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New program for 1 step TTG downloads, decryption, encoding - kmttg

2M views 13K replies 921 participants last post by  mattack 
#1 ·
EDIT: This program has evolved a lot since this 1st post and now is written in Java and much easier to install than before (very easy on Windows and Mac OSX)... See http://sourceforge.net/projects/kmttg/ for details or visit the end of this thread for more up to date information.

kmttg is a Perl/Tk program I wrote to facilitate TivoToGo (TTG) transfers that can download, create pyTivo metadata, decrypt, run comskip & comcut (commercial detection and removal) and re-encode multiple shows you select from your Tivos all in 1 step.
You can select one or more shows at a time and then with one click of a button the program will download all the selected items, with the options of also automatically creating a metadata file for pyTivo, decrypting .TiVo files to .mpg, running comskip (commercial detection and removal program), and automatically re-encoding to a more portable format using mencoder, ffmpeg or any other command line encoder of your choosing. The program queues up multiple jobs and displays time, size and speed statistics for ongoing jobs.

For more information, screenshots and download visit:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/kmttg

Web page contains windows executables for all 3rd party tools used. The only other requirement of course is you must have Perl installed. Runs under Windows or Linux - tested with WinXP SP2 & Linux Red Hat Enterprise 4.

If you do try this out would appreciate some comments/feedback. For any programmers out there feel free to tinker and make improvements yourself.
 
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#5,645 ·
pyTivo pull should work without trouble.
Probably should move this discussion to the pyTivo thread, but how did you install pyTivo? If you used the Windows installer that version is horribly outdated and should not be used. Follow Windows_Install instructions for a Windows install.
I installed following the windows install instructions (I didn't even know there was a windows installer) and then pointed everything to the correct directory and used the KMTTG components. The transport stream problem is really a secondary concern of mine (since I'm only using it to get a show that fails to download) so I'll post over in the pyTivo forum. The main issue I posted here was why I couldn't transfer mp4 files using pyTivo. I thought it may have been an encoding issue, but it plays fine on my PC...so perhaps that is also a pyTivo issue (although I can transfer mpg and mp4 files encoded with ff_ipad no problem)
 
#5,646 ·
I installed following the windows install instructions (I didn't even know there was a windows installer) and then pointed everything to the correct directory and used the KMTTG components. The transport stream problem is really a secondary concern of mine (since I'm only using it to get a show that fails to download) so I'll post over in the pyTivo forum. The main issue I posted here was why I couldn't transfer mp4 files using pyTivo. I thought it may have been an encoding issue, but it plays fine on my PC...so perhaps that is also a pyTivo issue (although I can transfer mpg and mp4 files encoded with ff_ipad no problem)
You might try an diiferent version of ffmpeg.
 
#5,648 ·
moyekg:

Thanks for that. I followed the instructions but when I try to start the service I get an error: logon failure. I'm really shooting blind here. I typed Administrator in the "This account" box and filled in my admin password but no go.
Any ideas?
The kmttg service login should be your normal Windows login account name, not "Administrator".
 
#5,650 ·
You can emulate an MRV transfer to your PC by adding the following formatting to the URL (which is what MRV transfers between 2 TiVos uses):
&Format=video%2Fx-tivo-raw-tts
Possibly a dumb question, but: if you can successfully emulate an MRV transfer then wouldn't this also work to transfer shows that are "protected" with the CCI Byte problem? Just MRV it instead of TTG'ing it?
 
#5,653 ·
TTG transfers are quite CPU intensive because they require decrypt/demux/remux/encrypt and some glitches in the recording probably break the demux/remux parts. You can emulate an MRV transfer to your PC by adding the following formatting to the URL (which is what MRV transfers between 2 TiVos uses):
&Format=video%2Fx-tivo-raw-tts
Don't know for sure but it's likely with that format you are avoiding at least demux/remux if not decrypt/encrypt as well, so glitches in the recording won't affect anything. You can probably try the above and see that transfer to your computer will succeed in that format, but it's academic because good luck figuring out how to decrypt the resulting file...
Can you download these and then transfer them *back* to the Tivo for watching? i.e. just to offload them.

