ANN: TiVo Broadcaster 1.0 for Mac OS X 10.4

[iDriveX]

Hello-

I recently simplified the process of fixing the TiVo/Mac OS X 10.4 problem. I created two shell scripts. The first one fixes the iPhoto Library issue (no it does not mess with your iPhoto Library), the second one is the broadcaster and fixes the TiVo not seeing your iTunes Library and iPhoto Library. It is a self contained application and I put a flag in the preferences so that it doesn't clutter up your dock. It's all wrapped up in a nice little installer package.

I guess I've done enough whining around here about TiVo giving us the shaft. Here's my "valentine" to TiVo users. (And no, it's not a Valentine like Berman & Braga's wonderful little Valentine)

Instructions (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=270281)

Enjoy. Please report any problems to this thread, not my personal e-mail in case it doesn't work.

[rog]

This looks pretty cool, but... well... no offense, but I'd like to know exactly what this package is doing to my system before I install.

The installer is a nice touch for those not able to follow Dennis Wilkinson's instructions, but it scares me because I can't see what it is doing. And there is no uninstaller, correct?

I'm sure there is probably a way for me to track its changes, but I don't know how to do that.

Make me smart.

[Don't take this as a slight, I'm just paranoid about installing new applications!]

[iDriveX]

No worries. The installer is doing NOTHING to your system. It is simply placing some shell scripts into a folder in your Utilities Folder. Running the shell scripts is what alters your system. And the shell scripts are an exact copy of Dennis Wilkinson's Terminal commands.

I was a Mac OS X newbie when OS X Public Beta first came out. The Terminal scared me and so did anything having to do with scripts. I educated myself and learned the developer's tools. I decided to make Dennis' instructions nice and simple for the people out there that used to be just like me!

No slight taken!

[weathertop]

Is it necessary to rerun the shell scripts after every restart in order for Tivo desktop to work?

[iDriveX]

Only the TiVo Broadcaster one as far as I know. You need to keep "broadcasting" in order for TiVo to see the server.

[Mr. Zarniwoop]

I recently upgraded to Tiger and lost TiVo HMO capability.

I run the installer, and it seems to work, but nothing new is placed in my utilities directly. Spotlight can't find the filenames described in the installation.

Tried re-installing, "The software was successfully installed", no errors, just no files. :confused:

[wickerbill]

I'm getting the same problem. Software says it was successfully installed, but I can't find any scripts to execute. Spotlight couldn't find any files with tivo in them.

[iDriveX]

There was a problem in the mpackage creator. I don't know why it happened. I will recreate the packages tonight after I get home from work...hang tight...

[briguymaine]

ohhh... I'm so bad at waiting...

[iDriveX]

All set now, installed on my PowerBook remotely to simulate the same thing an end-user would go through, everything worked great!

[Puddin'head]

iDriveX:
I just downloaded the repackaged TiVo Broadcaster and installed it, and it works perfectly...as long as I'm online. I'm cursed with dialup Internet, and if I disconnect, so does the TiVo! Once I redial my ISP, I must stop and start TiVo Broadcaster to get the HMO up and running again.

Puddin'head

[iDriveX]

Huh, that's kinda interesting. It shouldn't have anything to do with your ISP as long as you have a local subnet. Are you using a router? How is your intranet configured? What kind of setup do you have?

[briguymaine]

iDriveX is officially the man. Thanks for the workaround! Meant to thank Dennis too, always looking out for us lonely Mac guys.

[Dennis Wilkinson]

iDriveX:
I just downloaded the repackaged TiVo Broadcaster and installed it, and it works perfectly...as long as I'm online. I'm cursed with dialup Internet, and if I disconnect, so does the TiVo! Once I redial my ISP, I must stop and start TiVo Broadcaster to get the HMO up and running again.

If iDriveX is just using the mDNS command I posted a few days ago (thanks for wrapping it up with an installer, by the way -- I've been very busy) -- mDNS is really a testing application for Bonjour/Rendezvous/ZeroConf, and is documented as not really being the right way to 'do' Bonjour in a scripting environment (it was just the fastest thing that would work when I did my testing.)

What's likely happening is that it (meaning mDNS) is simply not responding to certain network up/down events that would require it to set things up again. You might be able to set up your network config so that this isn't an issue. What do your network settings look like?

[Poogie]

always looking out for us lonely Mac guys

And gals, too! :)

Thanks Dennis and iDriveX! :up:

I had some problems. On my secondary system, I got it working, after I input my IP address. Still not working on the main system. Under music and photos, I get nothing. When I input the IP, it can't find it. I can, however, I can see my other TiVo in "Now Playing."

[briguymaine]

And gals, too! :)

Sorry, can't forget the ladies!

[BaileyW]

Help! I need to reinstall TiVo Desktop 1.9.1 on my newly upgraded Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger iMac but the installer fails. Using unpkg to manually copy the files doesn't seem to work. Now the System Preferences panel quits when I try to turn on the TiVo Desktop.

TiVo Broadcaster seemed to install just fine. What am I doing wrong? Thank you!!

Bailey Walker

[briguymaine]

Help! I need to reinstall TiVo Desktop 1.9.1 on my newly upgraded Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger iMac but the installer fails. Using unpkg to manually copy the files doesn't seem to work. Now the System Preferences panel quits when I try to turn on the TiVo Desktop.

TiVo Broadcaster seemed to install just fine. What am I doing wrong? Thank you!!

Bailey Walker

Did you run the scripts and see if music & photos show up on your tivo? It will probably work. I had the same install issues before the workaround, Sys Prefs would crash, but after running the scripts all is working well.

Best of luck!

[BaileyW]

Yes, I ran the scripts and then opened System Preferences, selected TiVo Desktop. I was able to select playlists and albums without difficulty. But as soon as I clicked the "Start" button System Preferences immediately quits and displays a box which gives me the option to send a report to Apple, close, or retry.

I suspect there's some crucial component missing. The three TiVo folders and their respective files are in the appropriate Library folder (Application Support, StartupItems, and PreferencePanes). Attempts to reinstall TiVo Desktop result in the Installer reporting a failure.

I'm stuck for now.

Thank you for your help and assistance,

Bailey Walker

[Puddin'head]

If iDriveX is just using the mDNS command I posted a few days ago (thanks for wrapping it up with an installer, by the way -- I've been very busy) -- mDNS is really a testing application for Bonjour/Rendezvous/ZeroConf, and is documented as not really being the right way to 'do' Bonjour in a scripting environment (it was just the fastest thing that would work when I did my testing.)

What's likely happening is that it (meaning mDNS) is simply not responding to certain network up/down events that would require it to set things up again. You might be able to set up your network config so that this isn't an issue. What do your network settings look like?

Dennis & iDriveX:
I'm using a Titanium Powerbook with an Airport card and an older Airport base station (802.11b). I'm not sure what specific network settings you need...TCP/IP is set to "Use DHCP" and PPPoE, Appletalk and Proxies are all off. In the "DNS Servers" field I have 2 IP addresses that were supplied by my ISP. Would it make any difference to change DHCP to "Manually"?

[iDriveX]

Not at all, I am using DHCP automatically and have pretty much the exact same setup as you.

Let me clarify also regarding the installer. For those of you who whipped your drive and installed Mac OS X Tiger, I feel bad, You need to reinstall the TiVo Desktop, but unfortunately, the latest TiVo Desktop installer won't install without an error. I have heard of people having success with TiVo Desktop 1.8 though, with Dennis' scripts or my installer. Where you can find TiVo Desktop 1.8, I have no clue! If someone does find it, please tell me so that I can package it up with my installer and create the "ultimate" solution until TiVo gets their act together.

[iDriveX]

Yes, I ran the scripts and then opened System Preferences, selected TiVo Desktop. I was able to select playlists and albums without difficulty. But as soon as I clicked the "Start" button System Preferences immediately quits and displays a box which gives me the option to send a report to Apple, close, or retry.

I suspect there's some crucial component missing. The three TiVo folders and their respective files are in the appropriate Library folder (Application Support, StartupItems, and PreferencePanes). Attempts to reinstall TiVo Desktop result in the Installer reporting a failure.

I'm stuck for now.

Thank you for your help and assistance,

Bailey Walker

Bailey, what version are you using?

[rog]

You need to reinstall the TiVo Desktop, but unfortunately, the latest TiVo Desktop installer won't install without an error. I have heard of people having success with TiVo Desktop 1.8 though, with Dennis' scripts or my installer. Where you can find TiVo Desktop 1.8, I have no clue! If someone does find it, please tell me so that I can package it up with my installer and create the "ultimate" solution until TiVo gets their act together.

Behold the power of Google. Here is the first of several sites where you can download TiVoDesktop-1.8 for the Mac:

http://mac.softpedia.com/get/Audio/TiVo-Desktop.shtml

Here's the Google query (http://www.google.com/search?q=tivo+desktop-1.8).

