pyTivoX

[Yoav]

pyTivoX is an Apple Mac OSX application that lets you view movies that are stored on your computer via your Tivo.

It provides both pyTivo and streambaby, and all necessary support applications/libraries.


You can read more about it and download it at http://pytivox.googlecode.com/

It has a very simple user interface, and 'just works'.

And yes, it's entirely free. No registration required. Source code available on the same web page.

[Rdian06]

Looks cool. Will have to try it later.

BTW, did you compile the included ffmpeg Universal Binary yourself or grab it from somewhere?

[Yoav]

Looks cool. Will have to try it later.

BTW, did you compile the included ffmpeg Universal Binary yourself or grab it from somewhere?

Compiled it myself (so if it's missing something, or is totally borked.. tell me :).

[fatespawn]

The "+" and "-" signs are not rendering (I can only "assume" they are + and- since I can't see them)

[westside_guy]

This is very nice. I've certainly been able to get pyTivo and its dependencies going in the past, but it's always nice to not HAVE to do it. Sorta like why I run OS X and not Linux on my desktop nowadays... :D

Thanks for putting this together!

Edit: It may be having trouble with m4v files - h.264 with AC3. I'll try it with a couple different files to make sure it's not just the file.

[raianoat]

Thanks for creating this! I recently published a guide on how to install pyTiVo on OS X however, this app looks like it's dead simple. I plan on mentioning it on my blog later today...

[westside_guy]

Yeah, pyTivoX seems to be choking on an m4v file (mentioned above) that gives no trouble to krkeegan's pyTivo using ffmpeg from fink.

[Yoav]

Yeah, pyTivoX seems to be choking on an m4v file (mentioned above) that gives no trouble to krkeegan's pyTivo using ffmpeg from fink.

Ok I'll check that there's a valid decoder for m4v files in ffmpeg. Thanks for the pointer....

[Yoav]

The "+" and "-" signs are not rendering (I can only "assume" they are + and- since I can't see them)

Hmm.. are you on 10.4? The images might only be available on 10.5
(I should really create my own icons.. eh :) I suck at graphics...
I'll get to fixing that ...

[Yoav]

Yeah, pyTivoX seems to be choking on an m4v file (mentioned above) that gives no trouble to krkeegan's pyTivo using ffmpeg from fink.

Ok uploading a new build shortly, with new icons and a new build of ffmpeg with mp3lame, libx264, libfaad, and libfaac. If it's still crapping out, can I get you to put up a copy of a non-working m4v file for me to play with?

Thanks

[Yoav]

Ok, sorry took a little longer to build than I expected.. but it's up now

[wmcbrine]

Which branch/date of pyTivo are you using?

[westside_guy]

Ok uploading a new build shortly, with new icons and a new build of ffmpeg with mp3lame, libx264, libfaad, and libfaac. If it's still crapping out, can I get you to put up a copy of a non-working m4v file for me to play with?

I won't be able to try it out until this evening - but if the new build doesn't work, I'll try to get an example m4v file (smaller than the problematic DVD rip m4v, though - maybe I'll rip one of the "extras" off the same disk).

Thanks for your work on this!

[Yoav]

Which branch/date of pyTivo are you using?

I grabbed the wgw fork via git two days ago... I had to make a one-line change to allow it to use a config file from the Application Support dir instead of the current dir or /etc/...

(I'm guessing you're the maintainer of the wmcbrine fork?.. I picked wgw since it had some newer committed changes so I figured it was 'more recent'... I really have no clue what the differences are... should I switch codebase?).

[fatespawn]

Nice BIG icons, but I can't seem to get the server to run on 10.4. Nothing shows up in The Now Playing List. One gotcha is the "restart" button doesn't work. I entered my "shared folder" but had to manually restart. Would that affect things?

[pkscout]

This is really nice. The one thing I found hard about pyTiVo was getting it to start automatically on OSX. I kludged something together, but I like this better. Two things:

1- It doesn't appear the web admin interface is active. I really like being able to make quick changes without remoting into my media computer.
2- It would be nice to have an option to either use the built in ffmpeg or point to a different one (like the one I painstakingly built from scratch via the instructions for pyTiVo).

[Yoav]

This is really nice. The one thing I found hard about pyTiVo was getting it to start automatically on OSX. I kludged something together, but I like this better. Two things:

1- It doesn't appear the web admin interface is active. I really like being able to make quick changes without remoting into my media computer.
2- It would be nice to have an option to either use the built in ffmpeg or point to a different one (like the one I painstakingly built from scratch via the instructions for pyTiVo).

Short Version: I don't plan on making this a 'power-user' type tool.. The idea is to make life easy for people who aren't very computer-savvy by just having everything there.
If you *really* want your self-built ffmpeg, you can copy it into

/Applications/pyTivoX/Contents/Resources/

However, keep your original around since that will get over-written every time the program is updated.

As for having it auto-restart, I'm planning on adding an option to do just that (and hide the dock icon and use a menulet to control it) -- in an upcoming version.

[Yoav]

This is really nice. The one thing I found hard about pyTiVo was getting it to start automatically on OSX. I kludged something together, but I like this better. Two things:

1- It doesn't appear the web admin interface is active. I really like being able to make quick changes without remoting into my media computer.
2- It would be nice to have an option to either use the built in ffmpeg or point to a different one (like the one I painstakingly built from scratch via the instructions for pyTiVo).

Oh I didn't answer the web-interface thing.
The problem with the web interface is that it will try to write to the incorrect config file. I was originally going to use it but it also looked very un-mac like :) (and had a lot of advanced options that I wanted to keep hidden).

At least for now, if you simple 'run' the program, but don't ever hit the 'restart' button, it will not overwrite the config file in ~/Library/Application Support/pyTivoX/pyTivo.conf

So you can manually go there, and edit it (including starting the web interface). And use PyTivoX to simply start and quit the program... but yeah, I think it sounds like you're competent enough to simply run the tools by yourself anyways :)...

[Yoav]

Nice BIG icons, but I can't seem to get the server to run on 10.4. Nothing shows up in The Now Playing List. One gotcha is the "restart" button doesn't work. I entered my "shared folder" but had to manually restart. Would that affect things?

I *suspect* the restart button worked. It doesn't restart pyTivoX.. it restarts the underlying server code (pytivo) with the new settings -- you don't see anything happen when you click it...

first thing: check if there's a Python process for pytivo running:

in a terminal.app, type:
ps auxwwww | grep Python
and tell me what it says (when pyTivoX is running).

[raianoat]

I can't seem to get pyTiVox to work for me. I noticed that my config file is getting blown away whenever I restart it via the "restart" button. Here's a couple of lines taken out of the console. The errors seem to occur whenever I click on the restart button.

12/10/08 8:08:12 PM pyTivoX[99318] Writing Config File /Users/raianoat/Library/Application Support/pyTivoX/pyTivo.conf

12/10/08 8:08:12 PM pyTivoX[99318] result 0

12/10/08 8:08:12 PM pyTivoX[99318] *** -[NSCFNumber UTF8String]: unrecognized selector sent to instance 0x117360
12/10/08 8:08:12 PM pyTivoX[99318] *** -[NSCFNumber UTF8String]: unrecognized selector sent to instance 0x117360

[Yoav]

I can't seem to get pyTiVox to work for me. I noticed that my config file is getting blown away whenever I restart it via the "restart" button. Here's a couple of lines taken out of the console. The errors seem to occur whenever I click on the restart button.

12/10/08 8:08:12 PM pyTivoX[99318] Writing Config File /Users/raianoat/Library/Application Support/pyTivoX/pyTivo.conf

12/10/08 8:08:12 PM pyTivoX[99318] result 0

12/10/08 8:08:12 PM pyTivoX[99318] *** -[NSCFNumber UTF8String]: unrecognized selector sent to instance 0x117360
12/10/08 8:08:12 PM pyTivoX[99318] *** -[NSCFNumber UTF8String]: unrecognized selector sent to instance 0x117360

The blowing away of the config file on restart is normal (restart kills the python process, writes the new configuration settings based on what you have in the gui, and starts the python process again).

The attempt to extract a string from a number is not normal.. And I think I see what happened. (the choice of video/music/photo is being marked as 0,1,2 instead of the string.. fixing).

[raianoat]

Thanks....
Somehow I got around that problem. Now I'm having an issue where it's not transferring the video to my TiVo. I tried to transfer a number of different videos however, each of them are "black" when I go to play them. Let me know if you need me to send you a log file.

[fatespawn]

I *suspect* the restart button worked. It doesn't restart pyTivoX.. it restarts the underlying server code (pytivo) with the new settings -- you don't see anything happen when you click it...

first thing: check if there's a Python process for pytivo running:

in a terminal.app, type:
ps auxwwww | grep Python
and tell me what it says (when pyTivoX is running).

OK,

This is what I get when I cut and paste into Terminal

11451 0.0 0.0 18052 240 p1 R+ 7:55PM 0:00.00 grep Python

So, looks like the server is working.... right?

I understand what you are describing. I loaded pytivox onto my wife's computer (Intel/10.5.x) with complete success. However, my 10.4 G5 still doesn't work.

[Yoav]

The blowing away of the config file on restart is normal (restart kills the python process, writes the new configuration settings based on what you have in the gui, and starts the python process again).

The attempt to extract a string from a number is not normal.. And I think I see what happened. (the choice of video/music/photo is being marked as 0,1,2 instead of the string.. fixing).

0.4 should have it fixed..: 'check for updates...'

[Yoav]

OK,

This is what I get when I cut and paste into Terminal

11451 0.0 0.0 18052 240 p1 R+ 7:55PM 0:00.00 grep Python

So, looks like the server is working.... right?

I understand what you are describing. I loaded pytivox onto my wife's computer (Intel/10.5.x) with complete success. However, my 10.4 G5 still doesn't work.

Hmm.. I just realized.. I think 10.4 ships with an older version of python for which pyTivo doesn't work 'out of the box'...

run

python -V

and tell me what number it spits out. Since I don't plan on including a full python distribution in the bundle, if the default python on Tiger is too old, it looks like I'm gonna have to make this a 10.5-only project :(

[Yoav]

Thanks....
Somehow I got around that problem. Now I'm having an issue where it's not transferring the video to my TiVo. I tried to transfer a number of different videos however, each of them are "black" when I go to play them. Let me know if you need me to send you a log file.

A log file would help, as would a sample of one of your sources (or at least a description of what kind of file it is). I'm guessing ffmpeg is not converting the file correctly to an mpeg-2 for you, but that's a total guess..

Are you using 0.4?

[Yoav]

OK,

This is what I get when I cut and paste into Terminal

11451 0.0 0.0 18052 240 p1 R+ 7:55PM 0:00.00 grep Python

So, looks like the server is working.... right?

I understand what you are describing. I loaded pytivox onto my wife's computer (Intel/10.5.x) with complete success. However, my 10.4 G5 still doesn't work.

Oh.. also, no it doesn't look like the server is working.. that's the 'grep' process.. not the python process.. If you found a python process it would look something like
yoav 14331 0.0 0.4 99808 18356 ?? Ss 6:28PM 0:01.22 /System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.5/Resources/Python.app/Contents/MacOS/Python /Applications/pyTivoX.app/Contents/Resources/pyTivo-wgw/pyTivo.py

[fatespawn]

Hmm.. I just realized.. I think 10.4 ships with an older version of python for which pyTivo doesn't work 'out of the box'...

run

python -V

Python 2.3.5

[raianoat]

A log file would help, as would a sample of one of your sources (or at least a description of what kind of file it is). I'm guessing ffmpeg is not converting the file correctly to an mpeg-2 for you, but that's a total guess..

Are you using 0.4?
No, I'll try out .4 and let you know what I see.

[westside_guy]

0.4 fixed the m4v problem I reported earlier - thanks!

I did find another issue though. In cases where a Mac has VMware or Parallels installed, pyTivo in general doesn't correctly guess the right network interface to use much of the time. Other pyTivo implementations work around this by allowing the user to manually identify the correct subnet to use via a "beacon" directive in pyTivo.conf - but pyTivoX does not currently incorporate this feature. So to get pyTivo to use the correct subnet on my computer, I had to manually shut down VMware Fusion's background processes like this:


sudo /Library/Application\ Support/VMware\ Fusion/boot.sh --stop


Otherwise, my Tivo HD would not see the pyTivoX shares.

This does work, but it's not an optimal solution.

[Rdian06]

Compiled it myself (so if it's missing something, or is totally borked.. tell me :).

Interesting. I'd read about some patches to allow ffmpeg to compile as a Universal Binary, but hadn't attempted it myself. Mainly because I was trying to build a statically linked ffmpeg. I'm more of a old school Linux type so I haven't quite wrapped my head around the Mac framework stuff yet.

Do you have a pointer to the instructions you used to build the Universal Binary?

[Yoav]

Interesting. I'd read about some patches to allow ffmpeg to compile as a Universal Binary, but hadn't attempted it myself. Mainly because I was trying to build a statically linked ffmpeg. I'm more of a old school Linux type so I haven't quite wrapped my head around the Mac framework stuff yet.

Do you have a pointer to the instructions you used to build the Universal Binary?

patches? It didn't take any patches.. the code compiled fine as is. Was just a big pain in the ass to build everything for both processors..

[Yoav]

0.4 fixed the m4v problem I reported earlier - thanks!

I did find another issue though. In cases where a Mac has VMware or Parallels installed, pyTivo in general doesn't correctly guess the right network interface to use much of the time. Other pyTivo implementations work around this by allowing the user to manually identify the correct subnet to use via a "beacon" directive in pyTivo.conf - but pyTivoX does not currently incorporate this feature. So to get pyTivo to use the correct subnet on my computer, I had to manually shut down VMware Fusion's background processes like this:


sudo /Library/Application\ Support/VMware\ Fusion/boot.sh --stop


Otherwise, my Tivo HD would not see the pyTivoX shares.

This does work, but it's not an optimal solution.

Damn :(
Ok so the question is: Is it possible to put 'something' in the UI that isn't incredibly scary for the average user, but that allows a workaround for the parallels/vmware scenario? (Oddly I use parallels and didn't hit this problem.. although it may not have been running at the time).

[Yoav]

Ok, just uploaded 0.5
Main changes:
Code now runs as a 'daemon' (user launched agent).
Can be configured to run at startup.
Now has a menulet for controlling it.

--> it is 10.5 *ONLY*.
(python on 10.4 is too old, and also pytivoX now relies on some 10.5 api calls).

Update and test away... Thanks!!

[pkscout]

There's something odd going on with the beacon I think. I seem to have to click the restart button three or four times on pyTiVoX before my Series 3 will see the shares the first time I start it up. After that it's fine.

[Yoav]

There's something odd going on with the beacon I think. I seem to have to click the restart button three or four times on pyTiVoX before my Series 3 will see the shares the first time I start it up. After that it's fine.

Hmm.. see anything interesting in the system logs? (I'm going to add a new window to see the output of pytivo directly, but in the meanwhile its output is just being sent to the console log).

(I know nothing of pytivo.. I just run it blindly). Could it be that you just need to wait a while on the first invocation of pytivo for it to run through your movies before it appears on a tivo?

[Yoav]

Interesting. I'd read about some patches to allow ffmpeg to compile as a Universal Binary, but hadn't attempted it myself. Mainly because I was trying to build a statically linked ffmpeg. I'm more of a old school Linux type so I haven't quite wrapped my head around the Mac framework stuff yet.

Do you have a pointer to the instructions you used to build the Universal Binary?

This is the icky shell script I use to build my mencode and my ffmpeg.. pull out whatever you need to build your ffmpeg universal:

SRCDIR=/Users/yoav/src
LAME=lame-398-2
HANDBRAKE=HandBrake-0.9.3

cd $SRCDIR
mkdir binaries

export CFLAGS="-isysroot /Developer/SDKs/MacOSX10.4u.sdk -arch i386 -arch ppc7400"
export CPPFLAGS=""
export LDFLAGS="-arch i386 -arch ppc7400 -Wl,-syslibroot,/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX10.4u.sdk"
cd $SRCDIR/tivodecode-0.2pre4
make distclean
./configure --disable-dependency-tracking
make
cp tivodecode ../binaries/tivodecode

cd $SRCDIR/etv-comskip/src/comskip
make clean; rm -f ../../comskip
make ../../comskip CFLAGS="$CFLAGS -O2 -fasm-blocks -Wno-unused -DHAVE_CONFIG_H -force_cpusubtype_ALL -I. -Ilibmpeg2 -IAC3Dec -Iargtable2-7/src" LFLAGS="$LDFLAGS -headerpad_max_install_names -prebind -force_cpusubtype_ALL"
cp ../../comskip ../../../binaries/comskip

export CFLAGS='-isysroot /Developer/SDKs/MacOSX10.4u.sdk -arch i386'
export CPPFLAGS='-arch i386'
export LDFLAGS='-arch i386 -Wl,-syslibroot,/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX10.4u.sdk'
cd $SRCDIR/x264
./configure
make clean
make

cd $SRCDIR/faac
./configure --without-mp4v2 --enable-shared=no --enable-static=yes
make clean
make

cd $SRCDIR/faad2
./configure --enable-shared=no --enable-static=yes
make clean
make

cd $SRCDIR/$LAME
./configure --disable-shared --disable-frontend
make clean
make

export CFLAGS='-isysroot /Developer/SDKs/MacOSX10.4u.sdk -arch i386 -O2 -fomit-frame-pointer'
export CPPFLAGS='-arch i386'
export LDFLAGS='-arch i386 -Wl,-syslibroot,/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX10.4u.sdk'
cd $SRCDIR/mplayer
make distclean
rm ./uname
./configure --disable-png --enable-mp3lame --enable-x264 --disable-mplayer --enable-faac --enable-faad-internal --disable-freetype --with-extraincdir=$SRCDIR/faac/include/:$SRCDIR/x264:$SRCDIR/$LAME/include --with-extralibdir=$SRCDIR/faac/libfaac/.libs/:$SRCDIR/x264:$SRCDIR/$LAME/libmp3lame/.libs --extra-libs-mencoder="-lx264 $SRCDIR/faac/libfaac/.libs/libfaac.a"
make
cp ./mencoder ../binaries/mencoder-i386

