Want to play nearly ANY video file on your TiVo?

[hitech_rednek]

Hey - I haven't tried this yet but it sounds awesome. I've been using TiVo Desktop since it was first available but it has a few annoying 'features' that TivoDotNet doesn't have. For one, the TiVo Now Playing List only shows the top level directory on the server. Searching subfolders would be very nice. :)

A few questions though - I searched a bit and didn't see much about these items:
1. Does the TivoDotNet host still show up as a line item in the Now Playing List, like the TiVo Desktop server? I.e. at first I only see what's local on the TiVo, then I have to drill down to the stuff on the PC?
2. If the answer to #1 is "no", and it is populating the NPL top level with both, does this happen to any/all TiVo's on the network? (I have 4, and don't want this on all of them, at least not at first...)
3. Can this be run at the same time on the same PC as TiVo Desktopl, or do those services have to be turned off?
4. Is the streaming show saved on the TiVo locally (at least a buffer)...if you stop watching a show then someone else wants to watch it, does it start all over again? I wonder what happens when more than one TiVo is trying to stream shows from the same PC at the same time. Probably not a good idea, given what I've read so far about transcoding CPU load....

Thanks, - Dave

[pipakin]

Hey - I haven't tried this yet but it sounds awesome. I've been using TiVo Desktop since it was first available but it has a few annoying 'features' that TivoDotNet doesn't have. For one, the TiVo Now Playing List only shows the top level directory on the server. Searching subfolders would be very nice. :)

A few questions though - I searched a bit and didn't see much about these items:
1. Does the TivoDotNet host still show up as a line item in the Now Playing List, like the TiVo Desktop server? I.e. at first I only see what's local on the TiVo, then I have to drill down to the stuff on the PC?
2. If the answer to #1 is "no", and it is populating the NPL top level with both, does this happen to any/all TiVo's on the network? (I have 4, and don't want this on all of them, at least not at first...)
3. Can this be run at the same time on the same PC as TiVo Desktopl, or do those services have to be turned off?
4. Is the streaming show saved on the TiVo locally (at least a buffer)...if you stop watching a show then someone else wants to watch it, does it start all over again? I wonder what happens when more than one TiVo is trying to stream shows from the same PC at the same time. Probably not a good idea, given what I've read so far about transcoding CPU load....

Thanks, - Dave

1. Yes.
2. N/A
3. As far as I know, yes.
4. Yes, it's saved until you delete it.

[hitech_rednek]

1. Yes.
2. N/A
3. As far as I know, yes.
4. Yes, it's saved until you delete it.

Thanks for the quick reply, pipakin. Now I can't wait to take it for a drive.

I didn't mention in the previous message, I haven't done much with my TiVo's in the last year or more, so I'm trying to catch up on all the new goodies. I'm still running T2G 2.2 and was wondering what was new in 2.3 or 2.4, but it sounds like your baby will do most of what I would like to do in the PC -> TiVo area.

I have been wishing for a way to manage the content on all 4 units (Series 2's, unhacked) from one location (one of the TiVo's or a PC) but haven't seen any such tool or capability. I'll do some searching but if anything exists a pointer would be handy. I hate it when I copy stuff down to the PC then have to remember when I go upstairs to delete the shows from each TiVo....is there a hack I can install to do this? Via telnet or something?

I believe from what I've read so far that pushing shows to the TiVo is still not possible (and might never be?)...<sigh>

Thanks for the good work. :up: :D

[A@ron]

pipakin the tivomono 0.9.5a preview you posted earlier is giving me some difficulty. I cannot get it to show up in the NPL on my tivos. I can access the interface and things on port 9032 properly. Beacon looks like it's being sent out from the terminal when running in --verbose mode.

[BoyScout]

Pipakin,

I'm using 9.1a and I'm seeing almost every file duplicated in my NP list? I don't know what's causing this. I tried to reload tivo.net on my pc, but they are still being dupped? Any thoughts? I haven't seen this with any previous versions.

BoyScout

[ebrandon]

Hello All -- will this work with a Series 3 Tivo seeing as how Tivo To Go is not yet activated for Series 3? Does GoBack work with Series 3?

Thanks!
- Eric

[windracer]

I'm using 9.1a and I'm seeing almost every file duplicated in my NP list? I don't know what's causing this. I tried to reload tivo.net on my pc, but they are still being dupped? Any thoughts? I haven't seen this with any previous versions.
Maybe try stopping the service, deleting the metaDB.xml file, and re-starting it?

[windracer]

Hello All -- will this work with a Series 3 Tivo seeing as how Tivo To Go is not yet activated for Series 3? Does GoBack work with Series 3?
Unfortunately no ... maybe some day!

[TerminalE]

I wanted to post an update to my issues below. Last night I downloaded the latest build and noticed under File Manager you can now edit the shows. I edited a show and changed this option Aspect Correction to Keep Native Horizontal Resolution.

Is there a way to set this as default?

Thanks for this awesome app!

Originally Posted by TerminalE
Has anyone had luck streaming MPG files that were downloaded via TyTool? The only method I had luck with was when I told it to extract as an SVCD mpg file; and with this set the video on the Tivo was narrow, almost like it was getting squashed. Awesome tool though



Could be an aspect issue. What resolution are they? What aspect ratio?

[TerminalE]

Also another quick question...

Will this work with a non-subbed TCD54000?

Actually one more question. Has any progress been made w/MRV? I have several non-subbed Dtivo's that I use MRV w/to pull shows from my subbed Tivo. I have tried TivoServer and it works nice but errors out at times and I notice performance issues. I have also tried pytivo and it to is nice.

[pipakin]

Also another quick question...

Will this work with a non-subbed TCD54000?

Actually one more question. Has any progress been made w/MRV? I have several non-subbed Dtivo's that I use MRV w/to pull shows from my subbed Tivo. I have tried TivoServer and it works nice but errors out at times and I notice performance issues. I have also tried pytivo and it to is nice.

If pyTivo works, this will too. Works on the same principle. MRV isn't enabled at this time because the protocol is so different to the HMO protocol TiVo.Net uses.

[pipakin]

I wanted to post an update to my issues below. Last night I downloaded the latest build and noticed under File Manager you can now edit the shows. I edited a show and changed this option Aspect Correction to Keep Native Horizontal Resolution.

Is there a way to set this as default?


Not as of yet. You can use the "Multi-Edit" to change all the files in one directory, though.

Version 0.9.5a is on the horizon with some changes to the DB which will be nice (improvements and fixes for dup entries, etc). Also, I've incorporated many of the fixes that the community has posted or emailed to me. I hope to have it out tonight.

[craig5571]

Hey,

do i need tivo desktop installed on my machine for this to work?

thanks

[pipakin]

Hey,

do i need tivo desktop installed on my machine for this to work?

thanks

Nope.

EDIT: Ha! I win again! Where's my cookie?

[johncherbini]

Hey,

do i need tivo desktop installed on my machine for this to work?

thanks

Nope. This is completely independent.

JC

[jasonrn]

Great program!

I have 2 issues:

1. I am having the NPL problem. When you try to back out of Tivo,net I just get folders in my vid dir. I tried the recently deleted work around, but then I lose the Tivo,net option in my NPL. I have to go to my PC and start/stop the service.

2. I have many sub dirs in my video folder. After playing a video, it goes back to the top of the dir list. Anyway to have it remember where I was?

Jay

[pipakin]

Great program!

I have 2 issues:

1. I am having the NPL problem. When you try to back out of Tivo,net I just get folders in my vid dir. I tried the recently deleted work around, but then I lose the Tivo,net option in my NPL. I have to go to my PC and start/stop the service.

2. I have many sub dirs in my video folder. After playing a video, it goes back to the top of the dir list. Anyway to have it remember where I was?

Jay

1. Really wish I knew what was causing that. Trust me, that bug is my #1 priority right now.

2. Not sure there is, really. I could try a hackish workaround, but this is actually a bug with the TiVo software (I think). It doesn't remember which page you're on, it always asks for the first page when going back to the directory. :o

[windracer]

Will this work with a non-subbed TCD54000?
Nope. The GoBack feature that TiVo.Net utilizes requires a subscription.

[MichaelK]

i dont understand how tivo.net could screw up the tivo's own NPL- wouldn't that be a tivo bug?

(Btw I get it now and again also)

[pipakin]

i dont understand how tivo.net could screw up the tivo's own NPL- wouldn't that be a tivo bug?

(Btw I get it now and again also)

You'd think, but I may be able to do something that will prevent the TiVo from screwing up :)

Rule #1 when working with "touchy" systems. If it breaks, change your side until it can limp through.

[zspeiser]

so about what time is the new version gunna come out?

[pipakin]

so about what time is the new version gunna come out?

Well, you'll at least have to wait till I get home from work ;)

[iautom8u]

I have transferred some "sensitive" .avi files to my TIVO and would like to either hide or password protect them from being played by someone.
Is there a way to to this?

[echurchm]

A previous post asked about skipping encoding if the video was already properly encoded for Tivo. Do we know when it will be available?

[pipakin]

A previous post asked about skipping encoding if the video was already properly encoded for Tivo. Do we know when it will be available?

I meant to have it in 0.9.0a, but I missed that goal. I'm working on the 0.9.5a release now, and trying to get a handle on all the stuff in it. This is one of the planned features.

[windracer]

I have transferred some "sensitive" .avi files to my TIVO and would like to either hide or password protect them from being played by someone.
Is there a way to to this?
Good question. It's been a while since I played around with KidZone. Are GoBack transfers automatically hidden from KidZone, or does it rely strictly on the ratings?

[Stu_Bee]

I have transferred some "sensitive" .avi files to my TIVO and would like to either hide or password protect them from being played by someone.
Is there a way to to this?

You can use tivo.net to rename them to "Complete, Unabridged History of Chess in the 19th Century:Vol1". Now who would want to watch that?......actually...sounds pretty interesting :)

[pipakin]

New version! (0.9.5a)

- Quicker re-scan.
- Will not transcode files that are tivo-compatible.
- Configurable command line parameters (Mono)/Regkeys (.Net)
- --fudge (SizeFudge) - a number to multiply the file size estimation by (default: 1.04)
- --alwaystranscode (AlwaysTranscode) [true/false] - used to disable no-transcode files.
- --nodetails (Mono Only) - disable video details (MacOSX fix, possibly?)
- Community submitted fixes!
- Other random bugfixes!
- Ratings suported.

Linky : http://downloads.sourceforge.net/tivodotnet/TiVoDotNetSetup-0.9.5a.msi?use_mirror=osdn
Mono Linky : http://downloads.sourceforge.net/tivodotnet/TiVoMono-0.9.5a.zip?use_mirror=osdn

[greg_burns]

Good question. It's been a while since I played around with KidZone. Are GoBack transfers automatically hidden from KidZone, or does it rely strictly on the ratings?

Transferred videos cannot be added to KidZone. So, yes they are automatically hidden from KidZone.

It's not a bug, it's a feature. ;)

[Enrique]

New version! (0.9.5a)

- Quicker re-scan.
- Will not transcode files that are tivo-compatible.
- Configurable command line parameters (Mono)/Regkeys (.Net)
- --fudge (SizeFudge) - a number to multiply the file size estimation by (default: 1.04)
- --alwaystranscode (AlwaysTranscode) [true/false] - used to disable no-transcode files.
- --nodetails (Mono Only) - disable video details (MacOSX fix, possibly?)
- Community submitted fixes!
- Other random bugfixes!
- Ratings suported.

Linky : http://downloads.sourceforge.net/tivodotnet/TiVoDotNetSetup-0.9.5a.msi?use_mirror=osdn
Mono Linky : http://downloads.sourceforge.net/tivodotnet/TiVoMono-0.9.5a.zip?use_mirror=osdnI just downloaded and installed 0.9.5a and now Tivo.net well not transfer ANY of my files(even the ones I could with 0.9.1a) anyone getting the same?

[Ron667]

I have been following this from the beginning and finally decided to take the plunge. I installed it tonight, opened the ports 9032 and 9033, scanned the video directories, and it is showing up on the NPL. So far, so good. Unfortunately, when we go to play a video, we get an error on the Tivo that:

This recording was deleted earlier than planned because the space was needed for another recording on Thu 2-8 at 8:26 pm. (the time of the transfer request)

[jackny]

version 9.5a is not working......

[A@ron]

I am pleased to report that the mono version runs in Mac OS X successfully if the nodetails flag is used. I am watching south park from my mac on the tivo.

frame=39112 q=2.4 Lsize= 186330kB time=1305.0 bitrate=1169.7kbits/s
video:130401kB audio:20390kB global headers:0kB muxing overhead 23.568097%
[ffmpegTranscoder::OutputFile] request complete after 190801920 bytes!

yeah :)

[Ron667]

Oops, hit submit instead of preview :p

TDN had this fatal error in the error log:

The specified network name is no longer available - at System,Net,HxxxResponseStream,Dispose(Boolean disposing) at System,IO,Stream,Close() at System,IO,StreamWriter,Dispose(Boolean disposing) at System,IO,StreamWriter,Close() at TiVoDxxNetBase,TivoDxxNet,ParseVideoUrl(String url, HxxxListenerContext con, ContainerItem ci) at TiVoDxxNetBase,TivoDxxNet,ContextCallback(IAsyncResult ar)

Any ideas? Our Tivo is an 80hr DT, with the HD pretty full, although I dumped about 5 hours off of it once I got this error. The video we are trying this on is a House episode, about 41 min long. I also tried it with a 30 rock (21 min) and got the same error. Help please!

(EDIT: sorry about the munging of the names. The boards thought I was posting URLS and such, and wasn't letting it through. You get the idea though.)

[A@ron]

it looks to be a networking issue and not really a size issue from what I can tell

[Bluesfan77]

Aaron, are you not having any issues with 0.9.5a? It works fine for you?

edit: Yes, I'm having the same "no room" message on the Tivo. I looked at the XML and I'm wondering if there's an extra "0" in the size that is blocking the Tivo from allowing it as it doesn't think there's enough room.

[Stu_Bee]

Sounds like you guys might be having the same issue, that I had when .95a preview came out a couple days ago:

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=4847512&&#post4847512

(I haven't tried the new one yet)

[Aiken]

pipakin--

<Size Quality="4:3406919229.97ac34800021true">0</Size>
Is this really what this field is supposed to look like?

[Aiken]

Is this really what this field is supposed to look like?
Aaaand I can't transfer anything now. Probably not a coincidence. :) I tried stopping the service, deleting the db file, and restarting, but got the same results with the new DB-from-scratch.

By the way, could I get a global setting for the default aspect correction value? Please? :)

[Aiken]

<Size Quality="4:3406919229.97ac34800021true">0</Size>
Aside from the apparent malformatting, shouldn't that also be 4096, not 4069?

[Aiken]

pipakin--

As long as I'm spewing anyway, I should also mention that a vertical resolution of 240 seems to work fine as well, based on tests I've done through tivo desktop. Really reduces the size and transcoding time of videos that are x240 to start with.

