Can you download DTV TiVo recordings to computer?

Short answer, no.

It's a fine line here between what's possible to do and theft of service. The latter is illegal and not allowed to be discussed here. However...

Longer answer, go to TiVo Underground and look into hacking your D* TiVo box. I'm assuming when you ask about TiVo, you mean TiVo and not D* DVR.

 

The standard Tivo software installed on your machine doesn't enable the USB port - so there's no networking features out of the box.

There are methods to enable the USB ports on a DirecTivo, but they involve installing modified software on your Tivo's hard drive using a PC running Linux. See here for more info http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=265929

 

You cannot transfer recordings from a DirecTivo to a PC in the stock configuration. Start with the Zipper and then take it from there. While the Zipper doesn't provide extraction utilities it does get the basic hacking out of the way and sets the stage for what you want to do. The rest of the process is up to you to research since you won't find it discussed here.

 

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I've been using an S Video cable and composite cables (red and white). And make sure your computer has a TV capture card. It's been working just fine.

 

Actually, it's got nothing to do with theft of service. It's all about the DMCA, copyright issues with the movie studios, and Tivo caught in the middle.

Your method is referred to as dubbing and is different from the topic (not) being discussed. It's basically a low quality version of transferring video from a Tivo to a PC.

 

There's no difference between what is asked for here and the TiVoToGo service available from TiVo for standalone boxes. Same concept, same legal rules apply. The only reason it's not available by default for DTiVos is that DirecTV did not want to make it available, though they are beta testing a similar concept for the HR2x boxes.

TySuiteJ is my favorite method for extracting videos from DTiVos.

 

Is that Mr. U *actually* recommending the Zipper???

 

I wasn't so much recommending that the Zipper be used but rather that the hacks the Zipper installs will get the OP where he wants to go. There's still no substitute for learning how to do things manually. My only complaint with the Zipper is that the vast majority of people that use it have absolutely no clue what it's doing. Considering that the Zipper support thread has over 10,000 posts, it's pretty obvious that this is the case. I applaud Gunny and Russ for supporting the program but they opened up a Pandora's box when they introduced the Zipper.

The best thing about the Zipper is that you can learn a lot about hacking a Tivo just by looking at the installation scripts. Using the scripts as a guideline, pretty much anyone can hack a Tivo manually once you understand a few basic Linux commands. Open up the scripts using a text editor like TextPad and you'll find all sorts of goodies that will educate you.

 

I installed the zipper on both of my DTivos, and honestly, I really don't care what the zipper does as long as it works. I have no desire to learn Linux. I just wanted to add features to my Tivo's without taking a class.

 

That's fine as long as you don't care what happens when things go wrong, as they inevitably will.

 

That's why I have setup a working image on 2 backup IDE hard drives so if anything goes wrong with my current drives, I'll just swap them out. My units will still be working, giving me the luxury of taking my time to determine what is wrong with the old drives.

 

OK.

We've been over this many times. No need to rehash it again.

Agreed! The last box I "hacked" I took Russ' scripts apart and ran the commands myself. Worked like a charm. I definitely learned a lot by reading the scripts and figuring out what the individual sections did.

Anyway, sorry to take this thread off-topic. Back we go.

 

And you have clearly proven my point. Good luck to you when things go wrong. FYI - you don't need to be a Linux guru to hack a Tivo. In fact, if you can use the Zipper you probably already know enough Linux to do everything manually.