# TiVo Desktop 2.6.1 - Read This



## TiVoPony (May 12, 2002)

Hey all,

There is a new version of TiVo Desktop available today for download (version 2.6.1).

It has improved recovery from interrupted transfers between the PC and DVR, but it also provides an updated Windows Certificate for TiVo Desktop. The certificate used in prior versions of TiVo Desktop is about to expire, so you'll want to get 2.6.1. Without this certificate update it will not be possible to manually transfer programs from your PC to your TiVo DVR (all other Desktop functionality should continue to work fine however).

You can download TiVo Desktop 2.6.1 here.

For customers who are using an older operating system (e.g. Windows 2000) and cannot update to Desktop 2.6.1, there is a separate certificate updater available. You'll find the link for this updater on this page. It's listed under the first 'step' on the page.

Update now so you don't lose the ability to transfer shows from your PC to your TiVo DVR. Thanks!

Cheers,
Pony


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## rainwater (Sep 21, 2004)

Does this version fix the inability of Vista users to transfer non .tivo files to TiVos?


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## TrueTurbo (Feb 19, 2008)

rainwater said:


> Does this version fix the inability of Vista users to transfer non .tivo files to TiVos?


Ha! You just don't give up, do you!


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## Enrique (May 15, 2006)

Here is a direct link: http://www.tivo.com/assets/exe/tivotogo/TiVoDesktop2.6.1.exe


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## rainwater (Sep 21, 2004)

TrueTurbo said:


> Ha! You just don't give up, do you!


Well, it is sort of the point of TiVo Desktop Plus.


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## dylanemcgregor (Jan 31, 2003)

I'm hoping that this is what



> It has improved recovery from interrupted transfers between the PC and DVR


is about.


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## Langree (Apr 29, 2004)

rainwater said:


> Does this version fix the inability of Vista users to transfer non .tivo files to TiVos?


I use Vista and have pushed non .tivo files to my THD.


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## TrueTurbo (Feb 19, 2008)

rainwater said:


> Well, it is sort of the point of TiVo Desktop Plus.


Yeah, yeah, yeah. 

For the benefit of all you other *normal* TD+ 2.6.1 on Vista users out there. it works perfectly fine if you're *not* in the habit of transferring 1GB+ files from Vista to your TiVo.

I've had absolutely no issues using TD+ on Vista. I regularly transfer '.mp4', '.wmv', etc., videos up to several hundred MB in size, to my TiVoHD. Every transfer completes flawlessly. I can't confirm the problems 'rainwater' is having because I don't have any videos over 1GB in size to play with.


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## rainwater (Sep 21, 2004)

TrueTurbo said:


> Yeah, yeah, yeah.
> 
> For the benefit of all you other *normal* TD+ 2.6.1 on Vista users out there. it works perfectly fine if you're *not* in the habit of transferring 1GB+ files from Vista to your TiVo.


Yes, it works just great for videos under 20 minutes or so. Considering I have very little of these it is quite useless for me. One would think that a paid feature like this would get some attention.


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## Langree (Apr 29, 2004)

rainwater said:


> Yes, it works just great for videos under 20 minutes or so. Considering I have very little of these it is quite useless for me. One would think that a paid feature like this would get some attention.


again, huh? The files I used were much longer then 20 minutes.


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## dylanemcgregor (Jan 31, 2003)

I'm kind of in the middle. I can get files in the range of 300MB-500MB to transfer, but they rarely transfer the full file the 1st time...and usually I have to try 4 or 5 times before it will work on Vista.

Using something like VisualHub on the Mac to transcode the videos and then using regular TD to transfer works fine.

Anyway, I'm hopeful that this has been fixed, because I bought TD plus to make transfers quicker and easier, and so far it has just made them more effort.


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## Tkilmer (Dec 25, 2003)

Not sure why you would want to transfer 1GB+ files to your TiVo when there are other options out there that can easily stream movies and such without having to transfer anything.


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## etz (Sep 8, 2006)

Thanks for the heads up Pony. 

Now could someone explain to me why I need to first manually uninstall the existing TiVODesktop before running the update? Why can't it just take care of the uninstall as part of the update the way other software products do it?


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## cmshep222 (Feb 18, 2005)

What if we have Desktop Plus? How do we make sure we keep PLUS?


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## alansplace (Apr 30, 2006)

TiVoPony said:


> Hey all,
> 
> There is a new version of TiVo Desktop available today for download (version 2.6.1).
> 
> ...


thanks for the announcement!
--
Alan


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## scandia101 (Oct 20, 2007)

I've had no problems at all transferring multi GB video files from my Vista PC to any TiVo I've had.

I just now had to reinstall Tivo desktop and was surprised to see the .1 added to the 2.6. I came here to see how recently this new version became available.


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## rainwater (Sep 21, 2004)

scandia101 said:


> I've had no problems at all transferring multi GB video files from my Vista PC to any TiVo I've had.


And these files are not .tivo files?


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## scandia101 (Oct 20, 2007)

rainwater said:


> And these files are not .tivo files?


.avi and .mpeg


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## PT30 (Apr 10, 2008)

Well, I began using Tivo Desktop 2.5 and 2.6 and none of them have worked for me except on about 20 percent of my recordings. This thread got my hopes up, so I downloaded 2.6.1 and just tried to transfer a recording to my PC. That recording has never transferred successfully, always stopping at about 69 percent.

The same thing just happened with 2.6.1. 

I am using a series 3 Tivo and I am still on software version 9.2a.

Will this ever work correctly? My patience is wearing thin. Has anyone else been able to get recordings that previously would not transfer to transfer with 2.6.1?

I realize I only tried one program but this in not encouraging.


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## berfy (Apr 24, 2005)

I currently have Desktop Plus on 2.5.1. Can someone please tell me how I can get Desktop Plus without an additional payment if I upgrade to 2.6.1?

Thanks!


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## PT30 (Apr 10, 2008)

berfy said:


> I currently have Desktop Plus on 2.5.1. Can someone please tell me how I can get Desktop Plus without an additional payment if I upgrade to 2.6.1?
> 
> Thanks!


When you purchased it did they give you a registration code to plug into the software? I would think that would work on the new software. I am just guessing since I did not purchase it.


