pyTivoX

[Yoav]

Just to test it then, I removed all of the ampersands, single quotes, commas and umlauts from the file names, still the same results.

Well, so back to the only thing I noticed that was strange from your full listing: greek had some metadata that the other folder didn't.. so lets try this. Open up Terminal.app, and run the following commands:

cd /Volumes/dot/TV/active/test

mkdir newgreek

mv "greek/season 2" "newgreek/"


This should create a new directory named newgreek, and move the contents of greek into it. Restart pyTivoX, and see if the newgreek directory works as it should. If so, then there's something odd with the actual 'greek' directory. Do you know how it was created?
If not, then at least we know it has nothing to do with the odd metadata thing.

[Yoav]

Oh, also, can you run in that Terminal.app

xattr greek


I'm wondering if that folder is being quarantined or something...

[catbastet]

I made the new directory, its the same. I can see any video files, but the subfolder is visible.

When I run xattr nothing comes back at all, looking into it further it looks like the extra thing was showing up because I had it highlighted. I took off the highlighting so that extra tag isn't showing up any more

[catbastet]

Ok, I figured it out, sorry for all the trouble. The problem is in the text files and not the video files. I should have tried eliminating those first.

This new version doesn't like smart quotes in the text files. Ampersands, commas and umlauts are all fine, but if it has any smart quotes in it then it just won't show that the file is even there (for me at least).

Now I just need to decide if I want to change all my files to straighten the quotes (which might be best practice anyway). I should be able to use something like text wrangler to batch it, but I have tons of them.

[wmcbrine]

The TiVo can't digest those "smart quotes" anyway, AFAIK -- just shows them as boxes. But I'm surprised to hear that it's causing this problem, or that there's any difference in how they're handled now. Can you send me an example file?

[catbastet]

That was sort of how I noticed that might be the problem. I saw the odd characters that showed up when I used the older versions. I think I will just change them all though, in the long run they will look nicer on the TiVo if I do them that way. I never noticed that they were even smart quotes when I made them, I just copied and pasted and didn't really pay attention.

[wmcbrine]

OK, so, that file is in the Mac Roman encoding. Since I'm now flagging the description as UTF-8 instead of ISO 8859-1, the non-ASCII characters turn into invalid UTF-8 sequences, and apparently this confuses the TiVo. (The ISO 8859-1 mapping wasn't right either, but in that case, they still appeared as valid characters.) I'll see what I can do to address this.

Meanwhile, if you resave the files as UTF-8, they should work, although the "smart quotes" still won't show up on the TiVo.

[wmcbrine]

I have a workaround in my repo now. Text is checked for valid UTF-8ness; if it fails, it's treated as either Mac Roman (for the Mac) or ISO 8859-1 (all other platforms). I think this will handle most cases, and at a minimum, will send no more bogus UTF-8 to the TiVo.

[wmcbrine]

Basically, a smart folder isn't really a folder.Unless you use this, apparently:

http://googlemac.blogspot.com/2007/01/spotlight-file-system-for-macfuse.html

I haven't tried it myself.

[Yoav]

Unless you use this, apparently:

http://googlemac.blogspot.com/2007/01/spotlight-file-system-for-macfuse.html

I haven't tried it myself.

Oh nice :)
I actually have MacFuse but haven't tried this..

I guess all it would take would be to create a filesystem that is the spotlight search, and pyTivoX should happily accecpt it as a new source folder. Then pyTivo and streambaby will both stream files from there.

So fishtank: looks like there is a solution and it shouldn't be that hard to use... (crossing fingers)

[Yoav]

I have a workaround in my repo now. Text is checked for valid UTF-8ness; if it fails, it's treated as either Mac Roman (for the Mac) or ISO 8859-1 (all other platforms). I think this will handle most cases, and at a minimum, will send no more bogus UTF-8 to the TiVo.

Ok, new test build up on

http://yoav.org/files/pyTivoX-beta.dmg

Is it doing the right thing?

[catbastet]

Seems to work great, thanks everyone for the help.

On a completely separate topic, is there any easy way to make the pytivo list alphabetical even in the now playing list is by most recent?

[wmcbrine]

Seems to work great, thanks everyone for the help.I have one more question for you, if you don't mind: What editor did you use to produce these Mac Roman-encoded metadata text files? See, I'd read this (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac_OS_Roman):

With the release of Mac OS X, Mac OS Roman was replaced by UTF-8 as the standard character encoding for the Macintosh operating system.

But I guess that isn't entirely true, is it?

On a completely separate topic, is there any easy way to make the pytivo list alphabetical even in the now playing list is by most recent?Not yet...

[catbastet]

I just used text edit, and I just pressed save and kept everything default not changing anything. When I straightened the quotes I used text wrangler (bbedit), again all defaults.

[solutionsetc]

First... Thanks Yoav for this.

I am having an issue that I have not seen discussed here so maybe I am doing something stupid. When I try to stream I am getting an http failure error after what seems like a timeout on the TiVo.

I am guessing this is a firewall issue for if I turn my firewall off to allow all incoming connections streaming seems to work fine. But I would prefer not to do that.

If the firewall is on, downloading of shows works from "Now Playing" but trying to stream from "Showcases etc." brings up the http connection error after a minute or two of "Please wait".

Edit... Ok it was stupid. I see Streaming is a java based app and I had Java set to disallow incoming connections.

[solutionsetc]

So for now just one more question...

When streaming I don't seem to be able to jump ahead and have the stream reset. It acts like it is going to (Please wait) but then just resets the stream to 0.

[Yoav]

So for now just one more question...

When streaming I don't seem to be able to jump ahead and have the stream reset. It acts like it is going to (Please wait) but then just resets the stream to 0.

If I understand correctly, you're saying that when you use streambaby (under Photos, Music, Showcases) and hit the fast forward to a point which hasn't been downloaded yet, it instead rewinds to the beginning of the movie?

Normally, it will 'clean up' the buffer (so it will look like you have nothing downloaded) but it's supposed to resume playing from where it is.. not from the beginning of the movie.

I haven't seen this happen before, but your previous posting seems to mention a bunch of firewalling going on and it might be confusing streambaby. Please make sure you're running the beta: http://code.google.com/p/pytivox/downloads/list (streambaby has had a lot of code changes go in). If it's still happening under the beta, can you attach the log file (under <user>/Library/Logs/pyTivoX/streambaby.log ).. maybe we can see something useful in there...

[Yoav]

pushed out 1.2 .. includes latest streambaby and pytivo-wmcbrine

[dejardin]

Hello--

I've been trying to get pytivoX to work for the last couple of days with no luck. I just updated pytivo to 1.2 on my new Intel Mac Mini running Python 2.5.1. I have both Series 2 and Series 3 HD TiVos, and so far no luck with anything showing up in either NPL. I've used pytivo successfully in the past on a PC, but it has been shut down the whole time I've worked on pytivoX. Both TiVos and the Mac show up in the DHCP clients table and there's only one network. I have one shared folder set up with files in it. No help from a TiVo restart, either. pyTivoX.log only shows the "pyTivo is ready" message, nothing else. Any help appreciated. Thanks!

dejardin

[Yoav]

Hello--

I've been trying to get pytivoX to work for the last couple of days with no luck. I just updated pytivo to 1.2 on my new Intel Mac Mini running Python 2.5.1. I have both Series 2 and Series 3 HD TiVos, and so far no luck with anything showing up in either NPL. I've used pytivo successfully in the past on a PC, but it has been shut down the whole time I've worked on pytivoX. Both TiVos and the Mac show up in the DHCP clients table and there's only one network. I have one shared folder set up with files in it. No help from a TiVo restart, either. pyTivoX.log only shows the "pyTivo is ready" message, nothing else. Any help appreciated. Thanks!

dejardin

Did you hit 'apply'?

[dejardin]

Did you hit 'apply'?

Repeatedly and with great force. Except for when I tried changing the beacon address, because hitting apply then changes it back, correct?

Mike

[solutionsetc]

If I understand correctly, you're saying that when you use streambaby (under Photos, Music, Showcases) and hit the fast forward to a point which hasn't been downloaded yet, it instead rewinds to the beginning of the movie?

Yoav,

I turned the firewall off, deleted all files relating to PyTivoX, and downloaded a fresh copy of the beta (13). Here is the unexpected behavior I am seeing:

1.) When trying to play some of the programs (all ".tivo" files), some give me a grey screen with red text indicating the stream is incompatible. Some are hi-def, others are SD. At this point I see no rhyme or reason why some play and others seem to be incompatible.

2.) Of the streams that do play, fast forwarding brings up a grey box in the center of the screen with numbers indicating the time I am advancing. When I press play I get the "Please Wait" symbol and after a few seconds the stream restarts playing from zero.

I can also press a number on the remote (and I see this number at the bottom center of the screen) and then press advance. This behaves the same as above where "Please Wait" comes up and then the stream restarts from the beginning.

You can find my streambaby log from this last session at:

http://solutionsetcetera.com/pytivox_logs/streambaby.log.zip

Thanks for taking the time to look into this.

-ss

[Yoav]

Repeatedly and with great force. Except for when I tried changing the beacon address, because hitting apply then changes it back, correct?

Mike

Can I get you to attach the contents of your <user>/Library/Application Support/pyTivoX/pyTivo.conf here? It *sounds* like the mac is not seeing any of the broadcast requests from the tivos, so it never makes itself available to them.

Out of interest, is streambaby working to your tivo 3?

[Yoav]

Yoav,

I turned the firewall off, deleted all files relating to PyTivoX, and downloaded a fresh copy of the beta (13). Here is the unexpected behavior I am seeing:

1.) When trying to play some of the programs (all ".tivo" files), some give me a grey screen with red text indicating the stream is incompatible. Some are hi-def, others are SD. At this point I see no rhyme or reason why some play and others seem to be incompatible.

Streambaby doesn't really support .tivo files. It's pretty much feeding it as-is to the tivo and letting the tivo do its thing with it. Since .tivo files are encrypted, there is no way for streambaby to 'jump' somewhere in the middle of the stream (which is required when you fast-forward beyond the buffer). I can't tell you why the tivo likes some of them but not others.... I guess be happy that you're even getting it to partially work...

I strongly recommend you decrypt the .tivo file to the actual mpeg-2. A .tivo file is pretty much useless to anything except the original tivo it came from (and any other tivos with the same MAK). You can use tools like 'tivodecode' to do this (or use iTiVo when you're fetching from the tivo, and use the 'decrypt' format).


2.) Of the streams that do play, fast forwarding brings up a grey box in the center of the screen with numbers indicating the time I am advancing. When I press play I get the "Please Wait" symbol and after a few seconds the stream restarts playing from zero.

This behavior is not surprising. Please try it with an unencrypted video format (like a regular mp4 or mpeg-2 file) and tell me if you're still seeing such behavior.


I can also press a number on the remote (and I see this number at the bottom center of the screen) and then press advance. This behaves the same as above where "Please Wait" comes up and then the stream restarts from the beginning.
same reason...

[solutionsetc]

Streambaby doesn't really support .tivo files.

I see. My bad. Perhaps you could add this to the FAQ to prevent others from making the assumption that I did (that .tivo files would stream). You also might want to mention that the OS X firewall needs to be set to allow incoming connections from Java.

Now all seems to be behaving as expected. Thanks again for this!

-ss

[Yoav]

I see. My bad. Perhaps you could add this to the FAQ to prevent others from making the assumption that I did (that .tivo files would stream). You also might want to mention that the OS X firewall needs to be set to allow incoming connections from Java.

Now all seems to be behaving as expected. Thanks again for this!

-ss

Sounds good :) Updating FAQ now.
thanks

[dejardin]

Can I get you to attach the contents of your <user>/Library/Application Support/pyTivoX/pyTivo.conf here? It *sounds* like the mac is not seeing any of the broadcast requests from the tivos, so it never makes itself available to them.

Out of interest, is streambaby working to your tivo 3?

I haven't tried streambaby as of yet. I'm not as familiar with it as the pytivo functionality, which has worked well for me in the past. Is it worth doing both? I'm generally working with AVIs, which needs pytivo I believe.

.conf file attached. Let me know if any problems reading it. Thanks!

dejardin

[Yoav]

I haven't tried streambaby as of yet. I'm not as familiar with it as the pytivo functionality, which has worked well for me in the past. Is it worth doing both? I'm generally working with AVIs, which needs pytivo I believe.

.conf file attached. Let me know if any problems reading it. Thanks!

dejardin

Ermm
That conf file is completely garbaged...

It looks right in TextEdit, but when I examine it it's FILLED with rdf control codes. Please hit 'apply' again, and see if pytivo works WITHOUT making edits to the conf file. If it's still failing, send me the resulting conf file?

for what it's worth, here's the actual contents of your file:


{\rtf1\ansi\ansicpg1252\cocoartf949\cocoasubrtf430
{\fonttbl\f0\fswiss\fcharset0 Helvetica;}
{\colortbl;\red255\green255\blue255;}
\margl1440\margr1440\vieww9000\viewh8400\viewkind0
\pard\tx720\tx1440\tx2160\tx2880\tx3600\tx4320\tx5040\tx5760 \tx6480\tx7200\tx7920\tx8640\ql\qnatural\pardirnatural

\f0\fs24 \cf0 # Created by pyTivoX, edits here WILL BE OVERWRITTEN\
\
[Admin]\
type=admin\
\
[Server]\
debug=True\
ffmpeg=/Applications/pyTivoX.app/Contents/Resources/ffmpeg.bin\
beacon=192.168.1.255\
[MacTiVo]\
type=video\
path=/Users/mike/TiVo}

[Yoav]

I haven't tried streambaby as of yet. I'm not as familiar with it as the pytivo functionality, which has worked well for me in the past. Is it worth doing both?

I think it's worth doing both :). Especially if you have a large library of movies on your computer, have a fast network, and a tivo 3 / HD.

Either way, it's trivial to try, and it will let us see if there's an underlying network issue, or if pytivo is having problems.

I *assume* your tivo's IP address is something like 192.168.1.XXX ?

[dejardin]

I think it's worth doing both :). Especially if you have a large library of movies on your computer, have a fast network, and a tivo 3 / HD.

Either way, it's trivial to try, and it will let us see if there's an underlying network issue, or if pytivo is having problems.

I *assume* your tivo's IP address is something like 192.168.1.XXX ?

Yup, that's my network. I started up streambaby, but no luck with that showing up on my Series 3 either; I get an HTTP error 0x50005. Here's my .conf file, less munged:

# Created by pyTivoX, edits here WILL BE OVERWRITTEN

[Admin]
type=admin

[Server]
debug=True
ffmpeg=/Applications/pyTivoX.app/Contents/Resources/ffmpeg.bin
beacon=192.168.1.255
[MacTiVo]
type=video
path=/Users/mike/TiVo

pytivo.log:
INFO: pyTivo: pyTivo is ready.

streambaby.log: attached

[Yoav]

Ok, I'm going to guess that something is filtering traffic between your tivos and your mac. Streambaby is broadcasting a bonjour request for what tivos are out there and getting nothing.

Are you SURE there is no firewalling on either the mac or your router?

Have you rebooted the tivo yet (sometimes it seems to have network issues that a reboot of the tivo or router can fix)?

[dejardin]

Ok, I'm going to guess that something is filtering traffic between your tivos and your mac. Streambaby is broadcasting a bonjour request for what tivos are out there and getting nothing.

Are you SURE there is no firewalling on either the mac or your router?

Have you rebooted the tivo yet (sometimes it seems to have network issues that a reboot of the tivo or router can fix)?

Ah, I hadn't caught onto the firewall requirement. My apologies. Yes, I have OSX's firewall going. I don't quite get, however, how to allow incoming connections for Java; I can do it per application, and I tried it for pyTivoX, but that didn't work. How do you set it correctly for Java? And yes, I have restarted the TiVo a couple of times throughout this whole process.

One other thing I wanted to mention: I sometimes have trouble getting the pyTivoX window to show up in the Finder when choosing Show/Hide Config from the the taskbar. It hides behind other windows and doesn't show up in the Command-Tab switching window. I do have it set to start at login; is this common? Thanks a million for all your quick responses.

dejardin

[Yoav]

Ah, I hadn't caught onto the firewall requirement. My apologies. Yes, I have OSX's firewall going. I don't quite get, however, how to allow incoming connections for Java; I can do it per application, and I tried it for pyTivoX, but that didn't work. How do you set it correctly for Java? And yes, I have restarted the TiVo a couple of times throughout this whole process.

One other thing I wanted to mention: I sometimes have trouble getting the pyTivoX window to show up in the Finder when choosing Show/Hide Config from the the taskbar. It hides behind other windows and doesn't show up in the Command-Tab switching window. I do have it set to start at login; is this common? Thanks a million for all your quick responses.

dejardin

I don't really use OS X's firewalling, and honestly am not 100% sure what you'd need to do. For sure pyTivo uses python as an underlying application, and sets up connections over port 9032 and whatever else it needs.

streambaby uses java and port 7288.

Additionally, they both rely on UDP multicast/broadcast for bonjour discovery (I believe that happens over port 53).

But really, not sure.. If you do figure out a full instruction list and don't mind writing it up, I'll be happy to include it in the FAQ...


As for the pyTivoX window being behind. I'm aware of it and havent been able to fix it. TECHNICAL DETAILS: Basically, to 'hide the dock icon' and 'remove the menu and window' I set NSUIElement to 1 in the properties list for the program. When this is done, even though I instruct the window to pop up to the front (using makeKeyAndOrderFront), yet it always ends up behind the topmost window.

So yeah, suck and I havent figured out a way around this. But you can always use Expose or just minimize some windows -- or just not use 'launch at login' if you actually need regular access to the main window).

[westside_guy]

I don't really use OS X's firewalling, and honestly am not 100% sure what you'd need to do. For sure pyTivo uses python as an underlying application, and sets up connections over port 9032 and whatever else it needs.

With OS X 10.5, the default firewall is application-based. If an application tries to access the network, you should get a pop-up asking whether or not the application should be allowed to accept incoming network connections. With this firewall you don't need to track port numbers. When I launched pyTivo and streambaby for the first time, I'm pretty sure I did get asked whether they should be allowed to accept connections (which you do need to say "yes" to, of course).

If the user is using the "allow only essential services" setting, it isn't adjustable as far as I know - that could be the problem. You have to use the option that lets you set access for specific programs and applications.

With previous versions of OS X, it was of course port-based - so you had to allow specific port numbers, make sure you knew if they were TCP or UDP, etc.

I find the 10.5 firewall rather limiting, and keep telling myself I need to disable it and manually switch back to ipfw (the 10.4 firewall); but it's more of a minor annoyance than a major problem so I haven't actually done anything about it yet. :p

[wmcbrine]

Additionally, they both rely on UDP multicast/broadcast for bonjour discovery (I believe that happens over port 53).pyTivo doesn't use Bonjour, although I'm implementing that now (well, Zeroconf). It uses the old-style TiVo Connect Discovery beacons, on port 2190.

Zeroconf/Rendevous/Bonjour uses port 5353. Port 53 is regular DNS.

[dilbret]

I'm running the latest beta of PyTivoX 1.2b13 on both my G5 tower and my Intel Mini. The problem that I'm running into is in trying to transfer recordings from the G5 back to my TivoHD. All of the recordings that I try to transfer say that they are being added to the ToDo list instead of transferring immediately. If I try the same thing from the Intel Mini the recordings transfer just like they should. I know that with an earlier beta (not sure which) transfers worked from the G5 without a problem. The recordings are shows downloaded from my Series2DT via iTivo. If I turn on streambaby support on the G5 the shows will stream ok.

[dejardin]

I don't really use OS X's firewalling, and honestly am not 100% sure what you'd need to do. For sure pyTivo uses python as an underlying application, and sets up connections over port 9032 and whatever else it needs.

streambaby uses java and port 7288.

Additionally, they both rely on UDP multicast/broadcast for bonjour discovery (I believe that happens over port 53).

But really, not sure.. If you do figure out a full instruction list and don't mind writing it up, I'll be happy to include it in the FAQ...


As for the pyTivoX window being behind. I'm aware of it and havent been able to fix it. TECHNICAL DETAILS: Basically, to 'hide the dock icon' and 'remove the menu and window' I set NSUIElement to 1 in the properties list for the program. When this is done, even though I instruct the window to pop up to the front (using makeKeyAndOrderFront), yet it always ends up behind the topmost window.

So yeah, suck and I havent figured out a way around this. But you can always use Expose or just minimize some windows -- or just not use 'launch at login' if you actually need regular access to the main window).

It took a couple of days, but both Java and Python eventually showed up in the OSX firewall list (no popup that I saw). They were blocked by default, but as soon as I set them to allow incoming connections I was up and running on both pytivo and streambaby. Thanks for the help!

dejardin

[Yoav]

I'm running the latest beta of PyTivoX 1.2b13 on both my G5 tower and my Intel Mini. The problem that I'm running into is in trying to transfer recordings from the G5 back to my TivoHD. All of the recordings that I try to transfer say that they are being added to the ToDo list instead of transferring immediately. If I try the same thing from the Intel Mini the recordings transfer just like they should. I know that with an earlier beta (not sure which) transfers worked from the G5 without a problem. The recordings are shows downloaded from my Series2DT via iTivo. If I turn on streambaby support on the G5 the shows will stream ok.

I can't imagine why PPC would queue and intel would just download immediately. This is to the same tivo, and you can alternate between computers and always get this? Stuff normally gets queued if the tivo/computer believes that it's already busy downloading something... Try rebooting the computer and the tivo and see if it 'fixes' itself....

Other than that, I really have no idea.. After it adds it to the queue, does it pretty much end up downloading it within five minutes anyways?

[kupe]

Hey gang-

Upgraded today to PyTivoX 1.2 from version 1.1b24.

