# Want to play nearly ANY audio file on your TiVo? (New Version 10/22/07)



## Dan203

Well now you can! With my new TiVo Desktop Universal Audio Plug-in....

http://www.3wdesigns.net/TDUAP/Setup.exe

Out of the box this plug-in supports iTunes AAC files (unencrypted), WMA files (unencrypted) and OGG Vorbis files. However it also contains an interface for adding support for your own audio formats.* (I've personally tried it with APE, FLAC and WAV and all work perfectly) It also supports tags for all the built in formats, as well as a a few others via a universal tag library. For everything else it will simply use the file name as the song title.

Note: If you were previously using my AAC plug-in, or the pzand WMA plug-in, you will need to uninstall them before installing this one.

Dan

* The file must be capable of being played via DirectShow for it to work. There are DirectShow filters available for the majority of formats if you Google for them. The only exception is encrypted formats such as music purchased from services such as iTunes Music Store, Napster, etc...

*Note*
If you would like to use playlists fom iTunes which contain files other then MP3, you now can. The author of TiViTunes has just released a new version of his software which actually works with my plug-in and automatically recognizes all the formats you have enabled and automatically allows them to be added to the TiVo compatible playlists as well.

*Edit*
On 10/19/07 I made a small change which should fix the compatibility problem with the 9.1 software. Apparently there was a small bug in the logic I used to allocate the buffer size on the TiVo which didn't bother previous versions but caused 9.1 to only play 20-30 seconds of the file before bombing out. To install the new version you will need to exit out of TiVo Desktop and TiVo Server. (to exit TiVo Server right click the TiVo icon in the tray and select TiVo Server Properties, then click the Exit button in the dialog that pops up)

*Edit*
On 10/22/07 I made another small change to address the lockup when seeking from one MP4 to the next. It still happens on occasion, with frantic switching, but I've verified everything I'm doing on my end is correct, so either the API changed and TiVo hasn't released a new version or something in the TiVo software is causing a glitch in the server itself. In any case this should fix it for most normal usage patterns.


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## morac

Works great so far, thanks.

You should probably also remove pzand's WMA plugin if it's installed since with this plug-in it's not needed.

BTW don't bother trying .mid files. I tried them and it will let you add them, but they won't play on the TiVo.


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## cbono

So, I have to ask...

What *would* it take to support music store-purchased music? I know that Apple keeps their DRM to themselves, but WMA support is all over the place. And not just in MP3 players... WinAMP (which is free) can play all of my purchased MSN Music files.

Is it just a matter of licensing?


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## Dan203

The problem is that TiVos only really support MP3. This plug-in works by transcoding various formats to MP3. The licensing agreement for playing encrypted WMA files specifically prevents transcoding the files. So there is really no way for me to legally support encrypted files.

That being said there are ways to strip the encryption from both iTunes and WMA files. If you do that first then you'll be able to play either one using this plug-in.

Dan


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## buddhawood

Downloaded and I listened to my WMA files for the first time in the bedroom! Don't forget that this is offered free but if you use it How about sending a donation for Dan's effort!(There is a link on the plug-in screen) I sent one tonight and Dan thanked me and told me I was his first one!? First one??? I was surprised, How many of us are using this? More than myself I would assume. 
Thanks again!


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## Dan203

Thanks again buddhawood! 

No one should feel obligated to donate anything. While donations are greatly appreciated I did this project for the good of the community, not to make money. If you want to throw a couple bucks my way I'll certainly thank you, but if you don't feel free to enjoy the software anyway.

Dan


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## HOPTOAD

I just downloaded the plug in and when I try to playback music thru Tivo it says the folder doesnt contain any playable music. Any suggestions?
Thanks
HOPTOAD

Edit

The files i am trying to play are all ripped into itunes off of cd's into ACC format.


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## Dan203

What kind of music are you trying to play? If it's anything other then AAC, WMA or OGG you have to manually add the format to the plug-in's interface. Also keep in mind that the AAC and WMA portions can NOT play encrypted music. So if you're trying to play music downloaded from a pay service like iTMS or Napster it will not work.

Dan


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## kdm

THANKS DAN! My daughter will be so thrilled. She plays her mp3 files through the DVR when practicing her cheer and dance routines. Being able to use the fast forward and instant replay on Tivo is so much easier than on the CD player or computer. Now, she will be able to do the non-protected WMA files that I converted most of her mp3's to in order to save space on her mp3 player. You have gotten me out of the doghouse!


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## pjspring

Cool!

Can you make it read iTunes playlists as well?


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## Dan203

I've considered that. But right now I'm working on something else and don't have time.

Although I could have sworn that there was a TD plug-in out there somewhere that could already do this. But I can't seem to find it. 

Dan


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## pnoble

I'm not a guru with Windows Media Player and plug ins, but I've been having no luck for a few years in getting music to come out of my tv through the Home Media Option. All of my music is WMA, and Tivo obviously needs MP3. I went through what seemed to be the motions of installing your plug in tonight, but still no WMA conversions. Maybe I missed a step? I downloaded the software. All of the little boxes are checked for the various types I want to convert. I went to Windows Media Player (I have v 10) and added the plug in under Options. When I went back and clicked Add again, there were two exe files -- TDUAP and unins000. Both are dated tonight and seem to be from the plug in I installed. What am I doing wrong? The music is from CDs. Is the music all encrypted and unavailable? I'll never get past that with my limited knowledge, and I'm not sure I want to delve into that.


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## Dan203

This plug-in is for TiVo Desktop not Windows Media Player. What you need to do is open TiVo Desktop (install it if you don't have it), switch to the Music & Photos tab, then publish your WMA files through there. Once you've published what you want to hear start the TiVo Server from the menu in TiVo Desktop. Now go to your TiVo and go into Music, Photos & More and find the list that says Music on _pc name_. You should see all the music you published and should be able to play it through the TiVo. (note this does not work for encrypted music files)

Dan


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## pnoble

Thanks, Dan. Working now. I appreciate the help. Pat


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## Dan203

Glad to hear youo got it working. Enjoy your music! 

Dan


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## ec13823

Do all music files need to be kept on the computer(as a matching library) or can I dump some onto Tivo and then delete them from the computer to add new tunes to add to Tivo? I am guessing that this would incorrect and it functions like an IPOD where you need to have all music on your computer as well. The reason I as is that my computer will never hold all my music and it would be great to have Tivo as a jukebox instead of a small library that matched the one on my computer. thanks


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## Dan203

TiVos do NOT store music locally. They stream them from a PC.

Dan


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## dwgsp

I installed the TiVo Desktop Universal Audio plug-in today, but I am having problems. Some of the flac format files on my computer can be played through my Tivo just fine, while others won't play. I have a DirectShow filter installed that allows WindowsMediaPlayer to play flac format files, and the files that won't play on the TiVo play fine through WMP. 

Note that the announcement for the TiVo Desktop Universal Audio plug-in mentions that "it also contains an interface for adding support for your own audio formats" but I can't find any instructions describing how to do this. My guess is that since some flac files currently play fine my problem is elsewhere. 

Any ideas? 

Thanks! 
/Don


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## Dan203

Actually if the ones that play have the OGG extension, then that is why they work. In order to add support for files with any other extension you have to launch the interface that's included with the plug-in (should be under Start->Program Files) and add it to the user defined list. You do this by selecting Add then picking one of the files which does not currently play. Also after you're done make sure you exit the interface so that the program can restart TiVo Desktop and TiVo Server and reload the modified format list.

If that doesn't work PM me so I can hae you send me one of the files that doesn't work and I can look into why it's not working.

Dan


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## ptsailor

Probably overly obvious to everyone BUT me.. 

But...

*** Requires TiVo Desktop Ver. 2.2 (or at least greater than 2.0.0.2)



Now that I've gotten over that hurdle, I'm perfectly content while listening to my new AAC encoded John Hiatt CD on my home stereo via TiVo-HMO. Thank you very much!!

One question, how does the publishing mechanism 'work?' By that I mean that when I first restarted the TiVo server I had trouble finding a folder (artist) that displayed anything other than "there are no publishable files..." but as time went by I noticed more and more, as if it was taking the desktop client a while to go through the folders and determine that there were convertable files within.


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## Dan203

I've actually discovered a small bug in the publishing mechanisim today which could cause problems. I've got a few other small things I need to take care of as well, so I should be posting a new version in the next couple of days.

However the way the TiVo Server works is it checks every single file against a list of supported types. So even after applying the fix if you publish folders with a large number of files in them it can slow down the performance. 

Dan


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## nugrass

I am very excited about this program. I have about 500 gb of .shn and flac files that I would love to be able to play through the tivo. I have been having problems though. I cannot get tivo to recognize any of my files. Not even my folder of .wma files that I listened to using the pzand's WMA plugin (I did uninstall this before downloading tivo desktop universal audio...). Flac and Shorten files are listed under the "user defined files" section in the plugin and I could hear the music so I believe that I have all the directshow filters. When I use the tivo desktop I can add the files. I can see the files just fine and it seems to add them without a problem but when I go to my tv and select the files on tivo I get the "this folder does not contain any playable music" message.

What have I done wrong? 
Am I missing something?
Any help would be greatly appreciated!


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## Dan203

Like I said I found a problem with the code that can cause problems under certin circumstances. Wait for the new version, it should fix this problem for you.

Dan


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## nugrass

Dan203 said:


> Like I said I found a problem with the code that can cause problems under certin circumstances. Wait for the new version, it should fix this problem for you.
> 
> Dan


Thanks! I'll wait patiently.


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## toll house

I have recently had problems loading program. Sounds similar to recent problems listed. I also look forward to the new revisions.
Just so I'm sure how to run this...
I loaded ver 2.2 first, then found and loaded this plug-in. I did not see a way to add this plug in to the TivoToGo 2.2. When I tried to publish from ripped CD files into ITunes, (.m4a), they remained as .m4a after being published. Is there a way to load the plug in that I am missing? Under FILE, there are only minimal options in 2.2. Was this easier in other versions?
Thanks for the revised program. I will look forward to it.


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## Dan203

If you have .m4a files they should work fine. All you have to do is publish the iTunes directory using TiV Desktop and then start the TiVo Server. The plug-in is turned on by default and should recognize the default formats just fine. (i.e. .m4a, .m4b, .wma and .ogg) The bug pertained to additional formats which are published using the plug-in's interface.

Dan


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## Dan203

OK I've uploaded a new version of the plug-in. It should fix a few incompatibility issues some users were experiencing. One of the major ones being an incompatibility with the only available SHN DirectShow filter. (I had to disable seeking with SHN because the filter does not support it properly and was causing the plug-in to fail)

Enjoy!
Dan


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## nugrass

I'm having a different problem now. This morning I was very excited when I saw the new release. I downloaded it, added flac and shn files, and it worked fine (actually the first music I tried to play I got a "fatal error" message on the tivo but other files worked). now I am home from work and I cannot get it to work. every time I select music using the tivo I get an "abnormal shutdown" message and the tivo server disconnects and closes. any ideas? Could it be the .shn files? that thought just came to me and it seems like that has been the culprit of some of the problems. Anyone else have similar problems?


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## nugrass

I'm also getting this message now when I start tivo desktop"

_tivodesktop.exe- application error

the instruction at "0x7c910f2b" referenced memory at "0x00000004". this memory could not be "read"

click ok to terminate
click cancel to debug_

I'm not really sure what this means?


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## Dan203

I notice that you have the option to debug. Do you have a development environment installed on your PC? If so then it's probably the SHN DirectShow filter. I could not get it to work at all on my PC which has VS.NET 2003 installed, but it worked fine on my girlfriends PC which does not have VS installed. 

If that's the case then there isn't much I can do. If not let me know and I'll look into it for you.

Dan


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## meir87

Is it possible to get this working with javaHMO?


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## Dan203

Unfortunately I don't know Java, so I can't. The TiVo Desktop plug-ins are written in C++ which is my language of choice.

Dan


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## meir87

I loaded up Tivo Desktop to try it out. It works well but it doesn't support AAC lossless files. It trys to open them but then reports a server error.
PS. Great Job!


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## Dan203

Actually Apple Lossless is not AAC. It's a propritary format stuck into an MP4 container. Unfortunately no DirectShow filters exist to decode that format, and because there is no way to tell whether a .m4a file is AAC or Apple Lossless before I try to open it all I can do is throw up the error when it fails.

There is a guy who reverse engineered the Apple Lossless format and released his work open source. So if he, or anyone else, ever turns that into a DirectShow filter I will add support for it to the plug-in.

Dan


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## budgreen

I am having trouble finding DirectShow filters for shn and flac. I had found what I thought were correct *.ax files, but the TDUAP didn't like them.

Anyone have links to correct DirectShow filters for shn and flac?


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## Dan203

The plug-in does not take the .ax files directly. They have to be registered on your system. Most DirectShow filters come with an installer or a .bat file which does this for you automatically. However if you don't have one of those you can use a program like this....

http://www.radlight.org/products/filter_manager/index.php

to register the filters via a UI. Once that's done you add the file type to the plug-in by slecting a sample file of that type. The plug-in will then test your system to make sure it can play the file, and if it succeeds it will add it to the list of user formats.

Dan


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## budgreen

Thanks.....that seemed to work for my FLAC files, although I'm still having trouble with SHN.


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## alansplace

Dan203 said:


> Out of the box this plug-in supports iTunes AAC files (unencrypted), WMA files (unencrypted) and OGG Vorbis files.


dan....i did these steps.

1. downloaded your plugin.
2. installed it
3. executed it
4. clicked 'ok' (the window closed)
5. tried to access a .wma file on my tivo (tivo said 'this folder does not contain any playable music')

what am i missing?

thanks
--
Alan


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## Dan203

Well just to make 100% sure it installed... First close TiVo Desktop. Now exit from the TiVo Server by right clicking the little TiVo icon in the tray and selecting properties. Then click the Exit button. Now restart TiVo Desktop and then restart the server from the server menu in TiVo Desktop.

Now switch over to the Music & Photos section in TiVo Desktop, then click thr Music tab, and then publish the folder which contains all your WMA files.

Once you do that you should be able to access them from the TiVo.

Dan


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## Dan203

budgreen said:


> Thanks.....that seemed to work for my FLAC files, although I'm still having trouble with SHN.


The only SHN DirectShow filter out there is very buggy. I recently played with it an attempt to help another user having trouble with SHN files, and could not get it to work on my PC even though it worked just fine on my girlfriend's PC.

Do you hear audio when you add the SHN file to the plug-in UI? If not then something is wrong with the filter, and you're on your own trying to get it to work. However if you hear audio there, but it doesn't work when you try to play them via the TiVo let me know and I'll look into it for you.

Dan


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## MerlinMacuser

I feel like I just wlked into a room where everyone spoke a language except me. Is this for the PeeCee world only or can Mac users play too?

I'm considering popping for the Airport Express with AirTunes dongle for $119 at my college bookstore. The remote control costs another $40 but it will play anything in my iTunes library including playlists and acts as an extended for my wireless network too. 

Thanks


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## alansplace

Dan203 said:


> Well just to make 100% sure it installed... First close TiVo Desktop. Now exit from the TiVo Server by right clicking the little TiVo icon in the tray and selecting properties. Then click the Exit button. Now restart TiVo Desktop and then restart the server from the server menu in TiVo Desktop.
> 
> Now switch over to the Music & Photos section in TiVo Desktop, then click thr Music tab, and then publish the folder which contains all your WMA files.
> 
> Once you do that you should be able to access them from the TiVo.
> 
> Dan


dan....thanks! that did it! also, thanks for writing the plugin! have you considered licensing it under the general public license (GPL)?
--
Alan


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## Dan203

MerlinMacuser said:


> I feel like I just wlked into a room where everyone spoke a language except me. Is this for the PeeCee world only or can Mac users play too?


This is for Windows only. However the Mac version already has something similar built in. You just have install LAME and iTunes takes care of the rest. Do a search on this forum, there are instructions posted somewhere.