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## dylanemcgregor (Jan 31, 2003)

cmshep222 said:


> What if we have Desktop Plus? How do we make sure we keep PLUS?


Uninstalling TiVo Desktop shouldn't get rid of your Plus license key. I think that is stored in the registry. I just uninstalled and upgraded to 2.6.1 from 2.5 last night and never had to enter in a key again.

Of course it is probably always a good idea to have the key handy in case...but if things go well you won't need it.


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## xdreamwalker (Jul 13, 2005)

I too am having problems transferring large files from Vista to my TiVo S3 & TiVoHD. It's annoying. Does anyone have a copy of desktop 2.5?


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## Globular (Jun 9, 2004)

Pony,

Can we get .mkv file support for Desktop Plus? This format is becoming more and more popular.


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## TiVoJerry (Jul 26, 2005)

etz said:


> .....
> Now could someone explain to me why I need to first manually uninstall the existing TiVODesktop before running the update? Why can't it just take care of the uninstall as part of the update the way other software products do it?


When we launched 2.5, we had a great deal of confusing reports of installation issues, many of which where actually uninstall issues of the prior version on Vista.

TiVo Desktop 2.4 and earlier do not uninstall cleanly on Vista. We've got a whole article about how use the TiVo Desktop Cleaner utility to uninstall TiVo Desktop 2.4..

We changed to having you uninstall the prior version manual in 2.5.1 so that customers, and in turn support, would clearly understand if the issue was related to installation or uninstallation.

Since migration to Vista is still in full swing, we kept this separation in TiVo Desktop 2.6 and 2.6.1. This may be a pain, but it really helps on the occasions when there is a problem during either the uninstall or the install.

Going forward, we anticipate going back to the desired behavior of doing it all at once.

Hope that helps.


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## HDTiVo (Nov 27, 2002)

Can I use Cert update to keep TD 2.3?


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## TiVoJerry (Jul 26, 2005)

HDTiVo said:


> Can I use Cert update to keep TD 2.3?


Yes.


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## etz (Sep 8, 2006)

thanks for the explanation of the uninstall/reinstall behavior.


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## h00ligan (Nov 29, 2007)

TrueTurbo said:


> Ha! You just don't give up, do you!


man you really exemplify the phrase FAN BOI

jesus man, you don't own the company.


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## lrhorer (Aug 31, 2003)

TrueTurbo said:


> For the benefit of all you other *normal* TD+ 2.6.1 on Vista users out there. it works perfectly fine if you're *not* in the habit of transferring 1GB+ files from Vista to your TiVo.


Well, I certainly don't use Vista (or even XP unless I have to), but I'm having a hard time figuring out why I would want to transfer any video files smaller than 1GB to my TiVos. Most of my videos are in the 10GB - 30GB range. With the exception of one very brief slideshow I authored myself, I don't have any videos smaller than 1GB. Even the old videos transferred from my ancient Series I TiVo usually run from 32 - 5G.


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## lrhorer (Aug 31, 2003)

TiVoJerry said:


> When we launched 2.5, we had a great deal of confusing reports of installation issues, many of which where actually uninstall issues of the prior version on Vista.


TiVoJerry,

I apologize for sort of hijacking the thread for a moment, but can you tell us if the TTCB bug which causes all sorts of audio / video problems when trying to employ TTCB on high bandwidth HD content on S3 class TiVos has been fixed in the new 9.3 rollout?

*PLEASE* tell me it's been fixed! Other than recording the shows in the first place and using TTG to transfer them to the file server, my primary need for my TiVos is to use TTCB to pull videos back off the server to watch when I want. TTG transfers them just fine, and they look perfectly great on any of my PCs, but when I pull them back they are sometimes so bad as to be unwatchable, and even at the best of times are agggravatingly corrupted. I can transcode to below 8Mbps, at which point the symptoms are mostly alleviated, but then the video looks horrible. Neither TiVo Desktop, Galleon, nor pyTiVo can transfer an error free high bandwidth HD video back to any of the the TiVos unless the video is severely rate limited.

I love my TiVos (I have 2 S3s, a TiVo HD, and an 8 year old Series I SA TiVo, now retired) but being unable to view all the videos I've accumulated is really problematical and extremely frustrating. I waited so very anxiously for months for the S3 to be released, then I waited anxiously again for months for TTG / TTCB / MRV to be enabled on the S3, and now I've waited months for TTCB to be fixed. I'm *really* weary of waiting. Please tell me the wait is almost over.


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## Mars Rocket (Mar 24, 2000)

Have you folks having trouble with Vista and large file transfers done any tweaking of your TCP settings? I don't run Vista myself, but a coworker who does had many network problems until he started messing with it. Google "vista tcp tweak" to find discussions of the issues. I did have problems getting a Vista system to join our domain through an OpenBSD firewall before I applied some of the tweaks.


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## h00ligan (Nov 29, 2007)

or have you installed sp1 yet, that remedied most of the network and file copy issues.. thank god.


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## nhaigh (Jul 16, 2001)

TiVoPony said:


> It has improved recovery from interrupted transfers between the PC and DVR.....


Unfortunately I'm still having problems with transfers failing. Is a failed transfer an interupted transfer? It reports the files as being corrupt when the transfer stops midway but the file plays fine on my PS3 and my PC so I don't understand how it can be corrupt.


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## xboard07 (Dec 16, 2007)

How about folder support for video's when browsing the computer?


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## tootal2 (Oct 14, 2005)

nhaigh said:


> Unfortunately I'm still having problems with transfers failing. Is a failed transfer an interupted transfer? It reports the files as being corrupt when the transfer stops midway but the file plays fine on my PS3 and my PC so I don't understand how it can be corrupt.


Im having the same problem. tivo starts downloading a hd mpeg2 then it quits and the show is gone from my tivo hd. Will 9.3 fix this?


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## rainwater (Sep 21, 2004)

tootal2 said:


> Im having the same problem. tivo starts downloading a hd mpeg2 then it quits and the show is gone from my tivo hd. Will 9.3 fix this?


The bug is in TiVo Desktop. If you use pyTiVo then transfers will work just fine.


