# iTiVo (TiVo -> mac -> iPhone)



## Yoav

(turning this into the main questions forum page)

*iTiVo* 1.7.6 is now available.

iTiVo is a simple user interface for those who wish to download shows from their TiVo onto their Mac.

Easy to run. Easy to install.

Features include:

 'subscriptions' to your regular shows: downloading them whenever new episodes are available.
 Perform an 'iTunes sync' to your phone when the download is completed.
 Automatically remove commercials from downloaded shows.
 Generate metadata appropriate for use by tools such as pyTivo.
 Create subtitle files (.srt) from the closed caption info.
 Output formats include h.264, mpeg-2, mpeg-1, decrypt-only.
 Target formats include iPhone, iPod, AppleTV, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PSP, youtube.
 Support for different encoders, including HandBrake, Mencoder, FFmpeg, ElGato H.264 Turbo.
 Full advanced controls over encoder options.
 A download queue for batch processing.
 Automatic discovery of Tivos using Bonjour.
 Automatic updates.
 Reporting on tivo's Hard Drive usage. 
You can read up more about it on the homepage (http://code.google.com/p/itivo/) , as well as download it.

It's completely free (GPLv3). And the source code is available on the website.

This is the place to ask questions that are not answered in the FAQ.


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## fatespawn

with mpeg-2 native selected, the commercial skip button is grayed out.


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## Yoav

fatespawn said:


> with mpeg-2 native selected, the commercial skip button is grayed out.


This is 'as intended'. mpeg-2 native does no conversion of the file.. IT simply reads it off the network and decrypts it inline. This pretty much is a 'as fast as you can download it'. In order to remove commercials, the file has to be processed and re-encoded. Since mpeg-2 native doesn't re-encode, it can't remove commercials.

If you want an mpeg-2 stream without commercials, select one of the DVD mpeg-2 formats, which do re-encode.


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## ding

Comskip working good here. My life is almost complete.


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## Yoav

ding said:


> Comskip working good here. My life is almost complete.


Ok, just a warning though, comskip has been making really BAD mistakes for low-quality shows (I mean bitrate). So I recommend not using it on those or at least checking the results before using... med-quality to HD has been working fine I think.


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## ding

I have a single tuner s2 with an hard drive upgrade so I record everything in high quality SD and it has worked fine for my tests. I have also tested some med-quality clips with success. It might clip a few frames here and there but nothing too annoying.


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## bohbot16

Yoav said:


> This is 'as intended'. mpeg-2 native does no conversion of the file.. IT simply reads it off the network and decrypts it inline. This pretty much is a 'as fast as you can download it'. In order to remove commercials, the file has to be processed and re-encoded. Since mpeg-2 native doesn't re-encode, it can't remove commercials.
> 
> If you want an mpeg-2 stream without commercials, select one of the DVD mpeg-2 formats, which do re-encode.


Yoav,
Thanks so much for the updates! Unfortunately, your solution only works for SD content, not HD mpeg2. It would be great to have an option that would download the mpeg2, then strip the commercials and output mpeg2 that is the same resolution as the source.


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## Yoav

bohbot16 said:


> Yoav,
> Thanks so much for the updates! Unfortunately, your solution only works for SD content, not HD mpeg2. It would be great to have an option that would download the mpeg2, then strip the commercials and output mpeg2 that is the same resolution as the source.


Ok shouldn't be too hard to add that. (Although it will have to be forced to a resolution (either 1920x1080 or 1200x720). In the meanwhile you can make edits to:

/Applications/iTiVo.app/Contents/Resources/re-encoder.pl

using any text editor. Then change DVD NTS to whatever resolution you want (in the scale option).

I plan on adding support for a user-configurable encoding options thing. Hopefully that will solve the many "can you add this mode..." queries..


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## Yoav

Updated to reflect release 1.3.2
(an emergency bugfix release)
There was a pretty nasty bug that caused downloads to loop forever if comskip wasn't selected.


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## thenightfly42

Yoav: thank you for picking up this code and making it work on 10.5. I greatly appreciate it.


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## LHMPDX

First, and most important, a huge thank you for your work on iTiVo. You should have a donation button somewhere. 

Also, can you add an audio only conversion, either MP3 or AAC? For many shows, the audio is enough. This saves space and battery life on the iPhone.

Thanks again.


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## Yoav

LHMPDX said:


> First, and most important, a huge thank you for your work on iTiVo. You should have a donation button somewhere.
> 
> Also, can you add an audio only conversion, either MP3 or AAC? For many shows, the audio is enough. This saves space and battery life on the iPhone.
> 
> Thanks again.


Sure...
(if you have any ideas on what the flags should be, download the beta and specify the flags under advanced prefs.. Otherwise, I'll try some things myself here and hopefully figure it out).


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## Yoav

LHMPDX said:


> Also, can you add an audio only conversion, either MP3 or AAC? For many shows, the audio is enough. This saves space and battery life on the iPhone.


 Ok check out version 1.4b4. Tell me if it's what you need...


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## LHMPDX

I could only test it a bit this morning, but it seems to work well. I got a much smaller file as an mp3 than for the iPhone, and it sounds fine in iTunes. 

When imported into iTunes, an hour show is listed as 3:25:35. When listening on the iPhone, it ends at the one hour mark, so no big deal. This is not a problem at all for me. 

I'll test some more in the next day or so.

Thanks again for a great product!!


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## Yoav

1.4 is out.

Check for updates in the program, or download it from the webpage.

(yes, I'll probably slow down code on this soon.. but right now I got too much spare time on my hands


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## [email protected]

I'll recap my problem from another thread and add an update here ...
"I've tried four times now to tansfer a movie\tv show and none of the will open in Quick Time, Final Cut Pro, etc. The last two errors were "The movie could not be opened. An invalid sample description was found in the movie".

I have plenty of free drive space. The setting are AppleTV, no comskip, the TV Show shows up as HD in the selection window, but it's off of the Comedy Channel (at best it's digital not HD). I tried iTivo 1.4 and the latest beta. I'm running Leopard 10.5.5.

Any idea what's going wrong? My ultimate goal is to take some of the shows off of my TivoHD (9.4) and move them over to my AppleTV for storage and longterm watching."

Update: If I select "iPhone" in preferences as the download format it encodes successfully, but "AppleTV" as the format is not successful an returns the error noted above. Is there something wrong with the AppleTV settings?


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## Yoav

[email protected] said:


> I'll recap my problem from another thread and add an update here ...
> "I've tried four times now to tansfer a movie\tv show and none of the will open in Quick Time, Final Cut Pro, etc. The last two errors were "The movie could not be opened. An invalid sample description was found in the movie".
> 
> I have plenty of free drive space. The setting are AppleTV, no comskip, the TV Show shows up as HD in the selection window, but it's off of the Comedy Channel (at best it's digital not HD). I tried iTivo 1.4 and the latest beta. I'm running Leopard 10.5.5.
> 
> Any idea what's going wrong? My ultimate goal is to take some of the shows off of my TivoHD (9.4) and move them over to my AppleTV for storage and longterm watching."
> 
> at it encodes successfully, but "AppleTV" as the format is not successful an returns the error noted above. Is there something wrong with the AppleTV settings?


 Multi-part answer (keep in mind I don't have an appletv to test with).

AppleTV setting does a bit-copy of the audio stream. From HD content that's entirely playable in quicktime, but from regular content quicktime doesn't know what to do.
I'll have it re-encode all audio to faac 5.1 irrelevant of the source I suppose.

Soemthing to keep in mind though. for regular TV you probably don't want to use AppleTV as your setting, since that tries to keep data at 1200x720 (which is bigger than your source)


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## Yoav

try the 1.5b2 see if it fixes your problem though.
Don't forget to change download format first to reset the settings (and then change back).


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## gbrown

I just updated from 1.2.1 to 1.4.
It will not connect to my TiVo.
I know the IP and MAC are correct because I can cut and paste into https://IP. Also the "Now Playing" widget works.

Any ideas?


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## Fofer

I'd like to request that iTiVo get some of the super cool "free space" calculations that TiVoPlaylist has:

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=293241
http://bellsouthpwp.net/d/c/dcahoe/tivo/index.htm?

(It also lets you use List View or Folder View. And there's a neat pie graph to be able to visualize storage space used.)

But it's for Windows only.

I've tried to install it on my Mac using CodeWeavers Crossover with no success. If this capability were to be included with iTiVo, it would be even more fantastic.


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## Yoav

gbrown said:


> I just updated from 1.2.1 to 1.4.
> It will not connect to my TiVo.
> I know the IP and MAC are correct because I can cut and paste into https://IP. Also the "Now Playing" widget works.
> 
> Any ideas?


Is your MAK setting in iTiVo correct? Turn on logging under prefs/advanced. send the contents of ~/iTiVo.log to me?


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## [email protected]

Yoav said:


> try the 1.5b2 see if it fixes your problem though.
> Don't forget to change download format first to reset the settings (and then change back).


Yoav - Thanks 1.5b does the trick!


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## [email protected]

[email protected] said:


> Yoav - Thanks 1.5b does the trick!


Yoav - Almost actually. Appears AppleTV doesn't like multi-channel audio. What would be the encoder audio options setting for "stereo". Can I just copy the setting from mpeg2 or the like?

Thanks.


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## bohbot16

From what I understand, the AppleTV can only use AC3 (aka Dolby Digital 5.1) audio when it is the second audio track in the file and the first audio track is a 2 channel AAC.

It might make sense to just force the AppleTV audio to 2 channel AAC.


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## Yoav

bohbot16 said:


> From what I understand, the AppleTV can only use AC3 (aka Dolby Digital 5.1) audio when it is the second audio track in the file and the first audio track is a 2 channel AAC.
> 
> It might make sense to just force the AppleTV audio to 2 channel AAC.


If that's the case, then change -channels 6 to -channels 2 in the advanced audio prefs and tell me if that works. (if it does, I'll fix it in the source).

-- yoav


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## [email protected]

Yoav - changing it from -6 to -2 channel didn't work. It imports into iTunes but iTunes won't transfer it to AppleTV indicating "it can not be played on this AppleTV".

I'm not seeing what could be the problem. Apple indicates:

H.264 and protected H.264 (from iTunes Store): Up to 5 Mbps, Progressive Main Profile (CAVLC) with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps (maximum resolution: 1280 by 720 pixels at 24 fps, 960 by 540 pixels at 30 fps) in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats

When I check the video properties in iTunes it shows: MPEG-4, bit rate 245 kbps, Stereo, Total bit rate 3250 kbps, 1195x672, Video codes H.264

An early Comedy Central program that I had trouble with transcoded with the original AppleTV setting just fine. I suspect that is because the original sound track was only 2 channel. When inspecting it's properties it states: MPEG-4, 274 kbps, Stereo, 3316 kbps, 960x720, H.264

Any ideas on what changes I need to make?

Thanks.
Mark.


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## Yoav

[email protected] said:


> Yoav - changing it from -6 to -2 channel didn't work. It imports into iTunes but iTunes won't transfer it to AppleTV indicating "it can not be played on this AppleTV".
> 
> I'm not seeing what could be the problem. Apple indicates:
> 
> H.264 and protected H.264 (from iTunes Store): Up to 5 Mbps, Progressive Main Profile (CAVLC) with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps (maximum resolution: 1280 by 720 pixels at 24 fps, 960 by 540 pixels at 30 fps) in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats
> 
> When I check the video properties in iTunes it shows: MPEG-4, bit rate 245 kbps, Stereo, Total bit rate 3250 kbps, 1195x672, Video codes H.264
> 
> An early Comedy Central program that I had trouble with transcoded with the original AppleTV setting just fine. I suspect that is because the original sound track was only 2 channel. When inspecting it's properties it states: MPEG-4, 274 kbps, Stereo, 3316 kbps, 960x720, H.264
> 
> Any ideas on what changes I need to make?
> 
> Thanks.
> Mark.


I see two potential problems:

1) Your source is a 30 fps movie, and we arent converting it to 24 fps. So I guess we need to lower the max resolution to 960 x 540. Find the dsize=1200:720:0 chunk and change it to dsize=960:540:0 (in the video encoder options).

2) Your audio is probably still at 480 kbps (from the 6-channel encoding). In the audio encoding options, change br=480 to br=160

<crossing fingers and hoping we got it this time>. Again tell me


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## kas25

[email protected] said:


> I'll recap my problem from another thread and add an update here ...
> "I've tried four times now to tansfer a movie\tv show and none of the will open in Quick Time, Final Cut Pro, etc. The last two errors were "The movie could not be opened. An invalid sample description was found in the movie".
> 
> I have plenty of free drive space. The setting are AppleTV, no comskip, the TV Show shows up as HD in the selection window, but it's off of the Comedy Channel (at best it's digital not HD). I tried iTivo 1.4 and the latest beta. I'm running Leopard 10.5.5.
> 
> Any idea what's going wrong? My ultimate goal is to take some of the shows off of my TivoHD (9.4) and move them over to my AppleTV for storage and longterm watching."
> 
> Update: If I select "iPhone" in preferences as the download format it encodes successfully, but "AppleTV" as the format is not successful an returns the error noted above. Is there something wrong with the AppleTV settings?


I just got the same error message last night. Interested to hear what you find as they all transferred flawlessly but couldn't play when i double click the movie in finder. I just picked the Apple TV setting.


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## Fofer

Love the new "Basic TiVo info in drawer" in 1.5b3!

However, this new version isn't listing all the shows on my 750GB Series 3 TiVo. Previous versions, it listed ~260 shows. Now, it lists 113. 

I was alarmed at first, since so many items are missing... I only see 1 Primetime (I know I'd been saving 3,) and no Suggestions (I had 6.) But I just fired up the TiVo itself and they are all there.

Needless to say, since it's only an incomplete list, I can't extract everything, and the "basic info" and pie chart are rendered inaccurate.


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## [email protected]

Yoav said:


> I see two potential problems:
> 
> 1) Your source is a 30 fps movie, and we arent converting it to 24 fps. So I guess we need to lower the max resolution to 960 x 540. Find the dsize=1200:720:0 chunk and change it to dsize=960:540:0 (in the video encoder options).
> 
> 2) Your audio is probably still at 480 kbps (from the 6-channel encoding). In the audio encoding options, change br=480 to br=160
> 
> <crossing fingers and hoping we got it this time>. Again tell me


Made the changes you suggested but still not luck in Mudville. It'll import into iTunes and play in iTunes and QuickTime but will not transfer over to AppleTV. Same error message "because it can not be played on this AppleTV"


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## Yoav

Fofer said:


> Love the new "Basic TiVo info in drawer" in 1.5b3!
> 
> However, this new version isn't listing all the shows on my 750GB Series 3 TiVo. Previous versions, it listed ~260 shows. Now, it lists 113.
> 
> I was alarmed at first, since so many items are missing... I only see 1 Primetime (I know I'd been saving 3,) and no Suggestions (I had 6.) But I just fired up the TiVo itself and they are all there.
> 
> Needless to say, since it's only an incomplete list, I can't extract everything, and the "basic info" and pie chart are rendered inaccurate.


Quick question: Of the missing shows, how many are marked as 'copy protected'? Those are shows the tivo refuses to let you download, and so are not listed on the 'now playing' list, but SHOULD be counted in the total hard drive used drawer (there's a chunk for shows that are copyrighted). Did the old version really list more (it wasn't supposed to list copyrighted shows before either). If so, I need to fix that .


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## Fofer

I don't think that's it. Why would it only list 1 of my 3 "Primetime" recordings? None of those are copy protected.


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## Yoav

Fofer said:


> I don't think that's it. Why would it only list 1 of my 3 "Primetime" recordings? None of those are copy protected.


Ok then. we have a bug. Let me see if I can figure out why...
(the only shows it's supposed to ignore are shows listed as 'copy protected' and shows listed as 'in progress'). Let's see if I can find out what's going on.


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## Yoav

Yoav said:


> Ok then. we have a bug. Let me see if I can figure out why...
> (the only shows it's supposed to ignore are shows listed as 'copy protected' and shows listed as 'in progress'). Let's see if I can find out what's going on.


Whoa indeed. There is a bug that affects any tivo with > 128 shows on it. Eek fixing now. Thank you for catching.

1.5b4 now uploaded, *should* fix this problem.. Please tell me if it does.


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## Yoav

Anyone here own an ElGato Turbo.264 stick and want to help me test something? (I don't own one, so have NO IDEA if I'm even remotely doing the right thing).


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## UncaAndoo

Love that you're continuing TDM. Second the motion of adding a donation button.

I take it that you're supposed to set your own file extension if you're choosing "No encode"?


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## Yoav

UncaAndoo said:


> Love that you're continuing TDM. Second the motion of adding a donation button.
> 
> I take it that you're supposed to set your own file extension if you're choosing "No encode"?


It will default to an .mpg file extension.
No encode simply takes the original mpeg-2 transport stream from the tivo, and decrypts it. It will skip re-encoding. This is only useful if you have something that can play transport streams and want the original data from the tivo. (quicktime cannot, vlc and mplayer can). (mpeg-2 files generally use a .mpg extension.. so that's what it uses.. feel free to pick your own one otherwise).


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## tubbo

A beautiful piece of work. Thank you for making my life a little easier.


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## cuyahoga

Yoav said:


> Anyone here own an ElGato Turbo.264 stick and want to help me test something? (I don't own one, so have NO IDEA if I'm even remotely doing the right thing).


Sure. I want to start playing with the Turbo.264 feature, so if there is something specific you want me to try just let me know.


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## Yoav

Pushed out version 1.5.. check for updates in menu to get it.


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## AquaX

Here's a request -- for the pie graph of used space, could there be a place where you could enter in the drive size in GB, then have it figure out from there? A pie graph isn't always the best choice if it doesn't add up to 100&#37;, but by knowing the full size of the HD in GB, you could always equalize it to 100%.


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## Fofer

Great idea!


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## Yoav

Ok so it's entirely a hack at this point,
but in the new beta (1.6b1) you should be able to edit the size it claims for your tivo, and it will mark the remaining space in gray. (And save that value, and increment it if it ever gets a bigger number from the tivo).

So yeah, fugly ugly method, but should at least give you the ability to set the total space to be bigger than is claimed.


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## jacobcoakley

Anyone have a rough estimate on how long the encoding should take? I'm running v1.5 on a Mac Mini -- 1.42 GHz PPC G4 with 1 GB RAM on OSX 10.5.5. Trying to encode to iPod/iPhone SuperRes settings (640x480 h.264 at 1500 kbps, audio aac 128 kbs). Trying to encode a 30 minute program telling me this should take about 7 hours. 

I know I have an old/slow system, but was just trying to see if there's a setting I've been missing. 

BTW -- love the program!


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## [email protected]

Yoav - looks like I'm narrowing down the problem with the AppleTV preset. It appears that if the original source is a 720p program the output from iTivo will not be transfered to AppleTV by iTunes. The output is playable by iTunes and Quicktime though.

If the original source is a 1080i program there are no issues with the transfer to AppleTV. 

Got any clues as to why and what can be done to fix the issue? I tried using the Iphone hi-res preset and it failed to transfer to AppleTV also for the 720p programming sources.

Thanks.


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## Yoav

[email protected] said:


> Yoav - looks like I'm narrowing down the problem with the AppleTV preset. It appears that if the original source is a 720p program the output from iTivo will not be transfered to AppleTV by iTunes. The output is playable by iTunes and Quicktime though.
> 
> If the original source is a 1080i program there are no issues with the transfer to AppleTV.
> 
> Got any clues as to why and what can be done to fix the issue? I tried using the Iphone hi-res preset and it failed to transfer to AppleTV also for the 720p programming sources.
> 
> Thanks.


I'm not entirely sure since the output is supposed to be 'fixed' to a resolution. It's possible that there's some scaling issues that cause 1080i to scale to something different than a 720p source (720p isn't interlaced). There might be another necessary argument that control the output fps or something. I'm not sure yet but it's almost definitely some extra argument to mencoder that is missing...


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## Yoav

Ok, so 1.6b2 is up there, It now allows you to use handbrake as the encoder (with a few default settings .. still messing with it). One of these settings is the default handbrake AppleTV setting, tell me if that works for you..

One nasty downside is that handbrake doesn't accept edit lists, so I can't use it to comskip (yet?). It may be possible to use mencoder to edit and then handbrake to re-encode, although that will probably cause nasty audio/video sync issues.


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## bohbot16

Yoav said:


> Ok, so 1.6b2 is up there, It now allows you to use handbrake as the encoder (with a few default settings .. still messing with it). One of these settings is the default handbrake AppleTV setting, tell me if that works for you..


One issue you may run into is that HD source material from the TiVo may end up at the wrong resolution for the AppleTV. There is a forum thread here: http://forum.handbrake.fr/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=7977

I would test this myself, but I don't have an AppleTV (yet)

Once again, thanks Yoav. iTiVo is a great app and getting better!


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## fatespawn

First of all, THANKS. This is great work. I would like to mention to anyone having "stalling" issues, I fixed mine by not only closing the "nowplaying" widget, but removing it from the user directory, rebooting, and upgrading to 1.5+. I doubt 1.5 had anything extra to do with it, but suspect it was completely associated with with widget.

Also, does anyone have a suggestion for sending the video back to the tivo with comskip enabled. I like to archive kids shows (and removing commercials CERTAINLY helps during the holiday GIMME GIMME GIMME season) and then send them back to the tivo. "native" would be what I would want, but you can't enable comskip. What would be the next best method - or perhaps add another preset that scrubs commercials but does no further compression or format change...?

TIA

-fate


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## [email protected]

Yoav said:


> Ok, so 1.6b2 is up there, It now allows you to use handbrake as the encoder (with a few default settings .. still messing with it). One of these settings is the default handbrake AppleTV setting, tell me if that works for you..
> 
> One nasty downside is that handbrake doesn't accept edit lists, so I can't use it to comskip (yet?). It may be possible to use mencoder to edit and then handbrake to re-encode, although that will probably cause nasty audio/video sync issues.


Yoav - I gave up on the Handbrake option after it started to download the episode for the second time. I started the initial download at 6:30 this morning by 12:30pm it indicated that there was 38 minutes left to the encode process. Download normally takes only about 2 1/2 hours for a 60 minute HD program. Looks like it went through a couple of passes to encode and then when I came back from lunch it showed it was downloading it again.