---

And again, thank you both (Dennis and iDriveX) for your help! :up:

[e30mpower]

I was one of the poor souls that wiped my hard drive and did a Tiger clean install. I reinstalled Desktop 1.9.1 and, as everyone, got an error. But... It seems that everything installed OK. I opened up the TiVo package and expanded the archive.pax.gz and all of the things that TiVo installs seem to be contained in there, complete with the correct hierarchy for installing them on your HD. I just dragged the files from the gzip into the corresponding folders and was able to start TiVo desktop. But, and this is before installing iDriveX's tool, the System Preferences pane says the Desktop is running, with no errors, but doesn't show up on my TiVo.

So, just a tidbit explaining my setup with 1.9.1. I'm not sure if I'll be able to keep it, but I'll know in a second when I go to redownload iDrive's "soapboxware" ;-)... And FYI... I probably will write that letter to TiVo.

[e30mpower]

OK. nevermind. 1.9.1 does not work. But it is kind of fun to sit here and fight with it, seeing how long it will say "TiVo Desktop On" before changing to "TiVo Desktop Off."

Oh, it's these little things in life that bring the most pleasure, like a little grinning TV with feet arguing over whether the Desktop is on or off.

[BaileyW]

Mac OS X 10.4, TiVo Desktop 1.9.1.

The TiVo Desktop software has worked perfectly until the upgrade to Tiger. Now, trying to install the TiVo Desktop the installer seems to work but gives an error message before completing the install. That's why I attempted a manual install after opening the pkg file using unpkg.

The TiVo Broadcaster is installing OK. I'm running the scripts from the folder installed in the Utilities Folder.

Also, I've done all the usual permissions repairs, run Tiger Cache Cleaner.

Thanks for help.

Bailey

[BaileyW]

Sorry, I forgot to include that it says scriptlet version 1.0b3 of the TiVo Broadcaster scripts but I'm not sure whether or not that's relevant.

[Poogie]

My head is ready to explode!

In my bedroom system (Humax DTR-800), I can connect to my music and photos as long as manually add the server. This DVR also shows up in the now playing menu of my main TiVo.

My main TiVo, however, cannot access my music and photos—even if I manually add the server. It also does not show up in the now playing list on my bedroom TiVo.

I have taken all the TiVo stuff out of my system and reinstalled it numerous times. Tried installing Desktop 1.8. Shortened my computer's name in sharing.

I'm kind of at a loss as to what to try next. The sucky thing is, it's working in the bedroom, which is not where I wanted to work!

[bhaveshp]

Big Kudo's to iDriveX & Dennis!

Here's my installation summary:

First of all, Tivo desktop was no longer installed after the 10.4 upgrade, so you have to reinstall 1.9.1.

When installing Tivo desktop, it installs, but gives an error after installing the software. Ignore the error.

Launch system preferences and start the Tivo desktop servers.

Then download and install the Tivo Broadcaster pkg. Install this. The script that must be running to 'broadcast' to the Tivo. This is a dock less script. After running it, I hid the script and it has disappeared.

Ran over to the Tivo, and all the music and pix are there as normal.

I haven't restarted the iMac yet to see if I need to launch the broadcaster script again, but I'll find out on the next system update.

[Dennis Wilkinson]

I suspect there's some crucial component missing. The three TiVo folders and their respective files are in the appropriate Library folder (Application Support, StartupItems, and PreferencePanes). Attempts to reinstall TiVo Desktop result in the Installer reporting a failure.

Sounds like you have everything installed (the Installer failure you report is expected -- the Installer leaves a receipt behind after install, and it thinks you've got that version installed already.)

You could try starting the server from the command line. Go to Applications -> Utilities and open the Terminal application. At the command line, enter:

sudo SystemStarter start TiVoDesktop

and enter your admin password when prompted.

You could also be seeing the issue caused by the preferences being in binary form (hitting Start does change a preference.) If so, in the Terminal, enter this command:

plutil -convert xml1 ~/Library/Preferences/com.tivo.desktop.plist

then open the TiVo prefs pane and hit start.

[Dennis Wilkinson]

If you want to get the 1.9.1 version to install, download the install package from TiVo. In most cases, you'll end up with a package on your Desktop (if you get a disk image mounted instead, copy the package to the Desktop then unmount the image.)

Right click on the package, and select 'Show Package Contents'
Open the 'Contents' folder, then the 'Resources' folder.
Open the two files named 'postinstall' and 'postupgrade' in your favorite text editor (you can just right click and pick Open with>Other...and use TextEdit.)
Delete the last line in each file (the one ending with AddFirewallEntry.)

Save the two files (allowing TextEdit to overwrite the read-only files), close the folders, then run the installer. It should complete normally.

As others have mentioned, the install is pretty much done aside from the 'optimizing system performance' stage when it crashes, so you don't really need to do this, but if you like to feel like you have a nice clean install, this should do the trick.

[e30mpower]

Holy hell. Everything's peachy after following Dennis's sage advice and starting from the Terminal shell.

If I worked at TiVo, this guy would easily get a nod from me for CEO.

[iDriveX]

By Friday I will have TiVo broadcaster 2.0 package ready. It will include the following:

-The Original TiVo Broadcaster 1.0 Package
- A Modified TiVo Desktop 1.9.1 package so that you won't get that error on install.

If TiVo's not going to do it for us. I will.

[BaileyW]

You are the best! Thank you!

Bailey Walker

[matthewwhite]

The installer worked great on my machine running 10.4.

a tivo on 5.3 and a 7.1 both see the music and photos on my mac again.


Thanks Dennis and iDriveX.

[macrjoh]

I re-installed the Tivo software version 1.8 and installed the Tivo Broadcaster/Photo fix - but note - my files did not appear until after I had restarted the Tivo.

Great job on getting this fixed!

[iDriveX]

Before I get a chance to fix my installer....For anyone that needs to download it, TiVo Desktop 1.8 is available from my website at:

http://www.idrivex.com/tivodesktop.sit

You will need to use that installer if you have done a clean install of Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger, upgraded to 10.4 Tiger and never installed TiVo Desktop previously, or if you have purchased a new computer with Tiger preloaded on it.

The 1.9 and 1.9.1 installers from TiVo will not work if you try to install them in 10.4 Tiger, you will get an error message towards the end. From all reports I have heard, By not upgrading to 1.9 or 1.9.1 you are not missing out on anything.

[iWish]

Thanks to iDrive, Dennis W. and tivocommunity.

I've been without iPhoto HMO capability since the 7.1 upgrade and iTunes HMO capability since I upgraded to iPhoto 5 (and Tiger) just to get HMO back. (Oops...didn't know Tivo wasn't supporting Tiger.)

I've now reloaded 1.8 and Tivo Broadcaster and things are working!!!

Two comments: I have noticed in scrolling through some pics that a picture broken symbol appears randomly in slide shows or when scrolling through pictures though I can manually access the picture from previous menu page. Don't remember that happening before.

Second, I'm not sure how to automate my startup function to open TivoBroadcast. Any more guidance on how to manually do that would be great!

Thanks again!

[bedelman]

For the broken images, try rebuilding your iPhoto Library by holding down the option and apple keys when you launch iPhoto.

[iDriveX]

As for automating the TiVo Broadcaster at start-up, go into the System Preferences application, click on "Accounts", then click on the "Login Items" tab. Click the "+" sign and navigate to the Utilities folder (or wherever you decided to put TiVo Broadcaster). Then click on the "Hide" checkmark if you want it to be hidden at startup. And that's about it.

[iDriveX]

For the broken images, try rebuilding your iPhoto Library by holding down the option and apple keys when you launch iPhoto.


Hey Bob, thanks for that little tip. I had no clue about that! Thanks!

[bostlaw]

OK...I'm officially confused...I have Tiger installed...installed desktop 1.8...ran tivo broadcast script... photos are publishing correctly...iTune playlist only displaying my iTrip station data...no other iTune information seems to be available... After getting this far, I'm sure that there is something simple that I'm missing..... Any help appreciated....

[rog]

OK...I'm officially confused...I have Tiger installed...installed desktop 1.8...ran tivo broadcast script... photos are publishing correctly...iTune playlist only displaying my iTrip station data...no other iTune information seems to be available... After getting this far, I'm sure that there is something simple that I'm missing..... Any help appreciated....

Did you convert the TiVoDesktop preferences (.plist) into the newer XML format used by Tiger?

See Dennis Wilkinson's instructions here:

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=2821075&&#post2821075

[bostlaw]

I haven't tried that yet...because it didn't make sense to me that the photo broadcast would work and not iTunes...especially in light of the fact that those instructions seem to imply just the opposite problem....Nevertheless, I might give it a shot....Thanks!

[bostlaw]

...if I can figure out how to do it, of course....!!!

[iWish]

Update: Broadcaster Install

Thanks for instructions on manually instructing broadcaster to open. Appreciate continued feedback.

FYI: I have had to restart the Tivo to get access to my photo's and music since original install.

--------

On a related note: Anyone having trouble accessing MP3's from the web since Tiger download?