I dunno, there may be other valid heights. I haven't actually tried.

[A@ron]

Aaron, are you not having any issues with 0.9.5a? It works fine for you?

yes it works on my Mac running the mono version not the windows version of course.

<Size Quality="4:3406919229.97ac34800021true">0</Size>

wow that is one messed up xml line!
try clearing your xml of everything but the video folder path, the install path, and the ffmpeg path. Restart the service and then go in and redo all the video settings, etc to rebuild the settings.xml

[ocntscha]

Just wanted to report the mono version is working for me too. Pipakin is a machine, I can hardly even install and try out his new versions and new features as fast as he can create them.

The do not re-encode thing worked perfectly, I've got a huge mpeg file of Lord of the Rings that I ripped myself, it hasn't been re-encoded at all, its like a 6 Gig file. I transferred it last night with tivomono and tivomono sensed it didn't need to reencode and so it didn't, perfect pipakin. The nice thing about it that surprised me was that even transferring a full quality DVD rip, it transferred faster than real time!

I also transferred a divx file with the new version, it worked too.

[pipakin]

Hrm. I've got to run to work, but I'll look into things that changed in this version. You might try bumping the SizeFudge (in the registry, the default is 1.04), but I'm not sure what else to mention off the top of my head. The Mono version seems to be working, so I'll look at the differences.

[windracer]

The 0.9.5a mono version seems to be working fine for me too.

One thing I did notice ... even with the --noterminal flag, when you request a transfer, the ffmpeg output of the transcoding still gets dumped to standard output (which in my case goes into the nohup.out file). Not sure if this should be repressed or not (using -v quiet on the command line).

[pipakin]

pipakin--

As long as I'm spewing anyway, I should also mention that a vertical resolution of 240 seems to work fine as well, based on tests I've done through tivo desktop. Really reduces the size and transcoding time of videos that are x240 to start with.

I dunno, there may be other valid heights. I haven't actually tried.

That quality hash is just a value that tells me whether a quality setting has changed since the last time that size was computed.

240, eh? I guess I can add that one to the list.

EDIT: GAH!

I figured it out! It's not defaulting the SizeFudge value, so it's always reporting the size as 0!

Under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\TiVoDotNet, add the following value (string): SizeFudge, value : "1.04"

[pipakin]

Annnnnddddd....fixed: http://downloads.sourceforge.net/tivodotnet/TiVoDotNetSetup-0.9.5a-fixed.msi?use_mirror=osdn

[Ron667]

Excellent! Works great now. Thanks Pipakin! I did run into the disappearing NPL bug, but it came back by navigating into the recently deleted. I know you know about it and are working on it, so I'm not worried.

This is what I have been waiting on for a LONG time. Great going! I look forward to your final release.

[usnret]

OK, dummy here. I have 0.0.5a loaded, ports 9032 & 9033 open. I can see Tivo.Net at the bottom of my NPL. I created a file in my docs titled "videos". In the admin page of the program there is "C:\My Documents\PipKin Technologies\TiVo.Net\Videos\". At the bottom of the admin page I hit "Submitt/Rescan" and nothing shows up in my Now Playing. What the heck am I doing wrong!!! I want so bad for this to work. Tks in advance.

[pipakin]

OK, dummy here. I have 0.0.5a loaded, ports 9032 & 9033 open. I can see Tivo.Net at the bottom of my NPL. I created a file in my docs titled "videos". In the admin page of the program there is "C:\My Documents\PipKin Technologies\TiVo.Net\Videos\". At the bottom of the admin page I hit "Submitt/Rescan" and nothing shows up in my Now Playing. What the heck am I doing wrong!!! I want so bad for this to work. Tks in advance.

So you created a folder in your My Documents called videos? Windows does some funny things with "My Documents" in that it places it under the Documents and Settings folder. The directory at the top of the admin page should be:

C:\Documents and Settings\XXXX\My Documents\videos\

where XXXX is your windows user name.

[usnret]

Holy S**t, it WORKED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Mucho grats Pip. Coffee funds on the way.....

[pipakin]

Holy S**t, it WORKED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Mucho grats Pip. Coffee funds on the way.....

Glad to be of service. :)

[KRKeegan]

Pipakin

First thanks for the great work, I am very impressed. I run a linux so I have been using pyTivo since it doesn't require adding mono or anything. I just had a quick question.

What status code does the server send when it has reached the end of the file?

I know you are dealing with the same problem of not knowing how big the file will be until you stream it. We both appear to solve the problem the same way by shooting out an inflated file size. But pyTivo sends out a 404 when it reaches the end of the file. This works, but it is kinda crude and causes TiVo to show an error of "Transfer Interrupted" at the end of each file.

How do you get around this?

Thanks
Kevin

[pipakin]

Pipakin

First thanks for the great work, I am very impressed. I run a linux so I have been using pyTivo since it doesn't require adding mono or anything. I just had a quick question.

What status code does the server send when it has reached the end of the file?

I know you are dealing with the same problem of not knowing how big the file will be until you stream it. We both appear to solve the problem the same way by shooting out an inflated file size. But pyTivo sends out a 404 when it reaches the end of the file. This works, but it is kinda crude and causes TiVo to show an error of "Transfer Interrupted" at the end of each file.

How do you get around this?

Thanks
Kevin

I'm actually doing the same thing, but for some reason I don't see the transfer interuppted error. It's weird. I am estimating a little closer to accurate size now, so that's helping somewhat.

One thing I'm not sure about, does pyTivo send the duration of the file to the TiVo? That may be what's keeping the error away for me.

[KRKeegan]

I'm actually doing the same thing, but for some reason I don't see the transfer interuppted error. It's weird. I am estimating a little closer to accurate size now, so that's helping somewhat.

hmm, i also noticed you toss in the duration on the front end. Maybe that helps too. Ok back to tinkering.

Thanks for your help

[KRKeegan]

oh hmm, i just loaded Tivo.net(Mono) and I still get a "Transfer Interrupted" message at the end of the file. My main reason for wanting to avoid this is that if I don't watch at least part of a transfered file while it is transfering, TiVo will delete it once it hits the end.

Quick Poll
How many of you get a "Transfer Interrupted" message at the end of your videos? And what OS is Tivo.net running on? And what type of TiVo do you have?

And how many get the normal "Keep/Delete" this program message?


Thanks Everyone, I appreciate it.
Kevin

Edit: Maybe it is an OS ot TiVo thing?? I dunno but i get it with completely different software packages so I think there is something other than the server causing it

[pipakin]

oh hmm, i just loaded Tivo.net(Mono) and I still get a "Transfer Interrupted" message at the end of the file. My main reason for wanting to avoid this is that if I don't watch at least part of a transfered file while it is transfering, TiVo will delete it once it hits the end.

Quick Poll
How many of you get a "Transfer Interrupted" message at the end of your videos?

And how many get the normal "Keep/Delete" this program message?


Thanks Everyone, I appreciate it.
Kevin

Hrm, I don't get the error. But that does explain why some people get transfers dissapearing.

[cherry ghost]

Still no episode number after transfer.

[pipakin]

Still no episode number after transfer.

Weird. It works just fine for me... What isn't showing up that should?

When I go to the listing, hit Info, I can see the episode number fine.

[cherry ghost]

Weird. It works just fine for me... What isn't showing up that should?

When I go to the listing, hit Info, I can see the episode number fine.


When I go into Tivo.Net Server and hit info, the episode # is there. After pressing "watch on this TV" and going to the transfer and hitting info, no episode # or rating.

[craig5571]

Pipakin,

Any chance you'll add MRV to tivo.net anytime soon? I have a Dtivo with MRV and would love to use your program. but i cant use tivo to go.

thanks!!

[windracer]

I run a linux so I have been using pyTivo since it doesn't require adding mono or anything.
Wow, not sure how I ever missed this (hadn't heard of it until now).

Funny thing, doing a Google search for pyTivo returns a project that really has nothing to do with TiVo (http://douweosinga.com/projects/pytivo) first. :confused: I guess because the author works for Google he gets a higher search ranking. ;)

[pipakin]

Wow, not sure how I ever missed this (hadn't heard of it until now).

Funny thing, doing a Google search for pyTivo returns a project that really has nothing to do with TiVo (http://douweosinga.com/projects/pytivo) first. :confused: I guess because the author works for Google he gets a higher search ranking. ;)

Yeah, it's a good project. Like I said, I got the inspiration for TiVo.Net from pyTivo. I just like writing things and thought there was so much I could do with it, but I don't know python. So I wrote TiVo.Net :)

[jackny]

Just installed TiVoDotNetSetup-0.9.5a-fixed.msi.
After what seems like a routine file transfer of several file types (.mpg, .avi) the files are not prersent on the DVR's Now Playing List (NPL).
When navigating on the TiVo Box (DVR) (Tivo Central>Find Program>To Do List>View Recording History>Hilighted File which was transferred )......Get the explanation/message : "This program was not transferred onto the DVR because the file was larger than expected or because the file was corrupted"......... There is obviouslya serious glitch in the code that needs to be addressed.......Thank You and please help....

[pipakin]

Just installed TiVoDotNetSetup-0.9.5a-fixed.msi.
After what seems like a routine file transfer of several file types (.mpg, .avi) the files are not prersent on the DVR's Now Playing List (NPL).
When navigating on the TiVo Box (DVR) (Tivo Central>Find Program>To Do List>View Recording History>Hilighted File which was transferred )......Get the explanation/message : "This program was not transferred onto the DVR because the file was larger than expected or because the file was corrupted"......... There is obviouslya serious glitch in the code that needs to be addressed.......Thank You and please help....

Sounds like that same file length issue. Were you watching the recording, or just transferring it to watch later? What TiVo software version do you have?

[jackny]

In one instance was watching the recording and in another had transferred to watch after recording was completed....

[pipakin]

In one instance was watching the recording and in another had transferred to watch after recording was completed....

And the version of the TiVo software? I think that might be involved with who gets these errors and who doesn't.

[jackny]

The software version on my TiVo box is Version 8.1-01-2-590

[johncherbini]

oh hmm, i just loaded Tivo.net(Mono) and I still get a "Transfer Interrupted" message at the end of the file. My main reason for wanting to avoid this is that if I don't watch at least part of a transfered file while it is transfering, TiVo will delete it once it hits the end.

Quick Poll
How many of you get a "Transfer Interrupted" message at the end of your videos? And what OS is Tivo.net running on? And what type of TiVo do you have?

And how many get the normal "Keep/Delete" this program message?


Thanks Everyone, I appreciate it.
Kevin

Edit: Maybe it is an OS ot TiVo thing?? I dunno but i get it with completely different software packages so I think there is something other than the server causing it

This does not happen to me. I'm running mono on Ubuntu 6.10.

JC

[pipakin]

The software version on my TiVo box is Version 8.1-01-2-590

Wanna be a guinea pig? I just thought of something and want to know if it will work at all. I can't garauntee it will do anything, and it might make your TiVo reboot.

If you want to try it, Stop the service, download this zip and put the exe/dll inside it into your TiVo.Net install directory. delete the metaDB.xml in your tivo.net directory and start the service. then try and resend the same files.

If it works, come tell me. Cause then I'll be happy.

[jackny]

The transfers after installing the files per your instructions did not work.....could not transfer any files to the Tivo box......sorry.......that was a bit scary for some "porcine" reason....

[Enrique]

Wanna be a guinea pig? I just thought of something and want to know if it will work at all. I can't garauntee it will do anything, and it might make your TiVo reboot.

If you want to try it, Stop the service, download this zip and put the exe/dll inside it into your TiVo.Net install directory. delete the metaDB.xml in your tivo.net directory and start the service. then try and resend the same files.

If it works, come tell me. Cause then I'll be happy.with that getting:

The specified network name is no longer available - at System.Net.HttpResponseStream.Dispose(Boolean disposing) at System.IO.Stream.Close() at System.IO.StreamWriter.Dispose(Boolean disposing) at System.IO.StreamWriter.Close() at TiVoDotNetBase.TivoDotNet.ParseVideoUrl(String url, HttpListenerContext con, ContainerItem ci) at TiVoDotNetBase.TivoDotNet.ContextCallback(IAsyncResult ar) in the error log


would not transfer ANY files.

[pipakin]

with that getting:

in the error log


would not transfer ANY files.

Figures. I've got one more trick up my sleeve for the curious/brave. This one tries a different method of fooling those tricksy TiVos...

EDIT: Same instructions as last time.

[windracer]

Yeah, it's a good project. Like I said, I got the inspiration for TiVo.Net from pyTivo. I just like writing things and thought there was so much I could do with it, but I don't know python. So I wrote TiVo.Net :)
I downloaded it and gave it a shot on Linux but couldn't get the python scripts to run so I'll stick with TiVoMono. :)

[pipakin]

I downloaded it and gave it a shot on Linux but couldn't get the python scripts to run so I'll stick with TiVoMono. :)

I got it to run on windows, but it kept locking up and then wouldn't restart until I rebooted. It might have been a local setup issue, but it was my original inspiration for getting my own version running.

[Enrique]

Figures. I've got one more trick up my sleeve for the curious/brave. This one tries a different method of fooling those tricksy TiVos...

EDIT: Same instructions as last time.just downloaded here all good. :up: :up: :cool:

[KRKeegan]

I downloaded it and gave it a shot on Linux but couldn't get the python scripts to run so I'll stick with TiVoMono. :)
Yeah I had to make a couple of alterations to the code. If you like I have a linux version running. It does require python2.4.

Pipakin
two things:

1. did you just solve the file size issue with Enrique? I actually have 8.1p on my machine, I dunno if that is causing issues.

2. Is this the formula you use to calculate approx mpeg size?

Estimated KB = (Video bitrate + Audio bitrate) X (Runtime/8)

You should add a 2% or 3% "fudge factor" to your estimate to make sure it will fit on your CD.

Fudged KB = Estimated KB * 1.02

[pipakin]

Yeah I had to make a couple of alterations to the code. If you like I have a linux version running. It does require python2.4.

Pipakin
two things:

1. did you just solve the file size issue with Enrique? I actually have 8.1p on my machine, I dunno if that is causing issues.

2. Is this the formula you use to calculate approx mpeg size?

Estimated KB = (Video bitrate + Audio bitrate) X (Runtime/8)

You should add a 2% or 3% "fudge factor" to your estimate to make sure it will fit on your CD.

Fudged KB = Estimated KB * 1.02

yeah, something like that. The idea I just tried with Enrique was to pad out the stream with bogus data. I'm not sure if it's fixed, though. Not sure what that would do, to tell you the truth.

[KRKeegan]

yeah, something like that. The idea I just tried with Enrique was to pad out the stream with bogus data. I'm not sure if it's fixed, though. Not sure what that would do, to tell you the truth.

Yeah I thought about that too, which is why I am trying to get the estimation as accurate as possible. Too much extra padding will only waste tivo HD space.

