Here’s a list of Mac software which is capable of improving your “TiVo experience”. Some of the applications on this list may no longer work but, I thought I should include them just in case they ever get updated. If you’re a Windows user you might want to check out my Windows roundup which I published back in December of ‘07. A star () next to the application name means that I’ve actually used the application before.

Please let me know if I’ve left anything off the list….

TiVo Desktop : TiVo Desktop is the official Mac application from TiVo.com. The app allows you to browse and listen to your music on your TiVo. Along with this feature, TiVo Desktop also allows you to view photos and publish videos using TiVo Go Back.

Roxio Popcorn : Popcorn® 3 lets you enjoy your video anywhere you want, on the playback device of your choice. Easily make high quality copies of your DVDs and movies. Take television recordings from your Mac to the portable device of your choice for on-the-go viewing or fit 4 hours of video on a single layer-DVD. Now with batch video conversion, support for a broad range of consumer devices, and exclusive support for TiVoToGo transfers, your video will go everywhere you do. Review here.

Roxio Toast: Roxio Toast® 8 sets the standard for burning CDs, DVDs, and now Blu-ray discs on the Mac. Create superior sounding audio CDs with crossfades. Enjoy your TV shows anywhere with exclusive EyeTV burning and TiVoToGo transfers to DVD or iPod®. Copy your audio CDs, movies and DVDs. It’s your digital life, Toast It!

SeasonPassGetter (SPG) : 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. Review here.

TiVo File Decoder: Portable C program to convert a .TiVo file from TiVoToGo to a normal MPEG file given the MAK for the TiVo which generated the file. Used by several applications including TiVo DecodeManager and several other 3rd party addons.

VisualHub : VisualHub is a great application for converting video files into a number of different formats. One of the nice things about VisualHub is that it provides a TiVo “profile” which allows you to convert video files into a format that your TiVo will be able to playback using the TiVoGoBack feature. More information about this feature can be found here.

TiVo NowPlaying : OS X dashboard widget which allows you to transfer and transcode shows from your TiVo. Review here.

TiVoTool: TivoTool allows you to download, stream, or burn videos from your Series 1 or 2 Tivo or DTivo. You can also send videos to iTunes for viewing on a video enabled iPod. The command line version consists of a subset of these functions and works on Linux.

pyTiVo: pyTivo lets you stream most videos from your PC to your unhacked TiVo. pyTivo acts as a TiVo GoBack server. It loads many standard video compression codecs and outputs mpeg2 video to the TiVo. It allows you to watch videos that are stored on your computer in, say, DivX format without having to wait for the video to be transcoded first.

bkdtv has posted a great FAQ about TiVoToGo (TTG), Multi-Room Viewing (MRV) and TiVoToComeBack (TTCB) on the Series 3 and TiVo HD. The FAQ answered several questions I had about TiVoToGo including why TTG on the Series 3 is faster than TTG on my Series 2 DT.

Check it out if you have some questions about TTG, MRV or TTCB on the Series 3 and TiVo HD.

TiVoLovers is reporting that the newly released TiVo HD is having a number of video issues even after a recent software update. The issues seem to be linked to Scientific Atlantic CableCARDs. If you’re having any pixelation problems with the TiVo HD, you might want to check out the post over at TiVoLovers as well as a thread on TiVoCommunity.com. According to TiVoLovers, TiVo is aware of these problems and they are working on a fix.

I’m really not surprised that there are issues with the TiVo HD. Most first generation devices have problems early on. TiVo has always been good about fixing their software so I wouldn’t be surprised if we see a fix soon.

Dave Zatz recently sent me a link to a post on TiVoCommunity in which the author (lessd) talks about why you should be cautious about buying a used TiVo. According to lessd, a friend of his (I assume Les is a guys name) purchased a used TiVo at a yard sale only to find out that the TiVo could not be activated since the previous owner owed back service charges. A TiVo CSR is looking into getting the problem resolved but according to lessd, the rep doesn’t know if the situation can in fact be take care of. No matter how this situation turns out, you might want to consider this problem before you go ahead and buy a used TiVo.