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## Mars Rocket (Mar 24, 2000)

rainwater said:


> The bug is in TiVo Desktop. If you use pyTiVo then transfers will work just fine.


Even pyTiVo on Vista?


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## jfossy (Jun 23, 2006)

TiVoPony said:


> For customers who are using an older operating system (e.g. Windows 2000) and cannot update to Desktop 2.6.1, there is a separate certificate updater available. You'll find the link for this updater on this page. It's listed under the first 'step' on the page.


I know it says it is for 200 users, but it won't work unless you get reg.exe from an XP machine and put it into your system32 directory.

Without it, you get:

'REG' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.
TiVoDesktop is not installed
Press any key to continue . . .


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## ldudek (Sep 2, 2007)

I got all kind of worried when I saw this as I just purchased TiVo Plus two weeks ago. So I dug through my email, found my key highlighted it and downloaded the free version anticipating either a place to put the code or a big headache.

Much to my surprise I didn't have to do anything other then remove the old version 6.0. When I downloaded TiVo Plus 6.1 was waiting for me. Along with all my saved files.:up:


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## benc247 (Apr 13, 2008)

TiVoJerry said:


> When we launched 2.5, we had a great deal of confusing reports of installation issues, many of which where actually uninstall issues of the prior version on Vista.


I'm not using Vista (which seems to be the main OS on this thread but..

I've been running 2.4a for the longest time and today couldn't get content from my PC to TIVO. I thought, "it's time for an update". I had 2.5 downloaded just not installed. I found 2.6.1 was available and tried installing that. It stated that I needed to manually uninstall 2.4a first. I did this and now can't install 2.5 or 2.6.1. I get an Installer Infomation window come up stating that:
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"There is an internal Tivo Desktop installer error: Can't get local application data folder path - Server error: Failed to get user token, Error Code = 1245 Error description: Server error: Failed to get user token, Error Code = 1245

For help installing TiVo Desktop 2.5a please go to http://tivo.com/support and search for "install desktop".
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So I did this and downloaded and ran the Tivo Desktop cleaner and I'm still having this problem. I searched the internet and this forum and didn't see anything that looked like it talked about this problem. Has anyone else out there had this problem and may be able to give suggestions about what I can do next to fix?

Thanks


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## gamo62 (Oct 12, 2002)

benc247 said:


> I'm not using Vista (which seems to be the main OS on this thread but..
> 
> I've been running 2.4a for the longest time and today couldn't get content from my PC to TIVO. I thought, "it's time for an update". I had 2.5 downloaded just not installed. I found 2.6.1 was available and tried installing that. It stated that I needed to manually uninstall 2.4a first. I did this and now can't install 2.5 or 2.6.1. I get an Installer Infomation window come up stating that:
> ----------
> ...


You may have to go in and delete the temp files.


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## rainwater (Sep 21, 2004)

Mars Rocket said:


> Even pyTiVo on Vista?


Yes, pyTiVo works great on TiVo but TiVo Desktop fails 100% of the time with all of the same files.


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## scandia101 (Oct 20, 2007)

lrhorer said:


> Well, I certainly don't use Vista (or even XP unless I have to), but I'm having a hard time figuring out why I would want to transfer any video files smaller than 1GB to my TiVos. Most of my videos are in the 10GB - 30GB range. With the exception of one very brief slideshow I authored myself, I don't have any videos smaller than 1GB. Even the old videos transferred from my ancient Series I TiVo usually run from 32 - 5G.


Gosh, I'm impressed.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

Mars Rocket said:


> Have you folks having trouble with Vista and large file transfers done any tweaking of your TCP settings? I don't run Vista myself, but a coworker who does had many network problems until he started messing with it. Google "vista tcp tweak" to find discussions of the issues. I did have problems getting a Vista system to join our domain through an OpenBSD firewall before I applied some of the tweaks.


No problems with XP or Vista here. I've transferred 50GB files with no problems. ALthough I have a PC that is now dedicated to running the TiVo Desktop software(with Vista Premium) now with a 3.75TB RAID for storage of my TiVo shows and other media.


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## MickeS (Dec 26, 2002)

I have Windows XP, and am unable to transfer files to my TiVo Series 3 using TDPlus 2.6.1. They fail after about 1-2 minutes, and disappear from Now Playing.

I am using pyTiVo now instead, which annoys me, because I paid $25 for TDPlus, but the free pyTiVo works flawlessly.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

It works fine on the machine I'm using with Vista Premium. I'll have to check it out the next time I'm at my girlfriends. The PC there that runs TiVo Desktop is using XP.


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## TrueTurbo (Feb 19, 2008)

MickeS said:


> I have Windows XP, and am unable to transfer files to my TiVo Series 3 using TDPlus 2.6.1. They fail after about 1-2 minutes, and disappear from Now Playing.
> 
> I am using pyTiVo now instead, which annoys me, because I paid $25 for TDPlus, but the free pyTiVo works flawlessly.


I can assure you TD+ 2.6.1 works perfectly fine for me on XP and Vista, so you should look into why your particular installation is failing.

I recently discovered the 'DVDFab Platinum' application that allows you to burn DVDs to a whole variety of formats playable on various machines. I've created images of about 30 of my DVDs so far and put them on a drive shared by my XP and Vista machines. I then created folders for each category of DVD, i.e. SciFi, Horror, Comedy, Drama, etc. and then shared those folders with my TiVoHD through TD+ 2.6.1 on both machines. The files are all between 4GB and 6GB in size and so far, every file I've put into the shared folders have transfered flawlessly to my TiVoHD.

I know TD+ 2.6.1 is working fine on both XP and Vista, because I work on my Laptop (running XP) during the day and in the evening, I shutdown my Laptop and use my Vista PC. The DVD images are making it to my TiVoHD from both machines without issue.

Bottom line, it works, so hopefully, you'll be able to find out what's stopping it working properly in your environment.