Dan


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## budgreen

Dan203 said:


> The only SHN DirectShow filter out there is very buggy. I recently played with it an attempt to help another user having trouble with SHN files, and could not get it to work on my PC even though it worked just fine on my girlfriend's PC.
> 
> Do you hear audio when you add the SHN file to the plug-in UI? If not then something is wrong with the filter, and you're on your own trying to get it to work. However if you hear audio there, but it doesn't work when you try to play them via the TiVo let me know and I'll look into it for you.
> 
> Dan


Dan: OK - I reinstalled the shn DirectShow filter and all seems to work fine now. I can now play shn files through the TiVo. The only issue is the "no SEEKING" of shn files, which I think you disabled for one buggy reason or another.

Thanks for your work on this plug-in....it rocks! 

I meant "seeking", but you understood.


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## Dan203

Yeah, the SHN filter does not allow seeking so I had to disable the length and make it appear as a stream. However the code I used tests the filter for seeking support before doing this. So if they even fix the seeking support, or you ever find another filter that can seek, then the functionality will return to normal.

Dan


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## Dan203

Todays release insludes a bug fix which was preventing certain files from properly reporting their duration, thus disabling seeking for those files. This fix should make it so you can seek around in any file that supports it.

Dan


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## Francesco

Dan203 said:


> Although I could have sworn that there was a TD plug-in out there somewhere that could already do this. But I can't seem to find it.


IIRC, TiViTunes will publish m3u playlists to iTunes, but I have not tried it yet. It is crippleware until registered for $5.


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## marlee

I can't get this to allow my itunes files to work. What am I doing wrong???


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## Dan203

This only works with unencrypted AAC files. If you want to play music you've purchased from the iTunes store the do a web search for hymn.

Dan


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## marlee

Dan203 said:


> This only works with unencrypted AAC files. If you want to play music you've purchased from the iTunes store the do a web search for hymn.
> 
> Dan


So, are you saying that I need to use hymn to unencrypt the files then they will work?


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## megazone

marlee said:


> So, are you saying that I need to use hymn to unencrypt the files then they will work?


Yes - except JHymn.Hymn doesn't work if you've ever used iTunes6 or better on your account. You need to use myFairTunes6 or QTFairUse6, which you'll find in the forums at Hymn-Project.org in the Technical area.


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## jlb

Dan,

Thanks for your work on this. I'm a techie kind of guy, but brand new to having my TiVo on the wireless network and using TD and HME stuff. I downloaded and installed the plug-in tonight and it worked great. I don't mind that it won't play my purchased iTunes music....heck, that is only about 120 out of 6000 songs. Thanks again.


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## Dan203

I'm actually looking at the possibility of writing a DirectShow filter which uses the same technology as myFairTunes to allow playback of encrypted songs. No promises, but if I get it to work I'll be sure to let everyone know.

Dan


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## jlb

And though there are other programs that may allow playlist usage (and or possibly control), I guess a simple way (if you are not tight on space) is to copy the songs of a playlist into another folder and then seperately publish it.

The utility works great for me. I can leave my iPod in the portable speakers I have upstairs and then access the music if I wish downstairs through the TiVo/Home Theater rack.....

Thanks again Dan!


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## jlb

Dan, and others,

Does Galleon allow for playing AAC files? Assuming not ("out of the box"), does the plugin also allow Galleon to do so?

I'm thinking of giving Galleon a try........


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## Dan203

No, to both questions. Galleon does not support AAC and this plug-in does not work with Galleon.

I looked at writing something for Galleon, but Galleon is Java based and Java is not my thing. Plus this plug-in is DirectShow based, which means even if I could get it to work with Galleon it would only work on Windows which kind of defeats the purpose of Galleon being Java based in the first place.

Dan


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## jlb

Thanks Dan for the updated info. If Galleon could play AAC, I would try it in a heartbeat. I don't know if there is enough in it that excites me to do otherwise.....

Anyways, again, thanks for your help and effort with the AAC plugin. Hit a good note on the WAF factor last night!


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## arcsus

Works PERFECT! Thanks!

And to think I was _even contemplating_ converting everything to MP3 just so Tivo would play it...D'oh!


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## pwocarroll

My daughter got an iPod for her birthday and is merrily ripping every one of (legally owned) CDs to the iTunes library. Of couse, it is not saving them in MP3 format but instead .m4a (whatever that is). I have two TiVos that play the MP3s I've ripped on my PC; but my daughter seems out of luck with her iTunes-ripped music.

Can't view/play them via TiVo as we'd all like. I see the posted software for universal file format player (awesome work, BTW: many thanks for doing this for the community!!) but I also see reference to having to "decode" Apple's format before it will play .m4a files. Is that true? How does one do that? I am not trying to rip anyone off--I don't need to do this for the $0.99 songs she buys via iTunes "Store". But for all the CDs we actually own, I'd love to be able to play them via the TiVos in our home.

THANKS in advance, any and all!!  

PS: Alternatively--is there any way to get iTunes to rip in MP3 format??

Patrick


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## timg

You should be able to set iTunes to rip as MP3 in the preferences. If on Windows, it would be in the Advanced preference tab on the Importing sub-tab. Just change AAC encoder to MP3 encoder.


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## Dan203

This plug-in is designed percisely for this purpose. It will allow you to publish your .m4a files directly to the TiVo without having to rerip the CDs using the MP3 format. Just install it and then publish your iTunes music folder and you should see all your music available on the TiVo. (in some cases you may need to reboot the PC for it to take effect)

Dan



pwocarroll said:


> My daughter got an iPod for her birthday and is merrily ripping every one of (legally owned) CDs to the iTunes library. Of couse, it is not saving them in MP3 format but instead .m4a (whatever that is). I have two TiVos that play the MP3s I've ripped on my PC; but my daughter seems out of luck with her iTunes-ripped music.
> 
> Can't view/play them via TiVo as we'd all like. I see the posted software for universal file format player (awesome work, BTW: many thanks for doing this for the community!!) but I also see reference to having to "decode" Apple's format before it will play .m4a files. Is that true? How does one do that? I am not trying to rip anyone off--I don't need to do this for the $0.99 songs she buys via iTunes "Store". But for all the CDs we actually own, I'd love to be able to play them via the TiVos in our home.
> 
> THANKS in advance, any and all!!
> 
> PS: Alternatively--is there any way to get iTunes to rip in MP3 format??
> 
> Patrick


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## mstellfox

Hi Dan,
I downloaded your plug-in and installed it and tried it with Tivo Desktop 2.3a. It worked when I tried to play a small number of aac files, but if I try to play a large number (say, greater than 50 or so), it crashes the tivo server to where I have to go restart it on my pc. Do you have any ideas on how I might try to debug the problem?

Regards,
Mike


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## Dan203

Not sure what would cause this. I have almost 500 AAC files and it works fine for me. Do you have the random feature turned on? If so try turning it off and see if it helps. The way TiVo Desktop works when playing a large folder worth of music it requests the tag data for every single file. I specifically designed the plug-in to return the absolute minimum amount data required for each file, but it can still get bogged down. Especially if you have a slower computer or one with less ram.

Dan


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## jim _h

The plugin works fine. Both WMA and MP3 are lossy compression formats; is any additional loss introduced when converting from WMA to MP3?


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## morac

jim _h said:


> The plugin works fine. Both WMA and MP3 are lossy compression formats; is any additional loss introduced when converting from WMA to MP3?


You'll always lose some quality converting from any format to a lossy compression format, but unless you have your TiVo hooked up to hi-fi speakers you probably won't notice. Also note that your WMA files aren't actually converted to MP3 files, the WMA files are converted and streamed on the fly to the TiVo.


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## jim _h

Yes I'd call it a "hi-fi" system. And I think I do notice some further degradation. The plugin is a great interim solution but long-term, Tivo really needs to get with the picture and play .wma directly.


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## Dan203

There is a setting in the UI to increase the MP3 quality to 320Kbps. That should keep the quality loss to an absolute minimum.

Dan


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## jim _h

Thanks, I'll check that. I think I intially pushed the slider all the way to "best quality" and so far I've only noticed a couple of buffering failures. If this so-called 54Kb 'g' wi-fi actually delivered even half the advertised bandwidth, I'm sure those problems would be gone.


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## morac

jim _h said:


> If this so-called 54Kb 'g' wi-fi actually delivered even half the advertised bandwidth, I'm sure those problems would be gone.


It's actually 54 mbps, around 6.4 MBps (though you'll only see about half that), which is more than enough to stream audio. I've actually streamed video using 802.11g.


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## elsteve

..so in reference to previous info, if my music folder has 522 folders with 4000+ music files, then it mght take a while for the music to actually start playing?

I've got the plugin installed, it sees the music files (unencrypted, uncompressed m4a) I can select a file for play...and then..it just sits there...i've only left it for a minute or so before giving up...

comments? (thanks!)


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## Dan203

Yes, it can take a while. In fact with that many files it might even time out. Unfortunately that's a flaw in TiVo Desktop and can not be fixed from my end. (it happens with large collections of regular mp3 files as well)

I've considered creating my own container format plug-in, using some sort of indexed database file for the tag data, to get around that limitation but I'm busy with other projects right now so I'm not sure when, or if, I'll have time to actually do it.

Dan


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## elsteve

what a drag...the tivo had no problems with that many MP3 files..wonder why the m4a's are giving it troubles...

thanks for the info


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## Dan203

You had that many MP3s in that many folders and didn't have any problems? Were you using TiVo Desktop for the MP3s? Or Galleon? Galleon uses a better indexing mechanisim for audio files, so it has no trouble with large collections. But TiVo Desktop has always had problems with big collections like that, regardless of their format.

One thing that will help is to create play lists instead of just playing the entire collection. Or you could also turn off shuffle and just play all the songs strait through, that increases performance as well.

Dan


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## elsteve

Nope, no problems using Tivo Desktop. Had one folder per CD (522) & shuffle worked flawlessly. The only differences (that I know of) now are that the directory structure is slightly different (one folder per artist) and the file sizes are much bigger. (my m4a's are uncompressed)

I'm gonna start sharing 'chunks' of my collection & see if I can find the breaking point...


----------



## Dan203

Uncompressed? As in using the Apple Lossless format? If so then that's your problem! This plug-in only supports AAC audio files. Unfortunately there is no GPL DirectShow filter available that supports the Apple Lossles format, so I was unable to support those files. The only reason they show up in the list is because Apple chose to use the same mime type for both AAC and losseless files, so there is no way for me to tell the difference.

That being said there is a DirectShow filter called QuickTime alternative, which actually taps into Quicktime to play files and then feeds the audio into DirectShow. It's possible I might be able to use that to support lossless files. However it's not GPL, so I can't redistribute it, which means you'd have to have in installed on your machine seperately for it to work. Also it does not support seeking, so the files will play but you will not be able to FF or RW. If you're still interested let me know and I'll try to throw support for that filter into the plug-in this weekend.

Dan


----------



## elsteve

Yep, that's it! My apologies for not knowing apple lossless <> AAC...

After reviewing the help files with ITunes, I'd probably be better off ripping right to AAC instead of Apples losless anyway...not a small task, but overall the best choice.

thanks for all your help and the prompt responses!


----------



## Dan203

Actually you don't have to re-rip all the CDs. Since the files you have are lossless, you can simply convert them to AAC in iTunes and it will be no different then re-ripping them from the CD. Just change your default import format to AAC (I recommend a minimum of 192Kbps), select all your lossless files, right click and pick "Convert to AAC". It'll probably take several hours to complete, but it should be capable of being done unattented so you can set it to start overnight and they should be done in the morning.

Dan


----------



## HDTiVo

Dan203 said:


> Uncompressed? As in using the Apple Lossless format? If so then that's your problem! This plug-in only supports AAC audio files. Unfortunately there is no GPL DirectShow filter available that supports the Apple Lossles format, so I was unable to support those files. The only reason they show up in the list is because Apple chose to use the same mime type for both AAC and losseless files, so there is no way for me to tell the difference.
> 
> That being said there is a DirectShow filter called QuickTime alternative, which actually taps into Quicktime to play files and then feeds the audio into DirectShow. It's possible I might be able to use that to support lossless files. However it's not GPL, so I can't redistribute it, which means you'd have to have in installed on your machine seperately for it to work. Also it does not support seeking, so the files will play but you will not be able to FF or RW. If you're still interested let me know and I'll try to throw support for that filter into the plug-in this weekend.
> 
> Dan


I haven't seen .wav mentioned here. Is that good too?

Does this work by essentially making it appear to TD that non-.mp3 files have a .mp3 extension, and then when played causing stream-conversion of those files to mp3 format in real time at a user selectable quality level?


----------



## morac

HDTiVo said:


> I haven't seen .wav mentioned here. Is that good too?


wav format works, though I think you have to manually add it.



HDTiVo said:


> Does this work by essentially making it appear to TD that non-.mp3 files have a .mp3 extension, and then when played causing stream-conversion of those files to mp3 format in real time at a user selectable quality level?


Yes and no. It does convert to mp3 in real time, but it doesn't convert the extension to .mp3 so the files will show up as whatever they are (.wma, .m4a, etc) in TD and on the TiVo.


----------



## Dan203

TiVos API works by allowing you to define which formats your plug-in can support. So when you add a format to the list in the plug-in UI it's file extension is added to list of formats the plug-in supports, and as such TiVo Desktop and TiVo Server can then recognize those files.

Dan


----------



## HDTiVo

Dan203 said:


> TiVos API works by allowing you to define which formats your plug-in can support. So when you add a format to the list in the plug-in UI it's file extension is added to list of formats the plug-in supports, and as such TiVo Desktop and TiVo Server can then recognize those files.
> 
> Dan


And then your plug in arranges to use the right transcoders to feed an mp3 stream in realtime to TiVo Server?


----------



## Dan203

Basically it works by using a feature built into Windows called DirectShow. DirectShow has a mechanisim in place which allows you to "render" an audio file and it automatically connects all the filters necessary to play the file if they're available. This plug-in "renders" the file, then it removes the audio output device from the chain and connects an MP3 encoder and a capture filter in it's place. It then grabs the converted MP3 data and feeds it to the TiVo. So basically any audio file which can be properly "rendered" in DirectShow can also be played back using this filter.

I did add specific logic to support AAC, OGG and WMA files as well as include the DirectShow filters needed to decode those formats with the installation package. All other formats are dependant on the codecs installed on your PC and Window's ability to properly "render" the file you're attempting to play.

Dan


----------



## HDTiVo

So you could make the encoder selectable too in case TiVo ever supports any other format being streamed.


----------



## Dan203

Yes. As long as there was a GPLed DirectShow based encoder available for that format. Right now I'm using the DirectShow LAME filter for encoding.

Dan


----------



## thespacepope72

I finally figured out that I needed to add a sample .flac or .ape file rather than the .ax file. This is a fantastic plug-in. Thanks for your efforts.


----------



## gonzotek

HDTiVo said:


> So you could make the encoder selectable too in case TiVo ever supports any other format being streamed.


If TiVo ever offered support for another format, the only real advantage to users would be those people who already had files in that other format. On-the-fly transcoding to a fairly high bitrate mp3 (using the lame encoder and one of the tuned encoder presets) shouldn't introduce many audible artifacts. Audiophiles may be able to detect some audible defects, but they would be unlikely to store their music in a lossy compression format to begin with. Any other format TiVo would be likely to support would also likely be a lossy compression format (like aac, wma, or ogg vorbis) and would carry with it the same possible audio artifacting. If TiVo could support a lossless format (such as FLAC or ALAC) then that would be a big advantage. It's unlikely to happen as those formats generally require more bandwidth, decoding memory, and processing time.


----------



## thespacepope72

Is there any documentation for this plug-in? I'm particularly curious about the Lame Encoder Quality Settings. Are you using VBR or CBR? What are the bit rate setting for each lame encoder "detent"? Thanks for any response you provide.