Tx again!!

[rog]

On a related note: Anyone having trouble accessing MP3's from the web since Tiger download?

Can you be a bit more specific? Downloading MP3's from which web site?

I've had a few minor network issues since installing Tiger on my iBook, but I have been able to resolve all of them (except for a weird issue with ssh connections that I won't get into).

[bostlaw]

Still experiencing the same problems...Tiger...desktop 1.8...photos broadcast, but no music playlists other than iTrip stations... Now I can't locate a plist file in preferences (library/preferences/com.tivodesktop.plist doesn't exist)... Not sure why the photos work but music doesn't... Shall I attempt to reinstall desktop 1.8 again??? Again, any advice is greatly appreciated...

[bedelman]

Still experiencing the same problems...Tiger...desktop 1.8...photos broadcast, but no music playlists other than iTrip stations... Now I can't locate a plist file in preferences (library/preferences/com.tivodesktop.plist doesn't exist)... Not sure why the photos work but music doesn't... Shall I attempt to reinstall desktop 1.8 again??? Again, any advice is greatly appreciated...Are your music tracks set up as MP3 files? (Sorry if I asked previously)

You can right click on a track in iTunes and get information on it. It will show you the file name as well as the format in which it is.

TiVo Desktop for Mac OSX only officially handles MP3 files (file extension = .mp3). It can handle non-protected AAC files (file extension = .m4a) when using LAME to transcode them -- but you need TiVo Desktop 1.9.1 for that. TiVo Desktop cannot handle protected AAC files (file extension = .m4p). These are the tracks you purchase from the iTunes Music Store.

[bostlaw]

I do understand that it can't handle ACC files...The answer though, some are MP3 files...but nothing at all appears....Shouldn't the title of the playlists appear in any event??? Most of my files are ACC files in any event...just a matter of being perplexed at this stage... perhaps javahmo is the better way to go...

[bostlaw]

...and thank you for the feedback!!!

[bedelman]

I do understand that it can't handle ACC files...The answer though, some are MP3 files...but nothing at all appears....Shouldn't the title of the playlists appear in any event??? Most of my files are ACC files in any event...just a matter of being perplexed at this stage... perhaps javahmo is the better way to go...If the playlist has nothing but AAC files, it will not appear. JavaHMO can't handle AAC either (as far as I know).

If they're protected AAC files, you don't have many options at all (except to burn and re-rip them)

If they're non-protected AAC files, you can either convert them to MP3 with iTunes itself or you can switch to using TiVo Desktop 1.9.1 and implement the LAME thing.

[bostlaw]

Thanks...I can just hum the tunes.....!

[pherball]

iDriveX & Dennis- your solutions work like a charm. thanks for stepping up to the plate since Tivo obviously doesn't give a damn.

One question for iDriveX though: i placed the TiVoBeacon in my startup list and checked the box to "hide" but i can't get the window to hide when i login. What can i do to have it run invisible?

thanks again!!!!!

[iDriveX]

Let me guess...you updated to Mac OS X 10.4.1 huh...

Apple hates me. I found this out like the day after I released the app but was under NDA so I couldn't talk about it. I am currently finding a solution for hiding the app. For now shrink it into your dock (CMD+M) Sorry about that!

[drjlb]

I'm going to chime in here and say my thanks to Dennis and iDriveX. This place continues to amaze me.

iDriveX, having to minimize the window in 10.4.1 is a small price to pay. Thanks again.

[AnteL0pe]

Let me guess...you updated to Mac OS X 10.4.1 huh...

Apple hates me. I found this out like the day after I released the app but was under NDA so I couldn't talk about it. I am currently finding a solution for hiding the app. For now shrink it into your dock (CMD+M) Sorry about that!
What if you added the terminal to the startup items after your script and told it to hide that? Prolly wont work, but its worth a shot.....

[iDriveX]

The script doesn't run in the terminal, it's actually a self contained command line application.

[pherball]

Don't sweat it!! I'm just glad you guys figured all this stuff out. I'll hang tight and just keep it minimized for now.

[iWish]

Can you be a bit more specific? Downloading MP3's from which web site?

I've had a few minor network issues since installing Tiger on my iBook, but I have been able to resolve all of them (except for a weird issue with ssh connections that I won't get into).



The site is the-grotto(dot)com, a Mother Hips fansite unofficially blessed by the band. Check 'em out!

I get the MP3 file but when it is transferred to itunes, it reads 0.00 in length.

[publicpersona62]

Hi,

Could someone please post exactly what changes with the broadcaster scripts, and where those changes are made? I realize that one of the scripts has to be run every time you reboot, so that one isn't really the issue. I'm curious as to what the other one does, the one that you just run once. I'd like to know if I ever had to uninstall it exactly what to do.

[iDriveX]

Dennis, I'll let you take this one...has something to do with converting a TiVo iPhoto file to XML or something...

[Dennis Wilkinson]

One script (the one that executes mDNS) advertises the server over ZeroConf (Bonjour, Rendezvous.) This one needs to be run whenever TiVo desktop is restarted.

The other script (the one that runs plutil) converts your TiVo preferences file from the binary .plist format to the XML .plist format (same data, it's just a packaging thing.) It's a little less clear to me when this one needs to be run. When I was doing my initial testing, I needed to do this to turn on iPhoto sharing, but once I had turned it on, I didn't need to run it again -- despite all changes to the preferences file reverting the file to the binary flavor. If you don't run into any abnormal exits when playing with the TiVo preferences pane, you may not need to run it at all.

[briguymaine]

I'm having an issue where I can see my Music but not my Photos, they both appear as options on Tivo. At the preference panel, the music server in up and running but the photos side is grayed out. I do have my iphoto library folder on another drive so my wife and I both have access from our separate logins. Might this be the problem?

Just as an aside, I keep checking back to the forum like a sucker... Everyday I think, "oh, is this the day that Tivo fixes the Mac Desktop?", obviously I've given up on T2G!!!

Thanks in advance for any help.

[jesstifer]

Just to add to the database, my set up was a little different. I did a 10.4 Upgrade install. Afterwards, the previously-istalled TiVo Desktop 1.9.1 would launch and never crashed... but TiVo could not find the connection. TiVo Broadcaster scripts work perfectly and I have music and photos back. But I did have to restart the TiVo after running the scripts to establish a connection. And the Broadcaster window now hides under 10.4.1.

Thanks, Dennis and iDrive!

[evilernie]

Wow, I just have to thank you guys. I'm using Tiger 10.4.1 and Tivo desktop 1.9.1 and thanks to you it's working now. As those two Guinness guys say, Brilliant!

Anyone think that maybe Tivo is not supporting macs anymore because Apple has their own DVR in the works? If so, my Tivo will be up on eBay soooooo quick...

Thanks again!

[ozlow]

Thank you so much for this great fix.

I'm having a problem, I can get only one of my macs to show up at a time. If the Brocaster is running on one machine, I have to turn it off in order to run it on my other machine.

The Error I get is:
Registering Service TiVoConnect._tivo_servemedia._tcp. port 8101
Talking to DNS SD Daemon at Mach port 3843
Got a reply from the server: Name in use, please choose another

Process terminated with result code: 255

It looks like I have the same name in two places, where would I adjust that in order to have both machines show up?

Thanks,
Oz

[bedelman]

It looks like I have the same name in two places, where would I adjust that in order to have both machines show up?Look at the computer name that appears in the Sharing Setup Preference Pane (I'm not running Tiger yet -- but that's where it is in Panther). Click the "Edit" button to override the automatic conversion of the Computer name over to it's Bonjour name

[ozlow]

Look at the computer name that appears in the Sharing Setup Preference Pane (I'm not running Tiger yet -- but that's where it is in Panther). Click the "Edit" button to override the automatic conversion of the Computer name over to it's Bonjour name

Thank's Bob! But, that didn't seem to help.

[Dennis Wilkinson]

iDriveX's version of the script contains the mDNS command I posted originally verbatim, meaning that if you run it on more than one machine both will try to register the name "TiVoConnect". You should be able to edit the script (it's just text -- you can right click on it, and pick Open With, and select your favorite text editor) and change the word
"TiVoConnect" in the script on one machine to something else, which would address your issue.

[rshrieve]

Dennis and iDriveX,

Thanks VERY much for figuring out how to fix the Tivo HMO for OS X Tiger and packaging the fix into an easy-to-use solution!

Using Tivo HMO has become our primary way of viewing our digital photos and not having it was a loss.

I am still having the problem of broken pictures even after rebuilding by iPhoto library as suggested by Bob. Any ideas on that?

Rich

[ChromeAce]

I have used this solution to view photos and music on my Pioneer DVD-recorder TiVo from OSX 10.4.1, but my Mac freezes up after running the screensaver a while, which is set to show my iPhoto Library. It doesn't happen if I disable the script.