My thought is that if I can get the estimation to within a reasonable size you can have ffmpeg transcode a second file to fill the remaining time with dead air. But again you would want to make sure the estimation was accurate

[pipakin]

Yeah I thought about that too, which is why I am trying to get the estimation as accurate as possible. Too much extra padding will only waste tivo HD space.

Yep yep. Actually the code right now is assuming worst case and doing c*Duration where c is the worst case length for a second. I'm trying to make it more acurate as we speak by running a process over a large number of files and getting the best case/worst case/average case for all the quality permutations to see if I can get a better approximation. I'd be happy to post my findings.

[KRKeegan]

c*Duration where c is the worst case length for a second.

Ok this is where my lack of knowledge of video encoding shows, isn't the worst case scenario just the Video bit rate plus the audio bit rate?

[pipakin]

Ok this is where my lack of knowledge of video encoding shows, isn't the worst case scenario just the Video bit rate plus the audio bit rate?

Actually it's I took a file, and encoded it with the highest quality settings I could, took the file length/number of seconds in the duration, and multiplied by a bit :)

Plus, TiVo.Net has an adjustable "Size Fudge" that allows you to fudge it up or down.

Heh...looks like my "Worst Case" is comming off more like the average case. D'oh!

Looks like best case transcoding is 146127bytes/second (1Mbps video 128kbps audio).

Looks like the audio rate is fairly inconsequnetial, the best estimation I've been able to get is about:

video rate (in k) * 149

this doesn't take into account the VBR problem though. If the file isn't busy, there could be quite a bit of empty space.

[KRKeegan]

Arg, ok I didn't realize that ffmpeg is creating variable bit rate files. With the maximum bit rate being whatever you select i.e. 4096, 1024. Honestly I dont know how to estimate the size of a file like this. I mean the more action in a video the larger the file will be.

At least on my end I am taking Xvid video and transcoding using 4096 as a max but the average bit rate is coming out at 2717.2 kbps. But if I encode another file with the same settings I get a different average.

The only thing I can think of is to set ffmpeg to a constant bit rate, but this will end up with substantially larger files.

[pipakin]

Arg, ok I didn't realize that ffmpeg is creating variable bit rate files. With the maximum bit rate being whatever you select i.e. 4096, 1024. Honestly I dont know how to estimate the size of a file like this. I mean the more action in a video the larger the file will be.

At least on my end I am taking Xvid video and transcoding using 4096 as a max but the average bit rate is coming out at 2717.2 kbps. But if I encode another file with the same settings I get a different average.

The only thing I can think of is to set ffmpeg to a constant bit rate, but this will end up with substantially larger files.

Looks like the formula I'm going with is as follows:

(Video Rate (in k) + Audio Rate (in k)) * 128 * Fudge * Duration (in seconds)

Where Fudge is defaulted to ~1.05

I added the following ffmpeg parameters: -bt 1024 -g 6

I'm going to go make sure this doesn't blow up the TiVo or anything, but it seems viable. This basically forces ffmpeg to be within 1Kb/s of the target bitrate.

[Stu_Bee]

I thought the only issue here was that during the transfer size the estimated filesize has to be equal to, or greater than the actual file size. If the file size is underestimated, Tivo cancels/deletes the transfer. Once the file has reached the Tivo, it already knows the file size, and is no longer a problem.

However, if you overestimate the filesize too much, Tivo will clear up recordings (such as suggestions) to make room for the new, still transferring file.
------
Do we really have to force FFMPEG to produce a certain size file, or can we just be overcautious (but not too much so) on file estimation.

[KRKeegan]

I thought the only issue here was that during the transfer size the estimated filesize has to be equal to, or greater than the actual file size. If the file size is underestimated, Tivo cancels/deletes the transfer. Once the file has reached the Tivo, it already knows the file size, and is no longer a problem.

At least from my view the problem is two fold. If we estimate the file too small TiVo just stops when it reaches that size. If we estimate too large we clear too much stuff off of the TiVo to make room that is not needed. Additionally when we estimate too large TiVo tries to get more of the file than exsists and for some of us that causes a "Transfer Interrupted" Error if we play the file as it streams. And if we tell TiVo to get the file and we don't watch it as it streams TiVo will delete the file as soon as the transfer finishes thinking that it was a failed transfer.

Sorry that is a little convoluded, but the concept is that we want to get the file size as close as possible and then possibly pad the end so that the TiVo gets the file size that it is expecting

[Stu_Bee]

ahh...Ok...I haven't experience these two on my Tivo model, thus my confusion as to what was trying to be accomplished.

- "we tell TiVo to get the file and we don't watch it as it streams TiVo will delete the file as soon as the transfer finishes "
- "when we estimate too large, TiVo tries to get more of the file than exists and for some of us that causes a "Transfer Interrupted" Error if we play the file as it streams"

[KRKeegan]

ahh...Ok...I haven't experience these two on my Tivo model, thus my confusion as to what was trying to be accomplished.

If you don't mind looking for me stu what version of the TiVo software is on your box?? And also what OS are you running TiVo.net from?

Thanks

[Stu_Bee]

PC: XP SP2
Tivo: AT&Tivo Series 2: v:8.1.01-2-130

[Enrique]

ok this has happens 4-5 times when a download is done on(0.9.6a-Test1) it does not save it is deletes it right a way I never get to see the video.

[KRKeegan]

ok this has happen 4-5 times when a download is done on(0.9.6a-Test1) it dies not save it is deletes it right a way I never get to see the video.

This has always happened to me if I dont watch the video at the sametime as it downloads.

One trick is to pause the video, turn off the TV and come back later.

This happens because your TiVo thinks the transfer died and clears the download thinking that it was an improper transfer.

A couple of us have been working on a fix for this but i wouldn't count on being found, this is a pretty difficult problem.

My hope is that TiVo will alter the requirements.

Enrique I am conducting a survey, what version of software is on your TiVo??

Thanks

[Enrique]

This has always happened to me if I dont watch the video at the sametime as it downloads.

One trick is to pause the video, turn off the TV and come back later.

This happens because your TiVo thinks the transfer died and clears the download thinking that it was an improper transfer.

A couple of us have been working on a fix for this but i wouldn't count on being found, this is a pretty difficult problem.

My hope is that TiVo will alter the requirements.

Enrique I am conducting a survey, what version of software is on your TiVo??

Thanks8.1-01-2-649(Tivo DT 80GB)

[ocntscha]

Sorry to say I'm getting hit by this file is deleted after transfer problem as well. I've also got version 8.1 of the Tivo software.

[ciscokidinsf]

A@aron! Hook a brotha up, Dawg?!? Which version and HOW does it work in Mac OSX? What do I need to do. (Got ffmpeg and Mono loaded. What next?) I'll try 0.9.5 this weekend on Windows. But want to try the Mac first if I can. (also send me the latest link to download)

[A@ron]

ciscokidinsf simply running 0.9.5a in mono using the --nodetails and --verbose flag. Make sure you edit the settings.xml file to add your install path at the very least before running it for the first time. run the program in terminal and go to localhost:9033 and set the rest of the settings. once you've got it all going it should work. If it's not showing in the NPL list but the terminal says it's sending the beacon make sure transfers and MRV are enabled on your tivos and if it is and still not showing wait for the next version. There is a networking work around I posted about on pipakins forums that I use to make it work.

[Aiken]

-bt 1024
Three things...

Edit: Part one was my brain being in the wrong gear. Never mind part 1. :)

Second, and as I hope you intend, -bt will only reduce bitrate. I don't think it'll increase it if you have more bits budgeted than you need. I think you only need your estimation to come out higher than actually needed, so this is probably okay. For instance, I have a 320x240 video that I encode manually with ffmpeg to test, and I set its video bitrate to 8192Kb/s. However, it typically only writes out about 1200Kb/s, even with -bt set up, because that's all it needs. Again, I think this is as you intend, but wanted to be sure you knew. I certainly wouldn't want it to bump up the size if it were under budget.

Third, you might want to have it as a percentage of the video bitrate, not an absolute value.

-g 6
I experimented with changing the GOP size a while back. I got nothing but trouble for it. I think it was mostly to do with audio sync. I wouldn't do that unless you manage to figure out how to do it without trouble on a wide set of inputs.

By the way, I think -g is in number of frames, so you're only getting five frames between I-frames with -g 6. You'll get a lot of bloat from that, and in fact you'll cause the between frames to lose quality, since they must contribute some of their bits to the budget for constructing the numerous I-frames within the target bitrate.

[rahamim]

When I first run the "Start Service" I get the following error:

"Unhandled exception has occured in your application." *snip*

Cannot start service TiVo[dot]Net Auto-Transcoding Service on computer "[dot]"[dot]

I am using Tivo[d]Net 0.95a. I got the same error with earlier version.

I can continue and it works for a short while but if I use it for a while it crashes and I need to reboot my computer... Any ideas?

Guy

[Bluesfan77]

FYI, the "xfers" page is titled "TiVo.Net Error Log" not "TiVo.Net Transfers"

[jfh3]

Installed the latest code and can't get to the admim screen:

XML Parsing Error: mismatched tag. Expected: </b>.
Location: http://localhost:9033/
Line Number 33, Column 112: <b><UL><LI><A HREF="/PodcastRSSLister">PodcastRSSLister</A></LI><LI><A HREF="/FFMpeg">ffmpeg</A></LI></UL></B>

Any ideas?

Answered my own question - don't install in a different directory than the default. :)

[Bluesfan77]

Feature request - Is it possible to add in a way to remove the RSSITEM files in the PluginData folder after a podcast has been transfered to the TiVo?

[jackny]

Why do I get the feeling that the TiVo.Net project has been abandoned? I hope not. It seemed they were close to solving the "disappearing file" problem........R.I.P.

[Enrique]

Why do I get the feeling that the TiVo.Net project has been abandoned? I hope not. It seemed they were close to solving the "disappearing file" problem........R.I.P.LOL I think not, Were would you get a idea like that??? :cool:

[A@ron]

no kidding... what are you smoking?
From what I can tell Pipakin has a wife (aka a real life) and does not code TiVo.Net 24/7. It also seems he has a real job as well (aka not TiVo.Net). So chill ;)

[ocntscha]

Why do I get the feeling that the TiVo.Net project has been abandoned?I suppose because more than 4 hours have elapsed without Pipakin releasing an update.

[Aiken]

First, that's in bits, not bytes or kilobits. I think you want a 'k' there to get your 1Kb value.
Uh, I edited my post because this bit was stupid. Of course 1024 bits is a kilobit. I don't know what I was thinking.

[Aiken]

Why do I get the feeling that the TiVo.Net project has been abandoned? I hope not. It seemed they were close to solving the "disappearing file" problem........R.I.P.
Err... pipakin doesn't post for one day, and you're saying the project is dead? What's the matter with you?

It's people like you who piss off programmers and make them stop working on what were previously fun projects. You certainly pissed me off. Take a pill and let the guy have a breather. Don't ruin it for the rest of us who benefit from pipakin's generous and hard-working nature.

[Ron667]

I suppose because more than 4 hours have elapsed without Pipakin releasing an update.
:p

I too am addicted to checking this thread to see what new cool things Pipakin has in store for us. :D

BTW, I finally found the ffmpeg settings screen and bumped it all up to max quality, as well as setting the videos to not correct their aspect ratio. All I have to say is WOW. It looks great! We were able to play back stuff that had been recorded in 16:9, and it looked much better than playing it back off of our laptop connected to our TV. I think it turns out that Windows Media Player automatically formats 16:9 SVideo output to letterboxed 4:3, so we always had to zoom in to get a full wide-screen display on our rp TV. Now we can just watch it in 16:9 from the Tivo. MUCH better. TYVM!

One feature request would be to default it to not correct for aspect ratio. It was a minor pain to go through all the directories and change them all to 'do not correct'. Just a minor annoyance, but would be nice to be able to set that as default for any new videos coming in, or have it as a global setting (and not a per-file setting).

Anyway, as it has been said before, You Rock Pipakin!

(and yes, we need to get around to donating to the cause... Soon. ;))

[theitrain]

I'm having some trouble getting the admin screen to come up. I've installed the software correctly, and it seems to run fine. But I get an IE error when I try to pull up the admin screen. Any advice?

[JayMerk]

I am also having this problem of being unable to connect to the localhost. i have checked the host file and all is well, i tried port forwarding on both the router and the windows firewall, i also tried disabling the firewall still nothing i don't know what else to do.

I'm using TiVoDotNetSetup-0.9.5a-fixed and my tivo is using version 8.1-01-2-64 9

[gregoryb]

Does / Should this work with a directivo hacked with zipper 6.2? Should you see a TivoDotNet entry in the Now showing (like other mrv tivos)?

[Enrique]

Does / Should this work with a directivo hacked with zipper 6.2? Should you see a TivoDotNet entry in the Now showing (like other mrv tivos)?Has far has i know tivo.net does not work with hacked DIRECTVTivo's (I think pipakin said the same thing).

[greg_burns]

I'm having some trouble getting the admin screen to come up. I've installed the software correctly, and it seems to run fine. But I get an IE error when I try to pull up the admin screen. Any advice?

Have you opened ports 9032/TCP and 9033/TCP in your firewall? You can do it in control panel or from a cmd prompt...


start->run->cmd

netsh firewall add portopening protocol=tcp port=9032 name="Tivo.Net"
netsh firewall add portopening protocol=tcp port=9033 name="Tivo.Net"

[JayMerk]

just tried it and it still didn't work for me, i can use videora and tivo desktop but this would be so much easier

[greg_burns]

just tried it and it still didn't work for me, i can use videora and tivo desktop but this would be so much easier

What OS? We found an incompatibility with Win2K.

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.net.httplistener.aspx
This class is available only on computers running the Windows XP SP2 or Windows Server 2003 operating systems. If you attempt to create an HttpListener object on a computer that is running an earlier operating system, the constructor throws a PlatformNotSupportedException exception.


Edit: You mentioned firewall, so I am guessing you are running WinXP SP2.

[ciscokidinsf]

Still being a Moron for MacOSX. A@ron. Give me a hand. My xml file reads as follows:

<TiVoMono>
<Installpath>Desktop/TivoMono</Installpath>
<FFMpeg_Path>Applications</FFMpeg_Path>
</TiVoMono>

Is it right? (probably not)

Then I get this in the terminal:

Last login: Sat Feb 10 20:01:07 on ttyp2
Welcome to Darwin!
Francisco-Guerreros-Computer:~ fjguerrero$ /Library/Frameworks/Mono.framework/Versions/1.2.2.1/bin/mono
Usage is: mono [options] program [program-options]

Development:
--aot Compiles the assembly to native code
--debug Enable debugging support
--profile[=profiler] Runs in profiling mode with the specified profiler module
--trace[=EXPR] Enable tracing, use --help-trace for details
--help-devel Shows more options available to developers

Runtime:
--config FILE Loads FILE as the Mono config
--verbose, -v Increases the verbosity level
--help, -h Show usage information
--version, -V Show version information
--runtime=VERSION Use the VERSION runtime, instead of autodetecting
--optimize=OPT Turns on or off a specific optimization
Use --list-opt to get a list of optimizations
--security Turns on the security manager (unsupported, default is off)
Francisco-Guerreros-Computer:~ fjguerrero$ Desktop/TivoMono
-bash: Desktop/TivoMono: is a directory
Francisco-Guerreros-Computer:~ fjguerrero$ mono TivoMono.exe --verbose --nodetails
Cannot open assembly TivoMono.exe.

