FAQ about streaming/transferring audio and video from PC to S3?

[briankasper]

Is there a FAQ or thread that describes an overview of the best tools to use to display video and audio from a PC on an S3 TiVo?

Along with everyone else, I'm very excited that TivoToGo and TivoToComeBack are now supported by the 9.1 and higher versions of the Tivo software. Actually, I'm not that interested in TTG except for the ability to archive to DVDs, since I have no portable media players. I'm very interested in TTCB, however, as I'd like to use my PC as a media server for videos exactly as I do for audio-only MP3 files now.

I'm currently running Galleon 2.4.1 on my WinXP (SP2) system as a server for my MP3 collection. I tried upgrading to v2.5.0, but had problems with 100% CPU usage; v2.5.1 apparently fixed that, but I still got "unable to connect to server" errors which meant I couldn't configure the player on the TiVo, so I downgraded back to v2.4.0.

I didn't see any TTG or TTCB features when I had 9.1, but now that my S3 has the 9.2J software I see an entry for my computer in the "Now Playing" list; there's no content available when I select it, which is to be expected since I haven't configured any videos on my PC.

I assume this entry shows up because I'm running Galleon, but I don't know what capabilities Galleon has for converting, streaming, or transferring videos to my S3.

I'm aware of Tivo Desktop and Tivo Desktop Plus. I'm willing to spend the money for the Plus version if this means I can transcode and transfer many different video formats, but as far as I know Tivo Desktop doesn't run as a service, so it's not very useful as a media server. I'm also aware of pyTivo and a few other software packages, but I'm not sure of the best mix of these to use.

I'm sorry this post is a bit wordy, but I'm trying as best as I can to be complete and technically accurate. What I'd like is software that:

* Installs as a service so I don't have to be logged on to my PC
* Enables streaming of MP3s from my PC to my S3 (just like Galleon does now)
* Enables streaming of videos (including non-copyrighted SD DVDs) from my PC to my S3

I have several ISO images of DVDs on my PC that I currently watch using VLC. These are non-copyrighted DVDs that I and others have made from various videos (of martial arts demonstrations, if you're curious). I'd love to be able to stream these to my S3.

If anyone has suggestions or pointers to FAQs about this, I'd really appreciate the help.

Thanks ....

-B

[Edited to reflect that v9.1 also has TTCB and TTG]

[Carsten]

I have the same questions.

BTW, I am running a Windows 2003 server and just keep a user logged in interactively. Works fine that way.

[pkscout]

Here's a link to the fourm specifically for MRV and TiVoToGo. You might check there for some answers.

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/forumdisplay.php?f=35

[briankasper]

Here's a link to the fourm specifically for MRV and TiVoToGo. You might check there for some answers.

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/forumdisplay.php?f=35

Thanks, pkscout. I hadn't been aware of that forum. I'll move questions there.

-B

[Laserfan]

TivoToGo and TivoToComeBack are now supported by the 9.2J version of the Tivo software.Actually, I still have 9.1 and these new features work great with that version.

[slimoli]

I can't transfer back to S3 from PC. Always get an error msg (generic). Transfer from S3 to PC works just fine. Windows Vista 32 bits, Desktop 2.5, quad,3GB RAM,wireless G. I was able to transfer back to PC just once, in more than 20 . My Tivo Recordings is not in the original location, moved to another disk to improve performance. I also have the 9.2J

Is there anything else I should be doing ? Music and photos are working fine and when I hit "now playing" list my PC is there with all the videos already transferred to it. When I click on the transferred program I have the option to transfer it back to the S3 but it gives me an error msg . I look at the reason ad it just says to try again. I can't understand why it worked once and doesn't anymore.

Thanks for any help

sergio