Consolidated Update on TiVo2Go

[DaMaCon]

A few months back I used to be able to transfer TiVo programs and play them on my desktop.

I somehow "lost" the capability to view the .tivo files I had transferred with TiVo Desktop 2.2. As part of an attempt to recover that capability, I upgraded to 2.3a. I still cannot view the files, and after reviewing a number of entries on the forum, I have a number of questions.

• I am running Windows XP SP 2, TiVo Desktop 2.3a, Nero 6, Windows Media Player 11.0 connected to a TiVo Series 2. As of now, are there any known issues that would prevent "successful" operation?
• Is there a problem with TiVo Desktop 2.3a viewing or handling .tivo files earlier transferred with TiVo Desktop 2.2? How does one remedy that problem?
• Is there any real advantage to upgrading to 2.3 Plus?
• Is there a direct course of action that gets the components I have working again?

[dlfl]

Just to rule out WMP 11 download (free) Media Player Classic (http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=82303&package_id=84358) but don't get the latest version -- get 6.4.8.6, which plays TiVo files. You want the one with "xp" in its name. Until you set it up to recognize the .TiVo file extension, you have to find the file with the *.* mask. MPC is generally regarded as a better player than WMP at least up thru WMP 10.

Some problems have been reported with WMP 11 and TiVo files. Do an advanced search of these forums with
+wmp +11
as your search string.

[DaMaCon]

Checked out WMP and associated forum. Entry at sourceforge(dot)net/forum/message.php?msg_id=3818090 says 2.3 broke WMP playback. Is this another dead-end?

That would mean
TiVo 2.3a does NOT work with WMP.
Tivo 2.3a DOES work with MPC

sourceforge(dot)net/forum/message.php?msg_id=3818090

Issues with MPC and TiVo Desktop 2.3 files
By: kswartz (kswartz) - 2006-07-11 18:01
MPC has long been a favorite of TiVo Desktop users, and has worked fine for quite some time. However, the most recent version of TiVo Desktop, 2.3, seems to cause problems for most, if not all, MPC users.

tivocommunity(dot)com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?postid=4611993#poststop

11-26-2006, 01:55 PM
dlfl
Posts: 141 Update on MPC/Tivo compatibility issue

I was unable to load .TiVo with the latest MPC (6490) and saw this thread. Got the referenced older version (6484) and it worked fine. You do need to go into View->Options->Formats and add .TiVo to the Mpeg Media File item, if you want it to automatically list .TiVo files when browsing for files to open. Otherwise you have to force-select "All Files *.*".

So, it seems the idea is to get an earlier release (6484 or 6486) of MPC to handle playing .tivo files. I'll try. (So far, MPC has just crashed as did WMP when either was asked to the ceiling.) I'll try again after a reboot.

Thanks for the help

[worachj]

I am running Windows XP SP 2, TiVo Desktop 2.3a, Nero 6, Windows Media Player 11.0 connected to a TiVo Series 2.

I have the exact setup as you and have no problems viewing TIVO programs using version 11 WMP (build 11.0.5721.5145). All my TIVO programs were downloaded with 2.3a version of TIVO Desktop. My WMP player uses the codec’s from Nero 6 for playback of TIVO programs. You may have a codec problem, missing MPEG2 decoder. I believe Nero’s codec’s are installed during installation of Nero’s media player. You may want to try re-installing Nero’s media player to force the loading of its codec’s.

You can check which codec’s is being used in WMP by right clicking on the title and then clicking on properties.

See attachment: Screen shot of a TIVO program during playback in WMP.

[Sparlimb]

I have the exact setup as you and have no problems viewing TIVO programs using version 11 WMP (build 11.0.5721.5145). All my TIVO programs were downloaded with 2.3a version of TIVO Desktop. My WMP player uses the codec’s from Nero 6 for playback of TIVO programs. You may have a codec problem, missing MPEG2 decoder. I believe Nero’s codec’s are installed during installation of Nero’s media player. You may want to try re-installing Nero’s media player to force the loading of its codec’s.

You can check which codec’s is being used in WMP by right clicking on the title and then clicking on properties.

See attachment: Screen shot of a TIVO program during playback in WMP.


I downloaded Nero 6 Media Player tonight and for whatever reason WMP11 decided to use my sonic codecs for decoding which were not working right. So I uninstalled Sonic completely and now it doesn't pick up any codecs at all, and won't play the clip. How do I get WMP11 using the right codec? I did download the windows media video decoder checkup utility, but that hasn't helped either. I know I have the right tools, just not setup right. Any help anyone can give is appreciated...

[Sparlimb]

Okay I rebooted and WMP11 loaded the Nero codecs but I get the same result. The video and audion play together but are very choppy. Switching through codecs that are supposed to work has seen the same result other then the free one which caused media player to blow up everytime I tried to watch the file. I've played with the video acceleration settings and that didn't do anything either. So I have no idea why the videos won't display correctly in wmp11. Any ideas?

[Sparlimb]

Sorry for wasting time here. My problem was self-inflicted. My first download was one of the "Welcome files" that comes pre-loaded on your tivo series two. That was what was so choppy. I transferred over a taped show from tonight and that is displaying just fine. So doesn't look like it's my pc at all, just something weird in the pre-loaded files...