Desktop 2.8 is out

[ggieseke]

http://assets.tivo.com/assets/exe/ti...Desktop2.8.exe

[gonzotek]

Originally Posted by ggieseke

http://assets.tivo.com/assets/exe/ti...Desktop2.8.exe

New Features (according to tivo.com):

• The folders on the PC can now display when viewed from your TiVo DVR.
• You can choose the discovery protocol TiVo Desktop & DVRs use to locate each other on your home network.

And for Plus users:

• Transferring home movies recorded with a Flip camcorder to the DVR is now supported.
  
• Transferring web videos in the MPEG-4 format to the TiVo HD or Series3 DVR is significantly faster.
  
• Transferring web videos in the MKV format to the DVR is now supported. (DTS audio within this format is not supported.)

[mchief]

Finally installed and running. The uninstall apparently did not go properly. When 2.8 started installing it keep giving me problems with privileges, even though I am the administrator. I even tried installing (Windows 7 HP) 'run as administrator'. Same problem, would not create c:\program files\tivo desktop. Finally got irritated and uninstalled and cleaned everything and started from scratch. Worked that time, but had to reenter codes, etc.

[morac]

Here's what's new from the readme file:

TiVo Desktop has the following improvements:

• The folders on your PC can now display when viewed from your TiVo DVR.
• You can choose the discovery protocol TiVo Desktop & DVRs use to locate each other on your home network. To change the setting, select “TiVo Server Properties” from the Services menu; click “Network” and then select either “Bonjour for Windows” (default) or “TiVo Beacon”.

TiVo Desktop Plus has the following improvements:

• The video quality for PlayStation Portables has been improved.
• TiVo Desktop Plus can create videos for playback on additional popular portable media players, such as the Apple iPhone, Apple iPod Touch, and several models of Blackberry phones.
• The user can now choose to auto-transfer all the contents of a folder
• TiVo Desktop recognizes additional video types based on other software installed on your system. As part of this new function, TiVo Desktop Plus software expects the user to install software appropriate for the file type. The Haali Media Splitter is no longer installed by TiVo Desktop.
• Apple® QuickTime is no longer a prerequisite for TiVo Desktop Plus

[daveak]

Originally Posted by morac

... As part of this new function, TiVo Desktop Plus software expects the user to install software appropriate for the file type. The Haali Media Splitter is no longer installed by TiVo Desktop...
[/list]

So if I am upgrading from 2.7, do I lose Haali or any other software features I might need? You would think if you actually paid for the upgrade you would keep the extra features.

[morac]

Originally Posted by daveak

So if I am upgrading from 2.7, do I lose Haali or any other software features I might need? You would think if you actually paid for the upgrade you would keep the extra features.

Basically TiVo removed all the extra codecs it used to install automatically (such as Haali) and the requirement that certain programs being installed (ie: Apple Quicktime). So if all you have if TD 2.8 installed, it is limited to transferring MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 in addition to TiVo files.

What TiVo did that's smart is make it such that if Windows can play it, TiVo can transcode it (assuming the appropriate filter is installed). So for example if you want to be able to transcode MKV files, simply install the Haali Media Splitter codec yourself and you're good to go. Same thing with .mov (quicktime) files and Apple Quicktime.

A nice thing about TD 2.8 is that it no longer takes over codecs already installed on your machine. With TD 2.7, if you had a mp4 or mpg or mp2 codec installed and then upgraded to TD Plus, all your files would play with the MainConcept codecs which in many cases were inferior. With 2.8 only .tivo files use the MainConcept codecs. The MainConcept codecs aren't even registered with Windows. I think this was done since Windows 7 has most codecs built in already and don't really allow 3rd party software to override them.

I haven't seen if you can pull mp4 files without transcoding (pushing doesn't require transcoding), but my guess is that that hasn't changed since 2.7. Maybe someone can try that out.

The changes make TD 2.8 a definite improvement over 2.7, though it still suffers from slow load times when the cache folder fills up with files.

Oh and for those interested. It fixed the issue with the estimated transfer time not displaying when transferring multiple recordings.

[raianoat]

did the previous version support Windows 7 or is this the first version?

[berkshires]

I have desktop 2.7 installed and just installed QT as prereq to upgrade to plus.

I have videos ripped from DVDs in mpeg2 with DD5 sound. My computer doesn't seem to have the right codec for transfering the DD5 sound with the video from PC to TiVo (WinXP)

Before I buy a key for plus, does plus have the DD5 codec? Should I use TD2.8 instead of 2.7, or will the plus codecs not affect the DD5-mpegs in 2.8?