----------



## Dan203

No documentation, sorry. I'd have to look at the source code to know for sure, but I'm pretty sure that the quality levels are all CBR @ 128Kbps, 192Kbps, 256Kbps and 320Kbps respectively. Also the lowest quality setting uses joint stereo, all the others use true stereo.

Dan


----------



## hutchca

I'm having a bit of trouble with this plugin.

I installed the latest TiVo desktop software, removed the Pzand plugin and installed this plugin.
Now when i go to play a wma file, it just sits at time 0:00 and doesn't actually play anything.
Rebooted, etc, still no worky. Pzand worked fine so I can switch back I just thought this one was better since it's more recent and more flexible.


----------



## Dan203

Is it just one specific file, or all wma files? If it's just one file can you send me a copy. (pm me for my email address)

Dan


----------



## hutchca

Any wma file. 

It seems like the conversion isn't happening and the tivo is just waiting for data.
I'm running the plugin with TiVo Desktop 2.3a on a Windows2003 server so I'm thinking there might be something missing from the server OS.

Pzand worked fine though but it had the common problem where it would only play a few files before it stopped working.


----------



## Dan203

I've never tested it on 2003 Server. The entire plug-in is DirectShow based, does 2003 Server include DirectX? If not then that would be something to try installing. 

Does it show the data from the files? Like the song name, artist, etc...? If it does then it's definitely a DiretcShow issue. If not then there is something wrong with the plug-in and TiVo Desktop.

Dan


----------



## hutchca

Yeah, song title, duration, etc, are all displayed properly.

And yea, Server doesn't include DirectX so that's probably the problem.
Thanks


----------



## Dan203

Let me know if it works.

Dan


----------



## pcanne

I just installed your universal audio plug-in and CDs I ripped into iTunes play fine on Tivo, however, any music that was downloaded from iTunes website shows "does not contain any publishable music" when I try to select it on the Tivo Desktop "add music" tab. Is that normal?


----------



## Dan203

Yes. This plug-in only support unencrypted music. If you want to play your purchased music then I suggest you get yourself a copy of MyFairTunes.

Dan


----------



## pcanne

Thanks for the tip!!


----------



## bingo1

Dan- I downloaded your Tivo plug-in and followed your directions meticulously, but when I installed the program and open tivo desktop an error message appears twice stating:

"Tivo Desktop: TivoDesktop.exe - Entry Point Not Found - 'The procudure entry point WMCreateSyncReader could not be located in the dynamic link library WMVCore.DLL'." 

I've tried reinstalling, rebooting, etc. and in various orders. I've published all my iTunes files. They are in AAC format 192 kbs, and very few were purchased from the iTUnes store. Mp3 files have played fine as expected, but all of the AAC files cannot be found: On Tivo it states "no playable files can be found in this folder." Do you have any suggestions?


----------



## Dan203

That error usually occures when you have both this plug-in and pzand's WMA plug-in installed. Do you have pzand's WMA plug-in installed? If so you need to close TiVo Desktop, exit TiVo Server and then uninstall it.

Dan


----------



## bingo1

As far as I know we do not have pzand installed. No one deliberately installed this program on our computer. Does this come with Tivo Desktop? Any other suggestions?


----------



## bingo1

could it be interfering with another program on the computer such as pro tools or games? Also, we have TivoPlus, does this present any problems?


----------



## Dan203

OK I did some more research on the problem and according to what I found this error occures when you're running an out of date version of Windows Media Player. Try upgrading to version 10 and see if that helps.

Also if you don't actually need to play WMA files you can simply uncheck WMA support in the plug-in interface and that will disable the code which is accessing the library which is throwing the error.

Dan


----------



## AlanAuerbach

This worked great out of the box; I was able to play my WMA files.

After a while, it seems to stop working. When it stops, I can still select a WMA file (and Tivo shows the metadata), but it doesn't play (doesn't move past 0:00). When in this mode, native MP3 files play fine. The appearance of this behavior may correlate with high CPU activity (e.g. a transcoding task in the background).

Based on my reading, it looks like the plugin code is working, but that there's something broken in the DirectShow stack. Is there plugin code in the codepath at the point of WMA (for example) file selection? (for example to build the graph?) Perhaps there's some debugging I can help with.


----------



## Dan203

Hmmm... I might have a leak somewhere. I'll check it out and make 100% sure I'm releasing all the interfaces at the end of each song.

One question though... Does this happen when you just let it play or when you're skipping from song to song? Also there is no chance that you've got a Apple Lossless m4a file in any of your published music is there? One known bug of the software is that it has no way to differentiate between AAC m4a files and ALC m4a files, and it only supports AAC.

Dan


----------



## AlanAuerbach

> Does this happen when you just let it play or when you're skipping from song to song?


When we just let it play.



> Also there is no chance that you've got a Apple Lossless m4a file in any of your published music is there?


No. Only MP3 and WMA.


----------



## Dan203

OK thanks for the info. I'll try to track down the bug and post a new version as soon as I can.

Dan


----------



## Dan203

I couldn't find anything that would cause this. I also ran an experiment... Last night before I went to bed I hit play on my entire collection of music, which is a combination of MP3s and AAC files. This morning it was on song #90 and still playing fine. So this appears to be a problem either with WMA files or a specific file(s) in your collection. It's also possible that the version of TiVo Desktop you're using is somehow locking up the plug-in. Which version of TiVo Desktop do you have?

Dan


----------



## martdave

I love this tool - it actually improves the performance of music playback over straight TiVo with mp3! I was so excited, I removed all the redundant mp3s from my iTunes library and like the new streamlined look of it (two files for each song confuses the hell out of my wife...)

BUT, now I can't do playlists. For me, a primary use case for TiVo music playback is the dinner party scenario - where playlists are essential. I even paid the $5 for TiviTunes thinking I had it solved, but that product ignores non-mp3 files in its playlist generation since (as they see it) "TiVo's don't play non-mp3 files."  

So, unless I find a workaround, I'll have to re-add all those single-purpose mp3 files. And if I do that *and* run this tool, I'll have a real mess on my TiVo screen when picking individual songs. So...

1. Any chance this tool could support playlists?
2. Windows Media Player (my former tool for m3u publishing) can't even see the AAC files. Anyone know of a free GUI-based tool that can makes m3u files and sees AAC?
3. Any other approaches out there to solving this I'm not aware of?

Thx


----------



## Dan203

I've contacted the author of TiviTunes and asked him if it would be possible to make the ignore m4a files function a user selectable option rather then a hard coded rule. If/When he gets back to me I'll let you know.

If that's not possible then I might take a stab at writing my own iTunes playlist parser, but I'm a little busy right now so it might be a while before I can get to it.

Dan


----------



## Dan203

Just got conformation from the developer that he will be adding support for this very soon. He said that he would let me know when it was ready, so I'll be sure to post here and let you all know when it's ready as well.

Dan


----------



## martdave

That's great news - thank you for contacting him... :up: I tried four other purported solutions for converting iTunes playlists to TiVo yesterday, and none of them worked, so TiviTunes support would be great.

FYI, the 3ivx codec makes WMP capable of seeing m4a files, enabling drag-and-drop AAC-inclusive playlist creation. Not elegant, but it does the job.

Note that you don't see the AAC metadata in WMP, but this doesn't impact WMP's ability to make m3u playlists out of them, nor does it impact TiVo's ability to play them. TiVo properly presents the proper song title and artist info on screen, etc.


----------



## Dan203

I use an MPEG4 library to read the tag data directly from the file, so the play list doesn't do anything but orgainize the songs into one place. Everything else is handled by my software.

Dan


----------



## Russ Brown

Hi Dan,

I am new to TiVo and just recently installed your audio plugin for TiVo Desktop, but am still unable to play wma files on my TiVo.

I am running TiVo Desktop v2.3a on a PC with Windows XP Professional. All of my music files are .wma format ripped at 128kbps from the original cds. 

When I try to play the files on TiVo all of the Song/Title/etc data is listed as unknown and the progress bar shows that the running time of the song is 0:00.

Also from TiVo desktop, if I display the properties of one of the published music directories, it recognizes the files and folders, but lists the size as 0 bytes.

Thanks for any suggestions.
Russ Brown


----------



## Dan203

Are they encrypted files from a service such as Napster? Because if so then those wont work. This plug-in can only support unencrypted music.

Dan


----------



## Russ Brown

No the wma files are not encrypted, they have all been ripped from the original cds in windows media player at 128kbps.

Russ


----------



## Dan203

When you rip CDs using WMP the default settings include an option to "protect" the music. Unless you specifically uncheck that option then all your ripped music will be encrypted and unable to be played via this plug-in.

If that's not the problem then please email me and I'll coordinate with you about getting a copy of one of your files so I can debug it and figure out what's going on.

Dan


----------



## Russ Brown

Okay, I will have to check my settings in WMP to be sure, but just going from memory I think that may be the case. I didn't know that "protecting" the music would mean that it was encrypted. 

Thanks for your help Dan. It looks like I may have to rip my entire collection from CD again if I want to play them on the TiVo.

Russ


----------



## Nickluver235

Thank you so much. It works great and it was sooo easy to use. *Thanks a million!*


----------



## jlb

Dan203 said:


> Just got conformation from the developer that he will be adding support for this very soon. He said that he would let me know when it was ready, so I'll be sure to post here and let you all know when it's ready as well.
> 
> Dan


Dan, a quick question.......

Does this mean you utilized TiViTunes to develop your plugin, or does it mean just that TiViTunes ignored the AAC/m4a files and you suggest using TiViTunes in conjunction with your plug-in?


----------



## Dan203

TiViTunes has nothing to do with my plug-in. I recommended it because it's the only solution I know of to get iTunes playlists into TiVo Desktop.

Dan


----------



## jlb

Thanks for the update. Since I have mostly AAC files, I will anxiously await notification that it has been updated to make the "ignore m4a" option selectable.

Thanks again for all of your hard work on this stuff!!!!!


----------



## rdrrepair

How would you play Sirius or XM Radio on your TiVo?


----------



## Dan203

You can't, at least not with this plug-in. I think I may have seen a mention around here of an HME app that can do Sirius, but I could be misremembering.

Edit: OK I was a little off. Apparently the app I was thinking of is for XM...

http://www.watty.com/myprograms/hmesatradio.html

Dan


----------



## pschmidt99

Dan, thanks for this program. This is a big improvement. I can now SEE my .wma files from my TiVO, I can even "play" them. BUT I JUST CAN'T HEAR THEM! 

The progress bar moves along very happily as if it was playing, but no sound. I can play them with Windows Media Player just fine. (This sounds a lot like the problem Russ Brown reported back in January.) 

I am sure there is tons of info I should supply to you, that I don't know about. But for starters, I am running Windows 2000 Server SP4, Tivo Desktop 23a (838826). I believe I got these .wma files right from the original CD. What else do you need to know ?

Sorry if I'm being dense. I'm new to trying to play music on my TiVo. Any ideas ?

Thanks

Peter


----------



## Dan203

When you ripped the CDs to WMA files did you uncheck the box that says "protect my music", or whatever? Because this plug-in does not work with any encrypted music.

Also since you're using Windows 2000 you may need to upgrade to the latest version of DirectX. This plug-in is DirectShow based, and the WMA support depends on a filter included in XP but which may not be included in 2000 without a DirectX upgrade.

Dan


----------



## jlb

Dan203 said:


> I've contacted the author of TiviTunes and asked him if it would be possible to make the ignore m4a files function a user selectable option rather then a hard coded rule. If/When he gets back to me I'll let you know.
> 
> If that's not possible then I might take a stab at writing my own iTunes playlist parser, but I'm a little busy right now so it might be a while before I can get to it.
> 
> Dan


Dan, any news from the TiViTunes author regarding the update to allow non-MP3 songs to be included in the Playlist generation phase?


----------



## Dan203

He just released a new version which now integrates with my plug-in and allows you to publish playlists with any format you have enabled.

Dan


----------



## cherry ghost

Dan203 said:


> He just released a new version which now integrates with my plug-in and allows you to publish playlists with any format you have enabled.
> 
> Dan


Where can we get the new version?


----------



## Dan203

Sorry I put a link in my edited first post, but I forgot to put one here. Here's the link...

http://www.maximized.com/shareware/tivitunes/

Dan


----------



## cherry ghost

Dan203 said:


> Sorry I put a link in my edited first post, but I forgot to put one here. Here's the link...
> 
> http://www.maximized.com/shareware/tivitunes/
> 
> Dan


Is that the version with your plug-in? It still says MP3 only.


----------



## Dan203

Yes. It looks as though he hasn't updated the website, but the installer file is the new version.

Dan


----------



## cherry ghost

Dan203 said:


> Yes. It looks as though he hasn't updated the website, but the installer file is the new version.
> 
> Dan


Thanks


----------



## MaxSoft

Hi, everyone.

I just wanted to drop in and say "Hi." Obviously, I'm a TiVo lover, so it's great to see Dan's awesome plug-in available (and for free!), and I'm happy to have updated TiViTunes to support Dan's plug-in.

Existing users will be informed of the new version the next time TiViTunes checks for updates. (Or you can force an immediate check by choosing "Check for updates" from the Web menu.)

I'm working on updates to the website right now.

Any and all feedback is welcomed! (I'll try to check this forum regularly, but please don't hesitate to also send email directly to the address listed on the website.)

Thanks,
Ken Spreitzer
Maximized Software


----------



## jlb

Hi Ken,

Thanks for joing us here in the forum. I have one request, though I don't know if it is a TiVo thing or a TiviTunes thing......

Is it possible to utilize the TiViTunes engine when publishing the playlists to have the playlist show up first in the sort order over all of the musician's folders?

And thanks for updating the TvT engine. Between your software and Dan's plug-in I am quite happy!


----------



## MaxSoft

Hi.

I'm not exactly what you mean. What "sort order" do you mean? Can you give me an example?

Thanks,
Ken


----------



## jlb

I have my "Itunes Music" folder as my published folder.

Prior to TiViTunes, I would go onto my TiVo and go to the music section and have all of my music alpabetized with a subfolder for each artist. Once I published my playlists with TiviTunes, the playlists appeared at the "bottom", below the artist folders. I am wondering if there is a way to have the Playlists show at the top, above the artist folders.

TiVo has an option to "turn off sorting", but then all of the playlists would just be interspersed throughout by alpha......

Thanks for looking into this!


----------



## Dan203

This is a limitation of TiVo Desktop, not TiViTunes.

Dan


----------



## jlb

Thanks Dan.


----------



## MaxSoft

Ditto what Dan said!

--Ken


----------



## gonzotek

As an imperfect workaround you should be able to use the 'skip to tick' (->|) button to go to the bottom of the artists and playlists menu, and then you can work backwards browsing the playlists in Z->A order.


----------



## jlb

That's a great idea....I'll go give it a try.


EDIT: That worked great!!!


Quick question for Ken, Dan, or anyone else using TiViTunes.....Does it automatically recognize changes to Smart playlists (maybe when selecting one from the TiVo)? Or do I have to periodically republish the playlists to do this?


----------



## MaxSoft

The current version doesn't auto-detect changes to smart playlists, although that's a feature that I've considered adding in the future. It's on the list of future features...

--Ken


----------



## jlb

Thanks for the reply Ken! The software is working great!!


----------



## nhammack

This is just simply AWESOME!


----------



## ahbrown41

Not sure if this was mentioned. I use JR Media Center (It ROCKS BTW). It transcodes any audio for the Tivo with no issues. Here is the site: http://www.jrmediacenter.com/


----------



## alansplace

Dan203 said:


> The only exception is encrypted formats such as music purchased from services such as iTunes Music Store, Napster, etc...


dan....to the best of your knowledge have there been any work-a-rounds developed to address this exception? specifically .wma files purchased from buy.com.
--
Alan


----------



## Dan203

There are programs available that can decrypt purchased music. If you can figure out how to do that, then they will play with this plug-in.

