# Does BOLT still work with TiVo Desktop/transfering/editing on PC?



## Puppy76

If not, there's no way I'd buy one, as I do half my TV watching on my notebook!

EDIT: Glad there's a model that supports ATSC broadcasts AND has 1TB again! 1TB is barely big enough for me, and 500GB was NOT going to cut it lol.


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## deebo

I am interested in this as well. Has anyone tried to use Tivo Desktop with Bolt?


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## Dan203

Yes, confirmed yesterday that you can still transfer shows and edit with VideoReDo.


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## deebo

Awesome thank you. Have you tried to transfer video from PC to tivo as well?


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## georgeorwell86

....as long as the recording is not copy protected.


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## Dan203

deebo said:


> Awesome thank you. Have you tried to transfer video from PC to tivo as well?


No I haven't, but my pyTiVo share shows up on the devices list so I assume it works. I wonder if there is a way to use H.265 or VP9 on personal videos? I winder if those formats work with Plex?


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## aaronwt

I haven't tried H.265 or VP9. But so far, everything I had transferred from my PC to the Bolt, that I also had transferred to the ROamio, has worked. The Bolt definitely gets some fast transfer rates(for a TiVo) to/from the PC when it isn't buffering the tuners.


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## eric102

aaronwt said:


> I haven't tried H.265 or VP9. But so far, everything I had transferred from my PC to the Bolt, that I also had transferred to the ROamio, has worked. The Bolt definitely gets some fast transfer rates(for a TiVo) to/from the PC when it isn't buffering the tuners.


How do you stop the tuners from buffering?


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## aaronwt

eric102 said:


> How do you stop the tuners from buffering?


When the TiVo is in Standby it will only use the tuners for the scheduled recordings. It won't buffer the tuners.

EDIT: I guess it also depends on what standby setting is used. I use the two hour standby setting.


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## eric102

aaronwt said:


> When the TiVo is in Standby it will only use the tuners for the scheduled recordings. It won't buffer the tuners.
> 
> EDIT: I guess it also depends on what standby setting is used. I use the two hour standby setting.


OK, thanks. I've never used standby before.

I'm pleased with Bolt transfer speeds as is but I guess if I were transferring a lot of files it would speed things up a bit.


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## wmcbrine

aaronwt said:


> I haven't tried H.265 or VP9.


H.265 = HEVC. It doesn't work, at least not with the existing MIME types for transport stream and MP4 containers. I haven't tried VP9, but I don't expect it to work at this point.

Otherwise, yes, all the old formats work.


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## Dan203

IIRC there is a byte in the .tivo file header that tells it whether the vido is MPEG2 or H264, I wonder if there is a way to flag H265 ot VP9 instead?


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## aaronwt

I just transferred a 20 hour HD recording from my PC to the Bolt. A 116GB file. The Bolt showed the transfer rate as 320Mb/s over 49 minutes. Of course this was while no buffering was going on with the tuners. But this is still almost a 50% improvement over the Roamio Pro in the same situation.


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## Puppy76

georgeorwell86 said:


> ....as long as the recording is not copy protected.


So same rules as before, I assume?

Well anyway, this is EXCELLENT news. My TiVos can't hold up forever, and being able to copy shows to my PC to watch other places is an absolute must-have feature for me


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## Sasparilla

Another user posted that the Bolt has the chops to play transferred non transcoded bluray content if the audio is AC3 (can't do DTS).


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## aaronwt

In other words, still no replacement for a media player.


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## Dan203

aaronwt said:


> In other words, still no replacement for a media player.


When Plex recodes DTS audio does it recode to AC3? Or does it down mix to 2ch PCM? If it recodes to AC3 then I seriously doubt you'd notice the difference. Well maybe you would, since IIRC you have a whole ATMOS setup. but most people wouldn't.


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## Reeber

I just purchased a 500 gb Bolt after my 4 year old Premiere got zapped by a power surge. I used to use Tivo desktop pro to transfer shows onto my ipod because I never get to watch television while at home. I also viewed the photos from my p.c via the premiere all the time. The Bolt is now up and running But the desktop keeps saying there are no tivos on the network. My bolt is connected via Ethernet cable to my router. I have been told by Tivo that they no longer provide support for the desktop. I already enabled Home Network Apps in the Bolts settings and changed the media key in the desktop. Any thoughts or help would be appreciated.


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## Puppy76

Reeber said:


> I just purchased a 500 gb Bolt after my 4 year old Premiere got zapped by a power surge. I used to use Tivo desktop pro to transfer shows onto my ipod because I never get to watch television while at home. I also viewed the photos from my p.c via the premiere all the time. The Bolt is now up and running But the desktop keeps saying there are no tivos on the network. My bolt is connected via Ethernet cable to my router. I have been told by Tivo that they no longer provide support for the desktop. I already enabled Home Network Apps in the Bolts settings and changed the media key in the desktop. Any thoughts or help would be appreciated.


