pyTivo - Transcoding server

[armooo]

pyTivo lets you stream most videos from your PC to your unhacked TiVo. It uses the HMO server protocol, so no hacking of the TiVo is required.

* It will guess if your video is 4:3 or 16:9 and pad your video if it thinks it is needed (looked good on my tests).
* It will not transcode an mpeg that is supported by your TiVo.
* It will stream TiVo recordings (.tivo).

http://pytivo.armooo.net/

* Master changes
* Subfolder changes

[armooo]

I did a bit of reading and it should like you need >= 7.2 for this to work. I have tested it on 7.3.1 and 8.1. I am curious if anyone else has had any luck with it.

[Yog-Sothoth]

I just tried this with an HR10-250 running 6.3b with the HMO/HME patches. "Video" shows up at the bottom on the NPL, but selecting it just reverts back to the NPL.

[cheer]

Originally Posted by Yog-Sothoth

I just tried this with an HR10-250 running 6.3b with the HMO/HME patches. "Video" shows up at the bottom on the NPL, but selecting it just reverts back to the NPL.

That's because this essentially uses the "GoBack" portion of TTG -- no TTG available on 6.3x.

[jasonpot]

Using your latest build. Works really good. Thank you so much

[TerminalE]

I am trying to run PyTivo w/Python 2.5 installed and am receiving the following error when entering the Tivo menu "Music & Photos":

C:\PyTivo\pyTivo\Cheetah\Compiler.py:1508: UserWarning:
You don't have the C version of NameMapper installed! I'm disabling Cheetah's us
eStackFrames option as it is painfully slow with the Python version of NameMappe
r. You should get a copy of Cheetah with the compiled C version of NameMapper.
"\nYou don't have the C version of NameMapper installed! "


Any thoughts

[abacus]

I tried out pytivo and it appears to work OK. The problem I have is if I transfer a show and let it complete without viewing it it seems to disappear from my now playing list on the tivo. If I cancel the transfer part way through it stays in the Now playing list.

Anyone have this problem?

[armooo]

Originally Posted by TerminalE

I am trying to run PyTivo w/Python 2.5 installed and am receiving the following error when entering the Tivo menu "Music & Photos":

C:\PyTivo\pyTivo\Cheetah\Compiler.py:1508: UserWarning:
You don't have the C version of NameMapper installed! I'm disabling Cheetah's us
eStackFrames option as it is painfully slow with the Python version of NameMappe
r. You should get a copy of Cheetah with the compiled C version of NameMapper.
"\nYou don't have the C version of NameMapper installed! "
Any thoughts

This is just a warning, I did not include the C version of NameMapper, but it will still work.

Originally Posted by abacus

I tried out pytivo and it appears to work OK. The problem I have is if I transfer a show and let it complete without viewing it it seems to disappear from my now playing list on the tivo. If I cancel the transfer part way through it stays in the Now playing list.
Anyone have this problem?

This is a side effect from not knowing the file size when I start streaming. If anyone has fix (or a thought on one) I would be happy to hear it.

I also added music (only mp3 now) support.

[abacus]

Originally Posted by armooo

This is just a warning, I did not include the C version of NameMapper, but it will still work.



This is a side effect from not knowing the file size when I start streaming. If anyone has fix (or a thought on one) I would be happy to hear it.

I also added music (only mp3 now) support.

Any Idea why scrolling through files listed by PyTivo it takes so long. When I page down on Now Playing it takes 10-20 seconds for it to get file names. This happens every page down. It is a directory that has about 80 files.

[colin1497]

FYI, I've got this up and running with my series 3 except (of course) that it doesn't work for video since this seems to be disabled on the S3's right now. Video shows up at the bottom of now playing but it just puts the transfer into the "todo" list and nothing ever happens. The MP3 functionality works fine.

[armooo]

Originally Posted by abacus

Any Idea why scrolling through files listed by PyTivo it takes so long. When I page down on Now Playing it takes 10-20 seconds for it to get file names. This happens every page down. It is a directory that has about 80 files.

It is filtering the files to only display supported files. And this is done by running ffmpeg on every file in the directory. I will look in to caching the results to speed it up.

Update: A new version is up that should be quicker.

[abacus]

Originally Posted by armooo

It is filtering the files to only display supported files. And this is done by running ffmpeg on every file in the directory. I will look in to caching the results to speed it up.

Update: A new version is up that should be quicker.

Works much better now. Takes a while to come up at first, but scrolling works much better now. Thanks!

[turnipsun]

Any Chance someone could compile a MAC client.

I try to run it, and every time Python just crashes..

Any advice would be awsome..

