Shooter Grrl Posted March 23, 2005 Share Posted March 23, 2005 I have some shows saved on my Tivo recorder that I'd like to put on a DVD through my laptop. So tell me, you technical geniuses - how do I do this? I'm thinking just hook up the laptop through the Tivo usb port and copy and paste - but will I be able to play them? What format are tivo shows saved as? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GRD Posted March 23, 2005 Share Posted March 23, 2005 I've played around with this a bit and unless something has changed in the meantime it can't be done...at least not the way you'd like it to be done. The TiVo uses a proprietary drive format that last I checked nobody had figured out how to crack into and get the shows off it. You can 'play' them out into a recorder source (which could just be your PC), but that's about it as far as I know. I'd love to know how to dump the raw shows off it onto the PC, so maybe someone knows how to do this...although when I looked into it 6 months ago or so, it was not possible. If anybody knows, George might... (Good TiVo resource: http://tivocommunity.com/) - Gabe <cue George> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Boudrie Posted March 23, 2005 Share Posted March 23, 2005 If you are looking for a DVD and don't yet own a Tivo, consider a replaytv. They do not encrypt the format, are openly tolerant of hobbyists pushing the envelope, and there is a freeware program to turn a PC into a storage unit/server (java - I've run it on Linux and Windows without problems). Or, you could alwas go to www.mythtv.com. TIVO has done a much more effective job of maintaining complete control over the data stream, which I suppose is a good thing if you are tivo. When TIVO operating system images were posted to the web, TIVO threatened to sue unless web sites took them down. When Replay TV OS images were posted, ReplayTV would informally give you hints where to start looking - which made it real easy for me to repair an older unit, and upgrade the storage capacity on another. Loads of good info at www.avsforum.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GRD Posted March 24, 2005 Share Posted March 24, 2005 Hmmm....I love my TiVo, but I sure would like to be able to get in there and mess around some more. I stuck an additional drive in there, so my 40hr is now a 130hr, but that's as much as I've been able to do to it. I'd love to get it talking to the PC... - Gabe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GRD Posted March 24, 2005 Share Posted March 24, 2005 Good news: I just discovered that if you have a series 2 stand-alone TiVo (not a DirecTV box, like I have), TiVo has a new free software upgrade on the way to you that allows the TiVo to output the shows via ethernet to your PC, finally. It's called TiVo To Go. Problem solved. http://www.tivo.com/4.9.19.asp If that doesn't work for you (like me) there lots of info here. Some major geekage going on, though. I can't make heads or tails out of it. http://www.dealdatabase.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=43 - Gabe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shooter Grrl Posted March 24, 2005 Author Share Posted March 24, 2005 Crap - I too have a Directv box, dammit. Thanks for doing the leg work Gabe - we're just gonna have to upgrade to stand alone, heh? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DougBarnes101 Posted March 24, 2005 Share Posted March 24, 2005 I like that this thread came up. I was contemplating getting a Tivo since I Dish has Sirius music channels I had thought about recording them and then when putting them on the hard drive changing them to MP3s and making one heck of a music collection. Sounds like that is out unless someone has other ideas. Oh well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GRD Posted March 24, 2005 Share Posted March 24, 2005 I guess there's still a chance that DirecTV might add the TiVo To Go thing to their boxes, but don't hold your breath. The problem, apparently, is that DirecTV licensed the whole OS from TiVo so it's their own deal now and they can choose not to incorporate the TiVo upgrades if they feel like it. It sucks big time. However, I also learned that DirecTV is planning to release some kind of huge capacity (4 to 500 meg) 'media server' thing that will be able to feed files to other TiVo boxes around the house via ethernet. When that happens, or if it happens, is anybody's guess. But for now it's either geek out real hard and start hacking it, or we're SOL. If I hack it and it goes well I'll let you know... - Gabe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Posted March 24, 2005 Share Posted March 24, 2005 If you are going to do a lot of this, a standalone DVD recorder with the TIVO line out fed into it will be a worthwhile investment. They run from $399 on up to 7-8 hunnert', but they won't tie up your PC for hours and hours and hours... (and that's with a fast puter). They can also take FireWire in so DV camcorders can roll raw footage to them for archiving easier than through a PC. Even if you can transfer the files, you will find the process tedious in comparison to this form of dubbing. -- Regards, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Boudrie Posted March 24, 2005 Share Posted March 24, 2005 There is a certain elegance to grabbing the digital stream rather than making an analog copy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Posted March 24, 2005 Share Posted March 24, 2005 (edited) Yeah true, but I have found it to be much more laborious so I bought one to make quick transfers from tapes for clients because it is easier and faster which counts for a lot when you charge for the service. -- Regards Edited March 24, 2005 by George Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bberkley Posted March 25, 2005 Share Posted March 25, 2005 I've got a ReplayTV (Panasonic Showstopper) which I haven't even turned on since I replaced it with a DirecTivo DSR7000 for Christmas. I've got some software that came with my video card called Digital VCR or something, that with the proper cabling, emulates a VCR, and I can suck shows off the Tivo and burn to DVD. Haven't tried it yet, been thinking about hacking the DirecTivo box to enable the USB ports, and other stuff like telnet/ssh access, callerID, etc. I had hacked my ReplayTV and expanded its capacity with 2x 60GB drives. