TiVo Community
TiVo Community
TiVo Community
Go Back   TiVo Community > Underground Playground > TiVo Underground
TiVo Community
Reply
Forum Jump
 
Thread Tools
Old 01-20-2006, 11:38 AM   #1
rpdre1
Registered User
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 273
The Tivoserver Thread

Click here for the latest build of tivoserver with wmv3 support. (cygwin1.dll included for new users)


Thanks to THardie for updating tivoserver with a newer ffmpeg that supports wmv3, SteveT for compiling a cygwin binary for Windows users, thanks to BTUx9 for fixing too many things to list , and wsewell for creating such a great project.


Instructions for first-timers:


1) Run tivoserver.exe (first time you run tivoserver, it will open and then quickly close... keep reading)

2) The first time you run tivoserver, it creates this folder:

C:\Documents and Settings\Your_Username_Here\Application Data\.tivoserver\
(shortcut to that: %APPDATA%\.tivoserver )

3) Get a UNIX-friendly text editor, I recommend Notepad++

4) Open settings.cfg (NOT settings.cfg.new, if it exists) in a Notepad++

5) Inside settings.cfg there's a section that says:

Code:
#-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# VIDEO_DIR
#
# Specifies the directory where video files exist for tivoserver to serve.
# Add _one_ directory per line (ie per VIDEO_DIR tag), but you may add several
# directories using several VIDEO_DIR lines
# Possible values: Any valid directory name
VIDEO_DIR=C:\Documents and Settings\Dre\Application Data/video/
(Don't worry about the \ & / in the path... It'll still work.)

Tivoserver closed on you the first time you ran it was because it looked for that folder to load videos from and it didn't exist. Tivoserver didn't have anything to load and it closed by itself.


Make a folder called video in Application Data and put your videos in there. (You don't have to edit settings.cfg if you do this.)

Or you can replace the line with whatever folder(s) you want.

A regular Windows path will work.

Just make sure you're saving the file in UNIX format. DON'T USE REGULAR NOTEPAD TO EDIT SETTINGS.CFG

Code:
VIDEO_DIR=C:\Movies\
VIDEO_DIR=D:\New TV Shows\
VIDEO_DIR=D:\Clasic TV Shows\1970\
6) Put your XviD/DivX .avi, .mpg, .ty, .vob, and even .wmv (latest version supports wmv3!) in the folders you set in settings.cfg. Some files might not work, live with it. Run tivoserver and it should show up as a TiVo in the bottom of your Now Playing List. Screenshots here: http://tivoserver.sourceforge.net/screenshots.html

UPDATE: In early versions of tivoserver, a temp folder was needed. This is no longer necessary.



Since the last time I updated this post (January), Tivoserver has greatly improved. Tivoserver can now copy AC3 audio streams inside video files, instead of transcoding the audio (so there's no quality loss.) VOBs work (you still have to rip the movie into one big .vob though.) Tivoserver can also copy MPEG-2 video streams from inside .vobs or .mpgs without transcoding.




OLD POST:

For those who don't know what TivoServer is:
TivoServer (http://tivoserver.sourceforge.net/) is a program that runs as a virtual tivo on your PC. TivoServer allows you to transfer shows from your PC onto your tivo the same way you transfer shows between real tivos with MRV. TivoServer shows up as a regular tivo on your Now Playing List.

TivoServer will serve videos of various formats (mpg, m2v, xvid, divx, wmv, etc) without requiring you to convert them first. TivoServer will convert them on-the-fly during transfer.

Personally, I prefer playing my videos on my TiVo instead of burning them to play on a DVD player because my DVD player has slow ff/rw, no playbar, no instant replay, no 30 second skip, etc and I'm sure yours doesn't either.

Your tivo needs to of been hacked with superpatch, The Zipper will do this. Standalones need to have been superpatched as well. Not all videos will work.