Dan


----------



## alansplace

Dan203 said:


> There are programs available that can decrypt purchased music. If you can figure out how to do that, then they will play with this plug-in.
> 
> Dan


thanks! 
--
Alan


----------



## alansplace

Dan203 said:


> There are programs available that can decrypt purchased music. If you can figure out how to do that, then they will play with this plug-in.
> 
> Dan





alansplace said:


> thanks!


complete success, thanks again!
--
Alan


----------



## Dan203

Glad to hear you got it working. 

Dan


----------



## Joey Bagadonuts

Sorry folks but if this has been asked already, then accept my apologies ahead of time. There's a radio station I listen to religiously every Sat and Sun that plays some of the best Blues/Jazz I've ever heard (KKJZ in Long Beach, CA). Is there any way I can play this streaming music through my TiVo? I have an S2 - 240 TiVo that is Networked via my Linksys router and broadband cable internet (Road Runner). 

Thanks in advance...

Joey


----------



## Dan203

That station is actually available via the Live365 app under Music, Photos, Products & more... menu. So you should be able to listen to it right from there.

If it doesn't work then you can do it via TiVo Desktop by doing the following...

1) Open NotePad and type this...


Code:


#EXTM3U
#EXTINF:-1,KKJZ 88.1FM
http://www.live365.com/play/kkjz1

2) Click File->Save. Change the "Save as type" to All Files. Then call the file kkjz.m3u and save it to your My Music folder.

3) If you already have your My Music folder published in TiVo desktop then you skip to step 4. If not then launch TiVo Desktop, click the Music & Photos button. Click the Music tab and then publish your My Music folder.

4) Start the TiVo Server if it's not already running.

5) Go to the TiVo and into the Music, Photos, Products & more... directory and find the entry toward the bottom that says Music on <your name>'s PC. Select that and you should see the KKJZ file we just created. Select it and press play.

Dan


----------



## Joey Bagadonuts

_"That station is actually available via the Live365 app under Music, Photos, Products & more... menu. So you should be able to listen to it right from there."_

OK, I'm an idiot. Thanks for pointing out the obvious, Dan. It's under Live365, right where you said it'd be.

Thanks,
Joey


----------



## Percipient

I've had a Series 1 TiVo since 1999, and I recently upgraded to Series 3. A couple days ago I started investigating playing music from the new TiVo, since it connects to a quality amp and speaker system. I'll leave out most of the details in the interest of space, and only mention the significant issues.

I buy a lot of music from the iTunes Music Store. I have close to 1000 purchased songs now. Music I purchased some time ago and downloaded into mp3's plays fine on TiVo, but the more recently purchased music (seems to be in m4p format, which is protected AAC) does not, and iTunes no longer permits conversion of its purchased music to mp3 format.

I am strongly against stealing music. If someone loans me a CD and I like the music, I'll go to the iTunes Music Store and buy it rather than rip it off the CD. But once I've purchased the music I feel like I should be able to play it wherever I want, and particularly in the best listening room in the house, which is the family room with a great amp and a quality 5.1 speaker system, not my study with a PC audio card and a cheap 5.1 speaker system.

I considered AirTunes, but the playlist remains on my computer in my study, approximately 60 feet away as the crow flies from the family room. So AirTunes is out unless there's an easy way to remotely select playlists.

I understand that the music industry has a huge stake in protecting their property from theft, and I'm on their side, but even though the fault is probably not entirely their own, they've managed to come up with a variety of protection systems that make life difficult for the consumer, with the result that we've got CD's and DVD's that won't on some players, and music you own that won't play on some devices. Even if it isn't entirely the music industry's fault, it certainly isn't my fault. I've paid for the music, and now I want to be able to listen to it in my home and auto.

And so the music industry is pushing me to the pirates. It took a while to find this, so in case others are also having trouble finding this, here's the location for the information for FairUse6 for stripping the protection off m4p files for iTunes 6.x, 7.0 and 7.1.

http://hymn-project.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1553

Moving on, Dan's plug-in worked great for me, as did TiViTunes, but the longer playlists won't work with the TiVo. What I've read in this thread seems to indicate that this is TiVo Desktop's fault, and if that's so then I'll complain to TiVo.

I do have a two feature requests, one each TiViTunes and Dan's plug-in.

For TiViTunes, when building a playlist it seems to determine whether a song is in a protected format based upon the iTunes data for that song, and not upon the mere presence of an unprotected version of the song. For example, if you have both an m4p and an m4a version of a song in the same directory, and the iTunes "Get Info" page says the song is in a protected format, then TiViTunes will ignore the presence of the m4a file. You have to move or rename the m4p file, then try to play the song in iTunes which will tell you it can't find it and ask if you want to search for it. You click yes, it takes you to the directory, and you select the m4a version. Now TiViTunes will find the song. It would be nice if this were not necessary. I suspect that TiViTunes is using the iTunes scripting interface to tell it whether a song is protected or not, so it would be nice if when it is told a song is protected that it would check the directory anyway for the presence of an unprotected version.

For Dan's plug-in, I hope this is a reasonable feature request. I use dynamic playlists (iTunes calls them smart playlists) that are a function of the play count and the date they were last played. When a song is played on the TiVo, I need this iTunes information for that song updated. I wonder if this is an enhancement that Dan's plug-in could take care of. Perhaps it could take advantage of the iTunes scripting interface.

It has taken me considerable time to get to the point where I can play my protected music on my TiVo. Maybe I'm slow, but running down the information and experimenting took a number of hours, some of it frustrating. I wish TiVo Desktop just took care of all this stuff for you. If RealPlayer can play protected AAC files, why can't TiVo? If TiViTunes can make iTunes playlists available, why can't TiVo? Why should freeware (or almost freeware) artisans have to step into the breach to make features of commercial products like iTunes and TiVo truly useful?

But that's the hand we've been dealt, so I must conclude by saying how appreciative I am for all the efforts people have made in making the necessary software available.

--Percy


----------



## Dan203

I don't have any code built into my plug-in for interacting with iTunes. And while it's not impossible to do, it's fairly impractical since this plug-in was not designed specifically for iTunes.

To be honest you should give AudioFaucet a try. Right now it only plays MP3 files, so it's not completely up to snuff with regards to what you need. However they are working on an upgrade which will support transcoding of unencrypted formats just like my plug-in offers. The best part is that it is designed to interact with iTunes, so it supports stuff like updating the last played bit and adhering to song ratings. In fact once they finish up the transcoding feature so that it supports AAC music I expect it will be the best method available for playing you iTunes music via your TiVo.

Dan


----------



## Percipient

Dan said:


> In fact once they finish up the transcoding feature so that it supports AAC music...




Thanks for the info!

--Percy


----------



## jjmet

Dan haveing a problem here. When I try to run the install I get:

The setup files are corrupted. Please obtain a new copy of the program. Any Ideas?

Thanks


----------



## Dan203

Have you tried re-downloading it? I just downloaded and installed a copy from the link in the first post of this thread and it worked fine. If that doesn't work let me know and I can send you a copy in a zip file which should prevent any virus scanners or other programs from messing with it.

Dan


----------



## jjmet

Dan;

Just tried again using the link on the first page, still no luck. working with an XP pro ser Pk 2 here.

Thanks


----------



## Dan203

Here try this one instead...

http://www.3wdesigns.net/TDUAP/Setup.zip

Dan


----------



## surfnutbry

I have my entire CD collection on my computer as WMA's. Dan's plug in has saved me from having to rip my collection again as MP3's. In the past when I had people over, I was able to play my entire collection in random. Then as my collection grew, I started getting server errors. After installing the newest Tivo Desktop software 2.4 a, I was no longer ever able to play my entire collection. I spent a lot of time looking at creating playlists that would work with my WMA files. Now I am able to create and manage my playlist on Windows Media Player and it works great with my Tivo Series 3. Here is how I did it, encase someone else is looking to do this.


Windows Media player is able to save m3u playlists and once you save one the media player will manage the list as a m3u. The trick to getting Tivo to work with the list is to make sure that you save the list to the music root directory. In my case that directory is "My Music". The normal location for playlists would be "My Music\My Playlists". Tivo Desktop is not able to deal with "..\" in the file location part of the playlist.

Tivo does not under stand.

#EXTINF:0,06_A Stroke of Luck_Garbage.wma
..\Garbage\Garbage\06_A Stroke of Luck_Garbage.wma

Tivo does under stand.

#EXTINF:0,06_A Stroke of Luck_Garbage.wma
Garbage\Garbage\06_A Stroke of Luck_Garbage.wma



Here are the steps.

1. Start with some songs in the now playing on Windows Media Player. Right click on the songs select "play all".

2. Goto "File" then "Save Now Playing List As..."

3. Move to "My Music" directory.

4. Change the type to m3u and save.


You should now have a playlist that you can manage on Windows Media Player that your Tivo will play.


One thing to note. All of my music is contained in folders in "My Music" so the playlist never has to use "..\" to find the files.

If you have problems, open your playlist in a text editor to make sure that it does not contain any "..\"

People using TiViTunes may be having the same "..\" problem with their playlists when I tried TiViTunes, I did.

I hope someone else finds this useful.


Bryan


----------



## mcarey7

I looked all over the web and then visited this forum for a converter. No need...this plug-in works GREAT!

Thanks again!


----------



## MaxSoft

surfnutbry said:


> People using TiViTunes may be having the same "..\" problem with their playlists when I tried TiViTunes, I did.


Yep, TiViTunes versions 1.0 and 1.1 generated relative paths in the playlists, which would no longer play when TiVo updated their TiVo Desktop server software.

Recent versions of TiViTunes (currently at 1.3) try to fix this. Specifically, it encourages you to pick the right directory, and warns you if you don't (and if you are also running a version of TiVo Desktop which is likely to be tripped up by this).

Most users should already have the latest version of TiViTunes due to its auto-update feature. If not, you can manually update by opening the Web menu and choosing Check For Updates. (Upgrades are free for life for all registered users.)

Thanks,
Ken Spreitzer
Maximized Software


----------



## MaxSoft

Percipient said:


> For TiViTunes, when building a playlist it seems to determine whether a song is in a protected format based upon the iTunes data for that song, and not upon the mere presence of an unprotected version of the song. For example, if you have both an m4p and an m4a version of a song in the same directory, and the iTunes "Get Info" page says the song is in a protected format, then TiViTunes will ignore the presence of the m4a file. You have to move or rename the m4p file, then try to play the song in iTunes which will tell you it can't find it and ask if you want to search for it. You click yes, it takes you to the directory, and you select the m4a version. Now TiViTunes will find the song. It would be nice if this were not necessary. I suspect that TiViTunes is using the iTunes scripting interface to tell it whether a song is protected or not, so it would be nice if when it is told a song is protected that it would check the directory anyway for the presence of an unprotected version.
> --Percy


You're right -- I'm using the COM scripting interface to get a list of songs. If the .m4a version is not "listed" in iTunes, then TiViTunes won't know about it.

May I ask why the .m4a version is not added to iTunes? Is it just a hassle?

I suppose I could make a change like you're suggesting, but I'd be interested to know more about your specific situation, as well as how wide-spread the issue seems to be.

Thanks,
Ken Spreitzer
Maximized Software


----------



## Percipient

Hi MaxSoft,

Sorry for the delay in replying - I'm usually only an occasional participant here.



> I suppose I could make a change like you're suggesting, but I'd be interested to know more about your specific situation, as well as how wide-spread the issue seems to be.


That you're asking this question makes me think there must be an easy way to get iTunes to "list" m4a versions of songs, so let me explain what I'm doing.

I have maybe a thousand songs purchased form iTunes that are protected. I created the m4a versions of the songs using some software I downloaded off the Internet, don't even remember what it was, but it creates the m4a versions wholesale by sifting through the iTunes directory tree.

To get a song "listed" as an m4a file, I have to delete the m4p, try to play the song, tell iTunes to search for it when it can't find it, and I have to do this about a thousand times. Ain't gonna happen.

If there's an easy way to do what I'm trying to do I'd love to hear it! Thanks for asking!

--Percy


----------



## Percipient

Dan203 said:


> To be honest you should give AudioFaucet a try. Right now it only plays MP3 files, so it's not completely up to snuff with regards to what you need. However they are working on an upgrade which will support transcoding of unencrypted formats just like my plug-in offers. The best part is that it is designed to interact with iTunes, so it supports stuff like updating the last played bit and adhering to song ratings. In fact once they finish up the transcoding feature so that it supports AAC music I expect it will be the best method available for playing you iTunes music via your TiVo.


Love AudioFaucet, and when I filed a problem report about a minor doc nit and mentioned I was looking forward to AAC support, they confirmed they're working on it but that there was no date. I've patiently checked back at their site a couple times a month and there's been no change, then I noticed that their last release was over a year ago. I know they recently published a book about the TiVo API, so maybe they've been busy, but do you have a gauge on their level of progress? I wish I could help them.

--Percy


----------



## Dan203

I'm not sure. Last I heard they were on the cusp of releasing the version with AAC support. But then they went quite again. There are some legalities involved with distributing products which decode AAC, so perhaps they ran into a licensing issue. In fact the only reason I'm able to get away with it is because my program is free. If I actually charged a fee for it there would be all sorts of legal stuff involved. Since AF is positioned to become a commercial product, it's possible the legal issues are holding it up.

Dan


----------



## jlb

Any new news?


----------



## Dan203

I haven't heard anything from them in a couple months. No idea what's going on.

Dan


----------



## jjburke77

Dan thanks for the thread and the plugin. Up and running on my home PC and it works great. Thanks so much.


----------



## BigRichJ

Dan:

First of all, thanks so much for all of your work on this. I'd been using the plug-in with TTG ver. 2.4a on my XP machine for almost a year and had been able to stream my 9000 unprotected AAC files to the Tivo Series 2 with no problem.

I recently bought a new computer with Vista, and have been waiting (not so very) patiently for a new version of TTG, and just downloaded and installed 2.5. I installed the plug-in on top of it, and while I'm able to see all of my AAC files on the TiVo, every time I try to play one, it crashes TiVo Server (all I have to do is restart it on my computer and it runs fine, until I try to play another AAC file).

Was the plug-in meant to work with different versions of TTG, or was it specifically configured for 2.4? If the plug-in should be working with ver. 2.5, is there anything else you suggest I do to try to get this working again?

Thanks again.

Rich J.


----------



## Dan203

I've tried it on XP with TiVo Desktop 2.5 and my rather small collection of AAC files (less then 1,000) and it works fine. When I get a chance I'll copy over some of my collection to my Vista laptop and see if I run into the same issue you do. Could be a UAC or rights problem of some sort.

Edit: Actually try uninstalling the plug-in, then reinstalling it but this time right click the installer and select Run As Administrator. The plug-in installs a few DirectShow filters, and I remember just the other day I was trying to register a DirectShow filter on my laptop and it failed unless I did it as an administrator.

Dan


----------



## thespacepope72

What is the latest version of this plug-in?

Donation sent for a nifty plug-in.


----------



## Biggles209

I just installed the .zip version on Vista with no UAC or Administrator issues and everything works fine and dandy. Thank you very much!!


----------



## MaxSoft

Hi, all.

I'm working on a quick update to TiViTunes so that it will support TiVo Desktop 2.5. The biggest change will just be a minor internal change which will let your playlists include absolute paths to song files, even if the song file is on a different drive letter.

What I'm wondering is: should I only support TiVo Desktop 2.5 and force all TiViTunes users to upgrade to TiVo Desktop 2.5 if they haven't done so already? Or should I try to build in support for older versions? For example, if someone is running TiVo Desktop 2.3, then TiViTunes will work a little differently and will issue warnings due to the way that TiVo Desktop 2.3 required all mp3 song files to be located "under" the folder where the playlist file is.