[ilovemymac]

i am running the tivo broadcaster and the iphoto fix and i using 1.8 tivo desktop and i was doing great on my other mac then i decided to get a laptop and moved everything over to this machine now tivo doesnt see the mac anymore? i have tried restaring the tivo and the tivo desktop and the broadcaster and nothing helps.

any help?

[Dennis Wilkinson]

i am running the tivo broadcaster and the iphoto fix and i using 1.8 tivo desktop and i was doing great on my other mac then i decided to get a laptop and moved everything over to this machine now tivo doesnt see the mac anymore? i have tried restaring the tivo and the tivo desktop and the broadcaster and nothing helps.

any help?

The first thing to check would be that the built-in firewall is either off, or on but allowing the TiVo ports (usually 8101 and, er, something else in the 2xxx range.) Easiest thing would be to turn off the firewall, see if that solves the problem, then if you need it on re-enable it and search for the correct ports to pass.

[Brownieking]

Thanks again Dennis and iDriveX!!!

Would it be possible to create an Automator action/workflow that would hide the Tivo Broadcaster after it launches? I have it auto-launching at login, and hiding the window would be a nice finishing touch. I'm new to Automator so I couldn't figure it out.

Thanks for the form letter to Tivo, I'm mailing it in.

[ChromeAce]

I indicated earlier my Mac freezes during the screensaver with the script running. Turns out, it froze because it was trying to go into standby mode. Is this hack not compatible with standby mode?

[Dennis Wilkinson]

I indicated earlier my Mac freezes during the screensaver with the script running. Turns out, it froze because it was trying to go into standby mode. Is this hack not compatible with standby mode?

It's using the mDNS command line tool to handle advertising the service over Bonjour/Rendezvous. mDNS is not really intended for "production" uses, but rather for testing (the docs recommend using other scripting bindings to Bonjour, such as the Ruby or Python bindings), so it wouldn't surprise me if it doesn't deal well with standby. I haven't looked at any of the "scripting" bindings to see what would be involved, but the Java and C bindings aren't too tricky.

[sarabear]

i am still ready to cry.

It doesn't work for me. I have the broadcaster start the lovely little broadcaster and get the message: Got a reply from the server: Name now registered and active.... but nothing will work

[Dennis Wilkinson]

It doesn't work for me. I have the broadcaster start the lovely little broadcaster and get the message: Got a reply from the server: Name now registered and active.... but nothing will work

Just to be sure you've got everything in sync, since this isn't the most straightforward thing in the world, you need to have:

- installed a version of TiVo Desktop. I think iDriveX links to version 1.8, although you can install version 1.9.1 (see below if you're on an old version of iPhoto) and just ignore the crash at the end of the install process (really.)

- actually turned on the TiVo server in the TiVo Preferences Pane in System Preferences (if it crashes when you try, there's a script in iDriveX's package that should clear things up.

- disabled the firewall on your Mac (in Sharing prefs) or opened up the ports the TiVo uses (if you actually need the firewall because you're not behind something like a router.)

- started the broadcaster script

You might need to restart the TiVo as well -- some people have reported issues seeing their Macintoshes from the TiVo after the TiVo updated to 7.1 (I've seen it myself, but in my case, I can just "hang around" on the Music & Photos screen for a while and it eventually shows up, 5-10 minutes, then sticks around after that.)

Desktop 1.9.1 apparently also broke compatibility with the last free version of iPhoto (2.0.1, I think.) Running 1.8 should address this.

Hope this helps.

[skyvue]

iDrive spoke last month of finishing v. 2 of his Broadcaster package. I've looked in this thread and can't find a link to it. Is it available? I'm not having much luck getting v.1 to work.

[iDriveX]

Thanks for clearing everything up. Actually I have not even attempted version 2 yet because I am just swamped with work...stay tuned...

[skyvue]

I got it up and running finally -- thanks to iDrive and Dennis!

[MacBrian]

iDriveX:
THANKS for the hack to keep my music and photos shared to my TiVo!

I installed Tiger tonight (upgrade) and with your utilities it all works just like it used to. One thing would be nice -- I added the Broadcaster to my startup login items and check the "Hide" checkbox, but it doesn't hide automatically. Small price to pay!

Had a few glitches with the upgrade -- apparently "Deja Vu" (a backup preference pane installed with Roxio Toast Titanium) was giving my newly upgraded system indigestion. Just lucky I found out what was causing the problems!

I printed out the "letterware" and it's stamped and ready to go in tomorrow's mail. GOOD JOB of writing and expressing our frustrations. I modified it somewhat to indicate my TWO LIFETIME SUBS that I've paid for.

I also called TiVo support on Friday just for grins. The first person I talked to said they had a workaround to keep TiVo Desktop working under Tiger. I was forwarded to another person who put me on hold, twice, and finally came back and said "No, it's not compatible with Tiger." I told her I knew as much by simply reading their website. I then explained my whole point in calling was a) to find out if anything had changed since I planned to do the upgrade this weekend, and b) if no changes, to firmly voice my frustration and irritation. (I was careful to let her know that it wasn't personal to her...) I did all I could to ensure that my protests didn't stop with just her and our phone conversation. She indicated my objections would be "heard". I figured that's about all I could do.

Many thanks again. Boy, I sure wish TiVo would come out and give us an update regarding this. My Series 1 TiVo has been a shining example of a truly great device. I'm regretting buying my 540040 Series 2 (replaced a ReplayTV 5040 with it). I didn't do my homework and discovered I can't 'hack' it (without "socketing the PROM") to extract video from it on my Mac. I happen to have an older PC running XP that I can use to pull a program over. I use MyDVD to create a disc image, then copy it to my Mac, use MPEG Streamclip to convert the VOB file to .DV, after which I can import into iMovie. That's a LONG trip to take. (MyDVD is way too sluggish to use on my older PC.)

Anyway, I digressed. The point was to THANK YOU for stepping up to the plate and sharing a way to keep us going during the lack of user support from TiVo themselves!

--Brian

[Fourthman]

Longtime lurker here:
I just registered here to post how absolutely hard you guys (Dennis & iDriveX) rock. Which would be very hard. Not the registering part; the rocking part.

I'm at work on a PC, behind a DL proof firewall, so I'm not even clear if this works for me yet, so at this time my thanks only extends as far as the effort, which could also be classified as the hard rocking.

4th

EDIT: It worked! Thanks again!

[Pseudo Mac User]

From all that I read here I cannot tell exactly what I need to do now. What are the steps if I just got a power book G4 with the latest Tiger edition already installed and I have never installed the tivotogo feature on my mac yet. I have it working on my pc but have not tried it on my Mac yet. Tivo doesn't support Tiger:( This is my first mac and am loving it but am new to it so I don't know a whole lot about it yet. It seems from what I read this is more for photos and music. Can I transfer shows to my Mac to be able to watch the Daily Show on my Mac? Any help on this would be much appreciated. Thanks

[Fourthman]

This whole thread is about restoring music and photo sharing capabilities to macs w/ Tiger. TiVotogo is not yet available for the mac.

[matthewwhite]

You can transfer the shows just fine but you just can't watch them.

[Bardball]

I had been happily running Tivo Desktop 1.8 with OS 10.3 for about the past year. Had not upgraded to 1.9 because every thing was working fine.

Upgraded to Tiger right away for Spotlight, Widgets, and better Windows network compatibility. These new features work beautifully but, as discussed extensively in this and other threads, Tivo Desktop breaks.

Not techy enough to understand/attempt Dennis W's clever work-around and too chicken to try iDriveX nifty installer script, I found I could use "manually add server" to regain full functionality.

Look up IP address of the Mac you are running Tivo Desktop on: choose "About This Mac" from under the apple menu ...choose "More Info" and System Profiler opens. Under Contents column on the left, choose "Network". IP addresses for Airport and/or Ethernet are show in fifth column (heading IPv4). My Mac's IP for airport (my Tivo connects through WiFi) is 10.0.1.3.

From Tivo menu select Music & Photos/manually add server ....then enter your server's IP (in my case 10.0.1.3). Shortly after this step, iTunes and iPhoto options reappear in the Tivo submenu. Tivo seems to remember the IP address as I have not had to re-enter it.

[Encabler]

If you want to get the 1.9.1 version to install, download the install package from TiVo. In most cases, you'll end up with a package on your Desktop (if you get a disk image mounted instead, copy the package to the Desktop then unmount the image.)

Right click on the package, and select 'Show Package Contents'
Open the 'Contents' folder, then the 'Resources' folder.
Open the two files named 'postinstall' and 'postupgrade' in your favorite text editor (you can just right click and pick Open with>Other...and use TextEdit.)
Delete the last line in each file (the one ending with AddFirewallEntry.)

Save the two files (allowing TextEdit to overwrite the read-only files), close the folders, then run the installer. It should complete normally.

As others have mentioned, the install is pretty much done aside from the 'optimizing system performance' stage when it crashes, so you don't really need to do this, but if you like to feel like you have a nice clean install, this should do the trick.

