# Create Own Folders



## kas25 (Mar 10, 2003)

I see some old posts on this topic but nothing new. Unless I can create my own folder called "Home Movies" like on the Apple TV, the S# is useless for me for this use as everything gets too cluttered up. Any programs like Metax which allow tagging/folder creation?


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## bkdtv (Jan 9, 2003)

If you mean folders and subfolders for files transferred from computer to TiVo, that is a feature of the upcoming TiVo Desktop 2.6 software. Release is announced for March.

For recorded programs, TiVo already supports folders. Press ENTER from the Now Playing List to enable grouping, as seen below.










You can't create folders and drag TiVo recordings into them, but you can create folders so all future recordings are organized. Wishlists is the feature that allows you to automatically record content by keyword, title keyword, actor/actress, director, and/or subject matter, with all content organized into a folder name which you define. Wishlists are indicated by a star on their folder.

For example, you could create this wishlist:










That would automatically record all HD movies from 2007 -- regardless of date, time, and channel, and organize them into a folder, as seen below:










You could do the same thing, except for 200x Action Movies in HD, 200x Dramas in HD, etc.

As you can see above, I've also created wishlists for new series premieres, presidential debates, and my favorite sports teams.

If you want to customize a folder for a specific person, you can create a wishlist such as "Kas Recordings" with multiple programs or series. A wishlist folder doesn't have to be limited to one program or series; you can have as many as you can list. For example, I know some people have a single folder for "Wife's Soaps" with several different daily soaps.

Unfortunately, wishlist grouping will only affect future recordings. You can't organize your past recordings into wishlist folders.


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## brettatk (Oct 11, 2002)

bkdtv said:


> If you mean folders and subfolders for files transferred from computer to TiVo, that is a feature of the upcoming TiVo Desktop 2.6 software. Release is announced for March.


Wow, I cant wait for this feature. I (along with everyone else I'm sure) have been waiting for this forever. Do you think we will have the ability to move Tivo Recordings that are already on the Tivo to folders of our choice? I was going to start the process of backing up my DVD library onto my Tivo. If once they are there I will have the chance to move them all to one directory after the March update I'll go ahead and start now. If I will not be able to do this then I believe I'll just have to wait until they release the update to begin.


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## kas25 (Mar 10, 2003)

brettatk said:


> Wow, I cant wait for this feature. I (along with everyone else I'm sure) have been waiting for this forever. Do you think we will have the ability to move Tivo Recordings that are already on the Tivo to folders of our choice? I was going to start the process of backing up my DVD library onto my Tivo. If once they are there I will have the chance to move them all to one directory after the March update I'll go ahead and start now. If I will not be able to do this then I believe I'll just have to wait until they release the update to begin.


Agree. I folder called "Movies" or "Movies - Comedy" would be great. My dillemma now is whether to back them up using MPEG 4(Apple TV) or MPEG 2(Tivo). Tivo files are much bigger but smoother to operate.


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## brettatk (Oct 11, 2002)

kas25 said:


> Agree. I folder called "Movies" or "Movies - Comedy" would be great. My dillemma now is whether to back them up using MPEG 4(Apple TV) or MPEG 2(Tivo). Tivo files are much bigger but smoother to operate.


I'm debating over the same thing. I've messed around with going from DVD to ATV and can get DVD quality with a smaller file. The only thing holding me back is the ATV's disk space. Since I have a 1TB drive on my Tivo it would probably make more sense to back them up on it.


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## BrianAZ (Aug 13, 2007)

brettatk said:


> I'm debating over the same thing. I've messed around with going from DVD to ATV and can get DVD quality with a smaller file. The only thing holding me back is the ATV's disk space. Since I have a 1TB drive on my Tivo it would probably make more sense to back them up on it.


I don't see why anyone would go this route... the present MRV/TTG/TTCB solution for Tivo (at least my TivoHD <-> PC) is so slow it's basically useless. Until it's better, I'm going to stick with my current solution which is a UPNP Media Server on my workstation w/ 1TB storage streaming out to my DLink DSM-520s.

By the way, does anyone know if UPNP streaming is something Tivo would ever consider? Even if they limit it to non-Tivo files from a PC that'd be a start.


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## mgaedeke (Dec 9, 2002)

I was actually hoping TiVo would come up with such a function for a long time...

Even though we have plenty of space on our series 3 with the external drive, or probably exactly because of the many more shows one can record with that extra space, I really want to separate each family member's shows (particularly the ones which are of no interest to anybody else...

