[19972000muskrat]

I've been using pyTiVo desktop to download my programs but I need some way to convert those ty+ to mpeg-4 so Plex will see them.


Update 1: Hard to believe it could be this easy but I simply changed the file name extension to ".mpg" and everything seems to work. Which I guess the files are actually mpeg-2 instead of mpeg-4 files. Not sure why they're not already saved with that extension to begin with by pyTiVo desktop.

Update 2: I was looking at the wrong files. Nothing wrong with my files created with the pyTiVo desktop program. Sorry for my confusion.

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[Wil]

I've been using pyTiVo to download my programs but I need some way to convert those ty+ to mpeg-4 so Plex will see them.

EDIT: Disregard this whole answer. Because you said "ty+" files I thought you were talking about ty+ files.
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I suspect you mean "tyftpd.tcl" rather than "pyTivo"? Or some other variation of mfs_ftp.tcl?

pyTivo (Dan's "easy"version) or kmttg, which most people use instead, produces standard files that Plex handles fine. Though these files can have problems which are well-documented here on TCF, which is why, I take it, you're using the older program. I compliment you, you're getting excellent video files without those potential problems, but a bit more work.

You need 3tots to process your downloads from a series 3 or model HD or tytompeg for older Tivos. Then you can process that resulting video file however you want with standard tools.

But you don't need mpeg4 for Plex, just getting the .ty+ file sorted out (or a .ty or even a .tmf) will give you a standard video file that will be fine. A ty+ is just an mpeg2 file, but constructed such that neither Plex nor most video players can deal with it.

BTW there was work being done on other variations of mfs_ftp.tcl that saved mpeg2 files directly, but I think you'd have a tough time finding any of that.

 

[19972000muskrat]

I have the roamio. Are you saying that Plex should play ty+ files natively?

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[Wil]

I have the roamio. Are you saying that Plex should play ty+ files natively?

Totally disregard my message. I have a whole different conception of "ty+" files than you do. A format very few people are using these days; I thought you were one of us throwbacks.

 

[ThAbtO]

I've been using pyTiVo to download my programs but I need some way to convert those ty+ to mpeg-4 so Plex will see them.

You need to define what files are you talking about? Files from the Tivo is .TiVo, which is encrypted by the Tivo and be decrypted by PyTivo Desktop or KMTTG. Then, it will be .MPG (MPEG2) or .TS, depending on PS or TS download.

 

[19972000muskrat]

All I can say for sure is I used PyTivo Desktop to download files off my Roamio and when I looked in Windows it has a ty+ file extension. And these files won't show up on my Plex server. I can however play them with the VLC program on my desktop .

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[Wil]

All I can say for sure is I used PyTivo Desktop to download files off my Roamio and when I looked in Windows it has a ty+ file extension. And these files won't show up on my Plex server. I can however play them with the VLC program on my desktop

This is very puzzling. ".ty+" (and ".ty" and ".tmf") files were used by a splinter group of Tivo enthusiasts, we're talking nearly 20 years ago. Though small in number we were vocal and managed to get developers of VLC and some other video players to handle the format. Some vestige of that code apparently survives in the current VLC (I just checked an old .ty+ file) but if these really are magically ty+ files you're going to see distortion. Among other issues the files had noise at segment borders that had to be sensed and bypassed by players.

These files were produced by programs like mfs_ftp.tcl and typtpd.tcl which accessed the Tivo at a very native level. The idea that pyTivo could be producing true .ty+ files is astounding to me. I doubt there are more than a couple of dozen people in the world still using the format. Look at the current pyTivo branch thread (William McBrine) here (not the "easier to use pyTIvo) and ask him. Perhaps he's using that designation for some totally unrelated purpose and your specific settings have stumbled onto it.

 

[ThAbtO]

Also, on PCs, there shouldn't be a + symbol in a filename as the meaning of the + is to join 2 files into a single file.

if you can get a screenshot of the filename.

 

[Wil]

Also, on PCs, there shouldn't be a + symbol in a filename as the meaning of the + is to join 2 files into a single file.

if you can get a screenshot of the filename.

I just took a close look at pyTivo (I am only a casual user). It is absolutely impossible for it to be accessing the Tivo at a basic enough level to get a true ".ty+" file. If it were, this would be a revolution in many ways. Among other things, all the error problems with getting really clean video off the Tivo by current methods would be solved. There would be dancing in the streets.