Help! Being a moron is hard. I can't help it.

[JayMerk]

yea im running xp pro sp2

oh and by the way im new to tivo just got it tuesday

[ocntscha]

Regarding this whole disappearing transfers issue, I've been experiencing that myself with TivoMono 0.9.5a. I'll get a transfer going, watch a little as it transfers, then go to bed or whatever and then in the morning its just nowhere to be found on my Tivo. Really, I think everything I've attempted to transfer with 0.9.5a has just up and vanished. I found some time to kind of dig into this a little this evening, I've got a handful of music videos I've been using as they make for nice quick transfers and so are good for testing what happens at the end of a transfer..

First thing I did was start a transfer of the Crazy Frog video , yeah what can I say :o , and just sat there and watched it to see what would happen at the end. It got about 85% or so complete and then to my surprise just abruptly stopped, the Tivo asked me what I wanted to do with it, save or delete? From what a gather in other postings in this thread it would have defaulted to just deleting the file had I not been watching. Hmm, seems 0.9.5a must be under reporting to the the Tivo how many bytes will be transferred.

I never noticed this happening with the older versions so swapped 0.9.5a out for 0.9.1a. I watched the Crazy frog Video, it transferred all the way to the end before asking me what I wanted to do with it. I started up a transfer of the Pussy Cat Dolls video and watched the first minute or so and then intentionally got out of it so as not to be viewing it when it completed. I wanted to see if it would just up and vanish. Also, while the Pussy Cat Dolls video was transferring I queued up a transfer of The Bangles, Walk Like an Egyptian. To my delight it all functioned perfectly, the Pussy Cat Dolls where there intact when the transfer was done, the Bangles then started transferring immediately, I never ever went in to view the Bangles vidoe at all as it transferred, when it was done, there it was intact.

I've got version 8.1 of the Tivo software. I think the bottom line of all this is that by default 0.9.5a is underestimating the transfer size and so causing the disapperaing videos, maybe I'll load it back on and experiment with the "fudge factor" setting. The earlier versions over report the transfer size and apparently 8.1 doesn't mind if the transfer size is over reported and functions just as you'd want it to, just keeps the completed transfer without complaint. I'll keep experimenting as time permits but I'm very encouraged with these results.

[Stu_Bee]

For those that use windows...an easy way to tell whether it is being under-estimated, is to launch TivoDesktop while the file is being transferred and Choose the "Pick Recordings to Transfer" button.
I've noticed that the files i have problems with are reported something low..like 650mb...while those that work are higher estimates like 8gb.
Then again...I'm still using 9.1a, as I thought it to be more consistent.

[rahamim]

*snip* From what a gather in other postings in this thread it would have defaulted to just deleting the file had I not been watching. Hmm, seems 095a must be under reporting to the the Tivo how many bytes will be transferred.


This makes sense. In the transfer page of Tivo[dot]Net admin it lists percent complete at 110% or so for all the transfers and cancelled is listed as YES.

Time to play with the fudge factor in the registry.

[A@ron]

I've hacked together a stable version of tivomono for us Mac OS X users and included the ffmpeg binary in it as well. Looking for a few people to test it before I get it over to pipakin or post it here. In some ways it's a step back toward 0.8.0a but it works good for me.

[iindigo]

I've hacked together a stable version of tivomono for us Mac OS X users and included the ffmpeg binary in it as well. Looking for a few people to test it before I get it over to pipakin or post it here.

I'll test it. I couldn't get 0.8.0 or 0.9.5a working correctly, though; for 0.8.0 TivoMono shows up on my TiVo's list, but the TiVo simple freezes up when selecting one of the videos in the list, and won't release until I quit TivoMono. Maybe this will fix that.

PM me with the link and I'll get to testing it right away.

[KRKeegan]

I think the bottom line of all this is that by default 0.9.5a is underestimating the transfer size and so causing the disapperaing videos,
Umm that isn't exactly accurate.

For those of us with disappearing videos, this is how it is happening. When TiVo.net overestimates the video size TiVo is told to expect more video than what it receives. If you are not watching the video at the time this error occurs TiVo will delete the video thinking that it is a failed transfer.

If TiVo.net underestimates the size TiVo gets all of the video it is expecting, but you do not get to see the end of your Video. However since TiVo is unaware of the error this file will not get deleted.

Now it appears that this doesnt happen to everyone for reasons I can't explain.

But as a test ocntscha can you transfer the file that was underestimated again and this time let it transfer while you are NOT watching it. It should remain on your TiVo but not be full length. 2. then can you transfer the other file that was deleted early and watch it while it transfers. If it ends while you are watching it should not get deleted this time.

Thanks

[A@ron]

yup it fixes the freezing issue in 0.8.0a which was fixed by the nodetails flag in 0.9.5a but 0.9.5a has networking issues on a mac where 0.8.0a does not.

Ok it's been tested and verified that it works by two others from TCF.
http://rapidshare.com/files/16053145/TiVoMonoMac.zip.html

There is even a readme for the more newbie of us. All I did to make this work was build 0.8.0a from source and comment out all the date/time metadata sending to the tivo. The Mac chokes on only date/time data. Commenting it out of the build allows it to work fine and not freeze the tivo.

[mhpace]

I have installed the software. Added videos to the folder. i can see them in the admin site but when i select one and hit update it shuts down the Tivo net service.

Do I need to hit the update for the Tivo to see the videos? I dont see a transfer button anywhere and cant find a manual or how to that explains it. thanks

[dlfl]

@mhpace:

To help others help you, post some info:
1. Linux, Mac or PC?
2. Operating system version and service pack
3. Version of Tivo.Net you are trying
4. Model of TiVo and Software version

Just making some assumptions (Windows XP SP2, TiVo.net version 0.9.5a), you might want to try 0.9.1a. Seems like a lot of OP are having problems with 0.9.5a. Be sure to uninstall one version before installing another. Ver. 0.9.1a has the bug (on my PC at least) of not showing file names in the transfer page.

Regarding the shutdown on update: Try temporarily disabling your Windows Firewall and your virus protection to see if that removes the problem.

Transfers are initiated by your TiVo by selecting the file in the Now Playing list, which should show a TiVo.Net server down near the bottom of the list if TiVo.Net is installed and running correctly.

[Stu_Bee]

When TiVo.net overestimates the video size TiVo is told to expect more video than what it receives. If you are not watching the video at the time this error occurs TiVo will delete the video thinking that it is a failed transfer.

If TiVo.net underestimates the size TiVo gets all of the video it is expecting, but you do not get to see the end of your Video. However since TiVo is unaware of the error this file will not get deleted.

Hmm..I thought mine was having the opposite occur.
- Tivo.net overestimates are fine. The videos still are on my Tivo after transfer, and Tivo reports the correct file size once transfered.
- Tivo.net underestimates disappear. In the Tivo ToDo log file, there usually is a message about the file received being larger than expected.

[jackmbernstein]

I just tried to install this on my new Vista machine. I get a statement that "The installer has encountered an unexpected error... The error code is 2869." It then aborts and undoes everything. Any clues? :(

[ciscokidinsf]

Hey Y'all A@ron's Mac OSX adaptation worked well. Tested on a Mac OSX 10.3 (A humble 2G Imac PowerPC with 800Mhz) All went well. Though for some reason, the directories got very picky with me. Installing the app and the video folder in the root directory helped me a lot.
Also, in the notes A@ron, please add that one MUST keep Terminal running while the app is open. otherwise it stops. Now I got BOTH mac and Windows playing nice with the Tivos

[jaredmwright]

System stats
HP laptop w/AMD Athlon 1800
1GB RAM
Windows XP SP2
.NET 3.0
TiVo.NET 0.9.5.a

I have been having better luck with the latest version, although I have only been transferring DL.tv clips in .mp4 format if that matters?

I have a question though. When new files are added to the directory set in Tivo.NET, do you always have to click the "Submit/Rescan" for your TiVo to see the latest files added or removed? I have a script that runs hourly checking for updates on the web for video files which are downloaded and then placed in my Tivo.NET folder. I have not been able to find a graceful way to refresh the files in the folder for the TiVo other than manually clicking in the admin interface.

Could you schedule this to automatically update every 5 minutes or allow the user to set a time to check for new files? Is there already a way I don't know about?

GREAT product, if only TiVo could do use this and add features to it!!!!

[windracer]

Also, in the notes A@ron, please add that one MUST keep Terminal running while the app is open. otherwise it stops.
Since the Macs are running Unix really, can you run TiVoMono with nohup and in the background? Then you shouldn't need tokeep the terminal window open.

ex. $ nohup mono TivoMono.exe --noterminal --nodetails &

[mhpace]

dlfl that was it. Thanks for helping even though I didnt give enough info. I rechecked the firewall settings and they had not stuck. Reentered and that fired it right up.

Second question? XP SP2, latest version of tivo net

I saw where someone had improved the quality somehow. How was this done

[A@ron]

Since the Macs are running Unix really, can you run TiVoMono with nohup and in the background? Then you shouldn't need tokeep the terminal window open.

ex. $ nohup mono TivoMono.exe --noterminal --nodetails &

I had to roll back to 0.8.0a. Newer builds have some networking issues and in the older builds --noterminal is not an option :(

But it works with
nohup mono Tivomono.exe &

thanks for reminding me about nohup! But it's got that 100% CPU bug that 0.8.0a had. So for now run it in a terminal window.

[greg_burns]

I saw where someone had improved the quality somehow. How was this done

Open Tivo.Net from the icon in your Start Menu; Start->All Programs->TiVo.Net->TiVo.Net Administration. Or just type http://localhost:9033/ into a browser. Then click on the ffmpeg link on the left under Plugins heading. Simply bump the Video Bit Rate setting.

[greg_burns]

I just tried to install this on my new Vista machine. I get a statement that "The installer has encountered an unexpected error... The error code is 2869." It then aborts and undoes everything. Any clues? :(

Just ran into the same thing myself. Gonna install VS 2005 and see what is happening.

[ocntscha]

Hmm..I thought mine was having the opposite occur.
- Tivo.net overestimates are fine. The videos still are on my Tivo after transfer, and Tivo reports the correct file size once transfered.
- Tivo.net underestimates disappear. In the Tivo ToDo log file, there usually is a message about the file received being larger than expected.KRKeegan, I went back and did some further testing as you requested and my experience jives 100% with Stu_Bee's.

If the video size is underestimated and I'm not watching it when its transferred it just vanishes and there's a note to that effect in the To Do/Recording History on the Tivo.

If the video size is underestimated and I am watching it as it transfers, it'll just abruptly pop up an error sometime before its actually finished transferring..

The transfer has been temporarily interuppted, the DVR or the Sherri-DVR DVR may have been unplugged or restarted or there may be a problem with the network. To resume the transfer, make sure that both DVRs are plugged in and connected to the network using the correct settings. Also, confirm, that the network is up and running. The transfer will then resume automatically after a few minutes.

Press SELECT to continueI press select to continue and then its available in my now playing list, albeit with the end of the video cut off.

Using 0.9.1a where everything is over estimated, I've had some minor flakiness here and there but in general there are no issues, I can be watching or not watching, have a bunch of stuff queued up and just let it go, it'll all make it onto the Tivo with no error messages anywhere, entire videos fully intact.

My Tivo is a TCD24008A with version 8.1-01-2 of the Tivo software.

I wanted to experiment with the fudge factor setting and 0.9.5a because I suspect cranking it up is all that would be necessary for it to start playing nicely for me. Only problem is I'm running the mono version so I can't change it in the registry, I tried setting it is an environment variable but that did nothing.

[dlfl]

dlfl that was it. Thanks for helping even though I didnt give enough info......I saw where someone had improved the quality somehow. How was this done
You're welcome!

Not sure what you're referring to but quality is definitely better if you select higher bitrates (video and/or audio) in the ffmpeg page. Transfer rate will go down and at some bitrate the transfer rate will fall below real time, i.e., you won't be able to watch the video starting right after the transfer begins. Transfer rate depends on the bitrates, the type of video file being converted, your PC, the network and the TiVo. On one computer with a 3GHz processor and a wired network connection, I have the video bitrate set up to 3168 kbps and the transfer rate is still faster than real time. On another computer (laptop) with 2.8 GHz processor and wireless network connection, transfer rate is only slightly better than real time at 1536 kbps.

[lau888]

OK, I volunteer! What a beautiful program.

I downloaded it, installed it, put some videos in the C:\PipKin Technologies\TivoNET\Videos folder and ran to my TV to watch them. Nothing yet though. And the Admin page wouldn't open.

I then read ALL the posts in this 30 page thread.

On page 11, I found I needed to start the TivoNET Auto-Transcoding Service. I did that and then changed it to Auto. Videos showed up on the TV! Great! And...the Admin page opened but I didn't know what to do with it.

On page 14, I found I could change the video bit rate.

I kept finding more bits and pieces...

On page 30, I found mention of a TivoNET icon on my start button but I didn't find one on MY start button.

I'll keep reading and learning about this awesome program.

Maybe when we all learn how to make it work on the various platforms, a "Quick Start" or "How to make this work right out of the box" page will be forthcoming.

Coffee money already sent!

Thanks pipakin!!!

(Consider the last two lines in BOLD print. Since this is my first post, I couldn't make that happen the regular way. Also, I had to take the periods out of each instance of Tivo'dot'NET because the forum software thought it was a URL and I'm not allowed to do that yet either.)

[Swervo]

I didn't make it all the way through all 30 pages of the thread, but I did go through every page and search for "volume" and didn't find anything, so I apologize if this has been mentioned before.

First off, I *love* this app. This is what I've been looking for, I've been doing manual ffmpeg conversions from whatever format to .wmv to play them on my XBox 360, but that's dodgy at best...this is far better.

However, I find that the videos that come off my PC are about 6 times as loud as what I just get normally on the TV. I normally watch things with my TV at a volume of 35 or so, I have to watch videos over Tivo dot Nyet at no more than 6, otherwise it's deafening. It also seems like it's so loud that even at low volumes, there's some distortion to the audio.

I noticed on the Wiki for the project there are mentions of conversion options in the admin page, but the page shown on the Wiki appears to be from an old version (it also mentions that the latest version is .9.1, I've got .9.5) and the admin page doesn't seem to have those options for me.

Any hints?

EDIT: Duh, I'm an idiot and didn't realize the ffmpeg plugin page had all the encoding options on it. I don't see a volume option anywhere on there, though...

EDIT AGAIN: I noticed that changing the audio output from AC3 to Mpeg2 seems to alleviated it somewhat. I can now watch videos at about 15 volume, which isn't nearly so bad. The nice thing is, it's not insanely "I'm worried I'm going to blow my speakers" loud if I forget to turn it down.

