TiVo Desktop for Mac 1.9.3 is out and universal...

[geowar]

They move to NPL but then have a time of 0:00 and say there was no signal on the channel.

How big is the file on disk? Sounds like it's zero.

It could also be a file protection issue. I'd give world read access.

Will the Toast Video Player play it correctly?

I've also seen this caused by using the wrong MAK to transfer it off the TiVo. (The Toast Video Player will tell you if that's the problem).

[rcliff]

I'd like to take some ripped DVD vobs and upload them to my Series 3. This seems to work without issue but I don't want to fill my now playing list with a bunch of loose files. Is there any way to put uploaded files in folders to segregate them?

[Timber]

I've opened up the hidden tab however how do I choose which TiVo (Series 2 or 3) the videos to go back go into?

Thanks! :)

-=Tim=-

[minckster]

I've opened up the hidden tab however how do I choose which TiVo (Series 2 or 3) the videos to go back go into? You don't have to choose because the videos will be available on both TiVos. At the bottom of each TiVo's Now Playing List you should see a PC icon and the name of your computer. Enter that folder and download your videos.

[oldskoolboarder]

If this file doesn't exist when the TiVo desktop server starts then it will create it (with the correct format). You just have to make sure that the file you want to serve is in the right directory (as set in the preference panel).

But to answer your question: The file has to be ASCII w/Unix line endings (LF)

For example, if you have a <ME_WIN_BIKE.mpg> file its <ME_WIN_BIKE.properties> file would look something like this:

[BEGIN]
#Thu Jan 04 19:22:39 PST 2007
description="Spy Hunter end game win on bike movie."
title=ME_WIN_BIKE.mpg
[END]

Actually the format I was referring to was the type of MPEG4 file. So if I rip a DVD with handbrake, what format/preset do I use so the Tivo can use/see it?

[bedelman]

Actually the format I was referring to was the type of MPEG4 file. So if I rip a DVD with handbrake, what format/preset do I use so the Tivo can use/see it?
Using TiVo Desktop for Mac OSX to publish video only supports MPEG-2 and .tivo files -- and newer .tivo files don't currently work since the metadata format inside the file changed.

If you want to publish MPEG-4 files and other video formats, you might try using something like TiVo.NET. It used to be a sticky thread at the top of the forum, but it's become un-sticky and dropped down. The thread title is something like "Want to play any video file...". I've been using it on several Macintosh machines at home and it continues to work under Leopard.

[oldskoolboarder]

So if I download a .TIVO from my S2 today, it won't play (unconverted) on my S3 and vice versa?

If I take a movie and convert to MPEG2, it should work?

[bedelman]

So if I download a .TIVO from my S2 today, it won't play (unconverted) on my S3 and vice versa?

If I take a movie and convert to MPEG2, it should work?Correct -- as long as you're within the specifications for the MPEG2 formats

You can MRV a recording from an Series 2 over to a Series 3 without having to go through your computer (but I think you already knew that)

[Timber]

You don't have to choose because the videos will be available on both TiVos. At the bottom of each TiVo's Now Playing List you should see a PC icon and the name of your computer. Enter that folder and download your videos.

Thanks! :)

Next question is what program converts video to the appropriate format? :) I've got iMovie and Toast.

-=Tim=-

[j-beda]

Thanks! :)

Next question is what program converts video to the appropriate format? :) I've got iMovie and Toast.

-=Tim=-

Visualhub at http://www.techspansion.com/visualhub/ wraps up a bunch of command line tools (I think) in a fairly nice package to produce DVDs as well as output for TiVo and various iPods and PSPs and other things like that. I found the $25 price well worth the increased ease of use.

[rick.m650]

I downloaded and installed TiVo Desktop 1.9.3 on to my new Intel iMac running Leopard. I can see a System Preference item for TiVo Desktop but no application or other usable program. Where does the program reside? Should be in the Applications folder, shouldn't it? Thanks.

PS: Does Mac version interface with Series 3 boxes?

[bedelman]

I downloaded and installed TiVo Desktop 1.9.3 on to my new Intel iMac running Leopard. I can see a System Preference item for TiVo Desktop but no application or other usable program. Where does the program reside? Should be in the Applications folder, shouldn't it? Thanks.

