TiVo has gone ahead and released an update for TiVo Desktop. Along with Windows 7 support, version 2.8 also includes a number of new features and capabilities. Here’s a complete list of the new features taken directly from the update’s readme file:
TiVo Desktop has the following improvements:
- The folders on your PC can now display when viewed from your TiVo DVR.
- You can choose the discovery protocol TiVo Desktop & DVRs use to locate each other on your home network. To change the setting, select “TiVo Server Properties” from the Services menu; click “Network” and then select either “Bonjour for Windows” (default) or “TiVo Beacon”.
TiVo Desktop Plus has the following improvements:
- The video quality for PlayStation Portables has been improved.
- TiVo Desktop Plus can create videos for playback on additional popular portable media players, such as the Apple iPhone, Apple iPod Touch, and several models of Blackberry phones.
- The user can now choose to auto-transfer all the contents of a folder
- TiVo Desktop recognizes additional video types based on other software installed on your system. As part of this new function, TiVo Desktop Plus software expects the user to install software appropriate for the file type. The Haali Media Splitter is no longer installed by TiVo Desktop.
- Apple® QuickTime is no longer a prerequisite for TiVo Desktop Plus
I have yet to completely try out this update however, I wanted to get this post out in case there’s somebody out there who may have missed the news. Let me know what you think of TiVo Desktop 2.8. I plan on working with this update a little more once the Yankees win the World Series 
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Spotted on tivodesign’s Twitter feed.
If only they would release an update of TiVo Desktop that ran on Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard. I haven’t been able to use the Music & Photo sharing features for months now.
I’ll second that. An update for Windows is great however, I’d love to see a Mac version. In order to take the screenshots above I had to install TiVo Desktop inside of VMWare since I no longer have a Windows box in my house (other than my WHS).
An update is now available for Snow Leopard….
http://www.tivoblog.com/archives/2009/11/09/mac-tivo-desktop-update-now-available-snow-leopard-compatibility/
Hooray! It’s so great to have the Music sharing feature again! This is a deal-breaker for me. The photos still doesn’t work correctly, but at least the music is going again.
Have you tried to enable Debug in order to see what the problem is with your photos? Hold down “option” key when you click on the TiVo Desktop preference pane. This will allow you to enable debug.
I enabled Debug and I don’t see any error messages in the log file regarding photos. The problem is noticed on the TiVo end, where they all show up squished horizontally, so everything looks thinner.
New features aren’t anything I can’t live without, so I’m sticking with 2.6. The standard iPod conversion setting already results in good-looking video on iPhone and Touch but with a weirdly large file size; an iPhone-specific setting would only make the size much larger.
Version 2.7 had audio sync problems no amount of troubleshooting could overcome, so I rolled back to 2.6.
I have tried to use 2.8 on Windows 7 and it will not work. When the program tries to open I get an error which says,”transfer server wrong version” If I switch back to 2.7 I get the same error. Version 2.6 opens, shows recordings on Tivo but will not transfer to pc. Is there a way to make any version work with Windows 7?
Go to properties on the Tivo Desktop icon, choose Compatibility tab. Uncheck the XP compatibility option and apply. It should run now without showing that error.
Gentleman, I have found a solution to my problem. By converting a TIVO file directly to a DVD it was hanging up in Windows 7 and Roxio 2010. Since I have a brand new computer with Windows 7 originally installed I know this wasn’t my problem. I could do it on my 6 year old computer, XP, Roxio 2009.
To get around the problem, in Roxio Video Copy and Convert specify output as video. This converts and saves the file as a MPEG-2. They burn that file using Windows DVD maker which comes with Windows 7 on units that have DVD burners. Works everytime. I get the feeling Roxio releases products way before they are tested.
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I’ve installed 2.8 under Windows XP and it fixes a major headache with 2.7. Previously, if something went wrong with a transfer to the PC from Tivo, an invalid media file would be created. It would look just like a valid file, but attempting to play it in Windows Media Player would result in the CPU going to 100% and Windows Media player hanging, big time. If Tivo tried to convert it to MP4, it would also take the CPU to 100%. Now, it recognizes that it is not making progress on the bogus file, and stops trying. CPU is back to normal. If only Tivo would fix the transfer problem that results in bad media files, all would be good. But this is an improvement.
i installed 2.8 and find it fixes all my transfer problems
Glad to see this update
. The best thing fixed for me is the photo’s ever since I upgraded to Windows 7 I lost the photo feature..