export CFLAGS='-isysroot /Developer/SDKs/MacOSX10.4u.sdk -arch i386'
export CPPFLAGS='-arch i386'
export LDFLAGS='-arch i386 -Wl,-syslibroot,/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX10.4u.sdk'
cd $SRCDIR/ffmpeg
make distclean
./configure --arch=i386 --disable-vhook --disable-shared --enable-static --enable-pthreads --disable-mmx --enable-gpl --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libfaac --enable-libfaad --enable-libx264 --enable-swscale --extra-cflags="-I$SRCDIR/$LAME/include -I$SRCDIR/faad2/include -I$SRCDIR/faac/include -I$SRCDIR/x264" --extra-ldflags="-L$SRCDIR/$LAME/libmp3lame/.libs -L$SRCDIR/faad2/libfaad/.libs -L$SRCDIR/faac/libfaac/.libs -L$SRCDIR/x264/"
make
cp ./ffmpeg ../binaries/ffmpeg-i386

export CFLAGS='-arch ppc7400 -isysroot /Developer/SDKs/MacOSX10.4u.sdk'
export CPPFLAGS='-arch ppc7400 -isysroot /Developer/SDKs/MacOSX10.4u.sdk'
export LDFLAGS='-arch ppc7400 -Wl,-syslibroot,/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX10.4u.sdk'

cd $SRCDIR/x264
make distclean
./configure --host=ppc-apple-darwin
make

cd $SRCDIR/faac
make distclean
./configure --host=ppc-apple-darwin --without-mp4v2 --enable-shared=no --enable-static=yes
make

cd $SRCDIR/faad2
./configure --host=ppc-apple-darwin --enable-shared=no --enable-static=yes
make clean
make

cd $SRCDIR/$LAME
make distclean
./configure --host=ppc-apple-darwin --disable-shared --disable-frontend
make

cd $SRCDIR/mplayer
make distclean
export OPATH=$PATH
export PATH=.:$PATH
echo '#!/bin/sh
echo powerpc
' > uname
chmod a+rx uname
./configure --disable-png --enable-mp3lame --enable-x264 --disable-mplayer --enable-faac --enable-faad-internal --disable-freetype --with-extraincdir=$SRCDIR/faac/include/:$SRCDIR/x264:$SRCDIR/$LAME/include --with-extralibdir=$SRCDIR/faac/libfaac/.libs/:$SRCDIR/x264:$SRCDIR/$LAME/libmp3lame/.libs --extra-libs-mencoder="-lx264 $SRCDIR/faac/libfaac/.libs/libfaac.a"
export PATH=$OPATH
rm uname
make
cp ./mencoder ../binaries/mencoder-ppc

cd $SRCDIR/ffmpeg
make distclean
./configure --arch=ppc64 --cpu=G5 --disable-vhook --disable-shared --enable-static --enable-pthreads --disable-mmx --enable-gpl --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libfaac --enable-libfaad --enable-libx264 --enable-swscale --extra-cflags="-DHAVE_LLRINT -I$SRCDIR/$LAME/include -I$SRCDIR/faad2/include -I$SRCDIR/faac/include -I$SRCDIR/x264" --extra-ldflags="-L$SRCDIR/$LAME/libmp3lame/.libs -L$SRCDIR/faad2/libfaad/.libs -L$SRCDIR/faac/libfaac/.libs -L$SRCDIR/x264/"
make
cp ./ffmpeg ../binaries/ffmpeg-ppc

cd $SRCDIR/binaries
lipo -create mencoder-i386 mencoder-ppc -output mencoder
rm -f mencoder-*
lipo -create ffmpeg-i386 ffmpeg-ppc -output ffmpeg
rm -f ffmpeg-*
strip *
cp comskip mencoder tivodecode "../itivo/External Software/"
cp ffmpeg "../pytivox/External Software/"

[westside_guy]

Could it be that you just need to wait a while on the first invocation of pytivo for it to run through your movies before it appears on a tivo?

I believe he's seeing the same thing I'm seeing - waiting does not "fix" it. pyTivo appears to just look for all available network interfaces that have IP addresses (this includes, as I mentioned, VMware virtual network interfaces), and assumes the first IP returned is on the subnet pyTivo should be on. Sometimes that works, and sometimes not - basically it's a crapshoot, which is why some implementations have that "beacon" function to allow us to manually specify the subnet to be used.

As far as (per a question from one of your earlier posts) making these sorts of options available yet not scary - would it be possible to have a "advanced preferences" window that maybe has the proviso "avoid changing these values unless you know what you're doing"? That could incorporate the beacon, and perhaps other pyTivo options like aspect ratio etc.

[Yoav]

I believe he's seeing the same thing I'm seeing - waiting does not "fix" it. pyTivo appears to just look for all available network interfaces that have IP addresses (this includes, as I mentioned, VMware virtual network interfaces), and assumes the first IP returned is on the subnet pyTivo should be on. Sometimes that works, and sometimes not - basically it's a crapshoot, which is why some implementations have that "beacon" function to allow us to manually specify the subnet to be used.

As far as (per a question from one of your earlier posts) making these sorts of options available yet not scary - would it be possible to have a "advanced preferences" window that maybe has the proviso "avoid changing these values unless you know what you're doing"? That could incorporate the beacon, and perhaps other pyTivo options like aspect ratio etc.

Sure :) I'll get to doing that..
Is it just a different broadcast address that needs to be used?

[darksurtur]

Ok, just uploaded 0.5
Main changes:
Code now runs as a 'daemon' (user launched agent).
Can be configured to run at startup.
Now has a menulet for controlling it.

--> it is 10.5 *ONLY*.
(python on 10.4 is too old, and also pytivoX now relies on some 10.5 api calls).

Update and test away... Thanks!!

So there's no chance of a version of this that would work on 10.4 if we updated python on our own? That is still a simple task compared to the headache of compiling, setting up the config file, etc. and something I can send to a couple of friends interested in the program still using 10.4. If not, no big deal; I appreciate the effort and time you've put into this.

[Yoav]

So there's no chance of a version of this that would work on 10.4 if we updated python on our own? That is still a simple task compared to the headache of compiling, setting up the config file, etc. and something I can send to a couple of friends interested in the program still using 10.4. If not, no big deal; I appreciate the effort and time you've put into this.

The problem is that it's not just python that doesn't work on 10.4
The auto-launch is a 10.5 thing too.
I don't want to be in the unenviable situation of maintaining two builds, especially when the instructions for one of the builds is "well this one doesn't work right, you need to go off and download and build python 2.5 or better".

If you're willing to make a page describing everything else that needs to be done and how to do it, I can build you a half-working thing (the auto-launch button won't do the right thing, and python will need to be installed manually). All 10.4-related issues will become your problem though :)...

[darksurtur]

The problem is that it's not just python that doesn't work on 10.4
The auto-launch is a 10.5 thing too.
I don't want to be in the unenviable situation of maintaining two builds, especially when the instructions for one of the builds is "well this one doesn't work right, you need to go off and download and build python 2.5 or better".

If you're willing to make a page describing everything else that needs to be done and how to do it, I can build you a half-working thing (the auto-launch button won't do the right thing, and python will need to be installed manually). All 10.4-related issues will become your problem though :)...

I appreciate the offer, but you've done more than enough. I do actually have a working pyTivo setup on my 10.4 Powerbook G4; I was asking mostly for friends who are not nearly as computer savvy and would have an even harder time figuring it out (it took me a while, even following the OSX install instructions). If they really want it, they can upgrade ...

[westside_guy]

Sure :) I'll get to doing that..
Is it just a different broadcast address that needs to be used?

Yes, and if it could make a good cup of coffee that'd be great. :D Seriously, this is a cool project you're putting together and I appreciate it.

Here's what I think happened, just based on previous experience with other pyTivo implementations. My home network uses a particular subnet, let's say 192.168.43.x. When VMware sets up its virtual network devices for NATing the virtual machine, it automatically chooses an unused private subnet - for example, 192.168.197.x. Left to its own devices, pyTivo seems pick up 192.168.197.x rather than 192.168.43.x; I'm guessing it's the first one that comes up when pyTivo checks for existing networks.

So in my pyTivo.conf file (using the krkeegan build), I've now got a line something like "beacon 192.168.43.255 listen" that tells pyTivo which is the correct subnet.

[wmcbrine]

So in my pyTivo.conf file (using the krkeegan build), I've now got a line something like "beacon 192.168.43.255 listen" that tells pyTivo which is the correct subnet.BTW, the "listen" keyword is only needed for use with the TiVo's "Manually add a server..." function. If you're not using that, you're making pyTivo grab port 2190 for no reason.

[Yoav]

BTW, the "listen" keyword is only needed for use with the TiVo's "Manually add a server..." function. If you're not using that, you're making pyTivo grab port 2190 for no reason.

So, weird question, but can you tell me if this invocation correctly reports the right 'beacon' address?: (just cut and past it into a Terminal.app... it's very icky).

ifconfig `route get default | sed -n -e 's/.*interface: \(.*\)/\1/p'` | sed -n -e 's/.*broadcast \(.*\)/\1/p'


If it does I'd rather automatically discover the right value and hide it from the user...

[raianoat]

I can't seem to get a video to transcode using pyTiVoX (.5). Here's a copy of my log:

12/11/08 10:38:01 PM [0x0-0x287287].com.yoav.pyTivoX[326] 192.168.1.102 - - [11/Dec/2008 22:38:01] "GET /pyTiVoX%20Videos/2008/02%20Alex%20%26%20Nicholas/P2030034.MOV HTTP/1.1" 200 -
12/11/08 10:38:01 PM [0x0-0x287287].com.yoav.pyTivoX[326] FFmpeg version SVN-r16042, Copyright (c) 2000-2008 Fabrice Bellard, et al.
12/11/08 10:38:01 PM [0x0-0x287287].com.yoav.pyTivoX[326] configuration: --arch=i386 --disable-vhook --disable-shared --enable-static --enable-pthreads --disable-mmx --enable-gpl --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libfaac --enable-libfaad --enable-libx264 --enable-swscale --extra-cflags=-I/Users/yoav/src/lame-398-2/include -I/Users/yoav/src/faad2/include -I/Users/yoav/src/faac/include -I/Users/yoav/src/x264 --extra-ldflags=-L/Users/yoav/src/lame-398-2/libmp3lame/.libs -L/Users/yoav/src/faad2/libfaad/.libs -L/Users/yoav/src/faac/libfaac/.libs -L/Users/yoav/src/x264/
12/11/08 10:38:01 PM [0x0-0x287287].com.yoav.pyTivoX[326] libavutil 49.12. 0 / 49.12. 0
12/11/08 10:38:01 PM [0x0-0x287287].com.yoav.pyTivoX[326] libavcodec 52. 6. 1 / 52. 6. 1
12/11/08 10:38:01 PM [0x0-0x287287].com.yoav.pyTivoX[326] libavformat 52.23. 1 / 52.23. 1
12/11/08 10:38:01 PM [0x0-0x287287].com.yoav.pyTivoX[326] libavdevice 52. 1. 0 / 52. 1. 0
12/11/08 10:38:01 PM [0x0-0x287287].com.yoav.pyTivoX[326] libswscale 0. 6. 1 / 0. 6. 1
12/11/08 10:38:01 PM [0x0-0x287287].com.yoav.pyTivoX[326] built on Dec 10 2008 10:52:10, gcc: 4.0.1 (Apple Inc. build 5484)
12/11/08 10:38:01 PM [0x0-0x287287].com.yoav.pyTivoX[326] Input #0, mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2, from '/Volumes/NAS/iPhoto Library/Originals/2008/02 Alex & Nicholas/P2030034.MOV':
12/11/08 10:38:01 PM [0x0-0x287287].com.yoav.pyTivoX[326] Duration: 00:00:20.00, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 14217 kb/s
12/11/08 10:38:01 PM [0x0-0x287287].com.yoav.pyTivoX[326] Stream #0.0(eng): Video: mjpeg, yuvj422p, 640x480, 30.00 tb(r)
12/11/08 10:38:01 PM [0x0-0x287287].com.yoav.pyTivoX[326] Stream #0.1(eng): Audio: pcm_u8, 7875 Hz, mono, s16, 63 kb/s
12/11/08 10:38:01 PM [0x0-0x287287].com.yoav.pyTivoX[326] Output #0, vob, to 'pipe:':
12/11/08 10:38:01 PM [0x0-0x287287].com.yoav.pyTivoX[326] Stream #0.0(eng): Video: mpeg2video, yuv420p, 640x480, q=2-31, 9951 kb/s, 30.00 tb(c)
12/11/08 10:38:01 PM [0x0-0x287287].com.yoav.pyTivoX[326] Stream #0.1(eng): Audio: ac3, 48000 Hz, mono, s16, 384 kb/s
12/11/08 10:38:01 PM [0x0-0x287287].com.yoav.pyTivoX[326] Stream mapping:
12/11/08 10:38:01 PM [0x0-0x287287].com.yoav.pyTivoX[326] Stream #0.0 -> #0.0
12/11/08 10:38:01 PM [0x0-0x287287].com.yoav.pyTivoX[326] Stream #0.1 -> #0.1
12/11/08 10:38:01 PM [0x0-0x287287].com.yoav.pyTivoX[326] Press [q] to stop encoding
12/11/08 10:38:02 PM [0x0-0x287287].com.yoav.pyTivoX[326] frame= 16 fps= 0 q=2.9 size= 0kB time=0.50 bitrate= 0.0kbits/s
12/11/08 10:38:02 PM [0x0-0x287287].com.yoav.pyTivoX[326] Audio resampler only works with 16 bits per sample, patch welcome.
12/11/08 10:38:03 PM [0x0-0x287287].com.yoav.pyTivoX[326] 192.168.1.102 - - [11/Dec/2008 22:38:03] "GET /TiVoConnect?Command=QueryContainer&Container=%2F HTTP/1.0" 200 -
12/11/08 10:38:07 PM [0x0-0x287287].com.yoav.pyTivoX[326] 192.168.1.102 - - [11/Dec/2008 22:38:07] "GET /TiVoConnect?Command=QueryContainer&Container=%2F HTTP/1.0" 200 -

[westside_guy]

BTW, the "listen" keyword is only needed for use with the TiVo's "Manually add a server..." function. If you're not using that, you're making pyTivo grab port 2190 for no reason.

Oh ok - thanks!

So, weird question, but can you tell me if this invocation correctly reports the right 'beacon' address?: (just cut and past it into a Terminal.app... it's very icky).

ifconfig `route get default | sed -n -e 's/.*interface: \(.*\)/\1/p'` | sed -n -e 's/.*broadcast \(.*\)/\1/p'


Ew, sed... but yes, it does appear to work. Thanks!

BTW you should work "awk" into that line just on general principles. :p

[Yoav]

I can't seem to get a video to transcode using pyTiVoX (.5). Here's a copy of my log:

12/11/08 10:38:02 PM [0x0-0x287287].com.yoav.pyTivoX[326] frame= 16 fps= 0 q=2.9 size= 0kB time=0.50 bitrate= 0.0kbits/s
12/11/08 10:38:02 PM [0x0-0x287287].com.yoav.pyTivoX[326] Audio resampler only works with 16 bits per sample, patch welcome.
12/11/08 10:38:03 PM [0x0-0x287287].com.yoav.pyTivoX[326] 192.168.1.102 - - [11/Dec/2008 22:38:03] "GET /TiVoConnect?Command=QueryContainer&Container=%2F HTTP/1.0" 200 -
12/11/08 10:38:07 PM [0x0-0x287287].com.yoav.pyTivoX[326] 192.168.1.102 - - [11/Dec/2008 22:38:07] "GET /TiVoConnect?Command=QueryContainer&Container=%2F HTTP/1.0" 200 -

(cut it to keep the reply short).

I can't make much from the logs, but my guess is either ffmpeg is unable to correctly read the media file, or else pyTivo isn't happy with something about it (there's a warning about Audio resampler only works with 16 bits per sample, patch welcome. )...

Hoping someone can chime in. If it's something I can fix I'd be happy to, but don't know why it's breaking...

[mohanman]

Dude.. this is one of the best programs I have had in a long time! Thanks to the developer! I started watching divx movies on my tivo, and the quality is fantastic!

My question is, can someone tell me what video formats it supports. I'll look again at the main website, but was curious if people have a lot of luck with mkv and ac3 files? anyone know bitrate (MBPS?). Screw getting blueray player.. this is the best!

Thanks
Mo

[mohanman]

Well I think I answered my own questions. I'm able to transfer 5mbps h264 files with ac3 so far. I hope one day there will be streaming so that you don't need to transfer the videos. But I think since I can do this now, gotta get a 500gb TIVO external drive! Coverart would be nice too.

[Yoav]

Ok, 0.6 is up.
The main change was the addition of the beacon line (computed based on the default route's interface -> broadcast).

I'm hoping it makes it work for those using vmware, and doesn't break for anyone else <crossing fingers>

[Yoav]

Well I think I answered my own questions. I'm able to transfer 5mbps h264 files with ac3 so far. I hope one day there will be streaming so that you don't need to transfer the videos. But I think since I can do this now, gotta get a 500gb TIVO external drive! Coverart would be nice too.

There is a streamer written by moyekj.. it's just not wrapped up as an app, so you'll have to do some legwork. Look at http://tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=403066 but keep in mind that when you stream then stuff like skipping around in the movie becomes messier.

[westside_guy]

Ok, 0.6 is up.
The main change was the addition of the beacon line (computed based on the default route's interface -> broadcast).

I'm hoping it makes it work for those using vmware, and doesn't break for anyone else <crossing fingers>

It seems to be working for this VMware user... :-D

Thanks for all the work you've put into this.

[wmcbrine]

There is a streamer written by moyekj..And one written by me. (tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showpost.php?p=6616197)

[Yoav]

I can't seem to get a video to transcode using pyTiVoX (.5). Here's a copy of my log:

12/11/08 10:38:01 PM [0x0-0x287287].com.yoav.pyTivoX[326] 192.168.1.102 - - [11/Dec/2008 22:38:01] "GET /pyTiVoX%20Videos/2008/02%20Alex%20%26%20Nicholas/P2030034.MOV HTTP/1.1" 200 -


Can you put up one of your failed movies somewhere so I can try it?
Also, what version of Mac OS and what processor are you using?

[raianoat]

Can you put up one of your failed movies somewhere so I can try it?
Also, what version of Mac OS and what processor are you using?

I'm using a Macbook Pro (Intel) Running Leopard 10.5.5

Here's a url for a video that doesn't seem to transcode for me (32 MB)....

http://www.tivoblog.com/pytivox/PA170012.MOV

Thanks!

