Looking for a TiVo To Go client for your Mac, Windows or Linux box? Look no further than this post. Let me know if I’m missing a client from this list…
Galleon (Free, Windows/Mac/Linux, Posts):
# Play MP3 files using the builtin player or with your favorite Winamp skins.
# View your photo collection using many slideshow effects and background music.
# View interesting information about each MP3 file such as album covers, lyrics and web images of your favorite artists.
# Listen to online streaming radio stations including Shoutcast stations.
# Organize your media files in many flexible ways.
# Play your favorite playlists including iTunes playlists or dynamically create playlists.
# View local weather forecasts and alerts.
# View internet webcams.
# Read your email.
# Read your favorite RSS feeds.
# Automatically download recordings from your TiVo using keywords.
# Automatically download your favorite podcasts.
# View local movie listings.
# Copy video files from your PC to your TiVo using GoBack.
# View Internet Slideshows.
# View online Videocasts.
# View upcoming events in your area.
# View traffic conditions in your area.
# Change the look-and-feel of Galleon by using your own skins.
# Share your apps over the internet with your family and friends.
# Group all the Galleon apps in their own menu .
# Send instant messages with Jabber .
TiVo is a Mac front-end to your Series 2, Series 3, and TiVoHD device. It will download shows to your mac, and convert them to many popular formats / devices.Features include:
* Formats include h.264, mpeg-2, mpeg-1, decrypt-only.
* Target devices include iPhone, iPod, AppleTV, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PSP, youtube.
* ’subscriptions’ to your regular shows: downloading them whenever new episodes are available.
* Automatically perform an ‘iTunes sync’ to your device when the download is completed.
* Automatically remove commercials from downloaded shows.
* Generate metadata appropriate for use by tools such as pyTivoX.
* Create subtitle files (.srt) from the closed caption info.
* Support for different encoders, including HandBrake, Mencoder, FFmpeg, ElGato Turbo.
* Full control over encoder options.
* A download queue for batch processing.
* Scheduling of when the queue will be processed.
* Automatic discovery of Tivos using Bonjour.
* Automatic updates.
* Reporting on tivo’s Hard Drive usage.
kmttg (Free, Windows/Mac/Linux):
kmttg is a Java based program I wrote to facilitate TivoToGo (TTG) transfers that can download, create pyTivo metadata, decrypt, run comskip & comcut (commercial detection and removal), create closed captions files and re-encode multiple shows you select from your Tivos all automatically. The program also has the capability to transfer and process shows automatically from your Tivos based on titles and keywords you setup.
pyTiVo (Free, Windows/Mac/Linux, Posts):
* Output 4:3 or 16:9 and pad your video if needed.
* Transfer compatible mpegs without transcoding.
* Transfer TiVo recordings (.tivo) from computer to TiVo.
* Display MetaData about your video.
* Serve Music and Photos through HMO protocol
* Support for Windows, Linux, and Mac
pyTiVoX (Free, Mac, Posts): pyTiVo made easy for the Mac. Connect to http://localhost:9032 in order to configure pyTiVo’s TiVoToGo functionality.
Roxio Popcorn ($49.99, Mac, Posts):
NEW Exclusive TiVoToGo support for the Mac lets you transfer shows from your TiVo DVR, watch on your Mac, burn to disc, or convert for playback on a portable device
NEW Choose television series to automatically transfer to your Mac after recording on your TiVo DVR
NEW Automatically convert video for the portable device of your choice after transfer from your TiVo DVR
Roxio Toast 10 ($79.99 after $20 MIR, Mac, Posts):
With Toast 10, convert your favorite recorded TV shows and movies, including TiVo HD files, so you can watch them when you want, where you want on your iPod, iPhone, PSP or other mobile devices.
* New! Stream your TiVo recordings and other video files from your Mac to iPhone and iPod Touch over the Internet.
* New! Easily browse, sort, and search your TV shows. Toast will even notify you by email when new shows are ready for streaming.
* Exclusive, Mac2Tivo! Send standard and HD video from your Mac to your TiVo® DVR for viewing on television.
* New! Publish folders full of video on your Mac and stream them on-the-fly to your TiVo DVR without lengthy video conversions.
* Burn HD TiVo TV shows and movies* to Blu-ray, HD DVD, and standard DVD discs for playback on any compatible Blu-ray or HD DVD set top box!**
SeasonPassGetter (Free, Mac, Posts):
SPG takes TiVo content and transfers it to iTunes. Its main purpose was to transfer regularly scheduled recordings (Season Pass on TiVo) for viewing on AppleTV. There was a lot of interest in content for the iPod, so when a show is transferred to iTunes, SPG will initiate an iPod sync. Wake up in the morning and your shows are ready to go. I haven’t experimented with many different settings, just the ones I list below.
tivobutler (Free, Mac, Posts):
TiVo Butler can be configured to watch multiple TiVos on the network and organize the shows into a readable and searchable list on your computer. Downloads can be scheduled and rules/smart groups can be configured to download programs as they appear.