Last edited by rpdre1 : 12-05-2006 at 02:40 PM.
rpdre1 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-20-2006, 11:49 AM   #2
Gunnyman
Terminally Pretty
 
Gunnyman's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Greenville SC
Posts: 23,706
is it normal behavior for tivoserver to quit after it transfers a show to your tivo?
I am running the mac binary.
__________________
It's a sociological cornucopia of silliness.
Gamertag: GGwallen
Gunnyman is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-20-2006, 11:50 AM   #3
Fofer
Potato CSR
 
Join Date: Oct 2000
Posts: 32,951
Cool beans, I've been looking at this for a bit. I'll install it this weekend. Thanks!
Fofer is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-20-2006, 11:59 AM   #4
rpdre1
Registered User
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 273
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gunnyman
is it normal behavior for tivoserver to quit after it transfers a show to your tivo?
I am running the mac binary.
Thats not normal gunny, does the show transfer completely to your tivo? Is it with one specific file?
rpdre1 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-20-2006, 12:01 PM   #5
Gunnyman
Terminally Pretty
 
Gunnyman's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Greenville SC
Posts: 23,706
it was an episode of lost that I edited the commercials out of. The file was in mp4 format as I have yet to find a tyeditor for the mac that actually works.
__________________
It's a sociological cornucopia of silliness.
Gamertag: GGwallen
Gunnyman is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-20-2006, 12:18 PM   #6
rpdre1
Registered User
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 273
Did you catch any error messages in tivoserver?
rpdre1 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-20-2006, 12:19 PM   #7
Gunnyman
Terminally Pretty
 
Gunnyman's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Greenville SC
Posts: 23,706
nope I don't think so, but I'll pay closer attention to things next time I try to use it.
__________________
It's a sociological cornucopia of silliness.
Gamertag: GGwallen
Gunnyman is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-20-2006, 01:05 PM   #8
Tracy RainH2o
Photo Man
 
Tracy RainH2o's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Georgia
Posts: 285
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gunnyman
is it normal behavior for tivoserver to quit after it transfers a show to your tivo?
I am running the mac binary.
Sorry, that may just be a support question.

Seriously, other than the watching video off your computer, are there any other uses for Tivo Server?
__________________
When does it take over an hour to watch a one hour show on Tivo? When you have kids.
Tracy RainH2o is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-20-2006, 01:14 PM   #9
Gunnyman
Terminally Pretty
 
Gunnyman's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Greenville SC
Posts: 23,706
editing commercials out of shows for commercial free mrv
__________________
It's a sociological cornucopia of silliness.
Gamertag: GGwallen
Gunnyman is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-20-2006, 03:45 PM   #10
n4zmz
TiVoholic
 
Join Date: Mar 2002
Posts: 23
Crashing after a transfer is not normal. Tivoserver should not stop for any reason, other than interrupting/killing the process.

As for other uses for tivoserver, the biggest one is that it will transcode to match the tivo format. It will (future stuff) allow you to supply more information about a video.
__________________
- Dennis
n4zmz is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-20-2006, 04:17 PM   #11
Greencat
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Grand Rapids MI
Posts: 169
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tracy RainH2o
Sorry, that may just be a support question.

Seriously, other than the watching video off your computer, are there any other uses for Tivo Server?
I have not used it yet but plan on. I would guess that you would use it to show home movies and I would guess that you could transfer DVDs to the PC to show on the TV.

I know you could do the above other ways but this would be on demand.
Greencat is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-20-2006, 04:37 PM   #12
BTUx9
back?
 
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Rockport, MA
Posts: 1,591
There ARE some things that will cause tivoserver to crash, that really shouldn't be fatal, but the codes for tymplex and ffmpeg are designed to abort on errors, because they are standalone.

re: DVD support (VOB format), not yet, but definitely on the list.
__________________
Check Out my
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
with info on TWP2.0 and Tivoserver
BTUx9 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-20-2006, 04:55 PM   #13
AJRitz
Princess Anti-Santa
 
AJRitz's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Overland Park, KS
Posts: 11,070
Has anyone had any sucess yet MRVing a divx .avi file to their TiVo (and playing it back) via tivoserver? (Not looking for support here - just hoping to hear a success story).
__________________
And I happen to think mine is the level head and yours is the one things would roll off of.