Notice two things in 1.2. (The first also happened with 1.1b24)

1) Several .MOV files will not play to my TivoHD with Streambaby. They are all Star Trek HD movie trailers from the Apple website. When I try to stream them, I get Error: 0xffff
Those files do play just fine if I download them from Now Playing to my Tivo HD.

2) After streaming one movie, the movie's name changed in the file list in Streambaby. The file was named for the title of the movie, but for some reason PyTivo changed the name to numbers which appear to represent the running time of the movie. When I check the file on my Mac, it is still named properly by the movie title.

I'm running OS 10.5.6 on an Intel iMac.

Kupe

[Yoav]

Hey gang-

Upgraded today to PyTivoX 1.2 from version 1.1b24.

Notice two things in 1.2. (The first also happened with 1.1b24)

1) Several .MOV files will not play to my TivoHD with Streambaby. They are all Star Trek HD movie trailers from the Apple website. When I try to stream them, I get Error: 0xffff
Those files do play just fine if I download them from Now Playing to my Tivo HD.

Sounds like a film that is mis-identified as 'streamable as-is' by newer versions of streambaby. Can you open up a Terminal.app and run something like /Applications/pyTivoX.app/Contents/Resources/ffmpeg -i (full path to your movie file) So we can see what it's being identified as? In the meanwhile, it should still work in streambaby as long as you select a quality other than 'same'.


2) After streaming one movie, the movie's name changed in the file list in Streambaby. The file was named for the title of the movie, but for some reason PyTivo changed the name to numbers which appear to represent the running time of the movie. When I check the file on my Mac, it is still named properly by the movie title.
The version of streambaby you have will first use the filename when compiling the list of movies (which is why it works initially), but as soon as it looks in the file, it will trust the 'metadata' in the file for the actual name of the film. It sounds to me like the metadata in your movie is incorrectly set to use the running time as the title. a tool like 'MetaX' can help you mess with the metadata in a movie without re-encoding it.

[kupe]

Sounds like a film that is mis-identified as 'streamable as-is' by newer versions of streambaby. Can you open up a Terminal.app and run something like /Applications/pyTivoX.app/Contents/Resources/ffmpeg -i (full path to your movie file)So we can see what it's being identified as?

Glad to- here it is:

FFmpeg version SVN-r18731, Copyright (c) 2000-2009 Fabrice Bellard, et al.
configuration: --shlibdir=@executable_path --arch=i386 --cpu=i686 --disable-static --enable-shared --enable-pthreads --enable-gpl --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libfaac --enable-nonfree --enable-libfaad --enable-libx264 --extra-cflags='-I/Users/yoav/src/lame/include -I/Users/yoav/src/faad2-2.7/include -I/Users/yoav/src/faac-1.28/include -I/Users/yoav/src/x264' --extra-ldflags='-L/Users/yoav/src/lame/libmp3lame/.libs -L/Users/yoav/src/faad2-2.7/libfaad/.libs -L/Users/yoav/src/faac-1.28/libfaac/.libs -L/Users/yoav/src/x264/'
libavutil 50. 3. 0 / 50. 3. 0
libavcodec 52.28. 0 / 52.28. 0
libavformat 52.32. 0 / 52.32. 0
libavdevice 52. 2. 0 / 52. 2. 0
libswscale 0. 7. 1 / 0. 7. 1
built on May 2 2009 14:48:06, gcc: 4.0.1 (Apple Inc. build 5484)

Seems stream 0 codec frame rate differs from container frame rate: 47.95 (5994/125) -> 23.98 (24000/1001)
Input #0, mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2, from '/Users/dave/Desktop/Tivo Shares/Star Trek.mov':
Duration: 00:00:37.08, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 9466 kb/s
Stream #0.0(eng): Video: h264, yuv420p, 1920x800, 23.98 tbr, 23.98 tbn, 47.95 tbc
Stream #0.1(eng): Audio: aac, 44100 Hz, stereo, s16
Stream #0.2(eng): Data: tmcd / 0x64636D74
At least one output file must be specified

In the meanwhile, it should still work in streambaby as long as you select a quality other than 'same'.

That does indeed fix the problem. Thanks! FWIW, here's what I'm seeing. On any .MOV files, if under Quality, any bitrate number follows the word "Same", then that file won't stream if left on Same. However on some of my .MOV files, there is no bitrate number displayed after Same, and those files DO stream just fine (without having to select something other than Same).


The version of streambaby you have will first use the filename when compiling the list of movies (which is why it works initially), but as soon as it looks in the file, it will trust the 'metadata' in the file for the actual name of the film. It sounds to me like the metadata in your movie is incorrectly set to use the running time as the title. a tool like 'MetaX' can help you mess with the metadata in a movie without re-encoding it.

Interesting. This particular file was encoded by Handbrake, as opposed to my others that were encoded with Toast. I'll take a look at MetaX.

Thanks as always Yoav!

Kupe

[kupe]

Interesting. This particular file was encoded by Handbrake, as opposed to my others that were encoded with Toast. I'll take a look at MetaX.

Oooops- I stand corrected. The file was encoded with Toast- not Handbrake. And as I try other Toast-encoded movies, they too are getting renamed by their running time in Streambaby.

So, I went ahead and downloaded MetaX- very cool app! Here's the interesting thing. The title field is correct for all the movies. No need to change any of them. The problem seems to be the fact that the running time is in the metadata "short description" field. This appears to be what Streambaby is relying on. When I edit that field and change it to blank, Streambaby again displays the correct title.

So, that brings me to this question- Is that really the desired behavior for Streambaby? i.e. to use the Short Description metadata over the Title metadata? In any case, this appears to be a change from earlier versions of Streambaby, where I did not have this renaming issue.

Meanwhile, is this a known issue with Toast? i.e. incorrectly putting running time in the Short Description field (I'm running Toast Titanium 9.0.4)

Ugggh- it looks like I'll need to edit the Metadata in all my Toast-encoded movies, unless perhaps this issues gets addressed on the Streambaby end.

Kupe

[Yoav]

That does indeed fix the problem. Thanks! FWIW, here's what I'm seeing. On any .MOV files, if under Quality, any bitrate number follows the word "Same", then that file won't stream if left on Same. However on some of my .MOV files, there is no bitrate number displayed after Same, and those files DO stream just fine (without having to select something other than Same).

You should probably repeat this info in the streambaby thread. The problem is that the .mov file you have is not playable by the tivo, and needs to be transcoded. However, streambaby thinks that it *is* playable, so streams it as-is. Selecting a quality other than same forces a transcode... The two 'weirdnesses' in the file is the fact that there's a third data stream in there, and that it seems to be 1920x800 at 24fps (normally 24 fps on TV is reserved for 1024x720)... I'm not aware if those are 'deal-breakers' for tivo though (it's not yet 100% clear what tivo accepts as a valid mp4 stream).


Interesting. This particular file was encoded by Handbrake, as opposed to my others that were encoded with Toast. I'll take a look at MetaX.

Well, on one hand, Toast is clearly generating bad metadata (sorry, but a short description of a film shouldn't be its runtime). On the other, I don't know why streambaby prefers the short over the title... possibly short is expected to be the title without (year) and other additional info? Again, you'll need to bring it up in the streambaby thread. It's a pretty simple change to force it to take one over the other, I'm just not comfortable doing it because I don't understand the decision...

[kupe]

You should probably repeat this info in the streambaby thread.

Thanks Yoav- good suggestion. I haven't been following that thread, but I see it's also quite active.

Kupe

[TadK]

Is there a method to sort a folder contents by file name rather than date created? Or some way of switching between name and date created?

I have a few folders with several movies in each. They appear to be organized by creation date (as they are in the order that I drug them over to my external drive). Is there a solution for this?

Thanks much.
Tad

TiVo S2 set top box, ethernet,

[kupe]

On the other, I don't know why streambaby prefers the short over the title...

Hi Yoav-

Well that was easy! Baring any objections from other users, sounds like Keary is going to swap the Streambaby priorities so that Title rules over Short Description.

Thanks again!

Kupe

[Yoav]

Is there a method to sort a folder contents by file name rather than date created? Or some way of switching between name and date created?

I have a few folders with several movies in each. They appear to be organized by creation date (as they are in the order that I drug them over to my external drive). Is there a solution for this?

Thanks much.
Tad

TiVo S2 set top box, ethernet,

Based on the last line there, I'm going to assume you mean in pyTivo and not streambaby. According to the discussion at http://pytivo.krkeegan.com/sorting-t194.html it sounds like you should be able to achieve that by hitting '1' on the remote while browsing the directory. Is that not the case?

edit: It looks like that's true only for the toplevel in each share. For subdirs there's a force_alpha flag that needs to be specified in the config file, and that's per share... hmmm...

Well, the 'quick fix' for now is to edit '<user>/Library/Application Support/pyTivoX/pyTivo.conf' and add 'force_alpha=True' after each line that says 'type=video' ...

I'm more inclined to make a global setting to let you control that instead of a per-share (as it is already tending towards confusing)... Anyways I'll think about it for a bit...

[kupe]

Hi Yoav-

Ran into a new issue today running PyTivoX 1.2. I have a large collection of .tivo files on my Mac. Today I tried transferring some of them from my Mac to my Tivos, but I kept getting an error message on the Tivos to the effect of "An error occurred when trying to Transfer". This occurred with both my Tivo HD and my Series 2.

Note that the same files transfer fine when going directly from Tivo to Tivo.

Anyhow, I reverted just now back to PyTivoX 1.1b24 and my .tivo files transfer perfectly again from my Mac to Tivo. Seems to be a 1.2 issue. Do you think we can get .tivo transfers working again in 1.2?

Thanks!

Kupe

[Yoav]

Hi Yoav-

Ran into a new issue today running PyTivoX 1.2. I have a large collection of .tivo files on my Mac. Today I tried transferring some of them from my Mac to my Tivos, but I kept getting an error message on the Tivos to the effect of "An error occurred when trying to Transfer". This occurred with both my Tivo HD and my Series 2.

Note that the same files transfer fine when going directly from Tivo to Tivo.

Anyhow, I reverted just now back to PyTivoX 1.1b24 and my .tivo files transfer perfectly again from my Mac to Tivo. Seems to be a 1.2 issue. Do you think we can get .tivo transfers working again in 1.2?

Thanks!

Kupe

Can I get you to try and make it fail again, and then attach the contents of <user>/Library/Logs/pyTivoX/pytivo.log ? From the description I really can't tell what went wrong. 1.2 is using newer pytivo code from wmcbrine, and a newer ffmpeg, so either of those could have caused the issue...

As an aside: I *hate hate hate* .tivo files. In the future, I recommend you never keep those around. Convert them to the mpeg-2 that they should be.

[bedelman]

As an aside: I *hate hate hate* .tivo files. In the future, I recommend you never keep those around. Convert them to the mpeg-2 that they should be.

I disagree -- partly because .tivo files have all that juicy metadata in them :)

But, rather than using pyTiVox, I just use the capability that's found in the TiVo Desktop for Mac OSX preference pane (you have to expose the hidden videos tab by holding down the apple/command key when launching it -- there is a way to modify the plist file to make it permanent if you wish)

I have pyTiVoX working from one directory and TiVo Desktop for Mac OSX working from a different one -- and other than having two entries for the computer in my Now Playing List (named differently), they get along just fine with one another.

- Bob

[kupe]

Can I get you to try and make it fail again, and then attach the contents of <user>/Library/Logs/pyTivoX/pytivo.log ? From the description I really can't tell what went wrong. 1.2 is using newer pytivo code from wmcbrine, and a newer ffmpeg, so either of those could have caused the issue...

Hi Yoav-

No problem. I reinstalled 1.2 and immediately got the same error and couldn't transfer any .tivo file from my Mac to a Tivo. In this case an episode of Rick Steve's Europe:

INFO:pyTivo:10.0.1.7 [13/May/2009 14:13:06] "GET /TiVoConnect?Command=QueryFormats&SourceFormat=video%2Fx-tivo-mpeg HTTP/1.1" 200 -
DEBUG:root:starting ffmpeg, will wait 10 seconds for it to complete
DEBUG:root:ffmpeg output=FFmpeg version SVN-r18731, Copyright (c) 2000-2009 Fabrice Bellard, et al.
configuration: --shlibdir=@executable_path --arch=i386 --cpu=i686 --disable-static --enable-shared --enable-pthreads --enable-gpl --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libfaac --enable-nonfree --enable-libfaad --enable-libx264 --extra-cflags='-I/Users/yoav/src/lame/include -I/Users/yoav/src/faad2-2.7/include -I/Users/yoav/src/faac-1.28/include -I/Users/yoav/src/x264' --extra-ldflags='-L/Users/yoav/src/lame/libmp3lame/.libs -L/Users/yoav/src/faad2-2.7/libfaad/.libs -L/Users/yoav/src/faac-1.28/libfaac/.libs -L/Users/yoav/src/x264/'
libavutil 50. 3. 0 / 50. 3. 0
libavcodec 52.28. 0 / 52.28. 0
libavformat 52.32. 0 / 52.32. 0
libavdevice 52. 2. 0 / 52. 2. 0
libswscale 0. 7. 1 / 0. 7. 1
built on May 2 2009 14:48:06, gcc: 4.0.1 (Apple Inc. build 5484)

Seems stream 0 codec frame rate differs from container frame rate: 59.94 (60000/1001) -> 29.97 (30000/1001)
Input #0, mpeg, from '/Users/dave/TiVoShows/Rick_Steves'_Europe_Denmark_Beyond_Copenhagen_WPBA_123152580 0.TiVo':
Duration: 00:30:02.23, start: 0.602700, bitrate: 2956 kb/s
Stream #0.0[0x1e0]: Video: mpeg2video, yuv420p, 528x480 [PAR 40:33 DAR 4:3], 15000 kb/s, 29.97 tbr, 90k tbn, 59.94 tbc
Stream #0.1[0x1bd]: Audio: ac3, 44100 Hz, 6 channels (FL|FR), s16, 6350 kb/s
At least one output file must be specified

