Required CODEC not installed

[California_TiVo]

Please excuse me, I tried to search for this but the info was overwhelming and a bit over my head.

Here is what I am trying to do.

Got the Tivo to transfer 3 shows wirelessly to my computer. When I go to playback the video in media player it asks for password. After that there is a "required CODEC not installed" so I go to search for one on the web. I downloaded a few free trial ones but nothing worked.

I want to be able to watch the shows on the computer but mainly I juist want to transfer the video to my Creative Zen Vision M which advertised as being able to watch shows from Tivo2Go.


Please help me/Thanks

[greg_burns]

When I go to playback the video in media player it asks for password.

None of the later version of TivoDesktop require a playback password anymore.

Tivo Desktop Plu$ 2.3 includes the necessary codec and should work regardless of other installed MPEG-2 codecs.

Which free ones did you try already? Have you tried...

Free, possible illegal?
http://www.cole2k.net/?display=Codec-Pack-Standard

Free 30 day trial...
http://www.nvidia.com/object/dvd_decoder.html

Neither are gauranteed to work like the TivoDesktop Plus one though. They depend on "merit values" assigned to them on your system, where-as .tivo files are hard-wired to use Plu$'s codec (or so I've been led to believe).

Another option is Media Player Classic. It has a built-in codec that generally seems to work.
http://www.afterdawn.com/software/video_software/video_players/media_player_classic.cfm

Apparently there is a bug with newer versions of MPC and TivoDesktop 2.3
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=4192209&&#post4192209

[Dan203]

First off the only reason why it would ask you for a password is if you're using a very old version of TiVo Desktop. So you should definitely upgrade to the newest 2.3 version.

Secondly if all you want to do is play the files on the Zen, and it advertises TiVoToGo support, then you should be able to just transfer the shows to the Zen and they should play. If that doesn't work, then it doesn't do TiVoToGo and you'll have to convert the files first using something like DirectShow Dump. (Google it)

As for your codec problem... If you can't get any of the trial ones to work then I wold recommend purchasing the TiVo Desktop Plus upgrade. It includes a MPEG-2 decoder which the TiVo software automatically uses when playing .tivo files, so you shouldn't have any problems with it.

Dan

[California_TiVo]

...you should definitely upgrade to the newest 2.3 version.

Dan


Ok so I did have an old version; however, I downloaded the newest version and now the tivo desktop won't even launch...the error says "Beacon service not running"

[greg_burns]

Ok so I did have an old version; however, I downloaded the newest version and now the tivo desktop won't even launch...the error says "Beacon service not running"

What happens if you open a command prompt and type:

net start "Tivo Beacon"

(Or just do it from Services in Control Panel->Administrative Tools).

[California_TiVo]

got it working now, thanks.

[darkcyber]

Dan203,

Does DirectShow Dump actually work with the newer version of Desktop? I thought I read somewhere it only worked with 2.0. But what do I know? :)

[greg_burns]

Dan203,

Does DirectShow Dump actually work with the newer version of Desktop? I thought I read somewhere it only worked with 2.0. But what do I know? :)

It works.

[bmoura]

What happens if you open a command prompt and type:

net start "Tivo Beacon"

(Or just do it from Services in Control Panel->Administrative Tools).

It says "System Error 5 has occurred". Tivo Beacon still does not start.