[tim_ver]

Ok, I am new to this so please do not laugh.

If I understnad this you download the pyTivo program from here:
http://www.python.org/download/releases/3.0/

Install it on your PC, for me the Windows AMD64 MSI Installer (I have Vista 64). Then I can see the share folder it creates on my PC on my Tivo.

And select the files I want say Family_trop_2008.avi and watch it on my TV through Tivo?

Is this correct or did I miss something?

Also does it leave the files on the PC just view them trough the Tivo/TV or does it physical move them over to the Tivo and store them there to watch/delete?

Thanks much

[Yoav]

Ok, I am new to this so please do not laugh.

If I understnad this you download the pyTivo program from here:
http://www.python.org/download/releases/3.0/

Install it on your PC, for me the Windows AMD64 MSI Installer (I have Vista 64). Then I can see the share folder it creates on my PC on my Tivo.

And select the files I want say Family_trop_2008.avi and watch it on my TV through Tivo?

Is this correct or did I miss something?

Also does it leave the files on the PC just view them trough the Tivo/TV or does it physical move them over to the Tivo and store them there to watch/delete?

Thanks much

Well, I won't laugh, but I'll point out you're posting in a thread about a mac port of the program.

I can tell you for sure that you don't want to install python 3.0 (you want 2.5 or 2.6). Other than that, I'm not much help to you, but there's a whole install document at http://pytivo.armooo.net/wiki/WindowsInstall. Try posting the same question in the main pytivo thread (http://tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=328459&highlight=pytivo).

[Yoav]

Can you put up one of your failed movies somewhere so I can try it?
Also, what version of Mac OS and what processor are you using?

Ok, so I messed with your file, and yes there's an issue. Turns out the newest source code of ffmpeg spews errors with your source movie (it tries to encode mp2 at 16-bit and spews) -- which is why I wasn't seeing it here.

Anyways, I found a patch someone submitted TODAY (yeah it's a new bug). I'm going to integrate it into a new build and see if it fixes it. Assuming all your files share the same problem, then we're good. Otherwise, if other files fail, I'll need you to get more of them to me.

Update: Yes the patch fixes that bug. Working on a new build for tonight...

[Yoav]

Ok, version 0.7 is up. It should fix the bug raianoat reported.

Additionally, it now enables the local web configuration (http://localhost:9032). Keep in mind that if you make changes via the web interface, you should NOT click 'Restart' which will overwrite those changes. (Quitting and re-running the pyTivoX is ok though). Don't think most users will need the web interface.. but was asked for it so enabled it.

[raianoat]

Ok, version 0.7 is up. It should fix the bug raianoat reported.

Additionally, it now enables the local web configuration (http://localhost:9032). Keep in mind that if you make changes via the web interface, you should NOT click 'Restart' which will overwrite those changes. (Quitting and re-running the pyTivoX is ok though). Don't think most users will need the web interface.. but was asked for it so enabled it.

Thanks a lot! I'll try it out later today/early tomorrow.

[raianoat]

Ok, version 0.7 is up. It should fix the bug raianoat reported.

Additionally, it now enables the local web configuration (http://localhost:9032). Keep in mind that if you make changes via the web interface, you should NOT click 'Restart' which will overwrite those changes. (Quitting and re-running the pyTivoX is ok though). Don't think most users will need the web interface.. but was asked for it so enabled it.

I tried a couple of videos and it seems to be working. Thanks again! I'll be sure to mention this version on my blog.

[Yoav]

Ok I made an 'interface-type' change and bumped up the version to 1.0 (since it seems to be stable enough to tell others to go ahead and use it).

the interface change is a little odd due to apple's behavior:

When you install the app, it will assume you want to run it as a program (serving when it's running, and not serving when you quit). It will have a dock icon and a menu bar, and will generally act the way most programs work. If you close the window with the red X, it will remain running, and you can always pop the window back by clicking on the dock icon.

IF you select 'startup at launch', it will still have an icon/menubar until you restart the application. When you do, it will launch and only show you the little menulet at the top, from which you can open the config window. There will be no dock icon or menubar.

If you un-select 'startup', you'll still need to quit and restart before the dock icon appears again...

Anyways, long blah blah for something that is probably not relevant to most, but figured I'd explain the odd behavior :). Just choose whether you want it always running in the background, or whether you prefer to run it when you want to download only, and leave it that way...


Oh yeah.. main point: 1.0 is out...

[bedelman]

Yoav -- thanks so much for doing this. I've been wanting to change to using pyTiVo for a while now -- and even more so now that it looks like version 11 of the TiVo software now locks up when I try to pull from a Mac running TiVoDotNet.

This might be obvious for some others -- but if you're still using TiVoDotNet (like I was), you need to stop TiVoDotNet from running before pyTiVoX will work

It does look like the aspect settings may need to be tweaked a tiny bit in ffmpegX. I have a widescreen AVI file that's 640 x 272 and it's cutting of about 10 pixels on the left and right -- although I suppose it could be my HDTV that's doing this as well.

[raianoat]

Ok I made an 'interface-type' change and bumped up the version to 1.0 (since it seems to be stable enough to tell others to go ahead and use it).

the interface change is a little odd due to apple's behavior:

When you install the app, it will assume you want to run it as a program (serving when it's running, and not serving when you quit). It will have a dock icon and a menu bar, and will generally act the way most programs work. If you close the window with the red X, it will remain running, and you can always pop the window back by clicking on the dock icon.

IF you select 'startup at launch', it will still have an icon/menubar until you restart the application. When you do, it will launch and only show you the little menulet at the top, from which you can open the config window. There will be no dock icon or menubar.

If you un-select 'startup', you'll still need to quit and restart before the dock icon appears again...

Anyways, long blah blah for something that is probably not relevant to most, but figured I'd explain the odd behavior :). Just choose whether you want it always running in the background, or whether you prefer to run it when you want to download only, and leave it that way...


Oh yeah.. main point: 1.0 is out...

Thanks again for all your hard work. it really is appreciated!

[gsr1]

I downloaded and installed pyTivoX v 1.0.
I added a shared folder containing a bunch of MP4 files, set the type as Video, gave it a shared name, and then clicked restart.
I don't see anything on my Tivo.
Was I supposed to download/install anyting else, like pyTivo, or is pyTivoX all I need?

[fatespawn]

intel? ppc? 10.5? 10.4?

[gsr1]

Intel, 10.5.5, IMac 2.16GHZ, circa 6/07, Tivo HD
I do have Parallels running - I'm not sure if this is an issue, per earlier in the thread.

[Yoav]

Intel, 10.5.5, IMac 2.16GHZ, circa 6/07, Tivo HD
I do have Parallels running - I'm not sure if this is an issue, per earlier in the thread.

pyTivoX is all you need. Except you've obviously stumbled on a bug :).

Questions:
is your tivo on the same subnet as your mac? If so, do you know what the broadcast address for that subnet is?

Can you make sure pyTivo and parallels are both running, and then open up a Terminal.app and type the following commands, and send the full output here?
route get default
ifconfig -a
ps auxwww | grep Python

One other thing: are you running any other copies of pyTivo? or do you have any program running that might be using port 9032?

[gsr1]

1. My Tivo and Mac are on the same subnet. I have the Tivo connected via a wireless connection and I see both the Mac and Tivo connected when I examine the DHCP clients table.

2. Both pyTivoX and Parallels are running - I'm still confused as to pyTivo vs pyTivoX, as I only downloaded and installed pyTivoX.

3. Here is the full output:

Last login: Sun Dec 14 14:47:15 on ttys000
GSR1-MAC:~ GSR$ route get default
route to: default
destination: default
mask: default
gateway: 192.168.1.1
interface: en0
flags: <UP,GATEWAY,DONE,STATIC,PRCLONING>
recvpipe sendpipe ssthresh rtt,msec rttvar hopcount mtu expire
0 0 0 0 0 0 1500 0
GSR1-MAC:~ GSR$ ifconfig -a
lo0: flags=8049<UP,LOOPBACK,RUNNING,MULTICAST> mtu 16384
inet6 fe80::1%lo0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x1
inet 127.0.0.1 netmask 0xff000000
inet6 ::1 prefixlen 128
gif0: flags=8010<POINTOPOINT,MULTICAST> mtu 1280
stf0: flags=0<> mtu 1280
en0: flags=8963<UP,BROADCAST,SMART,RUNNING,PROMISC,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
inet6 fe80::21b:63ff:fe1d:e4fd%en0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x4
inet 192.168.1.103 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.1.255
ether 00:1b:63:1d:e4:fd
media: autoselect (100baseTX <full-duplex,flow-control>) status: active
supported media: autoselect 10baseT/UTP <half-duplex> 10baseT/UTP <full-duplex> 10baseT/UTP <full-duplex,hw-loopback> 10baseT/UTP <full-duplex,flow-control> 100baseTX <half-duplex> 100baseTX <full-duplex> 100baseTX <full-duplex,hw-loopback> 100baseTX <full-duplex,flow-control> 1000baseT <full-duplex> 1000baseT <full-duplex,hw-loopback> 1000baseT <full-duplex,flow-control> none
fw0: flags=8863<UP,BROADCAST,SMART,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 2030
lladdr 00:1b:63:ff:fe:0b:01:f2
media: autoselect <full-duplex> status: inactive
supported media: autoselect <full-duplex>
en1: flags=8863<UP,BROADCAST,SMART,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
ether 00:1b:63:15:05:82
media: autoselect (<unknown type>) status: inactive
supported media: autoselect
en4: flags=8963<UP,BROADCAST,SMART,RUNNING,PROMISC,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
inet6 fe80::21c:42ff:fe00:8%en4 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x7
inet 10.211.55.2 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 10.211.55.255
ether 00:1c:42:00:00:08
media: autoselect status: active
supported media: autoselect
en5: flags=8963<UP,BROADCAST,SMART,RUNNING,PROMISC,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
inet6 fe80::21c:42ff:fe00:9%en5 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x8
inet 10.37.129.2 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 10.37.129.255
ether 00:1c:42:00:00:09
media: autoselect status: active
supported media: autoselect
GSR1-MAC:~ GSR$ ps auxwww | grep Python
GSR 59535 0.0 0.0 599820 460 s000 R+ 2:47PM 0:00.00 grep Python
GSR 59474 0.0 1.0 113656 21072 ?? Ss 2:41PM 0:01.08 /System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.5/Resources/Python.app/Contents/MacOS/Python /Applications/pyTivoX.app/Contents/Resources/pyTivo-wgw/pyTivo.py
GSR1-MAC:~ GSR$

[Yoav]

2. Both pyTivoX and Parallels are running - I'm still confused as to pyTivo vs pyTivoX, as I only downloaded and installed pyTivoX.



Short version: pyTivo is a python program which does the stuff. It requires you configure it and install ffmpeg.
pyTivoX is an application bundle that comes with pyTivo, ffmpeg, and a configurator for pyTivo, and lets you auto-launch it at login. It's aimed at people who don't want to have to bother with building applications or installing fink/darwinports or whatever...

Ok now to the problem we're seeing:
It looks like it's configured correctly to use the right broadcast address (you can look at ~/Library/Application Support/pyTivoX/pyTivo.conf for the beacon value, it should be set to your broadcast address). So this is not an issue with parallel's shadow network getting priority.

So now we get to wonder why your tivo is not seeing pyTivo. One thing to look at is the output in /tmp/pyTivoX.log .. is there anything interesting in there (or just cut/paste the last 100 lines or so here)?

[gsr1]

Bare with my - I'm a MAC newbie.
Where do I find the /tmp/pyTivox.log?

[Yoav]

Bare with my - I'm a MAC newbie.
Where do I find the /tmp/pyTivox.log?

Sorry your last response made it seem like you're familiar with the workings :)

Ok, open up a Terminal.app program (you can't access /tmp from the Finder).

in the Terminal.app program, type
less /tmp/pyTivoX.log
hit 'q' when you're done. or use
tail -100 /tmp/pyTivoX.log
to just see the last 100 lines.

[bedelman]

...(you can't access /tmp from the Finder)....

Actually, you can -- it's just not obvious. Under the "Go" menu in Finder is a "Go to Folder..." option. Chose that and type in /tmp and hit the "Go" button -- and you'll be taken there

- Bob

[gsr1]

Thanks. I tried both ways of getting the /temp file and got the same result. The entire log is just:

INFO: pyTivo: pyTivo is ready.

There aren't actually any spaces after the ":" I put them there to avoid getting the :p character.

[bedelman]

Thanks. I tried both ways of getting the /temp file and got the same result. The entire log is just:

INFO: pyTivo: pyTivo is ready.

There aren't actually any spaces after the ":" I put them there to avoid getting the :p character.

Do you have a Shared Directory setup as shown in the pyTiVoX configuration screen? If so, are there any video files in that directory?

If there is an entry, you might also try using the same "Go to Folder" screen to check to see if that directory location is the right one -- or is valid

[gsr1]

I have my iTunes..Movies folder set as the shared folder. It does have a bunch of MP4 movies.
I double checked...the folder selected is shared. I changed the folder above it to be shared as well, in case that makes a difference.
I still don't get it to show up.
I have TivoDeskTop On -- I did buy Toast. Does this need to be off? Apparently not, as I just turned it off and it still didn't work. So, I turned TivoDeskTop back on.

[bedelman]

Neither Toast or TiVo Desktop for Mac OSX should interfere (I have both and TiVo Desktop is on)

Are these videos from the iTunes Music Store? If so, they're protected with Apple's DRM and nothing other than Apple's software or hardware knows how to unlock them.

- Bob

[gsr1]

No - they are not protected.

[bedelman]

No - they are not protected.

Thanks -- I'd suggest putting them somewhere else though if you can. Depending on your setup, there can be other protected movies and/or music in the iTunes folder structure. If not, I suppose it's possible for iTunes to also have some of those files in use when iTunes is running. This is all conjecture on my part -- but I'm keeping my pyTiVo movies in a completely separate folder (just like I used to do with TiVoDotNet) and then setting up the share for that folder and don't include the iTunes folder structure at all.

- Bob

[Yoav]

It's definitely nothing to do wth security settings.. Otherwise your tivo would at least see the share, but the share may be unable to provide the movies.

From the one line in the log, I'd guess that pytivo isn't running right. It generally outputs a bunch of warnings when it runs (about cheetah and whatnot).

So, my first question:
what happens when you run (in Terminal.app)
python -V
If it reports anything other than 2.5.1, then first I'd ask "are you sure you're on 10.5?"

Ok, if it reports 2.5.1, then make sure pyTivoX isn't running (use the Exit button, not the close window button).

then run the following:
python /Applications/pyTivoX.app/Contents/Resources/pyTivo-wgw/pyTivo.py

I'm wondering if that reports anything interesting to stdout..

[gsr1]

I'm definitely on 10.5.5. Here is the Terminal output:

GSR1-MAC:~ GSR$ python -V
Python 2.5.1
GSR1-MAC:~ GSR$ python /Applications/pyTivoX.app/Contents/Resources/pyTivo-wgw/pyTivo.py
INFO:pyTivo:pyTivo is ready.

The :p above should be ":" followed by "p" that is : p without the space between them

[Yoav]

I'm definitely on 10.5.5. Here is the Terminal output:

GSR1-MAC:~ GSR$ python -V
Python 2.5.1
GSR1-MAC:~ GSR$ python /Applications/pyTivoX.app/Contents/Resources/pyTivo-wgw/pyTivo.py
INFO:pyTivo:pyTivo is ready.

The :p above should be ":" followed by "p" that is : p without the space between them

Hmm.. (btw, if you want it not to replace the smilies, highlight the chunk and select the 'code' tags from the menu (it looks like a big # )).

Ok, so it's the right version of python, and the right code base. So now the only thing left to wonder about is the settings of your pyTivo.conf... so can you run

cat ~/Library/Application\ Support/pyTivoX/pyTivo.conf

and paste the output here? I must say this is strange :(

[gsr1]

Okay. I decided to add a different share folder and put on the desktop, in a folder called tivo, just like in your screenshot. It didn't make a difference.
I then figured, maybe I should restart my Tivo, so went ahead and restarted it.
When it came back up, I went to the Now Playing and saw both shared folders, and saw the movies within the folders!
I am now in the process of downloading a movie onto the Tivo. I expect it to work and will let you know tomorrow night.
It looks like all I needed to do was to restart the Tivo, for whatever reason.
I appreciate your help (and Bob's). Hopefully this thread will help others.

[Yoav]

Okay. I decided to add a different share folder and put on the desktop, in a folder called tivo, just like in your screenshot. It didn't make a difference.
I then figured, maybe I should restart my Tivo, so went ahead and restarted it.
When it came back up, I went to the Now Playing and saw both shared folders, and saw the movies within the folders!
I am now in the process of downloading a movie onto the Tivo. I expect it to work and will let you know tomorrow night.
It looks like all I needed to do was to restart the Tivo, for whatever reason.
I appreciate your help (and Bob's). Hopefully this thread will help others.
Wow. Well, glad it's working now...
I guess next time I get a similar question my first answer will be 'reboot!' :)

By the way you don't need to wait for the whole movie to download. You can generally view it as you're downloading (although if your download is slow, it will end up stopping a lot).

Thanks for your patience...

[gsr1]

It worked great - the movie downloaded to my Tivo and looks great!
Thanks again for your help, and thanks for the program!

[ciscokidinsf]

I'm going to try it. I actually had NOT updated to 10.5 because TivoDotNet only ran in 10.4. But as Bob said, the latest TivoHD update killed it.

A question, will it work if my video directory is on a drive mounted via SMB? I have my videos in my Network Attached Storage. I don't have space in my main HD to do it. I need to know otherwise I'll have to stick with TDN working on the Series 2

[westside_guy]

A question, will it work if my video directory is on a drive mounted via SMB? I have my videos in my Network Attached Storage. I don't have space in my main HD to do it. I need to know otherwise I'll have to stick with TDN working on the Series 2

With pyTivo I've successfully shared videos from a network drive mounted with afp, so I'd think it really shouldn't matter.

[bedelman]

I'm going to try it. I actually had NOT updated to 10.5 because TivoDotNet only ran in 10.4. But as Bob said, the latest TivoHD update killed it.

That's odd because I had TDN running on at least three different machines all using Leopard -- but everything is now switched over to pyTiVoX now...