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Boudrie Posted March 25, 2005 Share Posted March 25, 2005 If you hack ReplayTV, Tivo or other and use Maxtor drives, I suggest you go to www.maxtor.com and download the '"amset" utility. There is a setting on thiese drives which lets you optimise it for low noise instead of high performance (the default as shipped). This results in a slightly quieter quiet unit with no noticable change in performance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shooter Grrl Posted March 25, 2005 Author Share Posted March 25, 2005 It'll probably be easier to just get Shooting Gallery and Shooting USA to offer their shows on DVD - since all I want to copy are these shows Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul B Posted March 25, 2005 Share Posted March 25, 2005 I tried to figure out how to tap the hard drive of my unit also (dishnetwork DVR but works somewhat like a Tivo) but couldn't. Finally opted for a Convertex video converter. I play the recorded programs back and the Convertex puts them into a DVD burning program (Win DVD Creator). From there it's easy but time consuming to burn DVD's. Admittedly, this does not give the absolute best quality, but it allows me to even use the MPEG 4 format and it sure looks great on any normal TV. The added benefit was that I could also convert all my VHS match tapes to DVD. Would you believe some of these were starting to deteriorate after only 7 years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GRD Posted March 25, 2005 Share Posted March 25, 2005 I've been doing what George suggested (just straight recording the TiVo output) into the PC for a while now and it's fine. S-Video out of the TiVo into a capture card on the machine. I have to string audio/video cables across the house to do it though. No DVD recorder in the PC, so I make VCD's out of the material, but I have audio sync problems - it drifts - and it's introduced during the encoding process to VCD. The raw capture material is fine, but the post-encoding audio drifts from the video and I can't figure it out. It's not offset by a fixed amount, it gets worse over time. Maybe I just need to put a DVD burner in the PC and be done with it. Naw..that's too easy - Gabe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GRD Posted March 25, 2005 Share Posted March 25, 2005 OK. I just bought a DVD burner for my PC. Newegg has a sale on a nice looking OEM NEC drive for next couple days. Fifty bucks! http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproductdesc....-152-035&DEPA=0 - Gabe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shooter Grrl Posted April 1, 2005 Author Share Posted April 1, 2005 Update - my Tivo player has a USB port, and has an option to record to VCR. I'm gonna go get me a usb/usb cable - hopefully the stupid Tivo will think it's a VCR or at the minimum, I can at least free up the space on my Tivo - it's full and not recordin anymore I've missed three weeks of CSI dammit!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GRD Posted April 1, 2005 Share Posted April 1, 2005 The 'record to VCR' thing is nothing to write home about. It just opens the show, pauses it and tells you to hit 'record' on your VCR and then starts the playback. Just a straight-up dub. You're not going to get any video out over that USB cable. You have to get the S-Video or composite video outputs from the TiVo into your recorder - whatever that ends up being. I think there are some USB-based video-in devices out there that you could attach to your notebook and capture from. You're stuck with basically playing the TiVo and recording the video out onto something: either a VCR or your computer if you add the right hardware. George would be the guy to ask for a suggestion on a USB-based video capture box... My solution: I have a video capture card in my PC, added a DVD burner yesterday so now I'll record the shows off the TiVo S-Video output and then burn them to DVD. Pain in the ass, but for a DirecTiVo, there's no easy way to get the shows off the drive directly. - Gabe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eidechse Posted April 2, 2005 Share Posted April 2, 2005 I have a friend who claims he made his DirecTiVo do his bidding. HOW, exactly, is a bit confusing to me, and I'm afraid to crack mine open to try it (he had an extra one to play with). He said he went here for a net card: http://www.9thtee.com/ Then here http://www.ptvupgrade.com/ for a CD with the TiVo image on it, and he swapped the harddrive for a bigger one with the clean TiVo image on it. Then here http://www.dealdatabase.com/ for instructions on video extraction, and eventually chose http://www.tytool.com/ for client/server software. My reaction? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GRD Posted April 2, 2005 Share Posted April 2, 2005 What your friend claims can be done. And dealdatabase.com is the place to learn how to do it. It doesn't look easy, however. You can install an FTP server on the TiVo and pull files off it that way, but it's a huge pain in the ass to get it up and running and then deal with the resulting files. Very cool that he got it working, though - Gabe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GRD Posted April 14, 2005 Share Posted April 14, 2005 Was poking around the TiVo forums again looking for info on the new 6.2 software update and discovered that the ubergeeks have figured out a way to stick a non-DirecTiVo software version (4.0.1b) on a DirecTiVo and turn on HMO - which enables the ethernet so you can attach the TiVo to your network, even getting so far as remote controlling the thing over the net. Still looks relatively complicated, but there it is. Here are a couple threads: http://www.dealdatabase.com/forum/showthread.php?t=39354 http://www.dealdatabase.com/forum/showthre...t=directivo+hmo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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