[KRKeegan]

KRKeegan, I went back and did some further testing as you requested and my experience jives 100% with Stu_Bee's.
Interesting, thanks for checking that out for me.

Either way no one really wants a video to cut off. But what I really want is TiVo to change the software so that it doesn't ask for a file size at the beginning. But at the rate they move with software updates that could be wishful thinking.

I guess I am back to square one. I really can't explain why some people are getting errors while others are not. We all appear to be running the same software, except I am screwed with some funky version 8.1p?? What is this letter stuff??

Back to the drawing board, thanks for you help.

[lau888]

Thanks Greg, I found it later last night. I have so many programs that TiVoNet (still having to leave out the "dot" for three more posts after this one) is clear over in the right column with only "Tivo" visible. I'll have to work on that.

[speed_phreak]

If you mean DirecTV TiVos, then I don't think so. The TiVo needs TiVoToGo compatibility. I'm thinking of writing an MRV plugin eventually, but I don't understand the protocol well, and don't have a hacked TiVo to test on.

I sure would like to see a MRV plugin! I think you would be a lot of people's hero!!!

[Ron667]

Just an FYI. I was able to view a 1 hour show using the default SizeFudge and default (low quality) ffmpeg settings. Once I bumped up the ffmpeg settings to max (and set the video to not correct for aspect ratio), I was getting the transfer quitting about 3 min early. I had to bump up the SizeFudge to 1.5. Now it works like a charm, although we are using this as a streaming service, i.e. we're watching live, not downloading and watching later, so I don't know if this would suffer from the 'transfer being cancelled and deleted' problem or not.

[slackmaster66249]

I have download and installed
TiVoDotNetSetup-0.9.5a-fixed.msi

When I open the admin page I get an error 404 or something like that. I also noticed that when I open the directory folder, it does not contain a folder named "videos". Needless to say, i am not able to do any computer to TivO transfers.
I've read most of the 30 pages as well as the devolopers page and am lost as to what to do.
Could someone post a "idiots step by step guide to making this work" because I would love to watch some of my computer videos on my tivo.
Thanks all

[lizardking]

Can your software play ISO files? I have several (legally) ripped ISOs from DVDs that I would love to be able to play on my TiVo. Would your software allow this to happen?

Alternatively, could I mount the ISO and then point your software to the .vob files in the VIDEO_TS folder?

[morac]

Has anyone successfully converted a .swf (flash) file?

It's listed as one of the supported files, but last time I tried it my TiVo got stuck in the "already transferring" state and I had to restart the TiVo.

[pipakin]

Hey everyone!

Sorry I haven't posted in a while, my shower's plumbing turned my upstairs into a swimmingpool and blew my computer's power supply (Water+Surge protector = fireworks!). I'm lucky it didn't start any fires :eek: Everything's ok now, and I'll be back up and running in a few days, but I'm unable to code at all till then. Just wanted to fill everyone in.

See you in a few days! :)

-Philip

[MichaelK]

YIKES!

:eek:


instead of coffe money we're going to need to send plumber money!

Glad no fire or anything like that.

Good luck getting all put back together.

[lau888]

I have download and installed
TiVoDotNetSetup-0.9.5a-fixed.msi

When I open the admin page I get an error 404 or something like that. I also noticed that when I open the directory folder, it does not contain a folder named "videos". Needless to say, i am not able to do any computer to TivO transfers.
I've read most of the 30 pages as well as the devolopers page and am lost as to what to do.
Could someone post a "idiots step by step guide to making this work" because I would love to watch some of my computer videos on my tivo.
Thanks all
The service "TiVoNet Auto Transcoding Service has to be running for the admin page to operate correctly.

Click Start->Programs->TivoNet->Start Service. It will take a little while (15-30 seconds??) to fully start, then you should be able to open the TiVoNet Administration using the same procedure as above (Just click "TiVoNet Administration" instead of "Start Service.")

[lndshark]

I just tried to install this on my new Vista machine. I get a statement that "The installer has encountered an unexpected error... The error code is 2869." It then aborts and undoes everything. Any clues? :(

Deactivate UAC, reboot, and install again. This solves LOTS of install problems on Vista.

[greg_burns]

Deactivate UAC, reboot, and install again. This solves LOTS of install problems on Vista.

Hmm. That got it installed at least. :up:

http://www.petri.co.il/disable_uac_in_windows_vista.htm

Still not working though. We'll have to look deeper later.

[windracer]

Sorry I haven't posted in a while, my shower's plumbing turned my upstairs into a swimmingpool and blew my computer's power supply
Thank god the code's on SourceForge! ;)

Seriously though, that sucks ... hope everything is back to normal soon.

[Attica]

Sorry to hear about your plumbing pipakin! I just had to deal with my sink the other day and it is not fun when it decides to flood a room or two!

I was hoping someone could help me out here...

I'm running WinXP SP2, with TivoNet 0.9.5a-fixed, on a Tivo with 8.1 software.

I first got it up and running and while trying to transfer a show to my Tivo, I got the error "Will transfer when other shows transfer", or something to that effect. My Tivo seemed like it was stuck so I killed the power on it and also rebooted my computer.

When both devices were rebooted, I started the TivoNet service and tried to access the admin page. No dice. I had been able to get into the admin page before, but now I cannot. I double checked my firewall settings and they are good.

I can see that the service starts, but as soon as I try to get into localhost, the service stops and I have to relaunch it. I did notice that my browser will try to do a DNS search.

Is there a way to uninstall TivoNet so that I can try to do a fresh install? I did not see it in my add/remove programs and I do not see a uninstall icon in the folder.

Thanks in advance guys!

[Stu_Bee]

Is there a way to uninstall TivoNet so that I can try to do a fresh install? I did not see it in my add/remove programs and I do not see a uninstall icon in the folder.
Every version I have installed so far shows in the Add/Remove programs as "Tivo.net". Maybe stop the service, and install again on top of it (?)

[Attica]

Every version I have installed so far shows in the Add/Remove programs as "Tivonet". Maybe stop the service, and install again on top of it (?)

Mine does not show up in the add/remove programs. Maybe a corrupt installation? Anywho, I cannot install over it because I get the error "The specified service already exists" and it backs out of the installation.

I do not know how to get rid of the service so that I can reinstall the program.

[Enrique]

Mine does not show up in the add/remove programs. Maybe a corrupt installation? Anywho, I cannot install over it because I get the error "The specified service already exists" and it backs out of the installation.

I do not know how to get rid of the service so that I can reinstall the program.I what i would do is stop the tivodotnet service then go in to the Program files in windows and delete the folder in which Tivo.net is installed under then reinstall.

[Attica]

Well, I figured out how to delete a service. You have to do so through the registry (Start->Run->regedit)

I got TivoNet reinstalled, now I just need to see if I can transfer without error.

Thanks for the suggestions guys...I may be back if it still doesn't work!

EDIT: It did install correctly this time. It shows up in add/remove programs. Also, I was able to begin a transfer. Not sure if it will work completely, but I will update this if it does. Thanks again for the help!

EDIT 2: Everything seems to transfer without a hitch! Thanks for the great program!!!

[greg_burns]

You can uninstall the service like so from a command prompt...


C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\InstallUtil -u "C:\Program Files\Pipkin Technologies\TiVo.Net\TivoDotNet.exe"


Full path is not necessary if you change to the TiVo.Net folder to begin with, then it is simply...

C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\InstallUtil -u TivoDotNet.exe


-i will reinstall

[GCymbala]

Every version I have installed so far shows in the Add/Remove programs as "Tivo.net". Maybe stop the service, and install again on top of it (?)

Try this at the command line, where you've got the TiVo.Net .msi file downloaded from SourceForge:

msiexec /uninstall TiVoDotNetSetup-0.9.1a.msi

(or whatever version you've currently got).

To really clean things up, also delete the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\TiVoDotNet registry key.

HTH

[bcmarauder]

Is there any way to specify which TIVO has access to the service? I have a TIVO and my kids have a TIVO and do not want them to have access to some of the shows that I watch. Thanks

[Hi-Bred]

Does anyone know if Tivo.Net works on the Series 3? The "Tivo Desktop" feature is disabled on the S3 for now :mad: , but I'm not sure if your software has that same limitation. :confused:

[greg_burns]

Does anyone know if Tivo.Net works on the Series 3? The "Tivo Desktop" feature is disabled on the S3 for now :mad: , but I'm not sure if your software has that same limitation. :confused:

No, it requires Tivo2Go (or specifically TivoComeback) to be enabled.

[Ron667]

I think someone needs to put together an FAQ with a) initial setup, b) configuration, c) tweaks and troubleshooting, and d) general questions, such as does it work with such and such a Tivo, and link it at the beginning of this thread. New people are starting to come in here and are being overwhelmed with the 30+ pages of posts to wade through for answers. Just IMO.

[kipps5000]

well first off this is my first post .. so here it goes . i would really like to thank the person who came up with this program it is great ... i had a little problem at first ,but got it worked out ,,it was with my firewall .once i dropped it ,it all worked great .. thanks again .. KS

[windracer]

I think someone needs to put together an FAQ
I suspect that's the plan for the project wiki (http://www.satellite-of-love.org/TiVoDotNet.ashx). It just needs to be worked on ...

[KRKeegan]

Is there any way to specify which TIVO has access to the service? I have a TIVO and my kids have a TIVO and do not want them to have access to some of the shows that I watch. Thanks

There is not one built in, but you can certainly add a firewall that specifically blocks the IP of the second TiVo and you could also add a routing table in your router, in this second situation it would show up in the NPL but would not be browsable.

Sorry both of these solutions require some tech savvy. Maybe this can be added to the list for future versions.

[jpartridge]

I've seen mention of "tweaking" the SizeFudge or Fudge parameter to help out with the dissapearing videos where the size is either over/under calculated. Does anyone have details on how/where to change that setting?

[enliteneer]

I havent had any luck getting TivoNet 0.9.5a-fixed to work... Im running winxp sp2 on an amd1800/512mb with tivo desktop uninstalled just to avoid any conflicts.

The tivo is a SA series 2.5 running 8.1 software.

When I start the tivo.net service, I do a scan of my videos (on D:\Videos) from the administration page. On the tivo 'now showing' menu, I see my computer on the list with the files inside. However, immediately upon selecting a file to transfer to the tivo, my computer pops-up with a crash window:

"ffmpeg_mp2.exe has encountered a problem and needs to close...
szAppName : ffmpeg_mp2.exe szAppVer : 0.0.0.0 szModName : ffmpeg_mp2.exe
szModVer : 0.0.0.0 offset : 001f8627 ".

Tivo at this point, says that the file will be transferred later once other previously requested files have been transferred... it then gets placed in the todo list. Looking at the tivo's history it says that the file was not transferred because it was not found on the tivo.net server.


There are also 2 errors in the error log from Tivo.net:

The specified network name is no longer available - at System.Net.HttpResponseStream.Dispose(Boolean disposing) at System.IO.Stream.Close() at System.IO.StreamWriter.Dispose(Boolean disposing) at System.IO.StreamWriter.Close() at TiVoDotNetBase.TivoDotNet.ParseVideoUrl(String url, HttpListenerContext con, ContainerItem ci) at TiVoDotNetBase.TivoDotNet.ContextCallback(IAsyncResult ar)

and:

LoadPlugins Error loading plugin dll : C:\Program Files\Pipkin Technologies\TiVo.Net\Plugins\SDL.dll Minor Error



Is this a known issue? Any suggestions what I could try??

[pipakin]

I havent had any luck getting TivoNet 0.9.5a-fixed to work... Im running winxp sp2 on an amd1800/512mb with tivo desktop uninstalled just to avoid any conflicts.

The tivo is a SA series 2.5 running 8.1 software.

When I start the tivo.net service, I do a scan of my videos (on D:\Videos) from the administration page. On the tivo 'now showing' menu, I see my computer on the list with the files inside. However, immediately upon selecting a file to transfer to the tivo, my computer pops-up with a crash window:

"ffmpeg_mp2.exe has encountered a problem and needs to close...
szAppName : ffmpeg_mp2.exe szAppVer : 0.0.0.0 szModName : ffmpeg_mp2.exe
szModVer : 0.0.0.0 offset : 001f8627 ".

Tivo at this point, says that the file will be transferred later once other previously requested files have been transferred... it then gets placed in the todo list. Looking at the tivo's history it says that the file was not transferred because it was not found on the tivo.net server.


There are also 2 errors in the error log from Tivo.net:

The specified network name is no longer available - at System.Net.HttpResponseStream.Dispose(Boolean disposing) at System.IO.Stream.Close() at System.IO.StreamWriter.Dispose(Boolean disposing) at System.IO.StreamWriter.Close() at TiVoDotNetBase.TivoDotNet.ParseVideoUrl(String url, HttpListenerContext con, ContainerItem ci) at TiVoDotNetBase.TivoDotNet.ContextCallback(IAsyncResult ar)

and:

LoadPlugins Error loading plugin dll : C:\Program Files\Pipkin Technologies\TiVo.Net\Plugins\SDL.dll Minor Error



Is this a known issue? Any suggestions what I could try??

1. My computer is working again, so hopefully I can get som bugfixes up soon once I get vs.net and all that reinstalled :)

2. What the heck is SDL.dll doing in the plugins dir?!? :P

3. Not sure what could be causing ffmpeg to crash, that's definately a new one.

[ocntscha]

I've seen mention of "tweaking" the SizeFudge or Fudge parameter to help out with the dissapearing videos where the size is either over/under calculated. Does anyone have details on how/where to change that setting?For Windows, pipakin told how to do it here (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=4858372&&#post4858372).

I don't believe pipakin has told us a way to do it with the mono version, I'm hoping he will.

[carroca]

For Windows, pipakin told how to do it here (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=4858372&&#post4858372).

I don't believe pipakin has told us a way to do it with the mono version, I'm hoping he will.
According to the post quoted below, it would seem that you would change the fudge value in the Mono version using a command line parameter (i.e. --fudge 1.5). I'm not running the Mono version so I'm not sure.

-Jason

New version! (0.9.5a)

- Configurable command line parameters (Mono)/Regkeys (.Net)
- --fudge (SizeFudge) - a number to multiply the file size estimation by (default: 1.04)
- --alwaystranscode (AlwaysTranscode) [true/false] - used to disable no-transcode files.
- --nodetails (Mono Only) - disable video details (MacOSX fix, possibly?)

[MichaelK]

sorry if it was posted already but there appears to be a new release from tivo to correct some tivotogo bugs.

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=340623

perhaps this will correct some of the issues people are having with tivo.net...

[captain-trips]

i apologize if the answer to this in in this thread somewhere...i've read through most of it and not seen the answer.

I've loaded the latest ver on Tivonet and it works beautifully. The only thing is that the quality of the video isn't that great. I see in older versions that you could choose better video and audio rates but I don't see that in the newest version.

Also, what is the 'remote access' setting for?