DEBUG:pyTivo.video.transcode:aFreq=44100; vFps=29.97; container=mpeg; kbps=2956; mapAudio=[('0.1', '[0x1bd]')]; vHeight=480; vCodec=mpeg2video; Supported=True; millisecs=1802230; par=None; aKbps=6350; par2=1.21212121212; par1=40:33; mapVideo=0.0; vWidth=528; dar1=4:3; aCodec=ac3
DEBUG:root:CACHE HIT! /Users/dave/TiVoShows/Rick_Steves'_Europe_Denmark_Beyond_Copenhagen_WPBA_123152580 0.TiVo
DEBUG:root:CACHE HIT! /Users/dave/TiVoShows/Rick_Steves'_Europe_Denmark_Beyond_Copenhagen_WPBA_123152580 0.TiVo
DEBUG:pyTivo.video.transcode:TRANSCODE=YES, 6350 kbps exceeds max audio bitrate, /Users/dave/TiVoShows/Rick_Steves'_Europe_Denmark_Beyond_Copenhagen_WPBA_123152580 0.TiVo
DEBUG:root:CACHE HIT! /Users/dave/TiVoShows/Rick_Steves'_Europe_Denmark_Beyond_Copenhagen_WPBA_123152580 0.TiVo
DEBUG:root:CACHE HIT! /Users/dave/TiVoShows/Rick_Steves'_Europe_Denmark_Beyond_Copenhagen_WPBA_123152580 0.TiVo
DEBUG:root:CACHE HIT! /Users/dave/TiVoShows/Rick_Steves'_Europe_Denmark_Beyond_Copenhagen_WPBA_123152580 0.TiVo
DEBUG:root:CACHE HIT! /Users/dave/TiVoShows/Rick_Steves'_Europe_Denmark_Beyond_Copenhagen_WPBA_123152580 0.TiVo
DEBUG:pyTivo.video.transcode:TRANSCODE=YES, 6350 kbps exceeds max audio bitrate, /Users/dave/TiVoShows/Rick_Steves'_Europe_Denmark_Beyond_Copenhagen_WPBA_123152580 0.TiVo
DEBUG:root:CACHE HIT! /Users/dave/TiVoShows/Rick_Steves'_Europe_Denmark_Beyond_Copenhagen_WPBA_123152580 0.TiVo
DEBUG:root:CACHE HIT! /Users/dave/TiVoShows/Rick_Steves'_Europe_Denmark_Beyond_Copenhagen_WPBA_123152580 0.TiVo
DEBUG:root:CACHE HIT! /Users/dave/TiVoShows/Rick_Steves'_Europe_Denmark_Beyond_Copenhagen_WPBA_123152580 0.TiVo
DEBUG:root:CACHE HIT! /Users/dave/TiVoShows/Rick_Steves'_Europe_Denmark_Beyond_Copenhagen_WPBA_123152580 0.TiVo
DEBUG:root:tsn: 240000090205948
DEBUG:root:aspect169: False
DEBUG:root:optres: False
DEBUG:pyTivo.video.transcode:File=/Users/dave/TiVoShows/Rick_Steves'_Europe_Denmark_Beyond_Copenhagen_WPBA_123152580 0.TiVo vCodec=mpeg2video vWidth=528 vHeight=480 vFps=29.97 millisecs=1802230 ratio=110 rheight=10 rwidth=11 TIVO_HEIGHT=480 TIVO_WIDTH=544
DEBUG:pyTivo.video.transcode:File is within 4:3 list.
DEBUG:root:CACHE HIT! /Users/dave/TiVoShows/Rick_Steves'_Europe_Denmark_Beyond_Copenhagen_WPBA_123152580 0.TiVo
DEBUG:root:CACHE HIT! /Users/dave/TiVoShows/Rick_Steves'_Europe_Denmark_Beyond_Copenhagen_WPBA_123152580 0.TiVo
DEBUG:root:CACHE HIT! /Users/dave/TiVoShows/Rick_Steves'_Europe_Denmark_Beyond_Copenhagen_WPBA_123152580 0.TiVo
INFO:pyTivo:10.0.1.7 [13/May/2009 14:13:06] "GET /TiVoConnect?Command=QueryContainer&Container=My%20Share%202&SortOrder=!CaptureDate&ItemCount=1&AnchorItem=%2FMy%2520Share%25202%2FRick_Steves%2527_Europe_D enmark_Beyond_Copenhagen_WPBA_1231525800.TiVo&AnchorOffset=-1&Filter=x-tivo-container%2Ftivo-videos,x-tivo-container%2Ffolder,video%2Fx-tivo-mpeg,video%2F* HTTP/1.1" 200 -
DEBUG:root:CACHE HIT! /Users/dave/TiVoShows/Rick_Steves'_Europe_Denmark_Beyond_Copenhagen_WPBA_123152580 0.TiVo
DEBUG:root:CACHE HIT! /Users/dave/TiVoShows/Rick_Steves'_Europe_Denmark_Beyond_Copenhagen_WPBA_123152580 0.TiVo
DEBUG:root:CACHE HIT! /Users/dave/TiVoShows/Rick_Steves'_Europe_Denmark_Beyond_Copenhagen_WPBA_123152580 0.TiVo
DEBUG:pyTivo.video.transcode:TRANSCODE=YES, 6350 kbps exceeds max audio bitrate, /Users/dave/TiVoShows/Rick_Steves'_Europe_Denmark_Beyond_Copenhagen_WPBA_123152580 0.TiVo
DEBUG:root:CACHE HIT! /Users/dave/TiVoShows/Rick_Steves'_Europe_Denmark_Beyond_Copenhagen_WPBA_123152580 0.TiVo
DEBUG:root:CACHE HIT! /Users/dave/TiVoShows/Rick_Steves'_Europe_Denmark_Beyond_Copenhagen_WPBA_123152580 0.TiVo
DEBUG:root:CACHE HIT! /Users/dave/TiVoShows/Rick_Steves'_Europe_Denmark_Beyond_Copenhagen_WPBA_123152580 0.TiVo
DEBUG:root:CACHE HIT! /Users/dave/TiVoShows/Rick_Steves'_Europe_Denmark_Beyond_Copenhagen_WPBA_123152580 0.TiVo
DEBUG:pyTivo.video.transcode:TRANSCODE=YES, 6350 kbps exceeds max audio bitrate, /Users/dave/TiVoShows/Rick_Steves'_Europe_Denmark_Beyond_Copenhagen_WPBA_123152580 0.TiVo
DEBUG:root:CACHE HIT! /Users/dave/TiVoShows/Rick_Steves'_Europe_Denmark_Beyond_Copenhagen_WPBA_123152580 0.TiVo
DEBUG:root:CACHE HIT! /Users/dave/TiVoShows/Rick_Steves'_Europe_Denmark_Beyond_Copenhagen_WPBA_123152580 0.TiVo
DEBUG:root:CACHE HIT! /Users/dave/TiVoShows/Rick_Steves'_Europe_Denmark_Beyond_Copenhagen_WPBA_123152580 0.TiVo
DEBUG:root:CACHE HIT! /Users/dave/TiVoShows/Rick_Steves'_Europe_Denmark_Beyond_Copenhagen_WPBA_123152580 0.TiVo
DEBUG:root:tsn: 240000090205948
DEBUG:root:aspect169: False
DEBUG:root:optres: False
DEBUG:pyTivo.video.transcode:File=/Users/dave/TiVoShows/Rick_Steves'_Europe_Denmark_Beyond_Copenhagen_WPBA_123152580 0.TiVo vCodec=mpeg2video vWidth=528 vHeight=480 vFps=29.97 millisecs=1802230 ratio=110 rheight=10 rwidth=11 TIVO_HEIGHT=480 TIVO_WIDTH=544
DEBUG:pyTivo.video.transcode:File is within 4:3 list.
DEBUG:root:CACHE HIT! /Users/dave/TiVoShows/Rick_Steves'_Europe_Denmark_Beyond_Copenhagen_WPBA_123152580 0.TiVo
DEBUG:root:CACHE HIT! /Users/dave/TiVoShows/Rick_Steves'_Europe_Denmark_Beyond_Copenhagen_WPBA_123152580 0.TiVo
DEBUG:root:CACHE HIT! /Users/dave/TiVoShows/Rick_Steves'_Europe_Denmark_Beyond_Copenhagen_WPBA_123152580 0.TiVo
INFO:pyTivo:10.0.1.7 [13/May/2009 14:13:07] "GET /TiVoConnect?Command=TVBusQuery&Container=My%20Share%202&File=%2FRick_Steves'_Europe_Denmark_Beyond_Copenhagen_WPBA_1 231525800.TiVo HTTP/1.1" 200 -
INFO:pyTivo:10.0.1.7 [13/May/2009 14:13:21] "GET /TiVoConnect?Command=QueryFormats&SourceFormat=video%2Fx-tivo-mpeg HTTP/1.1" 200 -
DEBUG:root:CACHE HIT! /Users/dave/TiVoShows/Rick_Steves'_Europe_Denmark_Beyond_Copenhagen_WPBA_123152580 0.TiVo
DEBUG:root:CACHE HIT! /Users/dave/TiVoShows/Rick_Steves'_Europe_Denmark_Beyond_Copenhagen_WPBA_123152580 0.TiVo
DEBUG:root:CACHE HIT! /Users/dave/TiVoShows/Rick_Steves'_Europe_Denmark_Beyond_Copenhagen_WPBA_123152580 0.TiVo
DEBUG:pyTivo.video.transcode:TRANSCODE=YES, 6350 kbps exceeds max audio bitrate, /Users/dave/TiVoShows/Rick_Steves'_Europe_Denmark_Beyond_Copenhagen_WPBA_123152580 0.TiVo
DEBUG:root:CACHE HIT! /Users/dave/TiVoShows/Rick_Steves'_Europe_Denmark_Beyond_Copenhagen_WPBA_123152580 0.TiVo
DEBUG:root:CACHE HIT! /Users/dave/TiVoShows/Rick_Steves'_Europe_Denmark_Beyond_Copenhagen_WPBA_123152580 0.TiVo
DEBUG:root:CACHE HIT! /Users/dave/TiVoShows/Rick_Steves'_Europe_Denmark_Beyond_Copenhagen_WPBA_123152580 0.TiVo
DEBUG:root:CACHE HIT! /Users/dave/TiVoShows/Rick_Steves'_Europe_Denmark_Beyond_Copenhagen_WPBA_123152580 0.TiVo
DEBUG:pyTivo.video.transcode:TRANSCODE=YES, 6350 kbps exceeds max audio bitrate, /Users/dave/TiVoShows/Rick_Steves'_Europe_Denmark_Beyond_Copenhagen_WPBA_123152580 0.TiVo
DEBUG:root:CACHE HIT! /Users/dave/TiVoShows/Rick_Steves'_Europe_Denmark_Beyond_Copenhagen_WPBA_123152580 0.TiVo
DEBUG:root:CACHE HIT! /Users/dave/TiVoShows/Rick_Steves'_Europe_Denmark_Beyond_Copenhagen_WPBA_123152580 0.TiVo
DEBUG:root:CACHE HIT! /Users/dave/TiVoShows/Rick_Steves'_Europe_Denmark_Beyond_Copenhagen_WPBA_123152580 0.TiVo
DEBUG:root:CACHE HIT! /Users/dave/TiVoShows/Rick_Steves'_Europe_Denmark_Beyond_Copenhagen_WPBA_123152580 0.TiVo
DEBUG:root:tsn: 240000090205948
DEBUG:root:aspect169: False
DEBUG:root:optres: False
DEBUG:pyTivo.video.transcode:File=/Users/dave/TiVoShows/Rick_Steves'_Europe_Denmark_Beyond_Copenhagen_WPBA_123152580 0.TiVo vCodec=mpeg2video vWidth=528 vHeight=480 vFps=29.97 millisecs=1802230 ratio=110 rheight=10 rwidth=11 TIVO_HEIGHT=480 TIVO_WIDTH=544
DEBUG:pyTivo.video.transcode:File is within 4:3 list.
DEBUG:root:CACHE HIT! /Users/dave/TiVoShows/Rick_Steves'_Europe_Denmark_Beyond_Copenhagen_WPBA_123152580 0.TiVo
DEBUG:root:CACHE HIT! /Users/dave/TiVoShows/Rick_Steves'_Europe_Denmark_Beyond_Copenhagen_WPBA_123152580 0.TiVo
DEBUG:root:CACHE HIT! /Users/dave/TiVoShows/Rick_Steves'_Europe_Denmark_Beyond_Copenhagen_WPBA_123152580 0.TiVo
INFO:pyTivo:10.0.1.7 [13/May/2009 14:13:21] "GET /TiVoConnect?Command=QueryContainer&Container=My%20Share%202&SortOrder=!CaptureDate&ItemCount=1&AnchorItem=%2FMy%2520Share%25202%2FRick_Steves%2527_Europe_D enmark_Beyond_Copenhagen_WPBA_1231525800.TiVo&AnchorOffset=-1&Filter=x-tivo-container%2Ftivo-videos,x-tivo-container%2Ffolder,video%2Fx-tivo-mpeg,video%2F* HTTP/1.1" 200 -
DEBUG:root:CACHE HIT! /Users/dave/TiVoShows/Rick_Steves'_Europe_Denmark_Beyond_Copenhagen_WPBA_123152580 0.TiVo
DEBUG:root:CACHE HIT! /Users/dave/TiVoShows/Rick_Steves'_Europe_Denmark_Beyond_Copenhagen_WPBA_123152580 0.TiVo
DEBUG:root:CACHE HIT! /Users/dave/TiVoShows/Rick_Steves'_Europe_Denmark_Beyond_Copenhagen_WPBA_123152580 0.TiVo
DEBUG:pyTivo.video.transcode:TRANSCODE=YES, 6350 kbps exceeds max audio bitrate, /Users/dave/TiVoShows/Rick_Steves'_Europe_Denmark_Beyond_Copenhagen_WPBA_123152580 0.TiVo
DEBUG:root:CACHE HIT! /Users/dave/TiVoShows/Rick_Steves'_Europe_Denmark_Beyond_Copenhagen_WPBA_123152580 0.TiVo
DEBUG:root:CACHE HIT! /Users/dave/TiVoShows/Rick_Steves'_Europe_Denmark_Beyond_Copenhagen_WPBA_123152580 0.TiVo
DEBUG:root:CACHE HIT! /Users/dave/TiVoShows/Rick_Steves'_Europe_Denmark_Beyond_Copenhagen_WPBA_123152580 0.TiVo
DEBUG:root:CACHE HIT! /Users/dave/TiVoShows/Rick_Steves'_Europe_Denmark_Beyond_Copenhagen_WPBA_123152580 0.TiVo
DEBUG:pyTivo.video.transcode:TRANSCODE=YES, 6350 kbps exceeds max audio bitrate, /Users/dave/TiVoShows/Rick_Steves'_Europe_Denmark_Beyond_Copenhagen_WPBA_123152580 0.TiVo
DEBUG:root:CACHE HIT! /Users/dave/TiVoShows/Rick_Steves'_Europe_Denmark_Beyond_Copenhagen_WPBA_123152580 0.TiVo
DEBUG:root:CACHE HIT! /Users/dave/TiVoShows/Rick_Steves'_Europe_Denmark_Beyond_Copenhagen_WPBA_123152580 0.TiVo
DEBUG:root:CACHE HIT! /Users/dave/TiVoShows/Rick_Steves'_Europe_Denmark_Beyond_Copenhagen_WPBA_123152580 0.TiVo
DEBUG:root:CACHE HIT! /Users/dave/TiVoShows/Rick_Steves'_Europe_Denmark_Beyond_Copenhagen_WPBA_123152580 0.TiVo
DEBUG:root:tsn: 240000090205948
DEBUG:root:aspect169: False
DEBUG:root:optres: False
DEBUG:pyTivo.video.transcode:File=/Users/dave/TiVoShows/Rick_Steves'_Europe_Denmark_Beyond_Copenhagen_WPBA_123152580 0.TiVo vCodec=mpeg2video vWidth=528 vHeight=480 vFps=29.97 millisecs=1802230 ratio=110 rheight=10 rwidth=11 TIVO_HEIGHT=480 TIVO_WIDTH=544
DEBUG:pyTivo.video.transcode:File is within 4:3 list.
DEBUG:root:CACHE HIT! /Users/dave/TiVoShows/Rick_Steves'_Europe_Denmark_Beyond_Copenhagen_WPBA_123152580 0.TiVo
DEBUG:root:CACHE HIT! /Users/dave/TiVoShows/Rick_Steves'_Europe_Denmark_Beyond_Copenhagen_WPBA_123152580 0.TiVo
DEBUG:root:CACHE HIT! /Users/dave/TiVoShows/Rick_Steves'_Europe_Denmark_Beyond_Copenhagen_WPBA_123152580 0.TiVo
INFO:pyTivo:10.0.1.7 [13/May/2009 14:13:21] "GET /TiVoConnect?Command=TVBusQuery&Container=My%20Share%202&File=%2FRick_Steves'_Europe_Denmark_Beyond_Copenhagen_WPBA_1 231525800.TiVo HTTP/1.1" 200 -


As an aside: I *hate hate hate* .tivo files. In the future, I recommend you never keep those around. Convert them to the mpeg-2 that they should be.

I understand, but for better or worse, that's the bread that Tivo bakes! ;)

I could, as you mentioned, Transcode them to another format. But in my case, this would entail hundreds of hours of transcoding, only to wind up with the same videos I already have. .tivo files suit my limited needs, since I am merely wanting to view my collection on my various Tivos under my own MAK.

Anyhow, I'm back to good 'ole 1.1b24. It keeps on going and going and going... ;)

Thanks!

Kupe

[Yoav]

Hm, the only error I can see in there is
DEBUG:pyTivo.video.transcode:TRANSCODE=YES, 6350 kbps exceeds max audio bitrate, /Users/dave/TiVoShows/Rick_Steves'_Europe_Denmark_Beyond_Copenhagen_WPBA_123152580 0.TiVo

edit:

Oh hey.. I know why it's breaking :)

pytivo decided that the .tivo file needs to be transcoded, because the audio rate is too high (clearly it isn't since it came from the tivo, but pytivo thinks it is). Of course, since it's a .tivo file (garbage garbage garbage) ffmpeg can't actually read it properly to transcode.


Wmcbrine will need to chime in about the audio rate decision...

(and yeah, the .tivo thing is a personal gripe... wasn't trying to get you to do lots of extra work.. just bitching -- however, it's not hours of 'transcoding' to get the mpeg-2 out. tivodecode doesn't re-encode the file, it just strips out the stupid DRM and removes the metadata, resulting in the original mpeg-2 inside.. it's extremely fast.. however, in your situation I wouldn't bother doing it for old files -- but I would in the future save the mpeg-2 instead of the .tivo (for one thing, the mpeg-2 is playable everywhere -- and ffmpeg can read it).

[wmcbrine]

Wmcbrine will need to chime in about the audio rate decision...I feel confident in saying that the audio track isn't really 6350 Kbps. :) It's odd and unfortunate that ffmpeg is reading it that way. Was this encoded by the TiVo, or just captured from a digital channel?

I really don't want to go back to treating .TiVo files as black boxen. I'd suggest tivodecoding this one file, unless this keeps coming up...

[gonzotek]

I feel confident in saying that the audio track isn't really 6350 Kbps. :) It's odd and unfortunate that ffmpeg is reading it that way. Was this encoded by the TiVo, or just captured from a digital channel?

I really don't want to go back to treating .TiVo files as black boxen. I'd suggest tivodecoding this one file, unless this keeps coming up...I think the resolution (528x480) and 6-channel audio suggest this is a digital capture, and not a TiVo-encoded file(that is assuming we can trust ffmpeg's report on those).

[kupe]

I feel confident in saying that the audio track isn't really 6350 Kbps. :) It's odd and unfortunate that ffmpeg is reading it that way. Was this encoded by the TiVo, or just captured from a digital channel?

This- and all my .tivo files were recorded by my Tivo from our regular cable broadcasts. Nothing out of the ordinary. They are verbatim as-is from the Tivo.

I'd suggest tivodecoding this one file, unless this keeps coming up...

Unfortunately it happens with all my .tivo files. None will transfer from my Mac to my Tivos with PyTivoX 1.2. However, they transfer just fine with PyTivoX 1.1b24.

Hope this helps and let me know what other info I can provide.

Kupe

[wmcbrine]

This- and all my .tivo files were recorded by my Tivo from our regular cable broadcasts.Yes, but are they from analog channels (and thus, encoded by the TiVo) or digital (which, on a TiVo HD or S3, will simply be copied without reencoding)? Are they from an S3/THD or S2? I'm trying to determine if it's the TiVo or your cable company screwing them up.

[kupe]

Yes, but are they from analog channels (and thus, encoded by the TiVo) or digital (which, on a TiVo HD or S3, will simply be copied without reencoding)? Are they from an S3/THD or S2? I'm trying to determine if it's the TiVo or your cable company screwing them up.

Ahhh...I see. I didn't realize the difference.

Well, the files I've been trying all came from NPR, so they are from our local Basic Cable channels. They were originally recorded on my THD, then downloaded to my Mac for storage. I ran into this latest problem when I was trying to transfer them to my S2. But I was also unable to transfer them back to my THD with PyTivoX 1.2, so that it surprising.

Gaccch now I realize how many moving parts are involved here! ;)

But all works well in PyTivoX 1.1b24- I can transfer to my S2 and THD. I'm stumped!

Kupe

[wmcbrine]

Well, the files I've been trying all came from NPR,Eh?

so they are from our local Basic Cable channels. They were originally recorded on my THDThat still doesn't quite answer it. Let me try it this way: When you went to make these recordings, were you presented with an option to select the quality?

But all works well in PyTivoX 1.1b24- I can transfer to my S2 and THD.Yeah, I got that. It's because, until recently, pyTivo didn't look into .TiVo recordings at all, just passed through anything with that extension. Then "TheAmigo" pointed out that ffmpeg could actually get the info from these files as though they were plain MPEG-2 files, though it couldn't reencode them. That allowed the calculation of their length, for example. Until now, there didn't seem to be a downside.

[kupe]

Eh?

Doh! Meant PBS of course- not NPR! :o

That still doesn't quite answer it. Let me try it this way: When you went to make these recordings, were you presented with an option to select the quality?

Ahhh- gotcha. Well, initially I wasn't sure since they were all recorded on a Season Pass. But I just went and tested this on our two PBS stations, and in both cases if I hit Record, there is no option on Quality.

...until recently, pyTivo didn't look into .TiVo recordings at all, just passed through anything with that extension. Then "TheAmigo" pointed out that ffmpeg could actually get the info from these files as though they were plain MPEG-2 files, though it couldn't reencode them. That allowed the calculation of their length, for example. Until now, there didn't seem to be a downside.

That makes sense. Perhaps ffmpeg could be told to disregard whatever the offending piece of metadata is? Assuming we can determine that I mean.

Hope this helps and thanks as always!

Kupe

[Yoav]

A slightly odd request, (Assuming you have iTiVo installed and pyTiVoX installed in /Applications). Can I get you to open up a Terminal.app and run (replace <MAK> with your actual MAK):


/Applications/iTiVo.app/Contents/Resources/tivodecode -m <MAK> -o ~/Desktop/output.mpg /Users/dave/TiVoShows/Rick_Steves'_Europe_Denmark_Beyond_Copenhagen_WPBA_123152580 0.TiVo
/Applications/pyTivoX.app/Contents/Resources/ffmpeg -i ~/Desktop/output.mpg

(fix the paths correctly if needed). This will remove the .tivo drm wrapper and I'm curious if ffmpeg *still* claims that insane audio bitrate...

[kearygriffin]

Not to confuse the issue, but it could also be partly ffmpeg related. On a couple of .TiVo files (a.tivo,b.tivo) running different versions of ffmpeg I get:

a.tivo
FFmpeg version SVN-r16263:
Stream #0.0[0x1bd]: Audio: ac3, 48000 Hz, stereo, s16, 96 kb/s
FFmpeg version 0.5-svn17737+3:0.svn20090303-1ubuntu6
Stream #0.0[0x1bd]: Audio: pcm_s16be, 48000 Hz, 5.0, s16, 3840 kb/s
Both versions after tivodecode:
Stream #0.0[0x1bd]: Audio: ac3, 48000 Hz, stereo, s16, 96 kb/s

b.tivo
FFmpeg version SVN-r16263:
Stream #0.1[0x1bd]: Audio: ac3, 48000 Hz, 5.1, s16, 448 kb/s
FFmpeg version 0.5-svn17737+3:0.svn20090303-1ubuntu6
Stream #0.1[0x1bd]: Audio: ac3, 48000 Hz, mono, s16, 1152 kb/s
Both versions after tivodecode:
Stream #0.1[0x1bd]: Audio: ac3, 48000 Hz, 5.1, s16, 448 kb/s

And the version details (r16263 is a home-built static version I use for debugging, the other is standard Ubuntu 9.04)
FFmpeg version SVN-r16263, Copyright (c) 2000-2008 Fabrice Bellard, et al.
configuration: --prefix=out --disable-shared --enable-static --enable-gpl --enable-pthreads --enable-swscale --enable-libfaac --enable-libfaad --enable-libx264 --enable-libxvid
libavutil 49.12. 0 / 49.12. 0
libavcodec 52. 8. 0 / 52. 8. 0
libavformat 52.23. 1 / 52.23. 1
libavdevice 52. 1. 0 / 52. 1. 0
libswscale 0. 6. 1 / 0. 6. 1
built on Jan 9 2009 14:18:05, gcc: 4.2.4 (Ubuntu 4.2.4-1ubuntu3)

--

FFmpeg version 0.5-svn17737+3:0.svn20090303-1ubuntu6, Copyright (c) 2000-2009 Fabrice Bellard, et al.
configuration: --enable-gpl --enable-postproc --enable-swscale --enable-x11grab --extra-version=svn17737+3:0.svn20090303-1ubuntu6 --prefix=/usr --enable-avfilter --enable-avfilter-lavf --enable-libgsm --enable-libschroedinger --enable-libspeex --enable-libtheora --enable-libvorbis --enable-pthreads --disable-stripping --disable-vhook --enable-libdc1394 --enable-shared --disable-static
libavutil 49.15. 0 / 49.15. 0
libavcodec 52.20. 0 / 52.20. 0
libavformat 52.31. 0 / 52.31. 0
libavdevice 52. 1. 0 / 52. 1. 0
libavfilter 0. 4. 0 / 0. 4. 0
libswscale 0. 7. 1 / 0. 7. 1
libpostproc 51. 2. 0 / 51. 2. 0
built on Apr 10 2009 23:20:33, gcc: 4.3.3

[wmcbrine]

Thanks. That doesn't confuse the issue; it clarifies it.

Perhaps I should just pass through all audio on .tivo files.

[wmcbrine]

OK, did that.

[Yoav]

Perhaps I should just pass through all audio on .tivo files.

Ok, 1.3b1 is up on the downloads page. It has the new build that should work with .tivo files.

[solutionsetc]

Hi Yoav,

Was trying to get push transfers to work the other day and no luck. Logs seem to indicate your referring to some hard coded paths...

File "/Users/yoav/src/pytivox/build/Release/pyTivoX.app/Contents/Resources/pyTivo-wmcbrine/httpserver.py", line 116, in do_POST
self.handle_query(query)
File "/Users/yoav/src/pytivox/build/Release/pyTivoX.app/Contents/Resources/pyTivo-wmcbrine/httpserver.py", line 138, in handle_query
method(self, query)
File "/Users/yoav/src/pytivox/build/Release/pyTivoX.app/Contents/Resources/pyTivo-wmcbrine/plugins/video/video.py", line 292, in Push
File "/Users/yoav/src/pytivox/build/Release/pyTivoX.app/Contents/Resources/pyTivo-wmcbrine/config.py", line 66, in get_ip
s.connect(('4.2.2.1', 0))

[Yoav]

Hi Yoav,

Was trying to get push transfers to work the other day and no luck. Logs seem to indicate your referring to some hard coded paths...

File "/Users/yoav/src/pytivox/build/Release/pyTivoX.app/Contents/Resources/pyTivo-wmcbrine/httpserver.py", line 116, in do_POST
self.handle_query(query)
File "/Users/yoav/src/pytivox/build/Release/pyTivoX.app/Contents/Resources/pyTivo-wmcbrine/httpserver.py", line 138, in handle_query
method(self, query)
File "/Users/yoav/src/pytivox/build/Release/pyTivoX.app/Contents/Resources/pyTivo-wmcbrine/plugins/video/video.py", line 292, in Push
File "/Users/yoav/src/pytivox/build/Release/pyTivoX.app/Contents/Resources/pyTivo-wmcbrine/config.py", line 66, in get_ip
s.connect(('4.2.2.1', 0))

Ok that's pretty odd. I couldn't find anything that would refer to that path but clearly there must be. Are you running 1.2? Can I see your config file (it's in <user>/Library/Application Support/pyTivoX/pyTivo.conf ) ?

One remote guess.. The files in there (the .pyc) were created on my computer, and might be caching the location where
they were created.. but if that's the case, it should be breaking for everyone all the time.. so something else
must be going on... :(

[gonzotek]

Hi Yoav,

Was trying to get push transfers to work the other day and no luck. Logs seem to indicate your referring to some hard coded paths...