On a brighter note - I did some digging around and found a parameter for Mencoder to restrict the ouput frame rate to 24fps. This in combination with a 960 x 540 appear to allow it to transfer and play on the AppleTV.

I'm running another test now and will let you know how it works out.

Thanks!


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## Yoav

fatespawn said:


> First of all, THANKS. This is great work. I would like to mention to anyone having "stalling" issues, I fixed mine by not only closing the "nowplaying" widget, but removing it from the user directory, rebooting, and upgrading to 1.5+. I doubt 1.5 had anything extra to do with it, but suspect it was completely associated with with widget.
> 
> Also, does anyone have a suggestion for sending the video back to the tivo with comskip enabled. I like to archive kids shows (and removing commercials CERTAINLY helps during the holiday GIMME GIMME GIMME season) and then send them back to the tivo. "native" would be what I would want, but you can't enable comskip. What would be the next best method - or perhaps add another preset that scrubs commercials but does no further compression or format change...?
> 
> TIA
> 
> -fate


 First, thank you for figuring that out. I'll be sure to mention to it others who have sent me similar reports.

As for your question: turns out there is no happy answer.

"MPEG2-TS" does what you're asking for (that is, copying only the relevant frames of audio and video without including the commercials). However, people have reported massive sync issues between video and audio after that is done (basically, the tivo provides the stream with video and audio not synced.. and when you start to cut them up, the sync goes crazy).

The next best thing is to find some mpeg-2 setting that has everything you want...

I think with the upcoming release of the tivo software, they will actually support H.264 (or at least xvid) decoding, so you'll have more options for file formats 'soon'.. but we won't know for sure until it's available (I'm not a beta-tester for them, so don't know).

(As you can tell from this, mencoder/handbrake is special-sauce magic that nobody seems to understand.. but there are a LOT of forums around the net dedicated to 'doing what you need', so if you can figure out a useful setting from those, tell me and I'll be happy to include it.)


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## Yoav

Ok, for those who don't mind helping debug 
I put up 1.6b3 just now. This is my 'last ditch' attempt to get the encoder working with Tiger (10.4). As I don't have a tiger machine to test on, if someone could tell me if it's working I'll be very appreciative!!

The bad news is I think if this round fails I'm going to simply give up on 10.4. It's impossible for me to test or debug things on it.

Also, any more opinions on handbrake? I added it since I heard tons of gushing about how great an encoder it is.. But it seems like it doesn't support skip lists (no commercial skipping), and I actually can't tell any performance difference either.. so trying to figure if it's worth doubling the size of the bundle to support it...


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## cmontyburns

jacobcoakley said:


> Anyone have a rough estimate on how long the encoding should take? I'm running v1.5 on a Mac Mini -- 1.42 GHz PPC G4 with 1 GB RAM on OSX 10.5.5. Trying to encode to iPod/iPhone SuperRes settings (640x480 h.264 at 1500 kbps, audio aac 128 kbs). Trying to encode a 30 minute program telling me this should take about 7 hours.
> 
> I know I have an old/slow system, but was just trying to see if there's a setting I've been missing.
> 
> BTW -- love the program!


H.264 encoding on PPC hardware takes forever, unfortunately.


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## Yoav

cmontyburns said:


> H.264 encoding on PPC hardware takes forever, unfortunately.


yep. h.264 is a very complex encoding scheme. Some things that might help speed it up a little include:

1) update to the beta (yes I normally don't recommend this, but mencoder is compiled with additional optimizations for ppc enabled in the beta).
2) use a smaller output file (instead of super-res, use the iPhone or iPod setting as appropriate for your device).
3) if you want to REALLY mess with it, go to Prefs... advanced, and look in the video encoder options. Towards the end you will see pp=lb, (otherstuff). Delete the pp=lb,

but the sad truth is that computers effectively double in speed about every year and a half, and the powerPC processor is now about 3 years old... so it's not too surprising


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## fatespawn

G4? yes, you're probably looking at the best of the best. 7 hours may be a bit extreme, but if you're looking for super hi-res video, that's probably the best you'll get. I have a Dual G5 2.0 Ghz PPC and it takes about 1.5 hrs to encode a 1 hr video for the iphone (480x240?)

There are a couple of options for you. The elgato turbo 264:

http://www.elgato.com/elgato/na/mainmenu/products/Accessories/Turbo264/product1.en.html

This product removes the PPC processor from the encoding scheme and is a stand alone H264 encoder. I don't have one, but for a G4, that's the BIGGEST boost you can get.

The other option is ffmpegx (but this is only quicker for the G5's)
http://homepage.mac.com/major4/

ffmpegx is a program that encodes into a number of formats, and there is a nice G5 hack somewhere in the forums section that increases speed 1.5x - in my results.... but again it's only for G5's so hopefully it helps someone else.

There is no really clean solution other than upgrading....

-fate


----------



## AudioNutz

Yoav said:


> Ok, for those who don't mind helping debug
> I put up 1.6b3 just now. This is my 'last ditch' attempt to get the encoder working with Tiger (10.4). As I don't have a tiger machine to test on, if someone could tell me if it's working I'll be very appreciative!!


I'm absolutely willing to test it, but I won't be home again until Tuesday. (I'm not willing to risk a remote re-boot, because I need to be able to process shows while I'm on the road this week.) I'll even volunteer to do some of the compiling for you if you would like me to do it on a live Tiger system.



Yoav said:


> The bad news is I think if this round fails I'm going to simply give up on 10.4. It's impossible for me to test or debug things on it.


Please don't give up yet. Like I said, I'm very willing to help.



cmontyburns said:


> H.264 encoding on PPC hardware takes forever, unfortunately.


Hmmm, not if you use ffmpeg. I'm getting performance about double real-time to encode for iPod 5G with a version of ffmpeg that I use. (30 minutes to encode a 1-hour TiVo show)

Does anyone know if ffmpeg allows those wonderful skip-lists?


----------



## AudioNutz

AudioNutz said:


> I'm absolutely willing to test it, but I won't be home again until Tuesday. (I'm not willing to risk a remote re-boot, because I need to be able to process shows while I'm on the road this week.) I'll even volunteer to do some of the compiling for you if you would like me to do it on a live Tiger system.


I've got good news, and bad news now.

GOOD:
I remembered that I could get into my XServe from where I'm at, and tried iTiVo 1.6b3. (Server version of the Tiger OS)

BAD:
I'm getting a strange AppleScript error now, that I wasn't getting before. I took a screenshot here:









GOOD:
But I didn't give up, I did a terminal command to the mencoder version that you've got inside 1.6b3, and I'm no longer getting that "Buss Error" that the previous betas were giving me.

So it seems that you've been successful at compiling mencoder for the Tiger OS, but it's possible that the GUI isn't playing nice now. Tell me if you agree?


----------



## Yoav

AudioNutz said:


> I've got good news, and bad news now.
> 
> GOOD:
> I remembered that I could get into my XServe from where I'm at, and tried iTiVo 1.6b3. (Server version of the Tiger OS)
> 
> BAD:
> I'm getting a strange AppleScript error now, that I wasn't getting before. I took a screenshot here:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> GOOD:
> But I didn't give up, I did a terminal command to the mencoder version that you've got inside 1.6b3, and I'm no longer getting that "Buss Error" that the previous betas were giving me.
> 
> So it seems that you've been successful at compiling mencoder for the Tiger OS, but it's possible that the GUI isn't playing nice now. Tell me if you agree?


 YAY!
(mostly)

Hmm fair assessment.. I'm guessing I introduced a bug that's affecting every release actually.. I just have to figure out where I'm dividing by zero .

I don't suppose you can forward me the debugging log from that? (/tmp/iTiVo-<yourname>.log )


----------



## Yoav

AudioNutz said:


> Does anyone know if ffmpeg allows those wonderful skip-lists?


Yes ffmpeg allows skip lists. However, ffmpeg is using exactly the same library as mencoder (libavcodec / libx264) so the only reason it's faster is due to different arguments being passed in.

If you tell me your invocation of ffmpeg, I can turn it into a valid invocation of mencoder, and if it seems as fast (and the quality is still reasonable) we may want to add that as a format...


----------



## AudioNutz

Yoav said:


> ...I don't suppose you can forward me the debugging log from that? (/tmp/iTiVo-<yourname>.log )


Absolutely! I've sent it to the iTiVo Google site for issues.



Yoav said:


> ...If you tell me your invocation of ffmpeg, I can turn it into a valid invocation of mencoder, and if it seems as fast (and the quality is still reasonable) we may want to add that as a format...


This is the argument that I'm currently using with ffmpeg:


Code:


FFMPEG -y -i INPUT -threads 4       -s 320x240 -aspect 320:240   -r 29.97   -vcodec h264  -g 150  -qmin 25  -b 560k  -level 13 -loop 1 -sc_threshold 40 -partp4x4 1 -rc_eq 'blurCplx^(1-qComp)' -refs 3  -qmax 51 -maxrate 700k -keyint_min 40    -async 50  -acodec libfaac  -ar 48000 -ac 2 -ab 128k OUTPUT


----------



## Yoav

AudioNutz said:


> This is the argument that I'm currently using with ffmpeg:
> 
> 
> Code:
> 
> 
> FFMPEG -y -i INPUT -threads 4       -s 320x240 -aspect 320:240   -r 29.97   -vcodec h264  -g 150  -qmin 25  -b 560k  -level 13 -loop 1 -sc_threshold 40 -partp4x4 1 -rc_eq 'blurCplx^(1-qComp)' -refs 3  -qmax 51 -maxrate 700k -keyint_min 40    -async 50  -acodec libfaac  -ar 48000 -ac 2 -ab 128k OUTPUT


Ok, so I had some trouble mapping some of your arguments since afaik they don't apply to h.264, but I believe changing your video options to:



Code:


-of lavf -lavfopts format=ipod -ovc x264 -vf scale=320:240,harddup -ofps 30000/1001 -x264encopts threads=4:bitrate=560:level_idc=13:partitions=4x4:subq=4:bframes=0:nocabac:global_header

I think your 'speed' win on encoding comes from the fact that you're encoding using the simplest of encoding (baseline 1.3) which is fast but not very good. ipods support level 3.0, and quicktime up to level 4.1...

Also, I notice you're using threads=4, which is only useful on a 4-core or 4-cpu system. I'd switch it to threads=auto and let it pick the right number.

however, the interesting question: is the speed now comparable?


----------



## Yoav

[email protected] said:


> On a brighter note - I did some digging around and found a parameter for Mencoder to restrict the ouput frame rate to 24fps. This in combination with a 960 x 540 appear to allow it to transfer and play on the AppleTV.


Awesome. Does it work if you set the resolution back to 1280x720 ?

Tell me what options you used, I'll put them into the next beta...


----------



## fatespawn

jacobcoakley said:


> Anyone have a rough estimate on how long the encoding should take? I'm running v1.5 on a Mac Mini -- 1.42 GHz PPC G4 with 1 GB RAM on OSX 10.5.5. Trying to encode to iPod/iPhone SuperRes settings (640x480 h.264 at 1500 kbps, audio aac 128 kbs). Trying to encode a 30 minute program telling me this should take about 7 hours.
> 
> I know I have an old/slow system, but was just trying to see if there's a setting I've been missing.
> 
> BTW -- love the program!


This may a bit OT, but I thought I'd provide some comparison numbers. I encoded a 30min SD program last night with VisualHub. I have 3 mac's. Here were my results.

Powerbook G4 1.5Ghz 177 minutes
Dual G5 2.0 Ghz Powermac 57 minutes
iMac 2.4 Ghz intel Core Duo 21 minutes

The output file was an h264 640x480 file at about 1100kbps

So, your 7 hours with a 1.42 Ghz G4 processor is substantially slower than my 1.5Ghz G4 but it may have to do with your source video and the fact you have 1500kbps selected.

-fate


----------



## bohbot16

Yoav said:


> Also, any more opinions on handbrake? I added it since I heard tons of gushing about how great an encoder it is.. But it seems like it doesn't support skip lists (no commercial skipping), and I actually can't tell any performance difference either.. so trying to figure if it's worth doubling the size of the bundle to support it...


I think the main benefit to handbrake over mencoder is multi-threaded encoding to h.264. It's beneficial to those of us with multi-core (or multiple) processors.

Ideally for me iTiVo would use comskip then mencoder to produce commercial-free MPEG2, then use handbrake to compress the resulting file to an iTunes-friendly h.264 mp4 file.


----------



## Fofer

bohbot16 said:


> Ideally for me iTiVo would use comskip then mencoder to produce commercial-free MPEG2, then use handbrake to compress the resulting file to an iTunes-friendly h.264 mp4 file.


Yeah, that'd be super cool.


----------



## Yoav

bohbot16 said:


> I think the main benefit to handbrake over mencoder is multi-threaded encoding to h.264. It's beneficial to those of us with multi-core (or multiple) processors.
> 
> Ideally for me iTiVo would use comskip then mencoder to produce commercial-free MPEG2, then use handbrake to compress the resulting file to an iTunes-friendly h.264 mp4 file.


mencoder uses the same libx264 to encode, and therefore also supports multi-threading (that's what threads=auto does in the arguments list). HOWEVER, I believe handbrake will also multi-thread the de-interlace, which mencoder doesn't do (not sure how much of an improvement that leads to).

I believe if I cut out commercials with mencoder (with no re-encoding), and then encode with handbrake, there will be an audio/video sync problem.. but I guess I might as well try it before assuming anything


----------



## kas25

I am not having any luck with either Apple TV preset on my Tivo S 3. It seems to keep restarting itself. Is everyone else having success?


----------



## AudioNutz

bohbot16 said:


> ...Ideally for me iTiVo would use comskip then mencoder to produce commercial-free MPEG2, then use handbrake to compress the resulting file to an iTunes-friendly h.264 mp4 file.


I'm glad I'm not the only one that wants this as a feature. I really like having the option of saving the non-encoded file to go back to my TiVo, and then also having the file ready for my iPod if I happen to be traveling that week.

ALSO... Has anyone given any thought to XGrid capabilities? Wouldn't it be nice (for those of us with multiple computers) to have iTiVo pass some of the processing tasks to other CPUs on the local LAN for processing simultaneously. (Can you tell I've been a VisualHub user? It has these capabilities)


----------



## Yoav

AudioNutz said:


> I'm glad I'm not the only one that wants this as a feature. I really like having the option of saving the non-encoded file to go back to my TiVo, and then also having the file ready for my iPod if I happen to be traveling that week.
> 
> ALSO... Has anyone given any thought to XGrid capabilities? Wouldn't it be nice (for those of us with multiple computers) to have iTiVo pass some of the processing tasks to other CPUs on the local LAN for processing simultaneously. (Can you tell I've been a VisualHub user? It has these capabilities)


Well, what you're asking for is this:

select "MPEG2-TS" as your encoder (that will keep the original data from the tivo, but cut out commercials). Then load up handbrake, and encode the result to any other format you like (ipod, whatever).
(The only extra is you want iTiVo to do that in one step). Every time I've tried it I get massive audio/video sync issues where the cuts happen. Does it work for you?


----------



## Yoav

AudioNutz said:


> ALSO... Has anyone given any thought to XGrid capabilities? Wouldn't it be nice (for those of us with multiple computers) to have iTiVo pass some of the processing tasks to other CPUs on the local LAN for processing simultaneously. (Can you tell I've been a VisualHub user? It has these capabilities)


That will happen if/when mplayer or handbrake add code to support this. As far as I know it's not in their plans though. You may want to contact them and suggest it as an option.


----------



## kas25

kas25 said:


> I am not having any luck with either Apple TV preset on my Tivo S 3. It seems to keep restarting itself. Is everyone else having success?


To clarify, I just selected a SD 30 minute show and it took about 15 minutes to code but when it said it was about done it started coding again. Does it do multiple passes?


----------



## AudioNutz

Yoav said:


> Ok, so I had some trouble mapping some of your arguments since afaik they don't apply to h.264, but I believe changing your video options to........the interesting question: is the speed now comparable?


I'm trying the new code that you gave me, but it doesn't look good. I've been processing the same 30min show for two hours, and it's less than 1/2 way done.



Yoav said:


> ...I believe if I cut out commercials with mencoder (with no re-encoding), and then encode with handbrake, there will be an audio/video sync problem.. but I guess I might as well try it before assuming anything


If I understand KMTTG correctly, I think that's what it does. (I'm the guy that got KMTTG to work on Macintosh, but I would still prefer to use iTiVo if I can get some of the features/performance to be equal) But I don't think KMTTG it's using "Handbrake", it's using ffmpeg. I'm observing it use mencoder to do the comcut, then save the mpeg file, then feed the cut mpeg file into the ffmpeg for the encode for iPod process.

BUT... That may not be the most elegant way. What if we put a "Fork" in the iTiVo workflow, that downloaded the show once, decrypted once, then simultaneously did two things:
comcut>encode for iPod (Or whatever your favorite device is)
 comcut>encode for mpeg (TiVo)
Or, you could do them in-line with each other, but I'm just trying to brainstorm about a more elegant way, that would be easy to write. (Maybe comcut once, then encode twice)



Yoav said:


> Well, what you're asking for is this:
> 
> select "MPEG2-TS" as your encoder (that will keep the original data from the tivo, but cut out commercials). Then load up handbrake, and encode the result to any other format you like (ipod, whatever).
> (The only extra is you want iTiVo to do that in one step). Every time I've tried it I get massive audio/video sync issues where the cuts happen. Does it work for you?


Yes, I think you have an idea of what we're asking for with this request. Like I mention, I think this is what KMTTG does, and it's not perfect, but try it and you tell me if you agree. The only other thing that I would add to this right now is that I would prefer the two files (mp4, mpeg) go to different download locations.

When speaking about XGrid, you wrote:


Yoav said:


> That will happen if/when mplayer or handbrake add code to support this. As far as I know it's not in their plans though. You may want to contact them and suggest it as an option.


Again, I think it doesn't need to be that exotic in the execution. I think VisualHub simply sends the file over to the other computer, and then gives that computer a command to fire up ffmpeg with a particular argument, and then sends the file back to the output location. The code (mencoder, ffmpeg) still needs to be installed on both Macs, and each of them needs to be aware of the other on the network. (I'm also wondering if ssh commands would be easier than using XGrid to issue these commands) It would be slick if this could happen, especially for a person like me, who has 5 Macs & 4 PeeCees on their home network.

But, I digress, just file it away in the back of your mind for the next time you have warm thoughts about the folks who enjoy iTiVo. 

Which leads me to my next (NEW) question about the existing code: Right now I have an elaborate workflow where I download the show from one of my 2 TiVo's, then decrypt & encode for iPod. This is great, but then I also need to .zip the file, re-name it, and then move it to a different volume of my XServe. I do this because that volume of the XServe is available to the outside world via FTP, and I can pick these shows up when I'm traveling. (My company does not allow me to share out to AFP or SMB points when I'm at my office, so I use FTP protocol)

My question is this: I see the "Run when Download completes" feature in the Advanced tab of the preferences. What is this feature meant for? Can I execute a terminal command that .zips the file, then moves it? Maybe I can use it to execute an Automator action, or execute an AppleScript?

I looked in the documentation, but I don't think I see the intent of this feature. (Maybe I ask too much?)


----------



## Yoav

AudioNutz said:


> My question is this: I see the "Run when Download completes" feature in the Advanced tab of the preferences. What is this feature meant for? Can I execute a terminal command that .zips the file, then moves it? Maybe I can use it to execute an Automator action, or execute an AppleScript?
> 
> I looked in the documentation, but I don't think I see the intent of this feature. (Maybe I ask too much?)


Yeah not really documented, but it's a valid use of 'run when'. If you mouseover it will tell you what variables are supported, and then it simply runs whatever command you specify in a shell after the download/add to itunes finishes. Just make sure to put the variables in quotes since a lot of show names have spaces in them.

So for example, if you put in something like
tar -czf /tmp/output.tgz "$file" ; scp /tmp/output.tgz [email protected]:/tmp/

it *should* do what you want. Feature is not really tested/debugged yet though...


----------



## fatespawn

Yoav said:


> Ok, for those who don't mind helping debug
> I put up 1.6b3 just now. This is my 'last ditch' attempt to get the encoder working with Tiger (10.4). As I don't have a tiger machine to test on, if someone could tell me if it's working I'll be very appreciative!!


Yoav,

Any luck finding your divide by zero error? I have a G5 I'm using and would like to test it out. My intel iMac works like a champ..... but that's my wife's computer and she gets testy when I start lurking over in her corner.


----------



## AudioNutz

fatespawn said:


> ...My intel iMac works like a champ..... but that's my wife's computer and she gets testy when I start lurking over in her corner.


Ha! Another argument for grid-based processing... She wouldn't even need to know you're borrowing her processing power...


----------



## Yoav

fatespawn said:


> Yoav,
> 
> Any luck finding your divide by zero error? I have a G5 I'm using and would like to test it out. My intel iMac works like a champ..... but that's my wife's computer and she gets testy when I start lurking over in her corner.


Nothing yet. The place I thought it was happening seems to not be 'it'.

It 'looks' like it's happening right when it's doing the math to figure out how much space is available on your tivo, but nowhere there can I find a zero to divide by . So still working on it.


----------



## AudioNutz

Yoav said:


> Ok, so I had some trouble mapping some of your arguments since afaik they don't apply to h.264, but I believe changing your video options to:
> 
> 
> 
> Code:
> 
> 
> -of lavf -lavfopts format=ipod -ovc x264 -vf scale=320:240,harddup -ofps 30000/1001 -x264encopts threads=4:bitrate=560:level_idc=13:partitions=4x4:subq=4:bframes=0:nocabac:global_header
> 
> is the speed now comparable?


I did some further testing today with this argument. It took us from 5+ hrs down to 2hrs. It's still not the 20 minutes that ffmpeg is doing, but it's better.


----------



## [email protected]

[email protected] said:


> Yoav - I gave up on the Handbrake option after it started to download the episode for the second time. I started the initial download at 6:30 this morning by 12:30pm it indicated that there was 38 minutes left to the encode process. Download normally takes only about 2 1/2 hours for a 60 minute HD program. Looks like it went through a couple of passes to encode and then when I came back from lunch it showed it was downloading it again.
> 
> On a brighter note - I did some digging around and found a parameter for Mencoder to restrict the ouput frame rate to 24fps. This in combination with a 960 x 540 appear to allow it to transfer and play on the AppleTV.
> 
> I'm running another test now and will let you know how it works out.
> 
> Thanks!