So, 1.9.1 doesn't work with Tiger. That's the bottom line. Now I'm trying to go back to 1.8, but I'm getting the error during installation "Already a newer version installed on this machine." Any ideas? I've already uninstalled it, but it still seems to be found.

:(

Scott

[mdscott]

Have you deleted ALL of the files mention in this support note (http://customersupport.tivo.com/knowbase/root/public/tv1546.htm?) from TiVo.com?

mds

[Dennis Wilkinson]

So, 1.9.1 doesn't work with Tiger. That's the bottom line.

Not without some hackery, no. But my staging machine is running both Tiger (10.4.1) and TD 1.9.1 quite happily right now using technique similar to those in this thread. The text you quoted describes only the installation issue -- 1.9.1 is fully installed, even when the installer crashes, but the firewall port would fail to be opened if it wasn't already (that's all that's broken in the install stage.) Now you'd need to open the firewall up if you use it, and use the scripts.

I haven't updated my main machines to Tiger just yet, for a variety of reasons, but I most likely will be migrating them over within the next month or so.

[Morris Herman]

I had been happily running Tivo Desktop 1.8 with OS 10.3 for about the past year. Had not upgraded to 1.9 because every thing was working fine.

Upgraded to Tiger right away for Spotlight, Widgets, and better Windows network compatibility. These new features work beautifully but, as discussed extensively in this and other threads, Tivo Desktop breaks.

Not techy enough to understand/attempt Dennis W's clever work-around and too chicken to try iDriveX nifty installer script, I found I could use "manually add server" to regain full functionality.

Look up IP address of the Mac you are running Tivo Desktop on: choose "About This Mac" from under the apple menu ...choose "More Info" and System Profiler opens. Under Contents column on the left, choose "Network". IP addresses for Airport and/or Ethernet are show in fifth column (heading IPv4). My Mac's IP for airport (my Tivo connects through WiFi) is 10.0.1.3.

From Tivo menu select Music & Photos/manually add server ....then enter your server's IP (in my case 10.0.1.3). Shortly after this step, iTunes and iPhoto options reappear in the Tivo submenu. Tivo seems to remember the IP address as I have not had to re-enter it.

I tried your approach but it did not work. Did you have to restart your Tivo by powering down and up?

[Bardball]

I tried your approach but it did not work. Did you have to restart your Tivo by powering down and up?

I did not restart my Tivo or my Mac. I think I did turn Tivo Desktop off/on a few times befor stumbling across the "mannually add server" work-around.

One other thing to watch out for... if your network is using DCHP your server IP can change when you boot up.

[Roydale]

Hello, I am a new Tivo user and longtime Mac user. I would like to begin by saying that it is great to see all the work and help that people are doing and giving to support each other when associated companies just don't. Thank you and keep up the good work.

iDriveX (or anyone who knows), I read all through this thread, and I followed all the steps that you provided accordingly (downloaded from your site). I just can't seem to get Tivo Broadcaster to work. When I launched the script, the window said it was running, but I know that it's not. I can't seem to get the Music and Photos on my Tivo to show my computer (files). I attempted to manually add a server to no avail. I checked my activity monitor, and broadcaster is not listed.

I really don't know where to go from here, and please remember that I am a new Tivo user, so I never had this working before. I just bought a new iMac G5 with Tiger installed, and that is why I am having this issue. I did not try Tivo desktop with my old Mac. I hope I have provided enough information for an answer. Thank you!!!

-Ryan

[Poogie]

Roydale, there are two process names that will show up in the activity monitor: mDNS and sh.

[TyWahn]

What is "Broadcaster?" I installed TivoDesktop 1.91, used Dennis's workaround ... is that the same thing?
Thanks!

[Roydale]

Roydale, there are two process names that will show up in the activity monitor: mDNS and sh.

Ah, Poogie, you are correct. They are running. So I wonder why my Tivo will not show my folders under Music and Photos.

Again, I tried "adding a server manually" and it would not recognize. :(

I are dumb, so please walk me through the steps. Thanks a bunch!

I am considering calling Tivo support, and lying - saying that I have Panther - just to see if I missed a step. Would this be a good idea? :o

[Poogie]

I am considering calling Tivo support, and lying - saying that I have Panther - just to see if I missed a step. Would this be a good idea?
I'm sure TiVo doesn't mind that there is a work-around to their lack of Tiger support. Heck, they're probably thrilled that someone else figured it out and they didn't have to spend a dime! But they won't be able to troubleshoot this, since it is not an official application.

I'm going to ask a question, and don't take offense to this, but . . . is your TiVo desktop turned on? [ducks] Just asking. You never know . . .

Good luck. It took me forever to get it up and running. Let's just say I had a blonde moment! Well, several blonde moments! :p

[rog]

Just an FYI for anyone having problems getting TiVo Desktop to stay up and running under Tiger. I'm using version 1.9.

I was having a *very* hard time getting TiVo Desktop to stay "On" in the System Preferences Pane. And trying to start it again would usually crash the entire System Preferences window.

I finally examined the contents of the file "com.tivo.desktop.plist" in Home > Library > Preferences. It was corrupt.

I deleted that same file, and then re-ran the TiVo Desktop config from System Preferences. I then ran the following command from one of Dennis's posts:

plutil -convert xml1 ~/Library/Preferences/com.tivo.desktop.plist

(this converts the preferences file to Tiger-native XML format).

Then I had to run iDriveX's broadcast script (you can also run the mDNS command directly, but iDriveX's method is easier for most).

That fixes things for me. I've had to do this twice now. I suspect FileVault is corrupting the file, but I'm not 100% sure.

Again, here's my four step fix:

1) Delete the file com.tivo.desktop.plist in Home > Library > Preferences.

2) Open the TiVo Desktop config screen in System Preferences, and start TiVo Desktop.

3) in the Terminal, type: "plutil -convert xml1 ~/Library/Preferences/com.tivo.desktop.plist" (no quotes!)

4) Rerun the broadcast script.

Hope this helps someone!

[Roydale]

Okay. I have tried all the steps. I originally attempted using Tivo Desktop 1.8, I now switched to 1.9 and tried Rog's steps, and nothing still. There is a Dell laptop on my network that does work with Tivo Desktop, so it's obviously something that's going on with my Mac configuration or Mac software. I really am at a loss, and don't wish to transfer all my music and photos to the laptop. (Tivo to go is pretty cool though on the laptop - I wish Macs could do it.)

Thanks for a response!

-Ryan

[Dennis Wilkinson]

Okay. I have tried all the steps. I originally attempted using Tivo Desktop 1.8, I now switched to 1.9 and tried Rog's steps, and nothing still. There is a Dell laptop on my network that does work with Tivo Desktop, so it's obviously something that's going on with my Mac configuration or Mac software. I really am at a loss, and don't wish to transfer all my music and photos to the laptop. (Tivo to go is pretty cool though on the laptop - I wish Macs could do it.)

If the TiVo is running 7.1, it might actually be the TiVo. There appears to be a separate bug where the TiVo occasionally stops seeing Rendezvous-advertised TiVo Desktop servers (even those on Panther.) Some people have resolved this by rebooting the Mac and/or the TiVo, or (in my case) just parking the TiVo on the Music & Photos screen for 5 or 10 minutes, at which point it would show up and stick around. Once I turned on HME support with that back door code (do a search) the problem went away for me, but that hasn't worked for others.

One thing to certainly check is to be sure you don't have any non-alphanumeric characters in your Mac's sharing name -- that seems to confuse the TiVo sometimes.

[astrospiff]

I just wanted to say that I absolutely love the fix, thank you so very much for your help! This goes for both the creator who is a gift to humanity, and all you kind souls that have been helping others get their system set up! Thanks again!

[Nobes]

This worked like a charm for me. Thanks o everyone here for sharing and helping.


Big Kudo's to iDriveX & Dennis!

Here's my installation summary:

First of all, Tivo desktop was no longer installed after the 10.4 upgrade, so you have to reinstall 1.9.1.

When installing Tivo desktop, it installs, but gives an error after installing the software. Ignore the error.

Launch system preferences and start the Tivo desktop servers.

Then download and install the Tivo Broadcaster pkg. Install this. The script that must be running to 'broadcast' to the Tivo. This is a dock less script. After running it, I hid the script and it has disappeared.

Ran over to the Tivo, and all the music and pix are there as normal.

I haven't restarted the iMac yet to see if I need to launch the broadcaster script again, but I'll find out on the next system update.