What's the consensus of you folks... has everyone already upgraded to TiVo Desktop 2.5? And if so, do they like it? Or is there a large group of users who can't upgrade for some reason (and these folks would also likely be users of TiViTunes)?

FYI, I've only heard feedback from users who have upgraded and would appreciate the new functionality I've discussed above. (Of course, I wouldn't expect to hear from users still running TiVo Desktop 2.3 who are unaware of the whole situation.  )

Thanks for any comments!
Ken Spreitzer
Maximized Software


----------



## dougherj

Dan203 said:


> That station is actually available via the Live365 app under Music, Photos, Products & more... menu. So you should be able to listen to it right from there.
> 
> If it doesn't work then you can do it via TiVo Desktop by doing the following...
> 
> 1) Open NotePad and type this...
> 
> 
> Code:
> 
> 
> #EXTM3U
> #EXTINF:-1,KKJZ 88.1FM
> URL for KKJZ (forum made me remove)
> 
> 2) Click File->Save. Change the "Save as type" to All Files. Then call the file kkjz.m3u and save it to your My Music folder.
> 
> 3) If you already have your My Music folder published in TiVo desktop then you skip to step 4. If not then launch TiVo Desktop, click the Music & Photos button. Click the Music tab and then publish your My Music folder.
> 
> 4) Start the TiVo Server if it's not already running.
> 
> 5) Go to the TiVo and into the Music, Photos, Products & more... directory and find the entry toward the bottom that says Music on <your name>'s PC. Select that and you should see the KKJZ file we just created. Select it and press play.
> 
> Dan


 Hi, Dan

Just downloaded your program and wanted to access a stream for JazzFM 91 out of Toronto. I couldn't get TiViTunes or the configuration link that they have to your program to recognize .pls files. I have version 2.3a of desktop on a Win2K box.

I tried to duplicate the .m3u example that you gave in this post using the URL for JazzFM (iTunes .pls version). The playlist shows up on TiVo but won't play. Is there / do I need a DirectShow codec for .pls streams?

Also, while I'm asking, has anyone figured out how to get TiViTunes to recognize the radio streams provided by iTunes? I tried to drag them into a playlist, but TiViTunes won't recognize the files and I can't find the playlist files on my PC.

I did search the forum on these topics. Maybe I missed an earlier answer.

TIA
John


----------



## MaxSoft

dougherj said:


> Also, while I'm asking, has anyone figured out how to get TiViTunes to recognize the radio streams provided by iTunes? I tried to drag them into a playlist, but TiViTunes won't recognize the files and I can't find the playlist files on my PC.


TiViTunes doesn't support iTunes radio streams, because TiVo doesn't play them. (And so far as I can tell, the Universal Audio Plug-in doesn't support them, either.)

You might have some luck streaming your favorite radio station if they stream via Live365, which is a standard TiVo app. But that doesn't directly solve your playlist problem.

Sorry!
Ken Spreitzer
Maximized Software


----------



## SCSIRAID

I'm having a problem with the Tivo Audio Converter 1.0 (TDUAP). When I attempt to play a .m4a file from the Tivo (S3 or THD) (currently on 9.1 FW) the song will play for about 30 seconds and then the playback will stop and advance to the next song. It happened with both the 2.4 and 2.5 Desktops. 

Any ideas??


----------



## yocalif

Hi Dan,
I can't get flac to install in your utility.

Windows XP media ver.
1 gig memory
Tivo Desktop 2.3a

Currently I can play FLAC media files in Windows Media Player (had to use a direct show add-on i think: .losslessaudioblog. /wmpmce-lossless-guide/), also can play with winamp's build-in codec.

I have flac.exe, libFLAC.dll, libFLAC++.dll

I have pointed the "add" to these files trying each one, and only get a loud screech when the utility tests the "add". I downloaded and installed the directshow filter for flac and don't see any change. I found a utility "directshow codec manager" that shows all installed directshow codecs. In the column that is labeled "merit" the result is "unknown merit" all the other codecs show something like a hex location.

Do I need to register the flac codec? If so, how?

I have setup WMP to play Flac music on all our network machines with no problems, so I am a bit confused why th is doesn't work.

Thanks for your help.


----------



## ldudek

First let me apologize for giving Mike Lang the credit for this app when I posted for help on the TiVo Forum Help page.

My problem is that suddenly after months of working fine my S3 is only "sampling" each file. It plays about 20 seconds then moves on to the next file. The time of the file seems correct. I have version 1.0. Do I need a newer version?


----------



## SCSIRAID

ldudek said:


> First let me apologize for giving Mike Lang the credit for this app when I posted for help on the TiVo Forum Help page.
> 
> My problem is that suddenly after months of working fine my S3 is only "sampling" each file. It plays about 20 seconds then moves on to the next file. The time of the file seems correct. I have version 1.0. Do I need a newer version?


That is exactly what mine is doing... 2 posts above yours... 30-35 secs and then skips to next song. THD with 8.3 is fine though. S3 with 9.1 has the problem. S3 with 8.3 worked too.

Did your S3 just install the 9.1 FW?


----------



## ldudek

SCSIRAID said:


> That is exactly what mine is doing... 2 posts above yours... 30-35 secs and then skips to next song. THD with 8.3 is fine though. S3 with 9.1 has the problem. S3 with 8.3 worked too.
> 
> Did your S3 just install the 9.1 FW?


Yes. And I haven't tried to use it for music since then. Sounds like a bug.

And even though I said in my original post 20 seconds, it actually appears to be 32. I say we have a problem. I'm going to give TiVo a call.


----------



## SCSIRAID

ldudek said:


> Yes. And I haven't tried to use it for music since then. Sounds like a bug.
> 
> And even though I said in my original post 20 seconds, it actually appears to be 32. I say we have a problem. I'm going to give TiVo a call.


Do you get the same behavior for all filetypes? i.e. mp3 or .m4a? I would have to check again to be sure but I believe it would play .mp3 but not .m4a which is why I associated the issue to the plug in.....


----------



## ldudek

SCSIRAID said:


> Do you get the same behavior for all filetypes? i.e. mp3 or .m4a? I would have to check again to be sure but I believe it would play .mp3 but not .m4a which is why I associated the issue to the plug in.....


When I removed the plug in mp3 files played fine. I'll have to reinstall plug in to see if they still play. However this is something associated with that plug in and 9.1. Dan needs to take a look at this.

Hello Dan. Are you still looking at this thread?


----------



## SCSIRAID

ldudek said:


> When I removed the plug in mp3 files played fine. I'll have to reinstall plug in to see if they still play. However this is something associated with that plug in and 9.1. Dan needs to take a look at this.
> 
> Hello Dan. Are you still looking at this thread?


MP3 files play fine for me even with the plug in installed.

I dont know if the plugin uses Java... but I have latest Sun Java from java.com installed. I have the server running on three different machines and all do the same thing.


----------



## ldudek

SCSIRAID said:


> MP3 files play fine for me even with the plug in installed.
> 
> I dont know if the plugin uses Java... but I have latest Sun Java from java.com installed. I have the server running on three different machines and all do the same thing.


Yep, I think we've identified the problem. It's just a question of whether or not Dan is willing and able to fix it.


----------



## Dan203

yocalif said:


> Hi Dan,
> I can't get flac to install in your utility.
> 
> Windows XP media ver.
> 1 gig memory
> Tivo Desktop 2.3a
> 
> Currently I can play FLAC media files in Windows Media Player (had to use a direct show add-on i think: .losslessaudioblog. /wmpmce-lossless-guide/), also can play with winamp's build-in codec.
> 
> I have flac.exe, libFLAC.dll, libFLAC++.dll
> 
> I have pointed the "add" to these files trying each one, and only get a loud screech when the utility tests the "add". I downloaded and installed the directshow filter for flac and don't see any change. I found a utility "directshow codec manager" that shows all installed directshow codecs. In the column that is labeled "merit" the result is "unknown merit" all the other codecs show something like a hex location.
> 
> Do I need to register the flac codec? If so, how?
> 
> I have setup WMP to play Flac music on all our network machines with no problems, so I am a bit confused why th is doesn't work.
> 
> Thanks for your help.


You need to point the plug-in at an actual FLAC file. It will automatically identify the codec(s) necessary to play them if they're available.

Dan


----------



## Dan203

Sorry about the delay guys, it's been hectic at work with the new release going public. (i.e. VideoReDo TVSuite)

I've found the problem and uploaded an updated version...

http://www.3wdesigns.net/TDUAP/Setup.exe

Let me know if you guys have any more trouble with it.

Dan


----------



## morac

This isn't a problem, but I noticed that you include MP4Splitter.ax version 1.0.0.1, yet there is a newer 1.0.0.2 version out there. Any reason you don't include the newer one?


----------



## Dan203

Didn't know there was a newer one. I'll look at the changes and see if it's necessary.

Dan


----------



## chandler1818

thanks, dan. it seems to be working great.


----------



## SCSIRAID

Dan203 said:


> Didn't know there was a newer one. I'll look at the changes and see if it's necessary.
> 
> Dan


Seems ok... I was however, able to lock up the server (2.5) bigtime after I installed it and started playing stuff to S3. Not sure if it had anything to do with the plug in though.


----------



## SCSIRAID

SCSIRAID said:


> Seems ok... I was however, able to lock up the server (2.5) bigtime after I installed it and started playing stuff to S3. Not sure if it had anything to do with the plug in though.


Well.... I think it might be the plugin. What I did to cause it to fail was to start playing a song... midway thru I would backup and select a new song before the first completed. I did this several times successfully with songs known to be MP3's then successfully selected a song that was .m4a. When I backed out from the .m4a and selected another .m4a... BANG... 'A problem occured while accessing the server'. Server was locked up. Couldnt 'exit' it from the properties... had to reboot system. OK after reboot.

I didnt mean to break it..... 

EDIT: More Info... I can successfully interrrupt an m4a and jump to an mp3. Just cannot interrupt an m4a and jump to another m4a.


----------



## Dan203

I'll check it out when I have more free time.

Dan


----------



## Dan203

OK I uploaded a new version which addresses this issue as best I can. I was able to still reproduce the problem under certain circumstances, but it should work for most normal usage patterns now.

Dan


----------



## SCSIRAID

Dan203 said:


> OK I uploaded a new version which addresses this issue as best I can. I was able to still reproduce the problem under certain circumstances, but it should work for most normal usage patterns now.
> 
> Dan


Thanks Dan!!!!!!!!!!!!


----------



## MaxSoft

Hi, all. Just wanted to let everyone know that version 1.4 of TiViTunes has been released. This new version has lots of little fixes. One change is better support for Vista (fewer annoying UAC prompts, hopefully!) Another change is letting you publish your iTunes playlists to folders apart from the folders containing the song files (although you still need to choose a folder that has been published in TiVo Desktop, of course).

Registered users get all updates for free.

More info: http://www.maximized.com/shareware/tivitunes/

Thanks,
Ken Spreitzer
Maximized Software


----------



## MasterCephus

Ok so I just installed the newest version of Tivo Desktop (2.5.1) and can transfer to and from my PC (XP Pro). So I got the TivoDotNet MSI and installed. I went to the admin page, and set my video directory to my video directory (a networked drive that has all of my video, sub folders called Movies, TV, Other - each with some sub directories).

I also set my video setting to 16:9, audio to medium...etc

So what now, I don't see anything on my Tivo that shows the TivoDotNet stuff. Is there something that I have to have going? I checked and the tivoDotNet service is running (even restarted it a couple of times and restarted the Tivo Desktop, but no luck...is there something that I am missing?


----------



## windracer

I think you posted in the wrong thread. This is the "nearly ANY *audio* file" thread. I think you wanted the "nearly ANY *video* file" one:

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=337822


----------



## MasterCephus

Ha! I did.

My bad...I just didn't pay attention. Sorry about that.


----------



## jazmaan

I'm having the 30 second then skip problem with your previous version. Do I need to uninstall that version and all plug-ins or can I just install the latest version on top of them?


----------



## joelfire

Clearly I must be doing something obviously wrong, because I am having no luck with this.

I'm running TiVo desktop 2.5.1, and the latest plugin as of today, on Windows XP.

When I attempt to add WMA files to the Desktop, it cannot find any "publishable music content". (yes, these are no-DRM WMA's.) Likewise, I cannot find the files on the TiVo.

I have tried every conceivable permutation of install, uninstalling, resinstalling, shutdown/startup etc. No dice. No errors of any kind. It's as if running the plugin simply does nothing.

Any suggestions?


----------



## SCSIRAID

joelfire said:


> Clearly I must be doing something obviously wrong, because I am having no luck with this.
> 
> I'm running TiVo desktop 2.5.1, and the latest plugin as of today, on Windows XP.
> 
> When I attempt to add WMA files to the Desktop, it cannot find any "publishable music content". (yes, these are no-DRM WMA's.) Likewise, I cannot find the files on the TiVo.
> 
> I have tried every conceivable permutation of install, uninstalling, resinstalling, shutdown/startup etc. No dice. No errors of any kind. It's as if running the plugin simply does nothing.
> 
> Any suggestions?


What do you mean by 'add to the desktop'? Are the .wma files in your 'My Music' folder which I assume is what you are telling Tivo Desktop to publish?

Are .mp3's working OK?

It works fine here.....


----------



## joelfire

SCSIRAID said:


> What do you mean by 'add to the desktop'? Are the .wma files in your 'My Music' folder which I assume is what you are telling Tivo Desktop to publish?
> 
> Are .mp3's working OK?
> 
> It works fine here.....


I have all of my music in c:\music, which is what I publish using TiVo Desktop. When I say "add to the desktop" I mean publishing that folder. For testing purposes I have also tried adding a folder that has just WMA's in it. It shows 0 files when I check the properties.

Yes, MP3's work fine.

FYI I also tried adding My Music and putting a few WMA's in there. They still are not available.


----------



## SCSIRAID

joelfire said:


> I have all of my music in c:\music, which is what I publish using TiVo Desktop. When I say "add to the desktop" I mean publishing that folder. For testing purposes I have also tried adding a folder that has just WMA's in it. It shows 0 files when I check the properties.
> 
> Yes, MP3's work fine.
> 
> FYI I also tried adding My Music and putting a few WMA's in there. They still are not available.


In the plug in screen, is the wma checkbox checked in the media type box? It should be by default.

If you double click on the wma's from a standard windows window... do they play?

Strange....


----------



## joelfire

SCSIRAID said:


> In the plug in screen, is the wma checkbox checked in the media type box? It should be by default.
> 
> If you double click on the wma's from a standard windows window... do they play?
> 
> Strange....


Yes, that box is enabled. WMA's play fine in WMP.

This is what I'm saying...no knobs that I have not tweaked. Very odd. Perhaps Dan knows of some way to debug that I have not thought of. Registry keys I can look at? etc.


----------



## SCSIRAID

joelfire said:


> Yes, that box is enabled. WMA's play fine in WMP.
> 
> This is what I'm saying...no knobs that I have not tweaked. Very odd. Perhaps Dan knows of some way to debug that I have not thought of. Registry keys I can look at? etc.


Well... Im at a loss... Grasping at straws a bit, you might update your java at java.com. I dont know if this uses java though.

I assume that you rebooted and problem persists?

Perhaps Dan will chime in.


----------



## Dan203

No Java in this, so don't bother with that.

The first thing to do is check to be sure that the UniversalAudio.dll was installed into your TiVo Desktop directory. (usually C:\Program Files\TiVo\Desktop) If that's there then the next thing to do is check the registry. Under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\TiVo\UniversalAudio\Config there should be 5 keys labeled aac, custom, ogg, quality & wma. If those aren't there then create them as String values then assign aac, ogg and wma a value of 1, quality a value of 3 and leave custom blank. Then save your registry. After that reboot your PC. If it still doesn't work then something else must be wrong with your privileges or something because that should be enough to at least get TiVo Desktop to recognize WMA files.