Has anybody else encountered this problem?

Here’s some good news for anybody who owns or is thinking about getting a Series 3 TiVo. Starting July 1, the FCC will require that all cable companies provide boxes that utilize the CableCARD technology.

How does this help Series 3 owners you ask? Well, if the cable companies are required to use CableCARDs, they will have a vested interest in making sure that the technology works and that any glitches get ironed out. The way it works now, the cable company could careless about CableCARDs.

The second phase begins July 1, when cable providers are banned from providing new boxes that integrate both the security and navigation functions. Existing subscribers can continue to rent their current boxes.

The new boxes will have to use the same cable card technology as the competition. The FCC is hoping that forcing cable companies to do that will motivate them to make sure the cards work like they’re supposed to. The agency hopes it will eliminate some of the problems that have faced customers like Ken Hornstein, a 36-year-old computer programmer from Vienna, Va.

………..

Once cable companies have to use the same security technology as their competitors, the hope is that they’ll suffer fewer problems because it will be in the cable companies’ interest to keep them free of glitches.

Are you running out of space on your Series 3 TiVo? Well, somebody at TiVoCommunity figured out how to enable the eSATA port on a Series 3 TiVo so that additional storage can be added. The hack looks pretty easy however, since this isn’t a supported TiVo feature there’s always the chance that TiVo may disable this in the future.

In any case, if you want to do this, you can head on over to TiVoCommunity or Engadget for complete instructions.

Since I don’t have a Series 3 TiVo I was unable to try this hack myself. Let me know if you end up trying it…

Being that I’m a recent switcher, I thought it was only appropriate that I cover some of the Mac software which is capable of working with a TiVo. This post will discuss TiVoToGo software for the Mac. I don’t plan on getting into a lot of detail. Instead, I’d like this post to be an overview of what TiVoToGo software is available for the Mac. In future posts, I plan on discussing Mac software for other TiVo functions including, TiVoGoBack and the TiVo HMO functionality (Pictures and Music playback).

Up until recently, TiVoToGo on the Mac was extremely difficult if not impossible. That was until TiVo partnered up with Roxio and until a third party utility called TiVoDecodeManager was released. Both software packages have their pluses and minuses. Roxio Toast costs $76.99 (after a $30 mail in rebate) whereas, TiVoDecodeManger is free. Obviously, the TiVo partnered app (Roxio Toast Titanium 8) is officially sanctioned by TiVo whereas TiVoDecodeManager (TDM) is not.

Before I get into more detail on these two apps, I need to put out the following disclaimer: NOTE: TiVo Blog does not support illegally sharing copyrighted material. TDM (which I’ll discuss later) should be used for your own private use as a free alternative for TiVoToGo on the Mac. Do not illegally share copyrighted material!

TiVoToGo Overview

TiVoToGo allows you to transfer recordings directly from your to TiVo to your Mac. Once on your Mac, you can burn them to DVD or transfer them to any number of portable devices. For a more detailed description, head on over to TiVo’s website.

Roxio Toast Titanium 8

After several months of delay, TiVo decided to partner up with Roxio for TiVoToGo on the Mac. Roxio Toast is the official provider for TiVoToGo functionality on the Mac. The software costs $69.99, however, along with TiVoToGo functionality, you also get a lot of other features which Roxio Toast is known for.

Roxio Toast® 8 sets the standard for burning CDs, DVDs, and now Blu-ray discs on the Mac. Create superior sounding audio CDs with crossfades. Enjoy your TV shows anywhere with exclusive EyeTV burning and TiVoToGo™ transfers to DVD or iPod®. Copy your audio CDs, movies and DVDs. It’s your digital life, Toast It!