PS: Does Mac version interface with Series 3 boxes?The preference pane in System Preferences is TiVo Desktop for Mac OSX. It is not an application. What were you expecting? TiVo Desktop for Mac OSX handles the publishing of Music, Photos, and Video (when the hidden feature is enabled) from the Macintosh back to the TiVo box.

If you're looking for the ability to move content from the TiVo box to the Macintosh, you need to use Toast 8, Popcorn 3, TiVo Decode Manager, etc.

[rick.m650]

Thanks for the reply Bob. 2 other questions, I mainly want to move shows from my Series3 TiVo to my iMac, does Toast work for that? Am I incorrect in thinking that TiVo Decode Manager doesn't work with Series3 units?

[bedelman]

Thanks for the reply Bob. 2 other questions, I mainly want to move shows from my Series3 TiVo to my iMac, does Toast work for that? Am I incorrect in thinking that TiVo Decode Manager doesn't work with Series3 units?As far as I know, all the applications use more or less the same mechanism to pull over the files. In fact, you can get the files by using nothing more than a browser and go to https:// (note the "s") followed by the IP address of your TiVo.

You'll be prompted for a user name and password. Use tivo as the user ID and your media access key as the password. If successful, you'll see a browser view of your Now Playing List from where you can download the .tivo files.

The different applications differ on what they do with those .tivo files once they're on your computer.

[qbert00001]

I've seen tons of posts on this, but it sitll isn't working for me.

I've got lame installed, and I can see my non-protected AAC files on my TiVo. When I play them, however, it simply skips over each song and ends.

I found an old post detailing how to enable logging from TiVo Desktop, and I did so. Below is a snippet from my log which shows the problem.

10:13:58.844 com.tivo.iTunes.AlbumBrowse.printAsDetails: ...And Justice For All
10:13:58.845 Song.printAsItem: To Live Is To Die
10:13:58.846 HTTPServer.handleQueryContainer: returning 1 starting at 7
10:13:59.118 HTTPServer: New connection from 192.168.1.5
10:13:59.121 URL: /TiVoConnect?Command=QueryItem&Url=%2FTiVoConnect%2FUSER_iTunes%2FAlbums%2F...And%2520Justi ce%2520For%2520All%2F1514066690
10:13:59.121 URL Base: /TiVoConnect
10:13:59.121 URL Parameters:
10:13:59.121 Command: QueryItem
10:13:59.121 Url: /TiVoConnect/USER_iTunes/Albums/...And%20Justice%20For%20All/1514066690
10:13:59.122 Song.printAsItem: To Live Is To Die
10:13:59.339 HTTPServer: New connection from 192.168.1.5
10:13:59.339 URL: /TiVoConnect/USER_iTunes/Albums/...And%20Justice%20For%20All/1514066690
10:13:59.339 URL Base: /TiVoConnect/USER_iTunes/Albums/...And%20Justice%20For%20All/1514066690
10:13:59.339 URL Parameters: none
10:13:59.339 Song.handleConvertedSongFile: opening file for song To Live Is To Die
10:13:59.340 SoundConverter: user USER and file /Users/USER/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music/Metallica/_..And Justice For All/To Live Is To Die.m4a
10:13:59.524 SoundConverter.convert: EOF on pipe; done
10:13:59.524 SoundConverter.convert: ending gracefully
10:13:59.525 SoundConverter: closing gracefully

So basically, it sees that it is a 'convertable' file, tries to convert it, but thinks it is a zero-size file and exits immediately. After a bit of googling, I've seen a post where someone else details a similar problem but I did not see a resolution. Any help would be much appreciated, as I really want to get this working.

-g

[Dennis Wilkinson]

Came across the Secrets pref pane this weekend (still in beta, see http://secrets.textdriven.com/ -- this is the same guy who does QuickSilver for the Mac.) This is an open-source preference pane for setting hidden preferences in a broad variety of applications, with a large shared database of these hidden preferences that people can contribute to.

I've added the "EnableVideoUI" preference for TiVo Desktop to the database, although because of the way TiVo and Roxio picked bundle identifiers, if you have Toast installed it will show up in the panel as a TiVo Transfer preference.

[stovis]

Hello:

I have a powermac G5 running 10.5.2 with Tivo Desktop for mac 1.9.3 and a Series 2 Tivo.

