# How to get best HD video file from KMTTG



## rasmasyean (Jul 29, 2011)

What are the formats you are supposed to use and encodes to get the best resolution?

And what's a .TiVo file? Is it for transfering into another TiVo to play? 

Thanks.


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## ThAbtO (Apr 6, 2000)

rasmasyean said:


> What are the formats you are supposed to use and encodes to get the best resolution?
> 
> And what's a .TiVo file? Is it for transfering into another TiVo to play?
> 
> Thanks.


.TiVo files are an encrypted layer using the Media Access Key onto a .mpg file. You can remove it with either KMTTG decrypt feature or tivodecode.


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## rasmasyean (Jul 29, 2011)

ThAbtO said:


> .TiVo files are an encrypted layer using the Media Access Key onto a .mpg file. You can remove it with either KMTTG decrypt feature or tivodecode.


So the .TiVo is basically the "raw" video with the encryption? And when you download it, that .mpg that is arround 10 KB smaller is the same exact quality vid but without the encryption?


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## steve614 (May 1, 2006)

Picture a typical .mpg file. Now add a layer of encryption and extra data for program description (guide related material).
That is what a .tivo file is.

A Tivo will happily accept a plain .mpg file as long as it conforms to the mpeg standard. 
You will get a video format notice screen if you try to transfer a raw .mpg file to the Tivo, but you can ignore it if you know that your .mpg file conforms to the standard.

As for what software to use to save .tivo files, there are some options.
Tivo Desktop (free version) only transfers but does not decode. The Plus version ($$) does allow for conversion, but it is geared for users of mobile devices and does not allow for a straight conversion.
I believe PyTivo* and kmttg* offer transferring and decryption to .mpg in one step. I don't use these apps, so I don't know for sure. Check their respective threads for conformation.
For dealing with .tivo files directly, I use VideoReDo TV Suite v4. It's not cheap, but it works directly with .tivo files and will convert to a format that is compatible with almost any device.

ETA: *These software programs do not alter the resolution of the video unless you set parameters beforehand.


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## jcthorne (Jan 28, 2002)

rasmasyean said:


> So the .TiVo is basically the "raw" video with the encryption? And when you download it, that .mpg that is arround 10 KB smaller is the same exact quality vid but without the encryption?


YES.

kmttg also offers to let you recode the file to mp4 for use on other devices and more efficient space usage.


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## lrhorer (Aug 31, 2003)

Backing up a bit, what is meant by "best resolution"?

For what purpose? The best choice of resolution depends on what device is going to be doing the playback. This thread so far has talked mostly about converting the .TiVo file pulled from the TiVo to a standard MPEG-II video of the same resolution and audio parameters recorded by the TiVo. The .TiVo file specification is a fairly simple modification of a standard MPEG-II format. Converting to .mpg loses nothing but the metadata in the .TiVo file.

Depending on your needs, stripping the encryption and metadata may be all you need to do, and it's a fairly fast operation. OTOH, depending on what you want to do, you may want to change the resolution, the audio coding, or perhaps even recode to a completely different format, such as h.264, for example.

What is it, exactly, you want to do?


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## Gaidin43 (Mar 6, 2013)

for the encoding options for kmttg, what h.264 format is the highest (1080p) format that isn't as big as the raw file you get once you remove the .tivo encoding? 

I encoding to .mp4, but the quality goes to a 720*480 format, but saves a ton of disc space.


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