cTiVo Announcement

It now seems to be behaving as expected. Perhaps some caching issue? It wasn't until I redownloaded the dropbox version AND deleted the release build. But it is now showing only the recordings.

Thanks for your attention on this.

You might have a look at Archivo's source to see if the dev has found a better method for getting a list of just the recordings without repeated asks and duplicate filtering.

 

Thanks so much for authoring this great program, very much appreciated.

I am using it on a 10.10 mac, for the first time, and have an issue/question:

1-My goal is to download HD programs from my roam and preserve 100% of audio and video quality, and be able to view the programs both on my mac, as well as send them back to the tivo at a later date and know the quality has not changes.

What is the better format to use, between "decrypted tivo" and "Mpeg-2 HD". Both seem to result in a .mpg file that the computer and tivo can play back, what are the pros/cons of one profile vs the other?

2-For now, I downloaded a show with the "decrypted tivo" format that is in HD and 5.1 (Jimi Hendrix Electric Church", on showtime, which for some reason was not copy protected like all my other showtime recordings. The original recording on the Tivo has 5.1 sound, displays as 5.1 on my receiver, etc.

The downloaded file on CTivo, when inspected on the computer, is in dolby digital 2.0 sound, the 5.1 sound has been lost or converted to 2.0 somehow.

Is this a known issue, or do I have some setting wrong? I was under the impression that at least for the decrypted tivo setting, nothing is converted or changed, it just strips the encryption and changes it from a .tivo file to a .mpg file, but maybe I misunderstand?

Thanks!

 

The recent update in 2.4.4
"New feature, in cooperation with William McBrine at pyTivo: Using the latest version of pyTiVo, then the .TXT metadata files are no longer necessary. Instead, cTiVo will embed the TiVo-specific data inside the MPEG files). So you can simply turn off the pyTiVo feature and not worry about having to track the .TXT files together with the video file. The pyTiVo version required has a metadata.py dated 10/12/15 or later. Note: This only works with newly created .MP4, M4V, and .MOV files"


Does this work with Decrypted TiVo Show format, which exports to MPG? If not, what output format do I use to get the metadata embedded in the downloaded show, for subsequent re-uploading via pyTiVo?

Thanks

 

Do you have a recommendation for one with the least CPU usage on downloading computer or best transfer quality back to TiVo?

 

Ok, I think I've got it working. I did a basic test, copying a Suggestion with cTivo using the the H.264 Highest Quality. I deleted it from the Tivo (and then permanently deleted it from the Recently Deleted folder) to ensure there's no metadata on the Tivo. Then I Transferred it back to the Tivo, thanks to the latest pyTivo. All the metadata was preserved. Cool.

I need to run some more trials to make sure it's all working as desired. But this is promising.

 

Did the newest cTivo remove the metadata text file export feature? Even with the preference option enabled, it doesn't produce the text file

Because transcoding an hour-long show takes 1-3 hours, while downloading takes only 10 minutes, I think I'd be better off downloading decrypted shows and using the metadata for pytivo, rather than the very slow process of transcoding files with embedded data.

Except cTiVo isn't exporting the meta data files any more. Is something I should look at to try and fix this?

 

Thanks. I gave that a quick test with two half-hour downloads and it's working! There's several great apps to try out, but so far I keep finding cTivo to best suit my tastes and needs.

(If I had one wishlist item granted, it would be for folder organization, a la Archivo, while keeping the 'stoplight' icons for show status (recorded, protected, suggestions, etc.)

 

I'm finding occurrences of cTivo getting incorrect metadata (showing wrong episode numbers, in particular). Should I post or send log files or screenshots on that?

 

I've found a case where the "episodeNumber" field is missing, though it's known on the TiVo itself before transfer. cTivo shows the episode with the wrong episode number in its UI; after download the field is missing from the metadata text file.

 

How do I download from a TiVo and skip commercials and upload back to the tivo and apple tv?

cTivo is not skipping commercials.

 

I am trying to find a way to get saved tivo shows/files from my tivo to my mac
From there I want to convert them to apple tv

It seems that I need cTivo and then another program like pavtube video converter ???
Please advise if this sounds right based on what I have read
TIA

EDIT installed cTivo and NO shows transfer, a pop up comes up saying failed and retry

 

Thanks
Yes the media key is on/correct in the program and at tivo.com
I have verizon, tivo hd and premier
I can see all the shows but nine transfer, I get a pop up in the upper right corner of my screen (under the clock) that says failed will try again. That repeats every few minutes tillI cancel the transfer

I can get transfers to work with Tivo Transfer but I get stuck from there trying to convert to a format I can actually use and/or they downscale hd to sd

 

Got it to work
not sure why but after a restart its transferring a show now.
I'll play with settings to get the best HD I can unless anyone has a recommendation.
thanks