Sorry for another repeat -- I have sort of the same question for .Tivo files in PS format. I tried doing that a week or two ago, but it didn't show up on the Tivo when I browsed my Tivo when running pyTivo on my computer.
 
#5,654 ·
Can you download these and then transfer them *back* to the Tivo for watching? i.e. just to offload them.
If someone figured out how to emulate a TiVo on the PC side, sure, but AFAIK that hasn't been done. (MRV is initiated as a pull, so a TiVo would have to think the PC is another TiVo for it to be possible). If you mean just transfer them back as if they were a normal .TiVo file, no, that doesn't work.

Sorry for another repeat -- I have sort of the same question for .Tivo files in PS format. I tried doing that a week or two ago, but it didn't show up on the Tivo when I browsed my Tivo when running pyTivo on my computer.
More relevant question for pyTivo thread, but all .TiVo files (PS or TS) can be served up by pyTivo, so not sure why some seem to be having issues with that.
 
#5,655 ·
pyTivo can send back both PS and TS .TiVo files (via pulls -- pushes require decryption). pyTivo uses FFmpeg on .TiVo files, as on other files, to check resolution, duration, etc. Sometimes, this process fails, in which case the file is marked with the copy prohibited symbol, as with any failure at this stage. If you really want to ensure that .TiVo files pass through this stage, you can disable pyTivo's use of FFmpeg, and it will just blindly send anything with a ".TiVo" extension. I would instead suggest using a more current FFmpeg, which should handle .TiVo files better, although not necessarily (there have been regressions in the past). (Note that FFmpeg can't actually process the encrypted files, but it can (usually) read them well enough to collect the basic info, because .TiVo files aren't entirely encrypted.)
 
#5,656 ·
pyTivo uses FFmpeg on .TiVo files, as on other files, to check resolution, duration, etc. Sometimes, this process fails, in which case the file is marked with the copy prohibited symbol, as with any failure at this stage.
OK, that explains it then. I used to use ffmpeg as well to examine .TiVo files in kmttg as well but got several reports of problems with that, so since have switched to use mediainfo CLI (kmttg Windows tool package includes binary for it) which works much more reliably on .TiVo files.
 
#5,657 ·
A wierd problem has developed here.

I almost always use VRD to encode with kmttg.

Today, I tried taking some HD files from my tivo premiere 4, decoded to mpg (tivodecode), and they looked and sounded fine.

I tried to use the ffmpeg tivo_hd, as recommended here as a test and the video is still fine, but the audio seems off about 1.5 seconds all the way through. If I use H.264 MP4 (A VRD encoder profile), it looks almost as good with sync'ed sound all through.

I did about 6 videos and they all did it

I seem to recall this problem before I got VRD, so is it known? I'm not doing anything special in the rocessing.
 
#5,658 ·
A wierd problem has developed here.

I almost always use VRD to encode with kmttg.

Today, I tried taking some HD files from my tivo premiere 4, decoded to mpg (tivodecode), and they looked and sounded fine.

I tried to use the ffmpeg tivo_hd, as recommended here as a test and the video is still fine, but the audio seems off about 1.5 seconds all the way through. If I use H.264 MP4 (A VRD encoder profile), it looks almost as good with sync'ed sound all through.

I did about 6 videos and they all did it

I seem to recall this problem before I got VRD, so is it known? I'm not doing anything special in the rocessing.
Unless you run "QS Fix" step as part of the flow sync problems are quite common when re-encoding.
 
#5,659 ·
Unless you run "QS Fix" step as part of the flow sync problems are quite common when re-encoding.
Ah, thats what it was. And VRD does the qsfix during transcoding too

Thats what it was. So QSFIX happens also if I say to tivodecode using VRD too, correct? So I can download and then QSFIX decode using VRD, then run ffmpeg on the resulting mpg file outputting to mp4

Correct?
 
#5,660 ·
Ah, thats what it was. And VRD does the qsfix during transcoding too

Thats what it was. So QSFIX happens also if I say to tivodecode using VRD too, correct? So I can download and then QSFIX decode using VRD, then run ffmpeg on the resulting mpg file outputting to mp4

Correct?
Yes, if you turn on "Decrypt using VideoRedo instead of tivodecode" option then kmttg will automatically do the QS Fix when "decrypt" task is enabled so you get decrypt + QS Fix in 1 step.
 