[foureyedave19]

Okay the next post is gonna be one of my blogs posts so ignore any weird 3rd partyish references :)

[foureyedave19]

Ah yes my one true love, my brand spanking new Powerbook 12" G4: 1.5Ghz, 512Mb memory, superdrive, 80Gb hard disk (don't get me started on all the nitty-gritty tech specs unless you really want an earfull) is so awesome! Not one problem (unless you count trying to print to a Windows PC) with this piece of technical and visual genius. Unlike a Windows programmer I see a Mac programmer to be more devoted to a good app for a good OS. Getting to my point... Whilst it would take the Jaws of Life to take my Tivo DVR out of my constant grasp. The developers over at TiVo don't seem to bothered to leave OS X users out of the mix and would rather be dealing with all the customer support (that Windows users are used to!) or whatever else they claim to be doing. Here is what bugs me. Although this is my first Mac, I was following the problem with TiVo's Mac support for some time. At first, I figured "Well, that is dissapointing, but at least they are working it out"... half a year later (present) you can't tell who knows when or with some reports, if at all. Forget disapointing that is just downright wrong. Maybe had they said it will take a year or even not at all... but to leave us hanging and just extending the timeframe isn't good customer service. And from what I have seen at the TiVo Community Forums, a productive if not large Mac user base is feeling similar to me. My largest achivement in programming is a Hello World type app in Windows so I was stuck playing the waiting game with TiVo and I was loosing. Until the largly thanked Dennis Wilkinson and IDriveX step in, to do what a group of paid professionals couldn't do in 6 months. Yes this may hace been dragging and repetative. But this is why "once you go Mac... WHY THE HELL GO BACK!!!"

[iDriveX]

God, you guys keep praising me and I may have to write TiVo2Go for the Mac from the ground up ;-) Just kidding, wish I could though!

[Nobes]

Okay, I am running 1.9.1 and TiVo Broadcaster and it worked for only one day. I went back and re-opened broadcaster but still no connection. Well, Broadcaster SAYS it's connected ("registered and active") but no iTunes/iPhoto are available and my TiVo Tracker widget cannot establish a connection. Any suggestions? Will it not connect if TiVo is currently recording? Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[rog]

Nobes, this was happening to me too. If you go to System Preferences on your Mac, and then look at the TiVoDesktop preferences, is TiVoDesktop set to "On"? If it's not, try starting it. If it crashes, reference my earlier post above and follow the steps.

edit: after reading your post again, it appears you could have other problems as well. of course, you can try the above suggestions. if that fails, it sounds like a networking or rendezvous oddity.

if you got the music, photos, and more page, do you see anything there other than the standard prepackaged BestBuy, etc., content? you might try adding your mac's ip in the "manually connect to server" option on the tivo too.

[Nobes]

Rog,
Thanks. Yeah I see only the standard Best Buy/Nikon stuff there. Before I got Tiger I had to disconnect and then reconnect the TiVo from the router in order to get the my music/photos to show up. Perhaps I have to do that again. I'll try that. Does loading your ip work? I'll try it again but last time I did, nothing happened. It just showed me the ip number. Thanks again for your help.

[rog]

Actually, the IP thing never has worked for me, no. But at least one other poster said it worked for him.

You might try either rebooting the TiVo (properly, through the Settings pages), or just hanging out for 5 minutes on the Music, Photos, and More page. Dennis said that the iTunes/iPhoto apps will often appear after a delay.

Are you using a wireless adapter on your TiVo? A LinkSys adapter?

[anp]

I hope someone with Mac and TiVo knowledge can help me out. I've read through all the messages on this board, and it was a little confusing and overwhelming trying to figure out what exactly I need to do to get the TiVo desktop to work on my iMac running OS 10.4. I'm not well versed in Macs to begin with (this is my first one).

after reading the posts, this is what I have done

1) downloaded TiVo desktop 1.9, edited the postinstall and post upgrade files as suggested, and installed it.
2) downloaded TiVo Broadcaster.mpkg from idrivex (? I think, it's hard to remember) and installed it
3) went to preferences->TiVo desktop, checked to publish the music and photos,clicked start
4) opened a terminal, copy and pasted
plutil -convert xml1 ~/Library/Preferences/com.tivo.desktop.plist and hit return
5) checked the activity monitor for mDNS and sh, they weren't there
6) realized I needed to run the broadcater, found it in applications->utilities->TiVo Broadcaster and ran it.
7) rechecked the activity monitor, mDNS and sh are there now.
8) checked the Tivo and nothing was there under music&photos except some nikon and best buy mess.
9) double checked my ip address from Network and system Profiler, tried to manualy add it to the TiVo, nothing happened.

as for networking, the TiVo and iMac are using the same wireless network successfully.

so, I think I did everything correctly, but maybe someone out there will see where I went wrong.

also, if anyne could help me with a general question, how does one uninstall all the TiVo stuff and start over? How would i remove it from the system preferences etc if i got sick of trying to make it work
thanks a bunch if you can help me,
-adam

[anp]

ok, I got one issue figured out, and now more appear.
in order to get the itunes and iphotos to show up, I needed to go to system preferences->sharing->firewall, and check the boxes for tivo desktop (I also checked the box for itunes and iphotos).
that did the trick in a minute or two.

but, of course it isn't that simple. both the photos and tunes have problems when I access them.
1) the photos
the photos all appear there, but when I select one, after I get the screen with options, when I choose view picture it always shows the first picture. AND if I do slide show, even though I have shuffle turned on, it always shows them from the beginning in order
2) itunes
this is more of a problem since photo viewing wasn't my main goal for setting this up. Even though I checked publish entire library, only the folders for artist, genre, and albums appear. choosing any of these results in the error message that they don't contain playable music. If I go back and try to manually choose the albums I want, the preferences window disappears. if I try stopping the tivo desktop, same thing. Whatever i did it shut down. So I reinstalled the tivo desktop, chose the albums i wanted, started it, restarted the broadcaster, and same thing. no music on the tivo.

any suggestions?

[deanswift]

Sounds like you have everything installed (the Installer failure you report is expected -- the Installer leaves a receipt behind after install, and it thinks you've got that version installed already.)

You could try starting the server from the command line. Go to Applications -> Utilities and open the Terminal application. At the command line, enter:

sudo SystemStarter start TiVoDesktop

and enter your admin password when prompted.

You could also be seeing the issue caused by the preferences being in binary form (hitting Start does change a preference.) If so, in the Terminal, enter this command:

plutil -convert xml1 ~/Library/Preferences/com.tivo.desktop.plist

then open the TiVo prefs pane and hit start.

Thanks, Dennis. Running these two lines in Terminal actually got TiVo Desktop 1.9.1 to Start (which was impossible through System Preferences for me, it would just crash) and then TiVo Broadcaster worked great. Thanks, again.

- Dean Swift

[morgansh]

ok, i must be a complete tool cause i cant get this working. i have tiger. i downloaded broadcaster and tivotogo for mac. when i tried to install tivo2go it wouldnt install. i tried to run broadcaster and it ran but the iphoto part wouldnt.
could someone gentle and caring walk me through exactly what i am supposed to do?

thanks in advance.

[Weaselboy]

You might try just installing Tivo Desktop 1.9.1 under Tiger 10.4.2. You will get an error message at the end of the install, but ignore the message. This has worked for many of us.

[morgansh]

You might try just installing Tivo Desktop 1.9.1 under Tiger 10.4.2. You will get an error message at the end of the install, but ignore the message. This has worked for many of us.

i did this but cant find any way to launch the program. all i get are terminal icons.

[mdscott]

i did this but cant find any way to launch the program. all i get are terminal icons.
TiVo Desktop for the Mac runs as a Preference Pane inside of System preferences. You will find it on the bottom row. It is launched by opening System preferences and doubling clicking on the TiVo icon.

mds

[boba2z]

I have been a long time (really long time) Mac user. recently upgraded Macs to 10.4. Then, just recently became a Tivo user. I hadn't installed any Tivo software on my Mac until finding this thread. So, I followed the link from this thread to download Tivo 1.8, did the install - no problems. Then did the download from iDriveX's link, did that install and all is beautiful! Configured once in the System Preferences, and it keeps on working even after restarts, etc.

THANKS for a great hack!!! :up:

[morgansh]

ok, downloaded 1.8. installed, no problem. downloaded broadcaster. opened broadcaster but when i try to open the photo fix, i get this message:

/Users/(my name)/Library/Preferences/com.tivo.desktop.plist: file does not exist or is not readable or is not a regular file

[Dennis Wilkinson]

1.8 didn't have per-user preferences files.

[justinseth]

Hi all,

I want to add my congratulations to both idrivex and Dennis. I bought my first Mac back in January 2005 and I absolutely love it! But, I have had to come to terms with the fact that not all software is created equal and that applications often overlook the Mac base.

I truly appreciate your work. I had mostly given up hope that my Tivo 2series would ever talk with my Mac. Thank you for your hard work and for your kindness to those of us just getting started in the Mac community.

Cheers,

Justin Seth

[cat rancher]

I just got the 7.2 update and tivo desktop sort of works - The iPhoto could not be published however. I ran the tivo broadcaster and now it does work! Thanks

My question is that Tivo only sees the mp3's I have and not the AAC files. Is this normal? I only have about 10 mp3's and close to 1000 AAC so this kinda sucks.