Memcoder is outputting the fps in native 59.96fps which the AppleTV can't handle. 24fps is slightly choppy, so I upped it to 30fps. It works for both 1080i and 720p sources. I changed the encoder video options to the below and all is happy now.

-of lavf -ofps 30 -lavfopts format=mp4 -ovc x264 -x264encopts nocabac:level_idc=30:bitrate=2000:threads=auto:bframes=0:global_header -vf pp=lb,dsize=960:540:0,scale=-8:-8,harddup


----------



## Yoav

Ok beta 4 is up
changes are to allow you to use 'mencoder' to cut up the show, and then 'handbrake' to re-encode it (to remove commercials and encode with handbrake).

I also threw in a few more catches to try and see if I can figure out where the divide by zero is happening on 10.4, so if anyone with 10.4 can try it out and tell me if it's still happening -- and send me the debug log when it does -- I'd appreciate it.


----------



## Yoav

[email protected] said:


> -of lavf -ofps 30 -lavfopts format=mp4 -ovc x264 -x264encopts nocabac:level_idc=30:bitrate=2000:threads=auto:bframes=0:global_header -vf pp=lb,dsize=960:540:0,scale=-8:-8,harddup


Woot.. Thank you so much!

Will put the change in (just released a beta so missed that one). It should make it into the next beta..


----------



## fatespawn

Divide by zero seems good now on my G5/10.4. 

I see the Handbrake option is only for 10.5 - is that going to be final? I'll try a iphone/comskip download and report the results.

I like the new "phase" reporting.

-fate


----------



## Yoav

fatespawn said:


> Divide by zero seems good now on my G5/10.4.
> 
> I see the Handbrake option is only for 10.5 - is that going to be final? I'll try a iphone/comskip download and report the results.
> 
> I like the new "phase" reporting.
> 
> -fate


I'm using the handbrakecli that is distributed by the handbrake team. I didn't build it from scratch (just made it universal). Their build claims to be 10.5-only. I don't enforce it, but I'm guessing the binary doesn't run on 10.4

If you can find a new build of handbrakecli which is 10.4 universal, I'd be happy to use it instead


----------



## cuyahoga

Started playing with the elgato turbo.264 output and have some observations.

-The handoff from the download of the file to the turbo.264 encoder/transcoder works. The last time I tried it, this part failed so this is good.

-The encoding option defaults to iPod High. There is no way to change it in the turbo.264 software once encoding begins. So, what happens is that the turbo.264 software gets the video from iTivo and immediately starts to encode on the first option listed in the drop down list of turbo.264, which is iPod High.

There is not an option to set a default preset in the application preferences. Sounds like more of an el gato feature request rather than an iTivo bug, but I sure wish the iPhone preset was selected rather than the iPod High preset.

-Metadata about the particular tv show are not preserved going from iTivo to turbo.264. If I have iTiVo perform the entire job, all of the metadata are present. If I go the turbo.264 route, no metadata. Again, this may very well have something to do with the turbo.264 software.

Let me know if there is anything else I should try.


----------



## Yoav

cuyahoga said:


> Started playing with the elgato turbo.264 output and have some observations.
> 
> -The handoff from the download of the file to the turbo.264 encoder/transcoder works. The last time I tried it, this part failed so this is good.
> 
> -The encoding option defaults to iPod High. There is no way to change it in the turbo.264 software once encoding begins. So, what happens is that the turbo.264 software gets the video from iTivo and immediately starts to encode on the first option listed in the drop down list of turbo.264, which is iPod High.
> 
> There is not an option to set a default preset in the application preferences. Sounds like more of an el gato feature request rather than an iTivo bug, but I sure wish the iPhone preset was selected rather than the iPod High preset.
> 
> -Metadata about the particular tv show are not preserved going from iTivo to turbo.264. If I have iTiVo perform the entire job, all of the metadata are present. If I go the turbo.264 route, no metadata. Again, this may very well have something to do with the turbo.264 software.
> 
> Let me know if there is anything else I should try.


 Hey thanks! (As you can tell i've been busy trying to get 10.4 working and completely dropped the ball on ElGato).

I was hoping that the elgato encoder defaulted to 'last value used' for the setting, so that you can run it manually, change the settings, and then let iTiVo do its thing.
There *IS* a way to force it to encode with particular resolution choices (it has to be one of 'ipod high, ipod standard, sony psp, appletv, iphone' when you invoke the encoder). I just didn't want to create another 5 download formats to support each individually....

Can you tell me if it saves the last format used? Would it help if I left the application running after the encode is done?

I'm not sure about the metadata though. I have no clue what turbo.264 does with it


----------



## Yoav

Yoav said:


> Can you tell me if it saves the last format used? Would it help if I left the application running after the encode is done?


Ok just checked in a change that will let you specify in advanced options (under video encoder) one of
ipodH , ipod, psp, appleTV, iPhone
and if none are specified, it will default to using whatever the program already has.

Also, re-enabling comskip since we can use the same hack we're using for handbrake.


----------



## Yoav

Ermm, a large bunch of people downloaded the beta. Not sure why (guessing it got posted somewhere?). 

Anyways, I just uploaded the 1.6 release. Includes all the changes from the beta, and seems more useful. Key features are *actually working* on 10.4, and support for handbrake (10.5 only there.. sorry). As well as 'prettifying' the list a bit and including more info.


----------



## Fofer

I concede I may be a bit slow, but the pie chart (for how space is being used) isn't very clear to me. I have a 750 GB drive, and I surmise it's close to full simply because my "Deleted Folder" doesn't retain everything I delete for very long. (Should it, or do items disappear regardless after some period of time?)

Anyway, I don't have interest in marking everything I have "Save Until I Delete." I would, however, be a bit interested to know just when my oldest expired recording is most likely of being deleted on it's own. Is there some other gauge here to let me know, just how much "free" space is left right now... how much elbow room I have?

Perhaps percentage as an option instead of GB would help. I guess I'm looking at the pie chart trying to make sense of it to answer the "real world" question posed above, and I can't figure it out. 

I'll upload a screenshot of my graph when I get back home.


----------



## Yoav

Fofer said:


> I concede I may be a bit slow, but the pie chart (for how space is being used) isn't very clear to me. I have a 750 GB drive, and I surmise it's close to full simply because my "Deleted Folder" doesn't retain everything I delete for very long. (Should it, or do items disappear regardless after some period of time?)
> 
> Anyway, I don't have interest in marking everything I have "Save Until I Delete." I would, however, be a bit interested to know just when my oldest expired recording is most likely of being deleted on it's own. Is there some other gauge here to let me know, just how much "free" space is left right now... how much elbow room I have?
> 
> Perhaps percentage as an option instead of GB would help. I guess I'm looking at the pie chart trying to make sense of it to answer the "real world" question posed above, and I can't figure it out.
> 
> I'll upload a screenshot of my graph when I get back home.


I'm not familiar exactly how it determines when to really delete things, but if you turned off suggestions, I assume it's when it actually needs the space (someone else can chime in?).

One thing I would check is that it's reporting almost 750G at the top under 'used'. If it isn't, then click on the number and edit it to be 750. (There is no way for me to know how big the HD is, so either you set it, or else you turn on suggestions and let the hard drive fill.. it will remember how much got used).

Your 'wiggle' room is the gray piece of the pie. Then the 'expired' should be deleted when needed, then expiring soon, etc...


----------



## AquaX

Yoav said:


> I'm not familiar exactly how it determines when to really delete things, but if you turned off suggestions, I assume it's when it actually needs the space (someone else can chime in?).


You're correct.



Yoav said:


> One thing I would check is that it's reporting almost 750G at the top under 'used'. If it isn't, then click on the number and edit it to be 750.


Make sure you edit it to about 93% of drive size, as drives are advertised in decimal notation, but computers (and TiVos) actually use drives in binary. See this Wikipedia page for some more info.

My 1TB drive becomes about 930GB of total usable space. A 200GB drive would be 186GB. A drive advertised as 750GB has 698GB of usable space.


----------



## fatespawn

Yoav said:


> Ermm, a large bunch of people downloaded the beta. Not sure why (guessing it got posted somewhere?).
> 
> Anyways, I just uploaded the 1.6 release. Includes all the changes from the beta, and seems more useful. Key features are *actually working* on 10.4, and support for handbrake (10.5 only there.. sorry). As well as 'prettifying' the list a bit and including more info.


Yoav,

On my G5 10.4 mac, I am still having difficulty encoding to .mp4. I have "iphone" and edit commercials selected. The download is successful, and the comskip seems successful, but when the encoding phase begins, everything bogs down. It's reporting 180+ minutes remaining. My G5 may be yesterday's Mac, but it's not THAT slow. Here's a sample of the output file iTivo is giving me.










Not very pretty. I'll try some other presets - disabling comskip etc. and see if anything changes. I don't have a log file because I couldn't wait the 3 hours for the total encode.


----------



## Fofer

Yoav said:


> One thing I would check is that it's reporting almost 750G at the top under 'used'. If it isn't, then click on the number and edit it to be 750. (There is no way for me to know how big the HD is, so either you set it, or else you turn on suggestions and let the hard drive fill.. it will remember how much got used).
> 
> Your 'wiggle' room is the gray piece of the pie. Then the 'expired' should be deleted when needed, then expiring soon, etc...





AquaX said:


> A drive advertised as 750GB has 698GB of usable space.


Thanks guys. I edited it to say 698 and now this is what I get:










I still don't have a real handle on just how much free space that gray slice equates to (ie: in terms of real world recording) but at least I know I have "some" wiggle room, I suppose.


----------



## Yoav

Fofer said:


> Thanks guys. I edited it to say 698 and now this is what I get:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I still don't have a real handle on just how much free space that gray slice equates to (ie: in terms of real world recording) but at least I know I have "some" wiggle room, I suppose.


Here is what you can surmise:

You are using up 'approximately' 632G of hard drive space for your shows (tivo does a lot of weird rounding). You claim your hard drive is 698G. The tivo uses up some <unknown> amount of space for its own data.. lets pretend that's 20G.

So you have about 40G unused space on your hard drive.

Assuming all your shows in the future take up around 2G per hour (yeah another number I made up), you can now be *SURE* that you have 20 hours of free space left (sarcasm intentional).

Sadly, there's no useful metric other than approximation for how much real space you have left. The pie chart should give you a 'feel' of about how much you have left, and that's intentional -- it's very very approximate. There are a lot of variables, including the bitrate of the show (determined by your cable company for digital channels, determined by you for analogue). How much *actual* space we have free (no way to ask the tivo that), and how much space will be freed as you record.


----------



## Fofer

Gotcha, and thanks. 

The top line, with the user editable space, should say "Total Capacity" and not "Used," IMHO. (That's what was confusing me a bit, I think.)

Also, can you tell me how you arrived at the "approximately 632G" number in your post above? In other words, what line items are you looking at and/or adding up to arrive at 632? 

With that said, perhaps there could be another line item that says: "total used*" so users don't need to do the math in their heads.

I'd even go so far as to say, I'd appreciate another line item that says "total free*" that was the mathematical result of 698 (my entered HD capacity) minus the number above, minus 20G (pretend number for TiVo's own data.)

*approximate


----------



## Yoav

Fofer said:


> Gotcha, and thanks.
> 
> The top line, with the user editable space, should say "Total Capacity" and not "Used," IMHO. (That's what was confusing me a bit, I think.)
> 
> Also, can you tell me how you arrived at the "approximately 632G" number in your post above? In other words, what line items are you looking at and/or adding up to arrive at 632?
> 
> With that said, perhaps there could be another line item that says: "total used*" so users don't need to do the math in their heads.
> 
> I'd even go so far as to say, I'd appreciate another line item that says "total free*" that was the mathematical result of 698 (my entered HD capacity) minus the number above, minus 20G (pretend number for TiVo's own data.)
> 
> *approximate


Ok, I'm fearful that people will actually *use* those numbers and believe them. They really are complete estimates. The "Used" field is just 'largest sum of all the show sizes I have seen so far", and the gray area is simply "whatever is left if you change that sum to another value.

Which is why I'm trying to avoid the word 'capacity', which most people will assume to mean 'hard drive space on the tivo' (to which I will then get 50 bug reports as to how it's not the correct value).

I guess I need a word for that which is neither 'capacity' nor 'used' but I can't think of one ...

Honestly, iTiVo is *not* the tool to use if you really want to know how much hard drive space you have free. Use that drawer to get a 'general feel' for how close to full your tivo is....


----------



## Fofer

I see. Interesting situation.

Well, even a "total" line item at the bottom of that list would help my brain out. Even just a tiny bit.  And it'd be nice if I had the option to omit the "Suggestions" from that total (as a user configurable preference) since I kinda consider those in the same vein as deleted shows (ie: not taking up "real" space.)


----------



## Yoav

Fofer said:


> I see. Interesting situation.
> 
> Well, even a "total" line item at the bottom of that list would help my brain out. Even just a tiny bit.  And it'd be nice if I had the option to omit the "Suggestions" from that total (as a user configurable preference) since I kinda consider those in the same vein as deleted shows (ie: not taking up "real" space.)


Ok. I'll add a Total and a 'wiggle'.. although should wiggle just include unallocated and suggestions? or should it also include 'expired'?


----------



## Fofer

I think just unallocated and suggestions. As far as the way I've seen nearly every TiVo being used and enjoyed, folks have plenty of "expired" shows that they fully intend to watch. Hence the reason for the "free space anxiety" in the first place.


----------



## smoknyreyz

Sorry if this has already been posted, I searched the thread and didn't see it. When using visual hub for dvd conversion there is a preset for Apple TV 5.1 to get dolby digital audio. It seems my conversions with this software using the Apple TV preset are only stereo. What settings should I use to get dolby digital 5.1 from my HD conversions for Apple TV?


----------



## Yoav

smoknyreyz said:


> Sorry if this has already been posted, I searched the thread and didn't see it. When using visual hub for dvd conversion there is a preset for Apple TV 5.1 to get dolby digital audio. It seems my conversions with this software using the Apple TV preset are only stereo. What settings should I use to get dolby digital 5.1 from my HD conversions for Apple TV?


Visual Hub for AppleTV?
I'm pretty sure you're posting in the wrong thread... (I don't know anything about visual hub, although someone may chime in).

If you mean handbrake.. You may want to ask on the handbrake forums.. If I recall correctly appleTVs are kind of dumb and only support prologic instead of discrete (although that may have been changed).


----------



## smoknyreyz

Yoav said:


> Visual Hub for AppleTV?
> I'm pretty sure you're posting in the wrong thread... (I don't know anything about visual hub, although someone may chime in).
> 
> If you mean handbrake.. You may want to ask on the handbrake forums.. If I recall correctly appleTVs are kind of dumb and only support prologic instead of discrete (although that may have been changed).


Visual Hub is another conversion utility for the mac, it's much like handbrake. Apple TV's do support 5.1 dolby digital audio after the Apple TV 2.0 update. I searched through another forum last night (not the tivo community forum) and discovered that the new version of handbrake allows ac3 passthrough which works with the preset apple tv setting, so it looks like using the newly implemented handbrake apple tv preset in your software will allow 5.1. I will download the new version of your software and try it. I'll let you know my results.


----------



## Yoav

smoknyreyz said:


> Visual Hub is another conversion utility for the mac, it's much like handbrake. Apple TV's do support 5.1 dolby digital audio after the Apple TV 2.0 update. I searched through another forum last night (not the tivo community forum) and discovered that the new version of handbrake allows ac3 passthrough which works with the preset apple tv setting, so it looks like using the newly implemented handbrake apple tv preset in your software will allow 5.1. I will download the new version of your software and try it. I'll let you know my results.


Thank you 
If you figure out some changes that are needed under advanced settings to get AppleTV to work, tell me and I'll add them. Just please make sure that they work for regular and HD programming (yes I have no AppleTV to test with, so relying on people who do to tell me how to make them work).


----------



## wdave

This is a great app, Yoav, thanks for doing this.

My converted videos end up with some severe color artifacts and blockiness. Is this a known issue with a known remedy?


----------



## Yoav

Ok just pushed 1.7b1 in there.
features added:
AtomicParsley in bundle
Putting shows in subdirs (based on show name). 
Generating metadata (AP, xml and .txt for pytivo)
Program won't exit when window is closed..

The metadata is just basic stuff (showname, episode title, etc). If you want to put in more complete metadata I recommend tools such as MetaX

I have a nagging feeling I broke stuff in the process.. oh well. That's why I make beta builds first...


----------



## smoknyreyz

Has anyone tried the Handbrake Apple TV preset? The converted file plays fine in itunes, but it doesn't even show up on my apple tv even after a sync. I can convert with the standard apple tv setting, not using the handbrake option, but that doesn't give me 5.1 audio.


----------



## Cuisinartoh

I'm a new user of iTivo starting today. It solves the problem of me having to manually download Oprah with TDM, convert video to iPhone, copy to wife's iTunes library, and then sync to her iPhone so she can watch Oprah at lunch. Dude, how do I send you money? 

You should accept/solicit donations so you can buy an ElGato Turbo.264 and/or an Apple TV 

Thanks for the app,
Ed Jones


----------



## smoknyreyz

smoknyreyz said:


> Has anyone tried the Handbrake Apple TV preset? The converted file plays fine in itunes, but it doesn't even show up on my apple tv even after a sync. I can convert with the standard apple tv setting, not using the handbrake option, but that doesn't give me 5.1 audio.


Looks like 1.7b2 fixed whatever was causing the problem. I've now been able to use the handbrake apple tv preset to convert for apple tv and retain the 5.1 soundtrack. Thanks for the great software!


----------



## wdave

fatespawn said:


> Yoav,
> 
> On my G5 10.4 mac, I am still having difficulty encoding to .mp4. I have "iphone" and edit commercials selected. The download is successful, and the comskip seems successful, but when the encoding phase begins, everything bogs down. It's reporting 180+ minutes remaining. My G5 may be yesterday's Mac, but it's not THAT slow. Here's a sample of the output file iTivo is giving me.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Not very pretty. I'll try some other presets - disabling comskip etc. and see if anything changes. I don't have a log file because I couldn't wait the 3 hours for the total encode.





wdave said:


> My converted videos end up with some severe color artifacts and blockiness. Is this a known issue with a known remedy?


Mine looked just like fatespawn's above screenshot. I fixed it by reinstalling the latest mencoder Binary Codec Package (scroll down to the codec packages on that page).



cmontyburns said:


> H.264 encoding on PPC hardware takes forever, unfortunately.


Indeed. I started the same 2:30 HD movie download/conversion (to iPhone) with each of my Macs:

G5 Dual 2.3GHz PPC: 67 hours est
New MBP 2.4GHz Duo: 2.5 hours est


----------



## Yoav

> Mine looked just like fatespawn's above screenshot. I fixed it by reinstalling the latest mencoder Binary Codec Package (scroll down to the codec packages on that page).


So, I'm a little confused as to why a codec package would help (since the encoder takes mpeg-2 as input and spits out h.264 mp4, both of which *should* be in the mencoder binary). However, if that works for you  yay...



> H.264 encoding on PPC hardware takes forever, unfortunately.


Yeah ppc is slow, and h.264 is REALLY cpu-intensive. However, it's possible that there are some useful compile-time flags that could be passed in when compiling the ppc version of libx264 to help speed it up a little. However, I don't know of any relevant ones. If you think of a good way to improve it, I'd be happy to do so.

HOWEVER, an additional thing that *will* speed it along greatly: select iphone. Go into the advanced menu, and edit the video encoder options. Delete it all, and replace it with this:


Code:


-of lavf -lavfopts format=ipod -ovc x264 -x264encopts nocabac:subq=1:level_idc=30:me=dia:bitrate=256:threads=auto:bframes=0:keyint=15:global_header -vf dsize=480:320:0,scale=-8:-8,harddup

This should yield a considerably 'uglier' encode, but hopefully considerably faster too. You may want to read up on encoder settings on http://www.mplayerhq.hu/DOCS/HTML/en/menc-feat-x264.html or http://trac.handbrake.fr/wiki/x264Options


----------



## Yoav

> Looks like 1.7b2 fixed whatever was causing the problem. I've now been able to use the handbrake apple tv preset to convert for apple tv and retain the 5.1 soundtrack. Thanks for the great software!


Which is incredibly odd since I didn't touch the encoder settings for AppleTV in any 1.7 release .. hmmm... Well yay it's working... black magic!


----------



## Yoav

> Thanks for the app,
> Ed Jones


You're welcome. And no donations necessary. Feel free to give what you'd have donated to a charity you like instead.. (I'm not fond of taking donations for this since (1) it's based on someone else's code, (2) I did it mostly for me, (3) I'd feel obligated to fix bugs once I started taking cash .


----------



## Fofer

You're a kind and generous man, Yoav. Thanks for sharing this work and your time here too.


----------



## fatespawn

wdave and Yoav,

Somthing must be goofy with the PPC encoding scheme. I don't know the correct "phraseology" but 67hours for an encode and the wierd "LSD effect" of the mp4's seem to be related somehow.

I posted on the last page some results from using Visualhub to encode with my 1.5 Ghz G4, my 2.0Ghz dual G5, and my 2.4Ghz dual iMac. Each is about 3 times slower than the next for a 30 minute SD video.... (180 min for the G4, 60 min for the G5 and 20 minutes for the imac)

Those numbers seem pretty consistent, but 67 HOURS?! That's a bit on the peculiar side of things. I wish I could help more - or I may be forced to go out and just bite the bullet and buy a new Mac Pro for myself 

-fate


----------



## Yoav

fatespawn said:


> Those numbers seem pretty consistent, but 67 HOURS?! That's a bit on the peculiar side of things. I wish I could help more - or I may be forced to go out and just bite the bullet and buy a new Mac Pro for myself
> 
> -fate


I'm curious. How does the Handbrake/iPhone setting compare? It's certainly possible that the build I have for mencoder is simply badly optimized for ppc (although that wouldn't explain the color strangeness) -- or worse, buggy on the ppc side -- cross compiling is a ***** and can lead to weirdnesses.
The handbrake binary is straight from their website. If you're getting *significantly* better performance using it, then my mencoder build is probably busted.
If you're not, then I would guess that libx264 is just not very ppc-friendly, and that visualhub used a different encoder for their h.264... If it's possible to drive that encoder from the commandline or via applescript, it might be possible to get iTivo to use it....