File "/Users/yoav/src/pytivox/build/Release/pyTivoX.app/Contents/Resources/pyTivo-wmcbrine/httpserver.py", line 116, in do_POST
self.handle_query(query)
File "/Users/yoav/src/pytivox/build/Release/pyTivoX.app/Contents/Resources/pyTivo-wmcbrine/httpserver.py", line 138, in handle_query
method(self, query)
File "/Users/yoav/src/pytivox/build/Release/pyTivoX.app/Contents/Resources/pyTivo-wmcbrine/plugins/video/video.py", line 292, in Push
File "/Users/yoav/src/pytivox/build/Release/pyTivoX.app/Contents/Resources/pyTivo-wmcbrine/config.py", line 66, in get_ip
s.connect(('4.2.2.1', 0))I think the problem is the port 0 call there on the last line. wmcbrine fixed that recently: http://repo.or.cz/w/pyTivo/wmcbrine.git?a=commit;h=4544a08dd40360234933ccf45a3bd6c3b3e5 2c9b
Yoav, I think your most recent beta should fix his problem.

[solutionsetc]

Ok that's pretty odd. I couldn't find anything that would refer to that path but clearly there must be. Are you running 1.2?

Yes.

Can I see your config file

# Created by pyTivoX, edits here WILL BE OVERWRITTEN

[Admin]
type=admin

[Server]
debug=True
tivo_username=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
tivo_password=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
ffmpeg=/Applications/pyTivoX.app/Contents/Resources/ffmpeg.bin
beacon=192.168.15.255
[PodCasts]
type=video
path=/Volumes/Stuff/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music/Podcasts

[Movies]
type=video
path=/Volumes/Stuff/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music/Movies

[Vinyl]
type=music
path=/Volumes/Stuff/Music/Vinyl

[Yoav]

I think the problem is the port 0 call there on the last line. wmcbrine fixed that recently: http://repo.or.cz/w/pyTivo/wmcbrine.git?a=commit;h=4544a08dd40360234933ccf45a3bd6c3b3e5 2c9b
Yoav, I think your most recent beta should fix his problem.

ooh Ok! Thanks for figuring it out. :)
solutions: can you install the beta and tell me if it fixes it? I may need to make a 1.2.1 release...

[solutionsetc]

solutions: can you install the beta and tell me if it fixes it?

Yep, the beta build fixes this.

[Yoav]

Yep, the beta build fixes this.

Ok so 1.2.1 is out now with the fixes..

[solutionsetc]

Ok so 1.2.1 is out now with the fixes..

Great, thanks! Now if this could only parse iTunes Play Lists I could ditch TiVo Desktop altogether.

[solutionsetc]

One more question now that I have this working...

All shows transferred by this push method are showing up on the destination TiVo as not being transferrable to other TiVo's as if CCI byte is being set. The same shows transferred normally from PyTiVox or TiVo desktop do not exhibit this behavior.

Is this a side effect of using push in general or is something possibly going awry with what PyTiVo is doing?

[Yoav]

One more question now that I have this working...

All shows transferred by this push method are showing up on the destination TiVo as not being transferrable to other TiVo's as if CCI byte is being set. The same shows transferred normally from PyTiVox or TiVo desktop do not exhibit this behavior.

Is this a side effect of using push in general or is something possibly going awry with what PyTiVo is doing?

This is a known issue of using push.

[solutionsetc]

This is a known issue of using push.

Thanks Yoav... I was afraid that was the case.

It's funny... its been a while since I have looked at TiVo (I went with ReplayTV initially back in the SD days). TiVo has come a long way in the feature set department since then, and overall I am much happier to be rid of the Comcast DVRs, but it all just feels so hobbled.

Thanks again to you and McBrine for making the world feel a little less hobbled on TiVo's behalf.

-ss

[dig_duggler]

Maybe I'm a bad looker but I can't find it. What does the preference 'classic pytivo' do? Is that just to turn on/off pyTivoX? What is the behavior supposed to be if you uncheck it?

[Yoav]

Maybe I'm a bad looker but I can't find it. What does the preference 'classic pytivo' do? Is that just to turn on/off pyTivoX? What is the behavior supposed to be if you uncheck it?

pyTivoX supports putting movies on your tivo in two ways:
1) download (pytivo mode), where you look up movies in the now playing list, choose them, and it downloads them to your tivo
2) streaming (streambaby), where you choose a movie from the 'music,photos,showcases' and it streams it to the tivo (only works on tivo 3 and HD).

I generally recommend leaving both of them enabled, but you can turn off ones you're not using (to save memory, or if they are causing problems).

The only documentation really is at http://code.google.com/p/pytivox/wiki/FAQ , although I'm happy to update it if there's obvious stuff that isn't there

[kupe]

A slightly odd request, (Assuming you have iTiVo installed and pyTiVoX installed in /Applications). Can I get you to open up a Terminal.app and run (replace <MAK> with your actual MAK):

Hi Yoav-

Been out of town and just got the latest posts to this thread. I can certainly do that, but I just did a quick check and 1.3b1 definitely fixes the problem with .tivo file downloads. Thank you Yoav and Keary and wmcbrine!

If you still want me to run that Yoav, let me know.

Kupe

[kupe]

Not to confuse the issue, but it could also be partly ffmpeg related. On a couple of .TiVo files (a.tivo,b.tivo) running different versions of ffmpeg I get:

Thank you Keary for helping get to the bottom of this!

Kupe

PS- Streambaby still seems to be renaming files with Short Description over Title metadata, though I don't know if that was addressed or not. Just wanted to pass it along in case.

[kupe]

OK, did that.

That fixed it wmc- thanks a million! .tivo files transfer perfectly.

Kupe

[Ergolad]

I love this thing. It use to be that if I had a file I wanted to play back on my Series 2 it was a whole thing. I found that I just never really did it because it was too much of a pain in the @$$ converting file formats, etc.. Now that I've got pyTivoX, it just works. Love it. Thanks for a rockin' program, it's great. No complaints!

Did I mention I love this program?

[solutionsetc]

Wondering if this is a config issue on my end or just something I'll have to live with?

When comparing PyTiVoX shares (PyTivo mode in now playing list) with TiVo Desktop, The latter shows me the show name, and the show info just as if the show was in my NP list. But the PyTiVoX shares show the full file name...

i.e.; Craig_Ferguson__A_Wee_Bit_o'_Revolution_COMEDYP_1240030800.T iVo

And the info about that show is missing when you select it... which of course sometimes makes it difficult to know just which episode is which.

Have I missed something in setup or is this just the way it is?

Thanks,

-ss

[Yoav]

Wondering if this is a config issue on my end or just something I'll have to live with?


It's not a 'preference' that you need to enable. The problem is that pytivo needs the metadata stored in a file it can read alongside the movie file. (You really *are* set on using .tivo files aren't you?).

If you want the full show info to show up, you will need to get an appropriate 'metadata' text file with the same name as the movie file, with a .txt at the end (so craig_blah_blah.tivo.txt). The full documentation of what goes into such a metadata file is here: http://pytivo.armooo.net/wiki/MetaData

If you use iTiVo to download the shows from the tivo, an option in the downloading preference will generate a complete pytivo metadata file for you alongside the movie.

[solutionsetc]

It's not a 'preference' that you need to enable. The problem is that pytivo needs the metadata stored in a file it can read alongside the movie file. (You really *are* set on using .tivo files aren't you?).

Well I originally set up a TiVo desktop share on my work computer. This uses Toast's TiVo Transfer to transfer files. But having run out out storage there I decided to put a 1.5 TB drive on my bedroom G4 that is running my home automation server and a weather station. I decided to serve shows from that computer using PyTiVoX (since there are other video files on that machine that are not .tivo files and would like to use the transcoding/streaming features for those). But the TiVo files are still being transferred to the PyTivo share using TiVo Transfer as I don't really need any transcoding on the .Tivo files as I rarely do anything with'em other than transfer them back to a TiVo.

So your saying if I use iTiVo to download the shows from the tivo, an option in the downloading preference will generate a complete pytivo metadata file for me alongside the movie.

OK.. I will replace TiVo Transfer on the G4 to iTivo for the transferring of shows. Can I assume the following:

1.) iTivo will be no slower than Tivo Transfer with the transfer process.

2.) The metadata files created by iTivo are managed with the original shows; i.e. delete a show results in the metadata file going bye-bye (or do I have to manage those manually within the Finder?).

Thanks so much,

-ss

[Yoav]

OK.. I will replace TiVo Transfer on the G4 to iTivo for the transferring of shows. Can I assume the following:

1.) iTivo will be no slower than Tivo Transfer with the transfer process.

It will only be as fast if you choose 'decrypt' as your target format. Decrypt results in an mpeg-2 file that is the original mpeg-2 from the tivo. This will take up the most space (the same amount of space as the old .tivo file took). If you pick any other format as the target format it will be slower since it will actually have to re-encode the shows (although you will end up saving hard drive space)

2.) The metadata files created by iTivo are managed with the original shows; i.e. delete a show results in the metadata file going bye-bye (or do I have to manage those manually within the Finder?).

You will also have to delete the metadata file (it's a seperate file with .txt added on the end). It will not be automatically deleted. Each of these files is around 2k in size, so leaving them around won't be a disaster -- it will still be cleaner to delete them though.

My suggestion is to try it out and see if you prefer it. If not, you can always switch back to tivo transfer and 'suck up' the lack of metadata with pytivo, or manually create the metadata..

You will gain some other nifty things from doing it this way (although you may not care). Those include 'streambaby' being able to usefully stream your file (if you have a tivo 3 or HD), and of course, the fact that you can also view the shows you transferred on your mac (with VLC), or you can even further convert it to useful things with programs like Handbrake....

[solutionsetc]

Got it! Thanks. I have many apps for transcoding should I ever really want to edit and save the files. For 99% of it, I just want to offload files from the TiVo to my server for restoration back to TiVo.

It will only be as fast if you choose 'decrypt' as your target format.


Can you tell me what the difference is between "decrypt" and "decrypt/copy"?

Thanx,

-ss

[Yoav]

Got it! Thanks. I have many apps for transcoding should I ever really want to edit and save the files. For 99% of it, I just want to offload files from the TiVo to my server for restoration back to TiVo.



Can you tell me what the difference is between "decrypt" and "decrypt/copy"?

Thanx,

-ss

decrypt takes the .tivo and runs tivodecode on it to extract the mpeg-2 file inside. decrypt/copy runs tivodecode and then re-encodes it with mencoder, using the 'copy the bits' flag. This is really only useful if you're trying to do some stuff with the file (like extract subtitles, or cut commercials)... I strongly suggest avoiding decrypt/copy as it kind of sucks...

[cleverdevil]

Wow, great job. pyTivoX works great for me! It would be even more awesome if you integrated theHME/VLC streamer application (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=403174) which I also can't seem to get working. Then it'd be perfect!

By the way, I also had the problem someone had above with the Apple MOV trailers not working at "Same" quality, but found that if I exported the file an an MP4 using QuickTime with "Pass through" for both the video and audio (thus no loss in quality), it worked perfectly.

[solutionsetc]

I have some Apple supplied .m4v files. Some are 4:3 640x480, and these play at the proper AR. Others are 16:9 640x360, and these are squished into 4:3.

Can anything be done to get the 16:9 files to play with the proper AR?

[norbertsf]

Ok, I love the usability I get from this app on the Mac! Love it! BUT, I just downloaded the latest version, and now I cannot get the the window to add the shared folders up. I checked in the Activity Monitor and the pyTivoX app is listed as running. It is not listed in the Finder menu "upper right". I even unchecked "open at login" in the dock pop-up menu. What am I doing wrong. I did not have this problem with the last version, do I have to go back to 1.2? ( I have restarted multiple times) OS 10.5.7 Intel mac.
Norbert

Just tried version 1.2 can't configure either....help

Ok I have "pyTivoX" up in the Apple menu.
Only Options are:
"about pyTivoX"
"check for updates..."
"hide pyTivoX"
"Quit pyTivoX"

[solutionsetc]

Try checking your console log at launch. There may be a clue in there.

[norbertsf]

I was missing the tivo icon in the menu. Found it and brought up the window.
Thanks.

This is a great app.

Norbert

[dilbret]

I can't seem to find a reference to this so I'm going to ask. I recently reconfigured things on my network so that I'm using Leopard Server as my gateway on a Dual G5 with one interface configured for the WAN and the other for the LAN. I was able to correctly change the beacon for pytivo to use the LAN interface but can't seem to do the same for streambaby. I modified the ~/Library/Application Support/pyTivoX/streambaby.ini file to reflect the correct IP but when I look in the streambaby.log file after restarting pyTivoX it still shows it as starting up on the WAN interface which of course means that my Tivo can't see it. Am I missing somewhere else to change the IP for streambaby or is there something that I need to do to force it to reread the streambaby.ini file?

[Yoav]

I can't seem to find a reference to this so I'm going to ask. I recently reconfigured things on my network so that I'm using Leopard Server as my gateway on a Dual G5 with one interface configured for the WAN and the other for the LAN. I was able to correctly change the beacon for pytivo to use the LAN interface but can't seem to do the same for streambaby. I modified the ~/Library/Application Support/pyTivoX/streambaby.ini file to reflect the correct IP but when I look in the streambaby.log file after restarting pyTivoX it still shows it as starting up on the WAN interface which of course means that my Tivo can't see it. Am I missing somewhere else to change the IP for streambaby or is there something that I need to do to force it to reread the streambaby.ini file?

(sounds like you did the right thing:

edit <user>/Library/Application Support/pyTivoX/streambaby.ini, change "ip=" to the IP address associated with your LAN (not the router on the LAN, but the actual IP address of your mac on the LAN). Save the file, and 'exit' and 'start' pyTivoX.

)

There is no other location, but make sure that you're not hitting 'restart' on pyTivoX. That should do it. If it's not, can you attach the contents of your <user>/Library/Logs/pyTivoX/streambaby.log ?

It's possible that the old streambaby is refusing to exit for some reason (me loves java too). If that's the case, you can either reboot your computer (cheap and easy way) or run something like 'killall -9 java' in a Terminal.app (assuming that's the only java program you had running) before starting up pyTivoX again.

[dilbret]

(sounds like you did the right thing:

edit <user>/Library/Application Support/pyTivoX/streambaby.ini, change "ip=" to the IP address associated with your LAN (not the router on the LAN, but the actual IP address of your mac on the LAN). Save the file, and 'exit' and 'start' pyTivoX.

)

There is no other location, but make sure that you're not hitting 'restart' on pyTivoX. That should do it. If it's not, can you attach the contents of your <user>/Library/Logs/pyTivoX/streambaby.log ?

It's possible that the old streambaby is refusing to exit for some reason (me loves java too). If that's the case, you can either reboot your computer (cheap and easy way) or run something like 'killall -9 java' in a Terminal.app (assuming that's the only java program you had running) before starting up pyTivoX again.

Tried the killall and the reboot (had wanted to avoid that since the box is my DHCP/DNS server) and neither one worked. Attached are the log and ini files with the personal bits x'd out.

[gonzotek]

Streambaby recently got a fix for incorrect binding that corrected a similar issue for me.Fixed code to bind to specific IP addresses -- Code that should be run all time was stuffed in incorrect if block (http://code.google.com/p/streambaby/source/browse/trunk/main/changelog.txt)
The fix is in the r238 build: http://streambaby.googlecode.com/files/streambaby-svn-r238.zip

In my case there wasn't a second adapter, but streambaby was binding to 127.0.0.1.

[Yoav]

Streambaby recently got a fix for incorrect binding that corrected a similar issue for me.
The fix is in the r238 build: http://streambaby.googlecode.com/files/streambaby-svn-r238.zip

In my case there wasn't a second adapter, but streambaby was binding to 127.0.0.1.

Ok looks like it's time to build a new beta then :)
I'll go update the beta (you'll need to install the beta instead of the regular version to get the fix).


edit: Ok the new beta is up now... Tell me if things work for you now?

[dilbret]

Ok looks like it's time to build a new beta then :)
I'll go update the beta (you'll need to install the beta instead of the regular version to get the fix).


edit: Ok the new beta is up now... Tell me if things work for you now?

That did the trick. Always a nice feeling when you're doing it right and the code is at fault (at least when it's not your own code :D)

[Marconi]

I have some H.264 QuickTime movies, each about 10 minutes long, that I transfer via pyTiVoX to a Series 2 DVR. The further into the recordings I get while playing on the TiVo, the further out of synch the sound gets. Nearing the 10 minute mark, the sound is ahead of the image by 1-2 seconds. I hear their voices before their lips move.

The recordings play fine on the Mac. It's only after pyTiVoX has transferred them to the TiVo DVR that the sound is out of synch.

Does pyTiVoX not like H.264?

[Yoav]

I have some H.264 QuickTime movies, each about 10 minutes long, that I transfer via pyTiVoX to a Series 2 DVR. The further into the recordings I get while playing on the TiVo, the further out of synch the sound gets. Nearing the 10 minute mark, the sound is ahead of the image by 1-2 seconds. I hear their voices before their lips move.

The recordings play fine on the Mac. It's only after pyTiVoX has transferred them to the TiVo DVR that the sound is out of synch.

Does pyTiVoX not like H.264?

Generally pyTivoX (specifically pyTivo) works perfectly well with h.264 video, and most audio, in most containers (I assume you're using mpeg-4 with aac?).

It sounds like with your specific file, when ffmpeg converts from h.264 to mpeg-2 for the tivo 2, the audio slowly loses sync (probably due to 29.97 vs 30 fps math). It might help if you include the output of 'ffmpeg -i <filename>' so we can know instead of guess.

Having said that, there's probably a way to fix it (although it may involve re-encoding the movie in advance). I'm not really that good with ffmpeg options, so hopefully someone else can jump in and suggest something...

[wmcbrine]

You could try pushing the file to avoid transcoding, and see if that turns out any better.

[Marconi]

It might help if you include the output of 'ffmpeg -i <filename>' so we can know instead of guess.

MacPro:~ marconi$ ffmpeg -i /Volumes/Maggie/TiVo\ Archive/2007\ Mac-PeeCee\ Ads.mp4
FFmpeg version CVS, Copyright (c) 2000-2004 Fabrice Bellard
Mac OSX universal build for ffmpegX
configuration: --enable-memalign-hack --enable-mp3lame --enable-gpl --disable-vhook --disable-ffplay --disable-ffserver --enable-a52 --enable-xvid --enable-faac --enable-faad --enable-amr_nb --enable-amr_wb --enable-pthreads --enable-x264
libavutil version: 49.0.0
libavcodec version: 51.9.0
libavformat version: 50.4.0
built on Apr 15 2006 04:58:19, gcc: 4.0.1 (Apple Computer, Inc. build 5250)
Input #0, mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2, from '/Volumes/Maggie/TiVo Archive/2007 Mac-PeeCee Ads.mp4':
Duration: 00:08:00.1, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 2797 kb/s
Stream #0.0(und), 23.98 fps(r): Video: h264, yuv420p, 848x480
Stream #0.1(und): Audio: aac, 48000 Hz, stereo
Must supply at least one output file
MacPro:~ marconi$

[TadK]

Recently went to transfer one of our kid's shows to the Tivo (S2) and was greeted by a long Tivo "please wait" screen. Once it came back, typically with the screen to execute the transfer, I was greeted by a message that Transferring is prohibited by the copyright holder on the title screen...

What the scoop here?

[TadK]

Further more- It appears that the movie I copied from Tivo (recorded on the Tivo, copied out with iTivo, now being sent back to the Tivo to replay it) also creates a long "Please wait" screen followed by the same copyright message. One step further, apparently someone else holds the copyright to the video I took of my 5 year old riding his bike because that one will not come over either.

Thought it might be a permissions issue on the external storage disk but ownership is set to ignore on this volume. Will restart PyTivoX and the S2 Box and see what I get.

[gonzotek]

Further more- It appears that the movie I copied from Tivo (recorded on the Tivo, copied out with iTivo, now being sent back to the Tivo to replay it) also creates a long "Please wait" screen followed by the same copyright message. One step further, apparently someone else holds the copyright to the video I took of my 5 year old riding his bike because that one will not come over either.

Thought it might be a permissions issue on the external storage disk but ownership is set to ignore on this volume. Will restart PyTivoX and the S2 Box and see what I get.

The copyright-prohibited flag is generated by pytivo to indicate to the user files that won't transfer, for whatever reason. Most often, it is the message you would see if your file(s) are in a format that can't be converted by the version of ffmpeg pytivo happens to be using. The tivo doesn't give the software any way to indicate conversion problems, so the transfers-prohibited flag is the best it can do to signal to the user the file won't be able to be transferred.

Besides checking permissions you can run
ffmpeg -i my_problem_filename.ext
on your files and post the output here, it will tell us what ffmpeg thinks of the files.

For the file that itivo downloaded, did you have it do any conversion on the file to another format(e.g for ipod, etc) or is it still in .tivo or even .mpeg format?

Also, do you have known working files that do transfer over correctly? It's possible your files are fine, and something else (ffmpeg?) is at fault.

[Yoav]

Further more- It appears that the movie I copied from Tivo (recorded on the Tivo, copied out with iTivo, now being sent back to the Tivo to replay it) also creates a long "Please wait" screen followed by the same copyright message. One step further, apparently someone else holds the copyright to the video I took of my 5 year old riding his bike because that one will not come over either.

Thought it might be a permissions issue on the external storage disk but ownership is set to ignore on this volume. Will restart PyTivoX and the S2 Box and see what I get.

This sometimes seems to happen when ffmpeg crashes trying to convert the file before transferring it. Is there anything useful in <user>/Logs/pyTivoX/pytivo.log ?