If that is not implemented in the march update, this might be a good suggestion for the next update? I'm actually quite surprised this feature hasn't been there from day one...

who knows, maybe a TiVo engineer will stumble on this thread and give us the scoop of WHY this was never thought of, or maybe he/she could explain why this may not be possible to do, for whatever technical reason...

Thanks
Michael Gaedeke
Los Angeles, CA


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## CharlesH (Aug 29, 2002)

mgaedeke said:


> who knows, maybe a TiVo engineer will stumble on this thread and give us the scoop of WHY this was never thought of, or maybe he/she could explain why this may not be possible to do, for whatever technical reason...


It's been mentioned on this forum that while TiVo employees are free to read this forum, only those with specific management approval (for example, TiVoPony) are allowed to post.


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## mwwilliams10 (Aug 22, 2007)

Forgive me if I am incorrect, but it appears that your post discussing the new features and providing screenshots is the result of your participation in the Tivo Beta program. If so, I would remind you of your obligations under the NDA. Testers leaking early information jeopardizes all of our participation in the program.


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## TexasAg (Apr 2, 2006)

mwwilliams10 said:


> Forgive me if I am incorrect, but it appears that your post discussing the new features and providing screenshots is the result of your participation in the Tivo Beta program. If so, I would remind you of your obligations under the NDA. Testers leaking early information jeopardizes all of our participation in the program.


He was showing the Tivo's existing features, nothing new.
__________________
My personal opinions are just that. Don't rely on anything I say - I could be Bill Gates' pool boy.


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## bkdtv (Jan 9, 2003)

mwwilliams10 said:


> Forgive me if I am incorrect, but it appears that your post discussing the new features and providing screenshots is the result of your participation in the Tivo Beta program. If so, I would remind you of your obligations under the NDA. Testers leaking early information jeopardizes all of our participation in the program.


I wish I were part of the beta.

Sadly, my only source of information for Tivo Desktop 2.6 is TiVo's own presentation at CES. Megazone over at TiVolovers.com reported and posted screenshots of the Tivo Desktop 2.6 software that TiVo demonstrated back at CES in January.

More information *here*, here, and here. More in TiVo's own CES press release.


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## AbMagFab (Feb 5, 2001)

bkdtv said:


> I wish I were part of the beta.
> 
> Sadly, my only source of information for Tivo Desktop 2.6 is TiVo's own presentation at CES. Megazone over at TiVolovers.com reported and posted screenshots of the Tivo Desktop 2.6 software that TiVo demonstrated back at CES in January.
> 
> More information *here*, here, and here. More in TiVo's own CES press release.


Where do you see that folders will be supported? I see one comment in the "tivolovers" blog, but there is no official announcement anywhere about folders being supported?


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## bkdtv (Jan 9, 2003)

AbMagFab said:


> Where do you see that folders will be supported? I see one comment in the "tivolovers" blog, but there is no official announcement anywhere about folders being supported?


From TiVo's press release:


> Consumers can even get a Season Pass recording of their own personal video folders on their PC, where they save their home movies and other video downloads.


From TiVoLovers.com:


> You point the desktop at the folder where the videocast is saved on your PC...You then select if you want the video automatically transferred to a TiVo or not. If so, then you set how many episodes you want transferred to the TiVo at a time and which TiVo(s) to transfer to. Finally, you can select whether or not to include subfolders."


From ZatzNotFunny.com:










From Engadget:



















It's not rocket science, guys. You just google Tivo Desktop 2.6.


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## AbMagFab (Feb 5, 2001)

None of that shows or says anything about supporting folders in the Now Playing List when using TTG/TTCB.

The official Tivo quote says that you can store things in folders on your PC, something you've always been able to do but TD just flattens it to a single non-folder view when looking at the NPL.

The other quotes talk about transferring video from the PC to the Tivo, like a reverse TTG Season Pass. New functionality, sure, but not TTG Folders.

*Again I ask - where do you see anything about Folders being supported in TD, so that you can view folders from the Tivo when looking at your PC NPL?* I don't think this feature is even being discussed, let alone announced.


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## bkdtv (Jan 9, 2003)

AbMagFab said:


> N*Again I ask - where do you see anything about Folders being supported in TD, so that you can view folders from the Tivo when looking at your PC NPL?* I don't think this feature is even being discussed, let alone announced.


I think you misinterpreted what I said. I haven't seen anything about browsing of folders on a computer. TiVo Desktop 2.6 may offer that feature, but I haven't seen anything about it.

The 'functionality' I see from those screenshots is as follows:

(1) You can organize recordings into folders on your computer; and

(2) Tivo Desktop 2.6 will transfer the folders and recordings so it appears on the TiVo's NPL.