Dan


----------



## mitch2k2

Just curious: if one is using J. River Media Center to handle the transfer of music to the TiVo (and not using TiVo Desktop at all), is this plugin functional and/or necessary?


----------



## joelfire

mitch2k2 said:


> Just curious: if one is using J. River Media Center to handle the transfer of music to the TiVo (and not using TiVo Desktop at all), is this plugin functional and/or necessary?


I think so, but I would prefer not to use another heavyweight app like that.

FWIW, I did try out JRiver. My songs did show up when I used it, but unfortunately they just clicked for about 30s and then skipped to the next one. I recall that being an issue earlier in this forum with this plugin. I did just buy this HD TiVo, maybe it's new software causing the issues. (or maybe JRiver has not yet fixed that issue)


----------



## SCSIRAID

joelfire said:


> I think so, but I would prefer not to use another heavyweight app like that.
> 
> FWIW, I did try out JRiver. My songs did show up when I used it, but unfortunately they just clicked for about 30s and then skipped to the next one. I recall that being an issue earlier in this forum with this plugin. I did just buy this HD TiVo, maybe it's new software causing the issues. (or maybe JRiver has not yet fixed that issue)


Sounds like Dan is way ahead of them.....


----------



## Dan203

JRiver has it's own built in transcoder, so there is no need for my plug-in when using it. However it sounds like they've run into the same issue I had with the new 9.x software. I'm guessing that TiVo made a change to the music handling on the TiVo itself to accommodate the new Rhapsody service and didn't warn us little guys, or even provide an updated SDK. 

Dan


----------



## SCSIRAID

Dan203 said:


> JRiver has it's own built in transcoder, so there is no need for my plug-in when using it. However it sounds like they've run into the same issue I had with the new 9.x software. I'm guessing that TiVo made a change to the music handling on the TiVo itself to accommodate the new Rhapsody service and didn't warn us little guys, or even provide an updated SDK.
> 
> Dan


Bad Doggies!! No Cookie!


----------



## joelfire

Dan203 said:


> No Java in this, so don't bother with that.
> 
> The first thing to do is check to be sure that the UniversalAudio.dll was installed into your TiVo Desktop directory. (usually C:\Program Files\TiVo\Desktop) If that's there then the next thing to do is check the registry. Under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\TiVo\UniversalAudio\Config there should be 5 keys labeled aac, custom, ogg, quality & wma. If those aren't there then create them as String values then assign aac, ogg and wma a value of 1, quality a value of 3 and leave custom blank. Then save your registry. After that reboot your PC. If it still doesn't work then something else must be wrong with your privileges or something because that should be enough to at least get TiVo Desktop to recognize WMA files.
> 
> Dan


Thanks Dan, the reg keys were the issue. Oddly enough, I had those set of keys, but in a slightly different place, I think they were under TiVo\Desktop\Plugins\Config or something like that (machine is at home, I'm at work). One I moved them & restarted the server, I was golden.

cheers

-j


----------



## Gardenia

I downloaded your patch to enable music on my pc to be played thru the TV. But, I still get that there is no playable music in the file. I tried both downloaded music and music I simply loaded onto the pc from a CD. Please advise?


----------



## Dan203

You need to publish the music via TiVo Desktop. Also you may want to check your registry like the user above. If this turns out to be the problem I'll install a fresh copy in a VirtualPC and see if I can't figure out what's going on.

Dan


----------



## parunner26

Hi Dan, 

After reading much of this thread, I know I am a novice when it comes to most of the things you are talking about here. Hope this is an easy fix for you to help with. 

Just today I downloaded & installed TiVo Desktop and then found your Plug In. I downloaded the New Version, went through the installation process, but at the end of installation, there was a TiVo Server Error, which said, "The service did not respond to the start of control request in a timely fashion." I uninstalled and reinstalled your plug in several times, but to no avail. This same error message came up each time.

Then, I tried simply clicking OK, and went to open TiVo Desktop, but it would not open and the server would not restart. Any idea what I'm doing wrong?

-Ryan


----------



## Dan203

Reboot your computer. My installer attempts to restart the TiVo Desktop Server so the plug-in will start working immediately, but sometimes it's busy and can't be shut down. If you reboot the computer then it should allow everything to work properly. 

Dan


----------



## jjstreic

I have a Server 2003 SP2 system with Direct X 9.0c and TiVo Desktop 2.4a. I have a slew of WMA files that I have ripped at 192K (made sure there was no protection), but none of them play with the plugin. All play with no issue on any other WMA player (Windows Media Player on any other PC, WMA hardware player, etc).

The symptoms are similar to the ones reported by several other folks (AlanAuerbach, Russ Brown, hutchca) in that I see all the track information, but the progress bar never moves past 0:00. If I fast forward, the progress bar moves, but still no music.

I am pretty sure the DirectShow stack is good on this system as I am able to use DirectShowDump and other DirectX utilities (Windows Media Encoder, etc).

It looks like all the previous threads died off without resolution, but I'm hoping there is something simple I'm missing on this.

Thanks!


----------



## Dan203

This has to be a DirectShow issue. The plug-in includes DirectShow filters for decoding AAC and OGG files, but it depends on filters built into Windows for WMA. Server 2003 does not come with all of the same filters as consumer versions of the OS and is probably missing something required for WMA playback. To confirm this you can find a copy of GraphEdit, open it, then "render" a WMA file. I'm 99&#37; sure it will not create a complete, and playable, graph. The "render" feature of GraphEdit uses the same mechanism I use for WMA files in the plug-in, so if you can get that to work then the plug-in should also work.

Dan


----------



## Andy Rathbone

Hello Dan,

I've read the entire thread and tried everything suggested.

Your program installs fine, and our TiVo subsequently can play your supported files (Ogg, etc).

After adding a DirectShow Flac filter, however, I can't make Tivo play Flac files.

I followed your directions for installing a DirectShow Flac filter (madFlac) and adding it to your program. Your program begins playing the added Flac file, and I click OK. Windows Media Player can now also play Flac files. I restarted my PC, as well as the TiVo Desktop Server.

TiVo shows Flac files on its menu, complete with the artist, song title, and duration. When I press Play, TiVo switches to the Play screen, like normal, but it never begins playing the song or advancing the song's progress indicator.

Since your program's working fine, I suspect the blame lies with the MadFlac DirectShow filter. Can you recommend a different one?

Thanks for your help and efforts in writing this program.


----------



## Dan203

I believe I used CoreFLAC when testing originally and it worked fine.

Dan


----------



## jjstreic

Dan, you were spot on.

I downloaded GraphEdt (note new name) and tried to graph a WMA file. It failed with an error that the audio hardware was not functioning. I realized I had disabled the audio hardware on my server, so I configured that and set it up. I then went into dxdiag and enabled full acceleration for Sound on the Sound tab. When I re-ran GraphEdt I still had the same error. I then realized that the "Windows Audio" service is disabled by default on the Server SKU. Once I set this to automatic and started the service, GraphEdt was able to graph a WMA file with no problem. Sure enough the plugin also worked like a champ!

So, for anyone else trying to get this to work on a Windows Server system
1) Make sure your audio hardware is configured and working
2) Enable (and start) the Windows Audio service
3) Test with GraphEdt to make sure your system can "graph" a WMA file

Thanks very much for your help with this and your hard work on the plugin!

JJ


----------



## Dan203

Glad you got it working. Enjoy!

Dan


----------



## ldudek

I don't think anyone has mentioned this issue, and quite honestly I'm not sure it has anything to do with Dan's great app.

I use Itunes as my folder and all my files in it are either mp3 or AAC unproctected.

If I play an album from the start and decide I want to replay a song I go to the individual song album and "play" that song. However when I do that it will only play that song and won't continue on with the album.

I have to go completely out of the music files and back in to get it to play from the last point again.

Anyone else see this?

This didn't start until 9.2 And all my settings are correct so it's nothing in the settings. And yes, I have updated to Dan's last version of his app.


----------



## Dan203

Are you saying that on your system each song has it's own folder? Because if so that could cause a problem. The way TiVo Desktop works is that when you select an individual song to play it plays that song then moves to the next song in the selected folder. If there is only one song in that folder then it would simply stop as there was nothing else to play. 

Dan


----------



## ldudek

Dan203 said:


> Are you saying that on your system each song has it's own folder? Because if so that could cause a problem. The way TiVo Desktop works is that when you select an individual song to play it plays that song then moves to the next song in the selected folder. If there is only one song in that folder then it would simply stop as there was nothing else to play.
> 
> Dan


No, not at all. I was playing the Eagles new album when I decided to replay the song I just heard. I left clicked to go to the individual songs listed in the folder and then played the song I wanted to listen to again. Now in the past if I did that it would just continue to play the next song but it is stopping after the song I picked is finished.

I then either have to replay the whole albume or completely get out of the music area and re-enter to play the next song.

I hope that better explains it.


----------



## thespacepope72

I too am experiencing this "stop at the end of a track" issue on my S3 with 9.2. I have mp3s, flacs, wma, and aac that all exhibit this at times. I never had this problem before 9.2 so I blame 9.2 for breaking something. I have tried the newest version of Dan's plug-in with Tivo Desktop 2.5 and 2.5.1 but nothing seems to work. I grabbed GraphEdit but all the test files rendered fine. I did notice a similar thread over here:

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=5686020&highlight=mp3+end+of+track#post5686020


----------



## Dan203

If it's happening on MP3s then it's definitely not my plug-in. MP3s are handled by TiVo's own plug-in.

Dan


----------



## thespacepope72

See also this thread: http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=374160


----------



## ldudek

Dan203 said:


> If it's happening on MP3s then it's definitely not my plug-in. MP3s are handled by TiVo's own plug-in.
> 
> Dan


I agree. I think it's something with 9.2.

I found out I don't need to completely leave "my music". I just got to get out of the folder where the songs I'm playing are in and then go back.

A bit inconvenient but not the end of the world.


----------



## Gana

I am thinking of using TiVo to stream music that might live on a PC's hard disk. 
Thanks to your excellent plug-in Dan ; I can see how I might be able enjoy WMA files. But how could I get .wav files to play through my TiVo? I am thinking of a setup with a TiVo HD and running TiVo dektop version 2.5.1 (279957) on the PC.


----------



## Dan203

To play WAV files what you need to do is go into the plug-in's main interface, then add the WAV format to the custom list. You do this by clicking the "Add" button, then selecting any .wav file on your system. From there the plug-in will automatically configure itself to play the .wav format, if you hear audio when asked then it was successful and you should be able to play that format on your TiVo.

Dan


----------



## knj

New Tivo 3 and was excited to start listening to music, I was just starting to convert my wma files to mp3 until I found this thread. I really appreciate you posting this fix out here for us.


----------



## blah

I too just got a new Tivo HD and was a little bummed when I realized that a lot of my stuff was in WMA format. It took a total of about 15 seconds to install your plug-in and start playing these on the tivo.

Thanks!


----------



## Dan203

Glad you guys like it. Enjoy!

Dan


----------



## jrod9707

Hey guys having a technical difficulty! Got tivo 2 go setup and it played MP3's(of course) And then Installed the TDUAP. Now on the Tivo unit the Music folder wont show up and on TIVO Desktop the MP3's will do the size calculating(but still not play on tivo) and the WMA folder scrolls through the folders but does not show Megabits. What am I doing wrong.

When I installed it I just ran the TDUAP. I also tried to add Dshow filters but I never heard any sound.Any suggestions would be great.


----------



## Dan203

TDUAP has no bearing on MP3 files, so if the folders you have published only contain MP3s then it should have no effect. However if those folder also contain WMA, M4A or OGG files then it will kick in. It's possible that if those folders do have one of those alternate formats that TDUAP has run into a which it doesn't like due to corrupt tag data or encryption. Try launching the TDUAP interface and unchecking all of the supported formats then trying again. If the problem goes away then recheck the supported formats one by one and try again. If you find the format that's causing the problem then you can maybe use it to hunt down which folder contains the problem file, and finally which file is actually the problem.

Also when you add a file format to the custom list you want to add an actual file, like a .wav file, not the DirectShow filter. TDUAP figures out which filters are required to decode the file automatically.

Dan


----------



## Dan203

Also please note that TiVo Desktop ingeneral does not handle really large collections well, with or without my plug-in. So if you have a collections with thousands of songs that could be the issue. (the more system memory you have the bigger the collection it can handle, but there is always a breaking point)

Dan


----------



## mike_flood

Dan203 said:


> Well now you can! With my new TiVo Desktop Universal Audio Plug-in....
> 
> http://www.3wdesigns.net/TDUAP/Setup.exe


Why does *everyone *who writes software call the installer "setup.exe"

A month from now the only way you'd have to recall what THIS one does
is run it. Can't you call it (* name-of-clever-program.setup.exe? *)

Soapbox mode set to _*Off*_


----------



## smapdi636

mike_flood said:


> Why does *everyone *who writes software call the installer "setup.exe"
> 
> A month from now the only way you'd have to recall what THIS one does
> is run it. Can't you call it (* name-of-clever-program.setup.exe? *)
> 
> Soapbox mode set to _*Off*_


Hey they got this new thing called "folders" ... you should check it out!


----------



## smapdi636

joelfire said:


> Thanks Dan, the reg keys were the issue. Oddly enough, I had those set of keys, but in a slightly different place, I think they were under TiVo\Desktop\Plugins\Config or something like that (machine is at home, I'm at work). One I moved them & restarted the server, I was golden.


My registry keys were also in the "wrong" place. HKCU\Software\Tivo\*Desktop\Modules*\UniversalAudio*.dll*\config. I have since moved them:



Code:


Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\TiVo\UniversalAudio]

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\TiVo\UniversalAudio\Config]
"aac"="1"
"ogg"="1"
"wma"="1"
"quality"="4"
"custom"=""

Then restarted the computer. Still no wma love.  Unless my mind is playing tricks on me, I deleted the \Desktop\Modules\UniversalAudio.dll registry key and subkeys and they seem to have recreated themselves since the reboot, however there are no values under them, i.e.



Code:


Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\TiVo\Desktop\Modules\UniversalAudio.dll]

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\TiVo\Desktop\Modules\UniversalAudio.dll\Config]

Using Tivo Desktop v. 2.5.275381 and the 10/22/07 version of the plug-in.

Help!

EDIT: My .wma files show up and "play" ... by "play" I mean load up in Tivo, and sit at the 0:00 mark with no audio. This plugin was working for me at one point - I'm not sure if the last Tivo software update knocked it out or what.


----------



## keenanSR

mike_flood said:


> Why does *everyone *who writes software call the installer "setup.exe"
> 
> A month from now the only way you'd have to recall what THIS one does
> is run it. Can't you call it (* name-of-clever-program.setup.exe? *)
> 
> Soapbox mode set to _*Off*_


LOL...I agree, one solution is to re-name the executable right after you DL it so you'll know what the heck it is later. Generally, I delete the file as soon as I've installed the program.


----------



## stephen_milner

Dan,

I'm not very well versed in using the TiVo Desktop software (v. 2.5.1 / TiVo v. 9.? whatever the latest one is), but thought that I'd give your plugin a try to play AAC files encoded with iTunes software running on a Windows Vista machine. I am having a bit of a strange problem. 

After install and restarting the TiVo Server, I am able to view AAC files in published folders. So far so good. When I click to play an AAC file for the first time it works great, just as MP3 files have in the past. At the end of the song, the TiVo transitions to the next track in the folder with no problems and continues playing.

The problem, however, occurs when I attempt to play a file from another folder, whether MP3 or AAC. As soon as I select a file from another folder, the TiVo pops up with an error regarding the TiVo server. After that, music files will still appear, time bar will pop up prior to playing, but nothing will happen and playback will not begin. This happens with both AAC / MP3.

Any ideas?

Thanks,
-Stephen


----------



## Dan203

TiVo made some really weird changes in the 9.x release which broke some of the music functionality. I've worked around it as best I could but certain things, such as selecting a new song while one is already play and skipping songs quickly, can cause the server to crash. Until TiVo releases an updated API, or fixes these problems in the one they have, there is really nothing I can do.