To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
AJRitz is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-20-2006, 05:03 PM   #14
lee espinoza
some guy
 
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: San Antonio,TX
Posts: 2,442
Quote:
Originally Posted by AJRitz
Has anyone had any sucess yet MRVing a divx .avi file to their TiVo (and playing it back) via tivoserver? (Not looking for support here - just hoping to hear a success story).
Yes .avi does work with tivoserver
lee espinoza is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-20-2006, 05:15 PM   #15
Vito the TiVo
Rockin' the Suburbs
 
Vito the TiVo's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Valencia, CA ..............(nuked by "24")
Posts: 918
Quote:
Originally Posted by AJRitz
Has anyone had any sucess yet MRVing a divx .avi file to their TiVo (and playing it back) via tivoserver? (Not looking for support here - just hoping to hear a success story).
I can easily watch xvid, however it does look a bit choppy at times... probably a result of re-encoding on the fly... however you *really* have to be looking for it in a scene with a lot of movement, etc.
Vito the TiVo is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-20-2006, 06:28 PM   #16
starbiker99
1 Tivo 2 Tivo 3 Tivo
 
starbiker99's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Parker, CO
Posts: 86
rpdre1
Thanks that was a nice right up. Takes all of 10 mns and I am watching videos form my PC on my Tivo. COOL!

Edit! Now everytime I click on watch on this tv my tivoserver crashes and my tivo says the server is unavailable. hmmmm
__________________
Shawn

1 Philips DSR708 (278hrs)320GB
1 Samsung S4080R (Stock)80GB
1 Samsung S4080R (260hrs)300GB
1 Philips DSR704 (103hrs)120GB
All 'UNLEASHED'

Last edited by starbiker99 : 01-20-2006 at 07:11 PM.
starbiker99 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-20-2006, 08:44 PM   #17
DougF
Registered User
 
DougF's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2003
Posts: 10,667
I've been reading about this one for a while. This is what could push me over the edge to go S2.
DougF is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-20-2006, 08:52 PM   #18
cheerdude
Reed's CPA
 
cheerdude's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: Cumming, Georgia
Posts: 7,816
TC CLUB MEMBER
Not to be a smartass... (hows that for an opener)

Thanks to another thread, I was able to d/l 2 TV shows from the net, convert them to a format that TiVo will recognize with a free converter and then transfer them to my TiVo via Desktop 2.2

Except for the downloading part... how is TiVoserver any different?

Jeff
__________________
TCF: The Community of Friends

XBox Live - Cheerose

Father of David Reed !

Cheeroses in Mid-Atlantic: 12/22-31 -
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
cheerdude is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-20-2006, 08:58 PM   #19
Gunnyman
Terminally Pretty
 
Gunnyman's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Greenville SC
Posts: 23,706
it works on ANY tivo capable of HMO (since directivos have no TTG)
__________________
It's a sociological cornucopia of silliness.
Gamertag: GGwallen
Gunnyman is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-20-2006, 09:17 PM   #20
Fofer
Potato CSR
 
Join Date: Oct 2000
Posts: 32,951
And it transcodes on the fly. Not as much "prep time" needed to simply kick back and watch something!
Fofer is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-20-2006, 11:18 PM   #21
Human123
DTivo TakeitOrLeavo
 
Join Date: Jun 2003
Posts: 165
Thanks for the instructions.
It loaded up nicely. I edited the .cfg file to point to 2 folders with ty files in them.

About 90% of the files say this

Calculating part info for H:\MoreNewTyFiles/\Lords of Flatbush-.ty
--> Loading Header 0 H:\MoreNewTyFiles/\Lords of Flatbush-.ty
Header 1etc
Header 2 etc
Header 3 etc
Invalid duration: 0
** Unable to load show: Lords Of Flatbush-.ty SKIPPING

It then does this to about 90% of the files.
Any guesses?
Thanks

EDIT
I was reading the notes from the file on Source Forge and it says this
In this release building ffmpeg and mplex is required, if there is enough of a need we will add an option to disable all the AVI playing functionality (and conditionally eliminate the need for building ffmpeg and mplex). We have included the ffmpeg source as well as a patched mjpegtools (mplex) to simplify the build process. To build: cd mjpegtools ./configure make cd ../ffmpeg ./configure [ optional libraries ] make cd .. ./configure [ --with-extralibs="optional libraries used in ffmpeg" ] make If you have already built, or will build ffmpeg and mjpegtools separately, then there are configure options to specify where they are: ./configure --with-ffmpeg=PATH --with-mjpegtools=PATH [ --with-extralibs="optional libs for ffmpeg ] make To run: Usage: tivoserver [--help] [--group_by_directory] shows_directory [another_shows_directory...]

I am wondering if this could be the problem I am having.

