PC to Tivo transfer file size limitations?

sageone · Dec 25, 2005

Recently, I encoded a copy of Narnia (3 cds) and transfered them to my Tivo. They played without a problem. Everything was great. I got another movie, Four Brothers, and tried the same thing. However, this time, the file was one big file 2+ gigs. When I started to play the movie, I jumped to the end to see if in fact, the entire thing transfered over. It didn't. Only about half or something like that.

So my question is...are there size limitations to transfering mpegs to tivo from your pc? My guess is yes because Narnia worked (files were about 700-750 megs a piece). If there are limitations, can you tweak the settings on TivoToGo to increase the size of allowable transfers?

I think I'll have to chop up the files. Suggestions? Tips?

Stu_Bee · Dec 25, 2005

I haven't hit any such limitation...and the fact that .Tivo movies are usually over the 2gb size, and allowed transfer back, would suggest a limit doesn't exist.

Does anyone know if there is Tivo2Go logs of transfers back to Tivo? (such as in the recording history of Tivo, or in the logs of Tivo2Go) which may help troubleshoot op issue.

sageone · Dec 26, 2005

I think I might have found the problem...for some reason, when I used Adobe premiere to transcode the file, it only transcoded about an hour's worth of the movie. Strange...I'll recode and see what happens. Any tutorials on transcoding media with adobe premiere or links would be most helpful. Thanks and happy holidays!

sageone · Dec 26, 2005

I might have found out what happened...

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=886716&SD=tech

Something about Premiere and the XP OS. I found a patch that I installed. Rebooting now and will start to recode the video. Then I'll see what happens. More to follow post transcoding...

Jakefrediani · Dec 26, 2005

how did u encode them to get them to transfer from ur pc to ur tivo?

sageone · Dec 27, 2005

Jakefrediani said:
how did u encode them to get them to transfer from ur pc to ur tivo?

Used Adobe Premiere and then exported the file using the program's encoding function. I selected the default conversion method as MPEG-2. It worked, but only about half of the movie. I think my problem lies within the encoding process. I'm still working on it. I'd rather not have to split the file into two parts and ecnode then transfer. I'd rather have one big file. Much easier and less time.

AJ500 · Dec 27, 2005

In Premiere, did you export the Entire Sequence or the Work Area Bar? If you exported the Work Area Bar and it's less than the entire sequence, that would result in a video shorter then the full video.

Jakefrediani · Dec 27, 2005

I still don't see how you got it onto ur tivo

sageone · Dec 27, 2005

Jakefrediani said:
I still don't see how you got it onto ur tivo

To transfer from my PC to Tivo it's very simple...you need the 7.1 system on the Tivo box and 2.2 of TivoToGo on your PC. When I hit "now playing" on the bottom of the list appears something labled "workstation" (the name I have on my home pc). I select that and it pulls up any files I have in "My Tivo Recordings" folder on my pc. Each file has to be encoded to mpeg-2. So, when I select that folder, I find the movie I want to watch, hit select on my Tivo remote and it starts the transfer from my pc to my tivo over my wireless network. Once it's finished transferring, the movie shows up by itself in the Now Playing list, like any other tivo recording show.

It's fairly simple...the toughest part is encoding the file(s) to enable Tivo to recognize it. Since the movies I obtain come in various formats (bin/cue, vcd, svcd, avi, etc., etc.) there are different methods and apps to encode from one format to another. Premiere is my favorite because it does it all, for the most part. I do have one program called vcdgear that encodes bin files to mpeg. It's great and really fast.

Anyways, as long as you have the approriate OS on your Tivo and the right version of TivToGo combined with a running network and properly encoded files, you are go to go.

rainwater · Dec 27, 2005

Make sure you are using NTFS if you want to use large files (greater than 4gb). Fat32 doesn't support files larger than 4gb.

sageone · Dec 27, 2005

rainwater said:
Make sure you are using NTFS if you want to use large files (greater than 4gb). Fat32 doesn't support files larger than 4gb.

Didn't think about that...thanks. I think I'm NTFS, but I'll have to check.

sageone · Dec 27, 2005

Checked...not the case. I did another re-encode of the entire file and it shortned it again. There's about half a movie that it didn't encode. The file is about 2.3 gigs...my guess is that I have to tweak the settings in Premiere. I tried to cut the file in half and that worked. However, the size of the video on my screen was very, very small. I know I'm missing something somewhere but just can't figure it out.

Stu_Bee · Dec 27, 2005

You might want to try other encoders to get the file you want in MPG format.
I'm not completely clear on what your source video format is.

I've used winavi very successfully in converting avi's to Tivo acceptable mpg format. Yesterday I converted a PAL formatted mpg file to NTSC using winavi....so it works with MPG as a source as well.

There is a 'full-functional' demo available to see if it works for you:
http://www.winavi.com/en/download/download.htm

sageone · Dec 27, 2005

Stu_Bee said:
You might want to try other encoders to get the file you want in MPG format.
I'm not completely clear on what your source video format is.

I've used winavi very successfully in converting avi's to Tivo acceptable mpg format. Yesterday I converted a PAL formatted mpg file to NTSC using winavi....so it works with MPG as a source as well.

There is a 'full-functional' demo available to see if it works for you:
http://www.winavi.com/en/download/download.htm

Based on this thread, I tried Winavi and guess what??? IT WORKED!!! It's was really simple to use and it was about twice as fast as Premiere. Wow! I'm off to the races now!! Thanks folks! TC comes through in the clutch!

sageone · Dec 28, 2005

Just finished watching a transfered movie on my tivo. Quality was excellent and it was the entire movie - as opposed to the issues that prompted me to start this thread. For those of you who wish to transcode movies to tivo, I would HIGHLY recommend Winavi!!!

nilegomez · Jan 18, 2006

I'm hoping someone here can help. I'm putting properly encoded mpg files into my Tivo Recordings folder and Tivo can see the folder, but can't seem to see the mpg's inside. What am I doing wrong? The rest of my home media options all seem to work properly.

sageone · Jan 18, 2006

I was having the same issues...be sure that your files are encoded properly. Check the thread for mentions of programs to use. The program to use really depends on what format the original file is in. For example, if you have VOB files from a dvd that you want to convert to mpeg-2, you'll need one app. For .bin to mpeg-2 you'll need something else. I am really no IT guy, but using google to find free apps was fairly easy - just type in google ".bin to mpeg-2 conversion", etc., etc.

However, what you really need to do is make sure that your files are in the proper format. Check this link:

http://customersupport.tivo.com/knowbase/root/public/tv251080.htm

That link will give you the proper specs for your mpeg files. Make sure that they are in MPEG-2 format (svcd). I find the sticking point is the frame rate. The must, must, must be in 29.97 frame rate.

I found an app that tells you what format files are in. You drag the file to the window and it'll give you the specs of the file. This has helped me determine if a file is in the right format to transfer to my tivo. If not, I'll re-ecode and bingo...it works. The program (freeware) is called AVIcodec and you can find it here:

http://avicodec.duby.info/

Good luck.

PC to Tivo transfer file size limitations?

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