Port 2190: TiVoConnect Beacon — TiVo's local discovery shout

What Port 2190 Does

Port 2190 carries the TiVoConnect Beacon — a UDP broadcast protocol that TiVo DVRs use to discover each other on a local network.

When a TiVo powers on, it doesn't know what else is nearby. So it does the simple thing: it shouts. Every few seconds (more frequently at startup), the device broadcasts a UDP packet to the local network on port 2190. The packet contains the device's identity, name, available services, and platform information. Any other TiVo or TiVo-compatible software listening on that port hears the announcement and adds the device to its list.

No handshake. No response required. Just a periodic broadcast into the room.

The Protocol

TiVoConnect Discovery Protocol (TiVo's own name for it) is intentionally simple:

• Transport: UDP, broadcast to the local subnet
• Direction: One-way announcement — no acknowledgment expected
• Frequency: High-frequency mode at startup (~every 5 seconds for ~30 seconds), then periodic heartbeats
• Purpose: Auto-discovery of other TiVo DVRs and TiVo Desktop software on the same network

TCP is also registered on port 2190 for follow-up communication once devices have discovered each other via UDP.

Why You Might See This in Your Firewall Logs

Port 2190 traffic surprises a lot of people. If you have a TiVo and run TiVo Desktop software on a computer, you need this port open for them to find each other. But if you've never owned a TiVo, seeing port 2190 traffic can feel strange.

A few explanations:

• Old TiVo devices still running — TiVos from the early 2000s are still out there. They broadcast faithfully whether or not anyone is listening.
• Broadcast domain spillover — In misconfigured networks or shared environments, broadcast traffic crosses where it shouldn't.
• Neighbor's TiVo — In some apartment or managed network setups, broadcast domains span multiple units.

If you don't use TiVo, you can block port 2190 safely. Nothing will break.¹

IANA Status

Port 2190 is registered with IANA under the service name tivoconnect for both TCP and UDP. It falls in the registered port range (1024–49151), which means it's officially claimed but not a well-known system port.²

How to Check What's Listening on This Port

macOS / Linux:

# Check if anything is listening on port 2190
lsof -i :2190

# Or with netstat
netstat -an | grep 2190

Windows:

netstat -ano | findstr :2190

If you see traffic but nothing locally bound to the port, it's likely broadcast traffic arriving at your machine — not something listening on your device.