[Ergolad]

So, I've already raved about PyTivoX, but had another observation today. I had an opportunity to try Roxio's MacToTivo. I actually didn't even know they offered a product. Call me crazy... Anyway. I transfered two similar 350MB AVI files, one with PyTivoX and the other with MacToTivo. I didn't time the transcoding/transfer speed, but I still came up with some interesting results that favor PyTivoX heavily. First, the PyTivoX transfer yielded a clean 1GB final file on the Tivo, while MacToTivo yielded a 1.5BG file with a smaller image framed in black, not letterboxed, just a smaller image using only about 3/4 of the screen real estate.

Winner: Hands down, PyTivoX

[Marconi]

It sounds like with your specific file, when ffmpeg converts from h.264 to mpeg-2 for the tivo 2, the audio slowly loses sync (probably due to 29.97 vs 30 fps math). It might help if you include the output of 'ffmpeg -i <filename>' so we can know instead of guess.

I posted it and the video is 23.98 fps. Is that too far from 30.0 for a successful conversion to mpeg-2?

[Yoav]

So, I've already raved about PyTivoX, but had another observation today. I had an opportunity to try Roxio's MacToTivo. I actually didn't even know they offered a product. Call me crazy... Anyway. I transfered two similar 350MB AVI files, one with PyTivoX and the other with MacToTivo. I didn't time the transcoding/transfer speed, but I still came up with some interesting results that favor PyTivoX heavily. First, the PyTivoX transfer yielded a clean 1GB final file on the Tivo, while MacToTivo yielded a 1.5BG file with a smaller image framed in black, not letterboxed, just a smaller image using only about 3/4 of the screen real estate.

Winner: Hands down, PyTivoX

I think that the thanks should go to the pytivo people (wmcbrine especially at this point) :). But good to hear it's working so well for you...

[Yoav]

I posted it and the video is 23.98 fps. Is that too far from 30.0 for a successful conversion to mpeg-2?

In theory, no video is 'unconvertible'. And I'm pretty sure there's lots of 23.98 fps video being converted fine. However, that is probably where the problem with the audio sync issue lies...

Try converting the video using something like 'handbrake' to see if other target conversions also have the audio delay problem.

There may be a way to tell ffmpeg to force all rates to some specific number too, but really as I mentioned earlier, I'm not terribly knowledgeable with encoders so can't help much.

[Marconi]

In theory, no video is 'unconvertible'. And I'm pretty sure there's lots of 23.98 fps video being converted fine. However, that is probably where the problem with the audio sync issue lies...

Try converting the video using something like 'handbrake' to see if other target conversions also have the audio delay problem.Of course I can convert them manually to mpeg-2 and the resulting file has no synch problem. The idea was to use the H.264 files as-is. I mean, as long as a conversion is going to happen anyway, I thought pyTiVoX would make its output TiVo ready.

There may be a way to tell ffmpeg to force all rates to some specific number too, but really as I mentioned earlier, I'm not terribly knowledgeable with encoders so can't help much.Do you mean to say that, in converting files for use on TiVo, pyTiVoX does NOT ensure a 30 fps output? In VisualHub, which I also have, there's a "TiVo" profile I can select. I'd rather supposed that such a profile was built into pyTiVoX inasmuch as it is converting solely for TiVo.

[Yoav]

Do you mean to say that, in converting files for use on TiVo, pyTiVoX does NOT ensure a 30 fps output? In VisualHub, which I also have, there's a "TiVo" profile I can select. I'd rather supposed that such a profile was built into pyTiVoX inasmuch as it is converting solely for TiVo.

pytivo ensures that whatever the output is it is one that is valid according to the tivo. (so that's not always 30fps, but it is restricted to a small set AND that set varies depending on the model of tivo).

Given that the tivo *is* playing the file, I can presume that pyTivo is selecting a valid target format. The problem is that the conversion to the target format is losing sync between video and audio. Pre-converting seems to fix it so I'm fairly willing to blame ffmpeg for the problem.

Anyways, I doubt I can be much more help to you here. It sounds like you understand the issue but wish it worked (and honestly, I don't know how to make it work). You may have more luck asking in the official pytivo forum : http://pytivo.krkeegan.com/ and hopefully someone else has seen what you're seeing and has a useful workaround/fix.

If you want to try messing with the pytivo configuration (which includes controlling how it invokes ffmpeg to convert) you can edit <user>/Library/Application Support/pyTivoX/pytivo.conf (and you can look in <user>/Library/Logs/pyTivoX/pytivo.log to see how it is currently invoking ffmpeg).

23.98 is a fairly common framerate (for example, all 720p video uses it), so I suspect there is more to this problem than just the video framerate.

[ArtDecoDalek]

Hi, just found pyTivoX today and have it set up and working, thanks for the great program!

I've found one strange thing though. I have several mkv files with AC3 audio that I'm trying to play. When I play them through either streaming or transfer, the audio plays as stereo, even though my receiver says it is getting an AC3 5.1 signal. There's just no audio through the center or surround speakers. I've checked the files and there is audio present in the center and surround channels, it's just not getting played. Do StreamBaby and pyTivo re-encode the AC3 somehow, or do they pass it straight through? It seems as though it is getting re-encoded, but with all the audio actually pushed to the front left and right channels with empty center and rear channels.

I've tried various different settings in streambaby.ini (specifying acodec copy, 448 bitrate, etc.) and haven't found any settings that fix this.

Anyway, let me know if you have any ideas why this might be the case.

Thanks,
Michael

[Rdian06]

pytivo ensures that whatever the output is it is one that is valid according to the tivo. (so that's not always 30fps, but it is restricted to a small set AND that set varies depending on the model of tivo).

Given that the tivo *is* playing the file, I can presume that pyTivo is selecting a valid target format. The problem is that the conversion to the target format is losing sync between video and audio. Pre-converting seems to fix it so I'm fairly willing to blame ffmpeg for the problem.

Anyways, I doubt I can be much more help to you here. It sounds like you understand the issue but wish it worked (and honestly, I don't know how to make it work). You may have more luck asking in the official pytivo forum : http://pytivo.krkeegan.com/ and hopefully someone else has seen what you're seeing and has a useful workaround/fix.

If you want to try messing with the pytivo configuration (which includes controlling how it invokes ffmpeg to convert) you can edit <user>/Library/Application Support/pyTivoX/pytivo.conf (and you can look in <user>/Library/Logs/pyTivoX/pytivo.log to see how it is currently invoking ffmpeg).

23.98 is a fairly common framerate (for example, all 720p video uses it), so I suspect there is more to this problem than just the video framerate.

The framerate pyTivo selects for transfers (don't have any idea about streaming as I don't use streambaby) will depend on the target Tivo type. S3/HD units are fairly tolerant so pyTivo will use the source framerate for those transfers. However, the S2 series will only accept 29.97 fps, so that's what pyTivo converts to for them.

Yoav, what SVN is the ffmpeg inside pyTivoX compiled from? A later SVN may fix the issue.

[Rdian06]

Hi, just found pyTivoX today and have it set up and working, thanks for the great program!

I've found one strange thing though. I have several mkv files with AC3 audio that I'm trying to play. When I play them through either streaming or transfer, the audio plays as stereo, even though my receiver says it is getting an AC3 5.1 signal. There's just no audio through the center or surround speakers. I've checked the files and there is audio present in the center and surround channels, it's just not getting played. Do StreamBaby and pyTivo re-encode the AC3 somehow, or do they pass it straight through? It seems as though it is getting re-encoded, but with all the audio actually pushed to the front left and right channels with empty center and rear channels.

I've tried various different settings in streambaby.ini (specifying acodec copy, 448 bitrate, etc.) and haven't found any settings that fix this.

Anyway, let me know if you have any ideas why this might be the case.

Thanks,
Michael

It depends on the max_audio_br setting in pyTivo.conf. If the setting is not configured, I believe pyTivo will default to 448k for sending to S3/HD units.

If the source AC3 bitrate is greater than the max_audio_br, then the audio will be transcoded to AC3 448k. Everything equal to or less than the max_audio_br should be copied through to the mpeg2 vob container.

Nothing in pyTivo inherently screws up the channels. I have plenty of content with center channel sound after transfer (I don't have surrounds in my system, only the fronts and center, but I haven't heard anyone else complain about missing surround channels.) This is assuming pyTivoX doesn't use the audio_ch conf option to force stereo.

[ArtDecoDalek]

It depends on the max_audio_br setting in pyTivo.conf. If the setting is not configured, I believe pyTivo will default to 448k for sending to S3/HD units.

If the source AC3 bitrate is greater than the max_audio_br, then the audio will be transcoded to AC3 448k. Everything equal to or less than the max_audio_br should be copied through to the mpeg2 vob container.

Nothing in pyTivo inherently screws up the channels. I have plenty of content with center channel sound after transfer (I don't have surrounds in my system, only the fronts and center, but I haven't heard anyone else complain about missing surround channels.) This is assuming pyTivoX doesn't use the audio_ch conf option to force stereo.

Thanks for the info. Anyway, it turns out that I am very silly, as this was due to an incorrect setting on my receiver. Apparently I managed to set it to 2-speaker mode for the TiVo input when I was doing some reconfiguring lately. Oops!

-Michael

[mnYak]

FIrst of all, let me say thanks to everyone involved in PyTivo. This is an awesome example of open source and the community filling in gaps where the companies can't/won't go.

I have a lot of Japanese video tapes I recently scanned in and want to make available on my Tivo. They transfer and view just fine. Anything that's a japanese character in the movie title, however, comes up as an empty box character on the tivo side (looks fine on mac). Does anyone know if there's anything that could be done (other than renaming the files on the mac to non-Japanese names)? Is this an issue of he tivo software not handling unicode, or not having a font that can display it? Or other, perhaps? I'm kind of hoping it actually can display japanese characters and maybe it's just getting mangled in the mac > pyTivo > Tivo transfer.

Thanks in advance.

[wmcbrine]

There's nothing, sorry. While the Unicode support in pyTivo could (and should) still be improved a bit, the characters are just not available on the TiVo. ISTR reading that there are exactly 256 characters available in the TiVo's fonts. I can't verify that, but I've found nothing outside of accented Latin-1 characters. (There are a few special ones -- like the stars, I think -- but I don't know their codes.)

The situation must surely be different on the Taiwanese TiVos, though...

[jdubs]

I hope this is the right place to be asking this question. I could not figure out how to search the thread so I apologize if this has happened before.

When using PyTivoX and transferring larger HD quality files, after a while I get a message on my mac that ffmpeg has quit unexpectedly and only the first 20 minutes or so are transferred to my Tivo.

I am currently using a mac pro with OS 10.5.7

I appreciate your help.

Thanks,
Jeremy

[Rdian06]

I hope this is the right place to be asking this question. I could not figure out how to search the thread so I apologize if this has happened before.

When using PyTivoX and transferring larger HD quality files, after a while I get a message on my mac that ffmpeg has quit unexpectedly and only the first 20 minutes or so are transferred to my Tivo.

I am currently using a mac pro with OS 10.5.7

I appreciate your help.

Thanks,
Jeremy

Could it be a particular file that is causing the problem? That is if you transfer the same file that it quit on, does it finish?

And how are your Tivo and pyTivo mac connected to each other? wmcbrine recently added code to pyTivo to handle resuming certain types of network blips, but I don't think that new code has made it into pyTivoX yet.

[Yoav]

Could it be a particular file that is causing the problem? That is if you transfer the same file that it quit on, does it finish?

And how are your Tivo and pyTivo mac connected to each other? wmcbrine recently added code to pyTivo to handle resuming certain types of network blips, but I don't think that new code has made it into pyTivoX yet.

The new code is in the pyTivoX beta build (check the downloads tab to download the beta).

However, if the movie is problematic (possibly causing ffmpeg to crash while transcoding) I don't think automatic resume would help.

[jdubs]

hmm,

It may be the file. The one thing that tells me it isn't though is that it seems to fail at different points in the transfer.

Also, after this happened a few times, I am able to open pytivox, but while my mac says it is open, I cannot see the windown that is supposed to appear.

[jdubs]

And how are your Tivo and pyTivo mac connected to each other? wmcbrine recently added code to pyTivo to handle resuming certain types of network blips, but I don't think that new code has made it into pyTivoX yet.

They are connected through my wireless network.

[Yoav]

hmm,

It may be the file. The one thing that tells me it isn't though is that it seems to fail at different points in the transfer.

Also, after this happened a few times, I am able to open pytivox, but while my mac says it is open, I cannot see the windown that is supposed to appear.

Well, i'm building a new beta right now, so in a about 30 minutes, perform a 'check for updates' from the menubar and see if the new pyTivoX helps.

[kupe]

Hi Yoav-

Hadn't checked in for awhile and just wanted to say thanks again for the continuing updates and support!

Currently running 1.3b5 under Leopard 10.5.7 and wanted to ask you about a longstanding issue I have. For some reason, my Streambaby video volume under Music, Photos, and Showcases isn't "sticky". That is, anytime I want to view a streaming video, I have to go to my Mac and open PyTivoX and click Apply to "wake up" Streambaby and get it to appear on my Tivo Showcases.

Note that I have no such problem with the "classic" PyTivoX volumes under Now Playing.

More puzzling is that this problem only seems to be with Video volumes. I also have a Music share under Streambaby and that particular volume always appears under Showcases, with no need to "wake it up".

I've actually had this problem all the way back to PyTivoX 1.1b24. Anything you can think of to fix this?

Thanks!

Kupe

[Yoav]

Hi Yoav-

Hadn't checked in for awhile and just wanted to say thanks again for the continuing updates and support!

Currently running 1.3b5 under Leopard 10.5.7 and wanted to ask you about a longstanding issue I have. For some reason, my Streambaby video volume under Music, Photos, and Showcases isn't "sticky". That is, anytime I want to view a streaming video, I have to go to my Mac and open PyTivoX and click Apply to "wake up" Streambaby and get it to appear on my Tivo Showcases.

Note that I have no such problem with the "classic" PyTivoX volumes under Now Playing.

More puzzling is that this problem only seems to be with Video volumes. I also have a Music share under Streambaby and that particular volume always appears under Showcases, with no need to "wake it up".

I've actually had this problem all the way back to PyTivoX 1.1b24. Anything you can think of to fix this?

Thanks!

Kupe

Well, I believe the Music volumes are published by pytivo, not streambaby, so that would explain why you're seeing one and not the other (pyTivoX runs both pytivo and streambaby). It sounds like streambaby or java or whatnot decide to 'go to sleep' after a while, or maybe even crashes.

Hitting 'Apply' will kill off the old streambaby invoke and start a new one, so that would 'wake it up'.

Next time that the volumes disappear, instead of hitting Apply, can you first look at the end of the <user>/Library/Logs/pyTivoX/streambaby.log and see if there's a useful error in there? You may also want to report this on the streambaby thread to see if anyone else has seen this issue...

[gonzotek]

The new code is in the pyTivoX beta build (check the downloads tab to download the beta).

However, if the movie is problematic (possibly causing ffmpeg to crash while transcoding) I don't think automatic resume would help.I'm not seeing this beta. At pytivox (http://code.google.com/p/pytivox/downloads/list?can=1&q=&colspec=Filename+Summary+Uploaded+Size+DownloadCount#) I see the last uploaded build dated May 15th 2009. Should I be looking elsewhere?

wmcbrine started working on interrupted transfers with this commit (http://repo.or.cz/w/pyTivo/wmcbrine.git?a=commit;h=0edb41988ee1c325aa1db11439e612f4e196 f91c), dated June 16th 2009, and pretty much finished that work around the 21st. He's done a lot of other stuff since the last pytivox build as well: http://repo.or.cz/w/pyTivo/wmcbrine.git?a=shortlog.


/edit:
Well, i'm building a new beta right now, so in a about 30 minutes, perform a 'check for updates' from the menubar and see if the new pyTivoX helps.Ah, maybe that's it :)

[Yoav]

Ok new beta compiled and available via "check for updates" (if you already have an old beta installed), or via the "Downloads tab" of the pytivoX homepage

[kupe]

Well, I believe the Music volumes are published by pytivo, not streambaby, so that would explain why you're seeing one and not the other (pyTivoX runs both pytivo and streambaby).

Ahhh- thanks Yoav. I guess I thought that since it appeared under "Showcases" it was automatically Streambaby.

It sounds like streambaby or java or whatnot decide to 'go to sleep' after a while, or maybe even crashes.

Hitting 'Apply' will kill off the old streambaby invoke and start a new one, so that would 'wake it up'.

Next time that the volumes disappear, instead of hitting Apply, can you first look at the end of the <user>/Library/Logs/pyTivoX/streambaby.log and see if there's a useful error in there? You may also want to report this on the streambaby thread to see if anyone else has seen this issue...

Will do!

Kupe

[kupe]

Next time that the volumes disappear, instead of hitting Apply, can you first look at the end of the <user>/Library/Logs/pyTivoX/streambaby.log and see if there's a useful error in there? You may also want to report this on the streambaby thread to see if anyone else has seen this issue...

Hi Yoav-

Okay, here it is. I didn't include the entire huge log, but just everything after the last time I successfully accessed my Streambaby volume. I watched a minute or two of Forrest Gump, then exited and went back to Now Playing. When I then checked Showcases, the Streambaby volume was not present. Hope this helps.

Kupe

Thu 2009/07/02 21:27:46.165| |Acceptor|HostContext|key=mpos:file:/Users/dave/Desktop/Tivo%20Shares/Forest%20Gump.m4v value=18393applicationId=com.unwiredappeal.tivo.streambaby.S treamBabyStream applicationGlobal=false
Thu 2009/07/02 21:27:46.165| |Acceptor|HostContext|applicationIdStr=com.unwiredappeal.tiv o.streambaby.StreamBabyStream applicationGlobal=false
Thu 2009/07/02 21:27:46.165| |Acceptor|HostContext|applicationIdStr=com.unwiredappeal.tiv o.streambaby.StreamBabyStream
Thu 2009/07/02 21:27:46.165| |Acceptor|HostContext|compKey=652000180397425-and-com.unwiredappeal.tivo.streambaby.StreamBabyStream
Thu 2009/07/02 21:27:46.165| |Acceptor|HostContext|compKey=652000180397425-and-com.unwiredappeal.tivo.streambaby.StreamBabyStream
Thu 2009/07/02 21:27:46.165| |Acceptor|HostContext|compKey=652000180397425-and-com.unwiredappeal.tivo.streambaby.StreamBabyStream
Thu 2009/07/02 21:27:46.168| |Acceptor|Listener|
Thu 2009/07/02 21:27:46.168| |Acceptor|Factory|HME receiver disconnected
Thu 2009/07/02 21:27:48.083| |Acceptor|NamedStream|DeRegistering named stream: e4275561-b21e-4b98-94cf-eb7b6b6f915b.stream
Thu 2009/07/02 21:27:48.084| |Acceptor|SocketProcessInputStream|Destroying running process...
Thu 2009/07/02 21:27:48.088| |Acceptor|Listener|
Thu 2009/07/02 21:27:48.088| |Acceptor|Listener|10.0.1.6 I/O Exception handling HTTP GET e4275561-b21e-4b98-94cf-eb7b6b6f915b.stream: Broken pipe
Thu 2009/07/02 21:27:48.089| |Acceptor|Listener|ctx=HttpRequest /streambaby/e4275561-b21e-4b98-94cf-eb7b6b6f915b.stream t=java.net.SocketException: Connection reset
Thu 2009/07/02 21:56:34.145| |Timer-0|InfoCache$PruneTask|Pruning cache...
Thu 2009/07/02 21:56:34.145| |Timer-0|InfoCache$PruneTask|Pruning complete.

[Yoav]

Ok I believe the 'connection reset' error is just what happens when you stop watching the movie on the tivo -- so that's not a problem.

However, this:

Thu 2009/07/02 21:27:48.088| |Acceptor|Listener|10.0.1.6 I/O Exception handling HTTP GET e4275561-b21e-4b98-94cf-eb7b6b6f915b.stream: Broken pipe

may be a problem. I can't tell what end the pipe broke on (i.e. if it's just because you quit watching, or because ffmpeg died, or what?). I don't think I've seen that particular error line, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's the bug you're seeing.

Open up a Terminal.app and run

ps auxwwwww | grep -i stream

After starting up pyTivoX. You should see a very long invocation of java with a lot of arguments. Tickle the bug again, and see if the java process is still running after you can no longer see volumes. It may also be worth repeating the log on the streambaby forum (that log is straight from streambaby, and the bug you're seeing is most likely an issue with streambaby and your tivo, and not something pyTivoX did -- and there are many more users following that thread).

[Fofer]

Hello, new to this thread. Forgive me for not reading every post, I just wanted to share my experience and enthusiasm.

Previously I'd use TiVo Desktop (with the Video tab enabled,) which required me to run VisualHub ahead of time to convert to TiVo-compatible MPEG-2 files. It worked fine but was time consuming, and took up quite a bit of disk space on my Mac. The resulting MPEG-2 files also wouldn't play in QT Player (even though I have Apple's MPEG-2 plug-in.) I'd get a "this is not a movie file" error. They would, however, play in VLC. And the only reason I had to keep them around, really, was for transferring to the TiVo. It was a clunky workflow to say the least.

Well, as a Toast 10 owner, today I just tested sending an .AVI file to the TiVo using Mac2TiVo (so no pre-conversion required) but the resulting video didn't fill my TV's 42" screen. It was in a smaller rectangle, in the center. Sort of a bummer.

I then did the same test with the same file, using PyTiVoX, and it worked fine. Transferred over, no pre-conversion required, and it filled the TV screen. Also seemed to transfer faster, too. Wonderful!

So even though I have Toast 10 installed, I'm going to be using PyTiVoX for all my Mac -> TiVo needs.