[raianoat]

I'm going to try it. I actually had NOT updated to 10.5 because TivoDotNet only ran in 10.4. But as Bob said, the latest TivoHD update killed it.

A question, will it work if my video directory is on a drive mounted via SMB? I have my videos in my Network Attached Storage. I don't have space in my main HD to do it. I need to know otherwise I'll have to stick with TDN working on the Series 2
I have all of my vids stored on a SMB NAS and it works great.

[norbertsf]

THIS ROCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!


Norbert

[norbertsf]

Ok, maybe spoke too soon.

First observations:

Pros:
1. Great! I can have content on an external drive and it is recognized!
2. I can organize content into folders!!!

1. Con so far:

The Aspect button DOES NOT WORK.
I tried the same movie via Tivo desktop (widescreen DVD RIP) and the Aspect button allows all 3 options (Panel, Zoom, Full).
With pyTivoX, I am stuck at Zoom (on a 4:3 TV)
Is there a fix for this?

Is this a pyTivo problem (will check online)?

Norbert

[wmcbrine]

The aspect button stops working when the TiVo thinks that aspect ratio of the program matches that of the screen. So, it thinks that either both are 16:9, or both are 4:3. To know which, I'd have to know what model of TiVo you're talking about, and how it's set under Settings > Video > TV Aspect Ratio.

And no, this isn't pyTivoX-specific, so we should probably continue this elsewhere. (I am however not ready to call it "a pyTivo problem" because we first have to establish that it's a problem.)

[norbertsf]

....I'd have to know what model of TiVo you're talking about, and how it's set under Settings > Video > TV Aspect Ratio.
The Tivo is a S3.
Video settings are set to "4:3 Classic Screen(4:3 only)"
(it's a 4:3 TV)


And no, this isn't pyTivoX-specific, so we should probably continue this elsewhere. (I am however not ready to call it "a pyTivo problem" because we first have to establish that it's a problem.)

It's specific in this case because it's not happening in any other situation. I have no other "Aspect" issues and I am using no other PC->Tivo app (other than Tivo Desktp for OSX and "Aspect" works fine there)

I've installed pyTivoX because of the simple set-up, and the Tivo/pyTivoX interaction seems to be raising the issue.

If there is a Tivo S3 setting that would resolve this please let me (us) know.
If I have to adjust pyTivo settings ... then it defeats the purpose of pyTivoX (for me--simple set-up).


Thanks,
Norbert

[norbertsf]

hmmm....

I tested some other widescreen .avi, .divx, and mpeg files, and those work fine with the aspect button.

Not sure why this particular movie is forced in to getting squeezed...

...so NOT a pyTivoX problem....

Thanks for the great Application!

Norbert

[tlrowley]

This is really a cool program. I've been able to get it up and running with very little effort - just the type of program I like :D Kudos to the developer.

I'm getting a little confused about the settings that I should be using in my pytivo.conf file. If I'm using this on a Series 3, do I need to override the default configuration? If I leave the pytivo.conf file alone (basically empty) will I get the best possible transcoding? I have a fair amount of processing power available, so increasing the bitrates shouldn't be a problem.

The reason I was wondering about changing from the default levels is that I transferred a 720p mkv to the Series 3 and it was a bit choppy. What should I be tweaking to eliminate that problem?

Thanks for any pointers.

[diphosphine]

I am having a problem getting pyTivoX to work. I downloaded the most recent version of pyTivoX and dragged the application to my applications folder. I established a shared directory with both .mov and .mp4 movies in it. I clicked the "Restart" button in pyTivoX. I find the shared folder on the Tivo and all of the movies are in it. However, when I try to play any of the movies I immediately get a message saying that "Transferring prohibited by the copyright holder" even for movies that I created myself. On my mac, a message always simultaneously pops up that says "The application ffmpeg has quit unexpectedly."

I have a Mac G4 Dual 1.25 GHz running 10.5.6 and a TivoHD. Does anybody have an idea of what the problem might be? Is there something else I should have done?

Thanks for any help.

[Yoav]

I'm getting a little confused about the settings that I should be using in my pytivo.conf file. If I'm using this on a Series 3, do I need to override the default configuration?


I believe the default setup is supposed to work on HDTVs fine. I'll let a developer jump in and comment though (I just wrote the front-end.. not the pyTivo script).

A quick heads-up though. If you change any of the settings (the easiest way is to connect to http://localhost:9032/ ), do not use the 'restart' button. (The restart button overwrites the config file and restarts the program). Just exit and run the program when you need a restart...

[Yoav]

I have a Mac G4 Dual 1.25 GHz running 10.5.6 and a TivoHD. Does anybody have an idea of what the problem might be? Is there something else I should have done?

It sounds like ffmpeg is crashing when trying to transcode the files to mpeg-2 streams for your tivo. I don't have a powerPC mac to test with, but it's possible that I failed to build ffmpeg correctly for it... Can you do me a favor and open up a Terminal.app and run


tail -20 /tmp/pyTivoX.log
/Applications/pyTivoX.app/Contents/Resources/ffmpeg


and then cut/paste the output here?

[diphosphine]

It sounds like ffmpeg is crashing when trying to transcode the files to mpeg-2 streams for your tivo. I don't have a powerPC mac to test with, but it's possible that I failed to build ffmpeg correctly for it... Can you do me a favor and open up a Terminal.app and run


tail -20 /tmp/pyTivoX.log
/Applications/pyTivoX.app/Contents/Resources/ffmpeg


and then cut/paste the output here?

Okay, here's the output, I think (I'm new to terminal and to posting!):

tail -20 /tmp/pyTivoX.log
INFO:pyTivo:pyTivo is ready.
/Applications/pyTivoX.app/Contents/Resources/pyTivo-wgw/Cheetah/Compiler.py:1508: UserWarning:
You don't have the C version of NameMapper installed! I'm disabling Cheetah's useStackFrames option as it is painfully slow with the Python version of NameMapper. You should get a copy of Cheetah with the compiled C version of NameMapper.
"\nYou don't have the C version of NameMapper installed! "
10.0.1.197 - - [10/Jan/2009 22:28:58] "GET /TiVoConnect?Command=QueryContainer&Container=%2F HTTP/1.0" 200 -
10.0.1.197 - - [10/Jan/2009 22:29:25] "GET /TiVoConnect?Command=QueryContainer&Container=%2F HTTP/1.0" 200 -
10.0.1.197 - - [10/Jan/2009 22:29:55] "GET /TiVoConnect?Command=QueryContainer&Container=%2F HTTP/1.0" 200 -
10.0.1.197 - - [10/Jan/2009 22:29:58] "GET /TiVoConnect?Command=QueryFormats&SourceFormat=video%2Fx-tivo-mpeg HTTP/1.1" 404 -
10.0.1.197 - - [10/Jan/2009 22:29:58] "GET /TiVoConnect?Command=QueryContainer&Container=pyTivo%20Share&SortOrder=Title&ItemCount=8&Filter=x-tivo-container%2Ftivo-videos,x-tivo-container%2Ffolder,video%2Fx-tivo-mpeg,video%2F* HTTP/1.1" 200 -
10.0.1.197 - - [10/Jan/2009 22:30:01] "GET /TiVoConnect?Command=QueryFormats&SourceFormat=video%2Fx-tivo-mpeg HTTP/1.1" 404 -
10.0.1.197 - - [10/Jan/2009 22:30:02] "GET /TiVoConnect?Command=QueryContainer&Container=pyTivo%20Share&SortOrder=Title&ItemCount=1&AnchorItem=%2FpyTivo%2520Share%2FCoca%2520Cola.mov&AnchorOffset=-1&Filter=x-tivo-container%2Ftivo-videos,x-tivo-container%2Ffolder,video%2Fx-tivo-mpeg,video%2F* HTTP/1.1" 200 -
10.0.1.197 - - [10/Jan/2009 22:30:02] "GET /TiVoConnect?Command=TVBusQuery&Container=pyTivo%20Share&File=%2FCoca%20Cola.mov HTTP/1.1" 200 -
10.0.1.197 - - [10/Jan/2009 22:30:04] "GET /TiVoConnect?Command=QueryFormats&SourceFormat=video%2Fx-tivo-mpeg HTTP/1.1" 404 -
10.0.1.197 - - [10/Jan/2009 22:30:04] "GET /TiVoConnect?Command=QueryContainer&Container=pyTivo%20Share&SortOrder=Title&ItemCount=8&AnchorItem=%2FpyTivo%2520Share%2FCoca%2520Cola.mov&AnchorOffset=-2&Filter=x-tivo-container%2Ftivo-videos,x-tivo-container%2Ffolder,video%2Fx-tivo-mpeg,video%2F* HTTP/1.1" 200 -
10.0.1.197 - - [10/Jan/2009 22:30:07] "GET /TiVoConnect?Command=QueryContainer&Container=%2F HTTP/1.0" 200 -
/Applications/pyTivoX.app/Contents/Resources/ffmpeg[Joe-Casalnuovos-Computer:~] jacasalnuovo% /Applications/pyTivoX.app/Contents/Resources/ffmpeg

[Yoav]

Okay, here's the output, I think (I'm new to terminal and to posting!):


I see the output of the first command (looks like pyTivo is running fine). I do not see the output of the second command though...

Make sure you hit return after typing it in... it should look something like:

/Applications/pyTivoX.app/Contents/Resources/ffmpeg
FFmpeg version SVN-r16163, Copyright (c) 2000-2008 Fabrice Bellard, et al.
configuration: --arch=i386 --disable-vhook --disable-shared --enable-static --enable-pthreads --disable-mmx --enable-gpl --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libfaac --enable-libfaad --enable-libx264 --enable-swscale --extra-cflags=-I/Users/yoav/src/lame/include -I/Users/yoav/src/faad2/include -I/Users/yoav/src/faac/include -I/Users/yoav/src/x264 --extra-ldflags=-L/Users/yoav/src/lame/libmp3lame/.libs -L/Users/yoav/src/faad2/libfaad/.libs -L/Users/yoav/src/faac/libfaac/.libs -L/Users/yoav/src/x264/
libavutil 49.12. 0 / 49.12. 0
libavcodec 52. 6. 3 / 52. 6. 3
libavformat 52.23. 1 / 52.23. 1
libavdevice 52. 1. 0 / 52. 1. 0
libswscale 0. 6. 1 / 0. 6. 1
built on Dec 15 2008 22:59:00, gcc: 4.0.1 (Apple Inc. build 5484)
At least one output file must be specified

[diphosphine]

I see the output of the first command (looks like pyTivo is running fine). I do not see the output of the second command though...

Make sure you hit return after typing it in... it should look something like:

/Applications/pyTivoX.app/Contents/Resources/ffmpeg
FFmpeg version SVN-r16163, Copyright (c) 2000-2008 Fabrice Bellard, et al.
configuration: --arch=i386 --disable-vhook --disable-shared --enable-static --enable-pthreads --disable-mmx --enable-gpl --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libfaac --enable-libfaad --enable-libx264 --enable-swscale --extra-cflags=-I/Users/yoav/src/lame/include -I/Users/yoav/src/faad2/include -I/Users/yoav/src/faac/include -I/Users/yoav/src/x264 --extra-ldflags=-L/Users/yoav/src/lame/libmp3lame/.libs -L/Users/yoav/src/faad2/libfaad/.libs -L/Users/yoav/src/faac/libfaac/.libs -L/Users/yoav/src/x264/
libavutil 49.12. 0 / 49.12. 0
libavcodec 52. 6. 3 / 52. 6. 3
libavformat 52.23. 1 / 52.23. 1
libavdevice 52. 1. 0 / 52. 1. 0
libswscale 0. 6. 1 / 0. 6. 1
built on Dec 15 2008 22:59:00, gcc: 4.0.1 (Apple Inc. build 5484)
At least one output file must be specified


Well, I may have handled entering the two commands in terminal originally in that I copied and pasted both commands (not realizing it was two) into terminal and that's the output I received. I just ran the second command by itself and this is what I got:

[Joe-Casalnuovos-Computer:~] jacasalnuovo% /Applications/pyTivoX.app/Contents/Resources/ffmpeg
Illegal instruction
[Joe-Casalnuovos-Computer:~] jacasalnuovo%

At the same time I got he window that I had seen previously that said "The application ffmpeg quit unexpectedly." I then tried again and got the same result.

[Yoav]

[Joe-Casalnuovos-Computer:~] jacasalnuovo% /Applications/pyTivoX.app/Contents/Resources/ffmpeg
Illegal instruction
[Joe-Casalnuovos-Computer:~] jacasalnuovo%


Ok well, the good news is we know why it's breaking (ffmpeg is crashing on powerPC). The bad news is I'm not sure why, and I don't have a powerPC machine to toy with :(.

Let me see if I can figure out what went wrong with the powerPC build...
Thanks for being patient with this :)

[diphosphine]

Ok well, the good news is we know why it's breaking (ffmpeg is crashing on powerPC). The bad news is I'm not sure why, and I don't have a powerPC machine to toy with :(.

Let me see if I can figure out what went wrong with the powerPC build...
Thanks for being patient with this :)

Wow! You're helping ME and thanking me for being patient?! You're some kind of nice guy! :) Whether you get if figured out or not thanks very much for your help and your prompt replies.

[wmcbrine]

Perhaps your ffmpeg is built for G5 only? I'll try it on my G4 tomorrow.

And yeah, pyTivo works fine with both HD and SD units with the default config. (There are tweaks you could make, but to discuss that is a whole long thread in itself...)

[Yoav]

Perhaps your ffmpeg is built for G5 only? I'll try it on my G4 tomorrow.

And yeah, pyTivo works fine with both HD and SD units with the default config. (There are tweaks you could make, but to discuss that is a whole long thread in itself...)

Yes it is :) (It's being fixed as we speak... just takes a while to build :)... Was gonna post after I had something.. but yeah..
Look for the 1.1b1 build in about 30 mins.... It has a new build of ffmpeg that should work on G4 processors, and the latest updates to pyTivo from wmcbrine and wgw... I haven't tested anything though -- so you may be stepping on a bunch of bugs...

[Yoav]

Ok took a little longer than I expected, but try downloading version 1.1b1, and tell me if it's working for you...

[gu014]

Hello,
I shared some of HD files from my camcorder and when the transfer goes through it just hangs on a black screen.

Is pytivox compatible with HD files?

I used 'mac2tivo' from toast 10 and it transfers and plays just fine.

Any ideas?

[Yoav]

Hello,
I shared some of HD files from my camcorder and when the transfer goes through it just hangs on a black screen.

Is pytivox compatible with HD files?

I used 'mac2tivo' from toast 10 and it transfers and plays just fine.

Any ideas?

Do you know what format your camcorder records in? AVCHD? Do you have a sample file I can test with?

It *should* work, but obviously it isn't.

[gu014]

Thank you for your reply!

Yes, the camcorder records in AVCHD(Canon HF100).

I'm not sure if it matters, but the files were imported using iMovie.

Here is a file:
http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=7d753b9c701fb100d2db6fb9a8902bda

[Yoav]

Thank you for your reply!

Yes, the camcorder records in AVCHD(Canon HF100).

I'm not sure if it matters, but the files were imported using iMovie.

Here is a file:
http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=7d753b9c701fb100d2db6fb9a8902bda

Ok ffmpeg is unhappy with the file (it says swScaler: Unknown format is not supported as input pixel format). I'll see if I can figure out what needs to be done...

[Yoav]

Thank you for your reply!

Yes, the camcorder records in AVCHD(Canon HF100).

I'm not sure if it matters, but the files were imported using iMovie.

Here is a file:
http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=7d753b9c701fb100d2db6fb9a8902bda

Ok, the file isn't an avchd file (h.264). It is a quicktime Apple Intermediate Codec file. It sounds like iMovie converted it to a different format before saving it. I'm trying to see if I can find out what is required to make ffmpeg accept that as input, but in the meanwhile, is it possible for you to use a different output format from iMovie?

Update: There's very little info out there, but from what i can tell, ffmpeg does not (yet?) read AIC codec files. So the short version is: it can't use your movies.

On the other hand, the movie you have was generated from an original file that ffmpeg CAN read (avchd work in ffmpeg.. it's just the intermediate AIC file that iMovie generates to work with that ffmpeg can't). So either tell iMovie to export the file to a different format (h.264, or mpeg-2, or anything really), or don't use iMovie at all and just copy the original AVCHD files out...

[diphosphine]

Ok took a little longer than I expected, but try downloading version 1.1b1, and tell me if it's working for you...

I've tried the new version on my G4 Mac and it is working. ffmpeg is no longer quitting on me. I've been able to transfer .mp4, .wmv, .mpg and some .mov files. I have had some trouble with a couple of small .mov files that I had made in iMovie. They don't seem to transfer at all. On the other hand, a larger .mov file that I created in iMovie transfers well although it seems to be slower than other formats. I expect the latter issue is partly tied to my older system, but I'm wondering why the smaller movies didn't transfer. I'll try out more files later and let you know if I come across any bugs.

Thanks so much for your work on this. It's fantastic!

[Ladd Morse]

I am having a problem getting pyTivoX to work. I downloaded the most recent version of pyTivoX and dragged the application to my applications folder. I established a shared directory with both .mov and .mp4 movies in it. I clicked the "Restart" button in pyTivoX. I find the shared folder on the Tivo and all of the movies are in it. However, when I try to play any of the movies I immediately get a message saying that "Transferring prohibited by the copyright holder" even for movies that I created myself. On my mac, a message always simultaneously pops up that says "The application ffmpeg has quit unexpectedly."

I have a Mac G4 Dual 1.25 GHz running 10.5.6 and a TivoHD. Does anybody have an idea of what the problem might be? Is there something else I should have done?

Thanks for any help.I have the exact same machine running the exact same Mac OS X running the exact same pyTiVoX *AND* I have the exact same "Transferring prohibited by the copyright holder" error and the exact same "The application ffmpeg has quit unexpectedly" error.

Coincidence? I think not! :)

[Yoav]

I have the exact same machine running the exact same Mac OS X running the exact same pyTiVoX *AND* I have the exact same "Transferring prohibited by the copyright holder" error and the exact same "The application ffmpeg has quit unexpectedly" error.

Coincidence? I think not! :)

Did you try the exact same solution of downloading the beta and using it instead?

[kas25]

I just installed this and have to say the installation process and set up is great. Within minutes I could see all my home movies listed on my tivo. Started a transfer and the blue light went on. Tried to start watching and it said to wait. Waited several minutes and i still can't watch. One other show is taping on my S3. I didn't get an error upon transferring but I'm afraid its hangin or transfering very slowly if at all. Not other transfer issues in the past. Thanks.