Thanks for this program! I've been waiting for something like this for a long time. Expect my donation my friend!

[Ron667]

There is a small ffmpeg link on the left side of the main admin page. That will take you to the video transcoding settings. I too searched for that when I first ran it. BTW, it is a major difference in the output of Tivo.net when you bump up the quality settings to max. Beware, though, that you may start getting the 'transfer ending too early' error that others are seeing once you change the quality settings. If so, you will need to enter in a larger value for the 'FudgeSize' setting in the registry (see post above for link to instructions). A 1.5 'FudgeSize' worked great for me.

One other thing you will want to do if you are transfering 16:9 videos and your TV is widescreen: in the ffmpeg settings, click the '16:9' radio button, and in your video directory, set the videos to not correct for aspect ratio. It is amazing to be able to watch widescreen video natively through the Tivo without doing a '4:3 zoom 1' on our TV. :)

[ocntscha]

According to the post quoted below, it would seem that you would change the fudge value in the Mono version using a command line parameter (i.e. --fudge 1.5). I'm not running the Mono version so I'm not sure.

-JasonThat sure looks like it would do it. Good eye Jason! Thankyou, I'll try it out as soon as I get a chance.

[windracer]

Also, what is the 'remote access' setting for?
This lets you access the Admin Interface from a machine other than the one TiVo.Net is running on.

[windracer]

Something has changed recently and I'm not sure what ...

Now, when I try to select a recording from the TiVo.Net NPL, my TiVo locks up. I've duplicated this on my TX20 and my S2. Here's what I found in the error log:

mscorlib String was not recognized as a valid DateTime. - at System.DateTime.Parse (System.String s, IFormatProvider fp, DateTimeStyles styles) [0x00000]
at System.DateTime.Parse (System.String s, IFormatProvider fp) [0x00000]
at System.DateTime.Parse (System.String s) [0x00000]
at System.Convert.ToDateTime (System.String value) [0x00000]
at TiVoDotNetBase.VideoFileItem.BuildEpisodeXML (System.String tagname, System.Xml.XmlNode parent, System.Xml.XmlDocument xmldoc) [0x00000]
at TiVoDotNetBase.VideoFileItem.OutputDetails () [0x00000]
at TiVoDotNetBase.TivoDotNet.ParseVideoUrl (System.String url, System.Net.HttpListenerContext con, TiVoDotNetBase.ContainerItem ci) [0x00000]
at TiVoDotNetBase.TivoDotNet.ContextCallback (IAsyncResult ar) [0x00000]

After selecting a video, you just get stuck on the NPL and the box just "bongs" at every remote press. If I wait 20 minutes it will timeout to Live TV and be fine again (pulling the plug also works :p).

[dlfl]

Something has changed recently and I'm not sure what ...

Now, when I try to select a recording from the TiVo.Net NPL, my TiVo locks up. I've duplicated this on my TX20 and my S2. Here's what I found in the error log:
.........
After selecting a video, you just get stuck on the NPL and the box just "bongs" at every remote press. If I wait 20 minutes it will timeout to Live TV and be fine again (pulling the plug also works :p).
I've managed to get my TiVo into that state a couple of times with the Windows version of Tivo.Net and not just in the last day or two. Obviously as you stated you can reboot the TiVo. IIRC I got out of it one time by disconnecting my network cable long enough for the TiVo to time out its network interface.

[johncherbini]

Ok....so I finally ran into the size estimation problem.

When transferring a backup of a DVD, Tivo deletes the file at the end of the transfer, because of the file size not being what is expected.

I'm running the mono version of 0.9.5a

I do not have access to the HTTP interface, and have tried adjusting the size estimation in two ways, that both lock the Tivo up until I kill the mono process.

1: mono TivoMono.exe --noterminal --fudge 1.05 --verbose &
2: Adding <SizeFudge>1.05</SizeFudge> to settings.xml

Is this the appropriate way to change the setting? I'd prefer to set it in settings.xml, but not sure if that is supported.

Thanks!

John C.

[ocntscha]

Ok....so I finally ran into the size estimation problem.

When transferring a backup of a DVD, Tivo deletes the file at the end of the transfer, because of the file size not being what is expected.

I'm running the mono version of 0.9.5a

I do not have access to the HTTP interface, and have tried adjusting the size estimation in two ways, that both lock the Tivo up until I kill the mono process.

1: mono TivoMono.exe --noterminal --fudge 1.05 --verbose &
2: Adding <SizeFudge>1.05</SizeFudge> to settings.xml

Is this the appropriate way to change the setting? I'd prefer to set it in settings.xml, but not sure if that is supported.

Thanks!

John C.I don't know if putting it in settings.xml is supported either but, I was having the deleted file problem myself for practically every file, maybe because I've got the ffmpeg encoding quality cranked up. Anyway, a couple days ago someone pointed out I can specify the fudge factor on the command line with the mono version so I've been using a command line of

mono TivoMono.exe --fudge 1.8 --verbose

for the past couple days and for me its been working fine, no more files disappearing and haven't experienced the tivo locking up as you describe. (I realize this probably doesn't really help you any, sorry, but just wanted to share that for me it is working)

As far as your not having the web interface, perhaps you don't have <Installpath> set correctly in the settings.xml file? I was doing a lot of experimenting the last week or so and one time I accidentally had the wrong setting for <Installpath> in settings.xml. The end result was that it still ran fine, I could stream stuff to my Tivo, but the the web interface wasn't available.

[johncherbini]

I don't know if putting it in settings.xml is supported either but, I was having the deleted file problem myself for practically every file, maybe because I've got the ffmpeg encoding quality cranked up. Anyway, a couple days ago someone pointed out I can specify the fudge factor on the command line with the mono version so I've been using a command line of

mono TivoMono.exe --fudge 1.8 --verbose

for the past couple days and for me its been working fine, no more files disappearing and haven't experienced the tivo locking up as you describe. (I realize this probably doesn't really help you any, sorry, but just wanted to share that for me it is working)

As far as your not having the web interface, perhaps you don't have <Installpath> set correctly in the settings.xml file? I was doing a lot of experimenting the last week or so and one time I accidentally had the wrong setting for <Installpath> in settings.xml. The end result was that it still ran fine, I could stream stuff to my Tivo, but the the web interface wasn't available.

I'll be damned. Trailing slash is needed in the Install Path. That did it.

Used your command line, with a lower fudge factor, and it doesn't lock up anymore. I'm watching the movie, we'll see if it keeps after it's finished transferring.

I was using 1.05 before, earlier in the thread there's a mention of this, and it has a hundreds digit as well. Maybe that is what was making it bonk out.

Thank you very much!

Traffic seems to have dropped off a bit on this thread, there must be a bunch of satisfied customers!

JC

[hughv]

Seriously cool!
I've been following this thread, and as soon as I opened the ports I got it to work.
Many thanks.

[MFMurphy00]

Feature request:

Ability to set the process priority level for the transcoding program ffmpeg (or plugin generally?) from the admin page. ffmpeg sometimes hogs my cpu. If I set the priority level via the Task manager after starting to "Below Normal" it plays "nice". Like to have it launched as a "background" process.

Similar effect to the Windows "start /low program.exe" batch command or the Unix nice command.

Hope everything gets dried out :-) Great program!

[johncherbini]

I'll be damned. Trailing slash is needed in the Install Path. That did it.

Used your command line, with a lower fudge factor, and it doesn't lock up anymore. I'm watching the movie, we'll see if it keeps after it's finished transferring.

I was using 1.05 before, earlier in the thread there's a mention of this, and it has a hundreds digit as well. Maybe that is what was making it bonk out.

Thank you very much!

Traffic seems to have dropped off a bit on this thread, there must be a bunch of satisfied customers!

JC

So, the 1.8 fudge factor didn't seem to work either.

I'm going to try 2.0 next. Has anyone else had to go this high?

JC

[maggie2101]

Thanks so much for this program. It worked like a champ as soon as I installed it. It says my version is out of date, but I hesitate to change it because it works perfectly so far. Now everything is sooooo much easier.

[ocntscha]

So, the 1.8 fudge factor didn't seem to work either.

I'm going to try 2.0 next. Has anyone else had to go this high?

JCSo, a couple messages ago you said this was a backup of a DVD. So, I tried transferring over one my backup of a DVD files and guess what, it didn't work, it did the disappearing act. First time I've had a file transfer fail on me since learning how to up the fudge factor.

I suspect that your backup of a DVD is probably like my backup of a DVD in that its in a format Tivo can play natively so Tivo.Net doesn't do any transcoding, it just ships it over byte for byte.

Anyhow, my speculation is that in the case of these no need to transcode, just ship it over byte for byte files, Tivo.Net is under reporting to the Tivo what the transfer size will be regardless of the fudge setting. Really the fudge setting shouldn't teven come into play, a file your going to not transcode and just ship over byte for byte, Tivo.Net would already know exactly how many bytes its going to send over before it even sends the file, its the same amount as the number of bytes in the file. But maybe there's some over head that needs to be accounted for or maybe there's just a bug in Tivo.Net, or maybe I'm entirely off base :rolleyes:

There is a --alwaystranscode command line option, we could experiment with.

[johncherbini]

So, a couple messages ago you said this was a backup of a DVD. So, I tried transferring over one my backup of a DVD files and guess what, it didn't work, it did the disappearing act. First time I've had a file transfer fail on me since learning how to up the fudge factor.

I suspect that your backup of a DVD is probably like my backup of a DVD in that its in a format Tivo can play natively so Tivo.Net doesn't do any transcoding, it just ships it over byte for byte.

Anyhow, my speculation is that in the case of these no need to transcode, just ship it over byte for byte files, Tivo.Net is under reporting to the Tivo what the transfer size will be regardless of the fudge setting. Really the fudge setting shouldn't teven come into play, a file your going to not transcode and just ship over byte for byte, Tivo.Net would already know exactly how many bytes its going to send over before it even sends the file, its the same amount as the number of bytes in the file. But maybe there's some over head that needs to be accounted for or maybe there's just a bug in Tivo.Net, or maybe I'm entirely off base :rolleyes:

There is a --alwaystranscode command line option, we could experiment with.

So, I bumped up to 2.0, transferred a 56min DVD that is encoded with DivX, and it disappeared as well. I don't think that DivX is native to Tivo, but I'm pretty new to the Tivo, so I'm not sure.

Well, there's two of us, anyone else?

JC

[cmtk05]

Hey all,

Seriously awsome program. been waiting awhile for something like this. I have looked over the pages and have not seen this problem so far.

I can see the server on the npl. When i transfer anything i lose the server. The file still transfers and completes, however to the the link back to the server i have to stop the service then restart it.

Even more strange is that i can queue up as many transfer as i want and they will all transfer, however once i back out and go to npl, or watch live tv or do anything else, tivo net server goes away from npl.

Any help?

[dmets]

Love this program.

I am using Democracy (www.getdemocracy.com) to grab the video podcasts. The new version saves them in to subfolders by show title. The using tivo.net to get them to the Tivo. MAN IS THIS AWSOME!

Could it be better sure - but it does work. Thanks for the great start and I look forward to trying new versions of tivo.net (auto update of the folder would be a great new feature :-)

Thanks again.

Dustin

[ocntscha]

I don't think that DivX is native to Tivo, but I'm pretty new to the Tivo, so I'm not sure.No. DivX isn't native to Tivo, if its a DivX file you are transferring that pretty much kills my theory of an explanation. Maybe you need to go higher than 2.0, I don't know. Maybe 0.9.1a would work, I was using it most of last week and having really good luck with it.

To bad pipakin is still drying out, I imagine if he where here 30 minutes after posting your problem he'd be like "I found the bug and fixed it, and I added 9 more features while I was at it, here's the link."

[cmtk05]

no thoughts on earlier post?

[ocntscha]

I'm going to try 2.0 next. Has anyone else had to go this high?John, as I told you yesterday I've been using 1.8 very successfully, until last evening when I tried to transfer over a 6Gigabyte DVD Rip it disappeared. Well guess what, I cranked the fudge factor all the way up to 4 and tried again, worked fine. I'm just going to leave it there, my Tivo has 520Gig total so Tivo.Net overestimating and temporarily tieing up a bunch of space isn't really a big deal to me.

[johncherbini]

John, as I told you yesterday I've been using 1.8 very successfully, until last evening when I tried to transfer over a 6Gigabyte DVD Rip it disappeared. Well guess what, I cranked the fudge factor all the way up to 4 and tried again, worked fine. I'm just going to leave it there, my Tivo has 520Gig total so Tivo.Net overestimating and temporarily tieing up a bunch of space isn't really a big deal to me.

Well, I tried the 4.0 fudge factor, and it still didn't work. It seems like it's almost doubling the actual size of the file. On disk, the file is about 482MB, but when I was looking at the file in "Tivo Transfer" the app in Toast 8, the file size was reporting over 988MB.

Very odd...

JC

[mccarty6608]

TV recordings (MCE, ms-dvr format) show in the directory, but Tivo won't transfer - says unknown file format. Any clues?

Series 2, stock 540
8.1 software

[ciscokidinsf]

I think recordings done with Windows Media Center are NOT compatible with ffmpeg. (I tried one by itself -not with Tivodotnet- and it failed) That is due to either Microsoft adding some protection on WMV 10 and above or b/c the protect them with a key to only allow your Media Center to play it and not anywhere else. First, try converting those to .avi or regular MPEG format, but It'll be hard to do. -As an aside, that was the reason why I stuck with Tivo instead of a Media Center. I like to move my shows to a PMP.

[greg_burns]

I think recordings done with Windows Media Center are NOT compatible with ffmpeg.

First, try converting those to .avi or regular MPEG format, but It'll be hard to do.

Can VideoReDo do that?

[cmtk05]

seems my problem may be related to the save directory. If i leave it set to the default it works ok. If i change to any other drive i have the issues i posted before.

[cmtk05]

forget that. i just proved that wrong. Anyone else had this issue?

[dlfl]

Can VideoReDo do that?
If you Google "WIKI DVR-MS" you find the following quote plus more:

DVR-MS (Microsoft Digital Video Recording) is a proprietary video and audio file format, developed by Microsoft. Video is encoded using the MPEG-2 standard and audio using MPEG-1 Layer II or Dolby Digital AC-3 (ATSC A/52). The format extends these standards by including metadata about the content and digital rights management. The extention was originally used by Zach Johnson(ZMan) who at the time was a developer for the television recording engine for Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition.

The digital video recorder feature of Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition creates files in this format. If a recorded broadcast was marked as copy protected, the resultant DVR-MS file can only be played back on the recording device

I have VideoReDo but don't process any DVR-MS files (AFAIK). However there is every indication on the VideoReDo forum that it does edit these files and it seems technically feasible since (per the WIKI quote) they are MPEG-2 files with the usual kinds of audio that VideoReDo is known to handle.

If Dan203 is watching, I'm sure he can clarify this.

EDIT: Additional info from VideoReDo web site, FAQ:

Does VideoReDo support DVR-MS files ?