I'm on 10.4.2 by the way

[rog]

I just got the 7.2 update and tivo desktop sort of works - The iPhoto could not be published however. I ran the tivo broadcaster and now it does work! Thanks

My question is that Tivo only sees the mp3's I have and not the AAC files. Is this normal? I only have about 10 mp3's and close to 1000 AAC so this kinda sucks.

I'm on 10.4.2 by the way

Are we talking protected AAC files from the iTunes Store? If so, you will not be able to play those on the TiVo or any other non-Apple device without first modifying the AAC file. AAC files have DRM built in. This is Apple's doing and not TiVo's.

If we're talking about unprotected AAC files, then you CAN play these through the TiVoDesktop 1.9.1 for Mac, but you have to install lame. After lame is installed it will transcode AAC and WAV files into MP3 on the fly, making them both playable on the TiVo.

[cat rancher]

First, thanks for the answer!

No, they're not iTunes store purchases, I've just imported many of my CD's as AAC's. I will do a google on lame,

Thanks again!

[rog]

No problem. Dennis found this functionality a while back.

<rumors>Apparently one of the Mac developers at TiVo added the "unofficial" lame hack into the latest versions of TiVoDesktop for Mac before he left TiVo, and TiVoDesktop for Mac hasn't made any progress since.</rumors>

We're missing full TiVoToGo support, sure, but the ability to use the HMO features to play my entire iTunes library is attractive -- and I use it every day.

I will warn you that when you start playing a lame-transcoded file on the TiVo, it can chew up a lot of the processor cycles on your Mac; remember that it's transcoding on the fly.

I find my iBook to be usable still, but it does take a performance hit when my playlist lands on a WAV or AAC file. WAV seems like the worst, presumably because lots of compression is involved to encode to MP3.

[cat rancher]

I found lame and downloaded it but I don't find any kind of installer in the package. Am I supposed to do something else? There is a folder in the download labeled Mac, but nothing in it is an installer.

Thanks if you know

[cat rancher]

OK,

Silly me, I downloaded the source code only. Found the right download and installed it. Now to test it.

Thanks again for your help

[cat rancher]

Ok, I've got it going- this is great!

Thanks again to both of you!!!!!!!!!!

[gte157q]

Did tivo just put out a new software release and mess everything up? i had the broadcaster working fine with tiger and tivo desktop 1.8 but all of a sudden today my tivo tells me it found a new network adapter (no idea why, i didnt even unplug the one i had) and now it sees my itunes and iphoto directories but no files in either one. It also now says "music, photos, and more" in the main menu instead of just "music and photos" like it used to. no clue what's going on, it sees my computer and photo/music directories, but when i click either it says no files found, and they're definitely still on my computer...

[rog]

Did tivo just put out a new software release and mess everything up? i had the broadcaster working fine with tiger and tivo desktop 1.8 but all of a sudden today my tivo tells me it found a new network adapter (no idea why, i didnt even unplug the one i had) and now it sees my itunes and iphoto directories but no files in either one. It also now says "music, photos, and more" in the main menu instead of just "music and photos" like it used to. no clue what's going on, it sees my computer and photo/music directories, but when i click either it says no files found, and they're definitely still on my computer...

From your hint about the "new network adapter" message, yes, I can tell you did get a the new 7.2 software on your TiVo.

However, things should still work fine with TiVoDesktop 1.8, I believe. I'm using TiVoDesktop 1.9.1 + Tiger with no issues; I don't even have to use the TiVoBroadcaster hack anymore.

Having said that, I still have some issues with TiVoDesktop, and after getting the 7.2 update I had to reboot both the TiVo and the iBook a few times before things worked (I don't even remember the order of things).

One thing to check: make sure TiVoDesktop is actually running on the Mac and that the preferences are set correctly (such that your music and photos are shared to your liking). You do all that under System Preferences > TiVoDesktop.

You could also try upgrading to version 1.9.1 of TiVoDesktop.

Let us know if you get anywhere.

[gte157q]

Thanks for the tip, got it working. here's the chain of events:

-restarted mac and tivo, same problem.
-went to tivo desktop 1.8 preferences pane and turned off and on, nothing.
-changed share name for music and photos to get rid of non-alpha characters, saw the new share names on the tivo but again, no files found in either share.
-upgraded to 1.9.1, crashed on install but still appeared to have installed, Bingo!

not sure what's going on here, the problem showed up when my tivo upgraded to 7.2 but while the problem of empty shares appeared with the upgrade, the need for the broadcaster script disappeared... all of a sudden with 7.2 my tivo saw the shares just fine, but empty. then up to 1.9.1, with a crash on install as expected, and bam, there the shares are with all my files.

hope my description is useful to someone down the road, im just happy it works!

[gte157q]

Ok I take it back, it only sort of works. Tivo sees my music just fine, but when i start a playlist it only makes it about 3 or 4 songs in before it loses network connectivity alltogether. If i go to phone & network after it loses connectivity it gives me some error message and i can't even get to the settings page without restarting the tivo. Anyone have similar issues? I'm about ready to bite the bullet and buy an airport express...

[mcaswell]

So where can I get Tivo Broadcaster 1.0? The link is broken... and after searching all over the net, nobody seems to have it. I got music on my tivo, but can't see iphoto. Can someone email me this short program or tell me where to get it.

mcaswell@macs4ever.com

Thanks,
Matt

[rog]

So where can I get Tivo Broadcaster 1.0? The link is broken... and after searching all over the net, nobody seems to have it. I got music on my tivo, but can't see iphoto. Can someone email me this short program or tell me where to get it.

mcaswell@macs4ever.com

Thanks,
Matt

Check your Inbox in about 10 minutes... :)

[Diamondh]

All You Tiger Users Forget About Tivo Desktop Or Tivo Broadcaster.
All You Need To Do Is Enable The Bonjour Feature In Safari (system Preferences-sharing)and You're In Business. :d

[rog]

All You Tiger Users Forget About Tivo Desktop Or Tivo Broadcaster.
All You Need To Do Is Enable The Bonjour Feature In Safari (system Preferences-sharing)and You're In Business. :d

Not always.

Probably 80% of the time, TiVoDesktop works fine under Tiger.

10% of the time (for me), TiVoDesktop won't start unless I delete the plist preferences file and re-do my configuration.

The other 10%, TiVoDesktop starts ok, but my TiVo doesn't see it under Music, Photos and More. When that happens, I have to run TiVoBroadcaster.

YMMV.

[rshrieve]

Dennis,
I can no longer download your tivobroadcaster hack from the idrivex.com link. That link leads to a dead-end at .mac. Is there a new URL?
Thanks
Rich

[rshrieve]

Thanks. Got the file. Works fine!

[dmantelli]

I am running Tiger with all the latest updates. The installer seems to be working, however it actually does not install any of the folders or files. It does not create a Tivo Broadcaster Folder in Utilities. I can not locate the files or folders with Spotlight. I tried this on both my Macs. Maybe I could manually extract the files, but I do not know how to do this with .mpkg files.

Thanks,
Dave

[greenTraveler]

Here is a copy of the latest version of iDriveX's TiVoBroadcaster...

When I click the attachment, it opens a new window with a login screen. Once I log-in, it welcomes me, then cycles back to the log-in page. I cannot for the life of me figure out how to access the attachment.

You guys know how tough it is to find Mac solutions for Tivo...please help me find this attachment! :D

[greenTraveler]

Thanks, Rog. I was able to grab it with no trouble. Many thanks! :)

[dmantelli]

The intaller appears to be working, but does not actually install any files. I also ran it on my other Mac with 10.4.2. Same problem, installer worked but did not actually install any files. I did a manual search for the files and also used Spotlight, with no luck. I have run across this problem before, specifically the xBmsx v.09. The installer appeared to work, but it did not actually install any files. This was confirmed latter by others.

Dave

[devious]

The intaller appears to be working, but does not actually install any files. I also ran it on my other Mac with 10.4.2. Same problem, installer worked but did not actually install any files. I did a manual search for the files and also used Spotlight, with no luck. I have run across this problem before, specifically the xBmsx v.09. The installer appeared to work, but it did not actually install any files. This was confirmed latter by others.

Dave

First of all thanks for hooking all of us up with the information on how to do this and the patch.
:)

I did have the same problem in the quote above but overall it did work.

[gryhound]

I just wanted to express my thanks. I've been working on this all night and had to uninstall the software when my TiVo showed up with 3 of each music and photo folder. Probably because I installed the software 3 times thinking it hadn't worked.

I had to uninstall the TiVo software and reinstall in OS X 10.4.3 and all is fine now.

Here is what I did.

1) downloaded the Tivo 1.9.1 software. Opened the package contents and modified the two files (postupgrade and postinstall I think). This was detailed in a previous post.

2) Downloaded and installed the TiVo Desktop Tiger patch. This said that it would install files in my utilities folder but no files for TiVo broadcaster are on my computer. However, the TiVo shows my iTunes and iPhoto librarys.

Here is what I'd like clarification on.

1) How can we get TiVo 2 Go? Or how can we stream or view our TiVo files on our Macs.