[Yoav]

I just installed this and have to say the installation process and set up is great. Within minutes I could see all my home movies listed on my tivo. Started a transfer and the blue light went on. Tried to start watching and it said to wait. Waited several minutes and i still can't watch. One other show is taping on my S3. I didn't get an error upon transferring but I'm afraid its hangin or transfering very slowly if at all. Not other transfer issues in the past. Thanks.

Is your computer reporting any errors? Another show taping shouldn't have an effect. If you go back to your computer, open up a Terminal.app, and run
tail -20 /tmp/pyTivoX.log
What does it say? Also, do you know what format your movies are in? And what kind of mac are you using?

The blue light generally indicates that the transfer is working, so I'd guess either the transfer is very slow, or the re-encoding is generating bad data. Do you see the movie in your Now Playing list?

[kas25]

Is your computer reporting any errors? Another show taping shouldn't have an effect. If you go back to your computer, open up a Terminal.app, and run
tail -20 /tmp/pyTivoX.log
What does it say? Also, do you know what format your movies are in? And what kind of mac are you using?

The blue light generally indicates that the transfer is working, so I'd guess either the transfer is very slow, or the re-encoding is generating bad data. Do you see the movie in your Now Playing list?
The movie is in Mpeg 4 format and plays fine on my apple tv. I did see the movie in now playing but it went away and the blue light went off so I assume it failed. I am running an I Mac with Leopard which is a few years old but i do plenty of Handbrake/Visual Hub conversions which aren't exceedingly slow. I'll check the computer error log tonight but any other thoughts? Thanks.

[Yoav]

a heads up to those who like helping to test out code:

The latest beta (you'll have to manually download it) adds support for streaming (using streambaby). If you're bold/brave and have an S3 or TivoHD, can you try it out please (the streams will be under Music, Photos, Showcases).
Need to know if things are broken before I push it out on the unwashed masses...

Be sure to hit the 'restart' button once you make a change in terms of what service you want to run

[tlrowley]

So very cool - I tried playing around with streambaby earlier today, but I'm in the midst of a migraine, and it wasn't going very well. I downloaded the newest pyTivoX and was streaming in minutes.

So very, very cool - thanks.

[Yoav]

So very cool - I tried playing around with streambaby earlier today, but I'm in the midst of a migraine, and it wasn't going very well. I downloaded the newest pyTivoX and was streaming in minutes.

So very, very cool - thanks.

You're welcome, glad to make life easy for people, but you should thank the pytivo and streambaby devs.. they did the hard part :)

[Ladd Morse]

Did you try the exact same solution of downloading the beta and using it instead?Yes, I did and it works fine now. No more ffmpeg quitting.

[herbman]

a heads up to those who like helping to test out code:

The latest beta (you'll have to manually download it) adds support for streaming (using streambaby). If you're bold/brave and have an S3 or TivoHD, can you try it out please (the streams will be under Music, Photos, Showcases).
Need to know if things are broken before I push it out on the unwashed masses...

Be sure to hit the 'restart' button once you make a change in terms of what service you want to run

Hi there, I'm trying out the beta (great work so far!). The pytivo portion still works (I get my movies folder link in now showing), but nothing new is showing up under music, photos, and showcases. Nothing is firewalled as far as I know, and I have home network applications enabled. How should I begin to diagnose?

Thanks!

*Edit* I see the problem, in /tmp/pyTivoX-SB.log:
Exception in thread "main" java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: com/unwiredappeal/tivo/streambaby/StreamBabyMain

Any ideas? FWIW, I have this installed in a subfolder to /Applications.

*Edit 2* I was able to manually start the distributed streambaby by opening a shell to the streambaby dir underneath the pyTivoX.app tree, moving the streambaby.ini to streambaby.ini.dist, and creating a symlink to the version in ~/Application Support/pyTivoX. This enabled the start, with no issue with the classpath working. Perhaps something in pyTivoX has a small bug in instantiating the java class for streambaby?

Unfortunately, while it's now starting without a JVM error, it's still not working. It's just hanging on "Initializing..."

*Edit 3* OK, so the path was causing the issue, because it had a colon in it (which is acceptable under mac os X). I tried running the streambaby shell script from the Application Support/pyTivoX dir and got the same error I saw earlier. I moved back to vanilla /Applications, nuked the prefs just in case, restarted and now it is starting both daemons.

Sadly, same as above.. hung on Initializing..

[Yoav]

*Edit 3* OK, so the path was causing the issue, because it had a colon in it (which is acceptable under mac os X). I tried running the streambaby shell script from the Application Support/pyTivoX dir and got the same error I saw earlier. I moved back to vanilla /Applications, nuked the prefs just in case, restarted and now it is starting both daemons.


Ermm, be careful. A colon is not 'acceptable' under MacOS (for certain definition of acceptable). a colon is similar to a slash, in that it is a directory component seperator...

I dunno *why* they made the decision to use colons.. I'm sure they had some reason, but it's caused no end of headaches... Can you try putting it in a location without a colon?

[herbman]

Ermm, be careful. A colon is not 'acceptable' under MacOS (for certain definition of acceptable). a colon is similar to a slash, in that it is a directory component seperator...

I dunno *why* they made the decision to use colons.. I'm sure they had some reason, but it's caused no end of headaches... Can you try putting it in a location without a colon?

Yeah, this was an "Audio/Video" dir I had underneath the /Applications in the Finder GUI. It translated to a colon in the shell. I moved back to regular /Applications and it worked. After that it was all about issues with streambaby, which I've been posting in that thread. I made the change that he talked about (the not autodeleting previews thing) and so as long as I never click 'Restart' in your app it won't overwrite that file, right?

[bedelman]

To contribute about the use of a colon...

Colon was the separator used in the Mac OS before OSX -- it goes back to the implementation of HFS (Hierarchical File System) which began back in version 4 of the operating system if I recall correctly (about 1989)

[herbman]

I was aware of that. I honestly didn't put it in myself, it was what the Finder did to the path. This seems like a JDK bug if anything.

[Yoav]

Yeah, this was an "Audio/Video" dir I had underneath the /Applications in the Finder GUI. It translated to a colon in the shell. I moved back to regular /Applications and it worked. After that it was all about issues with streambaby, which I've been posting in that thread. I made the change that he talked about (the not autodeleting previews thing) and so as long as I never click 'Restart' in your app it won't overwrite that file, right?

That is correct. Restart will re-write the config file. Otherwise, nothing else will. The newest beta (1.1b4) fixes the 'autodelete' bug too btw...

[herbman]

That is correct. Restart will re-write the config file. Otherwise, nothing else will. The newest beta (1.1b4) fixes the 'autodelete' bug too btw...

Great. I'll try it out when I get home. Any other updates?

[Yoav]

Great. I'll try it out when I get home. Any other updates?

the shared libraries should work with this update, although kearygriffin is probably going to post a new release of his code, after which I'll integrate it and put up another beta..

[kearygriffin]

the shared libraries should work with this update, although kearygriffin is probably going to post a new release of his code, after which I'll integrate it and put up another beta..

And I actually just made the autodelete code a little smarter so it won't fail on recursive symlinks, and also should be faster/use less memory in general. (It was brain-dead in many many ways... ;-) The new version should be up tonight.

[Yoav]

And I actually just made the autodelete code a little smarter so it won't fail on recursive symlinks, and also should be faster/use less memory in general. (It was brain-dead in many many ways... ;-) The new version should be up tonight.

So can I re-enable autodelete in the next release?

[kearygriffin]

So can I re-enable autodelete in the next release?

I believe so, but I'll let herbman be the final judge of whether or not my fixes work ;-)

[pkscout]

I like the addition of the option to stream and/or have stuff in the Now Playing list. I wonder if there would be value in being able to assign a specific share as streamed versus in Now Playing (or both) rather than having it a global setting. I have some shares that make sense as folders in Now Playing and a couple that really make more sense as streaming.

[Yoav]

I like the addition of the option to stream and/or have stuff in the Now Playing list. I wonder if there would be value in being able to assign a specific share as streamed versus in Now Playing (or both) rather than having it a global setting. I have some shares that make sense as folders in Now Playing and a couple that really make more sense as streaming.

Hmm.. I guess I can add a type called 'video - stream' , 'video -download' , and 'video both'.. or.. ermm.. trying to figure how to do this while keeping the interface basic and simple..

Edit: Ok, just added video:stream, video:pytivo (and the old video setting will apply to both). Not sure it's a good idea yet... but we'll see -- can always back the changes out if people seem confused... Trying to keep this program *VERY simple*. If you generally want to play with more advanced values, you may want to edit the files in
~/Library/Application Support/pyTivoX/
and avoid hitting the 'restart' button (that overwrites them).

[luvmytivo]

Geez,
It seems I'm jumping back into the SA TiVo world at the right time - the availability of these features on MacOS is very nice, and you've done a great job simplifying and implementing them. Hat tip to you my good man.

[Yoav]

Ok, the next beta is up, with the latest streambaby code, some new icons for the buttons, and the ability to select videos that are only streamed or only downloaded... Bug reports appreciated...

[pkscout]

Ok, the next beta is up, with the latest streambaby code, some new icons for the buttons, and the ability to select videos that are only streamed or only downloaded... Bug reports appreciated...

It's working well for me. And I like the selection drop down. I agree that you need to keep it simple, and I think you found a good balance by setting a default that is easy for a beginning user.

I also like the APPLY button instead of RESTART. I know RESTART is technically right, but APPLY makes me feel like the program actually saved my changes.

Did you change something with the network detection stuff? Before this beta I used to have to restart pyTiVoX a couple of times before the shares would show up in the NP list. Now it seems to work consistently on the first restart.

[herbman]

I believe so, but I'll let herbman be the final judge of whether or not my fixes work ;-)

Works for me! Also, love the new log format.

[Sevenfeet]

To contribute about the use of a colon...

Colon was the separator used in the Mac OS before OSX -- it goes back to the implementation of HFS (Hierarchical File System) which began back in version 4 of the operating system if I recall correctly (about 1989)

More like version 3 of the OS, circa 1986. System 3.2 was the first stable HFS release back then...it was widely used in my Mac lab in college. :)

[Sevenfeet]

Ok, the next beta is up, with the latest streambaby code, some new icons for the buttons, and the ability to select videos that are only streamed or only downloaded... Bug reports appreciated...

OK, that was my first dumb question in that did pyTivoX come with streambaby or was it expecting to already by in the Applications folder. I think you're telling is that it's baked in, especially since I have it working now on my G4 Leopard Server.

Unfortunately, a dual-G4 450 Mhz Mac makes a really slow transcoding machine. A test MKV video I ripped does stream correctly but the Mac can't keep up with it in real time. :(

Still waiting for Apple to upgrade the Mac Mini so I can buy a new cheap server....

[Yoav]

Did you change something with the network detection stuff? Before this beta I used to have to restart pyTiVoX a couple of times before the shares would show up in the NP list. Now it seems to work consistently on the first restart.
Nope, nothing changed in the network detection stuff. Not really sure why it's consistently working (also, not really sure why it didn't work before...)

[Yoav]

OK, that was my first dumb question in that did pyTivoX come with streambaby or was it expecting to already by in the Applications folder. I think you're telling is that it's baked in, especially since I have it working now on my G4 Leopard Server.

Unfortunately, a dual-G4 450 Mhz Mac makes a really slow transcoding machine. A test MKV video I ripped does stream correctly but the Mac can't keep up with it in real time. :(

Still waiting for Apple to upgrade the Mac Mini so I can buy a new cheap server....

Yep it's built-in (the main selling point of pyTivoX is that it's trivial for people to use. Just download, install, and run).

That said, if transcoding is very slow, may I suggest you use the pytivo mode instead? (check under now playing). While it won't let you fast forward into sections you haven't downloaded yet, it will not skip due to slow conversions -- it will just take longer to download if the conversion is going slowly...

[gu014]

Hello,

I have some dvdrips on my mac. I play them on the mac and the audio/video is perfectly in sync.

When i watch them on the tivo using pytivox the audio is out of sync by about 1.5 seconds.

Any ideas?

[Yoav]

Hello,

I have some dvdrips on my mac. I play them on the mac and the audio/video is perfectly in sync.

When i watch them on the tivo using pytivox the audio is out of sync by about 1.5 seconds.

Any ideas?

Well, it sounds like it might be an issue with the underlying 'pytivo' server, but before we go any further, can you elaborate a little more:
1) what kind of mac
2) what format did you rip it to? mkv? mp4? vob? avi? other?
3) Do you know what video encoding was used? (h.264? xvid? mpeg-2?) at what bitrate?
4) Do you know what audio encoding? (ac-3? mp3? aac?) bitrate? was it variable?
5) are you using the streambaby option in the beta? (under showcases) or the pytivo (under now playing..) to access the movie...
6) When you play it on your mac, what tool do you use...?

(often when files are 'converted' around, audio/video sync issues can happen -- pytivo has to convert your rip to a valid mpeg-2 that tivo accepts, so the conversion might be a problem... but some more info would help first. This may just be an encoding that ffmpeg does not work well with for converting...)

I did a quick perusal of the pytivo boards for similar problems, and found many similar queries:
pytivo support boards (http://pytivo.krkeegan.com/support-f1.html). Mostly it sounds like some formats are problematic for ffmpeg (the underlying converter).

[Sevenfeet]

Yep it's built-in (the main selling point of pyTivoX is that it's trivial for people to use. Just download, install, and run).

That said, if transcoding is very slow, may I suggest you use the pytivo mode instead? (check under now playing). While it won't let you fast forward into sections you haven't downloaded yet, it will not skip due to slow conversions -- it will just take longer to download if the conversion is going slowly...

pytivo does transcoding on the fly from the Now Playing list? I have to try that!

[Yoav]

pytivo does transcoding on the fly from the Now Playing list? I have to try that!

Ermm, it does transcoding on-the-fly from your media folder and downloads to the now playing list (so is that a yes or no to your question?).

If you want something that transcodes on the fly from your now playing list to your media folder, that's what iTiVo is for...

[gu014]

Well, it sounds like it might be an issue with the underlying 'pytivo' server, but before we go any further, can you elaborate a little more:
1) what kind of mac
2) what format did you rip it to? mkv? mp4? vob? avi? other?
3) Do you know what video encoding was used? (h.264? xvid? mpeg-2?) at what bitrate?
4) Do you know what audio encoding? (ac-3? mp3? aac?) bitrate? was it variable?
5) are you using the streambaby option in the beta? (under showcases) or the pytivo (under now playing..) to access the movie...
6) When you play it on your mac, what tool do you use...?

(often when files are 'converted' around, audio/video sync issues can happen -- pytivo has to convert your rip to a valid mpeg-2 that tivo accepts, so the conversion might be a problem... but some more info would help first. This may just be an encoding that ffmpeg does not work well with for converting...)

I did a quick perusal of the pytivo boards for similar problems, and found many similar queries:
pytivo support boards (http://pytivo.krkeegan.com/support-f1.html). Mostly it sounds like some formats are problematic for ffmpeg (the underlying converter).

Thank you for your response - Here are the answers:
1 - i am using an intel imac(2.2ghz, 4gb ram)
2 - .avi
3,4 - The audio/video specs:

AUDiO......[ MP3 48000Hz 112 kb/s CBR (2 chnls) * * * * * * * *
LANGUAGE...[ English * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
ViDEO......[ 757 kbps XviD 23.976 FPS * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Q. FRAME...[ 0.177 bits*pixel * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
RESOLUTiON.[ 664 x 268 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
DAR........[ 2.478 (57:23) * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * **
SUBS.......[ None * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
FiLES......[ 1 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
SiZE.......[ 701 MB * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
SOURCE.....[ DVD


5 - I am using pytivo under 'now playing'
6 - It plays perfectly using quicktime and vlc on my imac

Hopefully this is helpful!

[designbot]

God bless you, sir. I spent forever trying to get pyTivo running, with no luck. This will save me so much time transcoding files in VisualHub.

Great work! :up:

The only issue I've noticed is that AAC audio files don't play correctly, but TiVo Desktop has the same problem.

Thank you!

[gu014]

Is there a way to stream widescreen content as is and not have it stretch to go full screen.

When i use mac2tivo it streams widescreen content as is.

Sorry, for the elementary terminology. I am not incredible familiar with aspect ratios and such.

[Yoav]

Is there a way to stream widescreen content as is and not have it stretch to go full screen.

When i use mac2tivo it streams widescreen content as is.

Sorry, for the elementary terminology. I am not incredible familiar with aspect ratios and such.

Hi gu, I'm still trying to figure out an answer to your audio delay question, I haven't found anything useful, but I'm really not that familiar with pytivo... hoping someone else (like wmcbrine) might have a lead..

As for the widescreen, if your file has the correct aspect ratio setting, pyTivo is supposed to correctly scale the film (i.e. you're not supposed to get stretching). I believe it just accepts the setting you have on your tivo (16:9 or 4:3). Are you seeing this with all files ?

[gu014]

Hi gu, I'm still trying to figure out an answer to your audio delay question, I haven't found anything useful, but I'm really not that familiar with pytivo... hoping someone else (like wmcbrine) might have a lead..

As for the widescreen, if your file has the correct aspect ratio setting, pyTivo is supposed to correctly scale the film (i.e. you're not supposed to get stretching). I believe it just accepts the setting you have on your tivo (16:9 or 4:3). Are you seeing this with all files ?

Yes, I receive stretching on all of my files. I play them on the imac using quicktime or vlc, stream using mac2tivo and the there is no stretching.


I am using pytivoX by the way. I might have said pytivo prior.
Is there some sort of configuration I can change?

[Yoav]

Yes, I receive stretching on all of my files. I play them on the imac using quicktime or vlc, stream using mac2tivo and the there is no stretching.


I am using pytivoX by the way. I might have said pytivo prior.
Is there some sort of configuration I can change?

pyTivoX is just a pretty front-end to pyTivo. All the hard work is done underneath in pyTivo . The associated config file is stored in <user>/Library/Application Support/pyTivoX/pyTivo.conf

It may well be that you need to edit this file (if you do, do not hit the 'apply/restart' button on pyTivoX or it will overwrite the file). There's a whole slew of things you can play with, all documented here (http://pytivo.armooo.net/wiki/ConfigurepyTivo).