TiVoDecodeManager (Free, Mac, Posts):
TiVoDecode Manager (TDM) is a free Applescript Studio interface (i.e. “wrapper”) for the tivodecode program that automates the process of downloading of standalone TiVo Series 2 files to your computer and decoding into MPEG-2 or MPEG-4 files. It is not for Series 1 (ever), Series 3, or DirecTiVos (unhacked or hacked). Features include:
TiVo Desktop (Free, Windows, Posts): The official Windows TiVoToGo client.
Once you’ve recorded your favorite shows on your TiVo DVR, you can transfer them to your computer as long as your DVR is connected to your home network, and you have TiVo Desktop software installed on your PC.
TiVo Desktop Plus ($24.95, Windows, Posts):
All of the features of the regular TiVo Desktop software for the PC, plus:
* Convert shows for playback on your iPod, PSP, iPhone or other compatible device
* Transfer compatible web videos to your TiVo DVR for viewing on your TVBe sure to download the free version of TiVo Desktop for the PC before upgrading.
TiVo NowPlaying (Free, Mac, Posts):
Enter your TiVo IP and MAK and it will get the listing from your TiVo. Click the Episode/Description for longer info. Click on folders to show contents, click “Download” to download & decode shows.
TiVo 4 Tiny (Free, Linux):
Tivo 4 Tiny is a Linux desktop app that lets you fetch Tivo shows from your local network, and download them to your PC, your phone, BlackBerry, or iPod. Just install the Ubuntu deb file.
TiVoPlayList (Free, Windows):
- Retrieve TiVo Now Playing lists over an ethernet connection and calculate total recording time and disk space used
- Support for multiple TiVo units
- Estimate free space remaining given the capacity of the TiVo hard drive(s)
- Display either full List View or Folder View
- Mouseover Title shows description of recorded show along with Year Released/Air Date, Actors, Director, etc.
- View graphical representation of disk free space and space used by either recording status or recording quality
- Export of Now Playing lists to CSV files for use in other programs such as Microsoft Excel
- Batch downloading of recordings to PC (even from multiple machines) with support for post-download processing commands
- Auto downloading of recordings based on user-defined constraints
- Tested to run under Windows 2000 and XP Pro and reported to run under Windows 98/ME, XP Home and Vista
- Works best at screen sizes 800×600 or larger if running 96dpi, or 1024×768 or larger if running 120dpi
- Downloads to FAT32 partitions support up to 4Gb filesizes, NTFS partitions support files > 4Gb (Windows 2000/XP/Vista only)
- Access via HTTP/HTTPS and requires Microsoft Internet Explorer 5/6/7 and TiVo software version 7.1 or newer
TiVo2DVD (Free, Linux):
Tivo2dvd creates and executes the series of commands required to access, format, and burn television shows from a Series II Tivo directly to a DVD. It supports processing multiple shows at once, to a DVD with menus.
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- kmttg
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- iTiVo
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- TiVoNowPlaying (OS X Dashboard Widget)
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- TiVoButler
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- TiVo2DVD
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- TiVo Desktop
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- Roxio Popcorn (Mac)
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- TiVoDecodeManager (Mac)
I know it’s taken directly from the pyTivo Wiki, but the features list for pyTivo is vastly underselling it. It would be accurate to replace “Transfer TiVo recordings (.tivo) from computer to TiVo” with “Transfer any video in virtually any format (.AVI, .VOB, .WMV, .MOV, .tivo etc.) from your computer to your Tivo.” It’s also a bit misleading to separate the cross-platform apps into their own category later in the list. Why not include them in each category or at least put cross-platform first?
Joel
Joel´s last blog ..Yard Sale Tips
Joel, I like your idea about not separating the cross platform apps out. I’ll implement this change later tonight. Thanks!
I don’t find much use from these programs with 99% of recording having a CCI flag.
You need you some Fios.
Who is your service provider? The only programs I’ve see flagged (and won’t transfer) on my Comcast service are from premium movie channels.
For me, everything recorded from Digital Cable, i.e. channel 100+, is copy protected, even non-HD content. I have Time Warner Cable in San Diego, and a TiVo HD. This wasn’t a problem when I had a Series2.
The Series2 was a pure analog platform, so that’s why it would never be an issue. However, I would expect that the HD versions of broadcast stations ABC/NBC/CBS/FOX/etc. should NOT be copyrighted. If they are, then Time Warner would be violating the FCC rules.
Not that I hear good things about cable companies in general, but in particular with TWC I haven’t ever heard good things from people about their service.
I have Comcast digital in Boston, and very few (just some of the dedicated movie channels & premiums) are copy protected. Definitely the major networks should not be. If your cable company is setting these flags, you should contact them and insist they turn them off.
My brother had noticed this with Comcast in Pittsburgh, and he was able to prod them into resetting it (probably others complained too, so maybe wasn’t just his doing
I am not sure about broadcast stations in HD; I know that channels 0-99 are not copy protected.
I just checked again, and (for instance) “Magic School Bus” episodes from 1994 on Discovery Kids (channel 211) is protected. Same with old Cash in the Attic episodes on BBC America, Discovery Health, etc. Stuff that I can’t imagine the copyright owners are really enforcing. This has to be Time Warner Cable doing this.
