HMO confusion!

[stangm]

Hi all. Long time Series one owner, finally upgrading to Series2DT today. I see a lot of posts about HMO, tivodesktop, beacons, servers, other software like galleon, etivo, tivoplaylist, orb, etc. Is there a post or site somewhere that gathers together all of these addons and compares and contrasts what they do? For example, why would I want Galleon instead of TivoDesktop? What are all of the Yahoo services available? Does it have Yahoo Mail or Calendar? Basically, I' confused by all the options and not sure what I want. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!!!

[Dan203]

People use Galleon over TiVo Desktop because it offers more features. However the flip side is that it's harder to set up and configure. I would suggest that you try Tivo Desktop first. If it doesn't do what you want then move up to Galleon.

As for the Yahoo! services... Those are pulled off TiVo's own servers, so they're going to be there for you no matter what. The only ones there right now are Traffic, Weather and Photos. (no email or calendar) along with some other 3rd party apps like Live365 internet radio, PodCaster and a Fandango enabled movie theater app.

Dan

[windracer]

I use Galleon because it runs on Linux. :)

As for all of the other options and add-ons, I don't know of a comprehensive thread comparing/constrasting them all, but they are all different ways to automate the downloading of content from your TiVo and transcoding the files into different formats.

I'm with Dan ... start with TiVo Desktop as a primer to what you can do. Then figure out what else you'd like to do and then match that with the appropriate tool.

[stangm]

Thanks, guys. I'll start with Tivo Desktop.

[windracer]

Just come back here when you're ready to move on. ;)

[stangm]

Okay, I'm thinking I need to either A) get galleon, or B) reduce the amount of music I'm trying to access via TivoDesktop. The Tivo seems to choke anytime I give it a folder with a large number of mp3 files. Folders with just a small number (say <100) seem to work fine, but when I select a folder that has a large number (some of my folders have more than 1000 songs in that folder and subfolders) it times out. Will Galleon help with this?

[Dan203]

That is a known issue with TiVo Desktop and Galleon does fix it. Galleon indexes songs and their data into a DB, where as TiVo Desktop reads them from the file every time. This creates a large lag and causes the server to time out.

Dan

[tedbill]

You should definitely install galleon. I don't use it for music, but I think its weather module is better than the Yahoo service.

I think you should also go over to www.apps.tv. Follow the directions to setup on your TiVo. (It's web hosted, so you don't need to install anything on your PC.) This has a fun Sudoku game if your into that kind of thing, and I like the Late Night Guide that shows who will be appearing on the various late night talk shows.

And if you have NetFilx you should swing by www.bitrazor.com and get his NetFlix RSS reader. This will let you check up on your NetFlix queue. He also has a stock market app and a traffic cam viewer, if your city is supported.

I know there are a lot of other interesting programs out there, but that's a few of my favorites that are relatively easy to get setup.

[stangm]

tedbill,

Thanks, that's good stuff. The netflix add in is awesome.

I know this has been asked before, but just in case the answer is any different...is there any comprehensive list of HME apps?

Thanks to all who have replied!

[windracer]

Not sure about a comprehensive list. apps.tv has a good list, but those are all hosted there. The winners of the developer's challenge from last year is here (http://www.tivo.com/4.3.hmewinners.asp).