SOAK - Sharing Home Videos with other TiVos

[RedMan8]

I've recently been daydreaming about setting up my parents with a TiVo. The biggest reason is because I've heard about the ability to share your home videos with another TiVo.
How does that work exactly?

I realize both TiVo's have to be connected to the internet and have all the HME options turned on etc, etc. I transfer shows to my PC for archiving and I've also transferred home videos to my TiVo with no problems.

There is probably already a tutorial or some write up from TiVo. Feel free to just linky.
:)

[CuriousMark]

Videos you publish online with One True Media (http://www.onetruemedia.com/) can be viewed by your Parents using their TiVo.

[RedMan8]

ahhh... so basically, I would take my home move (mpg or avi or whatever) and publish it to OneTrueMedia (is it free?)
Then I would set up my parents TiVo to connect to that address?? It must be an HME app.

There must be info on TiVo's site about it but I can't find anything.

[classicsat]

OTM is a pay service. You upload your movie to them (I am not too sure of the format they need though.

All you need to do is enter your OTM code into your parent's TiVo, on an HME app, and it will present a number of clips you uploaded.

[RedMan8]

Pay service?
Figures.

What about using MRV?
Obviously we don't live in the same house... but if I forward the right ports and such...

Is there any free way to get one of my home videos to my parents TiVo, short of bringing my laptop to their house and plugging it in to their network?

I don't mind forwarding ports or installing stuff on my PC to support this (if it matters).

[CuriousMark]

You can try that, but because most ISPs have limited upload speeds the transfers could take many hours. It would not be MRV either, you would need to use TiVo ToGo for that.

The simplest free answer may be to use DVDs or USB Flash drives and the mail.

How about if you encode the movies as xvid and serve them to your parents via FTP or something similar. Your parents could put them on their computer and then serve them to the Tivo using TiVo Desktop Plus ( also not free) or pyTiVo (free). The xvid being smaller than an MPEG-2 TiVo file will download faster over the limited bandwidth of a typical ISP uplink.

[RedMan8]

That's an interesting idea!

I never even considered that because my parents don't currently own a computer... but I knew they would need to get internet for this to work, so why not add a computer to the mix besides.

I already use pyTiVo at home (great product!) so that would be no big deal. I've written programs that offer an update feature using FTP... so I could manage that piece as well.

I think this is the solution!
Technically it's not free because they need to get an internet connection and a computer... but there aren't any additional monthly costs at least!

Thanks!