Great site. A lot of useful information. I am interested in receiving the free t-shirt offer.
I am receiving the “Transfer Server wrong version” error also. No joy on the XP compatibility option. It does transfer from the computer to the Tivo, but will not download from the Tivo to the computer.
Desktop hasn’t work since I upgraded to Win7, with 2.7 or 2.8
You need to remove the XP compatibility. By default it is selected.
Steve and Everett, I get the same thing. The desktop starts once at installation. After that, it won’t restart – gives “Transfer Server wrong version” every time. I can make it work again by killing ALL the Tivo tasks with the Windows task manager and then launching Tivo desktop. When the desktop starts, it seems to be able to start the server, transfer and notify tasks correctly. But if they were running already – no joy. When I get time, I’m going to poke around a bit more and see if I can narrow the problem down a bit. I’m running Version 2.8 on Windows 7 64-bit. UAC is enabled. Was previously running 2.6, which was buggy as anything. Expecting trouble, I began by uninstalling the earlier version and running the Tivo cleanup script to remove all traces of earlier versions.
Mike Trout, the XP compatibility setting is not on by default in my installation. Not on the desktop component and not on any other Tivo component either. If I turn it on myself, the program seems to do pretty much the same things except that it triggers UAC on startup. Still works though, as long as you let it start the server bits itself.
I installed 2.8 but I cannot get audio to run on my xp system. I successfully transferred the HD file over, but cannot hear anything during playback. I can see the video just fine, but I just can’t hear anything. If I put my head to the speakers of my computer it sounds like someone is inside there typing away. Any ideas?
Tivo Desktop ver. 2.8 still does not work. The wrong server error is still coming up. I have reinstalled it several time. I have totally removed it using the Tivo removal tool and cleaned the registry. I have installed it with administrator privileges and disabled anti virus during the install process. The XP compatibility is unchecked by default. This is maddening. Tivo desktop is a major tool for me that I have used for over a year transferring downloaded video to my TV & taking TV shows with me on my jump drive daily. Next step is wiping the hard drive of win 7 and going back to vista. yes, sadly, its that important to me.
This sucks.
I have done exactly that, gone back to Vista and it all works great. Windows 7 seams to have a big issue with Tivo Desktop 2.8. I have contacted Tivo and done everything they suggested too. I have emailed Microsoft and I am now waiting for a reply from them??
I am convinced it is all Windows 7. I am very close to doing whatever necessary and downgrade to Vista again. I have spent at least 3 hours on the phone with microsoft and they have no idea what the problem is. If anyone comes up with a fix please post so the amateurs can get Tivo desktop to work again.
I am using Windows 7 Ultimate with Tivo Desktop 2.8. No issues so far with transfer or playback. I had 2.7 installed when i upgraded from Vista, removed that version and upgraded to 2.8. I have transferred 5 TV shows now and both video and audio work great. I did install the AC3 filter pack for audio on some tv shows. The only thing I changed when upgrading to 2.8 was the compatibilty under Windows 7.
I tried using various compatibilities with Windows 7 and it would give an error message of incompatible version being used???
I have found a temporary solution until the Tivo Desktop 2.8 is really Windows 7 Compatible, took many hours of searching and trial and error..The solution that seems to be working is Uninstall with the method shown on the Tivo site using the cleaner tool. When re-installing right click on the installer and Click the run as Administrator, then Install the MAK code again after installed as well as during the install otherwise it doesn’t connect to the Tivo with the transferring of the recordings?? Then Go to the C:\Program Files\TiVo\Desktop folder and set all of these “TiVoDesktop.exe”, “TiVoNotify.exe”, “TiVoServer.exe”, and “TiVoTransfer.exe” to Run as Administrator. (Right click each file, choose Properties, then the Compatibility tab. Toward the bottom of the tab, check the “Run this program as an administrator” option.) The only thing is I have to start the Tivo Server manually in this mode..
Doesn’t auto start.I’ve tried to put a shortcut into the start up folder but that creates another error which i haven’t worked out yet?? No, you shouldn’t need to do this, but it seems to have solved most of my issues so far until there is a more suitable Windows 7 Version of The Tivo Desktop…Will keep you posted if it fails again to work !!