Downloading Tivo Recordings Remotely

[gmichal]

I travel quite a bit and would not only want to set my Tivo to record programs while I am away but to also retrieve these programs from my Tivo remotely via a broadband connection? Is this a feature of TivoToGo? I currently use a SLingbox tuner to watch live programs but would love to retrieve my recorded Tivo programs while I am away from the house.

[windracer]

You could use the web interface to accomplish this.

If you point your browser to https://{your TiVo IP} you'll be prompted for a username (tivo) and password (your MAK). You can then download shows through your browser.

To get this to work over the internet, you'll need to set up port forwarding on your router. Forward ports 80 and 443 to your TiVo's IP address.

Then, from outside of your house, you can point your browser to your external IP address (the address of your cable or DSL modem or whatever) and you should be able to login to the TiVo and then download a recording.

Keep in mind that your upstream bandwidth might not be that fast, so a download could take a long time.

[WayneCarter]

Why not put the SlingBox on TiVo's output so you can watch the TiVo remotely?

[brysmi]

I have this same issue, in that I travel a lot and find that my TiVo unit does not have enough storage to save all my recordings without deleting recordings I have not watched.

So, my original plan was to save programs automatically to TiVo Desktop on a server at my house. Then, copy those to my laptop from my hotel room. Well, these TiVo files are 500MB to 2GB depending on the length of the program. Needless to say, that did not work as the download would crash or still be running in the morning when I needed to leave the hotel.

I have looked into a Slingbox but that only plays programs on a DVR like TiVo.

Is there a setup to record on TiVo, move to an server HD for storage, then play over the internet? I really do not need to copy to laptop, I just want to watch it from the hotel, which seems a perfect fit for Slingbox. So, can Slingbox play a TiVo program stored on a server's HD?

[dcahoe]

You could use the web interface to accomplish this.

If you point your browser to https://{your TiVo IP} you'll be prompted for a username (tivo) and password (your MAK). You can then download shows through your browser.

To get this to work over the internet, you'll need to set up port forwarding on your router. Forward ports 80 and 443 to your TiVo's IP address.

Then, from outside of your house, you can point your browser to your external IP address (the address of your cable or DSL modem or whatever) and you should be able to login to the TiVo and then download a recording.

Keep in mind that your upstream bandwidth might not be that fast, so a download could take a long time.TiVoPlayList (http://bellsouthpwp.net/d/c/dcahoe/tivo/index.htm) now makes it easier to access your TiVo remotely. You probably do need to set up port fowarding on your router. If your ISP blocks port 80 like some do, just foward a new port like 9000 to port 80 on your TiVo for downloads.

I agree with everyone that upload speeds are generally too slow, but some of the new high-end packages from some broadband company's (especially cable vs DSL) are making it more tolerable. If you have a low end package you may only have 128kbps upload speeds and transferring a 1 hr TV show would take more that all night, but if you get 1000kbps upload speeds from your ISP you could probably get it overnight.

[windracer]

Well, these TiVo files are 500MB to 2GB depending on the length of the program. Needless to say, that did not work as the download would crash or still be running in the morning when I needed to leave the hotel.
Another potential solution would be to use something like TiVo Desktop Plus to automatically transcode the downloaded .tivo files into MPEG-4 (like, for the iPod). Then you'd have smaller files to download (but of course, the resolution would be smaller and might not look that great fullscreen on a laptop.