One other tiny thing: is visual-hub built universal? or are you running it via rosetta on i386?


----------



## fatespawn

i'll try the handbrake setting when I get home in a few days. I too am curious as to it's performance.

alas, VisualHub was a nice little universal app that seemed to be my "one-stop-shop" for video conversion. I was formerly a ffmpegx devotee, but a lack of development and a rather ~dark~ h264 output led me to VisualHub. Unfortunately, Visualhub is no longer being supported or developed. Too bad. It is still a good app.

http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/21888

-fate


----------



## cuyahoga

Yoav said:


> Hey thanks! (As you can tell i've been busy trying to get 10.4 working and completely dropped the ball on ElGato).
> 
> I was hoping that the elgato encoder defaulted to 'last value used' for the setting, so that you can run it manually, change the settings, and then let iTiVo do its thing.
> There *IS* a way to force it to encode with particular resolution choices (it has to be one of 'ipod high, ipod standard, sony psp, appletv, iphone' when you invoke the encoder). I just didn't want to create another 5 download formats to support each individually....
> 
> Can you tell me if it saves the last format used? Would it help if I left the application running after the encode is done?
> 
> I'm not sure about the metadata though. I have no clue what turbo.264 does with it


It does seem to remember last format used, but perhaps it has something to do with the fact that I drag and drop the file in and iTiVo sends the file to turbo.264 in a different way.


----------



## cuyahoga

Yoav said:


> Ok just checked in a change that will let you specify in advanced options (under video encoder) one of
> ipodH , ipod, psp, appleTV, iPhone
> and if none are specified, it will default to using whatever the program already has.
> 
> Also, re-enabling comskip since we can use the same hack we're using for handbrake.


Ok, I saw this message after I posted my pervious message.

I downloaded 1.7b2 and tried using the elgato turbo.264 iPhone preset.

Once the file is downloaded with iTiVo, it doesn't seem to be handing off to the elgato encoder.

Turbo.264 software doesn't load.

Ideas?

As always, thanks for your work on this.


----------



## Yoav

cuyahoga said:


> Ok, I saw this message after I posted my pervious message.
> 
> I downloaded 1.7b2 and tried using the elgato turbo.264 iPhone preset.
> 
> Once the file is downloaded with iTiVo, it doesn't seem to be handing off to the elgato encoder.
> 
> Turbo.264 software doesn't load.
> 
> Ideas?
> 
> As always, thanks for your work on this.


Ideas? well if it doesn't even try running the encoder that's something I should be able to reproduce, so let me try it... I may have broken something...

*Update*: yeah I did break something. My entirely bad. One little space is all the difference .

Ok try 1.7b3, which should have that part fixed (it should at least launch the elgato encoder.. whether it works is a different question).


----------



## fatespawn

Yoav said:


> I'm curious. How does the Handbrake/iPhone setting compare? It's certainly possible that the build I have for mencoder is simply badly optimized for ppc (although that wouldn't explain the color strangeness) -- or worse, buggy on the ppc side -- cross compiling is a ***** and can lead to weirdnesses.
> The handbrake binary is straight from their website. If you're getting *significantly* better performance using it, then my mencoder build is probably busted.
> If you're not, then I would guess that libx264 is just not very ppc-friendly, and that visualhub used a different encoder for their h.264... If it's possible to drive that encoder from the commandline or via applescript, it might be possible to get iTivo to use it....
> 
> One other tiny thing: is visual-hub built universal? or are you running it via rosetta on i386?


Ugh... The Handbrake is for 10.5. I'm running a G5 PPC 10.4. The encode fails without even producing a file.

I tried wdave's suggestion of updating the codec's, but that was no luck either. Same colorization effect and EXTREMELY long encodes. The most recent SD video file I encoded "completed" successfully, with the strange colorization still there.

Here is a the result:










This file took 2:40 to finish using iTivo's iPhone preset.

Then I did the decrypt only and used VisualHub and ffmpegX:
With VisualHub it took 43 minutes
With ffmpegX it took 32 minutes

This was a 30 minute SD video. The mencoder build MUST be screwed up if there's that much difference in encoding schemes. Both Visual Hub and ffmpegx's settings were about the same at iphone resolution at 1000-1100 kbps bitrates.

Any ideas?


----------



## Yoav

fatespawn said:


> Ugh... The Handbrake is for 10.5. I'm running a G5 PPC 10.4. The encode fails without even producing a file.


Oh right.. handbrake is 10.5 only

Ooh, I found one place where the compiler tries to run uname -m to add some compiler flags.. let me cheat that and see if we get a build that works this time... <Crossing fingers>.

If not, the last option is to have someone who has xcode installed on a PPC machine build it for me... (volunteers?)

*UPDATE*: Ok I just built 1.7b5 with the new ppc flags. Can you tell me if this seems to fix it?


----------



## fatespawn

YEA! Success - mostly. 

Ok, I got things to work on my 10.4 PPC - albeit a bit on the "slow side." 1 GREAT thing though - no color ghosting.

Everything works as advertised on the SD video I tested this morning. It was a 30 minute clip encoded with the iphone preset and comskip enabled. 

The encoding process IS still slow though - but not NEARLY as painful as 3 hours.

It took me 50 minutes to encode a 17 minute (the 30 minute show after comskip) to the iPhone format.

That's still about 1/2 as fast as Visualhub and even slower than ffmpegX - not that I'm passing any blame here.... I just wonder if there is anything we can to to speed up the process?


----------



## fatespawn

Oh, one more thing. When the encoding was finished, the whole process started over again for some reason. I was able to look at the mp4 file because it wasn't immediately re-written like happens when it's only an mpeg conversion. This seems to be an old bug... perhaps something that got reintroduced?


----------



## Yoav

fatespawn said:


> Oh, one more thing. When the encoding was finished, the whole process started over again for some reason. I was able to look at the mp4 file because it wasn't immediately re-written like happens when it's only an mpeg conversion. This seems to be an old bug... perhaps something that got reintroduced?


Let me explain what I *think* is going on, why it happens, and then you can tell me if that's what's going on.. (i.e. this may not be a bug).

The tivo reports a certain file size for every show (which is displayed on the itivo table). That number is a lie. Most of the time, the real amount is 'close' but not exactly right. In some cases though, that number is WILDLY wrong (try recording 1 minute of a 1 hour show.. the tivo will report the show as being 1 minute long, but its size will be about the size of an hourlong show).

(btw: this is part of the code I inherited. If there's a better way to do this, I'm all ears, although I'm also turning pretty lazy ...

Then when you download, the tivo simply 'stops' the transfer when the show is completely downloaded. So what iTiVo does is it looks at the downloaded size compared to the size the tivo claims it should be.

If the amount is right +/- 20%, then it assumes success. If not, it tries again, with +/- 40%, etc.. on the 4th try it will accept any size.. The problem here is that I can't tell if the tivo stopped the transfer cleanly, or if there was a problem with the transfer and it should be retried.. So if it makes it to the 4th attempt, we just assume that it *really* is supposed to be incredibly short, and accept it.

So, 99% of the time, fully recorded shows never need a second pass unless there really was an error in the transfer.

So now you get to tell me if we're in the 1%, or if there is a bug .

(out of interest, did it succeed on the second try?)


----------



## Yoav

fatespawn said:


> YEA! Success - mostly.
> 
> Ok, I got things to work on my 10.4 PPC - albeit a bit on the "slow side." 1 GREAT thing though - no color ghosting.
> 
> Everything works as advertised on the SD video I tested this morning. It was a 30 minute clip encoded with the iphone preset and comskip enabled.
> 
> The encoding process IS still slow though - but not NEARLY as painful as 3 hours.
> 
> It took me 50 minutes to encode a 17 minute (the 30 minute show after comskip) to the iPhone format.
> 
> That's still about 1/2 as fast as Visualhub and even slower than ffmpegX - not that I'm passing any blame here.... I just wonder if there is anything we can to to speed up the process?


Well, mencoder's antialiasing/deinterlacing is certainly more heavyweight than ffmpegs, so that might explain some slowness. As for the rest, there might be some additional compile-time flags that can be used to safely optimize the code.. feel free to look around.

Also, have you tried changing the video encoder options like I mentioned in a previous posting? that shoul drop the quality to the ffmpeg-default level somewhat, which should speed things up...


----------



## fatespawn

Yoav said:


> So, 99% of the time, fully recorded shows never need a second pass unless there really was an error in the transfer.
> 
> So now you get to tell me if we're in the 1%, or if there is a bug .
> 
> (out of interest, did it succeed on the second try?)


Yes, as i recall, this *may* be the case. I'll try again if the show is still on my Tivo. It sounds like you're on to something.

with regard to the "second try" it occured AFTER iTivo was done encoding to mp4. Usually (with tivodecode or with your simple passthrough option) when this occurs, the original file is instantly overwritten. But since iTivo had converted to mp4, the original file (mpg) was not there to be overwritten. The resulting mp4 WAS SUCCESSFUL so I just canceled the download. I'll see if I can duplicate the results.

Tomorrow, I'll see if your "alternate" setting work for mencoder. I'm not too "versed" on these type of things. I'm lucky if I can properly install some of these mashups half the time. I'll give your setting a try and report back.


----------



## cuyahoga

Yoav said:


> *Update*: yeah I did break something. My entirely bad. One little space is all the difference .
> 
> Ok try 1.7b3, which should have that part fixed (it should at least launch the elgato encoder.. whether it works is a different question).


Playing with 1.7b6 now.

Its in the 'Generating MetaData' phase after transfer has completed and before turbo.264 takes over.

How long should metadata generation take? Its been about 5 minutes as I write this.


----------



## Yoav

cuyahoga said:


> Playing with 1.7b6 now.
> 
> Its in the 'Generating MetaData' phase after transfer has completed and before turbo.264 takes over.
> 
> How long should metadata generation take? Its been about 5 minutes as I write this.


Metadata generation should be a few short seconds unless there's a bug.

However, metadata isn't supposed to be done until AFTER the encode is completed.. so the Turbo.264 was supposed to have been run and completed already (it modifies the resulting encoded file). Did it not start the encoder at all?

Can you attach the contents of /tmp/iTiVo-<username>/iTiVo.log ?


----------



## cuyahoga

Yoav said:


> However, metadata isn't supposed to be done until AFTER the encode is completed.. so the Turbo.264 was supposed to have been run and completed already (it modifies the resulting encoded file). Did it not start the encoder at all?
> 
> Can you attach the contents of /tmp/iTiVo-<username>/iTiVo.log ?


The encoder did not start; it did the transfer, said it was doin' the metadata thing and then just sat there until I quit or canceled the transfer and quit. the turbo.264 encoder never kicked off.

And I'm kind of embarrassed to say that I'm having trouble finding the log file! I can't even find the temp directory in the path you mentioned! I'm having a stupid moment.


----------



## Yoav

cuyahoga said:


> The encoder did not start; it did the transfer, said it was doin' the metadata thing and then just sat there until I quit or canceled the transfer and quit. the turbo.264 encoder never kicked off.
> 
> And I'm kind of embarrassed to say that I'm having trouble finding the log file! I can't even find the temp directory in the path you mentioned! I'm having a stupid moment.


No stupid moment. Apple tried to make life difficult (user-friendly) by hiding /tmp. Apparently if you open the finder, choose Go/Go to Folder... and then type /tmp in there, it will open /tmp up

There should be a directory named iTiVo-<yourusername> in there.
Copy the file named iTiVo.log out of there.

As for the main issue at hand.. Can you run Turbo.264 manually? Since I don't have the usb device, all I can do is watch it download, then run Turbo.264 (which reports to me that I need to insert the device). So I'm guessing it is failing to find Turbo.264 on your computer.. One thing to try:

Open up /Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app
and in there, run



Code:


osascript /Applications/iTiVo.app/Contents/Resources/Scripts/elgato.scpt a b c d e f g

 Tell me if that starts the program at least... (yeah those are completely bogus files I'm asking it to run on.. but hey.. it should still start it)


----------



## Ereth

Just FYI - I tried the Playstation 3 settings (labeled untested) and the show started, and I thought it was going to be great, but the audio and video were not in sync and after a short time (about 2 commercials), the PS3 suddenly complained that it could not play that file and stopped.

Not really much of a bug report, but hopefully useful as a datapoint.


----------



## Yoav

Ereth said:


> Just FYI - I tried the Playstation 3 settings (labeled untested) and the show started, and I thought it was going to be great, but the audio and video were not in sync and after a short time (about 2 commercials), the PS3 suddenly complained that it could not play that file and stopped.
> 
> Not really much of a bug report, but hopefully useful as a datapoint.


Hey it's a useful bug report.. Turns out I do own a PS3 so might as well start toying with the settings 

-- yoav


----------



## Yoav

This version supports a bunch of meta-data related changes to use in conjunction with pyTivoX (or on its own).

Should work better for those with ppc machines.

And you can now save your user-created formats.


----------



## fatespawn

Yoav,

Nice work. The meta data is a nice addition for iTunes sorting too. I did a SD transfer this morning with iPhone/Comskip enabled. The transfer was successful and the speed was on par with what I'd expect from a PPC machine. 

I'll try some 720/1080 HD tonight and see if I get the same results. Hopefully it'll be a non-issue.

Nice work and thanks for still working on the PPC side of things. It'll keep me from dropping a couple of grand for at least a few more months


----------



## istarigul

Novice iTivo user - I have been playing around with the various download options. Something that has me puzzled is that when I watch a tv thru my tivo on my sony widescreen tv I have it set to full and it fills the screen. When I use iTivo to download it and watch it then it only uses the middle of the screen. Is this something I should/tweak with dsize?

Whats the best intro into understanding mencoder?

thanks


----------



## Yoav

istarigul said:


> Novice iTivo user - I have been playing around with the various download options. Something that has me puzzled is that when I watch a tv thru my tivo on my sony widescreen tv I have it set to full and it fills the screen. When I use iTivo to download it and watch it then it only uses the middle of the screen. Is this something I should/tweak with dsize?
> 
> Whats the best intro into understanding mencoder?
> 
> thanks


I'm not sure I fully understand.. so if I'm answering completely incorrectly, feel free to explain more.

If what you mean is that after you download, it's only using a small window on your computer to show the movie, that's because most of the download formats convert to a smaller version (and even when not, your computer is usually much higher resolution than your TV). For example, iPhone converts to a 480x320 movie. The h.264 quicktime formats do not resize, but keep at the original resolution, which can be anything from 320x480 to 1920x1080, depending on the source.

Probably the easiest fix is simply to tell the viewer (I assume you view with Quicktime) to use the full screen. Load up the movie under Quicktime, and then from the menu, select View... Full Screen, or Option-F.

Edit: I just realized you might be complaining about sideboxing.. Was the above the correct fix? or are you complaining about black bars on the sides that you want the movie stretched to fill like some TVs do? If so, quicktime will has a little icon that looks like two arrows pulling to the sides (once you enter fullscreen mode). Click that, and watch your movies get deformed...


----------



## Fofer

And make sure you have the latest QuickTime... it wasn't until QuickTime 7.2 that fullscreen viewing was available in the free version. (QuickTime Pro was required before that  )


----------



## Yoav

istarigul said:


> Whats the best intro into understanding mencoder?
> 
> thanks


Sadly the documentation is lagging VERY much behind the program. The main documentation is at http://www.mplayerhq.hu/DOCS/HTML/en/index.html Starting with chapter 9.

The other approach is the google-shoot-and-hope-you-get-something. Search for mencoder plus whatever problem you're having or format you want to convert to, and see if anyone else wrote anything about it....


----------



## Mindflux

Does anyone know by chance where iTivo keeps files it's downloaded/re-encoding? They aren't in my selected storage folder. I had to stop a transfer/re-encode because it had frozen (seemingly) and I want to be sure that I don't have large files floating around on my drive with no use.


----------



## Yoav

Mindflux said:


> Does anyone know by chance where iTivo keeps files it's downloaded/re-encoding? They aren't in my selected storage folder. I had to stop a transfer/re-encode because it had frozen (seemingly) and I want to be sure that I don't have large files floating around on my drive with no use.


All intermediate files are kept in /tmp/iTiVo-<username>/

They are deleted whenever a new encode is started, when iTiVo is started, or when iTiVo exits cleanly.


----------



## Mindflux

Yoav said:


> All intermediate files are kept in /tmp/iTiVo-<username>/
> 
> They are deleted whenever a new encode is started, when iTiVo is started, or when iTiVo exits cleanly.


Ah alright.

Well I re-started the download/encoding, selecting my output to be "DVD"... however the resulting file was an mpg. (which also doesn't seem to play, even with Perian installed)

I was hoping for a VOB I could place on an actual DVD and have it load on my wife's DVD player at work so she could show her coworkers something..


----------



## PacoII

Yoav, when the app told me that 1.7 was available, it showed some release notes, but I hit install too quick and didn't get a chance to read them. I searched the itivo site, as well as downloaded the installer, but can't seem to find those release notes anywhere. Where can I find those? Thanks!


----------



## Yoav

Mindflux said:


> Ah alright.
> 
> Well I re-started the download/encoding, selecting my output to be "DVD"... however the resulting file was an mpg. (which also doesn't seem to play, even with Perian installed)
> 
> I was hoping for a VOB I could place on an actual DVD and have it load on my wife's DVD player at work so she could show her coworkers something..


Have you tried loading the output from iTiVo (whatever format you selected) into a DVD authoring program? That should make a valid chunked vob for you (or just burn the DVD for you entirely).

The DVD format (and in fact, most mpeg2 formats) are giving me a nasty headache, they work for some inputs and not others... I've mostly given up on doing anything about it, but if you figure out mencoder options to make it work, I'll gladly incorporate them.

One thing to make sure of though: If the encode didn't complete cleanly, the file is almost guaranteed to not work (there's some header information that isn't written out until the encode is completed).


----------



## Yoav

PacoII said:


> Yoav, when the app told me that 1.7 was available, it showed some release notes, but I hit install too quick and didn't get a chance to read them. I searched the itivo site, as well as downloaded the installer, but can't seem to find those release notes anywhere. Where can I find those? Thanks!


http://code.google.com/p/itivo/source/browse/trunk/www/changelog.html


----------



## Mindflux

Yoav said:


> Have you tried loading the output from iTiVo (whatever format you selected) into a DVD authoring program? That should make a valid chunked vob for you (or just burn the DVD for you entirely).
> 
> The DVD format (and in fact, most mpeg2 formats) are giving me a nasty headache, they work for some inputs and not others... I've mostly given up on doing anything about it, but if you figure out mencoder options to make it work, I'll gladly incorporate them.
> 
> One thing to make sure of though: If the encode didn't complete cleanly, the file is almost guaranteed to not work (there's some header information that isn't written out until the encode is completed).


All I did is tell iTiVo to download the program last night and encode it with the DVD preset, I was expecting to see a .VOB this morning (I let it run while I slept) so I could drop it in a VIDEO_TS folder so my wife could take it to work and show some coworkers.

The resulting file was a 1.6GB mpg (it was an hour long show, 6.6GB size wise on the TiVo). Again double clicking on the file tells me it can't be played. So I'm not even sure if it finished properly? iTiVo was just idle this morning.. no 'complete' notice and no 'failure' notice either.

I haven't tried to load it into a DVD Authoring program.. I'm assuming you mean like Toast? I'd expect it would need to transcode it yet again (two transcodings, ick).. to get that to work.


----------



## Yoav

Mindflux said:


> All I did is tell iTiVo to download the program last night and encode it with the DVD preset, I was expecting to see a .VOB this morning (I let it run while I slept) so I could drop it in a VIDEO_TS folder so my wife could take it to work and show some coworkers.
> 
> The resulting file was a 1.6GB mpg (it was an hour long show, 6.6GB size wise on the TiVo).
> 
> I haven't tried to load it into a DVD Authoring program.. I'm assuming you mean like Toast? I'd expect it would need to transcode it yet again (two transcodings, ick).. to get that to work.


If it's just the filename that's bothering you, rename it with a .vob extension  vobs are just mpeg-2 files with stricter requirements (for one, I think they need to be under 1 gig in size or something). Since the file is already an mpeg-2 file, it wouldn't need to be recoded again.

The fact that the movie isn't playing in quicktime though isn't a good sign. It looks like the encode didn't work.


----------



## Mindflux

Yoav said:


> The fact that the movie isn't playing in quicktime though isn't a good sign. It looks like the encode didn't work.


 Well I'll try to do it all over tonight in another mpeg2 format I guess, since I can move those readily to DVD authoring. I didn't have the time/energy to babysit it last night. Though a completion or fail dialog would have helped alleviate the confusion.


----------



## Yoav

Mindflux said:


> Well I'll try to do it all over tonight in another mpeg2 format I guess, since I can move those readily to DVD authoring. I didn't have the time/energy to babysit it last night. Though a completion or fail dialog would have helped alleviate the confusion.


One quick question: Does the mpg play fine under vlc or mplayerOSX?
(quicktime's mpeg-2 component doesn't work for all files). If it does, then just rename the file with a .vob extension.. (you can have that be the default under Prefs... Advanced.. Filename Extension.)


----------



## Mindflux

Yoav said:


> One quick question: Does the mpg play fine under vlc or mplayerOSX?
> (quicktime's mpeg-2 component doesn't work for all files). If it does, then just rename the file with a .vob extension.. (you can have that be the default under Prefs... Advanced.. Filename Extension.)


I haven't tried it under VLC or mplayerOSX. I've had plenty luck just using the Perian codecs to play anything I've come across through Quicktime. This file, thus far is the exception.


----------



## Yoav

Mindflux said:


> I haven't tried it under VLC or mplayerOSX. I've had plenty luck just using the Perian codecs to play anything I've come across through Quicktime. This file, thus far is the exception.


The reason I asked is because I just tried downloading an HD source using the DVD format. It didn't play for me under quicktime (I have Perian installed too). It did work under MPlayerOSX.

Edit: So, I guess that still doesn't guarantee anything about it working in a DVD player... but...


----------



## Mindflux

Ok, this plays in VLC and looks beautiful. Thanks 

Toast however does want to encode the video.. not sure there.


----------



## Yoav

Mindflux said:


> Ok, this plays in VLC and looks beautiful. Thanks
> 
> Toast however does want to encode the video.. not sure there.


Well, I'm not really a codec-weenie, so I don't know what changes are needed to get everything to play nice.. All the options are controllable under 'advanced'... I just don't know what toast/quicktime needs...

