TTG - Incorrect Video Lengths after transfer

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Any update on this? I'm encountering similar issues with files on the PC.

From reading the thread, it seems like the choices are:

- Buy and use VRD+, use the settings above, and run through a quickstream fix

- Try using other players like VLC, but at the expense of video quality (I tried this and the quality was significantly more choppy than what WMP was showing)

- Try fooling the system, but this may mess things up after a reboot.

Any other possibilities? I want the same playback quality as in WMP but just a slider that works.

-J

 

Unfortunately it appears that Tivo is taking their time fixing this.

I did not have much success reconfiguring playback to force the use of other stream splitters and demuxers with Tivo Desktop installed. Not only does Tivo Desktop change the filters, etc, for playback of .Tivo files, it changes them for .mpeg, quicktime, .avi, etc.

Really unbelievable!!

At this point I have removed Tivo Desktop from my system and done some major work to get mpeg playback working properly again due to my earlier fooling around.

If I really want to watch something from the Tivo then I log into it through my web browser, download the show and convert it to standard empeg for playback in media player.

 

Was this issue fixed with the new 9.3x software release?

Don

 

No.

 

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Reviving an old thread, has there been any progress on this front?

And does anyone know of a playback codec resistant to this problem?

There seems to be no rhyme or reason to which shows display the incorrect time length and which ones are perfectly fine.

 

I gave up and simply use KMTTG which is a script that downloads your shows and decodes them. Some recent enhancements make it really useful as a Tivo Desktop replacement.

Used in conjunction with PyTivo application it basically does everything that Tivo Desktop does except, hey!! it actually works! I really regret throwing good money after bad registering Tivo Desktop.

 

Thanks for the tip. Are there any downsides to KMTTG you've noticed or experienced in comparison to Tivo Desktop?

Also, what is PyTivo?

 

No, not really. I actually run the KMTTG/PyTivo combination on a Windows Home Server box. It automatically downloads my chosen programs and I can manually download them and/or encode them to different formats for my needs (iPod, PS3, etc). It also lets you use Comskip or Comcut to mark or delete commercials for those programs that it works well with.

PyTivo then shares this stuff out to the Tivo(s) on the network so you can transfer shows back, etc.

It might take an hour or so to get it all running and working, but it's at least as good as Tivo Desktop, probably better.

 

Hmm interesting. I just picked up an HP Mediasmart EX475 which runs Windows Home Server. In this setup, do the transfers go directly from the Tivo and the WHS box (and vice versa) or does it have to run through a client PC as well?

 

No, you can do it all with WHS. Just set it up per the Windows Setup Instructions. You can then have the WHS box save the recordings on a UNC share name that is accessible to the world.

I do use a more powerful box than the EX475 for WHS but I doubt that the EX475 would have much trouble running it. You just tell KMTTG how long to sleep between jobs to go out and fetch your programs, or you can fetch them manually.

I would refer you to the KMTTG thread for further info and questions on KMTTG and PyTivo.

 

Thanks a lot. I'll definitely be heading over to that thread. This sounds like it will actually be a better solution for me than a properly working Tivo Desktop application. One of my concerns was having to keep the three components in the process (Tivo, WHS, PC) all on wired ethernet since wireless was just too slow for these types of transfers. Now I can remove the PC from the equation and be free to go wirelessly with that and have only the Tivo and WHS wired to my router. Excellent.

 

Yes, with WHS I think you will be much happier with this solution. One gotcha with WHS is that after KMTTG installation (when you run/config it the first time) it will create a service to run, you want to go in and change the permissions to have KMTTG service run with your administrator credentials instead of as a system account.

The nice thing about the KMTTG solution is that you can shut your desktop off, saving power, and just have the WHS box downloading your stuff as well as serving media. You don't need any special stuff run from the desktop so it's perfectly happy running even when noone is logged in to the remote desktop of WHS.

If you have setup issues ask them in the KMTTG thread and I'll try to answer them there.

 

So can I assume at this point that the incorrect video lengths are a result of the Tivo Desktop software and not a video playback codec issue? I.e. if I use KMTTG to re-transfer those videos that previously had incorrect video lengths, the problem will be solved?

 

All I know is that when Tivo Desktop software was installed on my PC it caused all sorts of codec problems including the incorrect video length.

When you use kmttg to download and decode your videos it uses the industry standard FFMPEG decoder to do it. I haven't had any issues playing back those videos on two different PCs but there ARE possible problems related to certain decoding things such as lip sync, etc, that might be beyond the control of KMTG to handle as it relies on the free FFMPEG decoder.

 

Thanks for all your help!