I’ve complained to them before, but got nowhere. Any suggestions on how to pursue it?
I sent email o alex about starting a callout to tivo users that have removed the CCI Flag successfully. He will get into it when he comes back from vacation.
I’m looking into filing a complaint with the FCC. I may try and contact my local TWC before I go the FCC route. Stay tuned for more information. I just need to find time to really dig into this.
I’m on TWC and nearly everything is copyprotected ;(.
I have timewarner. I have contacted Timewarner through My franchise authority to rrequest CCI flag be turned off or non premium content. The reply was that they have been contated by content owners of most of their channels to turn on the CCI Flag in jan of 08. I have requested copies of the requess and waiting for next move.
On the CCI (copy protection flag) issue…
I was using a Tivo Series2 with Comcast digital with no problems, but recently upgraded to Comcast HD and *every* program had CCI bit set. I think it wasn’t a Comcast problem, but rather a problem with the decoder box (Comcast RNG110, built by Pace). When I received my Tivo HD a few days later, I pulled the decoder box and switched to CableCards, and no longer saw CCI bit set on any programs.
Shouldn’t TiVoPlayList be included?
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=7126892#post7126892
Thanks. I added it to the list.
A reader just notified me about plex along with a plugin. I’ll add it to the list later tonight.
plex http://www.plexapp.com/
with this plugin http://wiki.plexapp.com/index.php/TiVo
Two more:
HME/VLC:
http://tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=403174
StreamBaby:
http://code.google.com/p/streambaby/
Both are being actively developed.
/Don
Streambaby is particularly cool, it has some similarity to the “NetFlix” app but with more intuitive trick-play.
Both of those are great applications however, the purpose of this post was to highlight TiVoToGo apps. To the best of knowledge neither of these apps allow for TTG. Correct?
Correct, they are a new class of streaming servers for TiVo Series 3+, which allow you to share any content on your network with your TiVo (the source material doesn’t have to come from your TiVo, it can be video podcasts, your own videos, etc).
I read through the list above, but still have a question. Is there one that lets me watch my iMovie projects from my Mac on my TiVo HD — i.e. transfer QuickTime video to my TiVo HD?
Either pyTivo or streambaby will do the job (on-the-fly), assuming that your iMovie project has been exported to a reasonable Quicktime format. For example, I have never had problems with H.264 MOVs, m4v, and mp4s.
pyTivo will do what you’re describing. It can handle video in virtually any format (.AVI, .VOB, .WMV, .MOV, .tivo etc.) and transfer it — generally in faster than real time — to your Tivo HD.
Joel´s last blog ..Yard Sale Tips
I downloaded and instaleld pyTivoX (easy) and it’s great! Just as advertised. I have a bunch of raw digital video (DV files) from my old miniDV camcorder, and it even played all those clips.
The only thing I found troublesome was that it does not sort the folders. I.e. if you point to the folder ‘iMovie Events’ which has lots and lots of subfolders with names like
2007-01-01 New Years
2008-07-04 Parade
2008-12-25 Christmas
you get the idea … but they are not sorted alphabetically.. they seem to be randomly sorted. I’d like pyTivo to sort them a little more nicely.
Otherwise, great tool, and even for the non-technical out there, pyTivo is an outstanding and easy-to-use program for your Mac that lets you watch all kinds of stuff on your TV, rather than on your computer screen.
what people said about pyTivo (and in your case I’d look at pyTivoX) is mostly correct. The only concern is that sometimes apple generates ‘quicktime’ movies using the Apple Intermediate Codec (aic), which is not supported by pytivo (technically, any format that ffmpeg knows about is supported by pytivo: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FFmpeg#Codecs ). But usually you will end up exporting your final movie result as an mp4 (using h.264 encoding with aac audio), which is very well supported.
I have a question about network storage and TTG-like services.
With the size of video and music files I have, I’d like to store these on a networked drive (simialr to the world book Western Digital offers) so that all my computers and the TiVo can access them. Are network drives compatible with TTG or does the drive have to be physically connected to a computer?
[...] an opportunity to piggyback their own “HD on the Go” applications? Or any one of the numerous TiVo to Go software vendors? Microsoft does have a history of waiting for a new feature to stabilize, then [...]
Do any of the programs for Windows allow for the Tivo HD to play shows off the PC as if they are on the Tivo so you don’t have to deal with transferring back?
Brennok, streambaby is an opensource java server I believe, it should run on windows just fine.
Yeah I have used Streambaby and it works well. I was just hoping for a better integration similar to Windows 7 Media Center and the 360.
I need to play with KMTTG more and see if I can find a profile that works well for decrypting the Tivo files and allowing them to play in 7MC. Not all of them will allow you to FF/REW.
Any updates for Snow Leopard compatibility?
Check out this tweet…,
http://twitter.com/TiVoBlog/status/3619267717
[...] is nice to have this capability built into an application that includes so many other features. TiVoToGo Software Roundup (Transfer Recordings To Your PC or Mac) | TiVo Blog Looking for a TiVo To Go client for your Mac, Windows or Linux box? Look no further than this post. [...]