Personally, I'd download it as a quicktime format (h.264) and have it re-encode when making the DVD. At least that way everything *should* be able to read it and play nice... If encoding takes too long, select a lower-res format (like iphone super-res)...


----------



## Yoav

Mindflux said:


> Ok, this plays in VLC and looks beautiful. Thanks
> 
> Toast however does want to encode the video.. not sure there.


Ooh I may have found something that helps here:

select "DVD" as the format. Then go to advanced, and look at the video settings. You need to add a muxrate=36000 option to the format... To do that:

delete the encoder video options (completely) and paste this in there:


Code:


-ovc lavc -of mpeg -mpegopts format=dvd:tsaf:muxrate=36000 -vf scale=720:480,harddup -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg2video:vrc_buf_size=1835:vrc_maxrate=9800:vbitrate=5000:keyint=15:trell:mbd=2:precmp=2:subcmp=2:cmp=2:dia=-10:predia=-10:cbp:mv0:vqmin=1:lmin=1:dc=10:vstrict=0:aspect=16/9

 I think that will make it work in quicktime.. Can't say anything about toast though.


----------



## cuyahoga

Yoav said:


> No stupid moment. Apple tried to make life difficult (user-friendly) by hiding /tmp. Apparently if you open the finder, choose Go/Go to Folder... and then type /tmp in there, it will open /tmp up
> 
> There should be a directory named iTiVo-<yourusername> in there.
> Copy the file named iTiVo.log out of there.
> ______
> 
> Open up /Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app
> and in there, run
> 
> 
> 
> Code:
> 
> 
> osascript /Applications/iTiVo.app/Contents/Resources/Scripts/elgato.scpt a b c d e f g
> 
> Tell me if that starts the program at least... (yeah those are completely bogus files I'm asking it to run on.. but hey.. it should still start it)


I've attached the log, renamed with a .txt extension.

And, the bit of script code you gave me does launch the turbo.264 app when I put the line of code in the terminal.


----------



## Yoav

cuyahoga said:


> I've attached the log, renamed with a .txt extension.
> 
> And, the bit of script code you gave me does launch the turbo.264 app when I put the line of code in the terminal.


Ok, I see the problem. (my bad). the elgato iPhone setting was missing a video encoder argument.

Select AppleTV iPhone, and go under Advanced, encoder video options.
put in 'iPhone' (capitalization matters) there, and select "OK"

Whenever you change format, your changes will be lost by the way. So you'll need to add iPhone in there each time you change format.

I *believe* it should work now. (Or try using the elgato AppleTV setting instead). I will fix this in the next beta release...


----------



## Yoav

> with mpeg-2 native selected, the commercial skip button is grayed out.


Is this some sort of joke? Isn't that the exact text of the first reply in this thread? Mpeg-2 native format hasn't been available for several versions. Please update your program.


----------



## Fofer

Yoav said:


> Is this some sort of joke?


No, but it's some sort of spam. This user is just here to pimp something, it seems... I'm not sure the mods are doing all they can to minimize this sort of interruption here.

Pay no heed, carry on, and thanks for all of your great work and support, Yoav.


----------



## Yoav

zero hectic said:


> I've been trying to use Decrypt/Copy to snatch shows off my Tivo, strip out the commercials, then take the file over to Handbrake and use a custom preset I've been using that gives me a high quality file that's playable on both the Apple TV and my iPhone. (snip)...


You're gonna hate this answer:

I wish I could help.. but it looks like mencoder is crashing on the input. There's not much I can do about it (unfortunately, cutting commercials is only done via mencoder, and for some reason mencoder is barfing on your input).

Some things to try:

check if you can manually run mencoder (no arguments). Does it always crash? (if so, then the build of mencoder is broken, and I can look into fixing it).

Does everything work fine if you use 'HandBrake iPhone' as the download format?
(if so, we can still make this work).

Make sure you have enough space on your main hard drive to hold DOUBLE the size of the original movie...?

Is it working fine if you disable commercial skipping?

Manually run each of those command in the log:
(curl to fetch the file, tivodecode to strip the encoding, comskip to detect commercials, mencoder to strip them out) and see if you're still getting the crash -- if you are, you can play with the mencoder invocation to see if you can get it to be happy...)

By the way, on an unrelated note. You can tell iTiVo to use Handbrake as the encoder, and fully control all the settings (it's documented in the FAQ). So you wouldn't have to manually load up the file into HandBrake to encode it. Unfortunately, it will still use mencoder to strip out the commercials -- and that's the part that seems to be crashing...


----------



## vasu

I have a question about de-interlacing that I'm hoping to get some help with. I searched the forum, and this thread, and did a google search, but haven't seen an answer yet, so sorry if this has been answered, i'm new to the forum 

I just used iTivo to pull off tonight's episode of battlestar galactica, and used the Quicktime H264 5megabit option with commercial skip. The resulting file looks great, but is interlaced 1080i. 

Is there a way I can enable de-interlacing to this preset? I wasn't sure what mencoder flag to add...


----------



## Yoav

Go under 'Prefs, Advanced'
Look at the encoder video options.
In there will be a chunk labeled


Code:


-vf harddup

Change it to


Code:


 -vf pp=lb,harddup

(or you can use any of the other ones, like


Code:


 -vf pp=ci,harddup
 -vf yadif=1:1,mcdeint=2:1:10,harddup

A full examination of the deinterlacers and what they look like is available at http://guru.multimedia.cx/deinterlacing-filters/. Keep in mind that if your source is 'telecined' a de-interlacer may make things look worse (you'd want to inverse telecine it). Also, the de-interlacing will probably slow down the encoder somewhat. It's all fun and games...


----------



## steinbch

Kudos to the author of this program! It is exactly what I've been trying to do for a long time on my computer. The one question I have is does the program have the ability to change the name of a show downloaded and put into iTunes. For example, when I set up a subscription to The Colbert Report, after the import, iTunes reports the title of the program as "The Colbert Report 1531227". The number is apparently the ID number on the Tivo, but has nothing to do with the actual program. Is it possible to have the episode number instead, or even the date?

Thanks!


----------



## Yoav

steinbch said:


> Kudos to the author of this program! It is exactly what I've been trying to do for a long time on my computer. The one question I have is does the program have the ability to change the name of a show downloaded and put into iTunes. For example, when I set up a subscription to The Colbert Report, after the import, iTunes reports the title of the program as "The Colbert Report 1531227". The number is apparently the ID number on the Tivo, but has nothing to do with the actual program. Is it possible to have the episode number instead, or even the date?
> 
> Thanks!


As coded right now, unfortunately no. (other than of course renaming it by hand, or writing a macro to do that for you). Shows are always named 'show name - episode title', with two exceptions: Movies just get the movie title, and shows without episode titles (like the Colbert Report) get the tivo ID number -- This is to keep it unique (some shows don't provide an episode ID either, and broadcast multiple shows the same day -- so tivo ID is the only guaranteed unique thing there).

There *is* a feature request to allow you to specify a 'pattern' for the filename (so that you can override whatever iTiVo chooses with things like episode ID etc). But that's not coded (yet?).


----------



## vasu

Hey Yoav

thanks for the quick reply on how setup de-interlacing. However, when I add in that extra flag, mencoder crashes right after it starts encoding. It does this if commercial skip is turned on or off, and mencoder encodes just fine using any of the presets. This is what I have pasted in..



> -of lavf -lavfopts format=ipod -ovc x264 -x264encopts bitrate=5000:bframes=0:level_idc=41:threads=auto:global_header -vf yadif=1:1,mcdeint=2:1:10,harddup


----------



## Yoav

vasu said:


> Hey Yoav
> 
> thanks for the quick reply on how setup de-interlacing. However, when I add in that extra flag, mencoder crashes right after it starts encoding. It does this if commercial skip is turned on or off, and mencoder encodes just fine using any of the presets. This is what I have pasted in..


I notice there's a space in the word 'header' (it's written out as 'head er'). Is that a typo when copying or is that how it is in the video options? (that space will make mencoder fail as it will be an invalid argument).
I'll also warn you that the yadiff deinterlacing gets very slow and jerky on some inputs.. (I'm a fan of pp=lb, but that's personal preference I guess)


----------



## vasu

Yoav said:


> I notice there's a space in the word 'header' (it's written out as 'head er'). Is that a typo when copying or is that how it is in the video options? (that space will make mencoder fail as it will be an invalid argument).
> I'll also warn you that the yadiff deinterlacing gets very slow and jerky on some inputs.. (I'm a fan of pp=lb, but that's personal preference I guess)


The space in header was just something the forum added. When I changed the deinterlacing method from yadif to lb, it stopped crashing!

Do you happen to know if a flag can be added to resize down to 720p?


----------



## Yoav

vasu said:


> Do you happen to know if a flag can be added to resize down to 720p?


Well you just stepped on a landmine!!!

There again are tons of flags, depending on what you're trying to achieve. What's worse is that 720p isn't necessarily meaningful. I assume you're just trying to scale it down to 1280x720 but not change the frame rate?

If you put a 


Code:


   -vf scale=1280:720

 It will attempt to resize it to 1280x720. (note that you can just add that to other -vf flags by seperating them with a comma).

You *may* prefer to use something like


Code:


 -vf dsize=1280:720:0

 Which will resize the image to fit in 1280x720 without stretching it. If your original source is 1080p the 'scale' flag above works just as well.

There are actually a bunch of other possibilities to deal with issues about scaling not being divisible by certain numbers (a requirement of certain implementations of mp4), etc. But basically, try things and see if they work. If they don't.. google is probably your best friend.


----------



## hassgocubs

Yoav:

First, just awesome work on all this, and I can't thank you enough!

I don't quite know if this is a bug on your end or on iTunes end, but I'll throw it out there anyway.

Last weekend was the first weekend of me using 1.7. Everything downloaded fine using iPhone super settings, complete with the new updating of the meta tags.

When I inputted the files into iTunes, it took without a problem. But when I went in to change some of the ID3 data, it took iTunes anywhere from 90 seconds to three minutes to rewrite the tags, with a "writing tags" dialog box holding everything up.

When I did a google search on "itunes writing tags" I found this thread on the Apple boards: discussions (dot) apple (dot) com/thread (dot) jspa (questionmark) threadID=1840921 (ampersand) tstart=14

Any thoughts or suggestions? It's not a show stopper by any stretch, but it's a bit of a pain.

Thanks again for everything! If you're ever in Detroit, there's a beverage of your choice waiting!

Joe Hass


----------



## Yoav

hassgocubs said:


> Yoav:
> When I inputted the files into iTunes, it took without a problem. But when I went in to change some of the ID3 data, it took iTunes anywhere from 90 seconds to three minutes to rewrite the tags, with a "writing tags" dialog box holding everything up.


I looked at the threaded discussion that you were pointing at. And yes it seems like there's a problem with iTunes and retagging certain files. However, there's no solution or workaround proposed, so I dont know what I can do about it...
I haven't seen this happen myself (I don't really manually edit my tags much). It *is* possible that AtomicParsley (the auto-tagger) inserts too much data for itunes to handle. Or iTunes is failing to find a useful spot to tag in the file. Have you tried using iMetaX to tag instead of itunes?

Also, it's possible to simply strip everything and see if that improves anything... look at

http://lostify.com/2008/02/11/fixing-up-files-that-lostify-won’t-read-redux/

He has a tool called Squeegyfi to do that.

I *should* point out that it's certainly an iTunes bug and that unless apple fixes it, we're going to need to find ways of 'not tickling' the bug.


----------



## hassgocubs

Yoav said:


> I *should* point out that it's certainly an iTunes bug and that unless apple fixes it, we're going to need to find ways of 'not tickling' the bug.


Understood. The board implied that as well, but since the only thing that changed was on the software, I just thought I'd check with you. I didn't mean to upset, and my apologies for doing so.

Thanks for the help, and again, thanks for this great piece of software!


----------



## psywzrd

If I want to just pull a show off of my Tivo at the best possible quality (it's an HD sporting event), do I just select the Decrypt option?


----------



## Yoav

psywzrd said:


> If I want to just pull a show off of my Tivo at the best possible quality (it's an HD sporting event), do I just select the Decrypt option?


That is correct, but with a major caveat: The 'decrypt' option generates a file that some programs do not know how to read (notably, quicktime/itunes). They will claim (incorrectly) that it is not a movie file.

You have two options:

The first option is to re-encode it, but at a very high bitrate, and original size. That will generally take a VERY long time, but it's doubtful you will notice any quality loss (there will be some, but your eye won't be able to detect it). I'd use something like 'quicktime h.264 5mbps'.

Your second option is to use 'decrypt', but only use a viewer that accepts the decrypted files. Those include Mplayer OSX, and VLC. Alternatively, some viewers (like Plex) re-encode using ffmpeg, which can also read those files.


----------



## Yoav

hassgocubs said:


> I didn't mean to upset, and my apologies for doing so.
> 
> Thanks for the help, and again, thanks for this great piece of software!


Woops, sorry. I wasn't upset (sorry to have come off that way). I was just trying to explain that I'm happy to apply a workaround but that I don't know of one. I think the reason it only started with 1.7 is because 1.7 was the first version to actually use metadata tagging inside the mp4. Before then we were just asking itunes to change its data for the file. You should still (I hope) be able to scrape out the tags using that squeegee tool, and hopefully itunes will be ok with changing them then?


----------



## psywzrd

Yoav said:


> That is correct, but with a major caveat: The 'decrypt' option generates a file that some programs do not know how to read (notably, quicktime/itunes). They will claim (incorrectly) that it is not a movie file.
> 
> You have two options:
> 
> The first option is to re-encode it, but at a very high bitrate, and original size. That will generally take a VERY long time, but it's doubtful you will notice any quality loss (there will be some, but your eye won't be able to detect it). I'd use something like 'quicktime h.264 5mbps'.
> 
> Your second option is to use 'decrypt', but only use a viewer that accepts the decrypted files. Those include Mplayer OSX, and VLC. Alternatively, some viewers (like Plex) re-encode using ffmpeg, which can also read those files.


What should I do if my ultimate goal is to eventually burn that file to DVD (hopefully BluRay) at some point? Like I said, this is an HD sporting event (a football game) and the running time is just over 4 hours. I used the Decrypt option and the file size on my Mac is almost 31GB.


----------



## Yoav

psywzrd said:


> What should I do if my ultimate goal is to eventually burn that file to DVD (hopefully BluRay) at some point? Like I said, this is an HD sporting event (a football game) and the running time is just over 4 hours. I used the Decrypt option and the file size on my Mac is almost 31GB.


I believe blu-ray uses h.264 as the encoder, so the quicktime h.264 encoding (if you're willing to sit it out) should work fine.

I believe that setting doesn't keep AC3 audio though (dolby digital) which some HD programs use... it converts it to AAC. For a sporting event that shouldn't matter.. but if it's a movie, you may want to manually change the options. Sadly, if you change it back to AC-3, quicktime will not play it again..
(yes.. encoding is a *****).


----------



## Fofer

Yoav said:


> I *should* point out that it's certainly an iTunes bug and that unless apple fixes it, we're going to need to find ways of 'not tickling' the bug.


Just curious - have you reported it as such to Apple? Hopefully this will help...


----------



## Yoav

Fofer said:


> Just curious - have you reported it as such to Apple? Hopefully this will help...


Me? No. I don't even know how one reports bugs to apple . I generally figured unless I'm a paying developer customer of theirs, my bug report will be politely filed somewhere and never looked at.... am I wrong?


----------



## Fofer

I report bugs all the time, and I'm not a paying developer (and I'd do this one, but it's beyond my understanding.) All you need, I believe, is a free ADC membership.

https://bugreport.apple.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/RadarWeb
http://developer.apple.com/BugReporter/

I have gotten good response (follow up questions via email, even) and know they take it seriously. Very seriously. In some cases, I've even see my feedback lead to a fix.

The other way I know of, open to the "general public" is this one:
http://www.apple.com/feedback/itunesapp.html
...but my hunch is it's not taken quite as seriously as the link above.


----------



## Yoav

Hm, two things:

1) I am unable to reproduce the bug. I've tried changing everything, and itunes happily accepts it.

2) The discussion is on the apple developers board, so I'm assuming someone has already reported it.

Have you tried updating your itunes? Maybe they fixed it and that's why I can't get it to trigger?


----------



## Czachorski

I just downloaded this program and installed it, and found that it works real well, is easy to use, and a great utility. I just wanted to drop a note of thanks!


----------



## NA9D

I just discovered this program and it looks good but a couple things. One is a suggestion and the other a problem.

The problem first:

- I just finished converting my first show. Using all the default settings in the program with the output type as iPhone/iPod super res. I've selected to cut commercials. The audio is well out of sync with the video - not just around the commercials - everywhere. This is the exact same problem I had when I was playing with TivoButler in the past. I could never get mencoder to properly sync audio. Is there a setting that needs to be adjusted? I'm surprised no one else is seeing this and it's just me. We're talking audio being off by probably 250 to 500 mSec.

OK, now the suggestion:

Quicktime can indeed play decrypted Tivo files which are MPEG-2. You simply need to purchase the MPEG-2 component for Quicktime from Apple.


Any help you can provide on the first is appreciated.


----------



## Yoav

NA9D said:


> - I just finished converting my first show. Using all the default settings in the program with the output type as iPhone/iPod super res. I've selected to cut commercials. The audio is well out of sync with the video - not just around the commercials - everywhere. This is the exact same problem I had when I was playing with TivoButler in the past. I could never get mencoder to properly sync audio. Is there a setting that needs to be adjusted? I'm surprised no one else is seeing this and it's just me. We're talking audio being off by probably 250 to 500 mSec.


 Actually you are not alone in seeing this. It seems like it's an issue with the way mencoder rejoins the split up audio/video streams. I thought I was using 'all the flags' that are meant to reduce it, but unfortunately, nothing is guaranteed. It isn't happening for me anymore though, so I dunno what to suggest. I guess if it's a fixed 250ms, you can go into advanced, and add '-delay .25' to the list of options, and see if that helps any. Unfortunately, if the delay varies (and it usually will across a commercial cut) I don't think there's anything that can be done... (mind you, I'm using the iPhone setting, not iPhone super-res.. but I doubt that makes a difference). (you're using iPhone super-res.. not Handbrake iPhone .. right?)



> OK, now the suggestion:
> 
> Quicktime can indeed play decrypted Tivo files which are MPEG-2. You simply need to purchase the MPEG-2 component for Quicktime from Apple.


 I don't own the component so can't test/verify, but I've been told by others that even the mpeg-2 component doesn't work right. Have you verified that it works with both HD and regular sources?


----------



## NA9D

Thanks for the info. I'll take a look at adding the delay command into the mencode options. I knew there had to be a flag like that.

As for the Quicktime MPEG-2 component, I've never had a problem playing any HD or SD files with it that have been decoded first. You have to obviously put them through TivoDecode but after that, they work fine.


----------



## Yoav

NA9D said:


> Thanks for the info. I'll take a look at adding the delay command into the mencode options. I knew there had to be a flag like that.
> 
> As for the Quicktime MPEG-2 component, I've never had a problem playing any HD or SD files with it that have been decoded first. You have to obviously put them through TivoDecode but after that, they work fine.


Ok, I'll add that to the FAQ then 
Thanks!


----------



## Fofer

See, I thought the same, and have been able to play TiVo MPEG-2 files in the past (I have the $20 Apple MPEG-2 plugin.) Haven't tried it in awhile but I do recall it working.

So I was dismayed when I read above that you decided to remove Mpeg-2 native format several versions ago.

That said, it'd be great to see it back... and hey, how about letting us know your PayPal address so we can thank you for your hard work. I, for one, would be happy to contribute to the fund that buys you the plug-in (and more.  )


----------



## Yoav

Fofer said:


> So I was dismayed when I read above that you decided to remove Mpeg-2 native format several versions ago.
> 
> That said, it'd be great to see it back... and hey, how about letting us know your PayPal address so we can thank you for your hard work. I, for one, would be happy to contribute to the fund that buys you the plug-in (and more.  )


Actually I never removed it. I renamed "mpeg-2 native" to "decrypt". That stopped a barrage of people who were upset that their quicktime player, that can clearly play mpeg-2's.. was claiming it wasn't a valid movie.

So yeah. it's still there... It's called 'decrypt' (which is just-as-valid a description, but stops the complaints). There are also additional mpeg-2 formats which are actual conversions, which work even if you don't have the quicktime mpeg-2 component. (I'm trying to keep everything here 'free'.. Otherwise, why not just buy Toast?).

As for paypal. If you really have a need to donate, then pick a charity. Donate what you'd give me instead? I appreciate the sentiment.. feel free to tell others about the code if you like it instead?... Or just continue helping me identify/fix bugs.


----------



## hassgocubs

Yoav said:


> Hm, two things:
> 
> 1) I am unable to reproduce the bug. I've tried changing everything, and itunes happily accepts it.
> 
> 2) The discussion is on the apple developers board, so I'm assuming someone has already reported it.
> 
> Have you tried updating your itunes? Maybe they fixed it and that's why I can't get it to trigger?


I'm running the latest and greatest on iTunes.

Squeegify/Lostify sounds like it'll do the trick (and easier than editing the things in iTunes). I'll check it out over the week during my usual Saturday TiVo dump and report back.

Thanks again.


----------



## fatespawn

Just a side note about the mpeg-2 playback component. I haven't been able to get anything off the Tivo to play audio in Quicktime even with the component installed. mpeg-2's that I create (kids movies etc..) for playback on the Tivo DO play in Quicktime, but for all native Tivo downloads, I have to use VLC. At first I thought it was AC3 files, but I just tested with some SD videos and the audio doesn't work at all. It may be user error, but the mpeg-2 component doesn't work for me.


----------



## Yoav

fatespawn said:


> Just a side note about the mpeg-2 playback component. I haven't been able to get anything off the Tivo to play audio in Quicktime even with the component installed. mpeg-2's that I create (kids movies etc..) for playback on the Tivo DO play in Quicktime, but for all native Tivo downloads, I have to use VLC. At first I thought it was AC3 files, but I just tested with some SD videos and the audio doesn't work at all. It may be user error, but the mpeg-2 component doesn't work for me.


Hmm since I don't have the component, anyone else with it care to chime in? (I'd hate to recommend a solution in the faq that costs money, only to then have people tell me it doesn't actually work)...