Oh, and StreamBaby (beta) streams fine to my Series 3 as well... starts playing quickly, no need to even transfer the file.


I just wanted to give BIG THANKS to Yoav for sharing his hard work on this. Between this and iTiVo, he's created a fantastic suite of tools for the Mac/TiVo community that work incredibly well. The software better than anything else out there, even stuff pushed out by a big software developer like Roxio.

I'm really very appreciative. :up:

[Yoav]

I'm really very appreciative. :up:

You're welcome, but I really can't take the credit. The hard work was done by the pytivo people (armooo and wmcbrine especially) and the streambaby folks (kearygriffin and moyekj). I just put a pretty front-end/installer on it.

[Fofer]

I just put a pretty front-end/installer on it.

Fair enough, but that's the crucial and critical step. Without that, I doubt I (and many others of us here) be using the underlying tools at all.

Thanks to everyone that made these tools possible. :)

[jdubs]

Thanks for all the help. One more question. When I open pytivox I am not seeing the screen where I can enter directories. i am still able to transfer shows, but i am unable to choose the directories pytivox looks at.

Thanks,
Jeremy

[Marconi]

Check your MenuBar for a small TiVo icon. Therein resides a menu to show/hide the config window.

[Test]

This is a great application, it is one less thing I need to rely on my PC for. Thanks.

Does anyone know a good meta generator for mac?

[Yoav]

Does anyone know a good meta generator for mac?

Sadly, no. There used to be a python program that sort-of tried to do metadata generation, but I've had almost no luck with it.

If you're pulling the show off the tivo with iTiVo or kmttg, they can generate the appropriate metadata for you. This is probably your best bet, but only works for new things you're pulling off the tivo.

If you're using mp4 files in streambaby, then MetaX (http://www.kerstetter.net/page53/page54/page54.html ) can somewhat automate the process and insert appropriate metadata tags.

It's my hope that the metaX author will add the ability to write out .txt files for pytivo, but so far he's been disinterested (and since he doesn't make the code available, I can't send him a patch).

[dejardin]

Help, please! I've been enjoying the streambaby side of PyTivoX for a while now on my S3, but after initial success with pytivo, I can't access my recordings via the Now Playing List on either my S2 or S3 Tivos. The folder shares are there, and often display the show names inside, but if I select one and start transfer, it just stops on a blank Tivo screen or freezes completely requiring reboot. If I can go back to the folder in NPL, it will usually then say there are no recordings in the shared folder. I've created a brand new PyTivoX folder share (type=video) on the Mac with files, had it show up in NPL, and seen the same behavior. Tivo and Mac reboots and PyTivoX restarts are no help. I've attached the tail end of my pytivo.log for any clues. No luck searching the thread for similar problems. And no, I can't explain why when I first got PyTivoX working, the pytivo side was just fine. Thanks again for your help,

Mike

[Yoav]

Help, please! I've been enjoying the streambaby side of PyTivoX for a while now on my S3, but after initial success with pytivo, I can't access my recordings via the Now Playing List on either my S2 or S3 Tivos. The folder shares are there, and often display the show names inside, but if I select one and start transfer, it just stops on a blank Tivo screen or freezes completely requiring reboot. If I can go back to the folder in NPL, it will usually then say there are no recordings in the shared folder. I've created a brand new PyTivoX folder share (type=video) on the Mac with files, had it show up in NPL, and seen the same behavior. Tivo and Mac reboots and PyTivoX restarts are no help. I've attached the tail end of my pytivo.log for any clues. No luck searching the thread for similar problems. And no, I can't explain why when I first got PyTivoX working, the pytivo side was just fine. Thanks again for your help,

Mike

The error in the log (time not being defined) sounds like a very old error that was fixed a while back. Can you make sure you've updated to the latest pyTivoX (or even better, try the beta from the downloads tab)?

[rascal]

Hello,

I may not be in the correct forum area. I am not a programmer. I have been having a difficult time transferring files from Tivo Desktop back to Tivo. I've tried downloading several programs, but I don't believe I'm doing it correctly.

Do you have any idea what the best program is to transfer .tivo files back to Tivo? I am currently using Vista on Windows.

Any help would be appreciated.

[Rdian06]

Hello,

I may not be in the correct forum area. I am not a programmer. I have been having a difficult time transferring files from Tivo Desktop back to Tivo. I've tried downloading several programs, but I don't believe I'm doing it correctly.

Do you have any idea what the best program is to transfer .tivo files back to Tivo? I am currently using Vista on Windows.

Any help would be appreciated.

Try posting in a new thread with details about what you have tried already...

This thread is about pyTivoX for the Mac so your questions is VERY off topic.

[airbeat]

First of all, thank you for an excellent piece of software, compiling all of the necessary bits and pieces from different sources! I hope you can tell that we all appreciate it very much!

Second, I was driving myself nuts this afternoon trying to get this software working properly on my setup--and was reading through all 20 pages to find someone with my issue, which was that I could get the shares to show up on the Now Playing list only for about 1 minute, but with no content in them, and then they would vanish. The reason? The built in OS X firewall was blocking the connection.

May I suggest something in the software that checks that, or prompts the user to check it, or in the instructions for idiots like myself who couldn't figure it out?

Again, thanks everyone--if you're having similar issues, CHECK THE FIREWALL!

[dejardin]

The error in the log (time not being defined) sounds like a very old error that was fixed a while back. Can you make sure you've updated to the latest pyTivoX (or even better, try the beta from the downloads tab)?
I checked for any updates before I posted, so I know I'm on the most recent version (1.2.1), but I'll try the beta and see if it works. Thanks!

Mike

[dejardin]

I checked for any updates before I posted, so I know I'm on the most recent version (1.2.1), but I'll try the beta and see if it works. Thanks!

Mike
Looks like the beta is working. Guess I'll have to rethink my irrational fear of beta software. Thanks for the tip.

Mike

[airbeat]

Currently using the beta and it's working beautifully! I just did an erase and install on my computer, and wiped out all of my hard work installing the python server, ffmpeg, and all the other tools, and now I find this amazing thing from Yoav. Can't thank you enough! (OK, off to find something productive to do!)

[rrg]

If this is covered elsewhere in the thread, I apologize ("Search this Thread" failed to find it):

I have a large collection of captures, some saved as MPG files (program streams) but most of them saved as MPEG-2 transport streams (TS files), both SD and HD.

Pytivo has no problem serving the TS files to TiVo, which is great (TiVo Desktop can't, which has always been a problem). But Streambaby (which I'd much prefer to use in my situation), though it has no problem with the MPG files, doesn't see/can't handle the TS files.

My configuration is unchanged from the default. I'm running 1.3b6, which seems to be the latest.

Is there anything I can do to enable Streambaby to recognize and serve TS files to my Series 3 TiVos?

[airbeat]

From what I understand, StreamBaby does not support TS files. If Streambaby is your best solution, you may be looking at lots of video transcoding in order to get your files into a supported filetype.

[Yoav]

If this is covered elsewhere in the thread, I apologize ("Search this Thread" failed to find it):

I have a large collection of captures, some saved as MPG files (program streams) but most of them saved as MPEG-2 transport streams (TS files), both SD and HD.

Pytivo has no problem serving the TS files to TiVo, which is great (TiVo Desktop can't, which has always been a problem). But Streambaby (which I'd much prefer to use in my situation), though it has no problem with the MPG files, doesn't see/can't handle the TS files.

My configuration is unchanged from the default. I'm running 1.3b6, which seems to be the latest.

Is there anything I can do to enable Streambaby to recognize and serve TS files to my Series 3 TiVos?

I *suspect* streambaby can handle TS files as it's just another container that ffmpeg knows how to read. However, streambaby doesn't know about files with the '.ts' extension.

Try renaming it to a .mpg file first and see if that works. If it does, then you get to decide if:

1) you feel like renaming all your .ts files
2) you feel like making a manual config file change to add .ts as an accepted filename extension
3) you feel like telling keary to just add .ts to the list of filename extension (but make sure it works first please).

[rrg]

A quick renaming test confirms your suspicion: StreamBaby is able to see, and stream, a TS file if I simply change the file name extension to MPG.

Renaming TS files to MPG is not an option (far too much work, besides which it would be a lie and would lose information) so I'll opt, for now, to fix my configuration to accept TS files as a valid streaming type. (Where, incidentally, is that configuration file?)

You would agree, I think, that this should just be supported natively by StreamBaby, if ffmpeg has no problem with it (and as long as no re-encoding is involved, just extraction and streaming of the MPEG2 data within the container).

Thanks.

[Yoav]

Ok, what you want to do is open up the config file in <user>/Library/Application Support/pyTivoX/streambaby.ini

In there, you need to add the line (anywhere in the file) :

extensions=mp4,mpeg,vob,mpg,mpeg2,mp2,avi,wmv,asf,mkv,tivo,m 4v,raw,3gp,mov,flv,ts


Save the file, quit pyTivoX, and start pyTivoX..... DO NOT HIT APPLY!!!

That should get you where you want to be. After trying out multiple .ts files, if everything is working out smoothly, please tell us and I'll add that extension as a default so everyone will have it working...

Thank you

[rrg]

Thanks very much. I've tested a number of MPEG2 TS files and it seems to work just fine.

It takes several seconds before the video starts playing, and when it starts it's a few seconds into the video (my S3 is in "native" mode), but that may be usual with TiVo streaming (is it?).

One other thing I should mention: I have some H.264 HD captures also stored as TS files (same container format), and though StreamBaby streams these to the TiVo, the playback results aren't as good: the video is halting and jerky and usually pauses or freezes after a few seconds.

The PS3 has no problem playing these (when streamed from the same Mac using PS3 Media Server), so it's probably not a question of raw horsepower--at least not on the Mac side--but I'm not sure what the source of that (separate) problem is.

[Yoav]

Thanks very much. I've tested a number of MPEG2 TS files and it seems to work just fine.

It takes several seconds before the video starts playing, and when it starts it's a few seconds into the video (my S3 is in "native" mode), but that may be usual with TiVo streaming (is it?).

One other thing I should mention: I have some H.264 HD captures also stored as TS files (same container format), and though StreamBaby streams these to the TiVo, the playback results aren't as good: the video is halting and jerky and usually pauses or freezes after a few seconds.

The PS3 has no problem playing these (when streamed from the same Mac using PS3 Media Server), so it's probably not a question of raw horsepower--at least not on the Mac side--but I'm not sure what the source of that (separate) problem is.

Ahh, that makes things more complicated :(. I'm hoping keary reads this and has a proper answer. I'm guessing that h.264/ac-3 in ts container is being passed through without re-encoding, and so you may have an h.264 file that is not compatible with the limitations of the tivo h.264 decoder...

but I'm really guessing here....

[moyekj]

Note that anything in a transport stream streambaby is going to transcode to mpeg2 program stream using ffmpeg (no matter what file extension you give it). Even mpeg2 transport stream which could just be re-muxed to mpeg2 program stream without changing audio/video will transcode with streambaby as it is right now. You can see for yourself if you run "top" while streaming the video from streambaby - you should see an active ffmpeg process running.

Most likely the H.264 transport stream stop/start is either because of lack of horsepower for real time transcoding to mpeg2 program stream or there is an issue with ffmpeg producing a proper mpeg2 from that source. When you stream to PS3 it is just accepting/decoding the stream normally without any need for transcoding, so that's not a relevant/fair comparison.

mpeg2 transport stream unfortunately is not a supported container by TiVo (at least not via HME/HMO) so anything in that format that goes to TiVo has to be at minimum converted to mpeg2 program stream or some other TiVo compatible container + video + audio stream.

[rrg]

I was told (evidently it was misinformation) that this was not the case, i.e. that the TiVo could now handle native H.264 streams and that transcoding to MPEG2 was no longer necessary. And I thought that streambaby was sending H.264 to the TiVo when the source was H.264.

If that's not true, and if it's transcoding even MPEG2 to MPEG2 (when the source is a transport stream) then this makes the TiVo less attractive for this use case than I thought it was.

[wmcbrine]

The TiVo (Series 3/HD only) handles H.264 natively, but only in an MP4 (MOV) container, not in a transport stream. (And then, only via HME streaming, or the "Push" system.) Actually this is the first I've heard of H.264 in a transport stream.

pyTivo (as of the last few months) will just remux MPEG-2 transport streams to program streams, so it doesn't take much CPU, and there's no quality loss. But H.264 in a transport stream would have to be reencoded... in principle, we could just remux it (when doing a Push), but in practice ffmpeg doesn't seem quite up to that job yet.

[moyekj]

Read video_compatibility (http://code.google.com/p/streambaby/wiki/video_compatibility) wiki for a summary of compatible formats. Note that Container & video & audio are all important and has to be one of the combinations listed in that table to stream or push natively. As wmcbrine mentioned, H.264 with AC3 or AAC audio is supported natively, but only in a mpeg4 container, not mpeg2 transport stream container as is yours.

[westside_guy]

Yoav, I was just trying the latest pyTivoX and noticed that you've got a checkbox for sorting according to filename in the streambaby prefs, but not for pyTivo. Have you considered adding an identical checkbox to the pyTivo prefs? pyTivo does support this option (at least in the wmcbrine fork anyway).

[Yoav]

Yoav, I was just trying the latest pyTivoX and noticed that you've got a checkbox for sorting according to filename in the streambaby prefs, but not for pyTivo. Have you considered adding an identical checkbox to the pyTivo prefs? pyTivo does support this option (at least in the wmcbrine fork anyway).

Glad to, but ermm.. what's the actual pytivo.conf option to do that?

[wmcbrine]

It's a per-share option, "force_alpha".

[westside_guy]

Cool, thanks! It's a very useful option for those of us that mainly use pyTivo/streambaby for accessing our own digital video libraries.

Sorry I left out "force_alpha=true" (thanks William) - guess that is somewhat critical info. :p

[dig_duggler]

Anyone tried it out on snow leopard?

[jannlinder]

Anyone tried it out on snow leopard?

Yup.

Newest beta fixes a SMALL issue where the icon did not show up on titlebar when it was running.

Otherwise -- beautiful!

Can anyone now say "PLEASE help the ffmpeg devs compile it for OpenCL and 64-bit!"??

:)

J

[jannlinder]

Sadly, no. There used to be a python program that sort-of tried to do metadata generation, but I've had almost no luck with it.


I have a command-line script for perl (currently rewriting in RealBasic to be cross-platform -- and GUI). It works flawlessly for me. If you are interested in being a beta tester, please PM me here.

thx

J

[jannlinder]

Does anyone know if we can simply recompile 64-bit ffmpeg and drop it into the pyTivoX package (for Snow Leopard)?


TIA

J

[Rdian06]

Sadly, no. There used to be a python program that sort-of tried to do metadata generation, but I've had almost no luck with it.


Yoav, which python program are you talking about? Not gmd's pyTivoMetaThis (latest version is here http://pytivo.sourceforge.net/forum/post6356.html#6356) I hope? I use it all the time and it's nearly flawless. I have to log into thetvdb.com from time to time and fix seriesIds, but otherwise it works.

The enhanced XML parser dependencies on the Mac can be painful to install, but you don't need them unless you're worried about speed and full foreign character support.

[Yoav]

Does anyone know if we can simply recompile 64-bit ffmpeg and drop it into the pyTivoX package (for Snow Leopard)?


TIA

J

streambaby will not work right if you do that, but the pytivo side *should* (although I can't try it to verify). pytivox *should* be loading up the 32-bit java and running correctly, if it's not, can you tell me what you're seeing?

fwiw, I can build everything to use ppc, i386, and x86_64, but that will make the new distribution 25 megs or so, and I'd rather avoid doing that if I can get away with it..

[Yoav]

Yoav, which python program are you talking about? Not gmd's pyTivoMetaThis (latest version is here http://pytivo.sourceforge.net/forum/post6356.html#6356) I hope? I use it all the time and it's nearly flawless. I have to log into thetvdb.com from time to time and fix seriesIds, but otherwise it works.

The enhanced XML parser dependencies on the Mac can be painful to install, but you don't need them unless you're worried about speed and full foreign character support.

yes, and I only really tried it for a little bit and decided it was more work than just manually making the metadata (for me). But if it's working well then I apologize for the put-down, and yay glad to know there is something. I see jannlinder also has a perl script that can help...

[jannlinder]

streambaby will not work right if you do that, but the pytivo side *should* (although I can't try it to verify). pytivox *should* be loading up the 32-bit java and running correctly, if it's not, can you tell me what you're seeing?

It is working so far. I was interested in running my system in pure 64 bit if possible. I know it may seem silly, however, I want to use it to it's fullest. I know Java 64 bit is out for now... There is a 64-bit java that is the hotspot server:
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 14.1-b02-90, mixed mode)
but the client is still 32bit:
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.6.0_15-b03-219)


fwiw, I can build everything to use ppc, i386, and x86_64, but that will make the new distribution 25 megs or so, and I'd rather avoid doing that if I can get away with it..

Well, since it is in the google code repository and would only be downloaded by people who want it, can you do that and post it for those of us who would love that?


TIA

Jann

[jannlinder]

I see jannlinder also has a perl script that can help...

I also have almost completed my cross-platform GUI that will do the same. Give me a week or so and I will release a beta that will automatically classify all your files. (within parameters of course). The plus of the GUI is that it is cross-platform and I have to get use out of this darn RealBasic Studio license I paid $$$ for. :D

[Rdian06]

yes, and I only really tried it for a little bit and decided it was more work than just manually making the metadata (for me). But if it's working well then I apologize for the put-down, and yay glad to know there is something. I see jannlinder also has a perl script that can help...

Do you recall what problems you had with pyTivoMetaThis? It sat unloved for a long time, but got picked back up by a few of us and it's pretty workable right now (if you happen to have your files/movies named with some structure.)

[Yoav]

Do you recall what problems you had with pyTivoMetaThis? It sat unloved for a long time, but got picked back up by a few of us and it's pretty workable right now (if you happen to have your files/movies named with some structure.)

Honestly it was like a year ago, and I barely remember what went wrong. It seemed to scan correctly but then generated metadata files with incorrect info.

It sounds like you guys probably have it working right again :).

[Yoav]

It is working so far. I was interested in running my system in pure 64 bit if possible. I know it may seem silly, however, I want to use it to it's fullest. I know Java 64 bit is out for now... There is a 64-bit java that is the hotspot server:
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 14.1-b02-90, mixed mode)
but the client is still 32bit:
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.6.0_15-b03-219)




Well, since it is in the google code repository and would only be downloaded by people who want it, can you do that and post it for those of us who would love that?


TIA

Jann
pyTivoX is a 'universal' program, which means right now every binary has binary code for powerPC and i386 processors. To add x86_64 code to it is certainly doable, but it would be done for all future builds. It's not like I would make a seperate 64-bit build and give that only to people who want it.

To complicate matters, since streambaby (as java bytecode) loads up the shared libs (also would be a 3-processor file) it needs to load up the correct one. So if you run a 64-bit java, it will expect 64-bit shared libs from ffmpeg, and same is true for 32-bit.

I'm not really averse to doing it if there was a demand for it... I'll go build one now and put it up as the beta, see if someone with a 64-bit machine can tell me how well it's working, and see how big the file ends up.

edit: Ok it's not that simple. Turns out there are no 64-bit libraries of MacOSX 10.4. Which means in order to support 64-bit I'd have to drop support for OS X 10.4u... I think that's not really a wise choice. I don't *think* I can require 10.5 for one architecture and 10.4 for the rest...

[jannlinder]

To complicate matters, since streambaby (as java bytecode) loads up the shared libs (also would be a 3-processor file) it needs to load up the correct one. So if you run a 64-bit java, it will expect 64-bit shared libs from ffmpeg, and same is true for 32-bit..

Well, to be frank, since 10.6 does NOT ship with 64-bit Java, there that goes.

[Marconi]

I updated my pyTivo to 1.3 today and ever since then any files transferred to TiVo have had today's date instead of the recording's mod date or the metadata date datum.

I reverted to 1.2 and the dates are proper again when transferring files to TiVo.

[ShoutingMan]

Is there any way to have pyTivoX use iTunes playlists?

It seems to only read specific music folders. This means I can only play specific albums or I have to manually export and compile playlists to save outside of iTunes for pyTivoX. I'd love to get back the TivoDesktop feature to play iTunes playlists.

[richsadams]

Just here to confirm that pyTiVoX (v1.3) works fine with Apple's latest OS, Mac OS X v10.6. Others (including Shouting Man) are reporting (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=7470817#post7470817) that TiVo Desktop no longer works under 10.6 (at least at this time).

[Yoav]

Is there any way to have pyTivoX use iTunes playlists?

It seems to only read specific music folders. This means I can only play specific albums or I have to manually export and compile playlists to save outside of iTunes for pyTivoX. I'd love to get back the TivoDesktop feature to play iTunes playlists.

Sadly for now, no. Someone would need to write a plug-in for pytivo to be able to parse playlists and play them instead of every file... Nobody has yet (you may want to ask again on the pytivo forum, since pytivox is just a mac front-end)

[Marconi]

Just here to confirm that pyTiVoX (v1.3) works fine with Apple's latest OS, Mac OS X v10.6. Rich, have you noted the problem I reported with 1.3 -- that recordings transferred to TiVo show the transferred date rather than the recording's modified date?

That 1.3 works with 10.6 I have no doubt. But "fine" is another matter.

Please do try transferring an older recording to TiVo and let me know whether the date is correct (it should show the recording date, not the transferred date).

FWIW, I archive recordings plus the text metadata files off-line (on my Mac) and transfer them back when needed. With 1.2 and earlier, the date that TiVo sees is the recording's modified date on the Mac. With 1.3, it shows the transfer-to-Mac date.