Chris

[KRKeegan]

First nice work. I had to make 10-12 mods to get this to work on Linux(Debian/Sarge).


I found an error and I don't think this is your problem but a problem with TiVo.

Here is the issue. I have subfolders in my video directory. I can safely navigate to them and select videos to transcode.

However after I select a video in a subfolder if I chose "Continue browsing" TiVo then thinks I am at the base folder. When I use the left arrow to exit out of the folder TiVo never makes it out.

In fact what eventually happens is that the Now Playing screen is replaced with the base folder of the pyTivo Video folder. There appears no way to correct this problem without restarting the tivo.

I have not fiddled with it enough, but at first glance i dont know but maybe after selecting a video that the program return to the base folder????

Again I think this is more a glitch with TiVo but it would be nice to hack a solution since I doubt that this will be fixed by TiVo anytime soon.

[abacus]

Originally Posted by KRKeegan

In fact what eventually happens is that the Now Playing screen is replaced with the base folder of the pyTivo Video folder. There appears no way to correct this problem without restarting the tivo.

I have not fiddled with it enough, but at first glance i dont know but maybe after selecting a video that the program return to the base folder????

Again I think this is more a glitch with TiVo but it would be nice to hack a solution since I doubt that this will be fixed by TiVo anytime soon.

I found this happens too. The way I've gotten around it is by browsing another TiVo and then it will return the Now Playing list correctly. Beats having to restart.

[VinceA]

I found that paging to the bottom on the list where Deleted Programs lies and just sitting there will cause the real list to regen eventually.

Other than that yesterday's build worked great for a variety of DiVx files. Any chance of including audio-transcoding like the WMA plugin for TiVoDesktop?

[KRKeegan]

Originally Posted by abacus

I found this happens too. The way I've gotten around it is by browsing another TiVo and then it will return the Now Playing list correctly. Beats having to restart.

Thanks that worked well. Even just finding the same pyTivo Server at the bottom of the page selecting it and then exiting fixes it. That is much faster than restarting :-p

Next problem. I can't seem to get the script to run as a daemon on linux. I mean it runs, and while I keep that terminal session alive it is fine. But once I exit that terminal it no longer works. If I ssh back in I can see 3 proceses of python still running, but it no longer loads on the TiVo.

Any suggestions, I am thinking maybe all the output that shows up in the terminal has no where to go and that causes an error. Do I need to go through and recode all lines that print to screen or is there a simple solution. I tried " > /dev/null" but that didnt solve anything.

Thanks again for your help.

[KRKeegan]

Ok solved the daemon problem.

The key was:

pyTivo.py > /dev/null 2>&1 &

pyTivo kicks out a lot of errors and i didnt realize that > only kicks out the stdout 2> kicks out the stderr too.

Anyways, very excited i have a effortless Transcoding server running.

Thanks again armooo.

[EmptyH]

I downloaded and installed everything, customized pytivo.conf and ran pytivo.py. I've got the command window open (c:\python25\python.exe as the window title) with no errors displayed, but I do not see anything in my NPL.

I do see my other TiVo, so I know the network is still working. What am I doing wrong?

[KRKeegan]

Originally Posted by EmptyH

I downloaded and installed everything, customized pytivo.conf and ran pytivo.py. I've got the command window open (c:\python25\python.exe as the window title) with no errors displayed, but I do not see anything in my NPL.

I do see my other TiVo, so I know the network is still working. What am I doing wrong?

Sorry not running a PC, but it sounds like a firewall problem??? Make sure the port listed in pyTivo.conf is open.

Any other PC users have a comment?

[EmptyH]

Sorry not running a PC, but it sounds like a firewall problem??? Make sure the port listed in pyTivo.conf is open.

Any other PC users have a comment?

I've got XP firewall disabled - nothing should be blocking ports anywhere on my network.

[EmptyH]

I read one of the known problems:
"GUID in beacons hardcoded. So only 1 server per network"

I'm not sure if that means only one pyTivo server per network, or if that includes Galleon and TiVo Desktop. In any case, I shut down Galleon on my computer, and Galleon and Tivo desktop on my roommate's computer, restarted pyTivo and still don't get anything new on my NPL. I tried rebooting the TiVo just for S&Gs, but still no luck.

Anybody got any other ideas for me to try?

Thanks.

[KRKeegan]

Originally Posted by EmptyH

I read one of the known problems:
"GUID in beacons hardcoded. So only 1 server per network"

That just means pyTivo servers and pyTivo can easily be modified to add more.

You really get no response at all in the cmd window huh?? Normally pyTivo spits out a few minor errors. I kinda wonder if it is even up and running.