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## MickeS (Dec 26, 2002)

TrueTurbo said:


> I can assure you TD+ 2.6.1 works perfectly fine for me on XP and Vista, so you should look into why your particular installation is failing.
> 
> I recently discovered the 'DVDFab Platinum' application that allows you to burn DVDs to a whole variety of formats playable on various machines. I've created images of about 30 of my DVDs so far and put them on a drive shared by my XP and Vista machines. I then created folders for each category of DVD, i.e. SciFi, Horror, Comedy, Drama, etc. and then shared those folders with my TiVoHD through TD+ 2.6.1 on both machines. The files are all between 4GB and 6GB in size and so far, every file I've put into the shared folders have transfered flawlessly to my TiVoHD.
> 
> ...


I use a Series 3 though, you have a TiVoHD. Maybe that makes a difference too. I'm glad it works for you.


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## Mars Rocket (Mar 24, 2000)

TrueTurbo said:


> The DVD images are making it to my TiVoHD from both machines without issue.


What format are these "images" in? If they're truly disk images of the original DVD (i.e. .iso files) then the TiVo can't play them. Or are you talking about the VOB files themselves?


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## brettatk (Oct 11, 2002)

Mars Rocket said:


> Even pyTiVo on Vista?


i've just recently started using Pytivo with Vista and I have no problems transferring .mkv files as large as 5GB to my Tivo (I'm sure I could transfer larger files, just havnt had any bigger than 5GB). Makes me wish I'd never paid the money for TD plus.


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## rainwater (Sep 21, 2004)

brettatk said:


> i've just recently started using Pytivo with Vista and I have no problems transferring .mkv files as large as 5GB to my Tivo. Makes me wish I'd never paid the money for TD plus.


Yeah, it's a shame the solution for everyone's problem is to tell them to use pyTiVo. The fact that TiVo doesn't even put any resources behind fixing these issues for a paid program isn't going to sit very well with paid users. As much as a can, I advise people to use pyTiVo. I wish I didn't have to, but the program does what it is suppose to do and it does it without failing.


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## TrueTurbo (Feb 19, 2008)

Mars Rocket said:


> What format are these "images" in? If they're truly disk images of the original DVD (i.e. .iso files) then the TiVo can't play them. Or are you talking about the VOB files themselves?


I researched DVDFab on the net for TiVo advice. I use the VOB Passthrough to create the images, then rename the '.vob' files to '.mpg'. Back on TiVo, the transferred '.mpg' files are excellent! They look just as good as the original DVD and the Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound is preserved perfectly as well.


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## Mars Rocket (Mar 24, 2000)

Yeah, VOBs are mpeg files so I didn't doubt that the TiVo could play them, but how does the TiVo handle the 3-5 different VOB files that comprise each movie? Do you have to select each one separately?

BTW, I use XBMC on a modded Xbox and a MythTV box to watch DVD images with full menus and subtitles and everything. I would love to do this on my TiVo, but the support isn't there for it now.


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## TrueTurbo (Feb 19, 2008)

Mars Rocket said:


> Yeah, VOBs are mpeg files so I didn't doubt that the TiVo could play them, but how does the TiVo handle the 3-5 different VOB files that comprise each movie? Do you have to select each one separately?
> 
> BTW, I use XBMC on a modded Xbox and a MythTV box to watch DVD images with full menus and subtitles and everything. I would love to do this on my TiVo, but the support isn't there for it now.


DVDFab reads the DVD and shows you all the tracks on it, with a preview window. You select the tracks you want to save. It then rips each track you select as a seperate '.vob' file.

For my TiVo purposes, I only want to rip the main feature film from each DVD. It's pretty obvious which one it is, since it's usually the file with the longest running time in the list. I simply use the DVD in my player when I want the other stuff that's on it.


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## ZeoTiVo (Jan 2, 2004)

TrueTurbo said:


> DVDFab reads the DVD and shows you all the tracks on it, with a preview window. You select the tracks you want to save. It then rips each track you select as a seperate '.vob' file.
> 
> For my TiVo purposes, I only want to rip the main feature film from each DVD. It's pretty obvious which one it is, since it's usually the file with the longest running time in the list. I simply use the DVD in my player when I want the other stuff that's on it.


That is my approach as well. It is also rare I care about the extras and even atthat one viewing of them is enough for me. Sometimes I rip with the director/actor comments audio track to watch later but that is also just a very few times I want to hear that. The play's the thing.


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## Mars Rocket (Mar 24, 2000)

So are you pulling the multiple VOB files for the main movie or are you re-compressing it down to a single file? On my HDTV most DVDs already look a little soft; I wouldn't want to reduce the video quality any more than it already is.


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## TrueTurbo (Feb 19, 2008)

Mars Rocket said:


> So are you pulling the multiple VOB files for the main movie or are you re-compressing it down to a single file? On my HDTV most DVDs already look a little soft; I wouldn't want to reduce the video quality any more than it already is.


I'm just using VOB Passthrough with DVDFab, which doesn't compress anything. As far as my eyes and ears can tell, the transfered movies are identical to what they look like playing back via my Panasonic BD30 Blue Ray Player. I'm happy! 

Also, the main movie on every DVD is just 1 VOB file. I choose the language, the audio format and subtitles option, then DVDFab rips a single VOB with those selected options.


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## Mars Rocket (Mar 24, 2000)

TrueTurbo said:


> Also, the main movie on every DVD is just 1 VOB file.


No, it's not. It's usually 3-5 depending on compression and length of the movie. Each VOB file is about 1GB, the final one will be smaller. DVDFab may only show you the first one, or maybe it's showing you all the related VOBs as one file, but you need all of them to get the entire movie.


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## Injuhneer (Apr 27, 2008)

So, I just installed 2.6.1. I found now that the app will no longer allow me to use and UNC or mapped drive as the folder for recordings.

It is a problem for me because I have a local service with large storage on my LAN. That is where the .tivo files are stored.

Can this be re-enable with a registry change, or some other means?


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## Mars Rocket (Mar 24, 2000)

It lets me use a mapped folder, so there must be something else going on.

I have the video share from my linux server mapped as V:\ on the Windows machine that TD+ is running on, and it let me serve that up to the TiVo with no complaints.


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## CuriousMark (Jan 13, 2005)

TiVo Desktop 2.6.1 is very finicky about where you can put the My TiVo Recordings folder. It is much less finicky about serving from other folders that you publish.