[Yoav]

FWIW, I archive recordings plus the text metadata files off-line (on my Mac) and transfer them back when needed. With 1.2 and earlier, the date that TiVo sees is the recording's modified date on the Mac. With 1.3, it shows the transfer-to-Mac date.

I seriously doubt this is caused by 10.6 vs 10.5

My guess is that some internal behavior with pytivo changed between the two builds (each build I make I pull down the latest pytivo code from wmcbrine's branch).

[richsadams]

Please do try transferring an older recording to TiVo and let me know whether the date is correct (it should show the recording date, not the transferred date).I only worked with existing recordings. As soon as I have time I'll give that a try.

[wmcbrine]

I'm not sure what Marconi is talking about. The transfer date has always been used, except for .TiVo files, where the recorded date has always been used (since the file overrides what pyTivo specifies).

[Marconi]

I seriously doubt this is caused by 10.6 vs 10.5I'm sure it's not since I'm still on 10.5.8.

My guess is that some internal behavior with pytivo changed between the two builds (each build I make I pull down the latest pytivo code from wmcbrine's branch).

AH! I hadn't realize that pyTivo was someone else's. So, just the GUI interface for OS X is your handiwork? I guess I should be barking up Mr. McBine's tree.

[Marconi]

I'm not sure what Marconi is talking about. The transfer date has always been used, except for .TiVo files, where the recorded date has always been used (since the file overrides what pyTivo specifies). All of my files are simply 'decrypt' so they must qualify as 'TiVo' files. In any case, the recordings of various series are in my archives with the recordings having the episodes' original air dates as the files' modification dates. Thus, when I transfer them back to a TiVo to watch, they appear in the correct episodic order. That's the way it was with 1.2.

With 1.3, the episodes have the transferred date instead of the file's mod date as it is on the archive drive. All of my work, changing the recordings' mod dates to match the original air date are thus wasted.

I reverted to 1.2 to get the old behavior back.

[wmcbrine]

All of my files are simply 'decrypt' so they must qualify as 'TiVo' files.Uh, no, actually. "Decrypt" turns them from .TiVo files (note the dot -- these files literally have ".TiVo" as the extension) to plain MPEG program streams, stripping the attached metadata. Only a transfer with no decryption would be a .TiVo file.

I don't believe there has been any change in this behavior in pyTivo. I think it's more likely that you're mixing .TiVo and .mpg files, without noticing.

[Marconi]

Uh, no, actually. "Decrypt" turns them from .TiVo files (note the dot -- these files literally have ".TiVo" as the extension) to plain MPEG program streams, stripping the attached metadata. Only a transfer with no decryption would be a .TiVo file.OK then, your description of the behavior belonging only to .tivo files is then incorrect as I've been getting this behavior with decrypted files all along. I've built an entire workflow around it. I don't believe there has been any change in this behavior in pyTivo.There has been. I tried it again. Ran 1.3 and got the transferred date. Ran 1.2 and got the file's mod date. Did this with two recordings and on a second Mac just to be sure the problem wasn't confined to my normal workstation. Trust me, this behavior has changed between pyTiVoX 1.2 and 1.3. I have no idea whether it was something in your code or Goav's, but the behavior is different. I think it's more likely that you're mixing .TiVo and .mpg files, without noticing.I don't use .tivo files at all. I use only decrypt via iTiVo.

It's easy enough to see; just try it yourself. Run 1.2 and transfer an older decrypt file, then do the same file with 1.3.

I'd be happy to provide an older decrypted file for you. Alternately, you can decrypt one yourself and set its create/mod dates to whatever you like via this droplet script:
on open dropped_items
set newdate to "199001051200"
repeat with file_ in dropped_items
set file_ to POSIX path of file_
do shell script "touch -t " & newdate & " " & quoted form of file_
end repeat
end open

The above sets the mod date to Jan 5, 1990. Just save it as a script using Apple's script editor. When you have a decrypt recording, just drag-and-drop it onto the saved script to give it an old modification date.


The behavior has changed. Really. Just try it.

[wmcbrine]

I don't use pyTivoX. As I understand it, it only runs on OS X 10.5+. Someone else will have to confirm what you're seeing.

[ShoutingMan]

I don't use pyTivoX. As I understand it, it only runs on OS X 10.5+. Someone else will have to confirm what you're seeing.
I'm running it on 10.6 for music playback. (Looking for replacement solution for Tivo Desktop, as it doesn't work in 10.6. And I assume it will never work since it was never updated for the Intel transition and must be 3 years out of date now.)

[Marconi]

I don't use pyTivoX. As I understand it, it only runs on OS X 10.5+. Someone else will have to confirm what you're seeing.
Ummm, might you be able to compare the current pyTiVo with the previous? Is there a way to tell which code pyTiVoX 1.2 and 1.3 incorporate and compare the behavior of those two?

Related question: Is there anything Yoav could have done to change this? After all, it's just a GUI, yes?

Maybe I need to install the non-GUI version of the current pyTiVo and test that... I've got some research to do.

[bedelman]

...since it was never updated for the Intel transition and must be 3 years out of date now.)

That's not what I've seen with regard to the "Intel transition". When I've looked in the Activity Monitor screen under Leopard, it doesn't show that it's running as a PowerPC application/process. If I understand what Dennis has written earlier, they're pointing to some Java classes that have been deprecated in Java 6 JVM as he said in a different thread "(the Java/Cocoa bridge classes are gone, since Apple has moved to the Java 6 SE JVM)." and he also wrote "Fortunately, it doesn't look as if they're using those classes for too much, so it shouldn't be too difficult to fix. "

- Bob

[ShoutingMan]

That's not what I've seen with regard to the "Intel transition". When I've looked in the Activity Monitor screen under Leopard, it doesn't show that it's running as a PowerPC application/process. As seen from other threads, Tivo Desktop doesn't stream music as is, because it still looks for data in PowerPC format. Someone figured out a hack to make it work. So my experience is that it's never been updated for Intel.

[bedelman]

As seen from other threads, Tivo Desktop doesn't stream music as is, because it still looks for data in PowerPC format. Someone figured out a hack to make it work. So my experience is that it's never been updated for Intel.I have no idea how any data could have a preference for either PowerPC or Intel -- unless you're referring to the way that TiVo Desktop for Mac OSX seems to work with LAME to handle AAC format music files (and how LAME had an issue with big versus little endian which is processor related)

TiVo Desktop for Mac OSX by itself only handles MP3 music files -- and I've never had to apply any hack to get it to work with them on Intel versus PowerPC

- Bob

[IanFrost]

I am new to pytivox. I installed it over the weekend on an old MacMini that I just upgraded to 10.6.

Everything works great . . . no issues seeing the directories, transfers start O?K, etc. My only issue is the quality of the video when there is a lot of action or movement. When this happens, there is a lot of blurry video.

Is this something to do with the hardware speed? I would be happy to have better quality video and sacrifice the download speed.

I have read this entire thread but my have missed my issue.

Ian

[ShoutingMan]

I have no idea how any data could have a preference for either PowerPC or IntelIt's a byte ordering issue on AAC files (http://tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/archive/index.php/t-298853.html) due to differences between Intel and PowerPC systems.

From what I've seen, Tivo Desktop hasn't been revised since 2006. Assuming that it will never again be revised, I've moved to pyTivoX for music playback. It's not nearly as elegant as Tivo Desktop, but it works under Snow Leopard.

[bedelman]

It's a byte ordering issue on AAC files (http://tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/archive/index.php/t-298853.html) due to differences between Intel and PowerPC systems.

Which is something that's not "officially" in the feature set of TiVo Desktop for Mac OSX. The handling of AAC files is in conjunction with using LAME -- which, I believe, is what was having trouble with the big/little endian situation (you referred to this as "byte ordering") and not the TiVo Desktop preference pane itself.

From what I've seen, Tivo Desktop hasn't been revised since 2006.

The most recent build I have of TiVo Desktop (1.9.4-055) is dated July 26, 2008 -- that's just a bit over a year old now

I've moved to pyTivoX for music playback. It's not nearly as elegant as Tivo Desktop, but it works under Snow Leopard.

Good, I'm glad you've found a solution with which you're satisfied and I, by no means, intend to start a heated argument here. I just wanted to "clear the air" on some of the comments you've made and how they do not, in my opinion, line up with the actual facts with regard to the TiVo Desktop preference pane.

- Bob

[richsadams]

My only issue is the quality of the video when there is a lot of action or movement. When this happens, there is a lot of blurry video.

Is this something to do with the hardware speed? I would be happy to have better quality video and sacrifice the download speed.

I have read this entire thread but my have missed my issue.

IanHi Ian. I've seen the same thing on my Mac Mini...not just with TiVo files either. My Mini is almost two-years old and I think it's a matter of its graphics card not being able to keep up, especially with rapid movements in HD content. (IIRC newer models have been improved a great deal.) They play back fine on my iMac and even on my MacBook, so I think it's the nature of the Mini not being able to process the data properly, at least in my case.

[westside_guy]

Hi Ian. I've seen the same thing on my Mac Mini...not just with TiVo files either. My Mini is almost two-years old and I think it's a matter of its graphics card not being able to keep up, especially with rapid movements in HD content. (IIRC newer models have been improved a great deal.) They play back fine on my iMac and even on my MacBook, so I think it's the nature of the Mini not being able to process the data properly, at least in my case.

In support of your parenthetical comment: You might be pleasantly surprised with the newer Minis that use the Nvidia 9400M chipset - I'm guessing your Mini uses the ATI graphics chips? I don't have a Mini, but I do have a MacBook Air that uses that same (9400M) chipset. When I've played 720p material, it doesn't appear to have any issues (that's totally subjective, I realize).

[richsadams]

When I've played 720p material, it doesn't appear to have any issues (that's totally subjective, I realize).It's not a big issue most of the time, but I have noticed it now and then on the Mini. As mentioned on the MacBook and iMac everything plays back without a hitch. It wouldn't bother most folks, but being a bit retentive, well, you understand I'm sure.

I'm trying to convince my better half to switch to Mac (last X machine in our house ::shudder: ;). If I can do that she'd "inherit" the current media center Mini and I'd pick up a new one. Wish me luck. :)

[wmcbrine]

Is this something to do with the hardware speed?Are you talking about the pyTivo side (transfers to the NPL), or the Streambaby side?

pyTivo doesn't attempt to do real-time transfers, so the hardware doesn't matter, except in terms of transfer time. But I guess you could try raising the bitrate if you think the quality is inadequate.

If you were using HME/VLC, it does do real-time transcoding, so the quality can suffer on slower machines. I'm not sure if Streambaby works the same way.

[IanFrost]

I'm using pytivox. So, stupid question, how would I increase the bitrate?

Thanks

Ian

[Rdian06]

I'm using pytivox. So, stupid question, how would I increase the bitrate?

Thanks

Ian

pyTivoX integrates pyTivo and Streambaby. They're technically two different video transfer methods, but Yoav wraps them into one easy to install package.

So are you selecting a video and watching it from the Now Playing list after/as it downloads? If so, that is the pyTivo side. If you're talking about the Streambaby option under "Music, Photos, & Showcases" then that is the Streambaby side of pyTivoX.

[IanFrost]

Thanks for the clarification.

It is through Now Playing. I start the transfer and can start watching while it transfers. So, I am using pytivo.

So, how can I change the bitrate?

Many thanks.

Ian

[Rdian06]

Thanks for the clarification.

It is through Now Playing. I start the transfer and can start watching while it transfers. So, I am using pytivo.

So, how can I change the bitrate?

Many thanks.

Ian

There is a configuration file somewhere in the Preferences directory. Some of the earlier posts in this thread mention it. I don't use pyTivoX so I don't recall the exact location. You'll want to edit the file and add a video_br setting under the Server section, see http://pytivo.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Configure_pyTivo#video_br

However, once you add that setting manually, you won't be able to use the GUI to configure pyTivo or it will overwrite the file.

Also, you might want to grab some HD trailers from Apple and test them out to rule out issues with your source videos.

[ppartekim]

I am new to pytivox. I installed it over the weekend on an old MacMini that I just upgraded to 10.6.

Everything works great . . . no issues seeing the directories, transfers start O?K, etc. My only issue is the quality of the video when there is a lot of action or movement. When this happens, there is a lot of blurry video.

Is this something to do with the hardware speed? I would be happy to have better quality video and sacrifice the download speed.

I have read this entire thread but my have missed my issue.

Ian

I also upgraded to 10.6 over the weekend and today was my first time trying the streaming to my S3 (as I just handbraked the Dirty Harry collection). The first time I tried to stream from my mac mini (which is the early 2009, 2.26GB 4G-Ram), I also had stuttering (barely noticeable, but there).

While I was handbraking another file at the time, I waited until afterwards to
try it again but still saw the stuttering. On the Tivo, I noticed the quality setting and just assumed the best high bitstream 1664 kb/s. I lowered that to 1260 kb/s and all stuttering went away (smooth as glass) didn't notice any drop in video quality just that the buffer didn't fill as fast as before (which I would expect with a lower speed).

I also notice that if I stopped the video stream to view something else then came back the quality also went back the 1664 (and stuttering also returned), I had to remember to set it back to 1260 and stuttering went away.

Now to figure out how to either get me network faster (currently 100Mb, not sure of the duplex) or get the default quality setting to stay at 1260.

[Yoav]

I also upgraded to 10.6 over the weekend and today was my first time trying the streaming to my S3 (as I just handbraked the Dirty Harry collection). The first time I tried to stream from my mac mini (which is the early 2009, 2.26GB 4G-Ram), I also had stuttering (barely noticeable, but there).

While I was handbraking another file at the time, I waited until afterwards to
try it again but still saw the stuttering. On the Tivo, I noticed the quality setting and just assumed the best high bitstream 1664 kb/s. I lowered that to 1260 kb/s and all stuttering went away (smooth as glass) didn't notice any drop in video quality just that the buffer didn't fill as fast as before (which I would expect with a lower speed).

I also notice that if I stopped the video stream to view something else then came back the quality also went back the 1664 (and stuttering also returned), I had to remember to set it back to 1260 and stuttering went away.

Now to figure out how to either get me network faster (currently 100Mb, not sure of the duplex) or get the default quality setting to stay at 1260.

From the description it sounds like you're using the streambaby side of pyTivoX.

If you select the highest bitrate from the list, for mpeg-2 and mp4 files, no re-encoding is done. So if the mpeg-2 or 4 file isn't 100% compatible with the bitrate requirements of the tivo, you may have issues... As soon as you select a lower bitrate, it re-encodes (which would explain why it's slower to get the data, and may explain why it plays well -- the re-encoding is done in mpeg-2 that is 100% appropriate for the tivo).

(This is all predicated on the assumption that your movie file is an mp4 file... if it's not, then something else is going on).

100Mbps is tons more bandwidth than is needed (and more than the tivo can accept anyways). So if you're wired at 100Mbps, it's definitely not the network speed that's causing this.

[ppartekim]

From the description it sounds like you're using the streambaby side of pyTivoX.

If you select the highest bitrate from the list, for mpeg-2 and mp4 files, no re-encoding is done. So if the mpeg-2 or 4 file isn't 100% compatible with the bitrate requirements of the tivo, you may have issues... As soon as you select a lower bitrate, it re-encodes (which would explain why it's slower to get the data, and may explain why it plays well -- the re-encoding is done in mpeg-2 that is 100% appropriate for the tivo).



Correct, I am using the streambaby side of pyTivoX. Thanks for the info. All my files were handbraked using the "normal" MP4 setting (that way I can re-brake to my iPhone later or another setting from it).

I just checked the Handbrake "Normal" setting and the average bitrate is 1500kbps.

Now is there anyway to get Tivo to accept 1500 or will I need to re-encode my files to match the 1664kps Tivo states?

Or is there a way to set the Tivo default to 1260?

[Yoav]

Correct, I am using the streambaby side of pyTivoX. Thanks for the info. All my files were handbraked using the "normal" MP4 setting (that way I can re-brake to my iPhone later or another setting from it).

I just checked the Handbrake "Normal" setting and the average bitrate is 1500kbps.

Now is there anyway to get Tivo to accept 1500 or will I need to re-encode my files to match the 1664kps Tivo states?

Or is there a way to set the Tivo default to 1260?

I don't believe it's the 1500 that's causing the problem. I believe the handbrake settings are generating a problematic file (that is, assuming you really do have you tivo on a wired 100Mbps network to your computer). This is why when the file gets re-encoded by ffmpeg (in pytivox) it works cleanly, but if it's streamed wholesale it does not.

Someone wrote up a nice summary of suggested handbrake settings used to make mp4 files that the tivo can handle: http://code.google.com/p/streambaby/wiki/video_compatibility . I believe this works for the TivoHD, but the Tivo 3 might have a slightly different requirement since it doesn't use the same decoding hardware. Yes, it's ugly and complicated, and I havent actually tested this..

For what it's worth, I tend to encode my movies to mkv containers instead of mp4 (at about 2.5 mbps) and stream it that way. It does cause a re-encode, but that doesn't really bother me, and things always seem to work... If you select the 'Film' pre-set in handbrake, it will do that for you. Of course to play mkv files you'll need VLC or similar, as quicktime doesn't handle those files.


However, you can try lowering the bitrate on handbrake. It's under the video settings tab, and see if it helps.

There is no such thing as a 'tivo default streaming bandwidth'. If you're asking if there's a way to force streambaby to always stream at a fixed bandwidth, it's doable but silly (the config file is in ~/Library/Application Supprt/pyTivoX/streambaby.ini, and instructions on how you can make changes to that file are in http://code.google.com/p/streambaby/wiki/StreamBabyIni -- although I strongly urge against doing this).

[kearygriffin]

I also upgraded to 10.6 over the weekend and today was my first time trying the streaming to my S3....

Is this actually a S3 or a TiVoHD? I don't really know the details but it seems the S3 is pickier when streaming videos. (Things that seem fine on the TiVoHD give the S3 some problems).

I currently use Handbrake to do my conversions and typically use a video profile of Basic/Normal and a bitrate of 1500 (although I typically only use a single pass since I am usually a little impatient and am not discerning enough to notice the difference...) I am running on a TiVoHD.

[ppartekim]

Is this actually a S3 or a TiVoHD? I don't really know the details but it seems the S3 is pickier when streaming videos. (Things that seem fine on the TiVoHD give the S3 some problems).

I currently use Handbrake to do my conversions and typically use a video profile of Basic/Normal and a bitrate of 1500 (although I typically only use a single pass since I am usually a little impatient and am not discerning enough to notice the difference...) I am running on a TiVoHD.

It is an original S3 (I have two). I use the two pass (1st turbo).

[ppartekim]

I don't believe it's the 1500 that's causing the problem. I believe the handbrake settings are generating a problematic file (that is, assuming you really do have you tivo on a wired 100Mbps network to your computer). This is why when the file gets re-encoded by ffmpeg (in pytivox) it works cleanly, but if it's streamed wholesale it does not.

Ok, I will have to assume (I know bad) it is 100Mbps as all Tivos and Macs, are plugged into unmanaged 100MB switches. Tivo doesn't state what speed the network is (I looked at all the setting I could find).

Someone wrote up a nice summary of suggested handbrake settings used to make mp4 files that the tivo can handle: code.google.com/p/streambaby/wiki/video_compatibility . I believe this works for the TivoHD, but the Tivo 3 might have a slightly different requirement since it doesn't use the same decoding hardware. Yes, it's ugly and complicated, and I havent actually tested this..

Thanks, will check it out.


For what it's worth, I tend to encode my movies to mkv containers instead of mp4 (at about 2.5 mbps) and stream it that way. It does cause a re-encode, but that doesn't really bother me, and things always seem to work... If you select the 'Film' pre-set in handbrake, it will do that for you. Of course to play mkv files you'll need VLC or similar, as quicktime doesn't handle those files.

Have you tried the new Quicktime X Player in 10.6? Also, do you still have to change the quality setting or just hit play. Trying to make this as simple as possible and avoid having to remember to lower the setting everytime I start playing a movie.


There is no such thing as a 'tivo default streaming bandwidth'. If you're asking if there's a way to force streambaby to always stream at a fixed bandwidth, it's doable but silly (the config file is in ~/Library/Application Supprt/pyTivoX/streambaby.ini, and instructions on how you can make changes to that file are in code.google.com/p/streambaby/wiki/StreamBabyIni -- although I strongly urge against doing this).

I am kinda getting that idea. I am trying to go through the Streambaby thread and have only made it through page 18 of 51 trying to soak it all up.

[Yoav]

Have you tried the new Quicktime X Player in 10.6? Also, do you still have to change the quality setting or just hit play. Trying to make this as simple as possible and avoid having to remember to lower the setting everytime I start playing a movie.

I just checked and quicktime X still doesnt support mkv files (I suspect they never will, since mkv is an open and free container format, and apple has already paid a bunch to license and promote mp4).

As for still having to change the quality setting. No. Since tivos can't natively stream mkv files, pyTivoX (in streambaby or pytivo mode) will on-the-fly convert it to an mpeg-2 file when streaming it, at all bitrates. The problem you had was that unless you selected a lower bitrate for your mp4 files, pytivox was streaming the mp4 file as-is, and tivo was unhappy. If you selected a lower bitrate pyTivoX converted it to an mpeg-2 as it streamed it, and things were working.

The alternative is to figure out what mp4 handbrake settings generate a file that a tivo S3 is happy with. I'd start by going with the simplest mp4 encoding, and then adding more and more options .. but this will take a while. If you figure out a good setting, you should tell us and someone will get it added to the streambaby wiki.



I am kinda getting that idea. I am trying to go through the Streambaby thread and have only made it through page 18 of 51 trying to soak it all up.
Yeah.. a wiki or something would probably help.. but....

[jannlinder]

I am curious...