Another way (instead of manually editting the file) is to connect to
http://localhost:9032/ and click on 'web configuration' (again, do not hit restart/accept in pyTivoX or it will undo your changes).

I'm curious if you're also seeing these problems with other format files, like mp4's or mkv's or anything you got from a different source? I'm thinking your DVD rips might be making ffmpeg unhappy...

[gu014]

pyTivoX is just a pretty front-end to pyTivo. All the hard work is done underneath in pyTivo . The associated config file is stored in <user>/Library/Application Support/pyTivoX/pyTivo.conf

It may well be that you need to edit this file (if you do, do not hit the 'apply/restart' button on pyTivoX or it will overwrite the file). There's a whole slew of things you can play with, all documented here (http://pytivo.armooo.net/wiki/ConfigurepyTivo).

Another way (instead of manually editting the file) is to connect to
http://localhost:9032/ and click on 'web configuration' (again, do not hit restart/accept in pyTivoX or it will undo your changes).

I'm curious if you're also seeing these problems with other format files, like mp4's or mkv's or anything you got from a different source? I'm thinking your DVD rips might be making ffmpeg unhappy...

I will have a look at the configuration.

I am receiving the stretching with all files. avi, mpg. Files I have ripped, downloaded, etc.

[Yoav]

I will have a look at the configuration.

I am receiving the stretching with all files. avi, mpg. Files I have ripped, downloaded, etc.

Ok that sucks.

Ok, so just a few more questions: Are you using a S2 tivo or S3/HD?
And is your TV 16:9 or 4:3? Have you tried pushing the 'aspect' button on the remote?

(this might be helpful? (http://pytivo.krkeegan.com/s3-and-aspect-ratio-t314.html))

[gu014]

Ok that sucks.

Ok, so just a few more questions: Are you using a S2 tivo or S3/HD?
And is your TV 16:9 or 4:3? Have you tried pushing the 'aspect' button on the remote?

(this might be helpful? (http://pytivo.krkeegan.com/s3-and-aspect-ratio-t314.html))

I'm using the tivo hd.

the tv is a 42'' 16:9.

i have tried the aspect, but it remains full screen.

When i use mac2tivo on the same file it comes in at the correct ratio(black bars on top and bottom).

[Yoav]

I'm using the tivo hd.

the tv is a 42'' 16:9.

i have tried the aspect, but it remains full screen.

When i use mac2tivo on the same file it comes in at the correct ratio(black bars on top and bottom).

Hey bud. I'm sorry I can't be more helpful. There is probably a setting in the config file that can help resolve this... But I don't know what it is.

I'm sure it's of no consolation but I have a very similar setup to yours, and I get gray bars above/below on 1.85 / 2.35 aspect ratio movies...

I'm going to re-ask your question on the pyTivo forum and link it in here.. maybe someone else would have a useful answer.

edit : Ok I asked the question here (http://pytivo.krkeegan.com/movies-being-stretched-instead-of-letterboxed-t657.html#4913). I'll try and respond to their questions and relay it here, although I'd recommend signing up to that forum and participating if you can.

It may also help if you attach the contents of your pyTivoX.log (it's in /tmp/). You may need to open the Finder, and choose (menu) "Go" / "Go to Folder..." and type in "/tmp" to find it.

And of course, right after I ask it, I come across someone asking the same question (damn I suck at using the 'search' functionality of message boards): same problem (http://pytivo.krkeegan.com/aspect-ratio-for-panorama-movies-aspect-2-35-etc-t503.html). Looks like so far it's not fixed, but you're not alone :)

[gu014]

I followed your instructions and I am unable to find the pytivox.log.

Here is a screenshot of /tmp/

[Yoav]

I followed your instructions and I am unable to find the pytivox.log.

Here is a screenshot of /tmp/

Odd, that's the right location. Did you run pyTivoX? Try opening up a Terminal.app and typing
ls /tmp/
This is just weird...

[NA9D]

Hey Yoav,

I installed pyTivoX today and it's not showing up in my Tivo's Now Playing list. I listed the log file and here's what it's getting. Looks like some errors in the config file? I've not touched it:


cat /tmp/pyTivoX.log
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/Applications/pyTivoX-1.0.1/pyTivoX.app/Contents/Resources/pyTivo-wgw/pyTivo.py", line 7, in <module>
import beacon, httpserver, os, sys
File "/Applications/pyTivoX-1.0.1/pyTivoX.app/Contents/Resources/pyTivo-wgw/beacon.py", line 5, in <module>
import config
File "/Applications/pyTivoX-1.0.1/pyTivoX.app/Contents/Resources/pyTivo-wgw/config.py", line 25, in <module>
config.read(config_files)
File "/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.5/lib/python2.5/ConfigParser.py", line 267, in read
self._read(fp, filename)
File "/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.5/lib/python2.5/ConfigParser.py", line 490, in _read
raise e
ConfigParser.ParsingError: File contains parsing errors: /Users/jon/Library/Application Support/pyTivoX/pyTivo.conf
[line 12]: '192.168.1.255\n'

[Yoav]

Hey Yoav,

I installed pyTivoX today and it's not showing up in my Tivo's Now Playing list. I listed the log file and here's what it's getting. Looks like some errors in the config file? I've not touched it:


cat /tmp/pyTivoX.log
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/Applications/pyTivoX-1.0.1/pyTivoX.app/Contents/Resources/pyTivo-wgw/pyTivo.py", line 7, in <module>
import beacon, httpserver, os, sys
File "/Applications/pyTivoX-1.0.1/pyTivoX.app/Contents/Resources/pyTivo-wgw/beacon.py", line 5, in <module>
import config
File "/Applications/pyTivoX-1.0.1/pyTivoX.app/Contents/Resources/pyTivo-wgw/config.py", line 25, in <module>
config.read(config_files)
File "/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.5/lib/python2.5/ConfigParser.py", line 267, in read
self._read(fp, filename)
File "/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.5/lib/python2.5/ConfigParser.py", line 490, in _read
raise e
ConfigParser.ParsingError: File contains parsing errors: /Users/jon/Library/Application Support/pyTivoX/pyTivo.conf
[line 12]: '192.168.1.255\n'


Just to clarify, you were using pyTivoX before, installed the beta, and now it's not working? Before we try debugging it much, have you made any modifications to the pytivo.conf file? If not, can you just press the 'Apply' button and see if it fixes itself? For what it's worth, line 12 should be 'beacon=192.168.1.255'.. I don't believe any version of pyTivoX doesnt write that line correctly... so I'm not sure how that happened...

Added note: I notice you have the application in a directory named pyTivoX-1.0.1. I'm not sure if that breaks anything, but it's definitely not needed. Generally, download the zip file, double-click on it. Open the new folder, and drag the application directly into the Applications folder... (don't drag the whole folder.. just the application).

[NA9D]

I never had pyTivoX installed before. I did copy over the whole folder that pyTivoX was in after I extracted the zip file. So perhaps it's not expecting to be in that location?

I looked at the config file but did not edit it...

[Yoav]

I never had pyTivoX installed before. I did copy over the whole folder that pyTivoX was in after I extracted the zip file. So perhaps it's not expecting to be in that location?

I looked at the config file but did not edit it...

Well, try draggin the application out of that folder and into the main Applications folder (it REALLY shouldn't matter, but maybe it does). The more likely culprit is a bad config file though... Try hitting the 'restart' (if it's on the main release) or 'apply' button if on the beta and see if it fixes it?

[NA9D]

I think I may have found the problem:

Here was my config file w/o being edited:

# Created by pyTivoX, edits here WILL BE OVERWRITTEN

[Admin]
type=admin

[Server]
Port=9032

ffmpeg=/Applications/pyTivoX.app/Contents/Resources/ffmpeg

beacon=192.168.1.255
192.168.1.255

[iTivo]
type=video
path=/Volumes/Media/Video/iTivoDownloads

[MPEG4]
type=video
path=/Volumes/Media/Video/MPEG4-H.264

[My Share]
type=video
path=/Volumes/Barracuda/iTunes Video


Look at the extra 192.168.1.255

That was the way it came when I started it up...

I removed that and now it appears to be working. But will a restart put that bad line back in?

[Yoav]

I think I may have found the problem:

Here was my config file w/o being edited:

# Created by pyTivoX, edits here WILL BE OVERWRITTEN

[Admin]
type=admin

[Server]
Port=9032

ffmpeg=/Applications/pyTivoX.app/Contents/Resources/ffmpeg

beacon=192.168.1.255
192.168.1.255

[iTivo]
type=video
path=/Volumes/Media/Video/iTivoDownloads

[MPEG4]
type=video
path=/Volumes/Media/Video/MPEG4-H.264

[My Share]
type=video
path=/Volumes/Barracuda/iTunes Video


Look at the extra 192.168.1.255

That was the way it came when I started it up...

I removed that and now it appears to be working. But will a restart put that bad line back in?

A click of the restart button would indeed re-break the file. However, you can always 'exit' and the run 'pyTivoX' again, and that will leave the file as-is.

It looks like my method of detecting the beacon is failing for your setup. I'll put a fix in right now to just use one value (I assumed it always was). But I'm guessing there's something 'interesting' with your home network setup?

Can you run the following command and in a Terminal.app and paste the results here?

ifconfig `route get default | sed -n -e 's/.*interface: \\(.*\\)/\\1/p'`

[Yoav]

Ok I just put up a new beta (1.1b6). It fixes the bug by forcing just one result for the beacon, and also has some new flags on streambaby (turns off h.264 aac as-is streaming, and streams using a higher quality audio bitrate). You'll need to hit 'apply' to generate the new config file...

[NA9D]

A click of the restart button would indeed re-break the file. However, you can always 'exit' and the run 'pyTivoX' again, and that will leave the file as-is.

It looks like my method of detecting the beacon is failing for your setup. I'll put a fix in right now to just use one value (I assumed it always was). But I'm guessing there's something 'interesting' with your home network setup?

Can you run the following command and in a Terminal.app and paste the results here?

ifconfig `route get default | sed -n -e 's/.*interface: \\(.*\\)/\\1/p'`

Here you go:


ifconfig `route get default | sed -n -e 's/.*interface: \\(.*\\)/\\1/p'`
en0: flags=8863<UP,BROADCAST,SMART,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
inet6 fe80::217:f2ff:fe02:4d82%en0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x4
inet 192.168.1.10 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.1.255
inet 192.168.1.12 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.1.255
ether 00:17:f2:02:4d:82
media: autoselect (1000baseT <full-duplex,flow-control>) status: active
supported media: autoselect 10baseT/UTP <half-duplex> 10baseT/UTP <full-duplex> 10baseT/UTP <full-duplex,hw-loopback> 10baseT/UTP <full-duplex,flow-control> 100baseTX <half-duplex> 100baseTX <full-duplex> 100baseTX <full-duplex,hw-loopback> 100baseTX <full-duplex,flow-control> 1000baseT <full-duplex> 1000baseT <full-duplex,hw-loopback> 1000baseT <full-duplex,flow-control>


I do have two IP addresses assigned to this machine. Maybe that's it?

[Yoav]

Here you go:


ifconfig `route get default | sed -n -e 's/.*interface: \\(.*\\)/\\1/p'`
en0: flags=8863<UP,BROADCAST,SMART,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
inet6 fe80::217:f2ff:fe02:4d82%en0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x4
inet 192.168.1.10 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.1.255
inet 192.168.1.12 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.1.255
ether 00:17:f2:02:4d:82
media: autoselect (1000baseT <full-duplex,flow-control>) status: active
supported media: autoselect 10baseT/UTP <half-duplex> 10baseT/UTP <full-duplex> 10baseT/UTP <full-duplex,hw-loopback> 10baseT/UTP <full-duplex,flow-control> 100baseTX <half-duplex> 100baseTX <full-duplex> 100baseTX <full-duplex,hw-loopback> 100baseTX <full-duplex,flow-control> 1000baseT <full-duplex> 1000baseT <full-duplex,hw-loopback> 1000baseT <full-duplex,flow-control>


I do have two IP addresses assigned to this machine. Maybe that's it?

Yep that was definitely it :). (The program is really designed for the most basic of setups). But anyways, with the change in the code I just pull out the first address and use it. So it should work for your setup.

Not going to be perfect for everyone, but at least for those who know how to multi-home their machines, they probably also know how to edit config files, and can handle editting the config to fix it :).

[westside_guy]

... but at least for those who know how to multi-home their machines, they probably also know how to edit config files, and can handle editting the config to fix it :).

Well, I'm not sure this is always true. Running VMware gives you additional TCP/IP addresses, so a person who's not comfortable with editing a config file could still end up with a multi-homed computer.

I'm not sure what you (as the developer) can do about that, though. :D

[Yoav]

Well, I'm not sure this is always true. Running VMware gives you additional TCP/IP addresses, so a person who's not comfortable with editing a config file could still end up with a multi-homed computer.

I'm not sure what you (as the developer) can do about that, though. :D

Haha we're off on a huge tangent, but:
Actually the reason there is this whole 'trying to figure out the right broadcast address' is because tools like parallels and vmware were generating additional interfaces/addresses on the computer.

So pyTivo was sometimes trying to set up the beacon on the wrong address. I added some code to detect the default interface, and extract the broadcast address from that. For users with fusion or parallels, they still only have one IP address associated with the default route's network interface, and the code as written works.

The reason it broke in the above situation is that the default interface was 'en1', and 'en1' had two broadcast addresses. Anyways, that was unexpected by me and it led to a bug. With the new beta code it will now just pull the first broadcast address, resolving this problem.

Fwiw, that may still be buggy (the second address might be the right one for example). But I think for people in that situation, it is fair to tell them 'go manually fix the config file'.

The logic chain is basically (you can run this in Terminal.app if you like):

route get default ;# extract the interface from this
ifconfig <interface> ;# extract the broadcast value from this

Take only the first value.

[westside_guy]

Fwiw, that may still be buggy (the second address might be the right one for example). But I think for people in that situation, it is fair to tell them 'go manually fix the config file'.

Oh yeah, I hope I didn't sound like I thought you needed to do more - in the end I have no doubt there'll always be at least a few cases where the end user still has to intervene. I just think that, even if the logical/fair solution is to tell the user to fix the config file, the user may not always have the level of understanding required.

But certainly for the vast majority of Mac users you've made it extremely simple for them to get pyTivo running - which is pretty cool.

[NA9D]

The reason I have two IPs on the same NIC is that one of them is used for hosting my website. So the NAT on the router sends all requests to my IP for www.na9d.net (my website) to the second IP on my MacPro. The first IP is actually associated with a different external IP address (I have a block of 5 fixed IPs).

On the LAN it matters not what address is used. It's just for being able to NAT correctly from WAN to LAN that it matters.

[raianoat]

For some reason I'm not able to get the Photo sharing feature to work within pyTiVoX. Whenever I try and access one of my photos it shows up as a broken image. I took a look at the log (/tmp/pyTivoX.log) and it shows that pyTiVo is throwing a 404 for all of my images. Any ideas?

192.168.1.105 - - [28/Jan/2009 20:40:54] "GET /Local%20Pictures/christmas-ornament-balls.jpg?Width=88&Height=60&PixelShape=40%3A33&Format=image%2Fjpeg HTTP/1.0" 404 -
192.168.1.105 - - [28/Jan/2009 20:40:54] code 404, message Not Found

[raianoat]

BTW, I installed PIL (python image lib) and I think it is working based on the following info:

Python 2.5.1 (r251:54863, Apr 15 2008, 22:57:26)
[GCC 4.0.1 (Apple Inc. build 5465)] on darwin
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> import sys
>>> print sys.path
['', '/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.5/lib/python25.zip', '/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.5/lib/python2.5', '/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.5/lib/python2.5/plat-darwin', '/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.5/lib/python2.5/plat-mac', '/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.5/lib/python2.5/plat-mac/lib-scriptpackages', '/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.5/Extras/lib/python', '/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.5/lib/python2.5/lib-tk', '/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.5/lib/python2.5/lib-dynload', '/Library/Python/2.5/site-packages', '/Library/Python/2.5/site-packages/PIL', '/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.5/Extras/lib/python/PyObjC']

[Yoav]

I'll go try it out (to be honest, I've never bothered using pyTivo for music or photos...)
Hopefully it's trivial to fix..

[Yoav]

BTW, I installed PIL (python image lib) and I think it is working based on the following info:

Yep, It looks like pictures depends on PIL being installed, which in turn depends on a bunch of additional libraries (like libjpeg, libtiff, etc), most of which are installed if you use fink or ports, but none of which I can depend on.

So, I think, for now, I'll disable gui support for photo media (since you're the first to even mention the bug, I suspect most people won't even notice). If you really want to be able to share photos, you can still manually edit the file in ~/Library/Application Support/pyTivoX/pytivo.conf and use that (and then you'll be responsible for installing PIL and all associated libraries).

Not the best answer....

[raianoat]

Thanks for trying this out. I had hoped to use pyTiVoX as a replacement for TD on my Mac. I guess I'll either have to get all the dependencies installed. I'll be sure to post back here if I get it working.

[wmcbrine]

There were no dependencies when I installed PIL on my Mac. It was a nice simple package. I don't remember where I got it, but perhaps this will do:

http://pythonmac.org/packages/py25-fat/index.html

I have to say, I'm very disappointed to read that pyTivoX was released without testing photos or music.

[pkscout]

Thanks for trying this out. I had hoped to use pyTiVoX as a replacement for TD on my Mac. I guess I'll either have to get all the dependencies installed. I'll be sure to post back here if I get it working.

I tried the pyTiVo music and photos (when I had pyTiVo installed by hand) and really didn't like it. TiVo Desktop seemed to have much better options for dealing with playlists in iTunes. Just my two cents.

[Yoav]

There were no dependencies when I installed PIL on my Mac. It was a nice simple package. I don't remember where I got it, but perhaps this will do:

http://pythonmac.org/packages/py25-fat/index.html

I have to say, I'm very disappointed to read that pyTivoX was released without testing photos or music.

Hey thanks for that link! Let me see if I can repackage the contents of that with pyTivoX...

As for disappointment.. Sorry :).

[raianoat]

There were no dependencies when I installed PIL on my Mac. It was a nice simple package. I don't remember where I got it, but perhaps this will do:

http://pythonmac.org/packages/py25-fat/index.html

I have to say, I'm very disappointed to read that pyTivoX was released without testing photos or music.

Based on the output above, doesn't it look as though I have PIL installed?

