TiVo Playback Worked but now Stopped in Vista 64-Bit

[mclendenen]

I have been playing back TiVo files on my Vista Premium 64-Bit laptop for the last year. Over the past week or so, the laptop has developed issues playing back TiVo files. Either the file never starts playing, or starts after about 5 minutes but squashed horizontally.

I have uninstalled, ran the TiVo cleaner, and reinstalled TiVo Desktop 2.7 and 2.6.1 with the same results. I have not tried 2.8, but I'm guessing the same problem will occur.

I noticed that there was an update to the Media Player for Vista 64-bit about a week ago. My guess is that's what caused the problem. I have uninstalled that "fix" but no help.

I guess I could restore to a date prior to a week ago, but I would rather fix the problem than try to avoid it.

Any ideas? I'm going to try Desktop 2.8 to see if that makes a difference.

[ggieseke]

Have you tried the codec utility in the sticky at the top of this forum? It sounds like another MPEG-2 codec was recently installed on your computer with a higher DirectShow "merit" value than the one you were using before.

[mclendenen]

I just restored by laptop to the last full image backup, which was about 2 weeks ago. Still have a problem with video playback being squished. I'll try the TDCM program and let you know my results. At this point, I am not sure when the TiVo playback quit working. The last time I know it was working was back in April 2009.

[mclendenen]

I am playing around with TDCM, but have not found a set of filters that work. I do not have MainConcept available as the Video Decoder. I am guessing the MainConcept filters get installed when you install TiVo Desktop? I will try once again to clear all TiVo files, and reinstall Desktop 2.8.

I just checked the backup that I restored and it was done AFTER a Media Center (x64) update. If I have to, I'll restore back to the original image. But my thoughts are the Tivo software should work as advertised.

[ggieseke]

I am playing around with TDCM, but have not found a set of filters that work. I do not have MainConcept available as the Video Decoder. I am guessing the MainConcept filters get installed when you install TiVo Desktop? I will try once again to clear all TiVo files, and reinstall Desktop 2.8.

I just checked the backup that I restored and it was done AFTER a Media Center (x64) update. If I have to, I'll restore back to the original image. But my thoughts are the Tivo software should work as advertised.

The MainConcept filters are only available if you have the Desktop Plus upgrade. In Desktop 2.8 they don't ever register with Windows so TDCM won't see them. I'm working on a new version but from what I've seen so far, if you have Plus it uses those codecs no matter what else is installed on your system unless you already have a preferred codec set up.

What does the graph show as far as the codecs being used to open .TiVo files?

[mclendenen]

Finally - I got it to work! Still with Desktop 2.7, but I tried some of the options I have. Here are my settings:

MPEG Demuxer: MPEG-2 Demultiplexer
Audio Codec: Ulead MPEG Audio Decoder
Video Codec: Ulead MPEG video decoder

I have Corel Videostudio 12 installed as an editor and that is where the Ulead filters come from.

In my trial and error, I noticed that some standard AVI files from a digital camera did not play with the proper colors in Windows Media Player (WMP), but looked fine in VideoStudio 12. Even though I have fixed my TiVo problem, AVI files are still discolored in WMP, but that is a fix for another day!

Thanks to all in this thread and in the Sticky at top for helping with this issue.

[ggieseke]

TDCM only affects .TiVo files, so playback of the AVI files are up to the overall merit settings of each codec. Glad it's working!

If you need to tweak things, check out http://www.softella.com/dsfm/index.en.htm for a tool that lets you modify merit values. Make sure you take at least a System Restore snapshot before making any changes, as it will affect everything.