On DDB it says that ffmpeg must get a valid duration or it will have problems.
At this time I am only interested in transferring ty files

Last edited by Human123 : 01-20-2006 at 11:46 PM.
Human123 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-20-2006, 11:42 PM   #22
Redux
No intent to annoy
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Posts: 1,564
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gunnyman
is it normal behavior for tivoserver to quit after it transfers a show to your tivo?
I am running the mac binary.
It's normal for some files, meaning the behavior is consistent with that file. Been using it on both Mac & pc for a long time, only a few files cause the abort, but they cause it all the time.
Redux is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-21-2006, 02:13 AM   #23
mgmrick
Haven't broke yet
 
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Port Byron New York
Posts: 399
Rpdre1,

You mentioned making a folder cygwin/tmp to be used for tivoserver. I made that folder but every time I tried to download a file to tivo tivoserver would close.

I needed to make a folder " tmp" Worked fine after doing that

Thanks
Rick
__________________
MGM Rick
3 Philips DSR708
1 Rca Hd
HMO,MRV,2.0 USB,CALLERID,Serial Cable,160Gig Hardrive
gunny's unguide,rbautch scripts
mgmrick is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-21-2006, 05:13 AM   #24
BTUx9
back?
 
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Rockport, MA
Posts: 1,591
Quote:
Originally Posted by Human123
I am wondering if this could be the problem I am having.

On DDB it says that ffmpeg must get a valid duration or it will have problems.
At this time I am only interested in transferring ty files
the avi support shouldn't be messing up .ty support (especially in that way). Can you give more specifics about the files (and what version you are running)?
__________________
Check Out my
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
with info on TWP2.0 and Tivoserver
BTUx9 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-21-2006, 08:42 AM   #25
cheerdude
Reed's CPA
 
cheerdude's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: Cumming, Georgia
Posts: 7,816
TC CLUB MEMBER
Thanks... appreciate the answers
__________________
TCF: The Community of Friends

XBox Live - Cheerose

Father of David Reed !

Cheeroses in Mid-Atlantic: 12/22-31 -
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
cheerdude is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-21-2006, 09:00 AM   #26
mikelyxx
Registered User
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 5
OS X installer?

Is there an OS X installer or is this only available via binary? I don't have the developers tools installed so I was hoping for an installer.

Cheers.
mikelyxx is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-21-2006, 09:03 AM   #27
Gunnyman
Terminally Pretty
 
Gunnyman's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Greenville SC
Posts: 23,706
there's a mac dmg file.
EDIT
OOPS it's a GZIP
__________________
It's a sociological cornucopia of silliness.
Gamertag: GGwallen

Last edited by Gunnyman : 01-21-2006 at 11:08 AM.
Gunnyman is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-21-2006, 10:12 AM   #28
Fofer
Potato CSR
 
Join Date: Oct 2000
Posts: 32,951
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gunnyman
there's a mac dmg file.
got a link? I was going to install this on my crappy PC but having it on my media server Mac would be much better.
Fofer is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-21-2006, 10:57 AM   #29
starbiker99
1 Tivo 2 Tivo 3 Tivo
 
starbiker99's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Parker, CO
Posts: 86
mgmrick
Thanks that fixed my issue as well.
__________________
Shawn

1 Philips DSR708 (278hrs)320GB
1 Samsung S4080R (Stock)80GB
1 Samsung S4080R (260hrs)300GB
1 Philips DSR704 (103hrs)120GB
All 'UNLEASHED'

Last edited by starbiker99 : 01-21-2006 at 11:09 AM.
starbiker99 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-21-2006, 11:21 AM   #30
c_tripps_2k
Registered User
 
Join Date: Sep 2005
Posts: 20
Can someone point me to a guide to help me convert a DVD to something that Tyserver will transfer to my Tivo with DD5.1 intact? Thanks, I've been having a lot of fun with Zipper, JavaHMO and other things. You guys are great.
c_tripps_2k is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply
Forum Jump




Thread Tools


Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Advertisements

TiVo Community
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.6.8
Copyright ©2000 - 2009, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
vBulletin Skins by: Relivo Media
(C) 2008 Capable Networks LLC - All Rights Reserved. No information may be posted elsewhere without written permission.
TiVoŽ is a registered trademark of TiVo Inc. This site is not owned or operated by TiVo Inc.
All times are GMT -5. The time now is 01:46 AM.
OUR NETWORK: TechLore | Sling Community | Robo Community | MediaSmart Home | My Digital Entertainer | TouchSmart Community | Pogoplugged | DVR Playground