TIVO desktop on my Mac - this is my first MAC

[yitbos]

i just purchased my first Mac a Mini and I need some help. It's quite different than my PC in some areas and I am having difficulty with the tivo desktop function.

i had this on my PC and it worked perfectly. I have downloaded the OS X version and installed it. It tells me installation was successful but I can't find it anywhere. It's not showing up in my applications and all I have is a folder on the desktop that is the installer and if I open it, I see the installer box.

I've done it twice now and both times it says installed successfully. Can someone tell me where I find the program now or what I have to do to get it to run? In my applications folder I have iChat, iTuens, Microsoft Office, etc, all the programs I've installed. But for some reason, I can't find this one.

Thanks for the help.
John

[atlynch]

i just purchased my first Mac a Mini and I need some help. It's quite different than my PC in some areas and I am having difficulty with the tivo desktop function.

i had this on my PC and it worked perfectly. I have downloaded the OS X version and installed it. It tells me installation was successful but I can't find it anywhere. It's not showing up in my applications and all I have is a folder on the desktop that is the installer and if I open it, I see the installer box.

I've done it twice now and both times it says installed successfully. Can someone tell me where I find the program now or what I have to do to get it to run? In my applications folder I have iChat, iTuens, Microsoft Office, etc, all the programs I've installed. But for some reason, I can't find this one.

Thanks for the help.
John


Hi John,
It is a system preference. Look in your apple menu (Upper left hand corner).

-Drew

[yitbos]

That was perfect. Now I know where to find it. However, I can't find a way to tell it which shows to download from my TIVO unit to my Mac hard drive. Can someone guide me on that one as well?

Thanks,
John

[Dennis Wilkinson]

That was perfect. Now I know where to find it. However, I can't find a way to tell it which shows to download from my TIVO unit to my Mac hard drive. Can someone guide me on that one as well?

That functionality isn't a part of the Mac TiVo Desktop that TiVo provides -- the official solution is to buy Roxio Toast or Roxio Popcorn, which includes software to download from your TiVo and play/burn/transcode them on your Mac. There are a number of unofficial solutions as well, such as TiVo Decode Manager.

There's no official way to move video from your Mac back to your TiVo, although numerous unofficial solutions like pyTivo exist, and the TiVo Desktop you already have has a hidden pref that will enable that feature (which is, unfortunately, broken for files you grab from your TiVo at the moment.)

[RobertBasil]

the TiVo Desktop you already have has a hidden pref that will enable that feature

Where is his "hidden" pref? I've looked all over and can't find it anywhere.

[SnakeEyes]

Hold down the apple/cmd key when clicking on TiVo Desktop.

[Dennis Wilkinson]

You can also download VisualHub (http://www.techspansion.com/visualhub/) and use the enabler application they include with it to enable the tab permanently, or search for my post here with instructions (and, IIRC, an AppleScript applet) that does the same thing.

[RobertBasil]

Thanks for both answers!

I've been a VH user for a while now, keep finding new ways to use it. WELL worth the $25.

Thanks again.

[fatespawn]

Dennis,

What do you mean the TTCB video feature is "broken" right now. I successfully transfer video to and from the Tivo with ease. HD is slower than real time, but that's my only beef.

-fate

[Dennis Wilkinson]

What do you mean the TTCB video feature is "broken" right now. I successfully transfer video to and from the Tivo with ease. HD is slower than real time, but that's my only beef.

There were changes to the .TiVo file format that came along with (I think) TiVo software 9.2. Shows recorded by TiVos running that version won't transfer back to your TiVo after they've been transferred to your Mac (there's missing metadata that Mac TiVo Desktop is looking for without error checking, plus another issue that I haven't clearly identified yet.) Older .TiVo files will be fine.

The .TiVo files that fail that way just won't show up in the list when you browse from the TiVo, and if you have logging on they'll be complained about in the log. It's been a while since I've poked around at it. I know this is true of my S3; I don't have a TiVoHD at the moment to try.

[fatespawn]

I see your point now. OFFICIAL means....

TivoDecodeManager does a good job, but it's the .mpg files and certainly unofficial. The metadata is goofy as well.

Galleon seems to work better, but also unofficial.

-fate