I was previously not able to get any movies to show up under my computer icon on the tivo, but a couple of days ago, I noticed that a sample mpg showed up. I threw some more mpg's(MPEG1 muxed) and some other videos (avi, MPEG4) into the TivoShows folder, and saw that only the mpg's showed up on the tivo.

If I rename the mp4's and avi's with the mpg extension, they show up on the tivo too, but the only files the transfer and play are the MPEG1 muxed files. MPEG-4, MPEG-2, AVI all don't work. The tivo says it has put those files on the 'To Do List' and will transfer those files after previous transfers are done. This happens even when nothing is currently being transferred.

After doing reading here, I keep seeing that the only files that are supposed to work are .tivo files and MPEG-2 files. Has this changed recently?

So has anyone else seen what I am seeing, or does anyone have any suggestions?

Also, is there any way to convert mp4 and avi files into MPEG1 muxed files?

Thanks,
Bill

[wmcbrine]

After doing reading here, I keep seeing that the only files that are supposed to work are .tivo files and MPEG-2 files. Has this changed recently?No.

I think you may be confused about the files you have.

Also, is there any way to convert mp4 and avi files into MPEG1 muxed files?Lots of ways (although you want to convert them to MPEG-2, not MPEG-1). If you want to do it on the fly (as you transfer them to the TiVo), you might try pyTivo.

[stovis]

No.

I think you may be confused about the files you have.

Lots of ways (although you want to convert them to MPEG-2, not MPEG-1). If you want to do it on the fly (as you transfer them to the TiVo), you might try pyTivo.

I don't think so. I have attached a picture of the 'Get Info' file of one of the videos that worked. You can see that it says "Codecs: MPEG1 Muxed". All of the videos that worked show the same thing.

[Dennis Wilkinson]

MPEG-2, and .TiVo files have all worked for me in the past. I'm reasonably certain I've transferred some MPEG-1 encoded video as well, but I'm not completely positive of that. TiVo Desktop doesn't do any real sniffing of files, though -- if it sees a .mpg extension, it'll attempt to serve the file. Series 2 boxes are also very picky about resolution and frame rate. See:

http://tivosupport2.instancy.com/LaunchContent.aspx?CID=4012D160-79C3-4238-96C8-A27B323D1413

heading "How to prepare MPEG-2 video files for a TiVo DVR", near the bottom, for supported formats.

[Lupin]

Having the exact same issue where it just quickly skips over the AAC files and goes to the next song. Very annoying and would like to get this working.

[Dennis Wilkinson]

Having the exact same issue where it just quickly skips over the AAC files and goes to the next song. Very annoying and would like to get this working.

Have you verified that your LAME installation is working correctly? Find an uncompressed .wav file, and at the command line:

/usr/local/bin/lame /path/to/file.wav file.mp3

and make sure the resulting .mp3 file actually plays.

[Lupin]

yup just tried it, plays perfect and converts just fine to mp3. Played it via VLC on OS X sounds fine.

[Dennis Wilkinson]

yup just tried it, plays perfect and converts just fine to mp3. Played it via VLC on OS X sounds fine.

I knew I had read of this before; sounds as if a version of LAME provided with some versions of DivX can cause this exact behavior, see:

http://archive2.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=3055686&&#post3055686

[Lupin]

Hmm, I looked up but could not find the file he was mentioning in /Library/Application Support or ~/Library/Application Support/ only Divx file in there is the updater.

[Marconi]

Having the exact same issue where it just quickly skips over the AAC files and goes to the next song. Very annoying and would like to get this working.
Am I understanding correctly that you and others are trying to play AAC files from your Mac on your Series 2? I'm reasonably sure that TiVo Desktop works only for MP3 music files.

Is all this talk about LAME some work-around to make AAC files play on TiVo as well? Or are you simply trying to convert AAC files to MP3 so they can be played on TiVo?

[Dennis Wilkinson]

Am I understanding correctly that you and others are trying to play AAC files from your Mac on your Series 2? I'm reasonably sure that TiVo Desktop works only for MP3 music files.

Is all this talk about LAME some work-around to make AAC files play on TiVo as well? Or are you simply trying to convert AAC files to MP3 so they can be played on TiVo?

Having LAME installed in some common locations (including /usr/local/bin) allows TiVo Desktop to transcode unprotected AAC (and several other audio formats) to MP3 on-the-fly, which lets them be played back on the TiVo. Completely unsupported, mind you, but it does work.