----------



## NA9D

You know, you are right. I forgot about the audio issue. I've been able to make things play on occasion but I just tried with a video and got no audio. It's odd why it does this with the Tivo mpegs because I've got nearly a Terabyte of MPEG-2s pulled from my ReplayTVs and those play fine (and Replay used a funky MPEG2 variant as it was).


----------



## Yoav

Ok, just to be safe removing that suggestion from the FAQ then. If there is a workaround, tell me


----------



## Fofer

Strange. I know I *used* to be able to play "native" MPEG-2 files, with previous extraction methods, in QuickTime Player. This was with the MPEG-2 component installed.

Now I can't, with files extracted via iTiVo from my Series 3 TiVo, in "decrypt" mode. And yes, I still have the MPEG-2 component installed.

(Then again, previously I was extracting from a non-HD, series 2 TiVo... an SD DirecTiVo to be exact.)

Now when I try, I don't even see video, I get this:









Plays fine in VLC though. Hmm.


----------



## Yoav

Fofer said:


> Strange.


The series-3 tends to just store the broadcast atsc video in the
mpeg-2 as it was sent. series-2 (and series-3 for non-digital channels)
will re-encode it. I think the directtv models stored the digital bits that
were being broadcast as-si.

So it's possible the component works fine for encodings done one way
but not the other..

Either way, it's not something I'm going to recommend people use .


----------



## NA9D

Yoav said:


> I guess if it's a fixed 250ms, you can go into advanced, and add '-delay .25' to the list of options, and see if that helps any. Unfortunately, if the delay varies (and it usually will across a commercial cut) I don't think there's anything that can be done...


Just wanted to let you know that this worked perfectly. The delay is consistent throughout the shows and adding in that 250 msec delay did the trick. I'm not sure if it's exactly right as far as the time, but it's close enough and the lips pretty much match up with the voice.

This is a very nice program. Thanks for your work.


----------



## psywzrd

I've tried twice now to pull a show off of my Tivo and burn it to DVD and both times the program has stopped extracting the show less than half way into the process (the show is about 4 1/2 hours long but it only extracted about 1 1/2 hours of it). Any idea why this is happening?


----------



## Yoav

(I assume you haven't gotten to the burning phase since iTiVo doesn't burn dvds?)

where are you extracting to? Is it possible that the location is getting full? What format and options are you using? It might help to turn on logging (under Prefs.. Advanced) and then attaching the log (it's normally under /tmp/iTiVo-<username>/iTiVo.log).

Also, please make sure that you have no other tool on any other computer trying to download from that tivo (the tivo will only let one person do a download at a time...). -- a common quiet culprit is the 'now playing' widget which most people forget they ever installed...


----------



## wdave

Some suggestions/requests:

1) Don't automatically connect to the Tivo upon launch (or better: give us a preference not to). I have multiple Tivos and frequently don't want to connect to the last one I did. I have to wait for it to download the show list before switching to the one I want.

2) Add a "YouTube HD" format profile for 1280x720 h.264 video.

3) Fix your AppleScript bug in preferences. Everytime I go into preferences and hit Cancel I get the error and then can't get into prefs again until I relaunch. This seems so blatant I'm wondering whether only I'm hitting this error. Let me know if you need more info from me.

4) There is no 4. I only have 3 requests right now. Love the app! Thank you, thank you for creating it!

David


----------



## psywzrd

Yoav said:


> (I assume you haven't gotten to the burning phase since iTiVo doesn't burn dvds?)
> 
> where are you extracting to? Is it possible that the location is getting full? What format and options are you using? It might help to turn on logging (under Prefs.. Advanced) and then attaching the log (it's normally under /tmp/iTiVo-<username>/iTiVo.log).
> 
> Also, please make sure that you have no other tool on any other computer trying to download from that tivo (the tivo will only let one person do a download at a time...). -- a common quiet culprit is the 'now playing' widget which most people forget they ever installed...


Yeah - I should have been more clear about that. I'm extracting the show from my Tivo to my computer using the DVD option under format. I'm going to turn on logging, try it again and attach the log.


----------



## Yoav

psywzrd said:


> Yeah - I should have been more clear about that. I'm extracting the show from my Tivo to my computer using the DVD option under format. I'm going to turn on logging, try it again and attach the log.


Ahh, well, I *should* bring up the fact that there's a small bug in the DVD format (it shouldn't have caused a crash, but it does sometimes create unreadable files). I have a fix for it, but it's slated for the next beta... 
Until then, if you need to use the 'DVD' format, after selecting it, go to the Advanced tab, and where you see 'encoder video options' delete ALL of that, and replace it with


Code:


 -ovc lavc -of mpeg -mpegopts format=dvd:tsaf:muxrate=36000 -vf scale=720:480,harddup -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg2video:vrc_buf_size=1835:vrc_maxrate=9800:vbitrate=5000:keyint=15:trell:mbd=2:precmp=2:subcmp=2:cmp=2:dia=-10:predia=-10:cbp:mv0:vqmin=1:lmin=1:dc=10:vstrict=0:aspect=16/9

(you will need to repeat this whenever you choose another format and then go back to the DVD format.).. Sorry


----------



## Yoav

wdave said:


> Some suggestions/requests:
> 
> 1) Don't automatically connect to the Tivo upon launch (or better: give us a preference not to). I have multiple Tivos and frequently don't want to connect to the last one I did. I have to wait for it to download the show list before switching to the one I want.


Ok, adding a preferences option to control this.


> 2) Add a "YouTube HD" format profile for 1280x720 h.264 video.


youtube accepts 1280x720? can I get more details on the requirements? (bitrate? audio format/bitrate? container?)


> 3) Fix your AppleScript bug in preferences. Everytime I go into preferences and hit Cancel I get the error and then can't get into prefs again until I relaunch. This seems so blatant I'm wondering whether only I'm hitting this error. Let me know if you need more info from me.


Ermm.. that's a bug. And no, it doesn't happen for me when I hit cancel. Does the error say anything useful? (yes, iTiVo is un ugly-ass applescript program).


> 4) There is no 4. I only have 3 requests right now. Love the app! Thank you, thank you for creating it!


 Well hurry up and find a 4... you're leaving me hanging here!!!


----------



## NA9D

One thing I forgot to mention is that when using the feature to cut commercials, it would be nice if the first couple minutes gets no cutting. This is because some shows that are syndicated like on A&E or Bravo get started while the previous show is ending (annoying yes but it's the way it is). I think the com skip feature thinks this is a commercial. At least it does it with Law and Order as it starts out with a black screen (heck, L&O has ALWAYS played havoc with my ReplayTV automatic commercial advance so perhaps it's just the way L&O is). But I'm seeing some of my L&O episodes start basically after the opening credits/title sequence of the show.

Would be nice to just be able to accept commercials w/in the first couple minutes...


----------



## Yoav

NA9D said:


> One thing I forgot to mention is that when using the feature to cut commercials, it would be nice if the first couple minutes gets no cutting. This is because some shows that are syndicated like on A&E or Bravo get started while the previous show is ending (annoying yes but it's the way it is). I think the com skip feature thinks this is a commercial. At least it does it with Law and Order as it starts out with a black screen (heck, L&O has ALWAYS played havoc with my ReplayTV automatic commercial advance so perhaps it's just the way L&O is). But I'm seeing some of my L&O episodes start basically after the opening credits/title sequence of the show.
> 
> Would be nice to just be able to accept commercials w/in the first couple minutes...


 I'm worried about getting into 'refined control of comskip behavior'. While it is possible to have some control over comskip (and in fact, how it determines what should be cut out), attempting to give user control over this is entering into 'scary territory' for me. If you feel brave, the comskip.ini file is in /Applications/iTiVo.app/Contents/Resources/comskip.ini
and instructions on many of the values in there can be found at http://www.kaashoek.com/files/tuning.htm
(be sure to save your changes somewhere, as new releases of iTiVo will probably overwrite that file).

I did initially think about giving users 'some' control over comskip (and in fact, you'll note the entire comskip panel only has one button). But for now, there is just too much black magic going on for me to want to mess with it.

But at least you DO have the option of messing with it  Just no getting upset with me if your program is editted incorrectly!!


----------



## wdave

Yoav said:


> Ok, adding a preferences option to control this.


Awesome, thanks! Careful, be this responsive and we'll start expecting it.



Yoav said:


> youtube accepts 1280x720? can I get more details on the requirements? (bitrate? audio format/bitrate? container?)


Optimizing your video uploads



Yoav said:


> Ermm.. that's a bug. And no, it doesn't happen for me when I hit cancel. Does the error say anything useful? (yes, iTiVo is un ugly-ass applescript program).


It's when I choose preferences from the menu (not the button on the main window), and then hit cancel.

Says:


Code:


AppleScript Error

System Events got an error:  Can't get property list
file "Macintosh HD:Applications:iTivo.app:|
Contents:Resources;formats.plist". (-1728)

Then trying to bring up preferences again, causes:


Code:


AppleScript Error

Can't get item 1 of {}. (-1728)


----------



## Yoav

wdave said:


> It's when I choose preferences from the menu (not the button on the main window), and then hit cancel.


Oh hey, it's breaking here too. (I completely forgot about the menu option). Ok will debug. Thanks!
*edit*: Ok it's fixed... pretty annoying bug. Turns out AppleScript has one global value for a string/token/list delimiter, and you have to override it to split things.. but since it's global, and the prefs window can be opened while other things are going on.. that variable can change... (ech).

Anyways, I at least put in a small workaround for it. I'm sure there's plenty of race conditions that will still break it, but they should be rare enough that I'm not going to worry about it. (Sorry applescript is not my forte.. I just learned it as I was working on iTiVo).


----------



## Yoav

wdave said:


> Optimizing your video uploads


Ahh so they allow it if you're a youtube partner. cool...

Anyways, until a future release happens, you can just edit the youtube setting (go to advanced, and under video encoding, where you see dsize=480:320:0, make it dsize=1280:720:0)... I suspect you'll want to up the bitrate to something like 1000, or maybe even more. From a quick reading of that document, it looks like they'll accept ANY bitrate as long as the final file size is smaller than 20G.

You can save that format out as YouTube HD or something...
*added note*: They don't talk about any h.264 settings (like number of b-frames, h.264 level, cabac, etc)..
so I'd assume the youtube setting should work with the two values about modified, but you should tell me if
it doesn't (and if they support better stuff, I can add it in).


----------



## Fofer

You rock, Yoav.

That is all.


----------



## LHMPDX

Fofer said:


> You rock, Yoav.
> 
> That is all.


So say we all.


----------



## Yoav

Hey guys (those who have the mpeg-2 component).

Can you tell me if this 'fixes' the audio issues:

Select 'decrypt/copy' as the format
 go to advanced, replace the audio options with


Code:


-oac lavc -lavcopts abitrate=128:acodec=mp2


Try both a high-def (digital) and a non-digital feed?

I suspect there was no audio on the decyprt files from HD because those were ac-3 audio files and quicktime probably didn't like that. I'm hoping that this fixes it for that.. but I'm wondering if it still keeps everything working?
(oh, and there might be some audio sync issues.. bah).


----------



## danm628

First of all thank you for iTiVo. It is a great program, it does almost everything I want in a reasonable way. I don't want/need much of what Roxio supplies (DVD burning, etc.) but was close to buying it since the earlier, unsupported free tools were a bit clunky. With your updates iTiVo is a nearly perfect match to what I need.

There is one feature I can think of that would be nice to add. Often when I pull shows off the TiVo I end up doing it twice. Once for my iPhone and once for archiving. (I used to archive the MPEG 2 decoded video, I've switched to H.264 to save space.) It would be nice to only do the transfer from the TiVo once and then generate both of the output files from it.

- Dan


----------



## psywzrd

Yoav said:


> Ahh, well, I *should* bring up the fact that there's a small bug in the DVD format (it shouldn't have caused a crash, but it does sometimes create unreadable files). I have a fix for it, but it's slated for the next beta...
> Until then, if you need to use the 'DVD' format, after selecting it, go to the Advanced tab, and where you see 'encoder video options' delete ALL of that, and replace it with
> 
> 
> Code:
> 
> 
> -ovc lavc -of mpeg -mpegopts format=dvd:tsaf:muxrate=36000 -vf scale=720:480,harddup -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg2video:vrc_buf_size=1835:vrc_maxrate=9800:vbitrate=5000:keyint=15:trell:mbd=2:precmp=2:subcmp=2:cmp=2:dia=-10:predia=-10:cbp:mv0:vqmin=1:lmin=1:dc=10:vstrict=0:aspect=16/9
> 
> (you will need to repeat this whenever you choose another format and then go back to the DVD format.).. Sorry


I'm having trouble finding the log file (I even used Spotlight to search for it and I still can't find it). I've tried to extract this show to the DVD format several times and it just won't work. I keep getting just under 1 1/2 hours of the show and that's it - it's like iTivo just quits extracting at that point and I don't get any kind of error message.


----------



## Yoav

psywzrd said:


> I'm having trouble finding the log file (I even used Spotlight to search for it and I still can't find it). I've tried to extract this show to the DVD format several times and it just won't work. I keep getting just under 1 1/2 hours of the show and that's it - it's like iTivo just quits extracting at that point and I don't get any kind of error message.


 You have to enable logging first (Prefs.. Advanced... "put debugging info in /tmp"

Then you need to browse to /tmp (Open finder, and under the top menu, there will be a "Go. Go to Folder...", and type in /tmp

That's pretty much it.

Still not sure why the transfers are quitting though.. Have you tried a different encode format?


----------



## psywzrd

Yoav said:


> You have to enable logging first (Prefs.. Advanced... "put debugging info in /tmp"
> 
> Then you need to browse to /tmp (Open finder, and under the top menu, there will be a "Go. Go to Folder...", and type in /tmp
> 
> That's pretty much it.
> 
> Still not sure why the transfers are quitting though.. Have you tried a different encode format?


Ok - I found the log but it's huge (10.2MB). I obviously can't post that here so what should I do? I did extract the show using the Decrypt format successfully but that's a big file (30+GB). I wanted to extract it to something smaller so that I could burn it to DVD.


----------



## Yoav

psywzrd said:


> Ok - I found the log but it's huge (10.2MB). I obviously can't post that here so what should I do? I did extract the show using the Decrypt format successfully but that's a big file (30+GB). I wanted to extract it to something smaller so that I could burn it to DVD.


IF it's 30+Gb, I'm guessing it's a high-def show? So you're going to have to re-encode it once at the minimum to fit on a DVD. Does your DVD burning software let you 'encode to fit'? If so, just hand it the huge file...

In any case, assuming your DVD burning software accepts mp4 files, AND you don't mind the quality loss you'd get from double-encoding, you can probably choose one of the quicktime h.264 encode formats as an intermediate.

IF you need an mpeg-2 stream that fits, then we're going to have to fix the mpeg-2 creation (which, honestly, has been giving me no end of headaches).

Did you already include the fix I sent in a previous message (adding muxrate?)


----------



## Yoav

psywzrd said:


> Ok - I found the log but it's huge (10.2MB). I obviously can't post that here so what should I do? I did extract the show using the Decrypt format successfully but that's a big file (30+GB). I wanted to extract it to something smaller so that I could burn it to DVD.


Ok, before we do anything else, I just uploaded a new version.
Can you check for update...
install it
go to prefs, select any format OTHER than DVD
then go back to prefs, and select 'DVD' again.

(you have to switch away and back to get the new DVD settings).

Tell me if it's working for you now?


----------



## Yoav

Quick announce:
iTivo 1.7.1 is up

Minor format fixes, a few bug fixes, and the ability to disable auto-connect.

Additionally, for those who were complaining about the encoding times, I added two quicktime-compatible formats:
mpeg-1, which should be fast to encode on even the oldest of computers
divx-3, which should be somewhat faster than x264.. but requires you install Perian or some other way to view old divx codecs.

Both those formats are significantly worse quality at the same bitrate.

* oops *: make that 1.7.2 .. A tiny typo slipped into 1.7.1, and that leads multi-step encodes to break...


----------



## ericgoldy

Hello,

I'm looking to be able to download my files from my tivo remotely.

When I am within my network, i can download files a variety of ways -- i have the TIVO2Go software on a PC, I have iTivo on a MAC and I can access it through the web access via the Tivo's IP address (192.168.1.108/nowplaying/index.html)

I have set up my router with dyndns so that I can access my network (e.g. mynetwork.dyndns.org).

I have a Linksys router and I'm trying to figure out the right settings (port forward settings) to access my tivo.

I've tried forwarding ports 80, 8080, and 443 to the IP address for the tivo and then entering in my dyndns URL, so if I forwarded port 80, i then typed:

mynetwork.dyndns.org:80[
www (dot) mynetwork.dyndns.org:80[/url]

Nothing seems to work.

Ideally, I'd like to be able to use iTivo which asks for an ip address - not sure if I can even enter in my URL/port to gain access.

I know people are doing this and I think I'm a heartbeat from making it work correctly.. Any ideas?

Thanks...


----------



## NA9D

ericgoldy said:


> Hello,
> 
> I'm looking to be able to download my files from my tivo remotely.


iTivo works by using Broadcast packets to discover the Tivo. Broadcast packets don't traverse a router/NAT interface. Even if you log in using a VPN it sill won't work.

Best bet would be to simply log into your Tivo's web page and download the files that way and then manually convert them yourself. But remotely, this is going to take a long, long time. It will probably take 4 to 6 hours to download a single show if not longer.


----------



## NA9D

Hey Yoav,

Here's a feature request. Can it be possible to have different preference settings saved and easily loaded? I just wanted to download and decrypt and copy a couple of shows but this is different than what I was doing before, for converting for the iPhone. Now to go back, I 'll need to change everything again including download locations, etc. And because I have a custom item in the mencoder settings (ie: delay), I'll need to manually enter that again as well. So if I could save a preferences settings or make it easy to change between settings, that would be really nice.


----------



## Yoav

NA9D said:


> Hey Yoav,
> 
> Here's a feature request. Can it be possible to have different preference settings saved and easily loaded? I just wanted to download and decrypt and copy a couple of shows but this is different than what I was doing before, for converting for the iPhone. Now to go back, I 'll need to change everything again including download locations, etc. And because I have a custom item in the mencoder settings (ie: delay), I'll need to manually enter that again as well. So if I could save a preferences settings or make it easy to change between settings, that would be really nice.


I'm unlikely to add that as a feature. however:
The preferences are saved in '<user>/Library/Preferences/com.iTiVo.iTiVo.plist'. So copy that file out and make different versions to copy back before starting iTiVo.

OR, under 'prefs/Advanced' you can 'save format'. So you can save the mencoder setting with the delay and any other changes you made, and it will then become available in the 'formats' menu.


----------



## Yoav

ericgoldy said:


> Hello,


Ermm, I feel like I just answered that exact question on another thread...?

Just make sure to port forward port 443, and then connect to the tivo by the external (wan) IP address of the router (it will not show up on the list of tivos)


----------



## NA9D

Yoav said:


> OR, under 'prefs' you can 'save format'. So you can save the mencoder setting with the delay and any other changes you made, and it will then become available in the 'formats' menu.


OH OK. Then this is all I really need then. I was not aware that it then saved all that under the formats menu. I was afraid that even though I had saved it, it only saved it until I changed format and then if I went back, I'd have to make the modifications again.

This is good news and meets what I require.


----------



## Yoav

NA9D said:


> OH OK. Then this is all I really need then. I was not aware that it then saved all that under the formats menu. I was afraid that even though I had saved it, it only saved it until I changed format and then if I went back, I'd have to make the modifications again.
> 
> This is good news and meets what I require.


Just clarifying to make sure.. IT will save the encoder, and the encoder options (the stuff you editted). It will *not* save the download location, or things like 'use comskip', etc...


----------



## NA9D

Yoav said:


> Just clarifying to make sure.. IT will save the encoder, and the encoder options (the stuff you editted). It will *not* save the download location, or things like 'use comskip', etc...


Right. Saving the encoder options is the big one.


----------



## Fofer

Yoav said:


> I'm unlikely to add that as a feature. however:


Aw, bummer. I, too, was hoping this could lead to "encoder profiles" -- kinda like what Handbrake has. Easy to switch back and forth between them, depending on my particular needs that day.


----------



## Fofer

Speaking of this, I'm now wondering if rooSwitch would be a suitable solution for managing "iTiVo encoder profiles."


----------



## Yoav

Fofer said:


> Speaking of this, I'm now wondering if rooSwitch would be a suitable solution for managing "iTiVo encoder profiles."


Looks like it would work (for saving the additional stuff, like download location, whether to use comskip, etc, as well as saving the encoder format you used).

It still won't give you the 'nice' feature of being able to control download format per-item-in-queue, but hey, there's always another nice feature to add in the future...


----------



## fatespawn

Yoav,

Thanks for continuing to tweak!

I know ffmpeg is only being "tested" now, but any reason it will only with with PyTivo? I would like to try another encoder for my G5 since Handbrake doesn't work (I'm on 10.4) and mencoder seems to take FOREVER...

-fate


----------



## Yoav

fatespawn said:


> Yoav,
> 
> Thanks for continuing to tweak!
> 
> I know ffmpeg is only being "tested" now, but any reason it will only with with PyTivo? I would like to try another encoder for my G5 since Handbrake doesn't work (I'm on 10.4) and mencoder seems to take FOREVER...
> 
> -fate


Ermm.. nah there's nothing specifically in pyTivoX that makes it work. As long as you have a valid and working ffmpeg binary somewhere in your PATH, it will find it and use it -- however, you're on your own if it's missing any necessary libraries or whatnot.. (it will default to adding the pyTivoX location to PATH, so that it'll find ffmpeg there if nowhere else).

Also, there's a divx3 and an mpeg-1 encoder in there now, that should hopefully be MUCH faster to encode with if you're unhappy with the ffmpeg behavior.


----------



## fatespawn

Thanks - I'll try it later. I only asked because of the *note - Must have PyTivoX installed for ffmpeg support.


----------



## doc659

Dear Yoav,

Thanks for the program. I can't seem to get it to download, though. My Tivo recordings show up in the now playing list. When I highlight and click Download (to the desktop) no file shows up, no downloading seems to commence. Am I doing something wrong?


----------



## Yoav

doc659 said:


> Dear Yoav,
> 
> Thanks for the program. I can't seem to get it to download, though. My Tivo recordings show up in the now playing list. When I highlight and click Download (to the desktop) no file shows up, no downloading seems to commence. Am I doing something wrong?