Should I use another (pref free) codec pac and forget plus?

======


On another XP machine I can't get newer TD versions to work, but the existing codecs are work, so I use a very old TD. Should I try 2.8 to avoid codec userpation on that machine?

Can I use one key for multiple mahinces, or buy 2?

Thanks

[madimoo]

Originally Posted by morac

The changes make TD 2.8 a definite improvement over 2.7, though it still suffers from slow load times when the cache folder fills up with files.

Reducing the cache size in TiVo Server properties can help speed up load times.

Can I ask what format are the .tivo files, after transferring from TiVo to PC?
MPEG-PS? MPEG-TS? (I use G-Spot to test.)
Early reports from Australia indicate that transfers in 2.8 are going to be MPEG-TS, which should significantly speed up transfer time, but potentially cause other issues?

[morac]

Originally Posted by madimoo

Reducing the cache size in TiVo Server properties can help speed up load times.

It's not the cache size, but the number of files. I have the cache set as low as possible, but when I checked there were over 3000 cache files. It took TD a few minutes to start so I wiped them out and it took a few seconds.

Originally Posted by madimoo

Can I ask what format are the .tivo files, after transferring from TiVo to PC?
MPEG-PS? MPEG-TS? (I use G-Spot to test.)
Early reports from Australia indicate that transfers in 2.8 are going to be MPEG-TS, which should significantly speed up transfer time, but potentially cause other issues?

In the US .tivo files are MPEG-PS.

It's possible to grab MPEG-TS off the TiVo by replacing the "Format=/video/x-tivo-mpeg" string in the download link with different string which I saw posted somewhere in these forums once, but can't find.

Both the MPEG-PS and MPEG-TS formats are encrypted though. I know TD 2.7 couldn't play the MPEG-TS formatted TiVo files, I don't know if TD 2.8 can since I lost the link to the post on how to do so.

TD 2.8 does ask what country you are in when you install it, so you could try picking Australia and see what it does.

[madimoo]

Originally Posted by morac

In the US .tivo files are MPEG-PS.

And that's still the case in 2.8?
2.7 did give us MPEG-PS files in Australia.

Good point about the country selected on initial install. That might be the decider on what format 2.8 decides to upload.

[Resist]

I never upgraded from 2.6.2, should I get 2.8 now?

[ggieseke]

Originally Posted by Resist

I never upgraded from 2.6.2, should I get 2.8 now?

That's your call. I was stubbornly running 2.5 on my main PC, and had 2.6.2 and 2.7 on VMWare virtual machines. This one adds so much to folder support that I finally upgraded. No problems yet...

[NJ_HB]

I am having a problem with the auto transfer feature;
I converted a DVRMS file to .mpeg and published it as indicated in TD but it never transfers to the TiVo.
I can however go to the TiVo and transfer it by going to the bottom of the NPL and accessing the computer that way.
The folder was correctly auto transferring with 2.7 as I did this all the time.

[moyekj]

Originally Posted by NJ_HB

I am having a problem with the auto transfer feature;
I converted a DVRMS file to .mpeg and published it as indicated in TD but it never transfers to the TiVo.
I can however go to the TiVo and transfer it by going to the bottom of the NPL and accessing the computer that way.
The folder was correctly auto transferring with 2.7 as I did this all the time.

Yes, I tried 2.8 briefly and couldn't get auto go back transfers to work either. pyTivo pushes however still work fine so it's not a TiVo Server issue.

[twhiting9275]

Originally Posted by raianoat

did the previous version support Windows 7 or is this the first version?

Yes, the previous version supported Win 7. I've been using Win 7 since beta and would be totally lost without the desktop software, since galleon seems to be hit and miss for transfers.

It's sad that Tivo isn't actually pushing this out to customers yet (check for update still says 2.7 is the latest), but from what I can see, 2.8 works, and does EXACTLY what I expect with folders. For example:
Instead of listing everything in (sub)folders together in a giant mess, it lets the user browse through them. THIS was a huge, huge issue for me, which they started correcting in 2.7, but it looks to be fully working in 2.8. It only took 'em years to get it right

Haven't played with any of the other advanced features, I can only hope that "shortcuts" still work as folders would, but we'll see.

FINALLY, organization done right!

[ggieseke]

Originally Posted by twhiting9275

Yes, the previous version supported Win 7.

Technically, the previous versions did not support Windows 7. A lot of people got 2.7 to work after a fashion, but auto-trasfers and photos were problematic. The general concensus that I saw here was that 2.6.2 actually worked better.