#5,661 ·
I'm using KMTTG today to prepare for a new Roamio to enter the house. As I'm working on moving and getting files ready to trf to the new box, I am again so thankful we have this tool. It's one I use on a weekly basis and always appreciate, but when dealing with a heavy workload, as I'm giving it right now, my esteem just grows.

Thanks again!
 
#5,662 ·
I'm using KMTTG today to prepare for a new Roamio to enter the house. As I'm working on moving and getting files ready to trf to the new box, I am again so thankful we have this tool. It's one I use on a weekly basis and always appreciate, but when dealing with a heavy workload, as I'm giving it right now, my esteem just grows.

Thanks again!
You're welcome!
 
#5,663 ·
Service update:

My S3 HD just got the 11.0m update
The S2 540 was recently updated to 9.3.2c.

Using KMTTG v0p9i and switched to curl instead of Java and can download from either tivo.
 
#5,666 ·
Moyekj,

I am curious to see what the Roamio does on downloads speeds (in KMTTG) and whether its wired or wireless.
 
#5,667 ·
I'd been using an older version of kmttg for some time now w/o any issues, but have just upgraded to a Roamio (plus) yesterday and started doing some program transfers to my PC of fresh recordings from the new box, using the latest version of kmttg.

At first I had a couple recordings that were clipped at the end (like the last 5-15 minutes of an hour long show were just not present during the download, and they were there when played back on the tivo) so I tried accessing the roamio via the direct web interface and found that the programs were also clipped when downloaded that way, so it wasn't kmttg's fault, and in fact I assumed that maybe something in the programs were faulty and causing the clipping, since I'd been wrangling w/ Verizon to get the cablecard properly paired and maybe that injected bits of garbage into the streams...

However, I then recorded more shows today and have noticed that the kmttg interface will stop updating sometimes (like halfway through the download) but the file size is clearly still incrementing, up to a point... then eventually the file stops getting bigger (at about the same size that the same direct web interface grab of the file shows on completion) but the kmttg interface never completes the download step and just hangs. This doesn't seem to happen on all programs, as I have successfully transferred a few shows without incident... but this is weird.

Anyone else see this sort of thing before? I've even tried switching between using curl vs java for downloading, and get the same behavior.
 
#5,669 ·
I'd been using an older version of kmttg for some time now w/o any issues, but have just upgraded to a Roamio (plus) yesterday and started doing some program transfers to my PC of fresh recordings from the new box, using the latest version of kmttg.

At first I had a couple recordings that were clipped at the end (like the last 5-15 minutes of an hour long show were just not present during the download, and they were there when played back on the tivo) so I tried accessing the roamio via the direct web interface and found that the programs were also clipped when downloaded that way, so it wasn't kmttg's fault, and in fact I assumed that maybe something in the programs were faulty and causing the clipping, since I'd been wrangling w/ Verizon to get the cablecard properly paired and maybe that injected bits of garbage into the streams...

However, I then recorded more shows today and have noticed that the kmttg interface will stop updating sometimes (like halfway through the download) but the file size is clearly still incrementing, up to a point... then eventually the file stops getting bigger (at about the same size that the same direct web interface grab of the file shows on completion) but the kmttg interface never completes the download step and just hangs. This doesn't seem to happen on all programs, as I have successfully transferred a few shows without incident... but this is weird.

Anyone else see this sort of thing before? I've even tried switching between using curl vs java for downloading, and get the same behavior.
Mostly if a recording stops transferring is because there are glitches in point(s) of the video and pausing at a few seconds/frames after those glitches will allow you to resume downloading.

If this is happening on every recording, I'd see if its only on a specific or all of the channels. It may be a case of weaken signals, and Tivo will stop recording until there is sufficient signal strength to record from.

The sizes of recordings on Tivo will not be an exact size as compared to the downloaded video on a computer, it would be smaller (about 95% of stated size on Tivo.) IE: a video on Tivo says 2.75GB, the same video downloaded will be around 2.5GB.
 
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