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## MrPlastic (Apr 27, 2008)

Does anybody have the link for the certificate update installer? The link TivoPony has takes me to the help page. All the searches I have tried there haven't produced anything.

Thanks


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## CuriousMark (Jan 13, 2005)

MrPlastic said:


> Does anybody have the link for the certificate update installer?


TivoDesktopCertificateUpdate.zip

Be sure to extract all files and run the update from the extracted folder. Also be sure to turn off the TiVo Server before running it.


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## FlaUsa1 (Dec 20, 2003)

CuriousMark said:


> TiVo Desktop 2.6.1 is very finicky about where you can put the My TiVo Recordings folder. It is much less finicky about serving from other folders that you publish.


Could you elaborate? I have my 2.3 desktop recordings folder on physical drive F: now. I do not have any room on C: to speak of.

If anyone else is running 2.3, the Certificate update appears to succeed, but does not clear the problem of "no recordings on server" showing on my S2 Tivo.

Thanks


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## CuriousMark (Jan 13, 2005)

FlaUsa1 said:


> Could you elaborate? I have my 2.3 desktop recordings folder on physical drive F: now. I do not have any room on C: to speak of.
> 
> If anyone else is running 2.3, the Certificate update appears to succeed, but does not clear the problem of "no recordings on server" showing on my S2 Tivo.
> 
> Thanks


Version 2.3 should work the same as it always did, the cert update doesn't change that. Did you extract all files and run the update from the extracted folder, per the instructions?


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## FlaUsa1 (Dec 20, 2003)

Update: 

Here's the problem. Note the space. 

set CERTIFICATE_PATH="F:\Tivo\ Certificate.pem"
set PRIVATEKEY_PATH="F:\Tivo\ PrivateKey.pem"


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## FlaUsa1 (Dec 20, 2003)

See Previous (Edit doesn't bump)


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## CuriousMark (Jan 13, 2005)

FlaUsa1 said:


> Update:
> 
> Here's the problem. Note the space.
> 
> ...


I am glad to hear you were able to find and fix it.


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## FlaUsa1 (Dec 20, 2003)

Hopefully someone will repair the command file.

Anyway, back to my original question.



CuriousMark said:


> TiVo Desktop 2.6.1 is very finicky about where you can put the My TiVo Recordings folder. It is much less finicky about serving from other folders that you publish.


I realize you were talking about mapped drives. However I got stung with the MyDVD stuff only working on C: drive. So before I erase 2.3...

Right now, my 2.3 Desktop (not plus) has no problem serving files from drive F:. IF I upgrade to 2.6.1, will I still be able to run the tivo folders on F:? I have about 400GB of video and music on my second internal disk.

Thanks


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## CuriousMark (Jan 13, 2005)

FlaUsa1 said:


> Right now, my 2.3 Desktop (not plus) has no problem serving files from drive F:. IF I upgrade to 2.6.1, will I still be able to run the tivo folders on F:? I have about 400GB of video and music on my second internal disk.


I don't know, you don't say what F: is. You also didn't say whether this a directory you are serving only, or if it is the "My TiVo Recordings" folder.

It seems like TiVo Desktop wants the "My TiVo Recordings" folder to be on a drive resident in the machine, or possibly connected via USB. It does not like mapped network drives. However video folders you serve from other directories, which can be many with current versions of TiVo Desktop, don't seem to have all the same restrictions.

If you are nervous, try the update and if that doesn't help, go back to your current version. You did save the installer, right?


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## wblynch (Aug 13, 2003)

Does windows let you put a shortcut of a folder on a different drive and then it looks like the folder is on the first drive?

For example: the folder "My TiVo Recordings" is on drive "F:". Then you make a shortcut called "My TiVo Recordings" and put it in "C:\My Documents".

Or maybe I'm over thinking...


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## vasa (Jul 3, 2002)

I upgraded TDPlus 2.5 to 2.6.1 and now I all my transfers are stopping after 1G or so.
Transferred file is deleted, if I am not viewing them while it transfers. I am using
TDPlus on XP. Everything worked fine on 2.5. Where can I get 2.5 executable?
I would like to uninstall 2.6.1 and get back to 2.5 setup?


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## wblynch (Aug 13, 2003)

vasa said:


> I upgraded TDPlus 2.5 to 2.6.1 and now I all my transfers are stopping after 1G or so.
> Transferred file is deleted, if I am not viewing them while it transfers. I am using
> TDPlus on XP. Everything worked fine on 2.5. Where can I get 2.5 executable?
> I would like to uninstall 2.6.1 and get back to 2.5 setup?


Read this thread... http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=371302

I tried to go back to 2.5.1 because I can not complete a transfer back to the Tivo from my PC. With 2.5.1 the Tivo could not see any programs on my PC but when I reinstalled 2.6.1 I could see them again (but not transfer them)

I see there is a certificate updater a few posts back so I will try the 2.5.1 again with the certifier.

I would like to transfer a show to the Tivo.... even just ONCE. I don't think it's too much to ask for.


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## vasa (Jul 3, 2002)

wblynch, 

thanks for the pointer to 2.5.1 binary. 
Any luck with certificate update and 2.5.1?
BTW, pyTivo works just fine.


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## FlaUsa1 (Dec 20, 2003)

CuriousMark said:


> I don't know, you don't say what F: is. You also didn't say whether this a directory you are serving only, or if it is the "My TiVo Recordings" folder.
> 
> It seems like TiVo Desktop wants the "My TiVo Recordings" folder to be on a drive resident in the machine, or possibly connected via USB. It does not like mapped network drives. However video folders you serve from other directories, which can be many with current versions of TiVo Desktop, don't seem to have all the same restrictions.
> 
> If you are nervous, try the update and if that doesn't help, go back to your current version. You did save the installer, right?


