DIVX to TIVO

jasch · Oct 7, 2005

I just wanted to share my experience in downloading shows from bittorrent and uploading them to the TiVo.

I've been experimenting several weeks, and found the best results with WinAvi (www.winavi.com). This program will let me convert DIVX to DVD (burn them to DVD-RW's, watch them and then re-use them), or to MPEG2.

I've converted about 10 shows this week to MPEG2, and re-inserted them on the TiVo and they played flawlessly. I was even able to MRV them to my DTivos

(I had a lot of rain on Monday, and had to download all prime time programming from CBS, FOX and NBC).

WinAvi was really useful and cheap at $30. Now if there would only be an automatic way to download, transcode and re-insert

wgary · Oct 7, 2005

How long is it taking to transcode? The program I'm using is SLOOOOW!

Bai Shen · Oct 7, 2005

Does it allow you to edit the files to remove commercials? Or is it just a one step conversion process?

jasch · Oct 7, 2005

wgary said:
How long is it taking to transcode? The program I'm using is SLOOOOW!

About 10 minutes for a 1 hour show.

Bai Shen said:
Does it allow you to edit the files to remove commercials? Or is it just a one step conversion process?

Normally the DIVX you download from the internet have no commercial.

dwgsp · Oct 7, 2005

I'm using VideoReDo (www.videoredo.com) to remove commercials from MPEG files, and it's well worth the cost.

/Don

billmannor · Oct 7, 2005

You could remove the commericals from the AVI/Divx with virtualdub, free program and it's pretty easy to figure out. Doesn't work with MPEG though.

Bai Shen · Oct 7, 2005

billmannor said:
You could remove the commericals from the AVI/Divx with virtualdub, free program and it's pretty easy to figure out. Doesn't work with MPEG though.

Color me stupid, but how? I haven't been able to figure out how to get it to work.

morac · Oct 10, 2005

billmannor said:
You could remove the commericals from the AVI/Divx with virtualdub, free program and it's pretty easy to figure out. Doesn't work with MPEG though.

There is a version of VirtualDub that supports mpeg and mpeg2. It's available at http://fcchandler.home.comcast.net/stable/

billmannor · Oct 10, 2005

morac said:
There is a version of VirtualDub that supports mpeg and mpeg2. It's available at http://fcchandler.home.comcast.net/stable/

Yes but you can't save it out as an mpeg2, only avi. mpg2 -> avi -> mpg2 would be a huge pain.

tangent1138 · Oct 10, 2005

mpeg2vcr edits mpeg2

jon01 · Oct 10, 2005

ok, so i tried to go from AVI (divx) to a mpeg2 file and when it plays on my TIVO i got these awful horizontal lines. when i fast forward they go away. any ideas? i used all the default settings in winavi video converter.

Stu_Bee · Oct 10, 2005

jon01 said:
ok, so i tried to go from AVI (divx) to a mpeg2 file and when it plays on my TIVO i got these awful horizontal lines. when i fast forward they go away. any ideas? i used all the default settings in winavi video converter.

Not sure what the default settings are...try these:

Settings: Output of "MPEG2", Highest Quality, 480x480, Pref=By Speed, Source aspect ratio = Auto, NTSC

jasch · Oct 10, 2005

jon01 said:
ok, so i tried to go from AVI (divx) to a mpeg2 file and when it plays on my TIVO i got these awful horizontal lines. when i fast forward they go away. any ideas? i used all the default settings in winavi video converter.

I am using 720x480 on my WinAvi preferences, I left the rest as default settings.

jon01 · Oct 11, 2005

yeah i changed the resolution and now it works. i made it 480x480 (i saw someones settings in another post). works like a charm now

Stu_Bee · Oct 11, 2005

Not sure if it's just me....but I changed from 720x480 to 480x480 on the Winavi settings to see if it cut down on the slight, but somewhat annoying, jerkiness that occurs when the scene scrolls/pans in any direction. I think it did help some, but not positive. I've seen this 'hitching' in every tool I've used to convert xvid/divx to Mpeg, so either it's just inherent in the xvid/divx converstion process....or my codec is to blame.

Everyone else see this?

Re-Hash · Oct 11, 2005

Buy a cheap DVD player that handles DiVX and skip all the transcoding, etc. I have a Norcent DP-220 that works great for this, costs about $50. Dump your DiVX AVI's on a DVD+/-RW and watch from that. When done, erase & repeat.
cnet dvd divx link

Stu_Bee · Oct 11, 2005

Re-Hash said:
Buy a cheap DVD player that handles DiVX and skip all the transcoding, etc. I have a Norcent DP-220 that works great for this, costs about $50. Dump your DiVX AVI's on a DVD+/-RW and watch from that. When done, erase & repeat.
cnet dvd divx link

I think I'd miss some of the joy of using Tivo to view my divx (transcoded to MPEG) shows.
- Don't have to keep switching DVD's to find the show I want...they are all listed in my PC's MPEG directory that Tivo displays.
- The Tivo GUI/Remote is much easier to use than the DVD remote (on mine at least). One interface for all show viewing..very nice.

It's not really a long nor painful process to change Divx to Mpeg if you use a nice tool like Winavi.

Yes, I wish Tivo could play native mpeg4/divx formats...but until that enhancement comes along (external USB transcoder?)....this is very workable.

jon01 · Oct 12, 2005

i have a philips dvd player now that plays divx GREAT. I need to convert now cause the DVD player isn;t hooked up since i moved recently

natallica · Oct 12, 2005

Quick question. Is the Tivo Server able to load .mpeg files back on the Tivo or do you need to lie and rename them .Tivo?

I've been burning VCDs of the downloaded AVI's via Nero and the transcoding takes forever...this would make my life much easier!

-- N

jasch · Oct 12, 2005

If they're compliant with Tivo specification, you can load them up onto your tivo. That's what I've been doing (downloading divx's from bitorrent, transconding and uploading them to my tivo to watch on my tv)

DIVX to TIVO

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