Engadget used iTunes to select and download episodes of DiveFilmHD (a popular video Podcast) to a folder on their computer, and then the TiVo transferred the folder containing those episodes. The last screenshot shows the DiveFilmHD episodes in a folder on the TiVo with the same file names used on a PC.

TiVo itself describes this as a season pass for "own personal video folders on their PC, where they save their home movies and other video downloads." When was the last time a season pass or wishlist didn't store multiple recordings in a folder?


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## mwwilliams10 (Aug 22, 2007)

Ahh, mea culpa, mea culpa. I am sorry I jumped to conclusions.


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## AbMagFab (Feb 5, 2001)

bkdtv said:


> I think you misinterpreted what I said. I haven't seen anything about browsing of folders on a computer. TiVo Desktop 2.6 may offer that feature, but I haven't seen anything about it.
> 
> The 'functionality' I see from those screenshots is as follows:
> 
> ...


Except you've been able to do (1) above since TD 2.1 (or at least way before 2.5). That's nothing new at all. The problem is that it flattens out whatever directories you've set up when you view the TD from a Tivo.


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## Omikron (Feb 27, 2006)

For what it's wroth there is a new module in TivoWebPlus called "Folderize" that allows you to create and name your own folders for recordings. It's quite neat and works very well, but it requires a hacked TiVo.


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## Agro (Apr 20, 2003)

You can do something like this with pyTivo. 

With TivoDesktop when you browse your computer's files, it will recursively (if you enable that option) look through your folders on your PC and then display ALL videos in one list.

With pyTivo, you can create seperate "shares" and inside of those it will show each individual folder and then you can view the files within it.

i.e.

Action (2) 
`--> Terminator (2)
`--> Terminator Cd1.avi
`--> Terminator Cd2.avi
`--> Terminator II (1)
`--> Terminator II.avi
TV (1)
`--> LOST (1)
`--> Season 1 (2)
`--> Lost - Season 1 - Episode 1.avi
`--> Lost - Season 1 - Episode 2.avi


It's much easier to view then the Tivo Desktop. So far it works perfectly for me and its not $25. I did purchase Tivo Desktop Premium, so I can at least compare the two.


I suppose the only bummer to this whole thing is that the folders don't transfer over to the TiVo. once you choose to copy over a recording, it will appear on the TiVo as just a single recording. Hmmm....


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## TexasGrillChef (Sep 15, 2006)

kas25 said:


> I see some old posts on this topic but nothing new. Unless I can create my own folder called "Home Movies" like on the Apple TV, the S# is useless for me for this use as everything gets too cluttered up. Any programs like Metax which allow tagging/folder creation?


You can also use pyTiVo as well. It has folder capability

TGC


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## AbMagFab (Feb 5, 2001)

TexasGrillChef said:


> You can also use pyTiVo as well. It has folder capability
> 
> TGC


Last time I used pyTivo it was pretty unstable. Has it gotten any better?


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## KRKeegan (Jul 20, 2004)

I would be interested in knowing how long ago you tried pyTivo. But I can say that most people run pyTivo with less than an issue a month. I also suspect that the 9.3 update, which increased the TiVo speed, may erase all of these issues.

If you have issues post them in the forum http://pytivo.krkeegan.com


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## lrhorer (Aug 31, 2003)

KRKeegan said:


> I would be interested in knowing how long ago you tried pyTivo. But I can say that most people run pyTivo with less than an issue a month.


In my experience, I would say that is an understatement. Specifically, I haven't had a single stability issue with pyTiVo since installing it. It seems even more stable than Galleon, which is quite stable, and Galleon is doing a lot more things than pyTiVo. It may help the stability of both that I am running them under Linux, I must admit.



KRKeegan said:


> I also suspect that the 9.3 update, which increased the TiVo speed, may erase all of these issues.


It certainly addressed some static issues, but I can't say it increased stability, but then the stability was extremely high under 9.2, as well.


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## AbMagFab (Feb 5, 2001)

lrhorer said:


> In my experience, I would say that is an understatement. Specifically, I haven't had a single stability issue with pyTiVo since installing it. It seems even more stable than Galleon, which is quite stable, and Galleon is doing a lot more things than pyTiVo. It may help the stability of both that I am running them under Linux, I must admit.
> 
> It certainly addressed some static issues, but I can't say it increased stability, but then the stability was extremely high under 9.2, as well.


Galleon crashes daily on Vista. At least TD 2.6.1 stays up for a few days (before gobbling memory).

So if you're saying pyTivo is as stable as Galleon, I think I'll stay away.

(Also, I thought folders in pyTvo was broken ages ago - did Tivo allow them to use folders again?)


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