[twhiting9275]

Originally Posted by ggieseke

Technically, the previous versions did not support Windows 7. A lot of people got 2.7 to work after a fashion, but auto-trasfers and photos were problematic. The general concensus that I saw here was that 2.6.2 actually worked better.

I can only speak from my own experience, on a 64 bit system. I've been using 7 on both the PC (with desktop) and laptop (without) since beta was first announced in February, and I have had no issues with Desktop at all. Galleon, that's another story, but never a problem with desktop, not even delayed transfers.

[Thunderclap]

I just installed 2.8 on my Windows 7 (64-bit) system. Tivo Desktop can see my Tivo and the files on it, but when I try to transfer anything I get the error "The system cannot find the file specified."

I've rebooted the Tivo but that didn't help. Anyone care to give me a few suggestions to get this working?

[twhiting9275]

Tried rebooting the PC as well? I've run across this a few times, and rebooting both usually helps.

[Thunderclap]

Originally Posted by twhiting9275

Tried rebooting the PC as well? I've run across this a few times, and rebooting both usually helps.

Yes. Several times actually.

[UARMF]

Originally Posted by ggieseke

http://assets.tivo.com/assets/exe/ti...Desktop2.8.exe

Warning! do NOT download Tivo Desktop 2.8. it's Complete Garbage, and you wont be able to Transfer you Recording to or from your Tivo.

[madimoo]

Originally Posted by UARMF

Warning! do NOT download Tivo Desktop 2.8. it's Complete Garbage, and you wont be able to Transfer you Recording to or from your Tivo.

That's a little strong.
FWIW, it's working very well for me using either Beacon or Bonjour.
The only thing I've found not working is MPEG file transfers from PC to TiVo using autotransfer folders. I understand that this a known problem that is being worked on. The files can be transferred manually, just not by autotransfer. Autotransfer still works for other file types such as .avi .

Transfers from TiVo to PC is working fine for me, and is much quicker than under 2.7 (now being MPEG-TS transfers here).

[orangeboy]

Originally Posted by madimoo

That's a little strong.
FWIW, it's working very well for me using either Beacon or Bonjour.
The only thing I've found not working is MPEG file transfers from PC to TiVo using autotransfer folders. I understand that this a known problem that is being worked on. The files can be transferred manually, just not by autotransfer. Autotransfer still works for other file types such as .avi .

Transfers from TiVo to PC is working fine for me, and is much quicker than under 2.7 (now being MPEG-TS transfers here).

Yep, I have the same problem with mpeg auto-transfers. No problems with mkv or avi. The funny thing is, the mpegs actually came from the Tivo I'm trying to send to! The mpegs have been run though kmttg, using comskip to remove commercials, but no transcoding is ever done. I hope they get a fix quick! The pyTivo push works very well in the meantime.

Everything else works as expected, and the posted warning seems to be just a bunch of FUD.

[Thunderclap]

I found a copy of Tivo Desktop 2.7, so I uninstalled 2.8 and installed 2.7. That fixed the problem. I can now transfer files without problem. BUT... I can't play the video. Windows Media Player gives me an error. Hmm...

[berkshires]

I found with 2.7 that shows from a series would group. With 2.8 they don't seem to group.

It looks like 2.7 still had the flat file system presentation, but could present from folders and shortcuts to folders in the my tivo recordings folder.

It looks like 2.8 is doing real folders, but not grouping shows from the same series. In the top folder a show from a series is listed as the series name. In a subfolder, the episode name is listed.

How are folks organizing their files/folders on the pc to make all this simple with TD2.8? How can you transfer shows from TiVo to PC into a "correct" folder to group the same series together?

[ggieseke]

Originally Posted by berkshires

I found with 2.7 that shows from a series would group. With 2.8 they don't seem to group.

It looks like 2.7 still had the flat file system presentation, but could present from folders and shortcuts to folders in the my tivo recordings folder.

It looks like 2.8 is doing real folders, but not grouping shows from the same series. In the top folder a show from a series is listed as the series name. In a subfolder, the episode name is listed.

How are folks organizing their files/folders on the pc to make all this simple with TD2.8? How can you transfer shows from TiVo to PC into a "correct" folder to group the same series together?

I set up auto-transfers to a folder with the series name.

[berkshires]

Originally Posted by ggieseke

I set up auto-transfers to a folder with the series name.

I don't see an option for auto-transfer to a specific folder.

What about for manual transfer - do I have to transfer everything to the main folder and then manually place them in the folders I want?

[ggieseke]

Sorry, meant to say that I set up an auto-transfer for a series, then just move them to a subfolder after they arrive. I do the same for manual transfers if I want to organize them by folder.