Saving & converting TiVo files

[belair_boy]

G'day all TiVo users

First let me wish you all a Happy New Year :)

I purchases a TiVoHD unit a few weeks ago in a 'birthday bundle', which included the Netgear power over ethernet adapter and WD 1TB DVR expander from Harvey Norman. Also obtained the free HNP.

It is only the 160GB model but with the 1TB expansion drive I didn't see this as a problem and am backing up my TiVo files on my computer which will hopefully guard against the increase risk of hard drive failure / data corruption.

The 1TB drive would not work out of the box even though the TiVo unit would recognise if it was connected or not. I took the HDD unit back to Harvey Norman who swapped it over for a new one. No problems with the new one and has been working ever since.

Other than the the HDD problem everything appears to be working as expected and I am very happy with the TiVo system in general. (customer service is another matter)

I have a question for other TiVo users which I am sure there is an answer to but as yet I have not found the answer in a web search.

I am backing up my recordings on my PC, which is a ridiculously slow process but the ability to auto transfer and to cue files makes it manageable. Once I have my files (in .tivo format) I would like to strip off the 1-3 minute start ahead of time and the 5-20 minute overrun of the recording using some sort of video editor.

Here lies my problem, the .tivo file format prevents me from doing this.
What I need is a piece of software to convert my files to a video format that I can then edit. This will also allow the added bonus of being able to burn to DVD and watch on my laptop.

Alternatively a video editor that will work with .tivo file format. This method will loose the ability to watch on any device but I am most concerned with being able to edit the video.

I know I can change video formats to use on a portable device but I want to retain the original resolution and quality of the video.

I have tried the Direct Show Dump Utility (ver 0.1.1424.0) that appears to be the common solution offered when I searched the web but the output files are corrupted when I tried this.

Is this the best software available (or correct version) or is there another method?
I am sure I am not the only one with this question as it would be one of the most common things to try and do once you have your .tivo files.

Hope for some help with what is otherwise a good out of the box DVR system.

Regards
Andrew

[petestrash]

I believe a lot of people are using the current beta version of VideoReDo Plus v3-10-1-587 (http://www.videoredo.net/msgBoard/showthread.php?t=6972).

The current release version does not work with Australian TiVo's but the beta does.

Peter.

[Olorin Firesky]

Any Video Converter works a treat once you have turned the *.tivo files into *.mpg files using Direct Show Dump Utility.

[85turbo]

i use the web interface (not tivo desktop) to download the recordings to the PC.

download the PS file not the TS. open the PS in Videoredo plus (it works with the PS files fine)
edit to your hearts content. top - tale - remove commercials etc. then save as an MPG file.

if your so inclined you can use autoGK to convert to i high quality Divx or Xvid file.

too easy really.

Jason

[belair_boy]

Thanks Peter, I will give Videoredo plus a go.

Jason, could you please explain the web interface and PS / TS files to us TiVo newbies

Regards
Andrew

[85turbo]

yep, im fairly new to all this myself.

find the IP address of your tivo unit.
type it into your web browsers address bar, but use this format.

https://XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX

replace the X's with the IP address.
you should be prompted for a user name and password.

user name is Tivo
password is your MAK.

once you are into the tivo, you should see a list of recordings displayed.
there will be two options for downloading these files.
one is download MPEG-TS the other is download MPEG-PS.

PS and TS are short for Program Stream and Transport Stream.

i find the PS files are heaps easier to edit and work with.

hope this info is helpful.

Jason.

[belair_boy]

Thanks Jason

I will give it a go and let you know what I find.

I assume the PS and TS files are TiVo format and as you described, need converting with Videoredo plus.

I have played with Videoredo plus after Peters suggestion and it works just how I wanted it. Thanks Peter!!

Until next time,
Andrew

[ovitua]

Hmm I entered https://ip.i.p.i (letters stand for the ip numbers) then 'Tivo' then the MAK number and ... didn't work. I got the id and password dialogue box pop up again. I checked the ip and MAK. ??