Dan


----------



## Dan203

smapdi636 said:


> EDIT: My .wma files show up and "play" ... by "play" I mean load up in Tivo, and sit at the 0:00 mark with no audio. This plugin was working for me at one point - I'm not sure if the last Tivo software update knocked it out or what.


Are you using Windows Server? If so then read through this entire thread for the answer. Server versions of Windows do not have the DirectShow components required for this plug-in to play WMA files installed by default. Someone in here figured out how to enabled them, but I can't remember how and I don't have time to re-read the thread right now.

Dan


----------



## smapdi636

Dan203 said:


> Are you using Windows Server? If so then read through this entire thread for the answer. Server versions of Windows do not have the DirectShow components required for this plug-in to play WMA files installed by default. Someone in here figured out how to enabled them, but I can't remember how and I don't have time to re-read the thread right now.


Thanks for the reply Dan. No I'm not running Server. XP with all latest & greatest critical updates, etc. I was able to play .WMAs for a while using your mod.  I'm not sure if it's coincidence but think when my Tivo was updated the functionality went away.


----------



## Dan203

Try this...

1) Find a copy of GraphEdit
2) Launch it then click File->Render Media File and select a WMA

Is the graph complete? If you press play can you hear the file? This is basically the same technique that my plug-in uses to play WMA, so if this doesn't work then something is wrong with your system setup that's preventing it from playing WMA files. If it does work in GraphEdit, but not in my plug-in then let me know and I'll look into it more.

Dan


----------



## smapdi636

Dan203 said:


> Try this...
> 
> 1) Find a copy of GraphEdit
> 2) Launch it then click File->Render Media File and select a WMA
> 
> Is the graph complete? If you press play can you hear the file? This is basically the same technique that my plug-in uses to play WMA, so if this doesn't work then something is wrong with your system setup that's preventing it from playing WMA files. If it does work in GraphEdit, but not in my plug-in then let me know and I'll look into it more.


Thanks again Dan ... last night I tried again and had success. I'm thinking the registry fixes were the difference and I just did something wrong the first time I tried.


----------



## Dan203

Could be. Or maybe TiVo Server was just locked up and you rebooted, or restarted it, so that cleared it up.

In any case I'm glad it's working for you now.

Dan


----------



## gizmo123

RUnning Tivo Desktop 2.3a on Vista without any problems. Installed TiVo Desktop Universal Audio Plug-in to be able to access WMA files and now my server won't restart. Get error message "The specified service does not exist as an installed service". Uninstalled the plug-in and server restarted. Any ideas?


----------



## Dan203

Try installing it, then go into the plugin UI and uncheck all the supported formats. Then launch server. Does it work? If so then go back into the UI and reenable each type one by one, relaunching server between each one, to see which format is causing the issue. Once you figure it out post here and I'll see what I can do.

Dan


----------



## andydbrown50

I have a Toshiba (Tivo/DVD Writer) RX-80 that I want to use as my "music player", so I decided to go ahead and use a PC I just built as a "HTPC" basically for music. 

So instead of installing XP on it like a smart person, I put Vista on - not really sure why! - and installed OneCare (I actually like OneCare), then put one the Tivo 2.51 software, and the Dan203 tool.

Basically here are the issues:
Vista Home Premium (with OneCare installed)
Installed the 2.51 destop software
Installed Dan203's software
Started the desktp software
I keep getting error messages about Tivo server not being available
The Tivo can detect the PC and sees the music folder
Cannot play unprotected WMA files

Basically should I bother to try and troubleshoot this or is it not really a simple issue and I should wait until 2.6 get's it act together?

I have MediaMonkey - will I lose a ton if I convert to MP3...

Thanks folks!


----------



## Dan203

Search through this thread. There are some people who have had problems with the audio plug-in registry entires going to the wrong place and causing these sorts of issues. If you manually fix them it may work like you want.

Dan


----------



## andydbrown50

The settings are under HKEY_USERS - tried to set it under HKEY_CURRENT_USER - no luck - weird....

I like a lot about Vista but weird stuff like this is so annoying!


----------



## THEPRFCT10

Dan203...

Just wondering where I can get the latest software from you for the TDUAP? Latest was Oct 07??? The current one on my TiVo says there's a problem with the server but my server seems to be connected. Any ideas? Thx


----------



## Dan203

I've got it running on XP with TiVo Desktop 2.5.1 and it works just fine. However as others have pointed out there are some incompatibilities with Vista and possibly some other problems with specific setups. Unfortunately I'm really busy with work right now so I probably wont have time to even look into these issues for at least a few weeks.

Sorry I can't be more help right now.

Dan


----------



## douglaskeene

Hey All

I would like to play my legally obtained wav files on my Series 3. The TiVo Desktop Universal Audio Plug-in seems like the answer, but as a newbie I can't seem to make it work. Anyone with stepbystep instructions?

Doug


----------



## Dan203

Go into the plug-in interface. Click the "Add" button below the user defined types list. Find a WAV file and click OK. If you hear the WAV file playing then you're good to go. Hit OK to exit the plug-in UI. After that you will need to reboot the TiVo server, and then publish your WAV files via TiVo Desktop.

Dan


----------



## VanGoghLikesTivo

With this add-on active, I can see iTunes on my Tivo, but when I try to play them or any other audio file (even mp3 files) I get no music on the Tivo. I used to be able to play mp3 files on the TiVo, but I can't hear anything now. The timer just sits at 0:00 and doesn't move. I'm using ver. 2.5.1 of the Desktop and Windows XP. The Tivo server icon says it is active. If I uninstall the add-on, I still cannot play my mp3 files.


----------



## Dan203

This plug-in does not have ANY effect on mp3 files. MP3 files are handled by a TiVo supplied plug-in. What may have happened is the TiVo server may have crashed internally and may be malfunctioning with all music files. The easiest way to test that is to simply reboot the PC. If it still doesn't work then it could be the TiVo itself which has crashed internally. So try pulling the plug on it and allowing it to reboot. If it still does not work after that then something is wrong with your network or your TiVo Desktop install.

Dan


----------



## smb56

I've got the problem of when the song ends, that's it. I have to click up the next channel to hear the next song or the previous channel to hear the song that just played. Anyone know why this happens or is it the nature of the beast?

smb56


----------



## bacevedo

smb56 said:


> I've got the problem of when the song ends, that's it. I have to click up the next channel to hear the next song or the previous channel to hear the song that just played. Anyone know why this happens or is it the nature of the beast?
> 
> smb56


I am having the same problem as well. I just got a TiVo HD on Tuesday and installed TiVo Desktop 2.5 and the latest version of this plugin. It works fine, except for not continuing on with the next song. I have them set to shuffle and repeat all - could either of those be the issue?

Also, sometimes I get errors when trying to skip through the songs. It says something about not being able to access the media or something like that. I am not sure if that is a bug in the TiVo HD, TiVo Desktop or the plugin. I'm just going to wait patiently for the next version of TiVo software and TiVo Desktop software to be released to see if it fixes the issue.

Bryan


----------



## esmtexas

Dan203 said:


> Uncompressed? As in using the Apple Lossless format? If so then that's your problem! This plug-in only supports AAC audio files. Unfortunately there is no GPL DirectShow filter available that supports the Apple Lossles format, so I was unable to support those files. The only reason they show up in the list is because Apple chose to use the same mime type for both AAC and losseless files, so there is no way for me to tell the difference.
> 
> That being said there is a DirectShow filter called QuickTime alternative, which actually taps into Quicktime to play files and then feeds the audio into DirectShow. It's possible I might be able to use that to support lossless files. However it's not GPL, so I can't redistribute it, which means you'd have to have in installed on your machine seperately for it to work. Also it does not support seeking, so the files will play but you will not be able to FF or RW. If you're still interested let me know and I'll try to throw support for that filter into the plug-in this weekend.
> 
> Dan


I am running TIVO 9.2 with Desktop 2.6. I downloaded your current version of TDUAP as well as TiviTunes. ALl gets published and can see on Tivo. When I try to play even a single AAC file, playback never begins. Tivo shows all the correct data and song length, however, just sits at 0:00 seconds like it is paused. I have checked info on many files, they are AAC and not encrypted. They were ripped from my CD's. I am running XP Media Center. (BTW: the first song I tried to play actually started to play, then just stopped. I then reset Tivo and was able to play the files however only the first 30 seconds or so would play until it went to the next song. After several attempts to play beyond 30or so seconds, I could FF to another area and play until Tivo stopped playing all together.


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## Dan203

TiVo changed some things in the audio server portion of the 9.x codebase, but did not update the SDK to reflect the changes. I have tried to get this to work as best I can, but for some people it just doesn't work right. It's sporadic and I can't seem to nail down exactly why it's not working right. I know it's something on the TiVo side because right after 9.x was pushed to S2 users is when I started to get complaints even though at that point TiVo Desktop had not been updated in quite some time.

I may get around to porting this over to HME some day, but right now I just don't have time.

Sorry,
Dan


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## wmcbrine

Dan203 said:


> TiVo changed some things in the audio server portion of the 9.x codebase, but did not update the SDK to reflect the changes.


Well, I don't think there was anything to update -- I think it's just bugs. In pyTivo, the requests I see still conform to the HMO protocol spec document. (pyTivo doesn't use the SDK.)

Oh, now that I think of it, there is a "Details" option that's not documented. It's currently ignored by pyTivo, but that doesn't seem to affect anything. It's only for optimization anyway, AFAICT.


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## esmtexas

Dan203 said:


> TiVo changed some things in the audio server portion of the 9.x codebase, but did not update the SDK to reflect the changes. I have tried to get this to work as best I can, but for some people it just doesn't work right. It's sporadic and I can't seem to nail down exactly why it's not working right. I know it's something on the TiVo side because right after 9.x was pushed to S2 users is when I started to get complaints even though at that point TiVo Desktop had not been updated in quite some time.
> 
> I may get around to porting this over to HME some day, but right now I just don't have time.
> 
> Sorry,
> Dan


Thanks for your quick response. After resetting the S3 again, Audio just stays in what I call poaused mode. My Tivo is an S3 if that makes any difference.


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## Dan203

wmcbrine said:


> Well, I don't think there was anything to update -- I think it's just bugs.


Well something happened on their end, because prior to 9.x it worked fine, now people get all these weird issues where the song plays for 30 seconds and stops, or gets to the end of the song and doesn't play the next one, etc...

Like I said I think TiVo shifted their focus to HME and abandoned the old style music and photos options. If I had more time I'd learn Java and write my own music server app, ala Audio Faucet. Unfortunately I'm busy writing code for work at the moment.

Dan


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## esmtexas

Dan203 said:


> Well something happened on their end, because prior to 9.x it worked fine, now people get all these weird issues where the song plays for 30 seconds and stops, or gets to the end of the song and doesn't play the next one, etc...
> 
> Like I said I think TiVo shifted their focus to HME and abandoned the old style music and photos options. If I had more time I'd learn Java and write my own music server app, ala Audio Faucet. Unfortunately I'm busy writing code for work at the moment.
> 
> Dan


thanks. Any suggestion how to get ITunes AAC's to play on my S3?


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## bacevedo

It seems that Tivo Desktop 2.6 fixed the issues for me. Now the songs continue on and work great with this plugin. 95% of my library is AAC and everything now works great.

As far as getting the iTunes playlists out, I use a utility called iTunes Export. It works great and has a command line interface so you can schedule it as a nightly task in Windows.


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## Dan203

There is also a program called TiViTunes which exports iTunes playlists to TiVo compatible format. It actually even looks for the presence of this plug-in and only publishes music types which are checked and/or manually added to the list. (in addition to MP3 which is standard)

Dan


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## paladintom

Hi Dan,

Just a quick post to let you know that the WMA functionality is seemingly broken now as well. I can view WMA files as always, but get an immediate error when trying to play one.

I hope you have some time to revisit this plugin in the future as it was really wonderful.

Best regards,
Tom


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## paladintom

Hi All,

I just want to second the previous suggestion on the J River Media Center. I am test driving it now and it seems great. Will probably purchase it after the demo period.

My environment is Windows Media Player with both MP3 and WMA music. What was always a problem for me was playlist support. I use a lot of smart playlists (*.pls) and I always had to manually save them out as seperate *.m3u files which would not automatically update. J River supports advanced playlists that automatically replicate on my TiVos.

Furthermore, the performance using the J River server is A LOT quicker. I immediately stopped sharing music and pictures from the TiVo server and my overall performance on my pc seems better overall as well.

Lastly, (although very minor) you can name how you want the server to be listed on your TiVos. Instead of showing the user and pc name, you can have the listing show up however you name it - such as "Family Media" or whatever. This was never a deal-breaker, but is a nice touch.

I have not tested streaming other media yet - such as Audible content. But this app seems really good so far...

Regards,
Tom


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## thespacepope72

If you are just looking for playlist support using TiVo Desktop and Windows Media Player.

http://jemfiles.home.comcast.net/~jemfiles/TiVoPlugin/index.htm


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## pomerlp

Dan, I've got all these "reward points" on my Visa Debit card and I'm thinking about using them to purchase mp3 downloads from a service called "Upbeats" digital music offered through Chase. These file are DRM protected. I've downloaded your plug in and I know it won't work with AAC Protected files but will TiVo play these files even though they are protected? Since the are MP3 it would seem they should.


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## Dan203

No, it will not work with any protected files.

Dan


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## pjcaivano

Installed the plug-in and checked the box for .wma files but it says the files are not supported. I checked the file and it says they're all .wma files. Any suggestions? Also do I have to add them one at a time or can I add all my files at once? Or do you know any quick way to convert all my current WMA files to MP3 so I can just use the Tivo software? Thanks much.


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## docpebe

Hi Dan. I had your previous version but needed the update. When I went to install it (after uninstalling the old software) I received a message that the setup file was corrupted. Can you help me with this?


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## Dan203

Try disabling your antivirus software and then redownloading the Setup.exe file. Sometime antivirus programs can corrupt .exe files during the download process and cause problems like this. If that doesn't work let me know and I'll upload it in a .zip file for you.

Dan


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## docpebe

Thanks Dan. I usually do that - guess I forgot to this time. Downloaded and installed just fine this time. Thanks again for creating this software.


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## jlb

Hi Dan,

I finally reloaded the plugin on my new computer, and also TiViTunes. My plugin file was from a while ago. IIRC, you were looking into trying to make the plugin work on protected files. Was I mistaken or is that still in the works? Thanks!


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## bm1543

Dan,

If I have a mix of MP3 and WMA files in the Published Music folder on Tivo Desktop, should I be able to see and play them?


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## bjenkins

Okay, I've read a bit here and there on the forum, but I haven't found the answer to my problem. I just downloaded the free TiVo desktop and published my music on my PC. I have all my music in a very current version of iTunes and all the audio files are MPEG-4 type. I see that TiVo really only supports MP3. Am I out of luck? Do I have to convert everything-- read that as not worth it. I see this thread about a plug-in. Will that do the magic?


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## Dan203

This plug-in will play iTunes audio files as long as they are not encrypted. (i.e. songs you bought from the iTunes store wont work)

Dan


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## bjenkins

Thanks Dan203 for the reply. I installed the pluggin and slam blam I've got iTunes on the home entertainment system. This is a great tip. If this was the only thing I ever got from forum it would be worth the time I've spent on here. Thanks again for the simple and direct answer.


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## kadeuce

Hello All, 

Is the 1.2.1 the latest version of TDUAP and will it support the wma Lossless format?


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## Dan203

WMA is handled by passing the rendering off to Windows and then capturing the output, so if you can play it in Media Player then it should work with this plug-in. The only exception is encrypted music, those will not work.

Dan


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## gayste

I'm not sure where the problem lies, but after some windows updates and the newest TiVo update, my music is not working (it acts like it is going to work, the progress bar comes up, with no error, but the music never plays and the progress never moves.)