Unfortunately, I haven’t had a chance to play with Toast just yet. I’ve heard a number mixed reviews on the product. Some people have said that the software is the best thing since sliced bread (no pun intended) whereas others wouldn’t recommend it. I honestly can’t say whether or not it is good. In any case, if you want a TiVoToGo solution which is officially sanctioned by TiVo, you may want to drop $69.99 and pick up a copy of Toast (check out this page for several purchase options). If you want to save some money, read on for a free (unsupported) solution which provides some of the same functionality. As a side note, if you do decide to go with Toast you may want to download the missing TiVoToGo theme (details can be found here).

TiVoDecodeManger

TiVoDecode Manager is a free alternative to the TiVoToGo functionality which Roxio Toast currently provides. The software is extremely easy to use and within a couple of minutes you can download and playback TiVo recordings directly on your Mac. The software leverages an open source utility called TiVoDecode (not to be confused with TiVoDecodeManager). Essentially the TiVoDecodeManager is a graphical front end to the tivodecode command line utility. If it wasn’t for the TiVoDecodeManager, you’d have to run tivodecode directly from the command line. For some people this may be acceptable. If for some reason you don’t like TiVoDecodeManger, you can also try out a number of other software packages which leverage the tivodecode command line utililty.

In case you missed it, Macworld has a pretty detailed writeup on the TiVoDecode Manager. The post is definitely worth your time…

Conclusion

Thanks to Roxio Toast and a number of free solutions, TiVoToGo on the Mac is now possible. Each software package has its’ pluses and minuses. If you’re the type of person who just wants it to work and you don’t want to mess around with free software, you may want to pay for Roxio Toast. On the other hand, if you want a free solution and if you are willing to deal with an unsupported solution, you might want to try out TiVoDecodeManger.

I hope this roundup provides you with information on what’s available for TiVoToGo on the Mac. Stay tuned for additional posts in which I’ll talk about other TiVo features and how you can get your Mac to work with them.

For those of you who missed it, TiVo recently started to push version 8.3 of their TiVo software. If you’re really dying to get this latest release, you can head on over to the software priority request form.

There’s not much information on what 8.3 includes other then the fact that it will have “new options for recorded programs” as well as “improved” TiVoCast support. One thing to note, this update is only available for Series 2 TiVos.

Thank you for your interest in the new TiVo Spring 2007 Service Update, featuring new options for recorded programs and improved TiVoCast support!

This update is for TiVo Series2 Digital Video Recorders only! DIRECTV DVRs with TiVo and TiVo Series1 DVRs are not eligible for this update.

Have a TiVo Series3 Digital Media Recorder? This update is not yet available for these units.

Only DVRs with TiVo Service Numbers beginning with the following numbers are eligible for this software:
110, 130, 140, 230, 240, 264, 275, 540, 565, 590, 595, and 649.

(You can find your TiVo Service Number by going to:
TiVo Central -> Messages and Settings -> System Information.)

*** Please note: It may take up to three business days to receive your new software. We appreciate your patience.

You have received the update when the software version in the System Information screen begins with “8.3″. For more information, please visit our Customer Support site.

Thank you for using the TiVo Service!

TiVo Customer Support

Spotted on ZatzNotFunny and TiVoLovers.

DVRPlayground has put together a great step by step tutorial on how to remove commercials from TiVoToGo records. Essentially what you’ll need is a network connected Series 2 TiVo, VideoReDo ($49.99) and TiVoDesktop.

Let’s begin with what you’ll need to make this work:

1. A Series 2 or later TiVo. Series 1 and the old DirecTV TiVo’s don’t support TiVoToGo. But no worries… If this is you, then you just have to modify your TiVo, and follow a slightly different set of instructions.
2. A network adapter to connect your TiVo to your home network. TiVo offers installation instructions for setting up either a wired or a wireless network connection to your TiVo DVR.
3. A copy of the TiVo Desktop software, which is available free from TiVo here.
4. A copy of the VideoReDo Plus software. You can download a free trial or purchase the registered version for $49.99.

I think I might try this out later this month when I have travel for work.

Head on over to DVRPlayground for additional information….