[petestrash]

Jason made a mistake, the username should be tivo all lowercase.

Peter.

[JustinD]

can we use KMTTG?
I saw it mentioned in a US site and curious if it works with our Tivos

[ovitua]

Jason made a mistake, the username should be tivo all lowercase.

Peter.

Tried again. No joy.

[85turbo]

Make sure you're not Trying to copy / paste.
I can't copy / paste on mine.

Must type in manually each time the TiVo asks for them.
PIA but that's what I need to do I guess.

Jason.

[ovitua]

Must type in manually each time
Jason.

Aha! That was the trick. Working OK now. Thanks.

[ovitua]

I'm confused. I've just gone to use this technique again (checked the MAK, used lower case) - no go ??

Thanks

[85turbo]

yeah, i have noticed that the TiVo is really fussy.

sometimes it works, sometimes it doesnt. can you stil see the tivo on your network ?

i run all my network stuff set to use static IP addresses, not DHCP. makes things a bit more reliable.
still no gaurantee on the tivo transferring though.....

if your using a firewall, make sure the IP of the tivo is set as an allowed network connection too.

[Skolink]

Pete you say that only the latest beta supports the Australian TivoHD. I presume tha is because you guys have mpeg2 broadcasts. I get the message "H.264/AVC video streams are not yet supported".
Anyone in NZ sucessfully use Videoredo? If not what is the ap of choice?

[petestrash]

Just prior to the NZ launch some software changes in TiVo broke videoredo plus.

Changing to the beta version corrected it for most Australian users. Are you using this (http://www.videoredo.net/msgBoard/showthread.php?t=6972) version?

If you are, then it would probably be best to ask about MPEG4 support in the videoredo forum.

Peter.

[Skolink]

It seems that Videoredo TVsuite now supports H.264/AVC, but it is significantly more expensive. http://www.videoredo.net/msgBoard/showthread.php?t=15759
Not sure that I can even justify US$50 for Videoredo Plus for very occasionally editing news clips etc.
I imagine that since Videoredo Plus is a legacy product they may not bother adding h.264 functionality.

[wgr]

Jason made a mistake, the username should be tivo all lowercase.

Peter.

Hi Peter. I've been trying to get to my TiVo using the web interface but it won't accept any combination of upper/lower case versions of TIVO or my network name (SSID) or the unique name given to my TiVo, which is Rushtons TIVO. I'm sure I've got the MAK and ip address correct. The TiVo Desktop interface works fine. I'm trying to access the Tivo via a web interface to convert some of my TiVo recording to mpg. Any ideas ?? wgr

[petestrash]

Ok just to confirm you are being asked for a username and password, you enter tivo in lowercase as your username and your MAK number as the password.

This should work if you are connecting to the correct device (IP address).

Peter.

[Lurker]

I also tried this without any luck although it did think a little harder whne I use Tivo with first caps out of frustration :-) However I am using an NZ HD tivo so it is possible the login might be different

To clarify do you use the MAK address with any characters between the numbers/letters or do you scrunch it up to be a 12 digit alphanumberic sequence?

If you use characters do you use an en dash? "-"

If you get in can you change the login password - I am guessing not.

thanks

Chris

[petestrash]

the username tivo needs to be all in lowercase.

In Australia we have a 10 digit MAK and is all numbers, not alphanumeric. I have not heard of a 12 digit alphanumeric MAK, not saying it's wrong just have not heard of one. You just enter all the numbers no spaces, dashes etc.

have you checked you MAK from the TiVo's menus to make sure you are entering the correct MAK? (Messages & Settings>Account & System Information>Media Access Key).

Peter.

[Lurker]

Ah I am a dork - I read it as MAC not MAK - both equally dumb as passwords but the latter makes more sense :-)

It works fine now..... thanks