ipod video- tivo software

[ROLANDSEAN]

does anyone know when the software for ipod video is coming out? does anyone knopw how to transfer videos from tivo to ipod video?

[stevel]

It's already out - for series 2 standalone TiVos. For the current HDTV TiVos, you'll have to use one of the hobbyist (hack) solutions.

[TyroneShoes]

Streamclip MPEG is a great (freeware) program for converting MPEG-2 video to MPEG-4 H.264 (the same algorithm used in the upcoming new HD PVRs) and it has a 1-button setting for configuring for iPod. iPod format is 320 rez with all I-frame GOP structure. Getting clips out of Tivo is another matter.

On my 3-year-old PowerBook it takes about 15 minutes to re-encode a minute of (SD) video, so you can see how impractical it would be for a HR10 to be hacked to do the reverse and convert MPEG-4 HD streams to MPEG-2 so that they could be played back from the HR10. The new MacBook could probably do it 6 or 7 times faster, I guess.

[stevel]

The HR10 has no clue what an MPEG4 stream is. It's MPEG2 all the way. The trick is getting the unencrypted MPEG2 stream off of the TiVo. This is possible if you have "hacked" your box appropriately.

[taj2]

You can watch HD content on iPod?

I am still figuring out how to get content to iPod without buying a DVD burner. If you burn HD content to a DVD does it just convert to SD?

[TyroneShoes]

Originally Posted by taj2

You can watch HD content on iPod?

I am still figuring out how to get content to iPod without buying a DVD burner. If you burn HD content to a DVD does it just convert to SD?

Well, at 320 pixels it definitely is not HD by the time it plays back on the iPod.

The first step is using the 480i output of the HR10 to get to a format that can be dealt with, although there are also ways to archive HD content as HD to DVDs. The only way I've seen this done is through firewire from a STB/PVR into a PC with a HD capture card, but I would imagine there are 8VSB receiver cards for PC also, which would allow recording the file PVR-style in a home media center software suite. EyeTV and Pinnacle would be places to look.

Converting to iPod format usually means the conversion algorithm must have access to the entire file, as it can't be done in real time yet on consumer-level PCs. Once the file is on PC or Mac you could use StreamClip or something like that to get it to iPod format, but I would think a goal of trying to go from a recorded HD program to iPod would be cumbersome, slow, and impractical.

This could change. If the new MPEG-4 box has a way to port the file out, conversion could be quicker, as it is already in MPEG-4 AVC format, which is part of the iPod format. It would still need re-encoding, because the resolution and GOP structure is very different between the two.