[Lupin]

Still would like some help to get this working. Almost a ll my music is in AAC format.

[Dennis Wilkinson]

Still would like some help to get this working. Almost a ll my music is in AAC format.

I would do a few things to debug:

1) enable debugging in the TiVo Desktop preference pane (hold down option when clicking the little TiVo dude, set the level to 20, enable the checkbox, leaving the log file as is.) Try playing a few files, then check out the contents of this log.

2) Check out the contents of my system and console logs from the same time span and look for TiVo Desktop/SoundConvert-related lines.

3) Look for extra copies of the lame executable or liblame, particularly copies of liblame used by QuickTime components. I'm using a static build of LAME (i.e. no library dependencies) which probably helps matters there.

4) Move the copy of lame you intend to invoke to /Library/Application Support/TiVo/

5) Make sure SoundConvert works when invoked manually, as in:

/Library/Application\ Support/TiVo/SoundConvert -t 0 -b 128 /path/to/file.m4a > /path/to/file.mp3

[Lupin]

Moving the lame binary to the Tivo folder got it working. Thank you very much. Now when I get my Tivo HD in on Thursday I can have it all set up and ready to go.

[garrett222]

So, if i hook up a hard drive to a mac with a ton of .tivo files, will the mac be able to play them in good quality?

[Dennis Wilkinson]

So, if i hook up a hard drive to a mac with a ton of .tivo files, will the mac be able to play them in good quality?

If you've got Roxio's player software and have the MAK for those .tivo files (or grok tivodecode and MPlayer/VLC), yes.

[garrett222]

what does all that mean? if i have tivo2go on the mac, wouldn't the shows play on the mac through that? Why do you need Roxio software, and what is MAK?

[Dennis Wilkinson]

what does all that mean? if i have tivo2go on the mac, wouldn't the shows play on the mac through that? Why do you need Roxio software, and what is MAK?

The Roxio software is the supported implementation of TiVoToGo on the Mac. MAK = "Media Access Key", which you can find on the TiVo itself, and is the decryption key for any media recorded by TiVos on your account.

So, if you have a hard drive full of .tivo files, and you have the MAK that's associated with those files (which should be your own, and can be found on your TiVo), and you have the TiVoToGo software, then, yes, you can play those .tivo files.

As far as the other software I mentioned, they're not the official solution. That handy search button at the top of the page would be a good start to getting more info there. ;)

[simoneves]

I just got a TiVo HD and, although I have no cable yet (we just moved in), I have activated the TiVo and I've been playing around with TiVo Desktop 1.9.3 from my iMac.

With the server activated, including videos and logging with the hidden options, the TiVo sees and plays/displays all my music and photos just fine, but although it can see a single MPEG2 file I've placed in the videos folder and offers it for transfer, the transfer does not work.

The file was created with the trial version of Visual Hub and is only 1m48s long (~13Mb) so should be in a valid format, and not so big as to take ages to transfer, but the TiVo just says "the file has been added to a queue and will be transferred after others are done" (what others?!) and then says it's transferring but offers no progress info. If you back out of the recording's page on the TiVo and then go back in, it has forgotten that it was transferring and offers to start again.

I have stopped and restarted the server several times (changes to the published name of each library are reflected immediately on the TiVo) and it has correctly generated a .properties file for the movie file, which contains the following:

#Fri Mar 21 23:12:30 PDT 2008
description=
title=<name_removed_to_protect_the_guilty>.mpg

The iMac and the TiVo are both on wireless via a NetGear 614 router and an official TiVo AG0100 adapter, if that makes any difference, although I can't imagine it does since music and photos seem to work fine.

I have read lots of stuff earlier in this (quite long-running) thread which implies that this mechanism doesn't work properly on TD for Macs, but is that still the case?

Should I perhaps admit defeat and switch to doing this from my spare PC?

Edit:

I just reconverted the 1m48s video (a section of XVID .avi chopped out with QuickTime Pro) using Videora TiVo Converter running under Parallels on the Mac, but the resulting MPEG2 still fails to transfer.