Since "Wake on Demand" on Snow Leopard allows a compatible Airport Base Station (on 7.4.2) to "take over" the IP and bonjour services using http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_Proxy_Service (Sleep Proxy Service), shouldn't pyTivoX and StreamBaby devices (which are still listed on my TivoHD when the iMac is asleep) be woken up by my airport when they are selected on the TiVo?

I know that some protocols are done using TiVo Beacon, but since the Tivos use Bonjour as well, shouldn't it work?

If not, and as this states:

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=7043376#post7043376

pyTivo is using Beacons, not Bonjour, would it be *that hard* to utilize Bonjour on pyTivo so as to allow our iMac to wake? This is not just a Mac service. Sleep_Proxy_Service can be utilized on any platform, but as there are many many macs out there running pyTiVo and streambaby, even if the official pyTiVo codebase does not support it, then it would not be hard for pyTivoX to advertise on behalf of pyTiVo just to allow the Airport to wake the iMac. This would allow the iMac to wake and then allow pyTiVo to service the request, no?

Thx

Jann

[ppartekim]

As for still having to change the quality setting. No. Since tivos can't natively stream mkv files, pyTivoX (in streambaby or pytivo mode) will on-the-fly convert it to an mpeg-2 file when streaming it, at all bitrates. The problem you had was that unless you selected a lower bitrate for your mp4 files, pytivox was streaming the mp4 file as-is, and tivo was unhappy. If you selected a lower bitrate pyTivoX converted it to an mpeg-2 as it streamed it, and things were working.

The alternative is to figure out what mp4 handbrake settings generate a file that a tivo S3 is happy with. I'd start by going with the simplest mp4 encoding, and then adding more and more options .. but this will take a while. If you figure out a good setting, you should tell us and someone will get it added to the streambaby wiki.

So my set will be my mac mini(s) with external RAID (maybe a Drobo), streamed to my two original Tivo Series 3 (not the HD or HD-XL).

After trying out several different dozens settings on a Dr. Horrible featurette (only 7mins and well, who doesn't like Dr. Horrible) all encodings that used a m4v container had stuttered video on Tivo unless I selected a lower bitrate on the Tivo before playing. But every mkv container had smooth video from straight a play (no changes needed on the Tivo). Also, noticed that all mkv containers showed "same" on the Tivo, while all m4v containers showed "same - xxxx kbps" which is clue that unless I lower the bitrate stuttering will occur.

Since I also have a iPhone, I HB'd the mkv file into a m4v version for the iPhone as well as a "normal" m4v file for comparison. The iPhone version looks darn perfect on the iPhone and at actual size on the mac. The "normal" m4v file had its audio track slighty off track (kinda like those really old japanese film).

Now, the mkv file doesn't have a nice QT preview like the m4v files (it display the generic VLC icon); at least it plays without issue within VLC and Plex so no biggie. If I truly need a QT version, I will just watch the iPhone version which I will have anyway for travel.

[cweb]

I'm having a brain cramp ... I used to be able to download beta versions of pytivox using the "check for updates" menu option. It no longer seems to check for the betas. I thought there was an option to enable this, however I can't seem to find it,

Was I imagining the option??

[ppartekim]

I'm having a brain cramp ... I used to be able to download beta versions of pytivox using the "check for updates" menu option. It no longer seems to check for the betas. I thought there was an option to enable this, however I can't seem to find it,

Was I imagining the option??

I just checked and 1.3b6 is the latest on the website and the latest my version claims when I click (Check for Updates).

[GKevinK]

Ok, I've read the thread and looked and looked... but can't see HOW I'm supposed to use the push feature. I put my info in the preferences page, everything else seems to be working fine from the 'pull' perspective (working from the TiVo end). FAQ just says to "use 'push'" ... great. how? I figure if I'm to 'push' is has to be from the computer end... but I've wasted enough time trying in vain to discover this feature that was deemed to not need any explanation or documentation.

Sorry... a bit frustrated. pyTivoX is AWESOME... just can't seem to figure out what to do. Is some other program involved? Is some configuration on my system stopping some obvious interface from popping up?

[wmcbrine]

Push is accessed from the web interface: http://localhost:9032/

[GKevinK]

where 'localhost' is... my computer, or the TiVo? (not resolving directly via the link in your post)

I've tried substituting the IP of both my computer and the TiVo for 'localhost', and get nothing. Whether I use 'localhost' or my iP (which happens to be 10.0.1.105 at the moment... DHCP inside my net) Safari always complains that it "can't connect to the server".

[GKevinK]

netstat | grep 9032

also doesn't seem to show anything using port 9032

[westside_guy]

where 'localhost' is... my computer, or the TiVo? (not resolving directly via the link in your post)

I've tried substituting the IP of both my computer and the TiVo for 'localhost', and get nothing. Whether I use 'localhost' or my iP (which happens to be 10.0.1.105 at the moment... DHCP inside my net) Safari always complains that it "can't connect to the server".

"localhost" refers to the machine that's running pyTivo. Be sure you've included the port number (the ":9032" part of the URL).

If your firewall settings allow it, you can even get to it using a web browser on another computer. Of course in that case it's not "localhost", it's the name or IP number of the computer running pyTivo.

Be sure you're running a current version of pyTivo - the web interface hasn't always been in place IIRC (although I know it's been in wmcbrine's fork for quite a while).

[GKevinK]

"localhost" refers to the machine that's running pyTivo. Be sure you've included the port number (the ":9032" part of the URL).

If your firewall settings allow it, you can even get to it using a web browser on another computer. Of course in that case it's not "localhost", it's the name or IP number of the computer running pyTivo.

Be sure you're running a current version of pyTivo - the web interface hasn't always been in place IIRC (although I know it's been in wmcbrine's fork for quite a while).

I just downloaded and installed pyTivoX today, so what I have is whatever the current default installation provides. I'm on Mac OS X 10.5.8. I'm on the machine now, so there shouldn't be any firewall issues. I did include the port number when I tried using the browser. I also did a port scan and didn't find anything using port 9032. I'm guessing that either the default configuration provided with pyTivoX doesn't start up the server, or something happened to prevent its startup. Going to check logs now...

... nothing of note found in any logs I could locate. Hmmm.

[westside_guy]

Hmm... normally I just run pyTivo from the command line - but I just now went and downloaded pyTivoX 1.3 (the "featured download"). Installed it, ran it, and loaded my web browser - no admin interface was available. So I went into the pyTivoX prefs, made sure both pyTivo and streambaby were set to run, set pyTivoX to start at login, and hit the big "Apply" button. Now when I go to localhost:9032, I see the admin interface.

So go into your prefs, be sure pyTivo is checked (so it's running), then hit "Apply" and see what happens. It's possible pyTivo isn't running until you check your prefs and hit "Apply". Or perhaps there's a bug in the default configuration that gets remedied the first time you save your prefs, which would rewrite the config file.

[GKevinK]

got it! ... needed to add the 'check' on the pyTivo preference page. netstat shows the server on 9032 now, and the browser loads the page. Thanks!

[jannlinder]

bump...

heh

I am curious...

Since "Wake on Demand" on Snow Leopard allows a compatible Airport Base Station (on 7.4.2) to "take over" the IP and bonjour services using http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_Proxy_Service (Sleep Proxy Service), shouldn't pyTivoX and StreamBaby devices (which are still listed on my TivoHD when the iMac is asleep) be woken up by my airport when they are selected on the TiVo?

I know that some protocols are done using TiVo Beacon, but since the Tivos use Bonjour as well, shouldn't it work?

If not, and as this states:

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=7043376#post7043376

pyTivo is using Beacons, not Bonjour, would it be *that hard* to utilize Bonjour on pyTivo so as to allow our iMac to wake? This is not just a Mac service. Sleep_Proxy_Service can be utilized on any platform, but as there are many many macs out there running pyTiVo and streambaby, even if the official pyTiVo codebase does not support it, then it would not be hard for pyTivoX to advertise on behalf of pyTiVo just to allow the Airport to wake the iMac. This would allow the iMac to wake and then allow pyTiVo to service the request, no?

Thx

Jann

[JoeyJoJo]

Need a little help.

I'm on 10.6.1 and PyTivoX was working fine a few days ago. Yesterday I tried to transfer a show over to the Tivo and the folder showed no videos available. As one of my attempts to "fix" things, I tried to remove PyTivoX and reinstall. That only made things worse. Now when I launch the app, it just sits there with the beach ball and I have to force quit.

How can I cleanly remove all of PyTivoX and start over?

Thanks.

[beagledave]

Need a little help.

I'm on 10.6.1 and PyTivoX was working fine a few days ago. Yesterday I tried to transfer a show over to the Tivo and the folder showed no videos available. As one of my attempts to "fix" things, I tried to remove PyTivoX and reinstall. That only made things worse. Now when I launch the app, it just sits there with the beach ball and I have to force quit.

How can I cleanly remove all of PyTivoX and start over?

Thanks.

http://www.freemacsoft.net/AppCleaner/

[Yoav]

How can I cleanly remove all of PyTivoX and start over?

Thanks.

To completely remove pyTivoX, you will need to delete the application you installed, and open Terminal.app and run this command:

rm -f ~/Library/Application\ Support/pyTivoX/*

(the latter command gets rid of your preferences and shares).

[diamondsw]

Mind if I make a couple minor UI suggestions?

The "Exit" button is redundant, given that selecting "Quit" has the same effect and is standard UI. Perhaps a leftover from an earlier version?
An "Apply" button shouldn't be necessary. When a change is made that would need to be applied, just call the code that would "apply" it.
If the add and delete buttons were normal buttons called "Add" and "Delete", you wouldn't need instructions at all in the UI.

I've got more ideas, but I thought I'd start with some small things that would generally make it simpler and easier to use (not that it's hard by a long shot!).

Thanks! Given the hell that tivoserver was with my DirecTivo, using this with my new TivoHD has been a dream come true!

[diamondsw]

Once you've set it up how you like, is there any way to run it as a daemon, so there's no Dock or menubar icon? I assume there must be some way, given its heritage.

[clark_kent]

I did not read all 25 pages, but I did try a few searches and did not find anything on this issue.

Downloaded 1.3
Installed
Set the Shared Directories to point right place
TiVo NPL shows the Shared folder with all the shows on the Mac
So far so good

I selected a show to be transfered. The transfer completed, but show name is very cryptic, as in: 00000000107d260

How do I correct this?

Thank you.

[Rdian06]

I did not read all 25 pages, but I did try a few searches and did not find anything on this issue.

Downloaded 1.3
Installed
Set the Shared Directories to point right place
TiVo NPL shows the Shared folder with all the shows on the Mac
So far so good

I selected a show to be transfered. The transfer completed, but show name is very cryptic, as in: 00000000107d260

How do I correct this?

Thank you.

That's very odd. Try rebooting your Tivo and then do another transfer?

[Yoav]

Once you've set it up how you like, is there any way to run it as a daemon, so there's no Dock or menubar icon? I assume there must be some way, given its heritage.

Under Prefs, General, choose 'launch at login'.
This will start it up in the future when you log in (for most people that's when their computer starts up), and will get rid of the dock icon and menubar. There will stll be a menulet (which you will need to use to open the control window).

[sxdxoutlaw]

I have found PyTivo 1.3 to work well with Snow Leopard...for those interested in updating.

[JohnnyO]

Under Prefs, General, choose 'launch at login'.
This will start it up in the future when you log in (for most people that's when their computer starts up), and will get rid of the dock icon and menubar. There will stll be a menulet (which you will need to use to open the control window).


Hmm...

pyTivoX still shows in my dock even if I check Launch at Login.

This is on 10.5.8 with pyTivoX 1.3.

[Yoav]

Hmm...

pyTivoX still shows in my dock even if I check Launch at Login.

This is on 10.5.8 with pyTivoX 1.3.

Exit pyTivoX. Is it still on your dock?

[clark_kent]

That's very odd. Try rebooting your Tivo and then do another transfer?

Rebooting didn't resolve the problem, but I do have additional info so I hope someone can figure this out:

When I select the "PC Shared Folder," I get a list of recorded programs with the correct title and date, but each individual single program has a "folder" icon (as if there where multiple programs inside) instead of a single "circle" icon indicating that there is only one program.

Another thing I noticed is that when I select a program (folder) in the PC Shared Folder, I get a "green circle icon" but instead of the program name, this big a$$ number shows up. This number is unique for each of the recorded program, even though at the Share "Folder Level" the correct program names are indicated.

And, if I set "Folder" option OFF, when I select the PC Shared Folder, I get all the programs with a "green circle" icon and each indivdual program has a unique big a$$ number (for the name of the program). All the program names are gone.

Why does the correct program name appear with Folder/ON but disappears when the Folder/OFF is selected?

I'm clicking around as I type this and with "info" button I see that the big a$$ number is actually the sourcefile.mpg

Incase it's helpful, this is the full "info" details:

Title: 00000000107d260
Hosts:TRANSCODE=YES, contaner mpegts not compatible,SOURCE INFO:' vWidth=1920,vHeight=1080,vFps=29.97, vCode=mpeg2video, par2=1.0, par1=1:1, par=None, millisec=1917340, mapVideo=0.0, mapAudio=[('0.1',[0x49](eng)')], kbps=14265, dar1=16:9, container=mpegts, aKbps=384, aFreq=48000, aCodec=ac3, Supported=True, TRANSCODE OPTIONS:, -ar48000, , , -b 13881k, , -f vob -, ab 448k, , -acodec copy, -bufsize 4096k, -vcodec copy, , -maxrate 30000k, SOURCE FILE:, 00000000107d260.mpg

:confused::confused::confused:
help...
thank you!

[JohnnyO]

Exit pyTivoX. Is it still on your dock?

Yes, if I quit the application, the application quits and is not on my dock. Relaunching the application puts it back on my dock.

The PyTivoX works fine, and it does start up fine on reboot, its just that it does occupy dock space. No big deal, but since you expected it to not do that, I thought I'd mention it.

[Rdian06]

Incase it's helpful, this is the full "info" details:

Title: 00000000107d260
Hosts:TRANSCODE=YES, contaner mpegts not compatible,SOURCE INFO:' vWidth=1920,vHeight=1080,vFps=29.97, vCode=mpeg2video, par2=1.0, par1=1:1, par=None, millisec=1917340, mapVideo=0.0, mapAudio=[('0.1',[0x49](eng)')], kbps=14265, dar1=16:9, container=mpegts, aKbps=384, aFreq=48000, aCodec=ac3, Supported=True, TRANSCODE OPTIONS:, -ar48000, , , -b 13881k, , -f vob -, ab 448k, , -acodec copy, -bufsize 4096k, -vcodec copy, , -maxrate 30000k, SOURCE FILE:, 00000000107d260.mpg

:confused::confused::confused:
help...
thank you!

It really thinks that's the name of the file. Weird.

Where on your Mac are you video's stored (what's the actual path name)? Are they on the main drive or an external/secondary?

It's as if pyTivo isn't pulling the list of files correctly when listing the folder. That or you somehow screwed up the templates for a folder or individual program item buried deep inside the app.

Maybe try downloading pyTivoX again and reinstall?

[wmcbrine]

When I select the "PC Shared Folder," I get a list of recorded programs with the correct title and date, but each individual single program has a "folder" icon (as if there where multiple programs inside) instead of a single "circle" icon indicating that there is only one program.It sounds like that's how they're actually stored on disk. The Finder may be obscuring this. Think of app bundles -- they're actually directories. This sounds like a similar thing.

What was the source of these movies?

[generaltso]

Hi All. I'm running pyTiVoX 1.3 with OSX 10.6.1. Any time I transfer an MP4 or MKV file to my S3 that's encoded with multichannel AAC audio, the center channel plays through the front left speaker instead of the center speaker. I've read that this is a known bug with ffmpeg, but the only fixes that I've seen are only for Windows. Is there a way to fix this on a Mac?

[fredtwd]

Trying to use pyTivoX (Mac OS X 10.6.1) for the first time and all I get is a standard broken image for all the photos. The following message is displayed in the logfile (pytivo.log)


ERROR:pyTivo:Resize failed on /Users/robert/Documents/Misc/Favs/053.jpg -- The _imaging C module is not installed
INFO:pyTivo:192.168.1.148 [04/Oct/2009 21:04:25] code 404, message Not Found
INFO:pyTivo:192.168.1.148 [04/Oct/2009 21:04:25] "GET /Favs/053.jpg?Width=88&Height=60&PixelShape=40%3A33&Format=image%2Fjpeg HTTP/1.0" 404 -


I assume this is related to:

http://code.google.com/p/pytivox/issues/detail?id=26#c0
Sep 26, 2009
issue 26 (Broken image icons displayed instead of pics (and no images)...) reported by techworkspro

Any suggestions would be welcome.

Thanks,

Robert

[Rdian06]

Trying to use pyTivoX (Mac OS X 10.6.1) for the first time and all I get is a standard broken image for all the photos. The following message is displayed in the logfile (pytivo.log)


ERROR:pyTivo:Resize failed on /Users/robert/Documents/Misc/Favs/053.jpg -- The _imaging C module is not installed
INFO:pyTivo:192.168.1.148 [04/Oct/2009 21:04:25] code 404, message Not Found
INFO:pyTivo:192.168.1.148 [04/Oct/2009 21:04:25] "GET /Favs/053.jpg?Width=88&Height=60&PixelShape=40%3A33&Format=image%2Fjpeg HTTP/1.0" 404 -




pyTivo uses the Python Imaging Library (a natively compiled addon for Python) to do photo manipulation. pyTivoX is supposed to include the PIL libraries, but they were probably compiled for 10.5. You'll have to wait for Yoav to fix it.

[Rdian06]

Hi All. I'm running pyTiVoX 1.3 with OSX 10.6.1. Any time I transfer an MP4 or MKV file to my S3 that's encoded with multichannel AAC audio, the center channel plays through the front left speaker instead of the center speaker. I've read that this is a known bug with ffmpeg, but the only fixes that I've seen are only for Windows. Is there a way to fix this on a Mac?

If you are up for compiling your own ffmpeg from source, you can use my source patches for this from here:

http://pytivo.sourceforge.net/forum/rdian06-s-ffmpeg-builds-t468-30.html#6913

I never got around to making an Intel build with the patch, but I do have a G5 build with it here:

ffmpeg-SVN-r19249-rdian06-0.98-macosx-g5.zip
http://pytivo.sourceforge.net/forum/rdian06-s-ffmpeg-builds-t468.html#3558

Or you could ask Yoav to include the patch in his ffmpeg build.

[generaltso]

If you are up for compiling your own ffmpeg from source, you can use my source patches for this from here:

I'm up for anything, but I've never compiled anything so I'm not sure where to start. I don't suppose it's as simple as dumping the source code into a compiler and calling it a day?

Thanks for your help. It's very much appreciated!

[Rdian06]

I'm up for anything, but I've never compiled anything so I'm not sure where to start. I don't suppose it's as simple as dumping the source code into a compiler and calling it a day?

Thanks for your help. It's very much appreciated!

ffmpeg has lots of external libraries that it depends on so it's kinda an involved process to get it all compiled properly unless you use MacPorts.

Start by looking here:
http://pytivo.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/OS_X_Install

The directions are old, but they'll get you started. Once you can successfully compile ffmpeg using MacPorts, you can copy and modify the ffmpeg ports file to include my patch.

[generaltso]

Start by looking here:

Thanks, I'll take a look and see what I can figure out. In the meantime, I figured I could just use Parallels with Windows XP and your build of pyTivo to get around the problem. But all the files I move over to the Windows side show up as copy protected when I look at them from the TiVo. These are the same files that transfer fine from the Mac side (except for the audio channel problem). Any idea why that would be? Thanks again.

[Rdian06]

Thanks, I'll take a look and see what I can figure out. In the meantime, I figured I could just use Parallels with Windows XP and your build of pyTivo to get around the problem. But all the files I move over to the Windows side show up as copy protected when I look at them from the TiVo. These are the same files that transfer fine from the Mac side (except for the audio channel problem). Any idea why that would be? Thanks again.

You're probably having a permissions problem with the files.

If you're running pyTivo as a Windows Service, it runs as the Local System account (unless you supplied credentials at setup time) and can only access files on the local Windows disks. If you tell it to access a network share, it may be able to see the filenames, but not actually read them.

If you're running pyTivo from Console, you need to make sure the files are readable by the account running the Console.

The copyright symbol is displayed whenever pyTivo cannot read the files or has trouble with ffmpeg processing them to find the basic file specs.

[generaltso]

You're probably having a permissions problem with the files.

Well, the copyright symbol is gone today for some reason, so I can select the file to transfer to the TiVo. When I select the file, the TiVo says that it has been added to my To Do list. The blue light on the TiVo comes on immediately, and I can see ffmpeg.exe starts using 100% of the CPU of the VM. But nothing actually shows up in the Now Playing List on the TiVo. After about 10 minutes, ffmpeg crashes. Maybe it doesn't work well in a virtual machine? So close.

[Rdian06]

Well, the copyright symbol is gone today for some reason, so I can select the file to transfer to the TiVo. When I select the file, the TiVo says that it has been added to my To Do list. The blue light on the TiVo comes on immediately, and I can see ffmpeg.exe starts using 100% of the CPU of the VM. But nothing actually shows up in the Now Playing List on the TiVo. After about 10 minutes, ffmpeg crashes. Maybe it doesn't work well in a virtual machine? So close.

Are we talking crashes with a Windows error dialog crash? Or is there some console message indicating a ffmpeg fatal error related to the media file?

[generaltso]

Are we talking crashes with a Windows error dialog crash? Or is there some console message indicating a ffmpeg fatal error related to the media file?

It's a crash with a Windows dialog. Something along the lines of "ffmpeg.exe referenced memory that could not be read". The only options are cancel and debug. Neither seems to do anything.