avi -> TiVo

[alansplace]

yesterday my TiVo missed recording boston legal because csi had a special showing at the same time and csi is higher on my season passes list than boston legal.

every once in a while, like this, i miss an episode of something and to see it i d/l a hd avi file of it with bittorrent. the only way i seem to be able to watch this .avi file is on my computer with media player. i'd like to be able to convert it to a .tivo file and upload it to my TiVo so i can view it in sd on the tv.

is there any open source linux or windows software that can do this?

thanks
--
Alan :D

[BigT4187]

i use the videora converter ........ www.videora.com/en-us/Converter/

works for me.

[alansplace]

i use the videora converter ........ www.videora.com/en-us/Converter/

works for me.thanks, i'll give it a try.
--
Alan :D

[alansplace]

so far my efforts using videora converter have led to close, but not quite what i'd like. i converted at:

MPEG-2/720x480/4:3/2Mbps Stereo/192kbps

and

MPEG-2/720x480/16:9/2Mbps Stereo/192kbps

after transfering the program to my TiVo that was transcoded using the first setting TiVo displayed it as a horizonatlly squished 16:9 picture on my 4:3 tv (no letterbox, entire picture squished).

after transfering the program to my TiVo that was transcoded using the second setting TiVo displayed it as a clipped (cropped) 16:9 picture on my 4:3 tv (no letterbox, the leftmost and rightmost parts of the picture were clipped off).
--
Alan :D

[MasterOfPuppets]

I have my Videora set to MPEG-2/720x480/4:3/1Mbps Stereo/128kbps and it converts just dandy to my 4:3 TV...I find that playing with the audio settings usually just results in a bigger file and slower transfer without a noticable payoff...
It's also possible that the torrent was a 16:9 to begin with...although I haven't really encountered this...
Videora is great, keep playing with it...

[alansplace]

I have my Videora set to MPEG-2/720x480/4:3/1Mbps Stereo/128kbps and it converts just dandy to my 4:3 TV...I find that playing with the audio settings usually just results in a bigger file and slower transfer without a noticable payoff...
It's also possible that the torrent was a 16:9 to begin with...although I haven't really encountered this...
Videora is great, keep playing with it...yes, that's exactly it, the downloaded .avi's are 16:9. i've not located a source for anything but 16:9's.
--
Alan :D

[dwgsp]

When Videora doesn't work I use QuEnc. QuEnc has a steep learning curve, but if you study the online discussion boards for it as well as AviSynth (which it uses) you will eventually figure it out (if I can do it anyone can :-). In your case, you'll probably need to pad the top and bottom to convert the aspect ratio.

[Stu_Bee]

Converting 16:9 avi sources with Videora is covered here:

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=283897&highlight=videora+and+aspect

[alansplace]

Converting 16:9 avi sources with Videora is covered here:

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=283897&highlight=videora+and+aspectthanks!
--
Alan :D

[alansplace]

Converting 16:9 avi sources with Videora is covered here:

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=283897&highlight=videora+and+aspect
thanks!
--
Alan :Di followed the directions in the first post of the above thread. :cool: it worked perfectly. :)

thanks again!
--
Alan :D

[alansplace]

i'd like to thank BigT4187, MasterOfPuppets, dwgsp, and Stu_Bee for their exceptional help in this thread. :up:
--
Alan :D

[ciscokid]

The easiest way is to use NERO to convert the avi file to a DVD, burn it to a DVD and watch it on TV.

[alansplace]

The easiest way is to use NERO to convert the avi file to a DVD, burn it to a DVD and watch it on TV.thanks for the thought but i'd much rather use my TiVo to play the file than either of my dvd-rw's (and save the step of burning the dvd as well). the TiVo ui and the peanut remote are imho, the best, and my top choice for my personal use.

again, thanks :)
--
Alan :D

[Odds Bodkins]

I finally shelled out $23 to Kagi and purchased their VisualHub software for mac.

