Playing HD videos from computer on TiVo S3 just doesn't work...

[self]

As I posted yesterday, I thought it was EyeTV recordings.

But at this point, I've tried multiple recordings, all high-def. Mostly I've tried things recorded with EyeTV, and then converted to MPEG-2 Program Streams using multiple methods, but I just tried taking an episode of Heroes from the TiVo, running tivodecode on it, and then transferring that back to the TiVo... and when I played it, there were many, many bit errors, and the speed inconsistencies I'd seen earlier were still there.

I was planning on buying a TiVo HD just for this feature, and now I'm wondering what the heck is going on.

Has anyone gotten this to work? Anything I can do to troubleshoot? Or is something just broken for me -- and, if so, what do I do about it?

Thanks...

[Laserfan]

I feel your pain--have noticed the same problem in converting to mpg. Someone here said anything >17Mbps in bitrate won't play on the Tivo w/o error, the pyTivo guys I think, but what I don't understand is: these file CAME FROM the tivo why does their bitrate have to be reduced??? Is the .tivo format different/better-handled by Tivo than .mpg??? :confused:

[greg_burns]

I took an episode on The Unit the other night and removed commercials with VideoRedo and outputted as .mpg. Sent that back to my S3 and it played just like the original (sans the commercials).

How do you determine the bitrate?

The original was 1 hour show, Tivo reports it to be 6.39GB.

The edited version was 44m and 4.71GB.

[Laserfan]

...it played just like the original (sans the commercials). How do you determine the bitrate?VideoReDo will tell you in its logs, e.g.:

Output file: E:\Tivo Recordings\test.mpg
Mode: Frame Accurate
-Video output packets: 2574493
-Audio output packets: 113486
-Padding output packets: 0
Video output frames: 71428
Audio output frames: 74474
Processing time (secs): 352
Processed frames/sec: 202.72
Actual Video Bitrate: 17.48 Mbps

Another tool is Gspot which confirms what VRD tells me:

Frms 71,428
kbps 17481

Then when you add the audio portion (AC3 at 384kbps) you're near 18Mbps.

Maybe I have a setting wrong in VRD???? :(

btw greg VideoReDo.log is somewhere on yr hard drive and has everything you've done on it.

[self]

Yeah, that doesn't make a lot of sense to me, either. ATSC is about 19mbits/sec, so the TiVo really should be able to handle that. And EyeTV recordings are straight ATSC.

Is there a way to put the .TIVO files back on the TiVo without conversion? That'd let me know whether the TiVo HD would work the way I want, at least.

[greg_burns]

Is there a way to put the .TIVO files back on the TiVo without conversion? That'd let me know whether the TiVo HD would work the way I want, at least.

Yeah, sure. That is what TivoDesktop does by default. :confused:

[self]

Yeah, sure. That is what TivoDesktop does by default.
I'm on a Mac, so that might be affecting it. But the .TIVO files do not show up in the list. (That is, on the TiVo, I go to Now Playing, and then the machine name, and the only files I see are the .mpeg files I put there before starting the sharing.)

[greg_burns]

I'm on a Mac

I don't know about the Mac side of things.

[Laserfan]

the only files I see are the .mpeg files I put there before starting the sharing.You mean right after transferring them from Tivo-to-Mac, the Tivo doesn't see these files "as-transferred"? That's wierd as heck.

[minckster]

Is there a way to put the .TIVO files back on the TiVo without conversion? That'd let me know whether the TiVo HD would work the way I want, at least. That's broken at the moment on Macs. Roxio's working on a fix. See Roxio-employee Patatrox's posts in this thread: http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=369019

We are aware of the metadata issue, that will be fixed in an updater with a tentative release schedule pointing towards the end of this month [October]. ("[October]" added. I guess the fix should be soon.) It's the "metadata issue" that prevents your TiVo from seeing the .tivo files.

[minckster]

Mostly I've tried things recorded with EyeTV, and then converted to MPEG-2 Program Streams using multiple methods, ... Can't you pull the MPEG-2 out of the eyetv archive file and transfer that as is? I was thinking about hooking up my Miglia TVmini-HD again and doing just that, but I don't want to fuss around with conversions.

If you control-click (right-click) on the eyetv file and select "Show package contents", you can find an MPEG inside. I don't know if it's a program stream or a transport stream.

[self]

Can't you pull the MPEG-2 out of the eyetv archive file and transfer that as is? I was thinking about hooking up my Miglia TVmini-HD again and doing just that, but I don't want to fuss around with conversions.
For OTA HD, EyeTV simply records an MPEG-2 transport stream file. This is packetized MPEG-2.

The primary difference (for my concerns here :)) between a transport stream and a program stream is that the transport stream doesn't have any time metadata -- nothing to indicate frame number, or how far into the program you are. This is because the intent is to be streamed, as opposed to kept locally.

Transforming a TS file to a PS file is pretty trivial.

[mr2828]

Critical to understand is that even if your tools say they are going to make a 17mbit/s file for you, and when they finish they tell you the average bitrate for the file is indeed 17mbit/s, this DOES NOT MEAN that the PEAK bitrates in the file are all also under 17mbit/s.

See the pyTivo thread for more info, but basically you must use a tool for your mpeg conversion that will be sure that even the peak rate from moment to moment does not exceed what the S3 can handle.

[self]

That confuses me.

ATSC runs at 19mbits/sec. Unless the S3 TiVo is re-encoding it, it MUST be able to handle an MPEG-2 transport stream that peaks at 19mbits/sec.

Perhaps the TS -> PS conversion is what confuses it?

[jtkohl]

I'm on a Mac, so that might be affecting it. But the .TIVO files do not show up in the list. (That is, on the TiVo, I go to Now Playing, and then the machine name, and the only files I see are the .mpeg files I put there before starting the sharing.)

I recently noticed that .TiVo files do not show up on the now playing list with Mac TiVo Desktop 1.9.3, but .tivo files do.

Case sensitive? sheesh!

[Rolento76]

That confuses me.

ATSC runs at 19mbits/sec. Unless the S3 TiVo is re-encoding it, it MUST be able to handle an MPEG-2 transport stream that peaks at 19mbits/sec.

Perhaps the TS -> PS conversion is what confuses it?

I never had any luck with EyeTV MPEG2 program streams going to my S3. The blue transfer light on my S3 would light up and then turn off a few seconds later saying there was a problem with the file. I even tried just opening up the EyeTV file for the MPEG2 file and had no luck there either.

I am using a Pinnacle HD Stick Pro on a MacBook Pro. Strangely enough, I booted into Windows and ran Pinnacle's software to make recordings. The Pinnacle software records directly into MPEG2 program streams. I had no problems transferring the Pinnacle HD recordings to my S3. In my opinion, there has to be something in the file structure that TiVo doesn't like.