Ugh...yeah, I hope someone responds to this! If this no longer works, how do we get stuff off? Would our existing tools no longer work, for getting it to a format my PC can actually play/edit?


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## eric102

Reeber said:


> I just purchased a 500 gb Bolt after my 4 year old Premiere got zapped by a power surge. I used to use Tivo desktop pro to transfer shows onto my ipod because I never get to watch television while at home. I also viewed the photos from my p.c via the premiere all the time. The Bolt is now up and running But the desktop keeps saying there are no tivos on the network. My bolt is connected via Ethernet cable to my router. I have been told by Tivo that they no longer provide support for the desktop. I already enabled Home Network Apps in the Bolts settings and changed the media key in the desktop. Any thoughts or help would be appreciated.


Desktop is working with my Bolt for transfers to and from. Maybe force a connection to TiVo and then restart the Bolt if you haven't done that yet?


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## cjnj

Where can I download the TiVo Desktop software? Thanks


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## Reeber

I fixed the problem. Apparently I had switched the desktops Server Properties delivery protocol from Bonjour to Tivo Beacon in the past. I switched it back and the desktop found my Bolt. Now I can view my photos and transfer videos to the Bolt as well.


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## worachj

cjnj said:


> Where can I download the TiVo Desktop software? Thanks


You can download the free Version Here: http://assets.tivo.com/assets/exe/tivotogo/TiVoDesktop2.8.3.exe


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## aspexil

Is there a Mac version of Tivo Desktop? All I could find was people complaining it stopped installing on v10.9


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## Puppy76

aspexil said:


> Is there a Mac version of Tivo Desktop? All I could find was people complaining it stopped installing on v10.9


There technically was, but it didn't do too much useful, as I recall. It's functionality was more or less rolled in to a commercial/pay product from maybe Roxio? I think Toast has that functionality, maybe?


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## Dan203

aspexil said:


> Is there a Mac version of Tivo Desktop? All I could find was people complaining it stopped installing on v10.9


TiVo Desktop for Mac only supported Music & Photos, not video downloads. If you wanted video downloads on a Mac you had to buy Roxio Toast.

There is also a community program called cTiVo which allows you to download and decrypt TiVo video on a Mac. That's probably your best option.


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## wmcbrine

Reeber said:


> I fixed the problem. Apparently I had switched the desktops Server Properties delivery protocol from Bonjour to Tivo Beacon in the past. I switched it back and the desktop found my Bolt. Now I can view my photos and transfer videos to the Bolt as well.


It could just be coincidence. Any new TiVo has issues like this for the first day or two (depending on how many forced connections and reboots you're willing to sit through), and only then starts working normally.

Either protocol (BTW, these are only used for announcements, not delivery) should work with any TiVo. I assume that's still true of the Bolt, although I guess I should check that. The TiVos themselves (and pyTivo) broadcast both types of beacon, rather than making you choose, as TiVo Desktop does. However, it's not uncommon for one or the other system to break down -- normally fixable by a reboot.



Dan203 said:


> TiVo Desktop for Mac only supported Music & Photos, not video downloads. If you wanted video downloads on a Mac you had to buy Roxio Toast.


I'm not sure you ever _had_ to buy Toast. Galleon could do it, for example, as least as far back as 2005. And TiVo Desktop for Mac had it as a secret feature, at least as of 1.9.3.



> _There is also a community program called cTiVo which allows you to download and decrypt TiVo video on a Mac. That's probably your best option._


Eh, maybe if you only want to archive video. If you want a full replacement for TiVo Desktop, pyTivo is probably your best option.


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## Dan203

wmcbrine said:


> Eh, maybe if you only want to archive video. If you want a full replacement for TiVo Desktop, pyTivo is probably your best option.


I forgot pyTiVo was cross platform. 

kmttg is java so it probably works on a Mac too huh?


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## wmcbrine

wmcbrine said:


> Either protocol (BTW, these are only used for announcements, not delivery) should work with any TiVo. I assume that's still true of the Bolt, although I guess I should check that.


Well, in fact, according to Wireshark, it looks like the Bolt no longer broadcasts the old TiVo Beacon, although port 2190 is still open, so I'm guessing it will still receive them. (?) Of course, it could just be a transient failure... time will tell. Anyway, if none of the old-style beacons are being sent, you will have to set TiVo Desktop to use Bonjour, yes.


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## Puppy76

wmcbrine said:


> Well, in fact, according to Wireshark, it looks like the Bolt no longer broadcasts the old TiVo Beacon, although port 2190 is still open, so I'm guessing it will still receive them. (?) Of course, it could just be a transient failure... time will tell. Anyway, if none of the old-style beacons are being sent, you will have to set TiVo Desktop to use Bonjour, yes.


