Does TiVoToGo Really Work?

GerryS · 01-02-2006, 04:07 AM

To All:

I'm really confused. I originally posted this question in the TiVoToGo area but didn't get any response so perhaps posting here will put my issue in front of other people who has seen this. I've been doing a lot of reading on both this site and TiVo's website today but I'm getting conflicting information. I hope someone can straighten me out.

I have a Pioneer DVR-810H DDR with a 300GB HD and a Humax DRT-800 DDR with a 300GB HD networked together and both have software version 7.2.1 along with TiVoToGo showing a,a,a in System Information. I can move material between the 810H and the 800 without a problem but programs tranferred from the 810H to the 800 is very slow but are otherwise normal with both audio and video.

I got a video iPod for Christmas and I became interested in using TiVoToGo to move recorded programs to my laptop for tranfer to the iPod. I installed TiVoToGo on my laptop and put in my media address key and it sees both TiVos on the network and can list the contents of either unit without any problems. My network is wired between the two TiVos but it is wireless to both the Internet and my laptop. The wireless portion of the network is set up as 802.11G. The issue is that when I transfer a program from the Humax to the laptop, there is no audio, just video when played in WMP 10.

When I transfer a program from the Pioneer, there is audio and video when played in WMP 10, but it is extremely slow. A half hour program (approx. 1 GB in size) has transferred about 100 MB after 12 hours. Transfers from the Humax to the PC take about an hour for a half hour program.

I dug around on both TiVo and this website and there is an indication on the TiVo website that TiVoToGo doesn't work on DVD TiVo units. Thie could be old info and TiVo hasn't fully updated its website but perhaps there are transfer issues. Also, could my large hard drives be a problem? Does TiVoToGo work with the Pioneer DVR-810H and the Humax DRT-800 with big hard drives?

If your units are tranferring files with no problem, please let me know. If you have seen audio or speed issues with TiVoToGo please let me know your experiences. Perhaps we can identify specific problems with my units or a firmware bug.

As a part of my reading last night, someone suggested burning DVDs of material I want to put in my iPod and ripping it in iTunes. That's a great workaround but I would like to get TiVoToGo working.

Any suggestions would be appreciated and thanks for your help.

Gerry

netserf57 · 01-02-2006, 09:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GerryS

To All:
I dug around on both TiVo and this website and there is an indication on the TiVo website that TiVoToGo doesn't work on DVD TiVo units. Thie could be old info and TiVo hasn't fully updated its website but perhaps there are transfer issues. Also, could my large hard drives be a problem? Does TiVoToGo work with the Pioneer DVR-810H and the Humax DRT-800 with big hard drives?

If your units are tranferring files with no problem, please let me know. If you have seen audio or speed issues with TiVoToGo please let me know your experiences. Perhaps we can identify specific problems with my units or a firmware bug.

As a part of my reading last night, someone suggested burning DVDs of material I want to put in my iPod and ripping it in iTunes. That's a great workaround but I would like to get TiVoToGo working.

Any suggestions would be appreciated and thanks for your help.

Gerry

I have transferred from my Humax DRT800 (TiVo with DVD) without a hitch. I used TVHarmony to convert the .tivo to an iPOD compatible formate and have had no trouble at all. The transfer is VERY slow but not as slow as you indicate.

Don

megazone · 01-04-2006, 06:14 AM

TiVoToGo works just fine on both of those units, and the size of the hard drives doesn't matter.

Your issue lies elsewhere it would seem.

GerryS · 01-10-2006, 04:31 PM

To All:

First, Id like to thank Netsef57 and Megazone for their input and suggestions. Last week I called TiVo and spoke to their Network Tech Support and after describing my issues, he also scratched his head about this (why do my problems have to be SO challanging!). He suggested installing TTG on my desktop and seeing if that made any difference as well as hooking my laptop to the wired part of the network and see if I had any better luck moving files.

My desktop PC was in a bit of disrepair as I had just reinstalled XP Home from scratch and I hadn't gotten everything installed and working yet. After getting XP up and going on my old 933 PIII, I downloaded TTG and installed it. I transferred a show from the Humax and WMP 9 wouldn't play it. I downloaded WMP 10 AND an MPEG-2 decoder for it and the file played fine. AHAA!!! The problem was with my laptop. I reinstalled WMP 10 and upgraded my DVD player software on my laptop and did a new download from the Human and it worked! Great, one problem down and one to go.

This morning, after a lot of cable swapping and troubleshooting, I found that the slow data transfer from the Pioneer 810H was caused by a bad hub port on the hub the 810H is plugged into. It was generating constant data collisions and slowing data transfers to a crawl. I did some test transfers just before i came to work and both DVRs worked fine with my laptop.

It is such a relief to figure this out and get everything working again. Now I just have to figure out how to move .TiVo files to my new video iPod. I will look into TVHarmony and I also found a site that explains step-by-step how to do it. Do a Google search on "How-To: Get TV shows off of your TiVo and onto your iPod (with video)."

Has anyone heard about TiVo announcing Series 3 HD/SD DVRs at CES?

Thanks again,

Gerry

megazone · 01-11-2006, 03:09 AM

Glad you got the networking sorted out.

And yeah, I heard about the Seires3. :-)

MarsupialWoman · 01-13-2006, 09:35 PM

Issue - Much slower Humax than Series 2 on Network

Hi -

I have a quick question/Issue. I have 3 tivos, 2 plain Series 2, and 1 Humax 40 Hr. DVD-Burner. The files on the Humax are substantially larger than the Series 2:

One hour in the Humax (best quality) is ~3.5 GBs.
One Hour in the typical Series 2 (best quality) is ~ 1.1 GBs.

We discovered this because we have a wired network and still the Humax is INCREDIBLY slow.

I can transfer a show on the Series 2 at slightly less time than the shows runs (e.g., 1.5 hour show in a little over an hour).

It takes 4 hours to transfer a half-hour show from the Humax.

Has anyone else noticed/experienced the bigger files and very slow network transfer rate of the Humax?

Any suggestions?

(Please do not say it is the network connection. We know it is not that since we can transfer shows in approx. real-time from the Humax to the Series 2. And from the Series 2 to the computer quickly, as stated above.)

megazone · 01-13-2006, 10:02 PM

Those files sizes seem way off. At *Basic*, not Best, a standalone TiVo is about 1GB for a one hour show, for Best is is more like 3-3.5GB. A DVD unit is a bit over 4GB at Best. The files are indeed larger on a DVD unit - to comply with the DVD Video spec they're a higher resolution and bitrate, hence larger files. At least at Best and High.

And it depends on the model of your S2 boxes. The 2xx Series2 units are faster than the newer 5xx Series2 units, and the Humax is a 5xx box. So that can compound the issue.

Your adapters also matter - if you're using USB2.0 adapters you'll get better performance, by far, than USB1.1 adapters.