All disks are internal. 
C:\ EIDE-ATA100 Physical Disk 0 Partition 1, NTFS 36GB
D:\ EIDE-ATA100 Physical Disk 1 CD\DVD+RW
E:\ EIDE-ATA100 Physical Disk 0 Partition 2, NTFS 244GB
F:\ SATA-300 Bus Number 0, Target ID 0, LUN 0, Partition 1, NTFS 464GB

Tivo Desktop Application loads from F:\Tivo
Video Recordings are under F:\Tivo\My TiVo Recordings
Music Recordings are under F:\Music1 and 
Music Recordings are under E:\Music2
Picture Library is under F:\Tivo\Tivo Pictures
(And users are under E:\Documents and Settings\)

I do appreciate the help. I spent a lot of time here and on the Tivo support site looking for information. This was the only question I could not answer. It's become an issue for me because I really need the features of the new desktop to convert and upload non-native files to my Tivo. Unfortunately, my external backup drive has become flakey, and I am trying to avoid stressing it with another full backup for now.

Thank You, 
Steve


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## wblynch (Aug 13, 2003)

vasa said:


> wblynch,
> 
> thanks for the pointer to 2.5.1 binary.
> Any luck with certificate update and 2.5.1?
> BTW, pyTivo works just fine.


I haven't had time to try yet. Will do this weekend. I'm also going to add some memory to my PC (running XP/MCE) to see if it helps.

I can get shows transferred from the Tivo to the PC with no problem at all. It's frustrating because it shouldn't be technically challenging for something so rudimentary to computers as a file transfer.


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## CuriousMark (Jan 13, 2005)

FlaUsa1 said:


> All disks are internal.


Then I can't imagine you having a problem.


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## wblynch (Aug 13, 2003)

vasa said:


> wblynch,
> 
> thanks for the pointer to 2.5.1 binary.
> Any luck with certificate update and 2.5.1?
> BTW, pyTivo works just fine.


2.5.1 with the certifier did the job. For the first time I was able to transfer a DVD movie that I ripped with DVD Shrink back to the TivoHD.

It worked perfectly. Fun little feature.

I don't know why it would never work with 2.6.1


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## vasa (Jul 3, 2002)

wblynch said:


> 2.5.1 with the certifier did the job. For the first time I was able to transfer a DVD movie that I ripped with DVD Shrink back to the TivoHD.
> 
> It worked perfectly. Fun little feature.
> 
> I don't know why it would never work with 2.6.1


wblynch, thanks for posting your experience with 2.5.1.
I did the same. Uninstalled 2.6.1, installed 2.5.1 with new certificates,
now all my transfers from XP PC to TivoHD worked just fine.

Not sure of the benefits of upgrading to 2.6.1.
For sure I am unable to transfer files larget than 1GB with 2.6.1
I am going to stay with 2.5.1.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

I transfer files larger than 1GB all the time with 2.6.1
It's rare that I even have a fille smaller than 1.5GB.


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## rrg (Apr 22, 2004)

CuriousMark said:


> It seems like TiVo Desktop wants the "My TiVo Recordings" folder to be on a drive resident in the machine, or possibly connected via USB. It does not like mapped network drives. However video folders you serve from other directories, which can be many with current versions of TiVo Desktop, don't seem to have all the same restrictions.


That's the very problem I'm having: my "My TiVo Recordings" folder has always been on my large ReadyNAS, and now suddenly with my upgrade to TiVo Desktop 2.6.1, it won't accept that location anymore.

How do I configure additional video folders to be served? I don't see that option anywhere. Am I just missing it, or does it require TiVo Desktop Plus?


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## CuriousMark (Jan 13, 2005)

rrg said:


> That's the very problem I'm having: my "My TiVo Recordings" folder has always been on my large ReadyNAS, and now suddenly with my upgrade to TiVo Desktop 2.6.1, it won't accept that location anymore.
> 
> How do I configure additional video folders to be served? I don't see that option anywhere. Am I just missing it, or does it require TiVo Desktop Plus?


Try changing the location in the registry manually, that has been reported to work. It appears the check only prevents the NAS location getting written to the registry, not from being used once there.

Serving additional folders with pre-2.6 can be done by placing shortcuts to them in the My TiVo Recordings folder. It just extends the list seen from the TiVo, a long linear list, but that is what TD does.


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## rrg (Apr 22, 2004)

CuriousMark said:


> Try changing the location in the registry manually, that has been reported to work. It appears the check only prevents the NAS location getting written to the registry, not from being used once there.


I'll try that, thanks. Do you happen to know which registry entry needs to be reset?



> Serving additional folders with pre-2.6 can be done by placing shortcuts to them in the My TiVo Recordings folder. It just extends the list seen from the TiVo, a long linear list, but that is what TD does.


Do you mean that this trick no longer works with 2.6.1, then?


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## rrg (Apr 22, 2004)

rrg said:


> I'll try that, thanks. Do you happen to know which registry entry needs to be reset?


I drilled down and found these two entries:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER->Software->TiVo->Desktop->Modules->TivoNowPlaying->Config->LocalRootPath

which is set to "C:\...\My Documents\My TiVo Recordings", and

HKEY_CURRENT_USER->Software->TiVo->Desktop->Converter->OutputPath

which is set to "C:\...\My Documents\My TiVo Recordings for Portables" (though I don't have or use this directory).

Are these the entries that I need to manually change?


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## alyssa (Dec 7, 2003)

PT30 said:


> Well, I began using Tivo Desktop 2.5 and 2.6 and none of them have worked for me except on about 20 percent of my recordings. This thread got my hopes up, so I downloaded 2.6.1 and just tried to transfer a recording to my PC. That recording has never transferred successfully, always stopping at about 69 percent.
> 
> The same thing just happened with 2.6.1.
> 
> I am using a series 3 Tivo and I am still on software version 9.2a.


We might be having the same issue-
I've not been able to get 2.6.1 to transfer files to my Vista PC. They always fail at 2,097,157KB , + or - 4kb, literally. I'm on a wired network & have no problem transferring shows to & from my two tivos. I have a S3 & a S2. However I can *not* get files larger then 2,097MB from either of my Tivos to my desktop.


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## greg_burns (May 22, 2004)

alyssa said:


> We might be having the same issue-
> I've not been able to get 2.6.1 to transfer files to my Vista PC. They always fail at 2,097,157KB , + or - 4kb, literally. I'm on a wired network & have no problem transferring shows to & from my two tivos. I have a S3 & a S2. However I can *not* get files larger then 2,097MB from either of my Tivos to my desktop.


2GB mark usually is related to having Kaspersky antivirus installed...