2) How does LAME work and where do we get it?

3) I paied 99 dollars for a product to work with my multimedia and I'm now not getting official support from TiVo. This sounds like a potential Class Action Lawsuit to me.

[AnteL0pe]

1) How can we get TiVo 2 Go? Or how can we stream or view our TiVo files on our Macs.
To watch them on a mac you have to remove the DRM, which involves using some method which cant be discussed here. To move them to your mac you can either use https://<your IP>/nowplaying/ with the username: tivo and your MAK as the password. Or for transfers to and from the Mac you can use Galleon.

2) How does LAME work and where do we get it?
Seach via google or on here and you can find some LAME binaries, they will allow you to play mp4 files by converting them to mp3 on the fly.

[bedelman]

...they will allow you to play mp4 files by converting them to mp3 on the fly.The .m4p files are AAC files protected with Apple's FairPlay DRM and they can't be played on the TiVo even with LAME installed. On the other hand, the .m4a files are not protected AAC files which can be played on the TiVo when LAME is installed.

[tstram]

Ok, I just found this website. I have a powerbook and am running 10.4.2 I tried the link on page 1 of this forum and it didn't work. So, I was wondering if anyone could give me the run-down on how to get my Tivo to play my music and load photo's wirelessly from my mac. Thanks

[MacBrian]

Ok, I just found this website. I have a powerbook and am running 10.4.2 I tried the link on page 1 of this forum and it didn't work. So, I was wondering if anyone could give me the run-down on how to get my Tivo to play my music and load photo's wirelessly from my mac. Thanks

You need to go back and read this entire thread. Therein you'll find links to the software you need (if any! it depends on what version of the Mac OS you're using) ..and you'll get a more complete story of what's going on and what's broken and what isn't.

Myself, I had Tivo Desktop 1.9.1 installed before I upgraded to Tiger. It didn't work after the upgrade, but then when Tiger upgraded to 10.4.1 or 10.4.2, I don't remember which right now, it all started working again. The important thing is that it WORKS now and my iPhotos and iTunes are available on my Tivo. (Note that the Tivo can't play iTunes music that was purchased from the iTunes store because of copy protection.) Anything I've imported from audio CDs works fine. Tivo's not smart enough to handle the vast combination of bit rates and sample rates you'll find if you download a lot of podcasts...some podcasts won't play and some play sounding like the Chipmunks. (Use iTunes to reimport those particular podcasts to a new MP3 file with more "normal" bit rates and sample rates and they'll play correctly.)

Photos are another story...often Tivo will display a "broken picture" icon during a slide show. I think it's a timing issue because those files that show a broken picture icon are fine, and if you advance and then go back they'll often show the picture correctly instead of the broken icon.

As I recall, what I remember reading in this thread is that you can install the Tivo Desktop, then expect it to crash during the end of the install. On some systems the crash is irrelevant...apparently enough of it installs before the crash to be functional.

Read up and you'll see what I'm talking about!

Good luck!

--Brian

[iDriveX]

I've been getting a ton of eMails and IMs from people looking for help. Please read this entire thread and also please please please reference the sticky at the top of this forum. Here is a link for easy access:

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=270281

It has all of the information that has been frequently asked of me and links to download the easy installers.

[tstram]

OK. I'm not very computer savvy, so bear with me. I've read through this thread about 3 times. Here's what all I've done.

I'm running 10.4.3

I've installed Tivo Desktop 1.9.1 It's running fine with no crashing.

I also installed the broadcaster but am not running it since the desktop seems to work.

I manually added my ip into the tivo.

My tivo is still not finding my computer. If someone can tell me how to make my Tivo see my computer I think I can figure out the rest.

[rog]

OK. I'm not very computer savvy, so bear with me. I've read through this thread about 3 times. Here's what all I've done.

I'm running 10.4.3

I've installed Tivo Desktop 1.9.1 It's running fine with no crashing.

I also installed the broadcaster but am not running it since the desktop seems to work.

I manually added my ip into the tivo.

My tivo is still not finding my computer. If someone can tell me how to make my Tivo see my computer I think I can figure out the rest.

1) Are you sure TiVoDesktop is running? Make sure the service is started under System Preferences > TiVoDesktop.

2) Is your firewall turned on? The last portion of the TiVoDesktop setup -- the portion that crashes -- is the firewall configuration, so you have to manually config your firewall to allow the TiVoDesktop service to communicate with the TiVo, and vice versa. You can just turn the firewall off for a minute to test things out.

3) As a last ditch effort, with TiVoDesktop running and the firewall off, reboot your TiVo. I don't know why, but sometimes that does the trick.

Let us know if you get it going.

[Eastwold]

I give up...

I've read about all the problems with TiVo with 10.4. With much personal debate, I upgraded from 10.3 to 10.4. I installed the TiVo desktop. Yup, just as countless times mentioned on the forum the installer quits with an error.

Alrighty then...

Just for grins I crank up the desktop and sure enough, it's off. I mash the start button a few times just for grins and lo and behold desktop switches from off to on! (Like a lawnmower needing severl successive cranks before it starts.)

And even more amazing, the confuser shows up on TiVo!

Do I live right? (I sincerely doubt that!) Or has Apple sent out an OS update that fixes the problem? (I'm at 10.4.3) Or are the gremlins currently out to lunch and will be back later today and make me download and install the fix from iDriveX?

(A flash of light, a cloud of smoke, and a hearty "Oh, Rats!")

Or is it that I totally don't understand what all the confusion is about TiVo vs OS 10.4 and there's nothing really wrong at all?

Like I said. I give up...

me

[rog]

Yeah, I think this long winding thread confused you along the way. That's ok though, it least it's working for you! :up:

For most people, TiVoDesktop just works with 10.4. No hacks or scripts required. You just have to ignore the crash at the end of the installation process.

[macmatt]

Hey All

I was having trouble with this too -- Desktop kept crashing when I tried to change anything. Then, I deleted the preference file, and re-installed, and it works now.

Jut letting know what worked for me.

- Matt

[jmachota]

when i go to download i get this error
We're sorry, but we can't find the HomePage you've requested. It's possible that:

am i doing something wrong?

thanks

[maxmiles]

I'm having a hard time with all of this. Finally I've gotten my music library to show on the DVR, but an error comes up saying no music is being shared, or there is a network error. Anyone know what might be going on?

max

[mkrsw]

Yeah, I think this long winding thread confused you along the way. That's ok though, it least it's working for you! :up:

For most people, TiVoDesktop just works with 10.4. No hacks or scripts required. You just have to ignore the crash at the end of the installation process.

after spending the day researching this, and trying out galleon, etc,
i finally stumbled across this post that implies that 1.9.1 works fine with
tiger after all! so, i give it try...sure enough, the installer crashes. BUT,
everything works fine! even the lame transcoding.

if everything works except that the installer fails after installing everything,
i really don't understand why tivo is dragging their feet on this.

anyway, i'm happily running 1.9.1 on 10.4.4 on my imac g5.
thanks!!!!

mike

[Dennis Wilkinson]

if everything works except that the installer fails after installing everything,i really don't understand why tivo is dragging their feet on this.

3 reasons: the installer crash itself; some people see sporadic crashes in the TiVo Desktop preferences pane; and some people see "broken image" icons sporadically when viewing slide shows. All things one wouldn't want to see in "officially supported" software.

[Longdongsilver69]

Is there ever going to be a TTG feature for Macs? All i want to do is transfer over video with out using a PC.

[Longdongsilver69]

TTG for Mac. Will it ever happen. or does someone else have it done already?

[rog]

TiVoDesktop for Mac OS X (10.4 Tiger) is finally out:

http://www.tivo.com/4.9.4.1.asp

TiVoDesktop version 1.9.2 adds official support for Tiger and apparently includes some stability enhancements. It does *not* offer TiVoToGo functionality at this time, but it's a start.

A bit overdue, I'd say, but still great news! :)

[video-video]

If you need to burn DVD on Mac or do more operations, come here (http://www.dvdcreatorformac.com) to learn about the way.

[designbot]

If you need to burn DVD on Mac or do more operations, come here (http://www.dvdcreatorformac.com) to learn about the way.

I wish there was a way to flag spam.

[dipalina]

What to press when installing Mac OS X Leopard using a non-Apple keyboard? I forgot the password of my Mac OS Leopard so I'm planning to install a fresh copy of the OS. I use a non-Apple keyboard (a keyboard for Windows). I inserted the OS disk and I pressed and held the "C" key. But it didn't lead to the Mac OS Leopard installation screen. What is the problem? Maybe I need to press other keys for non-Apple keyboard? Please help. PS. my computer is an iMac G5.
______________________________
affiliateelite

[MacBrian]

Insert the OS disc, reboot the machine and hold the "C" key while it's rebooting.

Or, double-click the installer on the Leopard disc and it will reboot the computer for you.

Finally, boot from the Leopard disc and check the menus -- there's a utility specifically to reset the password so you don't have to start over from scratch!