It sounds like you're doing everything right. Do you get any errors?
Is there a progress bar at the bottom? (sometimes downloads happen in stages, and nothing shows up until the last stage.. and even that's incomplete until the stage is done).

There is no button labelled "Download to the desktop". There's "Download Show" and "Download Now". I'm assuming you're clicking "Download Show"? (Download Now is part of the queue processing area.. and it doesn't sound like you're using the queue)


----------



## Yoav

NA9D said:


> iTivo works by using Broadcast packets to discover the Tivo. Broadcast packets don't traverse a router/NAT interface. Even if you log in using a VPN it sill won't work.
> 
> Best bet would be to simply log into your Tivo's web page and download the files that way and then manually convert them yourself. But remotely, this is going to take a long, long time. It will probably take 4 to 6 hours to download a single show if not longer.


Ermmm..
the broadcast packets are only necessary to automatically discover the tivo. The download itself happens over https (port 443, tcp). So, if you have a way of contacting the tivo from the outside (via port forwarding for example) then simply type in the tivo's IP address into "Tivo IP Address" text box, and click "connect to tivo". iTiVo will happily download shows for you (albeit very slowly)


----------



## doc659

Yoav said:


> It sounds like you're doing everything right. Do you get any errors?
> Is there a progress bar at the bottom? (sometimes downloads happen in stages, and nothing shows up until the last stage.. and even that's incomplete until the stage is done).
> 
> There is no button labelled "Download to the desktop". There's "Download Show" and "Download Now". I'm assuming you're clicking "Download Show"? (Download Now is part of the queue processing area.. and it doesn't sound like you're using the queue)


There is no progress bar. I am hitting the "Download Show" button. Also tried putting in the Download queue and trying to download from there. Still no apparent result. The destination file is my Mac desktop. Shouldn't a file pop up on the desktop as soon as the download begins?


----------



## cmontyburns

doc659 said:


> There is no progress bar. I am hitting the "Download Show" button. Also tried putting in the Download queue and trying to download from there. Still no apparent result. The destination file is my Mac desktop. Shouldn't a file pop up on the desktop as soon as the download begins?


If I am not mistaken, shows initially download to /tmp -- they are only moved to the destination folder you specify (the desktop in your case) when transcoding is complete.

So iTiVo is probably working fine for you. To verify, start a download, then in the Finder choose Go > Go to Folder... and type /tmp. You should see an iTiVo folder in there containing a bunch of files timestamped with the time you started your download. Let iTiVo do its work and you'll find your show on the desktop as expected once it's done.


----------



## Hobdul

Yoav, thanks for your awesome work.

A question: I've downloaded shows using the Quicktime h.264 5Mbps setting (recommended for archiving), with commercials removed. These clips play fine in Quicktime and VLC. 

However, when I go to compress the video clips using Handbrake (with the Apple universal preset), I run into problems. I'm able to load the clip as the source in Handbrake and begin the encoding process, but then Handbrake crashes almost immediately. This is repeatable.

I'm trying VisualHub now, so far no crashes, but I'm wondering what would cause Handbrake to choke on the clip output by iTiVo (I'd prefer to use Handbrake). Is there some output setting that needs to be tweaked for that h.264 5Mbps video setting? Sorry if this is a Handbrake problem that you can't help with.


----------



## doc659

Yoav said:


> It sounds like you're doing everything right. Do you get any errors?
> Is there a progress bar at the bottom? (sometimes downloads happen in stages, and nothing shows up until the last stage.. and even that's incomplete until the stage is done).
> 
> There is no button labelled "Download to the desktop". There's "Download Show" and "Download Now". I'm assuming you're clicking "Download Show"? (Download Now is part of the queue processing area.. and it doesn't sound like you're using the queue)





cmontyburns said:


> If I am not mistaken, shows initially download to /tmp -- they are only moved to the destination folder you specify (the desktop in your case) when transcoding is complete.
> 
> So iTiVo is probably working fine for you. To verify, start a download, then in the Finder choose Go > Go to Folder... and type /tmp. You should see an iTiVo folder in there containing a bunch of files timestamped with the time you started your download. Let iTiVo do its work and you'll find your show on the desktop as expected once it's done.


OK, thanks for the suggestion. 15 minutes ago I selected a show to dowload and it does indeed show up in the tmp file, however after 15 minutes it is still showing 0 KB as the file size. Doesn't seem like it actually downloads.


----------



## cmontyburns

doc659 said:


> OK, thanks for the suggestion. 15 minutes ago I selected a show to dowload and it does indeed show up in the tmp file, however after 15 minutes it is still showing 0 KB as the file size. Doesn't seem like it actually downloads.


Just let it run. Depending on the length of the show, HD/SD, the post-download actions you take on it, commercial skip, etc., it can take a multiple of the show length to complete the process.


----------



## Yoav

Hobdul said:


> However, when I go to compress the video clips using Handbrake (with the Apple universal preset), I run into problems. I'm able to load the clip as the source in Handbrake and begin the encoding process, but then Handbrake crashes almost immediately.


What version of macOS are you using? The handbrake encoder is 10.5 only...

Open up Terminal.app and run


Code:


/Applications/iTiVo.app/Contents/Resources/HandBrakeCLI

. Is it spitting out an error?

If you're on 10.5, the handbrake setting simply runs handbrake's encoder instead of mencoder. I can't really control it crashing . It might have managed to spit something useful into /tmp/iTiVo-<username>/iTivoDL2 ?

And no, I don't do anything 'special'. The file I provide to handbrake is a 'chopped up' version of the source mpeg-2. You can get the exact same contents of that file by choosing 'decrypt/copy' as the format. Then you can see what happens when you run handbrake on that file by hand...


----------



## Yoav

doc659 said:


> OK, thanks for the suggestion. 15 minutes ago I selected a show to dowload and it does indeed show up in the tmp file, however after 15 minutes it is still showing 0 KB as the file size. Doesn't seem like it actually downloads.


Ok, something is definitely wrong.
You *should* see a progress bar.
If you've selected to remove commercials, those files *should* grow (they will not grow if you don't use comskip).

Do you mind opening up Terminal.app, and typing:


Code:


tail -20 /tmp/iTiVo*/iTiVo.log
tail -20 /tmp/iTiVo*/iTiVoDL
tail -20 /tmp/iTiVo*/iTiVoDL2

(those are three seperate commands.. each should give you some output that I'd like to see.. *something* is wrong but it's not clear to me what yet). That said, you wouldn't normally see a file popping up on the desktop unless you don't have comskip and other features enabled. Basically, in the simplest mode, it encodes the data on the fly as it arrives, and so you get a partial file showing up. However, if you enable comskip, or certain encoders, it needs to run some processing on the whole movie, so it downloads it to /tmp/ first, and then does the processing. Your file won't show up on the desktop until it's on the last phase of the processing....


----------



## doc659

"No such file or directory" is the response to all 3 commands in Terminal. I tried re-installing a new download of itivo and have the same problem.


----------



## Yoav

doc659 said:


> "No such file or directory" is the response to all 3 commands in Terminal. I tried re-installing a new download of itivo and have the same problem.


Hmm.. I'm thinking iTiVo is having trouble writing to /tmp/, which might explain the problems? Try these commands:



Code:


 ls -l /tmp
 ls -l /tmp/
 ls -l /tmp/iT*


----------



## doc659

Here is what I got:

T-Chus-Computer:~ L Karman$ ls -l /tmp
[email protected] 1 root admin 11 Mar 26 2008 /tmp -> private/tmp
T-Chus-Computer:~ L Karman$ ls -l /tmp/
total 0
srwxrwxrwx 1 root wheel 0 Feb 2 11:37 ARD_ABJMMRT
srw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 0 Feb 2 09:31 HP_Photosmart C3100 series_CN71UC21TY04KV_HP-COMMAND_3300
-rw-r--r-- 1 L Karman wheel 0 Jan 30 22:55 MobileSync.lock.898bd1271bd49b073c0b711a2e91342cbc0ca9a5
srwxrwxrwx 1 L Karman wheel 0 Jan 30 20:37 com.hp.launchport
drwxr-xr-x 3 L Karman wheel 102 Feb 2 17:26 hsperfdata_L Karman
drwxr-xr-x 3 root wheel 102 Feb 2 12:26 hsperfdata_root
prw-r--r-- 1 L Karman wheel 0 Feb 3 18:25 iTiVo-L
srwxr-xr-x 1 L Karman wheel 0 Jan 30 21:01 ics158
srwxr-xr-x 1 L Karman wheel 0 Jan 30 21:13 ics172
srwxr-xr-x 1 L Karman wheel 0 Jan 30 21:01 icssuis503
drwx------ 3 L Karman wheel 102 Jan 30 20:37 launch-K4bRYS
drwx------ 3 L Karman wheel 102 Jan 30 20:37 launch-U88pUU
drwx------ 3 L Karman wheel 102 Jan 30 20:37 launch-eeAci2
drwx------ 3 L Karman wheel 102 Jan 30 20:37 launchd-68.koHFCL
T-Chus-Computer:~ L Karman$ ls -l /tmp/iT*
prw-r--r-- 1 L Karman wheel 0 Feb 3 18:25 /tmp/iTiVo-L


----------



## Yoav

doc659 said:


> T-Chus-Computer:~ L Karman$ ls -l /tmp/iT*
> prw-r--r-- 1 L Karman wheel 0 Feb 3 18:25 /tmp/iTiVo-L


Is that truncated? It looks incomplete..? Can you turn on debug logging in Prefs.. Advanced, and look for the logs again (I forgot you had to turn on logging to get them).


----------



## doc659

Been away from the computer all day. Turned on the log in Pref and retyped the commands. Here is the log complete:

T-Chus-Computer:~ L Karman$ ls -l /tmp
[email protected] 1 root admin 11 Mar 26 2008 /tmp -> private/tmp
T-Chus-Computer:~ L Karman$ ls -l /tmp/
total 8
srwxrwxrwx 1 root wheel 0 Feb 2 11:37 ARD_ABJMMRT
srw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 0 Feb 4 17:10 HP_Photosmart C3100 series_CN71UC21TY04KV_HP-COMMAND_6230
srwxrwxrwx 1 L Karman wheel 0 Jan 30 20:37 com.hp.launchport
drwxr-xr-x 3 L Karman wheel 102 Feb 2 17:26 hsperfdata_L Karman
drwxr-xr-x 3 root wheel 102 Feb 2 12:26 hsperfdata_root
-rw-r--r-- 1 L Karman wheel 113 Feb 4 18:11 iTiVo-L
srwxr-xr-x 1 L Karman wheel 0 Jan 30 21:01 ics158
srwxr-xr-x 1 L Karman wheel 0 Jan 30 21:13 ics172
srwxr-xr-x 1 L Karman wheel 0 Jan 30 21:01 icssuis503
drwx------ 3 L Karman wheel 102 Jan 30 20:37 launch-K4bRYS
drwx------ 3 L Karman wheel 102 Jan 30 20:37 launch-U88pUU
drwx------ 3 L Karman wheel 102 Jan 30 20:37 launch-eeAci2
drwx------ 3 L Karman wheel 102 Jan 30 20:37 launchd-68.koHFCL
T-Chus-Computer:~ L Karman$ ls -l /tmp/iT*
-rw-r--r-- 1 L Karman wheel 113 Feb 4 18:11 /tmp/iTiVo-L


----------



## Yoav

doc659 said:


> Been away from the computer all day. Turned on the log in Pref and retyped the commands. Here is the log complete:
> 
> T-Chus-Computer:~ L Karman$ ls -l /tmp
> [email protected] 1 root admin 11 Mar 26 2008 /tmp -> private/tmp
> T-Chus-Computer:~ L Karman$ ls -l /tmp/
> total 8
> srwxrwxrwx 1 root wheel 0 Feb 2 11:37 ARD_ABJMMRT
> srw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 0 Feb 4 17:10 HP_Photosmart C3100 series_CN71UC21TY04KV_HP-COMMAND_6230
> srwxrwxrwx 1 L Karman wheel 0 Jan 30 20:37 com.hp.launchport
> drwxr-xr-x 3 L Karman wheel 102 Feb 2 17:26 hsperfdata_L Karman
> drwxr-xr-x 3 root wheel 102 Feb 2 12:26 hsperfdata_root
> -rw-r--r-- 1 L Karman wheel 113 Feb 4 18:11 iTiVo-L
> srwxr-xr-x 1 L Karman wheel 0 Jan 30 21:01 ics158
> srwxr-xr-x 1 L Karman wheel 0 Jan 30 21:13 ics172
> srwxr-xr-x 1 L Karman wheel 0 Jan 30 21:01 icssuis503
> drwx------ 3 L Karman wheel 102 Jan 30 20:37 launch-K4bRYS
> drwx------ 3 L Karman wheel 102 Jan 30 20:37 launch-U88pUU
> drwx------ 3 L Karman wheel 102 Jan 30 20:37 launch-eeAci2
> drwx------ 3 L Karman wheel 102 Jan 30 20:37 launchd-68.koHFCL
> T-Chus-Computer:~ L Karman$ ls -l /tmp/iT*
> -rw-r--r-- 1 L Karman wheel 113 Feb 4 18:11 /tmp/iTiVo-L


OH!!!!

ok I'm an idiot.

Looks like you have a space in your username. Damn you apple for allowing that!!!
So, I'm going through the code right now fixing it so usernames with spaces, colons, or
slashes get translated into safe names. I'll tell you when I have something for you to try (hopefully
soon).


----------



## Yoav

doc659 said:


> Been away from the computer all day. Turned on the log in Pref and retyped the commands. Here is the log complete:


Ok I have a testing build I'm gonna need you to try out, and tell me if it works for you.. Go to the itivo page, choose 'downloads' and select the beta (1.7.3b1). Hopefully I've fixed it but it's hard for me to test that here..
Tell me if it works for you please...


----------



## doc659

First off let me say you are unbelievably awesome for taking the time to help me with this. Installed the beta version and there seems to be some progress here. Download appears to being running; progress bar at bottom, crazy amount of time estimated ( 500+ hours for a 2 minute segment) and when it finished I can't find the download anywhere.
Here is the log:
2009-02-04 20:58:09 Using L Karman Drive:Applications:iTiVo.app:Contents:Resources:formats.plist
2009-02-04 20:58:09 Using format file : L Karman Drive:Applications:iTiVo.app:Contents:Resources:formats.plist
2009-02-04 20:58:11 getFormatsNames
2009-02-04 20:58:11 Format is iPhone
2009-02-04 20:58:11 using format : iPhone
2009-02-04 20:58:13 killed : 
2009-02-04 20:58:15 perl /Applications/iTiVo.app/Contents/Resources/ParseXML.pl 192.168.1.6 1176389722
2009-02-04 21:07:15 perl /Applications/iTiVo.app/Contents/Resources/ParseDetail.pl 192.168.1.6 1176389722 7716
2009-02-04 21:07:17 downloadItem called: 0,4
2009-02-04 21:07:17 checkDL
2009-02-04 21:07:17 perl /Applications/iTiVo.app/Contents/Resources/ParseDetail.pl 192.168.1.6 1176389722 7716
2009-02-04 21:07:18 CheckDLFile
2009-02-04 21:07:18 rm /tmp/iTiVo-L_Karman/iTiVoDL /tmp/iTiVo-L_Karman/iTiVoDL2 /tmp/iTiVo-L_Karman/iTiVoDL3
2009-02-04 21:07:19 killed : 
2009-02-04 21:07:19 rm -rf /tmp/iTiVo-L_Karman/iTiVoDLPipe* /tmp/iTiVo-L_Karman/iTiVoTDC* /tmp/iTiVo-L_Karman/iTiVoDLMeta*
2009-02-04 21:07:20 mkfifo /tmp/iTiVo-L_Karman/iTiVoDLPipe /tmp/iTiVo-L_Karman/iTiVoDLPipe2.mpg
2009-02-04 21:07:20 perl /Applications/iTiVo.app/Contents/Resources/http-fetcher.pl 192.168.1.6 7716 1&#37;2E%5C%20Welcome%5C%20and%5C%20the%5C%20Basics 1176389722 /tmp/iTiVo-L_Karman/iTiVoDLPipe
2009-02-04 21:07:20 perl /Applications/iTiVo.app/Contents/Resources/tivo-decoder.pl %2FApplications%2FiTiVo%2Eapp%2F 1176389722
curl 'http://192.168.1.6:80/download/1%2E%5C%20Welcome%5C%20and%5C%20the%5C%20Basics.TiVo?Container=%2FNowPlaying&id=7716' -c /tmp/cookies.txt --retry 12 --retry-delay 10 --digest -u tivo:1176389722 -o /tmp/iTiVo-L_Karman/iTiVoDLPipe --stderr /tmp/iTiVo-L_Karman/iTiVoDL
/Applications/iTiVo.app/Contents/Resources/tivodecode -n -D -m 1176389722 -o /tmp/iTiVo-L_Karman/iTiVoDLPipe2.mpg /tmp/iTiVo-L_Karman/iTiVoDLPipe
2009-02-04 21:07:20 ERROR: Failing to output correct string


/Applications/iTiVo.app/Contents/Resources/mencoder -edl /tmp/iTiVo-L_Karman/iTiVoDLPipe2.edl -of lavf -lavfopts format=ipod -ovc x264 -x264encopts nocabac:level_idc=30:bitrate=384:threads=auto:bframes=0:global_header -vf pp=lb,dsize=480:320:0,scale=-8:-8,harddup -af volume=13:1 -oac faac -faacopts mpeg=4bject=2:raw:br=128 -hr-edl-seek -o /Users/L\ Karman/Desktop/1.\ Welcome\ and\ the\ Basics\ -\ 7716.mp4 /tmp/iTiVo-L_Karman/iTiVoDLPipe2.mpg >/tmp/iTiVo-L_Karman/iTiVoDL2 2>&1

2009-02-04 21:07:20 timeout: 0 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:07:20 timeout: 1 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
Encryption by QUALCOMM 

2009-02-04 21:07:21 timeout: 0 currentFileSize: 2.95639038085938e-05 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:07:21 timeout: 1 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:07:22 timeout: 2 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:07:23 timeout: 0 currentFileSize: 0.0087890625 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:07:23 timeout: 1 currentFileSize: 0.0087890625 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:07:24 timeout: 2 currentFileSize: 0.0087890625 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:07:24 timeout: 3 currentFileSize: 0.0087890625 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:07:25 timeout: 4 currentFileSize: 0.0087890625 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:07:25 timeout: 5 currentFileSize: 0.0087890625 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:07:26 timeout: 6 currentFileSize: 0.0087890625 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:07:26 timeout: 7 currentFileSize: 0.0087890625 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:07:27 timeout: 8 currentFileSize: 0.0087890625 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:07:28 timeout: 9 currentFileSize: 0.0087890625 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:07:28 timeout: 10 currentFileSize: 0.0087890625 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:07:29 timeout: 11 currentFileSize: 0.0087890625 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:07:29 timeout: 12 currentFileSize: 0.0087890625 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:07:30 timeout: 13 currentFileSize: 0.0087890625 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:07:30 timeout: 14 currentFileSize: 0.0087890625 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:07:31 timeout: 15 currentFileSize: 0.0087890625 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:07:31 timeout: 16 currentFileSize: 0.0087890625 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:07:32 timeout: 17 currentFileSize: 0.0087890625 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:07:33 timeout: 18 currentFileSize: 0.0087890625 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:07:33 timeout: 19 currentFileSize: 0.0087890625 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:07:34 timeout: 20 currentFileSize: 0.0087890625 fullFileSize:257
End of File

2009-02-04 21:07:34 timeout: 21 currentFileSize: 0.0087890625 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:07:35 Download completed
2009-02-04 21:07:36 killed : 
2009-02-04 21:07:37 killed : 
2009-02-04 21:07:37 rm -rf /tmp/iTiVo-L_Karman/iTiVoDLPipe* /tmp/iTiVo-L_Karman/iTiVoTDC* /tmp/iTiVo-L_Karman/iTiVoDLMeta.xml
2009-02-04 21:07:37 mkfifo /tmp/iTiVo-L_Karman/iTiVoDLPipe /tmp/iTiVo-L_Karman/iTiVoDLPipe2.mpg
2009-02-04 21:07:37 perl /Applications/iTiVo.app/Contents/Resources/http-fetcher.pl 192.168.1.6 7716 1%2E%5C%20Welcome%5C%20and%5C%20the%5C%20Basics 1176389722 /tmp/iTiVo-L_Karman/iTiVoDLPipe
curl 'http://192.168.1.6:80/download/1%2E%5C%20Welcome%5C%20and%5C%20the%5C%20Basics.TiVo?Container=%2FNowPlaying&id=7716' -c /tmp/cookies.txt --retry 12 --retry-delay 10 --digest -u tivo:1176389722 -o /tmp/iTiVo-L_Karman/iTiVoDLPipe --stderr /tmp/iTiVo-L_Karman/iTiVoDL
2009-02-04 21:07:37 perl /Applications/iTiVo.app/Contents/Resources/tivo-decoder.pl %2FApplications%2FiTiVo%2Eapp%2F 1176389722
/Applications/iTiVo.app/Contents/Resources/tivodecode -n -D -m 1176389722 -o /tmp/iTiVo-L_Karman/iTiVoDLPipe2.mpg /tmp/iTiVo-L_Karman/iTiVoDLPipe
2009-02-04 21:07:37 ERROR: Failing to output correct string


/Applications/iTiVo.app/Contents/Resources/mencoder -edl /tmp/iTiVo-L_Karman/iTiVoDLPipe2.edl -of lavf -lavfopts format=ipod -ovc x264 -x264encopts nocabac:level_idc=30:bitrate=384:threads=auto:bframes=0:global_header -vf pp=lb,dsize=480:320:0,scale=-8:-8,harddup -af volume=13:1 -oac faac -faacopts mpeg=4bject=2:raw:br=128 -hr-edl-seek -o /Users/L\ Karman/Desktop/1.\ Welcome\ and\ the\ Basics\ -\ 7716.mp4 /tmp/iTiVo-L_Karman/iTiVoDLPipe2.mpg >/tmp/iTiVo-L_Karman/iTiVoDL2 2>&1

2009-02-04 21:07:37 timeout: 0 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:07:38 timeout: 1 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
Encryption by QUALCOMM 

