# PC Software alternative to Tivo Desktop



## grimlock (Nov 29, 2015)

I have the old Tivo Desktop Software, but I am wondering if there is a better alternative from my soon-to-arrive Roamio Pro. I figure now is the time to figure out what software to use as an alternative to Tivo Desktop since they no longer support it. 

I am looking for something that will transfer movies back and forth from the Roamio to my desktop PC. If, unlike Tivo Desktop, it allows me to transfer recordings from premium channels, that would be a bonus as well. I'd love to store all of Game of Thrones on my PC if it's an option. 

I can make the old software work, but it seems a bit stable on a Windows 10 computer.

Thanks!


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

kmttg and pyTiVo both work. However only TiVo Desktop includes the bit needed to play .tivo files in Windows Media Player and open them in VideoReDo, so if you need that functionality you'll need desktop. Alternatively you can decrypt the files using tivodecode (built in to kmttg) but it's not 100% on TS files, so you'll need to download everything as PS which is slower and more prone to errors if there are glitches in the recording.

Nothing can download protected shows, those are blocked on the TiVo side.


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## grimlock212 (Nov 29, 2015)

Cool, thanks for the information. I had found pyTivo online, but I didn't know if there was something better out there. Too bad there isn't a way to get those premium shows!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


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## ThAbtO (Apr 6, 2000)

Tivo Desktop and PyTivo has a "Server" which allows you to transfer shows from the PC.

KMTTG only transfers from the Tivo to the PC, along with other nice features.


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## moyekj (Jan 24, 2006)

Dan203 said:


> Alternatively you can decrypt the files using tivodecode (built in to kmttg) but it's not 100% on TS files, so you'll need to download everything as PS which is slower and more prone to errors if there are glitches in the recording.


 That's not the case any longer. tivolibre is now built into kmttg and can decrypt PS and TS TiVo files just fine - no need for TiVo Desktop or tivodecode.


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## Wil (Sep 27, 2002)

moyekj said:


> tivolibre is now built into kmttg and can decrypt PS and TS TiVo files just fine - no need for TiVo Desktop or tivodecode.


Given that a user has a playback system which handles .ts files well, any reason NOT to check the box in kmttg to use it automatically?

I understand that checkbox effect will be ignored when downloading from an older Tivo?


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## moyekj (Jan 24, 2006)

Wil said:


> Given that a user has a playback system which handles .ts files well, any reason NOT to check the box in kmttg to use it automatically?
> 
> I understand that checkbox effect will be ignored when downloading from an older Tivo?


 I've seen some posts indicating a TS download sometimes is missing a few seconds of the show vs PS download being fine. I don't think I've run into that myself but it's still good to have the option for either one for those kinds of cases.


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