# A Better Tivo Streaming Software ???



## scottvf (Jul 4, 2010)

I use Stream Baby to stream tv shows to my tivo. I also use HDI Dune Prime 3.0 to stream HD Video to my TV. The reason I need 2 different systems is that with stream baby you can't stream HD video without problems. 
1. It doesn't download fast enough. (you have to pause it, wait a couple of minutes then play)
2. It has a limit. After about 15-30 min of video it has to rebuffer. This is from the stream baby site. - Attempts to work around the 1.1G limit for streaming videos on the TiVo. If you reach the 1.1G limit, the video you are watching will be paused and restarted with a fresh buffer at the position you were in before. 

I don't mind the 1st problem, but waiting for rebuffering sucks when watching a movie. 

Does anyone know of any streaming software for tivo that works like stream baby but doesn't have the rebuffering problem?


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## jcthorne (Jan 28, 2002)

Its not exactly streaming, but because of the streambaby problems, I went this route.

I use pytivo to push streamable mp4 video to the tivo. Give the vid a few minutes head start and it will begin playing if your network is fast enough for the tivo to not run out of data. For my encodes, a 2 hour movie is about 4G so normally transfers to tivo in about 10 minutes complete. Will play after about 3.

Would be more useful if the push could be initiated from the tivo end but Mr McBrine does not see that as appropriate and its his development.


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## windracer (Jan 3, 2003)

scottvf said:


> After about 15-30 min of video it has to rebuffer. This is from the stream baby site. - Attempts to work around the 1.1G limit for streaming videos on the TiVo.


15-30 minutes? I guess you are streaming really large files because in my experience I might have a single re-buffer point in a typical 2-hour movie. It doesn't even take that long so the brief pause is a minor inconvenience.



jcthorne said:


> Would be more useful if the push could be initiated from the tivo end but Mr McBrine does not see that as appropriate and its his development.


How is using the normal pyTivo pull (from your Now Playing List) not accomplishing the same thing?


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## moyekj (Jan 24, 2006)

windracer said:


> How is using the normal pyTivo pull (from your Now Playing List) not accomplishing the same thing?


 Because for non-mpeg2 videos that means transcoding to mpeg2 (for pull operations TiVo only accepts mpeg2).
streambaby is an HME application and does have ability to initiate a push transfer from TiVo interface itself, but that's because it's much easier to accomplish that with an HME application unlike pyTivo which is an HMO application.

So for the OP you can initiate a push of a video to your TiVo via streambaby if you wish and then it will make a copy of the video just like pyTivo push and you won't suffer from the 1.1GB stream buffer limitation any longer. TiVo folks never threw a bone in our direction hinting on how to overcome that stream buffer limit for some reason...


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## jcthorne (Jan 28, 2002)

windracer said:


> 15-30 minutes? I guess you are streaming really large files because in my experience I might have a single re-buffer point in a typical 2-hour movie. It doesn't even take that long so the brief pause is a minor inconvenience.
> 
> How is using the normal pyTivo pull (from your Now Playing List) not accomplishing the same thing?


Because a pull has to transcode an h264 video down to mpeg2. On our media server, that is a slow process for 1080i video, much longer than 10 minutes to transfer a film. Would have to wait an hour or more to start watching, if then. Due to the slow speed of conversion, many times a pull will error out by tivo and reset, never completing the transfer. Just not useful for HD video.


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## windracer (Jan 3, 2003)

moyekj said:


> Because for non-mpeg2 videos that means transcoding to mpeg2 (for pull operations TiVo only accepts mpeg2).





jcthorne said:


> Because a pull has to transcode an h264 video down to mpeg2.


Gotcha.


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## scottvf (Jul 4, 2010)

Yes my movies are pretty large. They range from 5gb to 20 gb per movie.
Most are rerendered .mkv files (with handbrake or dvdfab) and some are untouched .m2ts files.
They are 1080p and between 8 and 40 bitrate.


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