(Now this can still be done on the Tivo series 3 and the HD, today, via the old "alternatives" to pyTivo and kmttg, and a very few users are still doing that to get clean video, but NOT with later Tivos. Very close to impossible.

Nor do I see any provision by which ".ty+" could, totally coincidentally, be used by pyTivo for some other totally unrelated purpose. It's just not happening. Something is wrong here.

 

[19972000muskrat]

I just took a close look at pyTivo (I am only a casual user). It is absolutely impossible for it to be accessing the Tivo at a basic enough level to get a true ".ty+" file. If it were, this would be a revolution in many ways. Among other things, all the error problems with getting really clean video off the Tivo by current methods would be solved. There would be dancing in the streets.

(Now this can still be done on the Tivo series 3 and the HD, today, via the old "alternatives" to pyTivo and kmttg, and a very few users are still doing that to get clean video, but NOT with later Tivos. Very close to impossible.

Nor do I see any provision by which ".ty+" could, totally coincidentally, be used by pyTivo for some other totally unrelated purpose. It's just not happening. Something is wrong here.

Yeah you are right. Sorry about all the confusion see my update at the top I was looking at a file that was a lot older than I thought it was.

 

[Wil]

Yeah you are right. Sorry about all the confusion see my update at the top I was looking at a file that was a lot older than I thought it was.

Ah. I see. Order is restored to the universe.

BTW the reason changing the extension to ".mpeg" worked is that a ty+ (or ty) is essentially just an mpeg, but with some characteristics that need special handling, largely some headers and other extra info and the garbage at the end of a segment unfilled by actual video, that I mentioned. That's why tytompeg and later 3tots were used. I think VLC at one point would even play .tmf files, a very fundamental version of the .ty+ that is also mpeg pieces but even less "standard" mpeg in file structure.

I've got some old hard drives in storage, filled with old files in those formats, and very occasionally I'll be looking for an old movie or something that I can't find elsewhere, and I'll look into those old files and get lucky.

 

[ThAbtO]

A normal Tivo would transfer to computer as a .TiVo file. To get a .Ty file may mean the Tivo was modded some time ago.

 

[Wil]

A normal Tivo would transfer to computer as a .TiVo file. To get a .Ty file may mean the Tivo was modded some time ago.

No, he's transferring from a Roamio.

Read his update. Turned out he had some old ty+ files and got them confused with recent transfers, which are fine and as should be. All is well.

 

[19972000muskrat]

No, he's transferring from a Roamio.

Read his update. Turned out he had some old ty+ files and got them confused with recent transfers, which are fine and as should be. All is well.

Actually the older files were from my series II directivo. Just to help clear things up further.

 

[Dan203]

Check out this thread....

Bulk convet .ty to .ts or any other format

it contains a program I wrote to add a GUI bulk convert to the s3tots program which converts ty to standard ts

 

[ThAbtO]

Actually the older files were from my series II directivo. Just to help clear things up further.

I think these Tivo has to be modded to be able to transfer shows.

 

[Wil]

I think these Tivo has to be modded to be able to transfer shows.

No. Software only for most Tivos up to the series 3 and HD, which do need modification.

 

[19972000muskrat]

No. Software only for most Tivos up to the series 3 and HD, which do need modification.

Yeah there were files called the
Zipper, DTiVo 51killer and Instantcake I used on my directivos not sure what they all did anymore.

 

[ThAbtO]

No. Software only for most Tivos up to the series 3 and HD, which do need modification.

I had a Series 2 and still have a Series 3 and a Series 5 Roamio and they all could transfer files between them and PCs. They were never modded.

Its the DTV models that didn't do this until modded.

 

[Wil]

I had a Series 2 and still have a Series 3 and a Series 5 Roamio and they all could transfer files between them and PCs. They were never modded.

Its the DTV models that didn't do this until modded.

You're mixing up the concepts of standard relatively modern MRV and TTG (.tivo .ts and other derived files), as opposed to actually getting at the raw video information on the Tivo by programs that long pre-dated those methods or kmttg or pyTivo, most popularly mfs_ftp.tcl and tyftpd.tcl, though there are others. Those latter (what might be called native Tivo video files) are the ty+ files we're discussing. The series 3 and the HD require hardware modification to do those transfers. Almost all other earlier Tivos, and ALL DirecTivos (prior to the THR22) do those transfers via software only, no modification required.

The OP had some of those old ty+ files from a DirecTivo on his hard drive, and got those files confused with more current files he was transferring from a Roamio with standard methods. That's the whole genesis of the thread. It's not a problem because he recognized what he did and updated his original post.