I did not notice if the windows updates or the tiVo updates were the culprit (because both happend before i had a chance to test the music.)

Anyone else having problems playing their wma music?


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## kadeuce

Hello All,

Last week I downloaded and installed the latest TDUAP hoping to be able to stream my WMA files to my two TiVo series 3s. Unfortunately, I did not have any success. I am currently running TiVo Desktop Plus version 2.6.2 on my HP MediaSmart Home Server.
I would like to give kudos to the folks at VideoReDo for the QuickStream Fix tool which corrected all my transfer problems.

Now all default functionality, such as sharing mp3s, photos and home videos work without a hitch, so gaining the ability to play my wma files would put this configuration over the top. 

I have enabled Windows Audio Services but I am still unable to get the files to play. The series3 is now able to display the wmas but upon play the tivo generates the following message.

A problem occurred while accessing the server. This may be a temporary problem due to a network interruption or the server being busy. If the problem persists check your network connections and verify that the TiVo server application is running on your computer.

All the above suggestions have been checked and verified all my mp3s and mpgs play and transfer fine.

What am I missing? Any suggestion would be appreciated 

Thanks,


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## pjspring

gayste said:


> I'm not sure where the problem lies, but after some windows updates and the newest TiVo update, my music is not working (it acts like it is going to work, the progress bar comes up, with no error, but the music never plays and the progress never moves.)
> 
> I did not notice if the windows updates or the tiVo updates were the culprit (because both happend before i had a chance to test the music.)
> 
> Anyone else having problems playing their wma music?


Yep, I'm having exactly the same problem.


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## Dan203

TiVo has not released a new SDK for this in years. They've probably made some sort of internal change that is causing this problem, but until they release a new SDK I have no idea what it could be.

Sorry,
Dan


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## adamrwinterton

I have a DTS encoded WAV file. Will it play that and keep the DTS encoding?


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## bnmintx

gayste said:


> I'm not sure where the problem lies, but after some windows updates and the newest TiVo update, my music is not working (it acts like it is going to work, the progress bar comes up, with no error, but the music never plays and the progress never moves.)
> 
> I did not notice if the windows updates or the tiVo updates were the culprit (because both happend before i had a chance to test the music.)
> 
> Anyone else having problems playing their wma music?


I'm having the same issue. If it stop/start the Tivo Server, I can get one song to play. After that, same as above where it looks like it is working, but, no sound.


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## Dan203

adamrwinterton said:


> I have a DTS encoded WAV file. Will it play that and keep the DTS encoding?


No. The TiVo only accepts 2 channel MP3 files, so everything is transcoded on the fly to that format.

Dan


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## porki

Hi,

I'm having the same problem described by gayste, pjspring, and bnmintx above. I've installed TiVo Desktop Universal Audio Plug-in and it worked great. But all of a sudden, my music files don't play. They show up on the playlist, but the tivo won't give me any audio. The progress bar never moves. 

I loved listening to my tunes this way and I miss it. I'd really appreciate any ideas people might have about what's causing the problem. 

Thanks!


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## Dan203

Unfortunately TiVo did something to the audio protocol which broke this plug-in a while back. It works for some people, some of the time, but it seems to have sporadic issues which sometimes require a complete reboot of the TiVo itself to fix. I've tried everything I can to fix it on my end, but something changed and they have not updated the documentation to reflect that change, so my hands are tied.

If any of you HME gurus out there want to write an HME audio app which supports this universal audio approach shoot me an email and I'll gladly explain how I'm doing what I'm doing and share my code so you can implement it into an HME app. (FYI: It uses DirectShow technology, so it will only work on Windows) I've considered doing this myself, but I just don't have the time right now.

Dan


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## Bschneider

Hi Dan - 

I just installed Tivo Desktop 2.7 on my XP w/ SP2. I also installed the plug-in, of course. I can play m4a files just fine by clicking play on the folder. But the problem I am having is when I attempt to play a folder that has muliple folders. It acts like it is about to play and then gives this error:

A problem occurred while accessing the server. This may be a temporary problem due to a network interruption or the server being busy. If the problem persists check your network connections and verify that the TiVo server application is running on your computer.

If I go back and just play one folder it plays just fine without a reboot or anything.

The folder I am trying to play has 13 folders within, basically each folder is the album. 

Could this be a buffer problem of some sort on the plugin? 

I remember last year I was able to play it just fine. And also, recently, as others have experienced it used to only play about 20 seconds and then hang. But that is not the case anymore with Tivo Desktop 2.7. So I am hoping we can be able to resolve the multiple folder issue now.


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## SnakeEyes

If I had an xvid file on my Mac at home what would be the easiest way to get that playing through my networked TiVo HD? Convert/stream... what?


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## txporter

SnakeEyes said:


> If I had an xvid file on my Mac at home what would be the easiest way to get that playing through my networked TiVo HD? Convert/stream... what?


You are replying to a thread about audio files. Look at the pytivoX thread for a mac version of pytivo that will allow you to transcode your xvid files to mpeg2 for playback on your tivohd.

Jason


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## dgreco99

Dan: 
I want to make sure I understand some of your posts earlier in this thread

Are you saying that the audio plug in will NOT work re AAC files that I purchased directly from the Itunes Music Store (which is about 90% of my Music Library). 

Can you recommend anything else that will work?

I paid a lot of money for all my Itunes songs and it seems unfair that Apple isn't going to allow me to stream the Itunes songs I own to my Tivo unit (which is connected to a surround sound stereo system).
Thanks, dgreco99


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## Dan203

These days that depends. If the files purchased from iTunes have DRM then they will not work, but if they are the newer DRM free ones they should work fine.

As for alternatives... If you're music has DRM you should look into one of the programs available that strips the DRM, because nothing except iTunes/QuickTime can read the files with DRM.

Dan


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## sbh2squared

I'm a brand new Tivo HD owner, and was surprised when I couldn't play any of my PC's music as that had been touted as one of the cool benefits of the box. Your patch works right upon installation - BRAVO!!!

Now if only I can find as elegant and simple a solution to streaming my 6 year old's favorite DVD backups from the computer so she doesn't have the disk to handle and destroy.....

Beth H.


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## resanders

Hi Dan! I have a DELL XPS One and I'm running TiVo Desktop 2.6.2. I've downloaded both TiViTunes and TDUA. After I publish the music within TiVitunes, is it supposed to show up on the TiVo box in Music & Photos folder? When I run TDUA (to be able to hear songs I've imported --not purchased-- as AAC), do I need to add the actual iTunes folder where my music is stored?? Also, does the TDUA program need to be opened/running in the background while TiVitunes is running?  Thanks in advance for your help!


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## morac

I haven't used this for a while, but I tried to play a DRM free m4a audio files from iTunes. Not only didn't they play (the playback bar never moved), but it then broke mp3 playback as well as the podCaster and Live365 HME apps on my TiVo until I restarted.

Any idea why this is?


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## rteggleston

I'm running TiVo 2.6.2 and TDUA with my HD Tivo. I can play the audio files (all wma), but after about 30 to 40 seconds, it goes to the next audio file, if there is one cued up, or the output just goes silent. It seems to correspond to a screen-saver routine that starts moving the audio information box around on the screen. Since I'm connected to an lcd, the screen saver is worthless. Can I turn it off, or is there something else that can be done?


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## V7Goose

sethjvm said:


> If you are just looking for playlist support using TiVo Desktop and Windows Media Player.
> 
> http://jemfiles.home.comcast.net/~jemfiles/TiVoPlugin/index.htm


I quit trying to use TiVo to play my music several years ago because it was just too kludgy. I keep all my music as master copies in WMA lossless format, and I like the WMP interface and library functionality. Decided to try again with newer versions of everything. WMA plugin works like a champ for me with WMP11 - THANX! But the next challenge is being able to find and access the music in a better way than just looking at the list of folders.

I saw the suggestion quoted above and grabbed that plugin. It installed OK, but the instructions say you have to publish the .wml file to make it work. Using TiVo Desktop 2.7, the Add Music functions apparently will only show folders and known music file extensions, so there doesn't seem to be any way to publish the .wml file. Anybody know how to make this work?

UPDATE: I found a workaround: By creating a new folder with only the .wml file in it, you can publish it and it seems to work fine. Only Problem I have found initially is that if you make the mistake of trying to play all music, or any playlist/genre/etc. with too many files, the TiVo pukes and knocks you out of the media server. One of the same problems I had when I tried this years ago. Sure wish TiVo would get off the stick and make simple stuff like this work instead of trying to get me to order pizza from the TV!


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## MacerX

Dan203 said:


> Unfortunately TiVo did something to the audio protocol which broke this plug-in a while back. It works for some people, some of the time, but it seems to have sporadic issues which sometimes require a complete reboot of the TiVo itself to fix. I've tried everything I can to fix it on my end, but something changed and they have not updated the documentation to reflect that change, so my hands are tied.
> 
> If any of you HME gurus out there want to write an HME audio app which supports this universal audio approach shoot me an email and I'll gladly explain how I'm doing what I'm doing and share my code so you can implement it into an HME app. (FYI: It uses DirectShow technology, so it will only work on Windows) I've considered doing this myself, but I just don't have the time right now.
> 
> Dan


Hi Dan, I just wasted 3 hours of my time installing, troubleshooting, and finally reading this post buried many pages from the download link. Can you update the post with the download link warning of these issues up front? Thanks! I think this will save others a lot of headaches.


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## Dan203

I'm just going to unstick this thread. It's been years since I've even looked at this code, or tried to use it. I have no idea what the state of things are now, or if this even works at all in the latest versions of TiVo Desktop. If anyone wants to hunt it down it'll still be here, but I'm not going to keep it at the top of the forum when I can't properly support it. (I probably should have done this a long time ago, sorry)

Dan


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## rteggleston

Dan, thanks for your efforts over the years. Things were fun while they worked. I am in the planning stages of migrating from Tivo to Windows Media Center, not because it is better than Tivo, but it is better supported, doesn't require a monthly fee, and works with my music and pictures better. It's ashame to buy a product and then have to get free support from other users who come up with solutions and then don't get compensated, or worse as in your case, have their solution broken.


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## MacerX

Dan203 said:


> I'm just going to unstick this thread. It's been years since I've even looked at this code, or tried to use it. I have no idea what the state of things are now, or if this even works at all in the latest versions of TiVo Desktop. If anyone wants to hunt it down it'll still be here, but I'm not going to keep it at the top of the forum when I can't properly support it. (I probably should have done this a long time ago, sorry)
> 
> Dan


Thanks Dan, Don't get me wrong, I appreciate your work for the years I have lurked about in this community!!! Thank you!


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## MacerX

Dan,

Unfortunately, the plug-in seems to have broken my pyTivo audio also despite uninstalling your plug-in. Do you have any clues to help me fix this? Was there some registry changes or something that it makes that I can somehow reverse?

Thanks!


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## Dan203

It installs a few DirectShow filters, but those should have been uninstalled when you removed it. Other then that it doesn't do anything that should effect any other part of your system.

Perhaps it's your TiVo. Try pulling the plug and allowing it to reboot. I remember crashing my TiVo's ability to play music, from any program, a few times while developing this.

Dan


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## jhon_lewis

nugrass said:


> I'm also getting this message now when I start tivo desktop"
> 
> _tivodesktop.exe- application error
> 
> the instruction at "0x7c910f2b" referenced memory at "0x00000004". this memory could not be "read"
> 
> click ok to terminate
> click cancel to debug_
> 
> I'm not really sure what this means?


Thanks! I'll wait patiently.


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## jhon_lewis

Dan203 said:


> I notice that you have the option to debug. Do you have a development environment installed on your PC? If so then it's probably the SHN DirectShow filter. I could not get it to work at all on my PC which has VS.NET 2003 installed, but it worked fine on my girlfriends PC which does not have VS installed.
> 
> If that's the case then there isn't much I can do. If not let me know and I'll look into it for you.
> 
> Dan


thanks


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## Hank

So are there any other options for playing .m4a files on the tivo?


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## wmcbrine

Hank said:


> So are there any other options for playing .m4a files on the tivo?


pyTivo. I'd assume that some of the HME-based players can do it, too, but I'm having trouble finding info on that right now.


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## Dan203

It's been a long time since I played with this stuff. But it seems that if StreamBaby can stream an MP4 video file, with AAC audio, directly to a TiVo without recoding then the same might be possible with an audio only .m4a file. At least on S3 units. Has anyone ever tried this?

This plug-in was based on the old music/photos API which existed before HME and only supported MP3. It seems like someone could do something a lot more slick then this, without all the recoding stuff, if they used HME and the new streaming format support.

Dan


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## daveak

I was using this program without fail until early this summer when I had to replace a HD on the desktop downstairs. I tried to reload it this weekend (yes, the HD has been working for quite sometime, I just now realized that I had some WMA files that would not play on my S3 this weekend) and the WMA files still would not play.

I know Dan said he was not supporting this anymore and I can live with that, but what then is the best way to listen to WMA files on my TiVo from my server?

Thanks.

And Dan, thank you for the program - all was well until I need to reinstall...


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## wmcbrine

daveak said:


> what then is the best way to listen to WMA files on my TiVo from my server?


I won't make any claims that it's the best way (I really don't know), but pyTivo will work for this, too.


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## Dan203

Yeah the newer versions of TiVo Desktop screwed up the plug-in architecture. Unfortunately TiVo hasn't updated their SDK in years so there is really no way for me to even attempt to fix it. (not to mention I really don't have time anyway)

Dan


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## daveak

Dan203 said:


> Yeah the newer versions of TiVo Desktop screwed the plug-in architecture. Unfortunately TiVo has updated their SDK in years so there is really no way for me to even attempt to fix it. (not to mention I really don't have time anyway)
> 
> Dan


It was a very simple solution (to at least install and run). I am not expecting to see TiVo support WMA files anytime soon so I will have to find another solution. Thank you.


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## daveak

wmcbrine said:


> I won't make any claims that it's the best way (I really don't know), but pyTivo will work for this, too.


Will it support track information and the like? And what about random play and all that? Thanks.

I think I will also start a thread, instead of hijacking this one, to ask about the best ways to listen to music in the WMA format.


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## wmcbrine

daveak said:


> Will [pyTivo] support track information and the like?


It reads artist/title/etc. from the file, yes.



> _And what about random play and all that?_


Yes... that part is handled on the TiVo, so it's the same. (HME-based players generate their own interfaces; HMO players like pyTivo and TiVo Desktop rely on the player that's built into the TiVo.)


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## daveak

wmcbrine said:


> It reads artist/title/etc. from the file, yes.
> 
> Yes... that part is handled on the TiVo, so it's the same. (HME-based players generate their own interfaces; HMO players like pyTivo and TiVo Desktop rely on the player that's built into the TiVo.)


I may be messing around with pyTivo yet... Thank you.


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## NikkiSixx

Wow, what a pin to download but i got it! first kept getting a popup asking to Dl file and i clicked DL then nothing black page. next i looked at the main part of the url onlt to get a "my page is broken msg." 3rd i manualy typed in the link it Dl but was corupt, tryed right click save tartget as and theat too was corupted. fibnally i looked at the url and cu just the end off to get http://www.3wdesigns.net/TDUAP this taked you to a good page. DL the setup, STILL no good corupted. next i clicked the zipped file adn DL it FINALLY I HAVE THE FILE AND IT WORKS AND INSTALLED CORRECTLY. so to save everyone else who comes by here a headachce as wellas from simple giving up im going to post the file. Great work to the author. nice little proogy if you can get it haha.


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## NikkiSixx

Hers my zip of the plugin with the lastest tivo desktop as of aug. 8th 2011 in one download hosted on google docs: https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&...YTk4Ni00YzgxLWEyNmItMGNkMjI1ZGQ4NGU2&hl=en_US


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## NikkiSixx

I just checked my link to make sure it works, yep still good


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