TiVo on the iPad: How to Transfer Recordings

[sbiller]

http://blogs.cio.com/tablet-pcs/1697...fer-recordings

Resolution-wise, it's basically a horror story. The end result was merely good, not great, video quality, because TiVo limits maximum quality of video conversions to 640 x 480 resolution. That's a far cry from the new iPad’s native 2048 by 1536 resolution or even the first two iPads, which have 1024 x 768 resolution.
Buying an HD program through iTunes and downloading it directly to an iPad is way faster and easier. And it delivers a program with noticeably sharper video quality. If you plan to regularly transfer tons of programs and you don't mind going to the trouble and the inferior video quality, Roxio’s software will ultimately save you money. Otherwise, just buy your entertainment through iTunes and get your geek on some other way.

Are TiVo togo files really limited to 640 x 480? Is there an alternative to get higher resolution for the new iPad?

[DeWitt]

Check out the TiVo Home Media Features & TiVoToGo forum for this info.

I personally use KMTTG coupled with Video Redo with good results. Admittedly not the new iPad, but fabulous results at full supported resolution.

[morac]

TiVo Desktop will only convert to 640x480 (or less). I'm not sure if this was done to prevent piracy or because it's quicker than converting to HD. I've converted using Video Redo and it takes forever.

I'm hoping the to be released TiVo transcoder device will stream and transcode to HD, but I'm not holding my breath.

[Dan203]

TiVo Desktop transcodes to SD because the Main Concept codecs they use come with built in profiles, and those profiles have no been updated by Main Concept in years. (we use the same codecs in VideoReDo, but not the built in profiles)

As for recoding speed with VideoReDo... it's really CPU dependent. I recently bought a new i7-2700K machine and I can convert to an HD iPad file faster then real time. Meaning a 42 minute show (hour minus commercials) only takes about 30 minutes to convert. However on my old machine it took almost double real time, so a newer CPU will make a big difference there.

All that being said I'm looking forward to the hardware transcoder too. Personally I'm looking forward more to the streaming then the side loading, but the side loading will be convenient as well.

Dan

[DTxAg]

TiVo Desktop + TiVo Decode + Handbrake

[BlackBetty]

Originally Posted by Dan203

All that being said I'm looking forward to the hardware transcoder too. Personally I'm looking forward more to the streaming then the side loading, but the side loading will be convenient as well.

Dan

I'm really looking forward to the new transcoder box. My new iPad is screaming for it

[gthassell]

After suffering through TiVoDesktop nightmares with poor resolution and out of sync audio, and trying to use PAVTUBE (which I paid for and runs well, but does not have an automated / server mode) I recently made a second attempt to install and run kmttg.

Once I figured out a few tricks, I have been THRILLED. I have it running on a virtual PC on a server to avoid having a separate box, but it pulls off every show I want, syncs the audio, and then converts to an MP4 video format at 1280 x 720 that is beautiful, and takes about 1GB per hour. It also gives you the option to remove or keep the interim versions (before transcoding).

Oh, and its FREE.

The other advantage to this is that if you run the AirVideo ipad app (2.99 I think), you can wireless stream any shows you have converted, but not yet loaded onto your ipad while you are on your own local WiFi network.

[megancheung]

By scart in real time unfortunately. But if it series if you set the whole series link to play it works well recording overnight. I did that when my first TiVo has a fault after a few days and we'd just recorded a weekend marathon of something I didn't want to lose

[bradleys]

Originally Posted by gthassell

After suffering through TiVoDesktop nightmares with poor resolution and out of sync audio, and trying to use PAVTUBE (which I paid for and runs well, but does not have an automated / server mode) I recently made a second attempt to install and run kmttg.

Once I figured out a few tricks, I have been THRILLED. I have it running on a virtual PC on a server to avoid having a separate box, but it pulls off every show I want, syncs the audio, and then converts to an MP4 video format at 1280 x 720 that is beautiful, and takes about 1GB per hour. It also gives you the option to remove or keep the interim versions (before transcoding).

Oh, and its FREE.

The other advantage to this is that if you run the AirVideo ipad app (2.99 I think), you can wireless stream any shows you have converted, but not yet loaded onto your ipad while you are on your own local WiFi network.

Can you share the kmttg to ipad settins you used? I love the app - but my audio is always out of sync when trying to convert to an ipad video format.

[Leon WIlkinson]

When I read the post I was thinking of a feature I wish you could do
with the phone/tab apps.

I would love to be able to transfer shows from the box you are logged onto at the time to another. Since the premiere is the only one with "my shows" access it would be limited to it.