In the past, I converted all 16:9 to 480x480 but the squishiness bugged the hell out of me. I threw in a 16:9 avi into their general Tivo setting and it worked like a charm. Best money I've spent in quite some time.

[mikeyj]

I have had trouble getting the Videora TiVo converter to work for quite some time now. About a year ago, I installed it and tried to convert a video on 3 different computers. Only one worked but that was a work computer so I couldn't really use that on a regular basis. All machines were running WinXP pro and using Videora tivo converter v0.8. When trying to convert a file, it runs for ~2 seconds then is done. Nothing converted and no errors reported. I haven't changed any of the default Videora settings and have just tried the Transcode to MPEG-2. I have tried the ol' un-install re-install a few times w/ no luck. I haven't found much help on the web regarding this thus far. What gives?

[gconnery]

mikeyj:

Videora Tivo Converter really only seems to support AVI and MPEG source files. If you have something else (google video, real video, flash, etc) it probably won't convert it. If you have an AVI, there could still be problems if you don't have the right codecs (xvid, divx...) installed.

Try Videora Tivo Converter again. First go to the setup panel and check the "enable debug output" box. Then do the conversion. After it fails, go look at the log. It will probably give you a hint why it didn't work.

If its a codec issue, ie. some codec under the AVI format, then try using the GSpot utility. Drag the file into GSpot. If GSpot says its bad, it can't be fixed. If GSpot says you're missing a CODEC, then install that codec from download.com or something, perhaps as part of a codec pack.

Glenn

[mikeyj]

Thank you Glenn. I think I'm moving in the right direction now. This is an AVI file I'm trying to convert. According to the Videora debug console, the last line reads "Error while opening codec for output stream #0.1 - maybe incorrect parameters such as bit_rate, rate, width or height" w/ a lot of other stuff before it that doesn't make sense to me. So, I installed GSpot and loaded one of the video files I want to convert and it says it's an mjpg. I then checked my installed codecs and "MJPG" is in there.

[mikeyj]

I guess I just need to convert my MJPGs to AVI before finally converting to TiVo (mpeg4) w/ Videora. Just seems like a lot of steps. I've been looking around for good free video converters and so far have found and tried jetAudio. But, I would need to buy the plus version to convert any video over 30 seconds. That may work out OK b/c these MJPGs are short videos taken w/ my digital camera. I will have the need to download missed programs and convert them for TiVo viewing, but will have to wait to try those out. I guess I have been a little confused as the file extension on the videos I've been trying to work w/ say .AVI

I hope this helps someone out there.

[IPbUnSJ5njOL]

Just burn the thing to a 16x DVD in under 5 minutes and watch it on this $50 player:

Philips USA DVP5140 Ultra Slim Dual Format Progressive Scan DVD Player - DVP5140/37 - DivX Ultra Certified*

http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=203111714&adid=17662

Why waste all that time and money to convert and stream back.

[mikeyj]

Burning to DVDs is the waste, of both money and material. If I found the right shareware/freeware, the process could be just as easy and for $0. Plus, the benefit of viewing a list of videos through my TiVo which is kind of cool rather than geting up to search for a DVD if it's only a 1 minute clip.

[angelm713]

I was using the Videora conversion as well, then copy back to Tivo (kind of slow but faster than burning DVD-compliant discs). But similar to the post above, I bought the Philips DVP5960/37.

It also plays Divx/Xvid, is upconverting and HDMI, etc. but it has a USB port on the front to play files right from an external drive or thumb drive. It is $60 at Circuit City now with $20 rebate.

If you'd rather have a DVD Recorder and also Divx/Xvid with USB, then check out the Philips DVDR3400/37.

Also, all of my movies are Ripped DVD's to Divx, and most BitTorrents are Xvid. Just copy them to an external hard drive or thumb drive, connect to the front USB port, and voila...You are watching it. No converting, etc. It will even read .sub/.idx and .srt files if you have subtitles.