I have noticed that when I try to start the transfer, I get one or more instances of the following message in the TD log file:

00:26:23.351 HTTPServer: Connection closed with IOException: HTTPServer.QueryFormats: unimplemented

Edit #2:

Neither of the alleged MPEG2 files (created with VisualHub Trial or Videora) will play in QuickTime on the iMac. It says they are not movie files. I think that's my cue to give up and go to bed.

[doncant]

I am trying to use your code to fix lame for Mac, after having installed 3.97. Unfortunately, I am not proficient with Unix. I know how to open terminal but not much beyond that. I am stymied-see below:

Last login: Mon Jul 28 14:47:40 on ttys000
new-host-4:~ donaldcanty$ sudo mv /usr/local/bin/lame /usr/local/bin/reallame
Password:
mv: /usr/local/bin/lame: No such file or directory
new-host-4:~ donaldcanty$

I think it accepted my password but as you can see, it says "no such file." Can you help me out and guide me through the process - or at least tell me what I am doing wrong? Thanks so much.

Don

[danka58]

Anyone know of a DL link to Tivo Desktop 1.9.3 (008)?

The current version (1.9.4) keeps downloading at various links despite the fact it's titled as version '1.9.3'.

My goal is to go back to transferring vids TO Tivo rather than from. The current version only allows uploading shows from Tivo:down:.

Thanks in advance.

[Yoav]

My goal is to go back to transferring vids TO Tivo rather than from. The current version only allows uploading shows from Tivo:down:.

Thanks in advance.

(am a little unsure which way you're trying to move shows... but if you're trying to get shows from your PC to your Tivo, have you considered pyTivo (http://code.google.com/p/pytivox/) instead?)

[bedelman]

Anyone know of a DL link to Tivo Desktop 1.9.3 (008)?

The current version (1.9.4) keeps downloading at various links despite the fact it's titled as version '1.9.3'.

My goal is to go back to transferring vids TO Tivo rather than from. The current version only allows uploading shows from Tivo:down:.

Thanks in advance.

If you're referring to the "hidden" videos tab, hold down the apple/command key and then click on the preference pane. It works just fine with 1.9.4

Also, 1.9.4 must be used with .tivo files that came from recorders running 9.x or higher of the TiVo software. The format of the metadata in the .tivo files changed slightly making them not work with 1.9.3 -- but they work again with 1.9.4

- Bob

[Marconi]

When TiVo Desktop 1.9.3 for Mac came out, I enabled video publishing as explained earlier in this thread (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=4000443#post4000443). It worked for years. Every now and then I add a file, the last time being in February of this year, at which time I was able to go into Now Playing and transfer the new file to TiVo.

Today I added another file and when I checked the NPL, it tells me that my Mac has no files in its videos directory. The directory is still there on Mac, it still has all the same files as before plus one new one, but TiVo claims there are no videos being made available via TiVo Desktop. Neither my S2 boxes nor my THDs can see any of my videos so something obviously changed on my Mac.

I can only surmise that some s/w update between February and now broke TiVo Desktop's video publishing. (I'm on OS X 10.5.8.) If it wasn't that, then something I've done has caused it to stop.

Is this still working for others?

I've tried toggling TiVo Desktop's video publishing on and off, disabled the Video tab entirely and re-enabled, rebooted, everything I can think of to re-initialize the service, but the NPL still shows no published videos. Music and Photos still show up, but not videos. Turning off the firewall does not help either.

[Dennis Wilkinson]

Today I added another file and when I checked the NPL, it tells me that my Mac has no files in its videos directory.

I have seen single files completely disrupt video serving just like you describe (basically, an exception is thrown internally while reading the directory, and the result is that no files get published.) It's not always obvious why a particular file has issues.

I'd try removing just the one file you added most recently and restarting TiVo Desktop.

[Marconi]

I have seen single files completely disrupt video serving just like you describe (basically, an exception is thrown internally while reading the directory, and the result is that no files get published.) It's not always obvious why a particular file has issues.

I'd try removing just the one file you added most recently and restarting TiVo Desktop.This is a new one on me but removing the latest file(s) did indeed allow the other files to be seen and served.

It would appear that, while editing the '.properties' file for the new recording, I'd managed to eliminate the "title=..." line. With a complete properties file, the problem recording no longer hoses the server.

Thanks muchly!

[Dennis Wilkinson]

Glad you got it figured out. The exception handling in the video plug-in leaves a lot to be desired.