How do you set that? I thought it had always used Bonjour? That you have to have Bonjour installed? (Which basically means I need iTunes installed, so Bonjour gets updated...I use iTunes anyway, but...)


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## ej42137

Puppy76 said:


> How do you set that? I thought it had always used Bonjour? That you have to have Bonjour installed? (Which basically means I need iTunes installed, so Bonjour gets updated...I use iTunes anyway, but...)


TiVo Server Properties, Network tab. It's the only choice on the tab.


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## Puppy76

ej42137 said:


> TiVo Server Properties, Network tab. It's the only choice on the tab.


Huh, thanks! I haven't loaded that in years probably lol

Mine shows both Bonjour, which is what it's using, and Tivo Beacon.

Well, as long as it still works, and still lets me watch (and edit if I want to) shows on my PCs, I'm happy 

Hmm, just occurred to me that TiVo Desktop could be a security vulnerability if it's listening to any ports or whatever. Hopefully the fact I keep Bonjour up to date (via iTunes being kept up to date) takes care of that...


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## aaronwt

wmcbrine said:


> Well, in fact, according to Wireshark, it looks like the Bolt no longer broadcasts the old TiVo Beacon, although port 2190 is still open, so I'm guessing it will still receive them. (?) Of course, it could just be a transient failure... time will tell. Anyway, if none of the old-style beacons are being sent, you will have to set TiVo Desktop to use Bonjour, yes.


I wonder if this is why Tweevo doesn't see my Bolts?


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## Tjernagel

I've tried all the different ways to transfer files from the TiVo to the PC and vise versa... I still like TiVo Desktop the most. Just wish TiVo would figure out (or start listening to their customers) and develop a great program for this. I have never understood why they won't...

My Premiers stopped transferring from the PC to the TiVo about 3 months ago. No changes were made to the PC or the TiVo, it just quit working. Tells me the Playing List could not be displayed or is unavailable. TiVo support tells me it's a known issue... I just purchased two Bolts with 3 tb drives and I'm sure I'll get the same error on them when they arrive.

I can still transfer shows off the TiVo, just not to them...


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## JoeKustra

A better program, which is supported. Easier to use pyTivo

Also, check this link: "Now Playing List Not Available"


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## HerronScott

Tjernagel said:


> My Premiers stopped transferring from the PC to the TiVo about 3 months ago


You should have come here 3 months ago.  Joe's links will help you fix the issue. Note that if you want to be able to upload shows from your PC to the new Bolts you will need to downgrade from Hydra/gen4 UI to the gen3 UI unless you want to use Plex to stream from your PC to the new Bolts (you can still download shows from Bolt with Hydra).

Scott


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## leiff

HerronScott said:


> You should have come here 3 months ago.  Joe's links will help you fix the issue. Note that if you want to be able to upload shows from your PC to the new Bolts you will need to downgrade from Hydra/gen4 UI to the gen3 UI unless you want to use Plex to stream from your PC to the new Bolts (you can still download shows from Bolt with Hydra).
> 
> Scott


 do you know if kmmtg also is unable to upload stored tivo programs from PC back to tivo with hydra? That's the program I'm familiar with using for transfers. Much better than Tivos official desktop app.
Does streaming with plex degrade quality? I know bolt works with 1080P plex but I haven't tried it yet. Plex requires windows PC with plex app running I presume.


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## ggieseke

leiff said:


> do you know if kmmtg also is unable to upload stored tivo programs from PC back to tivo with hydra? That's the program I'm familiar with using for transfers. Much better than Tivos official desktop app.
> Does streaming with plex degrade quality? I know bolt works with 1080P plex but I haven't tried it yet. Plex requires windows PC with plex app running I presume.


Hydra doesn't support PC to TiVo transfers no matter what software you use (Desktop, kmttg, pyTivo, etc). You can still stream with Plex, but if you want to transfer you have to go back to the Gen3/Encore user interface.


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## HerronScott

leiff said:


> do you know if kmmtg also is unable to upload stored tivo programs from PC back to tivo with hydra? That's the program I'm familiar with using for transfers. Much better than Tivos official desktop app.
> Does streaming with plex degrade quality? I know bolt works with 1080P plex but I haven't tried it yet. Plex requires windows PC with plex app running I presume.


Kmttg doesn't do uploads back to TiVo - only downloads but it doesn't matter as Greg indicated.

No, idea on whether Plex would visibly change the quality while streaming. I would guess that might depend on if it has to transcode the file.

Looks like Plex runs on Windows, Mac or Linux and I believe there are NAS devices that support it as well.

Scott


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