[Yoav]

Based on the output above, doesn't it look as though I have PIL installed?

from this chunk '/Library/Python/2.5/site-packages/PIL' I would guess you do.. You can always verify by checking that there is something in that directory :).

However, a 'clean' mac has nothing in site-packages. And I'd rather not tell people 'to use photos, you must go install PIL and whatever requirements it has'.

That said, in an earlier message wmcbrine pointed at a build of PIL that has all non-default dependencies linked in, which I am now toying with. So if it works out, I'll just include it, and hopefully it will get things working.. (building stuff right now).

[Yoav]

Ok, so I just integrated the PIL build, and photos are working...
So next build of pyTivo should do photos fine..

Thanks for catching it...

[raianoat]

Ok, so I just integrated the PIL build, and photos are working...
So next build of pyTivo should do photos fine..

Thanks for catching it...
Will pyTiVoX somehow install the pkg that was referenced earlier? Will I need to "uninstall" the library that I've already installed?

[Yoav]

Will pyTiVoX somehow install the pkg that was referenced earlier? Will I need to "uninstall" the library that I've already installed?

It will 'just work' (it will include the necessary files in the pyTivoX.app bundle).
You do not need to install or uninstall anything

If you feel like trying it out, download the latest beta...

edit: I should point out the latest beta has the latest code of a bunch of things, including
pytivo, ffmpeg (+underlying libs), streambaby, etc...

[raianoat]

It will 'just work' (it will include the necessary files in the pyTivoX.app bundle).
You do not need to install or uninstall anything

If you feel like trying it out, download the latest beta...

edit: I should point out the latest beta has the latest code of a bunch of things, including
pytivo, ffmpeg (+underlying libs), streambaby, etc...

Downloading it now...I'll let you know if it works for me.

[raianoat]

It worked! Thanks a lot! BTW, I also tried out the streaming feature and it rocks. Be sure to let me know when you release an official version. I'd love to mention it on my blog.

Also, what does "video:pytivo" mean in the type column? How is it different than just "video"?

[raianoat]

I may have spoke too soon ;). StreamBaby is saying that most of my directories don't contain any video. Thus far I've only gotten it to work with one directory where I have .mp4 files.

does streambaby only work with h.264 encoded content?

[NA9D]

The only issue I've noticed is that AAC audio files don't play correctly, but TiVo Desktop has the same problem.

Thank you!

If you do some Google or forum searches on this you'll find the answer. There's an error in the Tivo firmware that flips some bits in the AAC codec or something like that. There's a script you can run on your Mac that flips the bits so it works with Tivo. I did it last spring when I got my TivoHD and I forgot the exact details but it works just fine.

[westside_guy]

If you do some Google or forum searches on this you'll find the answer. There's an error in the Tivo firmware that flips some bits in the AAC codec or something like that. There's a script you can run on your Mac that flips the bits so it works with Tivo. I did it last spring when I got my TivoHD and I forgot the exact details but it works just fine.

Just curious - is this PPC Macs you're talking about and the big endian/little endian difference between PPC and x86? All my Macs are Intel-based now; but I do remember (unrelated to Tivo) occasionally having to do some "endian magic" with some music files - specifically when I was trying to make ringtones for my phone on my old Powerbook.

[Yoav]

It worked! Thanks a lot! BTW, I also tried out the streaming feature and it rocks. Be sure to let me know when you release an official version. I'd love to mention it on my blog.

Also, what does "video:pytivo" mean in the type column? How is it different than just "video"?

It was requested that I allow you to specify some directories to be served by pytivo only, and some by streambaby only. I'm still debating removing this since it feels more like it's confusing than useful (again, simple program for people who don't want advanced features...).

[Yoav]

I may have spoke too soon ;). StreamBaby is saying that most of my directories don't contain any video. Thus far I've only gotten it to work with one directory where I have .mp4 files.

does streambaby only work with h.264 encoded content?

Is it listing nothing? I believe streambaby only lists files that end with a file extension that matches any of these (from the wiki):

extensions= (default:mp4,mpeg,vob,mpg,mpeg2,mp2,avi,wmv,asf)

Ok the wiki is a little out of date, I believe mkv was added to that list. Do your filenames match that? It will only 'as-is' stream mpeg-2 and mp4 (h264/aac-ac3) files, but other files it will gladly convert on the fly and stream...

However, things are still being ironed out :).

Oh and did you hit 'apply' after changing your lists of directories?

[Yoav]

Just curious - is this PPC Macs you're talking about and the big endian/little endian difference between PPC and x86? All my Macs are Intel-based now; but I do remember (unrelated to Tivo) occasionally having to do some "endian magic" with some music files - specifically when I was trying to make ringtones for my phone on my old Powerbook.

Hmm.. I have an intel mac and haven't had any issues with AAC (except for that problem I mentioned earlier when streaming as-is h.264/AAC, it got dropped to 2-channel even though the aac source was 5.1).

[westside_guy]

Hmm.. I have an intel mac and haven't had any issues with AAC (except for that problem I mentioned earlier when streaming as-is h.264/AAC, it got dropped to 2-channel even though the aac source was 5.1).

Sorry I wasn't clear (and it was asked simply out of curiosity anyway) - then endian issues were back when I was on a PPC-based Powerbook. PPC uses Big Endian architecture while x86 is Little Endian. Actually I think PPC CPUs can go either way, but PPC Macs ran in Big Endian mode by default. IIRC I used to have to tell lame to output in Little Endian mode if I wanted the ringtones to play at all on my phone.

But it sounds like this wasn't even related to the problem mentioned anyway.

[wmcbrine]

Designbot may be referring to encrypted AAC files, which won't work with pyTivo. Unencrypted AAC should play (transcoded to MP3 on the fly with ffmpeg).

[pkscout]

It was requested that I allow you to specify some directories to be served by pytivo only, and some by streambaby only. I'm still debating removing this since it feels more like it's confusing than useful (again, simple program for people who don't want advanced features...).

I'm really finding the feature useful, but then I requested it. ;) Maybe if the option was video:stream, video:now playing, video:both that would clarify. I won't die if you remove the feature, but I will cry a little.

On an unrelated note, I downloaded the latest beta, and now the stuff I stream only goes for 5 minutes and then the TiVo drops back into Live TV. I tried a number of videos, rebooted the TiVo and restarted pyTiVoX and the result is consistent. It's like the TiVo doesn't realize streambaby is doing something.

[wmcbrine]

Unhandled idle events. See the Streambaby thread... I don't think he's made changes in that area yet (?), so it's probably just bad luck that you're seeing it now.

[gilbreen]

On an unrelated note, I downloaded the latest beta, and now the stuff I stream only goes for 5 minutes and then the TiVo drops back into Live TV. I tried a number of videos, rebooted the TiVo and restarted pyTiVoX and the result is consistent. It's like the TiVo doesn't realize streambaby is doing something.

I just installed pyTivoX yesterday for the StreamBaby capabilities on my Mac. I am seeing the same behavior also (plays for 5 minutes then kicks out to Live TV). I can go back into the file and it gives me the option to resume playback at the point I was kicked out and the show resumes at the right spot.

I have also noticed that if I play a show but hit Left to go back to the previous menu, about 3 out of 5 times, the pyTivoX StreamBaby menu item disappears from the choices of HME items. The only way to get it back is to go to my Mac and open the config menu and hit 'Apply' and it comes back to life.

[moyekj]

I suspect latest pyTivoX streambaby portion may have been built based on current SVN code from streambaby which has wrong fix for idle handling.

[Yoav]

I suspect latest pyTivoX streambaby portion may have been built based on current SVN code from streambaby which has wrong fix for idle handling.

It indeed does use the latest svn code (yay beta). Any idea when that will be fixed? I can drop it back to 0.19, but it seems like plenty of nice new things were added....

edit: Well given that the choice is between only working for 5 minutes or losing some nifty new features... I'd guess people prefer the working :). So I'll go build another beta right now... (should be up in a few minutes).

[Yoav]

Ok, new beta up (1.1b8). Only change is a revert to release 0.19a of streambaby, to avoid a bug in the latest svn code...

[gilbreen]

Ok, new beta up (1.1b8). Only change is a revert to release 0.19a of streambaby, to avoid a bug in the latest svn code...

Wow! Now that is what I call service!

Yoav, thanks for all your efforts in making two great programs accessible to the Mac/Tivo user community.

[Yoav]

Ok, it's a bit dizzying, but:
1.1b9 is up now.

Please click the 'apply' button after upgrading to write out a new compatible config file.

It's using the latest streambaby (0.20) and I enabled the stream quality option and upped the highest resolution to 1080. Keep in mind this is still in beta, but problem reports (both with pyTivoX and streambaby) are very helpful.

[Yoav]

I have also noticed that if I play a show but hit Left to go back to the previous menu, about 3 out of 5 times, the pyTivoX StreamBaby menu item disappears from the choices of HME items. The only way to get it back is to go to my Mac and open the config menu and hit 'Apply' and it comes back to life.

That sounds very much like streambaby is crashing (apply restarts it).

If it's still happening post 1.1b9, can you please (before you hit the apply button) send us the result of the following command in Terminal.app:

tail -30 /tmp/pyTivoX-SB.log

(that should hopefully be enough to figure out why it crashed...)

[raianoat]

Is it listing nothing? I believe streambaby only lists files that end with a file extension that matches any of these (from the wiki):

extensions= (default:mp4,mpeg,vob,mpg,mpeg2,mp2,avi,wmv,asf)

Ok the wiki is a little out of date, I believe mkv was added to that list. Do your filenames match that? It will only 'as-is' stream mpeg-2 and mp4 (h264/aac-ac3) files, but other files it will gladly convert on the fly and stream...

However, things are still being ironed out :).

Oh and did you hit 'apply' after changing your lists of directories?

that would explain it. I was trying to stream .mov files.

[Yoav]

that would explain it. I was trying to stream .mov files.

Wow. I didn't even notice .mov wasn't in the list! Yeah it clearly should be :).
Although /mov is a quicktime container (it's supposed to be similar to mp4 I think).. Not sure
if there's support for quicktime containers in streambaby yet.. Let me mess with it locally first :)

[pkscout]

Ok, it's a bit dizzying, but:
1.1b9 is up now.


I just wanted to confirm that after testing it appears that the 5 minute drop to live issue is resolved with this beta.

[norbertsf]

Yoav,


Been using pyTivoX for about 3 weeks now.

Thanks for your time end effort! Love it!

Norbert

[gilbreen]

That sounds very much like streambaby is crashing (apply restarts it).

If it's still happening post 1.1b9, can you please (before you hit the apply button) send us the result of the following command in Terminal.app:

tail -30 /tmp/pyTivoX-SB.log

(that should hopefully be enough to figure out why it crashed...)

I have installed the latest beta (1.1b9) and so far so good.

One question, is it my imagination or was pyTivoX running before without a dock icon? Not sure but I thought it was running on my machine with only the menu item present. I could be totally be wrong.

In addition, the beta also resolved the issue with being kicked out to LiveTV after 5 min of viewing.

Thanks so much again for bringing streambaby to the Mac. I came back to Tivo from ReplayTV and one of the features I really missed with the ReplavTV was the ability to truly stream vs. copying shows to the Tivo. This brings back a sorely missed feature.

Gilbert

[Yoav]

One question, is it my imagination or was pyTivoX running before without a dock icon? Not sure but I thought it was running on my machine with only the menu item present. I could be totally be wrong.


It's probably not your imagination. If you select 'launch at startup' it's supposed to run without a dock icon. The intent is to have it running in the background (like a service) if you have that selected.

HOWEVER, due to how apple handles dock icons, it's a little messy when the code gets re-installed or upgraded.

So, after an upgrade/install, you have to unselect 'launch at startup', re-select it, and exit. Then, next time you launch it, there will be no dock icon (unless you asked the dock to keep the icon there) -- Or if you like the dock icon, don't use 'launch at startup'). In theory I could add code to detect that it was upgraded and you had 'launch' selected, and mostly do the right thing -- but right now that's low priority for me...

[bedelman]

For what it's worth, I use Dock Dodger to disable dock icons when I don't want them to appear. Of course, if I reinstall the application -- I have to run Dock Dodger on the re-installed application.

[gilbreen]

That sounds very much like streambaby is crashing (apply restarts it).

If it's still happening post 1.1b9, can you please (before you hit the apply button) send us the result of the following command in Terminal.app:

tail -30 /tmp/pyTivoX-SB.log

(that should hopefully be enough to figure out why it crashed...)

Yoav,

The program crashed again this evening. Here is the log as you requested. (I put it up on pastebin.com.)

http://pastebin.com/m6f46f16a

Let me know if you need me to check/test anything else.

Gilbert

[gilbreen]

For what it's worth, I use Dock Dodger to disable dock icons when I don't want them to appear. Of course, if I reinstall the application -- I have to run Dock Dodger on the re-installed application.

Thanks Bob - good to know. I was able to fix the issue using Yoav's instructions.

Gilbert

[Yoav]

Yoav,

The program crashed again this evening. Here is the log as you requested. (I put it up on pastebin.com.)

http://pastebin.com/m6f46f16a

Let me know if you need me to check/test anything else.

Gilbert

Bah :( Sadly there's nothing in the log that seems to indicate a problem. The last message it's printed is about 'pruning the cache'.. with no error..
the jmDNS error is normal and can be ignored.

So at least for now, there's not much I can work with. If you figure out a sequence of steps I can follow to make it crash, I'd love to try it. (as is, I've left mine running for quite a while.. the only issue I've had is my computer going to sleep and so tivo wouldn't see streambaby then).

[kearygriffin]

Bah :( Sadly there's nothing in the log that seems to indicate a problem. The last message it's printed is about 'pruning the cache'.. with no error..
the jmDNS error is normal and can be ignored.


Is that jmDNS error in the log an OSX related issue? (or rather non-issue, since you say it's normal). I've never seen it before.

[Yoav]

Is that jmDNS error in the log an OSX related issue? (or rather non-issue, since you say it's normal). I've never seen it before.

I never bothered trying to debug it actually, it's always printed for me even though everything ran smoothly

Exception in thread "JmDNS.SocketListener" java.lang.ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException: 3 >= 3
at java.util.Vector.elementAt(Vector.java:432)
at javax.jmdns.DNSRecord.suppressedBy(Unknown Source)
at javax.jmdns.DNSOutgoing.addAnswer(Unknown Source)
at javax.jmdns.JmDNS.handleQuery(Unknown Source)
at javax.jmdns.JmDNS$SocketListener.run(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:613)

I guess it might be worth looking into..?

[Yoav]

Ok, looks like there's a bug in the apple javax.jmdns stuff.
If I download jmdns.jar (1.0) and put it in the classpath, then the error goes away.
I guess I'll do that for the next release...

[Yoav]

Ok new version 1.1b10:
detects number of cores and uses ffmpeg -threads {cores} where possible
set up highest quality default with audio=384kbps, video=1080
mdns bug fixed (?)
latest streambaby code
latest build of ffmpeg with i686 optimizations instead of i386
(should work on all G4 -> i386 macs.. please tell me if I broke it).

but reports appreciated.

[Goobergirl]

At my wit's end!

I'm on a MacPro running latest Leo.

I got it to work a few days ago, set it to download a few things, came home, found it had stopped downloading halfway through three different files, and lost connection to the computer, and I've been struggling to get it working again ever since, no luck.

After finding some tips regarding changing the beacon to the tivo ip, I did so in the .conf file via BBedit. At that point my next problem occurred: the window to use it stopped opening...actually, at that point it stopped opening visibly at all, meaning I could not find it in the doc, via command-tab, or even the force quit window, but the computer kept telling me it was open when I tried to trash it.

I restarted, trashed everything I could identify: the plist, the application support, the application. I restarted, redownloaded, reinstalled, reopened.

Well, the icon showed up in the dock and I could see it via the app switcher, I could even see the menu on the menubar...but no window to work in.

Then I downloaded the beta I saw was uploaded a day ago.

No improvement.


Assuming someone helps me fix THAT problem, my next problem will probably be getting the Tivo and computer talking again...but we'll see.

Thank you for any help you can give.

(As for getting the computer and Tivo talking, I restarted the Tivo, the computer, the router, everything - that's why I finally went into the .conf file. What I saw there was a weird ip, first three parts ok, last part way off.)

[Yoav]

At my wit's end!


1) Is there a menulet at the top bar (it should look like a tiny tivo-looking icon). If so, pyTivoX is indeed running but was told to 'launch at startup' so it has no dock icon. To quit, just select the tivo button, and choose 'quit'

2) Do you have any sort of 'non-default' network setup? Can I get you to open Terminal.app and run 'ifconfig' there, and copy the output to here?

3) what is your tivo's IP address? Can you run 'ping <tivoip>' in Terminal.app?

4) You can complete 'remove' pyTivoX and then try installing it clean: Quit pyTivoX, delete the 3 locations:

/Application/pyTivoX
<user>/Library/Application Support/pyTivoX
<user>/Library/Preferences/com.yoav.pyTivoX.plist


5) was the fourth part of the IP address that was 'way off' 255? That's a pretty common broadcast address and that's what the beacon should be set to.

It sounds like there's something uniquely 'messed up' though, if your computer can't even see your tivo any longer, that is independent of pyTivoX.. Until your computer and your tivo can talk to each other, no amount of fixing pyTivoX will help

[luvmytivo]

I'm nominating Yoav for Mac:TiVo MVP. Got a donate button set up yet?

[Goobergirl]

I agree!

Yoav: Thank you... everything seems to be working now, although I have to say I'm not really clear on why. My whole networking thing is very mysterious to me... I know enough to get myself in trouble, if you follow.

Thanks!

[Yoav]

Ok, new version of pyTivoX (1.1b11) up, with latest streambaby, ffmpeg, and friends.

[PacoII]

For those that want to permanently remove pyTivoX's dock icon (like me :) ), there is a fairly simple way to do it:

- quit the app
- Right click on the app and select show package contents
- Open the Contents folder
- you should see a file called info.plist. Open that up in TextEdit or whatever
- inside that file you will see a key-string of value pairs. At the end of the list add the following:

<key>LSUIElement</key>
<string>1</string>

Save your changes. No more dock icon :)

For what it's worth, I use Dock Dodger to disable dock icons when I don't want them to appear. Of course, if I reinstall the application -- I have to run Dock Dodger on the re-installed application.

