interested in taking advantage of some of Tivo's more advanced functionlity like transfering programs to your PC to burn to DVD or transfer to other Tivos in your house.

For the last 10 months I connected my Tivo's wirelessly, using a Netgear and a Linksys Adapter - I had nothing but problems, the signal strength in the network did not remain constant, resulting in one of the boxes not communicating. I tried using two Linksys, the same problem.
Tivo customer service suggesting I invest in their branded Adapters and since installing them (which was a breeze), I have had no more problems.
I just wish Tivo had released these at the same time they launched Series Two Tivo's, that would have avoided people like me wasting time on adapters that were really not compatible.

The Tivo AG0100 makes hooking the Tivo up to a PC Network so darn easy I could do it in 15 minutes.... and that's saying something.

It has a very small footprint and is powered by the Tivo Unit not another AC power-supply behind the TV, of which I have tons.

One great benefit of this is that now the Tivo service can check several times a day instead of just once every 24hrs or so using the phone-line. This seems to keep the Guide a lot more up to date.

I am very satisfied with it's ease of setup, functionality, and even it's esthetics.

I would highly recommend this to someone who is " Network Illiterate " .... As I am.