FAT32 limitation is 4GB, before anybody bothers posting...


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## MagnumJoe (Sep 5, 2004)

I've been having a problem with 2.6.1 as well, fails after about @ 20 minutes. I down graded to 2.5.1 and it worked, but it took over 3 hours for a 1:40 show. So I did what a lot of posters suggested installed pytivo and was able to transfer the same file in 32 minutes. It's a shame I paid 24.95 for TivoDesktop Plus, and freeware pyTivo does the job. I still use TDP for transferring files from Tivo to my PC.


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## alyssa (Dec 7, 2003)

greg_burns said:


> 2GB mark usually is related to having Kaspersky antivirus installed...


oh bloody he((,
I thought for sure I turned off Kaspersky when I first tried to solve this problem a month or two ago. 

turning off Kaspersky seems to have done the trick this time tho
thanks Greg!!


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## CuriousMark (Jan 13, 2005)

rrg said:


> Do you mean that this trick no longer works with 2.6.1, then?


TiVo Desktop 2.6.1 has replaced this trick with the ability to publish folders for video like you do with music and photos. Although it is backward compatible in the fact that if you do not choose to auto transfer the files in the served folder to the TiVo, then TD will create the shortcut and manage it all by itself.


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## CuriousMark (Jan 13, 2005)

rrg said:


> IHKEY_CURRENT_USER->Software->TiVo->Desktop->Modules->TivoNowPlaying->Config->LocalRootPath
> 
> which is set to "C:\...\My Documents\My TiVo Recordings"


That's the one. Change it to point at your NAS, then start TiVo Desktop. TD will complain about not finding the folder and put up the selection dialog. Select the folder on the NAS, being sure to navigate to it the same way you entered the registry entry (UNC vs mapped) and select it. This technique has been reported to work elsewhere, but I haven't tried it myself.


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## rrg (Apr 22, 2004)

CuriousMark said:


> TiVo Desktop 2.6.1 has replaced this trick with the ability to publish folders for video like you do with music and photos. Although it is backward compatible in the fact that if you do not choose to auto transfer the files in the served folder to the TiVo, then TD will create the shortcut and manage it all by itself.


Thanks. I'll check this later (I'm not at home right now), but: does this work with the regular TiVo Desktop, or does it require Plus?

I seem to remember trying this and finding that the options to publish video were grayed out, or disabled, and being told that Tivo Desktop Plus was required.


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## rrg (Apr 22, 2004)

CuriousMark said:


> That's the one. Change it to point at your NAS, then start TiVo Desktop. TD will complain about not finding the folder and put up the selection dialog. Select the folder on the NAS, being sure to navigate to it the same way you entered the registry entry (UNC vs mapped) and select it. This technique has been reported to work elsewhere, but I haven't tried it myself.


That worked for me when I tried it over the weekend (thanks), though for some reason I wasn't able to get it to stick until I actually rebooted the machine (it's difficult to completely kill TiVo Desktop otherwise).


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## CuriousMark (Jan 13, 2005)

rrg said:


> Thanks. I'll check this later (I'm not at home right now), but: does this work with the regular TiVo Desktop, or does it require Plus?
> 
> I seem to remember trying this and finding that the options to publish video were grayed out, or disabled, and being told that Tivo Desktop Plus was required.


I don't know I have had Plus for a long time now and not sure what still works without it.


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## mls (Nov 12, 2005)

I just installed 2.6.1. Server will not load: "TiVo Server Parameter Incorrect"

TiVo Server, TiVo Desktop, TiVo Beacon all given access to all ports (TCP\UDP) through firewall (TrendMicro.)

Any Help!


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## greg_burns (May 22, 2004)

mls said:


> I just installed 2.6.1. Server will not load: "TiVo Server Parameter Incorrect"
> 
> TiVo Server, TiVo Desktop, TiVo Beacon all given access to all ports (TCP\UDP) through firewall (TrendMicro.)
> 
> Any Help!


Is it this?


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## mlehner (Dec 3, 2006)

all i want to do is copy progrmas back from my PC(using XP) to the DVR. Do i now need to do the upgrade and pay an extra fee?


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## greg_burns (May 22, 2004)

mlehner said:


> all i want to do is copy progrmas back from my PC(using XP) to the DVR. Do i now need to do the upgrade and pay an extra fee?


You do not need Tivo Desktop Plu$ to transfer .tivo or MPEG-2 video to your Tivo. The free Tivo Desktop will do that.

With pyTivo you can transfer just about anything for free as well.


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## kaiyer (May 19, 2008)

i'm having lots of trouble installing 2.6.1 its getting stuck in the screen called "Updating System" and nothing happens. I uninstalled 2.5.1 but now left with no tivo desktop install. I'm using vista. Is there an updated version that works.
thanks


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## pomerlp (Apr 22, 2008)

For what it's worth the other day I decided to call TiVo and complain about Desktop 6.1 plus. My primary complaint was memory leak. My second complaint was it wasn't doing auto transfer. I was given a case number by the CSR who seemed like they had never heard of this before. I explained that the memory leak was well documented on the Internet but they didn't seem impressed with that. They said they would move it to be "investigated" and gave me my case number.

And yes guys I understand the CSR thing at TiVo and all.

TiVoPony if you happen to read this what's with the silent treatment about the memory leak problem? I appreciate you coming in here and updating us from time to time but how could TiVo release something like this without realizing there is such a big problem with the memory leak?

I'm standing by you no matter what because A. I have lifetime service and B. I'm not using the cable company DVR. But any word on maybe a 6.2 on the horizon to stop this memory leak problem?

And my auto record problem. That mysteriously started working again.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

What does the memory leak problem do? I've had my box up without rebooting for the last two weeks and TiVo Desktop 6.1 is running properly and automatically transferring my shows like it should. I laso have 4GB of memory on the box.


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## TiVo Fool (Dec 17, 2001)

aaronwt said:


> What does the memory leak problem do?


Here's what is does: http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=6216464#post6216464


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## pomerlp (Apr 22, 2008)

TiVo Fool said:


> Here's what is does: http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=6216464#post6216464


Holy Smokes! I've never had mine get that bad, but I do reboot from time to time.