[Yoav]

For those that want to permanently remove pyTivoX's dock icon (like me :) ), there is a fairly simple way to do it:

- quit the app
- Right click on the app and select show package contents
- Open the Contents folder
- you should see a file called info.plist. Open that up in TextEdit or whatever
- inside that file you will see a key-string of value pairs. At the end of the list add the following:

<key>LSUIElement</key>
<string>1</string>

Save your changes. No more dock icon :)


Indeed :).

Selecting 'Launch at login' does that, as well as register the program to launch at login.

The problem is that plist file gets overwritten every time you install a new version of pyTivoX (which is why you will need to either de-select/re-select launch at login, or else re-edit that file).

[kas25]

Sorry for the stupid install question but I added my folders but don't see the "reset" button described on the instructions. I see the little black tivo sign at the top of my toolbar but not sure how to do the restart. Thanks

[pkscout]

Sorry for the stupid install question but I added my folders but don't see the "reset" button described on the instructions. I see the little black tivo sign at the top of my toolbar but not sure how to do the restart. Thanks

Make sure your in the finder. Then click the little black TiVo and select SHOW CONFIGURATION (or something like that). That's the screen that will have the button. It's in the upper right on the same screen where you added the folders.

Depending on the version, it may say APPLY instead of RESET.

[Yoav]

Depending on the version, it may say APPLY instead of RESET.

Oops yes. I need to update the instructions. The new versions call that 'Apply'. Thank you for catching it.

[kas25]

Make sure your in the finder. Then click the little black TiVo and select SHOW CONFIGURATION (or something like that). That's the screen that will have the button. It's in the upper right on the same screen where you added the folders.

Depending on the version, it may say APPLY instead of RESET.

You are correct, it is APPLY. Downloading files now works like a charm. Thanks. When I go to Showcases and try to open a folder to stream I keep getting frozen on the Please Wait notification. Anyone else have this happen? I have mp4 files in the folder for the most part but the folder won't open up to list the movies to stream.

[Yoav]

You are correct, it is APPLY. Downloading files now works like a charm. Thanks. When I go to Showcases and try to open a folder to stream I keep getting frozen on the Please Wait notification. Anyone else have this happen? I have mp4 files in the folder for the most part but the folder won't open up to list the movies to stream.

Can I get you to open the Finder, Choose from the menu "Go"... "Go to Folder..." and type in "/tmp"
Once there, look for a file named "pyTivoX-SB.log" (this is the log of the streambaby app). And attach it here. Hopefully there is something useful in there.

It sounds like the sorting of files for presenting is somehow getting confused. Keary (who wrote streambaby) might be interested in the log too. But I'm entirely guessing here.. the log should help. Do you have a LOT of files in that folder? Do you have metadata files there too (.txt files?).

[bedelman]

Yoav -- on another note, I installed the latest beta today (1.1b12) and I wanted to try out the streaming support. However, I didn't see anything show up in the Music, Photos, & Showcases area on my TiVoHD. I checked pyTivoX-SB.log and found this entry at the end...

Error loading config: /Users/bedelman/Library/Application Support/pyTivoX/streambaby.ini

...and when I looked at that directory location there is no streambaby.ini file -- only pyTiVo.conf and Shares.data

Should I be creating that ini file manually -- or should it be created for me?

- Bob

[kas25]

Can I get you to open the Finder, Choose from the menu "Go"... "Go to Folder..." and type in "/tmp"
Once there, look for a file named "pyTivoX-SB.log" (this is the log of the streambaby app). And attach it here. Hopefully there is something useful in there.

It sounds like the sorting of files for presenting is somehow getting confused. Keary (who wrote streambaby) might be interested in the log too. But I'm entirely guessing here.. the log should help. Do you have a LOT of files in that folder? Do you have metadata files there too (.txt files?).

pyTivoX-SB.log

I just tried it with the folder that has 1 movie (MP4). Here is the log. I hit tivo menu after a few minutes. Thanks for the help.

Sat 2009/02/07 18:35:48.812| |Acceptor|Application|Received event for unknown resource id. Id = 2057, event = 2057.RESOURCE_INFO(complete, {})
Sat 2009/02/07 18:35:48.881| |master|StreamBabyStream$StreamBabyStreamFactory|uri=folder. png
Sat 2009/02/07 18:35:48.893| |master|SelectionScreen|focusOn entry=null
Sat 2009/02/07 18:35:56.741| |Acceptor|SelectionScreen|code=6 rawcode=16778246
Sat 2009/02/07 18:35:56.944| |master|StreamBabyStream$StreamBabyStreamFactory|uri=movie.p ng
Sat 2009/02/07 18:35:56.946| |master|VideoModuleHelper|GetVidInfo: file:/Volumes/LaCie/Stream/Uncle%20Buck.m4v
Sat 2009/02/07 18:35:57.132| |master|FFmpegJavaVideoModule|vidDur:5978931
Sat 2009/02/07 18:35:57.148| |master|FFmpegJavaVideoModule|VideoInfo:
uri: file:/Volumes/LaCie/Stream/Uncle%20Buck.m4v, Container: mp4, Duration: 5978.931 seconds
Video: h264 720x384 23.976023976023978 fps
PixAspect: 1.0, Aspect: 1.875
Audio: aac 48000HZ 2 channels
javax.xml.transform.TransformerFactoryConfigurationError: Provider net.sf.saxon.TransformerFactoryImpl not found
at javax.xml.transform.TransformerFactory.newInstance(Transform erFactory.java:109)
at com.unwiredappeal.tivo.metadata.BaseMetadataModule.getXsltTr ansformer(BaseMetadataModule.java:61)
at com.unwiredappeal.tivo.metadata.BaseMetadataModule.transform (BaseMetadataModule.java:97)
at com.unwiredappeal.tivo.metadata.StandardMetadataModule.handl eVidMeta(StandardMetadataModule.java:173)
at com.unwiredappeal.tivo.metadata.StandardMetadataModule.setMe tadata(StandardMetadataModule.java:228)
at com.unwiredappeal.tivo.modules.VideoModuleHelper.setMetadata (VideoModuleHelper.java:119)
at com.unwiredappeal.tivo.dir.DirEntry.getMetadata(DirEntry.jav a:229)
at com.unwiredappeal.tivo.dir.DirEntry.getName(DirEntry.java:80 )
at com.unwiredappeal.tivo.dir.DirEntry.toString(DirEntry.java:2 54)
at com.tivo.hme.bananas.BText.refresh(BText.java:179)
at com.tivo.hme.bananas.BText.setValue(BText.java:157)
at com.unwiredappeal.tivo.streambaby.SelectionScreen$StandardLi st.createRow(SelectionScreen.java:423)
at com.tivo.hme.bananas.BListPlus.handleCreateRow(BListPlus.jav a:373)
at com.tivo.hme.bananas.BListPlus.getRow(BListPlus.java:364)
at com.tivo.hme.bananas.BList.refresh(BList.java:295)
at com.tivo.hme.bananas.BListPlus.refresh(BListPlus.java:451)
at com.tivo.hme.bananas.BList.touch(BList.java:679)
at com.tivo.hme.bananas.BList.add(BList.java:617)
at com.tivo.hme.bananas.BList.add(BList.java:480)
at com.unwiredappeal.tivo.streambaby.SelectionScreen.updateFile List(SelectionScreen.java:157)
at com.unwiredappeal.tivo.streambaby.SelectionScreen.tick(Selec tionScreen.java:116)
at com.tivo.hme.sdk.util.Ticker.run(Ticker.java:143)
Sat 2009/02/07 18:40:19.871| |Acceptor|Listener|
Sat 2009/02/07 18:40:19.871| |Acceptor|Listener|connection to receiver closed
Sat 2009/02/07 18:40:19.871| |Acceptor|Listener|
Sat 2009/02/07 18:40:19.871| |Acceptor|Factory|HME receiver disconnected

[Yoav]

Yoav -- on another note, I installed the latest beta today (1.1b12) and I wanted to try out the streaming support. However, I didn't see anything show up in the Music, Photos, & Showcases area on my TiVoHD. I checked pyTivoX-SB.log and found this entry at the end...

Error loading config: /Users/bedelman/Library/Application Support/pyTivoX/streambaby.ini

...and when I looked at that directory location there is no streambaby.ini file -- only pyTiVo.conf and Shares.data

Should I be creating that ini file manually -- or should it be created for me?

- Bob

Hit 'apply' and it will create the file for you.

[Yoav]

pyTivoX-SB.log

I just tried it with the folder that has 1 movie (MP4). Here is the log. I hit tivo menu after a few minutes. Thanks for the help.


Ok well, there's definitely a java error being spit out, and it looks like it's related to being unable to find a java class it needs: TransformerFactoryImpl.

I see a bunch of checkins related to xslt stuff, so it might be fixed in the latest code. Let me build the latest svn code and upload it. *hopefully* it fixes it for you. If not, I'll push this up to keary to look at.

Just a few other simple questions:
you're on MacOS 10.5? Did you change any of the defaults with java?

(it's up as 1.1b13 if you're willing to give it a spin...).

[bedelman]

Hit 'apply' and it will create the file for you.

Thanks and a big duh! for me.

May I suggest that you swap the position of the Apply and Exit buttons? Most "OK" buttons are on the right side of a dialog and moving the Exit to the left would put it near the close window control (which kinda makes sense to me)

I believe there was some human interface guideline from many years ago in regard to Cancel/OK dialogs where Cancel should preferably be to the left and OK should preferably be on the right. Good old-fashioned right-handed bias I guess.

A little bit of googling found this... OK and Cancel Buttons -- What's the Right Order? (http://measuringuserexperience.com/SubmitCancel/index.htm)

[Yoav]

May I suggest that you swap the position of the Apply and Exit buttons? Most "OK" buttons are on the right side of a dialog and moving the Exit to the left would put it near the close window control (which kinda makes sense to me)



Sounds reasonable. I'm guessing it's gonna confuse people for a bit, but 'meh' :).

Try out 1.1b13 (check for updates...) and tell me if it seems reasonable?

important note: You will need to hit 'apply' after running it in order to include the
change explained by moyekj.

[moyekj]

You are correct, it is APPLY. Downloading files now works like a charm. Thanks. When I go to Showcases and try to open a folder to stream I keep getting frozen on the Please Wait notification. Anyone else have this happen? I have mp4 files in the folder for the most part but the folder won't open up to list the movies to stream. With the latest streambaby build from SVN I was having this problem too. The solution is to put the following in tivostream.ini:
use.title=false
sort.filename=true
With those settings I think streambaby won't try and parse your video files upfront which is where it seems like it hangs up at times. I already notified Keary of problems I was having and those settings were what he recommended and worked for me.

[Yoav]

With the latest streambaby build from SVN I was having this problem too. The solution is to put the following in tivostream.ini:
use.title=false
sort.filename=true
With those settings I think streambaby won't try and parse your video files upfront which is where it seems like it hangs up at times. I already notified Keary of problems I was having and those settings were what he recommended and worked for me.

Ok, 1.1b13 now includes that change. You will need to hit 'apply' after starting it to write
out the fixed config file...

Thanks...

[kas25]

Ok, 1.1b13 now includes that change. You will need to hit 'apply' after starting it to write
out the fixed config file...

Thanks...
Thanks. That fixed the freezing before getting the list of movies. I was able to see all my movies in the folder but go some freezing when trying to 2 of the 3 I tried to play. Here is the log.

uri: file:/Users/Movies/The%20Nightmare%20Before%20Christmas.mp4v.m4v, Container: mp4, Duration: 5398.058 seconds
Video: h264 960x540 29.97 fps
PixAspect: 1.0, Aspect: 1.7777778
Audio: aac 48000HZ 2 channels
com.tivo.hme.sdk.HmeException: flush failed: Broken pipe
at com.tivo.hme.sdk.Application.flush(Application.java:545)
at com.tivo.hme.sdk.HmeObject.flush(HmeObject.java:457)
at com.tivo.hme.sdk.Resource.finalize(Resource.java:168)
at java.lang.ref.Finalizer.invokeFinalizeMethod(Native Method)
at java.lang.ref.Finalizer.runFinalizer(Finalizer.java:83)
at java.lang.ref.Finalizer.access$100(Finalizer.java:14)
at java.lang.ref.Finalizer$FinalizerThread.run(Finalizer.java:1 60)
Sun 2009/02/08 10:46:39.072| |Finalizer|Listener|
Sun 2009/02/08 10:46:39.073| |Finalizer|Factory|HME receiver disconnected

[TiVoEvan74]

Another data point. My Tivo froze after trying to open a folder that had MP4s in it (Science Friday Video podcasts). Had to unplug it.

No biggie, but I thought you should know. I was using 1.0.1

But I'm not complaining. I'm transferring Cranky Geeks and those Star Trek New Voyages shows and they've been working like a charm. Of course, I haven't checked what type of video files they are... I know one of the shows (which I haven't transferred yet) is .wmv.

In any event, wonderful application! Is there a PayPal donation link somewhere? I'd like to contribute/reward/support such a brilliant, useful, and fun program!

[Yoav]

Thanks. That fixed the freezing before getting the list of movies. I was able to see all my movies in the folder but go some freezing when trying to 2 of the 3 I tried to play. Here is the log.

uri: file:/Users/Movies/The%20Nightmare%20Before%20Christmas.mp4v.m4v, Container: mp4, Duration: 5398.058 seconds
Video: h264 960x540 29.97 fps
PixAspect: 1.0, Aspect: 1.7777778
Audio: aac 48000HZ 2 channels
com.tivo.hme.sdk.HmeException: flush failed: Broken pipe
at com.tivo.hme.sdk.Application.flush(Application.java:545)
at com.tivo.hme.sdk.HmeObject.flush(HmeObject.java:457)
at com.tivo.hme.sdk.Resource.finalize(Resource.java:168)
at java.lang.ref.Finalizer.invokeFinalizeMethod(Native Method)
at java.lang.ref.Finalizer.runFinalizer(Finalizer.java:83)
at java.lang.ref.Finalizer.access$100(Finalizer.java:14)
at java.lang.ref.Finalizer$FinalizerThread.run(Finalizer.java:1 60)
Sun 2009/02/08 10:46:39.072| |Finalizer|Listener|
Sun 2009/02/08 10:46:39.073| |Finalizer|Factory|HME receiver disconnected

I'm not sure about the crash.. I did notice your file is named "name.mp4.m4v" though, which is interesting. You may want to fix that to be just .m4v . (that won't fix the bug you're seeing, but you probably want to fix it anyways).

To fix the problem, try choosing a different quality streaming setting when you select the film and tell me if it works?

(basically, many .m4vs are unplayable by the tivo as they are, but streambaby thinks they are valid and lets them through. You'll need to tell it to transcode them anyways by selecting a quality setting other than 'same').

[Yoav]

Another data point. My Tivo froze after trying to open a folder that had MP4s in it (Science Friday Video podcasts). Had to unplug it.

No biggie, but I thought you should know. I was using 1.0.1

might be worth seeing if that issue is fixed in the beta (under the downloads tab)?


In any event, wonderful application! Is there a PayPal donation link somewhere? I'd like to contribute/reward/support such a brilliant, useful, and fun program!
the gui (pyTivoX) I'm coding for free, so no donations, but thanks. If you like the underlying projects, you may want to donate to the pyTivo project or the streambaby project. There are links to both on the pyTivoX page at http://pytivox.googlecode.com/

[kas25]

I'm not sure about the crash.. I did notice your file is named "name.mp4.m4v" though, which is interesting. You may want to fix that to be just .m4v . (that won't fix the bug you're seeing, but you probably want to fix it anyways).

To fix the problem, try choosing a different quality streaming setting when you select the film and tell me if it works?

(basically, many .m4vs are unplayable by the tivo as they are, but streambaby thinks they are valid and lets them through. You'll need to tell it to transcode them anyways by selecting a quality setting other than 'same').

I just tried a bunch more files and it really works great. One suggestion is to block any files, if possible, that you know Tivo won't play as I just tried a file that I purchased on Itunes and it caused a crash. It looks like the only way to get things going after such a crash is to restart pytivox from my Mac? Thanks again for all the help and great program!!

[Yoav]

I just tried a bunch more files and it really works great. One suggestion is to block any files, if possible, that you know Tivo won't play as I just tried a file that I purchased on Itunes and it caused a crash. It looks like the only way to get things going after such a crash is to restart pytivox from my Mac? Thanks again for all the help and great program!!

Is it pyTivo or streambaby that's causing the crash? Can you forward me the contents of /tmp/pyTivoX.log and /tmp/pyTivoX-SB.log ?

[TiVoEvan74]

mp4, Science Friday Video podcast issue solved w/o a glitch with the beta! Fantastic!

How wonderful that you contribute such skilled labor to the community. It's much appreciated. So often people seek only to monetize their talent (deservedly so, for sure, given the effort involved), so seeing such a free, public giveback is really welcomed!

Now, as to contributing, the home page for the PyTivo project doesn't seem to have any donation links on it! "How you can help" is about writing documentation, plugging the project, developing for it, etc., but not about donations.

Perhaps I've overlooked a link! I'd like to offer something to the effort that way.

By the way, I did find this blog overview of PyTivo that describes it nicely. http://www.giveusoneminute.com/enhance-your-tivo-usage-part-ii-pytivox/

[wmcbrine]

If you really want to donate, one of the pyTivo developers has a link in his sig. :D

[stevencombs]

By the way, I did find this blog overview of PyTivo that describes it nicely.

I'm the writer of this blog post and I was pleased to find that someone found us! I hope our post is of service to this wonderful project. Its a small way for me to give back.
----------
Dr. Steven B. Combs
:: Give Us One Minute (GUOM)
:: giveusoneminute[dot]com

[Yoav]

1.1b15 up. You will need to hit 'apply' to generate the new config file (or remove the lines with use.title and sort.filename manually.).
Latest streambaby (r80) included, as well as ffmpeg.

[jannlinder]

Yoav,

Any chance on giving us (in the beta) a place to enter our own additions/changes to the StreamBaby .ini file?

Really looking forward to that!

:)

Thx

Jann

[NA9D]

1.1b15 up. You will need to hit 'apply' to generate the new config file (or remove the lines with use.title and sort.filename manually.).
Latest streambaby (r80) included, as well as ffmpeg.

I assume that even though you are running a "b" version (ie: 1.1b10) that pyTivo still doesn't check for Beta builds. There's not a setting that I see to do that like in iTivo.