Yes, Most DVR-MS files, created by Windows Media Center, can be edited with VideoReDo Plus. In addition, VideoReDo Plus can save files in a DVR-MS format. This means that files can be converted between program streams, transport streams, DVR-MS simply by specifying a different output file type.

If both your source and destination files are DVR-MS, then VideoReDo will copy the file's meta data (program name, actor, recording time, etc). from the source to the destination. Options can be set so that the meta data is altered for the output file. For example, you may want to add text such as "edited on <today's date>" to the program's description.

Some DVR-MS files contain "restricted content" at the request of the broadcaster. VideoReDo, like all 3rd party programs, can not edit such material.

[cmtk05]

ok, not sure that anyone really cares. If you are having any issues like i have had with tivo.net server dropping out of npl or issues with bind resetting, go back to 8.0.

I played around with all the 9.0's and kept having issues. So far 8.0 has not given me any problems. Also i have not changed any settings. Just an FYI

[johncherbini]

ok, not sure that anyone really cares. If you are having any issues like i have had with tivo.net server dropping out of npl or issues with bind resetting, go back to 8.0.

I played around with all the 9.0's and kept having issues. So far 8.0 has not given me any problems. Also i have not changed any settings. Just an FYI

Just for the sake of argument, 8.0 doesn't fix my transfer issues. Large files still disappearing after transfer.

John C.

[windracer]

After selecting a video, you just get stuck on the NPL and the box just "bongs" at every remote press. If I wait 20 minutes it will timeout to Live TV and be fine again (pulling the plug also works :p).
Using the --nodetails flag resolved the issue. It's working again.

[A@ron]

I am working on a preference pane for Mac OS X. It's really a WIP but it can start and stop tivomono without the terminal and without being kept open.
More info is here:
http://www.satellite-of-love.org/Forums/YaBB.pl?num=1171936198
You'll also need this version of TivoMono which closely resembles the 0.9.5 build... just had to tweak some networking things.
http://rapidshare.com/files/17331557/TiVoMonoMac0.9.5.zip.html

[Fofer]

I am working on a preference pane for Mac OS X. It's really a WIP but it can start and stop tivomono without the terminal and without being kept open.
More info is here:
http://www.satellite-of-love.org/Forums/YaBB.pl?num=1171936198
You'll also need this version of TivoMono which closely resembles the 0.9.5 build... just had to tweak some networking things.
http://rapidshare.com/files/17331557/TiVoMonoMac0.9.5.zip.html

Thanks for this! The more Mac support for this development, the better as far as I'm concerned. So thanks. :)

[pipakin]

I am working on a preference pane for Mac OS X. It's really a WIP but it can start and stop tivomono without the terminal and without being kept open.
More info is here:
http://www.satellite-of-love.org/Forums/YaBB.pl?num=1171936198
You'll also need this version of TivoMono which closely resembles the 0.9.5 build... just had to tweak some networking things.
http://rapidshare.com/files/17331557/TiVoMonoMac0.9.5.zip.html

Ok, bad plumbing + wet carpet + EXTREME mold allergies = sad philip...

I really am back this time, and I even have a minor update for ya!

Bugfix/minor update

- IMetaInfoSource plugins are loaded and utilized if present.
- Ophaned nodes in the DB are deleted
- Multi-File editing may be applied recursively to all files in subdirectories.
- PLEASE Backup your DB if you value the data. No garauntees that this release won't make it asplode.

Linky: http://downloads.sourceforge.net/tivodotnet/TiVoDotNetSetup-0.9.6a.msi?modtime=1171972060&big_mirror=0

Mono Linky: http://downloads.sourceforge.net/tivodotnet/TivoMono-0.9.6a.zip?modtime=1171972085&big_mirror=0

Speaking of which, A@ron, what did you have to tweak to get it to work better? I can add it to the official release if needed.

[Jabo4]

Hey glad to see you back! love your work...

Do you know if this will fix the NPL disappearance? it seems to have to do with the the bind address because resubmitting if its gone seems to correct it. It may have nothing to do with it but I think it might considering the setting of the bind address won't stick. I'm just wondering if I should install this version or not is all =) oh I am going to try to look into your install package and figure out what needs to change to allow Vista installation without turning off UAC...no gurantee! but I'll take a gander tonight.

[Stu_Bee]

Hmm..could just be me..but..
Uninstalled .9.1a, installed .9.6a.
Tivo.net is not appearing on Tivo Now Playing.

This URL didn't work after going to .9.6a
http://localhost:9032/TiVoConnect?Command=QueryContainer&Container=Video

Gone back to .9.1a and everything works again.

[pipakin]

Hmm..could just be me..but..
Uninstalled .9.1a, installed .9.6a.
Tivo.net is not appearing on Tivo Now Playing.

This URL didn't work after going to .9.6a
http://localhost:9032/TiVoConnect?Command=QueryContainer&Container=Video

Gone back to .9.1a and everything works again.

Heh...hrm. Could be something is messed up. Any errors in the log/verbose log?

[pipakin]

So, a couple messages ago you said this was a backup of a DVD. So, I tried transferring over one my backup of a DVD files and guess what, it didn't work, it did the disappearing act. First time I've had a file transfer fail on me since learning how to up the fudge factor.

I suspect that your backup of a DVD is probably like my backup of a DVD in that its in a format Tivo can play natively so Tivo.Net doesn't do any transcoding, it just ships it over byte for byte.

Anyhow, my speculation is that in the case of these no need to transcode, just ship it over byte for byte files, Tivo.Net is under reporting to the Tivo what the transfer size will be regardless of the fudge setting. Really the fudge setting shouldn't teven come into play, a file your going to not transcode and just ship over byte for byte, Tivo.Net would already know exactly how many bytes its going to send over before it even sends the file, its the same amount as the number of bytes in the file. But maybe there's some over head that needs to be accounted for or maybe there's just a bug in Tivo.Net, or maybe I'm entirely off base :rolleyes:

There is a --alwaystranscode command line option, we could experiment with.

I'm looking into this a little more recently. The next version, which I'm pushing out soon (0.9.7) should be doing some things better than the version you've got there. It should be far more accurate as far as estimation goes and may fix this issue.

[BoyScout]

Welcome back Pipakin! Thanks for all your work on this little project. I hope you get LOTS of coffee monies.

[pipakin]

Heh...hrm. Could be something is messed up. Any errors in the log/verbose log?

fix0red

Quick fixes!

- Added --nomultinic argmument (NoMultiNIC in windows registry) to disable the multiple nic card enhancements. This should help those of you that were using the modified network code version.
- Fixed up the file size estimation routine (again!)
- Added quiet ffmpeg mode (it's quiet when --noterminal is used).
- Fixed DB bug that I introduced in the last ver.
- As always BACKUP YOUR DB! :)
- Fixed date/time bug (try it without --nodetails, mono users!)

Linky : http://downloads.sourceforge.net/tivodotnet/TiVoDotNetSetup-0.9.7a.msi?use_mirror=osdn

Mono Linky : http://downloads.sourceforge.net/tivodotnet/TiVoMono-0.9.7a.zip?use_mirror=osdn

[A@ron]

Speaking of which, A@ron, what did you have to tweak to get it to work better? I can add it to the official release if needed.

For the Mac version I made I rolled back the way the beacon sending and networking worked to the way 0.8.0a did it. The mono version on Mac had an issue with the way the ip address was being bound.

[worachj]

FYI.
Thought I try the new 0.9.7a version to transfer a DVD movie to my S2 540 TiVo. I've never been able to transfer a .vob file because of the file size estimation problem, it would delete the file after the transfer completed. This time it wouldn't even start the transfer; "Unable to transfer file because it is in a unknown format". Tried it three times with the same results.

[Stu_Bee]

Just got the same error was worachj on my first attempt with .9.7.a on a normal avi/divx file.
"Program was not transferred onto this DVR, becuase the Program was recorded in an unknown format"

Edit: PS. The above error occurs at the end of the transcoding/transferring process, and the video disappears from the NP.

[Don N]

Hi all,

I just stumbled across this thread, and it appears this will solve many of the problems I've been trying to solve. I could use a tip, though....

I installed TivoDotN@t and verified the service was running. I wasn't sure if I needed to manually open the firewall ports, so I didn't. I started up the admin screen, set my "Video directory", and hit "Submit...". All went well. I went to my Tivo, found the service, and browsed all the files on my computer from the Tivo. When transferring files, the Tivo queued them up behind the "currently transferring program" - although I didn't have any transfers going on at the time. The transfers are queued up in the "To Do" list, but hadn't started after about an hour. They finally showed up as "Not Transferred" because they "couldn't be found" on the computer - about the same time I rebooted the computer & restarted the service to address the next issue.

I wondered if all this was somehow because I didn't complete the firewall setup, but when I opened up the Firewall in Control Panel, I received a popup that says "Due to an unidentified problem, Windows cannot display Windows Firewall Settings.". I'm running XP SP2, with auto-updates. The only thing I'm not "current" with is I'm still running IE6. Anyone have any idea what's going on with the firewall? I'm sure this problem doesn't have anything to do with TivoDotN@t, but thought I would ask for suggestions anyway.

Do I need to open the ports manually, or will the installation do it for me? If so, could that have anything to do with the odd firewall behavior?

Thanks in advance for any assistance!

[greg_burns]

I went to my Tivo, found the service, and browsed all the files on my computer from the Tivo. When transferring files, the Tivo queued them up behind the "currently transferring program" - although I didn't have any transfers going on at the time.

I've been having the same problem, and haven't had the time to figure out what broke. Might try and older version and see if that was it, or (I suspect) my Tivo is too full or something.

Do I need to open the ports manually, or will the installation do it for me?

Ports have to be opened manually. If not working from GUI, try this method...
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=4862367&&#post4862367

[pipakin]

I've been having the same problem, and haven't had the time to figure out what broke. Might try and older version and see if that was it, or (I suspect) my Tivo is too full or something.

Try enabling the following rebuild. This may fix it.

(unzip into the installation dir).

[windracer]

- Fixed date/time bug (try it without --nodetails, mono users!)

Ok, the TiVo no longer locks up when selecting a recording to transfer like it did without --nodetails, but now I see this in my nohup.out:
FFmpeg version SVN-r7788, Copyright (c) 2000-2006 Fabrice Bellard, et al.
configuration: --enable-memalign-hack --enable-gpl --enable-pp --enable-xvid --extra-cflags=-I/usr/include --extra-ldflags=-L/usr/lib --enable-mp3lame --enable-x264 --enable-pthreads --enable-faad --enable-faac --enable-a52 --enable-libogg --enable-vorbis --enable-libgsm
libavutil version: 49.2.0
libavcodec version: 51.29.0
libavformat version: 51.8.0
built on Jan 31 2007 19:16:11, gcc: 3.3.2 (Mandrake Linux 10.0 3.3.2-6mdk)
File '/home/nas/Videos/dl.tv.139.mov' already exists. Overwrite ? [y/N] Not overwriting - exiting

And the show doesn't transfer. In the recording history I see:
This program was not transferred onto this DVR because the program was recorded in an unknown format.
:confused:
I'll go back to using --nodetails and see what happens.

[pipakin]

Ok, the TiVo no longer locks up when selecting a recording to transfer like it did without --nodetails, but now I see this in my nohup.out:
FFmpeg version SVN-r7788, Copyright (c) 2000-2006 Fabrice Bellard, et al.
configuration: --enable-memalign-hack --enable-gpl --enable-pp --enable-xvid --extra-cflags=-I/usr/include --extra-ldflags=-L/usr/lib --enable-mp3lame --enable-x264 --enable-pthreads --enable-faad --enable-faac --enable-a52 --enable-libogg --enable-vorbis --enable-libgsm
libavutil version: 49.2.0
libavcodec version: 51.29.0
libavformat version: 51.8.0
built on Jan 31 2007 19:16:11, gcc: 3.3.2 (Mandrake Linux 10.0 3.3.2-6mdk)
File '/home/nas/Videos/dl.tv.139.mov' already exists. Overwrite ? [y/N] Not overwriting - exiting

And the show doesn't transfer. In the recording history I see:

:confused:
I'll go back to using --nodetails and see what happens.

Think I know what did it. I'll go make some quick changes and post a new version.

[greg_burns]

Try enabling the following rebuild. This may fix it.

(unzip into the installation dir).

Still no love. I am getting the following error in the log....

The specified network name is no longer available - at System.Net.HttpResponseStream.Dispose(Boolean disposing) at System.IO.Stream.Close() at System.IO.StreamWriter.Dispose(Boolean disposing) at System.IO.StreamWriter.Close() at TiVoDotNetBase.TivoDotNet.ParseVideoUrl(String url, HttpListenerContext con, ContainerItem ci) at TiVoDotNetBase.TivoDotNet.ContextCallback(IAsyncResult ar)

[pipakin]

Think I know what did it. I'll go make some quick changes and post a new version.


Try this mono rebuild. See if it works for ya.

[pipakin]

Try this mono rebuild. See if it works for ya.

Alrighty, it's bedtime for me, I suggest you guys stick with the version that works for you and I'll do some more work on it tommorow when I'm not so wiped out (already took my benadryl for the night).

[Don N]

Try enabling the following rebuild. This may fix it.

(unzip into the installation dir).

Thanks Pip - I tried this, but it didn't seem to change the behavior. Transfers are still queuing up, yet there is nothing in the queue.


BTW, I think my firewall problem wasn't a problem. I think it isn't running at all, so there was no way to open the ports. :rolleyes: I'm assuming that since I can run the admin panel, that I'm getting through on port 9033, and as such, I'm also assuming I'm getting through on 9032.

[windracer]

Try this mono rebuild. See if it works for ya.
That worked!

However, the quiet ffmpeg option built into --noterminal doesn't seem to work. I'm still getting all the conversion details in my nohup.out file. No biggie, but thought I would report it.

[windracer]

One other quick bug report for 0.9.7a ... the Title is missing/empty on the Transfers page. The other columns (Percentage, Cancelled? and ID) are fine.

[ocntscha]

I'm assuming that since I can run the admin panel, that I'm getting through on port 9033, and as such, I'm also assuming I'm getting through on 9032.Are you getting through to port 9033 from another computer on your network or from the same computer you are running Tivo.net on? It would really need to be the former in order to assume your Tivo should be able to get through. Also, you should be able to visit http://ip-or-host-name-of-machine-running-tivo.net:9032 and if the port isn't being blocked you should see "You really shouldn't be here...".

[Solver]

On 0.9.7a, I tried transfering an MPG file that has never transfered before. There is always a message on the TiVo where it can't find the file. But this time it seemed to work. But when I tried to play the file on the TiVo all I got was "Transfering more of the program, please wait a moment then press play) In the TiVo,net error log was:
The specified network name is no longer available - at System.Net.HttpResponseStream.Dispose(Boolean disposing) at System.IO.Stream.Close() at System.IO.StreamWriter.Dispose(Boolean disposing) at System.IO.StreamWriter.Close() at TiVoDotNetBase.TivoDotNet.ParseVideoUrl(String url, HttpListenerContext con, ContainerItem ci) at TiVoDotNetBase.TivoDotNet.ContextCallback(IAsyncResult ar)
My TiVo was also updated to 8.1.1a

[greg_burns]

My TiVo was also updated to 8.1.1a

Crap. That was my theory this morning that I wanted to test. Sure enough my 540 (which still hasn't gotten the update) still works fine. My 240 that was updated does not.