I'm watching some analog and digital shows I recently transfered from my computer to my S3 and my HD TiVo to S3. I'm seeing a great deal of pixelation and sound drop offs. Also I see what looks like a "fast forward" thing going on.

Now on my TiVo HD I don't seem to have that problem. Interesting.


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## imeanwoof (Aug 6, 2003)

FlaUsa1 said:


> Update:
> 
> Here's the problem. Note the space.
> 
> ...


Topic: Failure trying to update certificate for earlier versions of Tivo Desktop.

Thank you very much (you probably don't know how much I mean this- I fought this for numerous hours) I was ready to give up and call support! The problem with mine is that it was installed under a directory of "C:\Program Files\TiVo", again note the space between "Program" and "Files"(Thanks Windows!). I change the cmd file to hard code the directory, and it worked. Note that I had run it before, and it "claimed" it succeeded, but never really did. As someone who has been in the computer industry for 20 years, this was easy to solve once you pointed me in the right direction. But if I was a novice computer user, I would have never figured this out. I still have to disagree with people using spaces in directory names. This seems to always cause problems.


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## TiVoJerry (Jul 26, 2005)

imeanwoof, I'm told this happens when someone runs the command file to update the certificates without following the directions to exit TiVo Server first.

http://www.tivo.com/setupandsupport/howto/TiVoToGo_Troubleshooting.html


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## TiVo Fool (Dec 17, 2001)

TiVoJerry said:


> imeanwoof, I'm told this happens when someone runs the command file to update the certificates


 Hi Jerry,
Any word on a fix for the memory leak?


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## pomerlp (Apr 22, 2008)

TiVo Fool said:


> Hi Jerry,
> Any word on a fix for the memory leak?


OK...I don't know why, and I don't know how. Maybe that certificate got downloaded the last time I reinstalled TiVo desktop 6.1 Plus. But the fact is I have not rebooted my computer in 3 days and the memory leak has stabilized. I'm showing around 39,380K right now.

If it ain't broke don't fix it. So I'm not going to see if I need that certificate. Auto transfer is working and memory seems stabilized.


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## duanecarla (Jun 24, 2006)

I've had Desktop Plus for a long time. After I downloaded the new version 2.6.1, I opened up Tivo Desktop, then clicked on Help, then clicked on "Upgrade to Desktop Plus." I got a message confirming that my upgrade was complete, no additional payment was necessary.


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## pomerlp (Apr 22, 2008)

Back to the memory leak. It seems like it's on the rise again today after a reboot within 4 hours I noitced it was over 70,000k.

Turning it off and back on via propertys seems to be just as good as a reboot.


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## oldradio99 (Nov 23, 2005)

I just upgraded from 2.3 to 2.6 and now I remember why I stayed with 2.3. I should have stayed.

TivoServer, even in paused mode is eating up 50-80% of my CPU and causing my PC to slow to a crawl.

I had the problem with 2.5 but I had hoped it would have been resolved with 2.6

I found some other threads but they refer to memory leaks and not CPU usage. Could it be because my PC is 4 years old?

Am I alone in this problem?


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## pomerlp (Apr 22, 2008)

oldradio99 said:


> I just upgraded from 2.3 to 2.6 and now I remember why I stayed with 2.3. I should have stayed.
> 
> TivoServer, even in paused mode is eating up 50-80% of my CPU and causing my PC to slow to a crawl.
> 
> ...


Did you see the post right above yours?

I just turn my server off if it gets to high, or reboot.


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## wilsonp (Dec 5, 1999)

CPU, not memory.

And I am having the problem with 2.6.1 - I'll leave it and see if it gets better overnight.


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## MoryWoW (Jun 13, 2008)

We have had an issue over the last few weeks of people having file transfer "freezes" or the file drops at around the 40% complete range.
The fastest fix we have discovered is to reformat the PC harddrive from 
FAT32 to NTFS format. The FAT32 typically will only allow about 4gigs of info before bombing out and the NTFS format will typically allow 16gigs(at lowest), so, if you are having this issue you may think about reformatting.
I hope this helps.


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## greg_burns (May 22, 2004)

No need to reformat. There is a CONVERT command. 

CONVERT C: /FS:NTFS


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## TiVoJerry (Jul 26, 2005)

I'll admit that I'm surprised that there are still computers running FAT32. I was under the impression this was extremely rare since recent OS versions defalt to NTFS. Is this on a new computer or one that was upgraded to a newer OS?

We do mention this as step 10 of the Transfer Issues section of our TiVo Desktop troubleshooting article.


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## vwjobo (May 24, 2007)

benc247 said:


> I'm not using Vista (which seems to be the main OS on this thread but..
> 
> I've been running 2.4a for the longest time and today couldn't get content from my PC to TIVO. I thought, "it's time for an update". I had 2.5 downloaded just not installed. I found 2.6.1 was available and tried installing that. It stated that I needed to manually uninstall 2.4a first. I did this and now can't install 2.5 or 2.6.1. I get an Installer Infomation window come up stating that:
> ----------
> ...





gamo62 said:


> You may have to go in and delete the temp files.


I removed the program used the tivo removal program and cleared all temp files and everything mentioned still nothing, any ideas?


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## Georgia Guy (Feb 21, 2003)

Mars Rocket said:


> No, it's not. It's usually 3-5 depending on compression and length of the movie. Each VOB file is about 1GB, the final one will be smaller. DVDFab may only show you the first one, or maybe it's showing you all the related VOBs as one file, but you need all of them to get the entire movie.


You are correct....it typically gives you 4, 5 or 6 vobs for the main movie, depending on movie length/size. After ripping with DvdFab there are several ways to handle this. You can use a freebie called "VobMerge" to combine them into one file (it works quite well, and fast). Or, you can use DvdShrink. With Shrink you have to set the prefs to make it one file with no subfolders. Also, with Shrink you set the compression to zero, so you are getting an identical copy.

Then, after the merge to one file, rename to mpg and transfer. Works perfectly for me to my S3. None of my S2's will do the transfer correctly, tho (they either crash a few minutes into it, or receive a file that is only a few minutes long that won't play correctly). Wish I knew why.


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