I dont know how much experience you have with coding, but you can add a line at the top of pyTivo.py:

print "Started"

if you dont see this output when you run pytivo then something isnt right with your python setup

[EmptyH]

I figured out what it was! I use Hamachi to connect to my computer at work. I tried closing Hamachi down and it works now. However Hamachi hooks into the system, it messes with pyTivo.

[armooo]

Originally Posted by KRKeegan

First nice work. I had to make 10-12 mods to get this to work on Linux(Debian/Sarge).


I found an error and I don't think this is your problem but a problem with TiVo.

Here is the issue. I have subfolders in my video directory. I can safely navigate to them and select videos to transcode.

However after I select a video in a subfolder if I chose "Continue browsing" TiVo then thinks I am at the base folder. When I use the left arrow to exit out of the folder TiVo never makes it out.

In fact what eventually happens is that the Now Playing screen is replaced with the base folder of the pyTivo Video folder. There appears no way to correct this problem without restarting the tivo.

I have not fiddled with it enough, but at first glance i dont know but maybe after selecting a video that the program return to the base folder????

Again I think this is more a glitch with TiVo but it would be nice to hack a solution since I doubt that this will be fixed by TiVo anytime soon.

I am able to reproduce this and am looking in to it. Galleon seems to be working correctly so I must be doing something wrong.

Originally Posted by KRKeegan

Ok solved the daemon problem.

The key was:

pyTivo.py > /dev/null 2>&1 &

pyTivo kicks out a lot of errors and i didnt realize that > only kicks out the stdout 2> kicks out the stderr too.

Anyways, very excited i have a effortless Transcoding server running.

Thanks again armooo.

I think the http logs get sent to stdout and the ffmpeg output to stderr.

Originally Posted by turnipsun

Any Chance someone could compile a MAC client.

I try to run it, and every time Python just crashes..

Any advice would be awsome..

Chris

I don't have MAC, but I am using Python 2.5 some of KRKeegan's fixes may have gotten it running on 2.4(If you run it from a console you should get a better error). You will also need to find a ffmpeg build to your MAC and edit plugins\video\transcode.py line 4 to the path of it.

I also added a link to a change log in the first post.

[turnipsun]

thanks for a response..

I am super busy, but when I get a chance I will try to work on getting it working on my PPC MAC..
I'll report back here with my info, so maybe I can help others and if you wana take my steps and post them somewhere..


ALSO:::!!
I have the program running on a PC on the network..
IT IS AMAZING.. It has made me so excited.. I can't wait for updates to make it even better.. I just wanted to say great job and this is a HUGE advancement in TIVO.. atleast in my eyes..

Chris

[KRKeegan]

Originally Posted by EmptyH

I figured out what it was! I use Hamachi to connect to my computer at work. I tried closing Hamachi down and it works now. However Hamachi hooks into the system, it messes with pyTivo.

Sorry I had to look up what hamachi was.

Yes running a VPN will block pyTivo from working. The VPN essentially places your computer on your office lan, so TiVo is never able to see it on your home lan.

I have never used hamachi but there should be some place in the options to make exceptions for local addresses, but be careful if you use a NAT at the office with the same IP range as home, you may make some problems.

Kevin

[sconfusion1]

I'm having a bit of trouble getting this set up. I have Python 2.5 (WinXP) installed and I'm running pyTivo.py from the command prompt, with no Firewalls running.

The server starts and runs fine, periodically spitting out get requests to the TiVo. However, when I bring up the Now Playing list, there's no Videos folder listed.

I left the server running overnight and checked the Now Playing list when I woke up, and Videos was listed. After restarting my computer, running the script for five hours, and forcing a service connection, the Videos folder still isn't listed.

Suggestions, please?

[dsandor]

I am having a similar situation. Running on Windows XP with no firewall. I can go to a remote pc and hit the pyTivo server with a browser using 'computername:9032' and I get a document 'This is a tivoPY server' which is great.. it shows the program is working.

Nothing shows in my NPL though. Is there a way to troubleshoot this? I am going to look into the python code a bit to see if I can emit some debug info... any idea of how the tivo discovers other DVR's on the network? I would expect that it pings the active machines in the subnet with an h.t.t.p get..?

Thanks,
dsandor

[sconfusion1]

dsandor,

Try going to:

h.t.t.p://127.0.0.1:9032/TiVoConnect?Command=QueryContainer&Container=Video

...and see if it returns anything. Mine returns a list of the first ten videos. I'm going to try adding port forwarding to my router and see if that helps.

ETA: Port forwarding doesn't work.