My 540 is sitting there with a Pending Restart message. (What lousy timing - connected at 5:03 this morning.) I guess I'll find out what happens here in a bit... :eek:

Edit: glad to report that my 540 still works after installing the update. Now, why doesn't my 240 work? :confused:

[Solver]

More...
0.9.7a - S2 - 8.1a - I tried to cancel a transfer that TiVo thought it was transfering, but had errored out on TiVo.net (see above post). At the "Stop Recording" screen all I got was a Please Wait [forever] message. After an hour, I pulled the plug and restarted my TiVo. BTW, this is an AVI file that works fine on Media Player.

[Don N]

Are you getting through to port 9033 from another computer on your network or from the same computer you are running Tivo.n@t on? It would really need to be the former in order to assume your Tivo should be able to get through.

Sorry for the tangent on this issue folks, but FWIW, I found the problem. A few weeks ago, I managed to pick up a trojan horse on my computer. :mad: I cleaned it up, but apparently it did something I didn't notice. It completely disabled the Security Center service (which disables the firewall), by removing a bunch of entries in the registry. That explains the error message I was getting when trying to open the firewall settings window (as well as the issues with the command-line method), and it has nothing to do with TivoDotN@t. Carry on... :rolleyes:

[dlfl]

.......
When transferring files, the Tivo queued them up behind the "currently transferring program" - although I didn't have any transfers going on at the time. The transfers are queued up in the "To Do" list, but hadn't started after about an hour. They finally showed up as "Not Transferred" because they "couldn't be found" on the computer - about the same time I rebooted the computer & restarted the service to address the next issue.
........

With TiVo model 649 (S2 DT) and 8.1-01-2-649 software, I have the problem frequently with both .9.5a and .9.7a. (Windows versions) Usually if I fiddle around enough clicking this and that on the TiVo and on the TiVo.Net interface and/or shutting down and restarting TiVo.net, I get it to work correctly. Can't figure any pattern to what triggers the problem or what makes it go away. I'm usually just trying to get one file to transfer, not a list of them. The problem seems worse with RSS transfers.

Also, FWIW: I had been using SizeFudge = 1.4 with good results on 0.9.5a. This caused immediate "incomplete transfer" problems on 0.9.7a and I found that setting it to 1 was necessary -- based on one short video only. If this holds OK for long transfers I guess it's a good sign, i.e., no fudge needed anymore.

[Don N]

With TiVo model 649 (S2 DT) and 8.1-01-2-649 software, I have the problem frequently with both .9.5a and .9.7a. (Windows versions) Usually if I fiddle around enough clicking this and that on the TiVo and on the TiVoNet interface and/or shutting down and restarting TiVoNet, I get it to work correctly. Can't figure any pattern to what triggers the problem or what makes it go away. I'm usually just trying to get one file to transfer, not a list of them. The problem seems worse with RSS transfers.


Well, I tried all three tivo's (2 240's and 1 540) with the same results. The 240's are running 8.1, and the 540 is running 8.1a. I decided to try an older version than the 0.9.7a I started with, and went all the way back to 0.5.5a. It worked on one of the 240's, so I tried a newer version (0.9.5a-fixed). It also appeared to work and I transfered a couple of small .avi files I captured from my digital video camera. All was well until I started to transfer a larger file. It happened to be a .mp4 file I created for a PSP. It started transferring, and I played it up to the point where it ran out of data. Got back to my computer, and the service seems to have died.

When I try restarting the service, it would fail with an error message saying "Could not start the TiVoNet Auto-Transcoding Service service on Local Computer. Error 1053: The service did not respond to the start or control panel request in a timely fashion."

When I look at the processes, I see TiVoDotN@t.exe running and writing lots of bytes (up to 329MB now). I killed the process and tried restarting it, but it doesn't finish starting correctly, yet begins running and writing more data (~500K/sec). Is it continuing to transfer that one large file I requested?

I finally got the service started after several attempts, but it's still writing data like mad (up over 740M now), and as far as I can tell, the Tivo isn't receiving it. Does it remember what it was transferring across a stop/start action?

I realize this is a slightly out-of-date version (0.9.5a vs 0.9.7a). Is this issue something that is fixed in 0.9.7a? My first attempt w/0.9.7a wasn't successful (transfers queueing up, but never completing).

Also, FWIW: I had been using SizeFudge = 1.4 with good results on 0.9.5a. This caused immediate "incomplete transfer" problems on 0.9.7a and I found that setting it to 1 was necessary -- based on one short video only. If this holds OK for long transfers I guess it's a good sign, i.e., no fudge needed anymore.

Where do I set this value? Is it in the registry somewhere? I looked on the wiki, but didn't find it. I'm guessing it's buried in the 33-odd pages of posts here somewhere....

[windracer]

Since one of the past releases included support for not re-transcoding videos that were already in a TiVo-supported format, I thought I'd add .tivo to my extension list so that my .tivo files would appear in the TiVo.Net NPL.

Don't do it! When TiVo.Net tries to rescan, ffmpeg just hangs on the the first .tivo file it encounters.

[Carnage_7]

For some reason I am unable to connect to the TivoNet Admin page. I get the error "page not found." While trying to connect, it shows it is attempting to connect to 127.0.0.1. I have enabled ports 9032/9033 in my firewall program. Any suggestions on how to resolve this? Thanks.

Frank Fowlkes
El Paso, Texas

[dlfl]

Where do I set this value? Is it in the registry somewhere? I looked on the wiki, but didn't find it. I'm guessing it's buried in the 33-odd pages of posts here somewhere....
Pipakin gave it in an earlier post:

Under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\TiVoDotNet, add the following value (string): SizeFudge, value : "1.04"
Note the value isn't actually enclosed in quotes when you put it in the registry. Just be sure the type of registry entry is REG_SZ.

I just transfered a 2 hr 47min DivX file using SizeFudge = 1 (presumably NO fudge) and it went perfectly. The file was originally a medium quality TiVo recording at 2.9 Mbps. I encoded it to DivX at 1.1 Mbps then used 3048 Kbps when serving it back to the TiVo. The original TiVo file size was 3.5 GB and the size on the TiVo after being transfered back was 3.7 GB. There was a barely perceptible loss of sharpness compared to the original recording but considering it was re-encoded twice and put through a 1.1 Mbps funnel, that doesn't seem too bad.

Now I can store my edited TiVo recordings on USB HD as DivX files compressed to one third size and play them on demand. The 1.1 Mbps is higher than what DivX calls their "Home Theater" profile (which is 900 kbps) so this should be pretty reasonable quality for archiving.

[leppard]

I'm trying to run mono under unbuntu edgy. I'm using this command line:

mono TivoMono.exe

I get the following error message:

** (TivoMono.exe:7994): WARNING **: The following assembly referenced from /home/reza/Desktop/tivo.net/TivoMono.exe could not be loaded:
Assembly: System.Xml (assemblyref_index=1)
Version: 2.0.0.0
Public Key: b77a5c561934e089
The assembly was not found in the Global Assembly Cache, a path listed in the MONO_PATH environment variable, or in the location of the executing assembly (/home/reza/Desktop/tivo.net/).


** (TivoMono.exe:7994): WARNING **: Could not load file or assembly 'System.Xml, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089' or one of its dependencies.

Unhandled Exception: System.IO.FileNotFoundException: Could not load file or assembly 'System.Xml, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089' or one of its dependencies.

I've set the path to the installation directory and ffmpeg in settings.xml. Any suggestions on how to fix this.

Thanks,

[windracer]

Check out this earlier post (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=4833745&&#post4833745) and the few replies after it. johncherbini had this problem, and I believe re-installing mono resolved the issue (he found this thread (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=314214) on the ubuntu forums).

[Leo Valiant]

For some reason I am unable to connect to the TivoNet Admin page. I get the error "page not found." While trying to connect, it shows it is attempting to connect to 127.0.0.1. I have enabled ports 9032/9033 in my firewall program. Any suggestions on how to resolve this? Thanks.

Frank Fowlkes
El Paso, Texas
One suggestion is to make sure the TiVo.Net service is running.
Tivo.Net provides a shortcut to start the service when you install it called "start service"

Or do it manually to make sure it's already running.
Start > Run > type "services.msc"
Scroll down to "TiVo.Net Auto-Transcoding Service"
Status should be "Started" if not, start it.

[reneg]

I've been following this thread and finally took the plunge and installed the software. Though I have not been able to get it running just the way I'd like, it's an awesome program!

I'm sorry if the following duplicates other posts or comments:

1) Possible bug with notranscode feature. I have a test file that is 485,839,214
bytes long. TivoNet estimates the filesize at 159,897,354 bytes. Here is the verbose log from the transfer:

ffmpegTranscoder::GetVideoSize Video testfile.mpg size appears to be : 720x480
ffmpegTranscoder::OutputFileNoTranscode Sending file : testfile.mpg

After some time, the tivo aborts and the following is logged:
ffmpegTranscoder::OutputFile request cancelled after 179707904 bytes.

It appears that TivoNet is not using the actual file size for files that are not being transcoded.

2) I am seeing menu navigation problems on my Tivo when I transfer a file from a folder. When I left arrow out after starting a transfer, and get back to what should be the Now Playing list, it displays the top level folder and files from my PC as well as the Recently Deleted folder, etc, but not the files on my Tivo. My workaround is to enter the Recently Deleted folder and left arrow out which reverts back to the expected Now Playing list.

3) Adding .tivo file support should be easier now that notranscoding support is in the program. If one assumes that .tivo files are already in a format compatible with Tivo, then .tivo files could bypass calls into ffmpeg and use their actual file size instead of estimating a file size.

4) As has been posted numerous times already, I see lots of the following:
Really bad thing : The specified network name is no longer available, etc.

There seems to be a 1-1 correlation between this error message and when I traversed each TivoNet file on my Tivo. I was pressing the Info button on my tivo for each file. I don't think this is the only way this error can occur, because I have lots of these errors in my log.

All in all, great program!

Blasted forum wouldn't let me post as is so I had to edit the logs a bit.

[nathaliev]

Hi

I tried a variety of videos, they show up on my Tivo box, but when I try to play them my Tivo gave me the error:


"There was a problem transferring the requested program to this DVR. To view which programs won't be transferred and why, go to TiVo Central and select "Pick Programs to Record" > "To Do List" > "View Recording History"


I checked there and there was nothing about this.

I am using a Humax Tivo with a USB wireless device.


Any ideas?

Thanks
Nat

[windracer]

I just noticed that if you set the date/time in File Manager, the TiVo adjusts it back to GMT.

Thus, to get "Mon 1/29 9:00pm" to appear on the TiVo, I had to put "2007-01-30 2:00" in the File Manager (+5 hours for EST).

[Enrique]

ok, not sure that anyone really cares. If you are having any issues like i have had with tivo.net server dropping out of npl or issues with bind resetting, go back to 8.0.

I played around with all the 9.0's and kept having issues. So far 8.0 has not given me any problems. Also i have not changed any settings. Just an FYII just downgraded from 0.9.7a to 0.9.1a and it works 100% for me.

[dbanakis13]

This will be the greatest thing for the world for me if it would work! Thank you so much!

Does anyone have any idea when this will work on Series 3? Or when Muli-room viewing and Tivo-To-Go will work on Series 3?

[ME2]

Hi,

Does Tivo.Net allow me to send shows from my tivo to my pc, via Tivo? I tried Galleon, and had it running, but the bug with the cacheing was just a huge hassle and not worth rebooting the thing everynight.

If tivo.net doesn't do this, is there something else that does?

[windracer]

Does anyone have any idea when this will work on Series 3? Or when Muli-room viewing and Tivo-To-Go will work on Series 3?
That's the hot question right now ... but the answer is nobody knows.

[windracer]

Does Tivo.Net allow me to send shows from my tivo to my pc, via Tivo?
No ... TiVo.Net is for sending video back to your TiVo from your PC. You'll still need to use Galleon, TiVo Desktop, or the https interface to pulls shows off of your DVR.

[dlfl]

Quote:
Originally Posted by ME2
Does Tivo.Net allow me to send shows from my tivo to my pc, via Tivo?


No ... TiVo.Net is for sending video back to your TiVo from your PC. You'll still need to use Galleon, TiVo Desktop, or the https interface to pulls shows off of your DVR.

TiVoPlayList (http://bellsouthpwp.net/d/c/dcahoe/tivo/index.htm) will also transfer from TiVo to PC, and is slightly faster than DeskTop. However I think ME2 wants something that is controlled at the TiVo interface (TV and peanut control) rather than the PC interface. Galleon is the only one I know of that claims to do that (don't have it myself).

[cmtk05]

Hey all a few questions for you.

For some reason 8.0 is the only stable version i can run. If i setup any of the later version they go in ok, however either i cannot get it to show up on NPl or i cannot get to the admin screen. This problem is very strange to me becasue i can get 8.0 to run 24/7 with no problems.

Not sure if anyone has any ideas or insight into this.

Last question, This program is awsome. I am thinking of using an old athon 1500 computer i have sitting in the garage. It would only be a tivo.net server. The motherboard only has ata connections. So here is my questions. If i set medium/good quality in the tivo.net is the 1500 going to be fast enough to transcode? Also i was going to get a few hard drives for the system, any recomedations?

Right now i am using a x2 3800 with sata2 drives for tivo.net. Will i notice a difference if i switch?

Thanks all.

[johncherbini]

Last question, This program is awsome. I am thinking of using an old athon 1500 computer i have sitting in the garage. It would only be a tivo.net server. The motherboard only has ata connections. So here is my questions. If i set medium/good quality in the tivo.net is the 1500 going to be fast enough to transcode? Also i was going to get a few hard drives for the system, any recomedations?

Right now i am using a x2 3800 with sata2 drives for tivo.net. Will i notice a difference if i switch?

Thanks all.

Yes, you'll notice a difference. However, I currently use a 1500 with 512MB RAM as my mediaserver, and it works just fine. It's not quite realtime transfer speed when you bump the quality up, but certainly an acceptable transfer speed.

JC

[cmtk05]

JC

Thanks for the quick post. I think i have like a gig of ram on it. Any dos or donts for hard drives? My last few have been 16mg buffer sata2s. I was thinking of getting 4 200mg or so.

[johncherbini]

Ok....so, we've previously talked about disappearing transfers.

The latest 0.9.7 version is definitely better! I can now transfer and keep files that are about 500MB, but when I step up to an 800+ MB file, it disappears after the transfer. Just a heads up! Can anyone else transfer and keep an 800MB+ file?

I've tried the fudge setting up to 4 to no avail.

Thanks!

JC