2009-02-04 21:07:39 timeout: 0 currentFileSize: 2.95639038085938e-05 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:07:39 timeout: 1 currentFileSize: 2.95639038085938e-05 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:07:40 timeout: 0 currentFileSize: 0.00413703918457031 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:07:40 timeout: 0 currentFileSize: 0.0087890625 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:07:41 timeout: 1 currentFileSize: 0.0087890625 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:07:41 timeout: 2 currentFileSize: 0.0087890625 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:07:42 timeout: 3 currentFileSize: 0.0087890625 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:07:42 timeout: 4 currentFileSize: 0.0087890625 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:07:43 timeout: 5 currentFileSize: 0.0087890625 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:07:43 timeout: 6 currentFileSize: 0.0087890625 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:07:44 timeout: 7 currentFileSize: 0.0087890625 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:07:45 timeout: 8 currentFileSize: 0.0087890625 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:07:45 timeout: 9 currentFileSize: 0.0087890625 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:07:46 timeout: 10 currentFileSize: 0.0087890625 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:07:46 timeout: 11 currentFileSize: 0.0087890625 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:07:47 timeout: 12 currentFileSize: 0.0087890625 fullFileSize:257
End of File

2009-02-04 21:07:54 timeout: 13 currentFileSize: 0.0087890625 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:07:55 Download completed
2009-02-04 21:07:56 killed : 
2009-02-04 21:07:57 killed : 
2009-02-04 21:07:57 rm -rf /tmp/iTiVo-L_Karman/iTiVoDLPipe* /tmp/iTiVo-L_Karman/iTiVoTDC* /tmp/iTiVo-L_Karman/iTiVoDLMeta.xml
2009-02-04 21:07:57 mkfifo /tmp/iTiVo-L_Karman/iTiVoDLPipe /tmp/iTiVo-L_Karman/iTiVoDLPipe2.mpg
2009-02-04 21:07:57 perl /Applications/iTiVo.app/Contents/Resources/http-fetcher.pl 192.168.1.6 7716 1%2E%5C%20Welcome%5C%20and%5C%20the%5C%20Basics 1176389722 /tmp/iTiVo-L_Karman/iTiVoDLPipe
curl 'http://192.168.1.6:80/download/1%2E%5C%20Welcome%5C%20and%5C%20the%5C%20Basics.TiVo?Container=%2FNowPlaying&id=7716' -c /tmp/cookies.txt --retry 12 --retry-delay 10 --digest -u tivo:1176389722 -o /tmp/iTiVo-L_Karman/iTiVoDLPipe --stderr /tmp/iTiVo-L_Karman/iTiVoDL
2009-02-04 21:07:57 perl /Applications/iTiVo.app/Contents/Resources/tivo-decoder.pl %2FApplications%2FiTiVo%2Eapp%2F 1176389722
/Applications/iTiVo.app/Contents/Resources/tivodecode -n -D -m 1176389722 -o /tmp/iTiVo-L_Karman/iTiVoDLPipe2.mpg /tmp/iTiVo-L_Karman/iTiVoDLPipe
2009-02-04 21:07:57 ERROR: Failing to output correct string


/Applications/iTiVo.app/Contents/Resources/mencoder -edl /tmp/iTiVo-L_Karman/iTiVoDLPipe2.edl -of lavf -lavfopts format=ipod -ovc x264 -x264encopts nocabac:level_idc=30:bitrate=384:threads=auto:bframes=0:global_header -vf pp=lb,dsize=480:320:0,scale=-8:-8,harddup -af volume=13:1 -oac faac -faacopts mpeg=4bject=2:raw:br=128 -hr-edl-seek -o /Users/L\ Karman/Desktop/1.\ Welcome\ and\ the\ Basics\ -\ 7716.mp4 /tmp/iTiVo-L_Karman/iTiVoDLPipe2.mpg >/tmp/iTiVo-L_Karman/iTiVoDL2 2>&1

2009-02-04 21:07:57 timeout: 0 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:07:58 timeout: 1 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:07:58 timeout: 2 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:07:59 timeout: 3 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:07:59 timeout: 4 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:00 timeout: 5 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:01 timeout: 6 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:01 timeout: 7 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:02 timeout: 8 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:02 timeout: 9 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:03 timeout: 10 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:03 timeout: 11 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:04 timeout: 12 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:04 timeout: 13 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:05 timeout: 14 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:06 timeout: 15 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:06 timeout: 16 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:07 timeout: 17 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:07 timeout: 18 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:08 timeout: 19 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:08 timeout: 20 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:09 timeout: 21 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:09 timeout: 22 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:10 timeout: 23 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:10 timeout: 24 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:11 timeout: 25 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:12 timeout: 26 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:12 timeout: 27 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:13 timeout: 28 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:13 timeout: 29 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:14 timeout: 30 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:14 timeout: 31 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:15 timeout: 32 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:15 timeout: 33 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:16 timeout: 34 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:16 timeout: 35 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:17 timeout: 36 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:18 timeout: 37 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:18 timeout: 38 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:19 timeout: 39 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:19 timeout: 0 currentFileSize: 2.95639038085938e-05 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:20 timeout: 1 currentFileSize: 2.95639038085938e-05 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:20 timeout: 2 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:21 timeout: 3 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:21 timeout: 4 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:22 timeout: 5 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:23 timeout: 6 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:23 timeout: 7 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:24 timeout: 8 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
Encryption by QUALCOMM 

2009-02-04 21:08:24 timeout: 9 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:25 timeout: 10 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:25 timeout: 11 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:26 timeout: 0 currentFileSize: 0.00551795959472656 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:26 timeout: 1 currentFileSize: 0.00551795959472656 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:27 timeout: 2 currentFileSize: 0.00551795959472656 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:27 timeout: 3 currentFileSize: 0.00551795959472656 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:28 timeout: 4 currentFileSize: 0.00551795959472656 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:28 timeout: 0 currentFileSize: 0.00689888000488281 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:29 timeout: 1 currentFileSize: 0.00689888000488281 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:30 timeout: 2 currentFileSize: 0.00689888000488281 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:30 timeout: 3 currentFileSize: 0.00689888000488281 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:31 timeout: 4 currentFileSize: 0.00689888000488281 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:31 timeout: 5 currentFileSize: 0.00689888000488281 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:32 timeout: 6 currentFileSize: 0.00689888000488281 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:32 timeout: 7 currentFileSize: 0.00689888000488281 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:33 timeout: 8 currentFileSize: 0.00689888000488281 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:33 timeout: 9 currentFileSize: 0.00689888000488281 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:34 timeout: 10 currentFileSize: 0.00689888000488281 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:35 timeout: 11 currentFileSize: 0.00689888000488281 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:35 timeout: 12 currentFileSize: 0.00689888000488281 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:36 timeout: 13 currentFileSize: 0.00689888000488281 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:36 timeout: 14 currentFileSize: 0.00689888000488281 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:37 timeout: 15 currentFileSize: 0.00689888000488281 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:37 timeout: 16 currentFileSize: 0.00689888000488281 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:38 timeout: 17 currentFileSize: 0.00689888000488281 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:38 timeout: 18 currentFileSize: 0.00689888000488281 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:39 timeout: 19 currentFileSize: 0.00689888000488281 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:39 timeout: 20 currentFileSize: 0.00689888000488281 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:40 timeout: 21 currentFileSize: 0.00689888000488281 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:41 timeout: 22 currentFileSize: 0.00689888000488281 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:41 timeout: 23 currentFileSize: 0.00689888000488281 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:42 timeout: 24 currentFileSize: 0.00689888000488281 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:42 timeout: 25 currentFileSize: 0.00689888000488281 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:43 timeout: 26 currentFileSize: 0.00689888000488281 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:43 timeout: 27 currentFileSize: 0.00689888000488281 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:44 timeout: 28 currentFileSize: 0.00689888000488281 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:44 timeout: 29 currentFileSize: 0.00689888000488281 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:45 timeout: 30 currentFileSize: 0.00689888000488281 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:46 timeout: 31 currentFileSize: 0.00689888000488281 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:46 timeout: 32 currentFileSize: 0.00689888000488281 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:47 timeout: 33 currentFileSize: 0.00689888000488281 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:47 timeout: 34 currentFileSize: 0.00689888000488281 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:48 timeout: 35 currentFileSize: 0.00689888000488281 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:48 timeout: 36 currentFileSize: 0.00689888000488281 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:49 timeout: 37 currentFileSize: 0.00689888000488281 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:49 timeout: 38 currentFileSize: 0.00689888000488281 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:50 timeout: 39 currentFileSize: 0.00689888000488281 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:51 timeout: 40 currentFileSize: 0.00689888000488281 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:51 timeout: 41 currentFileSize: 0.00689888000488281 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:52 timeout: 42 currentFileSize: 0.00689888000488281 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:52 timeout: 43 currentFileSize: 0.00689888000488281 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:53 timeout: 44 currentFileSize: 0.00689888000488281 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:53 timeout: 45 currentFileSize: 0.00689888000488281 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:54 timeout: 46 currentFileSize: 0.00689888000488281 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:54 timeout: 47 currentFileSize: 0.00689888000488281 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:55 timeout: 48 currentFileSize: 0.00689888000488281 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:55 timeout: 49 currentFileSize: 0.00689888000488281 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:56 timeout: 50 currentFileSize: 0.00689888000488281 fullFileSize:257
End of File

2009-02-04 21:08:57 timeout: 51 currentFileSize: 0.00689888000488281 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:08:57 Download completed
2009-02-04 21:08:58 killed : 
2009-02-04 21:09:00 killed : 
2009-02-04 21:09:00 rm -rf /tmp/iTiVo-L_Karman/iTiVoDLPipe* /tmp/iTiVo-L_Karman/iTiVoTDC* /tmp/iTiVo-L_Karman/iTiVoDLMeta.xml
2009-02-04 21:09:00 mkfifo /tmp/iTiVo-L_Karman/iTiVoDLPipe /tmp/iTiVo-L_Karman/iTiVoDLPipe2.mpg
2009-02-04 21:09:00 perl /Applications/iTiVo.app/Contents/Resources/http-fetcher.pl 192.168.1.6 7716 1%2E%5C%20Welcome%5C%20and%5C%20the%5C%20Basics 1176389722 /tmp/iTiVo-L_Karman/iTiVoDLPipe
curl 'http://192.168.1.6:80/download/1%2E%5C%20Welcome%5C%20and%5C%20the%5C%20Basics.TiVo?Container=%2FNowPlaying&id=7716' -c /tmp/cookies.txt --retry 12 --retry-delay 10 --digest -u tivo:1176389722 -o /tmp/iTiVo-L_Karman/iTiVoDLPipe --stderr /tmp/iTiVo-L_Karman/iTiVoDL
2009-02-04 21:09:00 perl /Applications/iTiVo.app/Contents/Resources/tivo-decoder.pl %2FApplications%2FiTiVo%2Eapp%2F 1176389722
/Applications/iTiVo.app/Contents/Resources/tivodecode -n -D -m 1176389722 -o /tmp/iTiVo-L_Karman/iTiVoDLPipe2.mpg /tmp/iTiVo-L_Karman/iTiVoDLPipe
2009-02-04 21:09:00 ERROR: Failing to output correct string


/Applications/iTiVo.app/Contents/Resources/mencoder -edl /tmp/iTiVo-L_Karman/iTiVoDLPipe2.edl -of lavf -lavfopts format=ipod -ovc x264 -x264encopts nocabac:level_idc=30:bitrate=384:threads=auto:bframes=0:global_header -vf pp=lb,dsize=480:320:0,scale=-8:-8,harddup -af volume=13:1 -oac faac -faacopts mpeg=4bject=2:raw:br=128 -hr-edl-seek -o /Users/L\ Karman/Desktop/1.\ Welcome\ and\ the\ Basics\ -\ 7716.mp4 /tmp/iTiVo-L_Karman/iTiVoDLPipe2.mpg >/tmp/iTiVo-L_Karman/iTiVoDL2 2>&1

2009-02-04 21:09:00 timeout: 0 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:09:00 timeout: 1 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:09:01 timeout: 2 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:09:01 timeout: 3 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:09:02 timeout: 4 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:09:03 timeout: 5 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:09:03 timeout: 6 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:09:04 timeout: 7 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:09:04 timeout: 8 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:09:05 timeout: 9 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:09:05 timeout: 10 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:09:06 timeout: 0 currentFileSize: 2.95639038085938e-05 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:09:06 timeout: 1 currentFileSize: 2.95639038085938e-05 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:09:07 timeout: 2 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:09:07 timeout: 3 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:09:08 timeout: 4 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:09:09 timeout: 5 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:09:09 timeout: 6 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:09:10 timeout: 7 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:09:10 timeout: 8 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:09:11 timeout: 9 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:09:11 timeout: 10 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:09:12 timeout: 11 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:09:12 timeout: 12 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:09:13 timeout: 13 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:09:13 timeout: 14 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:09:14 timeout: 15 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:09:15 timeout: 16 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:09:15 timeout: 17 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:09:16 timeout: 18 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:09:16 timeout: 19 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:09:17 timeout: 20 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:09:17 timeout: 21 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:09:18 timeout: 22 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:09:18 timeout: 23 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:09:19 timeout: 24 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:09:20 timeout: 25 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:09:20 timeout: 26 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:09:21 timeout: 27 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:09:21 timeout: 28 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:09:22 timeout: 29 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:09:22 timeout: 30 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:09:23 timeout: 31 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:09:23 timeout: 32 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:09:24 timeout: 33 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
Encryption by QUALCOMM 

2009-02-04 21:09:24 timeout: 34 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:09:25 timeout: 35 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:09:26 timeout: 36 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:09:26 timeout: 0 currentFileSize: 0.0087890625 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:09:27 timeout: 1 currentFileSize: 0.0087890625 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:09:27 timeout: 2 currentFileSize: 0.0087890625 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:09:28 timeout: 3 currentFileSize: 0.0087890625 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:09:28 timeout: 4 currentFileSize: 0.0087890625 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:09:29 timeout: 5 currentFileSize: 0.0087890625 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:09:29 timeout: 6 currentFileSize: 0.0087890625 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:09:30 timeout: 7 currentFileSize: 0.0087890625 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:09:31 timeout: 8 currentFileSize: 0.0087890625 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:09:31 timeout: 9 currentFileSize: 0.0087890625 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:09:32 timeout: 10 currentFileSize: 0.0087890625 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:09:32 timeout: 11 currentFileSize: 0.0087890625 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:09:33 timeout: 12 currentFileSize: 0.0087890625 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:09:33 timeout: 13 currentFileSize: 0.0087890625 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:09:34 timeout: 14 currentFileSize: 0.0087890625 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:09:34 timeout: 15 currentFileSize: 0.0087890625 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:09:35 timeout: 16 currentFileSize: 0.0087890625 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:09:36 timeout: 17 currentFileSize: 0.0087890625 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:09:36 timeout: 18 currentFileSize: 0.0087890625 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:09:37 timeout: 19 currentFileSize: 0.0087890625 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:09:37 timeout: 20 currentFileSize: 0.0087890625 fullFileSize:257
End of File

2009-02-04 21:09:38 timeout: 21 currentFileSize: 0.0087890625 fullFileSize:257
2009-02-04 21:09:38 Download completed
2009-02-04 21:09:40 killed : 
2009-02-04 21:09:40 perl /Applications/iTiVo.app/Contents/Resources/GetExtraInfo.pl 192.168.1.6 1176389722 7716
2009-02-04 21:09:41 Making Atomic Parsley metadata
2009-02-04 21:09:41 ERROR: Failing to output correct string
2009-02-04 21:09:41 perl /Applications/iTiVo.app/Contents/Resources/ParseXML.pl 192.168.1.6 1176389722
2009-02-04 21:09:42 Doing iTunes-related work 
2009-02-04 21:09:43 ERROR: Failing to output correct string
2009-02-04 21:09:43 Importing 1. Welcome and the Basics into iTunes...
2009-02-04 21:13:14 perl /Applications/iTiVo.app/Contents/Resources/ParseXML.pl 192.168.1.6 1176389722
2009-02-04 21:13:15 starting download
2009-02-04 21:13:15 starting queue download...
2009-02-04 21:28:13 perl /Applications/iTiVo.app/Contents/Resources/ParseXML.pl 192.168.1.6 1176389722
2009-02-04 21:28:19 starting download
2009-02-04 21:28:19 starting queue download...


----------



## Yoav

doc659 said:


> Here is the log:


Ok that looks like curl (which downloads the bits right off the tivo) isn't getting much data. This usually happens if there's already another transfer going from that tivo. Since we had some issues before, it's possible there's a 'rogue' leftover curl trying to download, so my first suggestion would be to reboot your computer, and make sure you are running no other tools that pull data from the tivo (like the NowPlaying widget, which people often forget about).

The other thing that is causing problems is the fact that a 2 minute show is going to be VERY small.. small enough that the downloader is going to think it isn't getting the full data from the tivo (complicated explanation, but basically the tivo is lying and claiming it has 256M of data for your show, when it probably has much less). This will make iTiVo retry (sometimes up to 4 times) before accepting that the file is smaller than claimed. So let it fail and retry if you see that happen.

Finally, if you're just testing downloads, turn off commercial skip, select 'decrypt' as the format and see how that goes (it won't do any re-encoding or commercial cutting, so you'll get to see if the download chunk of the code is doing the right thing...


----------



## doc659

OK thanks. I'll try with a longer show.


----------



## doc659

Looks like it's working now. Mpeg4 file shows up on desktop and 2 hour download time estimate for 1 hour show seems reasonable. Thanks, I'll get back to you tomorrow.


----------



## doc659

transfer worked but everything on my desktop appears to be gone.


----------



## Fofer




----------



## Yoav

doc659 said:


> transfer worked but everything on my desktop appears to be gone.


Erm... 'ohoh'
gone? as in deleted? oh oh (I hope you have a backup?)

Do you have the 'store in subdirectory' flag enabled? I get the feeling that it might be confused by your username too...

Can you send me the log output again?

Also, can you check if the files from your desktop have shown up under the following location:
/Users/L

I'm definitely seeing some more places that the space can cause problems.. fixing it...


----------



## Yoav

Ok I *hope* I've tracked down every occurence of command invocations that could freak out when there's a space in the username. It's up as 1.7.3b2


----------



## doc659

Just got back in after a long day of making content for Tivos someday. Rebooted computer and yay desktop has been restored to it's prior crowded glory. Installed 1.7.3b2 and will attempt another download and report back. Thanks.


----------



## Yoav

doc659 said:


> Just got back in after a long day of making content for Tivos someday. Rebooted computer and yay desktop has been restored to it's prior crowded glory. Installed 1.7.3b2 and will attempt another download and report back. Thanks.


Cool, and thanks for helping track down bugs and fixing them


----------



## doc659

Download worked perfectly with no apparent negative side effects. Great work and great program. Thanks again.


----------



## AquaX

I just wanted to express my thanks for iTiVo. It's been working really well for me lately.

I typically pull down HD sources from my TiVoHD using a HandBrake preset of "Universal". I like the Universal preset as the files it creates are iPhone/iPod Touch/iPod Classic compatible, as well as AppleTV and anything that can decode h.264 MPEG4s (Plex being my other major usage of these files). They're a bit larger filesize than is needed for standard iPhone usage, but they're a decent quality and size balance for archiving and for portable use.

I tend to not use comskip within iTiVo as I have found that it can cause audio sync problems when using HandBrake settings (and I've found comskip to be unreliable in detecting commercials sometimes in certain types of shows). I use MPEG Streamclip to edit out commercials, and I'm quite happy with the results.

My next project is to tackle some settings that I'm happy with for SD material from my Series 2 and my TiVo HD. I think HandBrake's decomb filter will be involved.

Thanks for all your work, Yoav.


----------



## catbastet

Is there any way you could put some of the older versions back up for download? 1.7 worked fine for me, but all of the newer versions have had an audio problem. The audio has some blips and it goes out of sync. I am just doing a decode, no conversion. I stupidly erased my 1.7 version accidentally so I no longer have it on my computer.


----------



## Yoav

catbastet said:


> Is there any way you could put some of the older versions back up for download? 1.7 worked fine for me, but all of the newer versions have had an audio problem. The audio has some blips and it goes out of sync. I am just doing a decode, no conversion. I stupidly erased my 1.7 version accidentally so I no longer have it on my computer.


http://code.google.com/p/itivo/down...=Filename+Summary+Uploaded+Size+DownloadCount

Although I would prefer to figure out what the bug is...

Are you on a G4? G5? intel?.. running 10.5?

If you're only doing a decode and NO conversion, then nothing has changed between versions, and the audio blip is probably an issue with the source from the tivo... but if not, then I'd like to fix it..


----------



## stevencombs

:up::up::up: Hey all,

Big fan of iTiVo and I recently posted a review as well as a 2 minute getting started video on my blog to support the project. Check it out at:

giveusoneminute[dot]com {sorry about the textual linkage stuff - haven't made 5 posts yet and really wanted to share this post to show my support for this project}

Can't say enough about this software. I use it regularly. Thanks again for a terrific piece of open-source software! Looking forward to future versions.
----------
Dr. Steven B. Combs
:: Give Us One Minute (GUOM)


----------



## Yoav

stevencombs said:


> :up::up::up: Hey all,


Thanks! nice writeups... And posting repeating your links here as links (yay I can!!)

pyTivoX: http://www.giveusoneminute.com/enhance-your-tivo-usage-part-ii-pytivox/

iTiVo: http://www.giveusoneminute.com/enhance-your-tivo-usage-part-i-itivo-for-mac/


----------



## PacoII

This thread is getting a little long, so not sure if this has already been mentioned/requested. When iTiVo is downloading a show, I will sometimes experience some pretty noticeable UI slow-downs. So I was wondering if it were possible to include a time option for when shows in the queue are downloaded. Something like, only start downloads between time A and time B. That way I can make sure itivo only starts doing downloads after I've gone to bed


----------



## Yoav

PacoII said:


> This thread is getting a little long, so not sure if this has already been mentioned/requested. When iTiVo is downloading a show, I will sometimes experience some pretty noticeable UI slow-downs. So I was wondering if it were possible to include a time option for when shows in the queue are downloaded. Something like, only start downloads between time A and time B. That way I can make sure itivo only starts doing downloads after I've gone to bed


It's on the 'feature requests' list, but yeah it's not implemented (yet?).


----------



## PacoII

Cool. Thanks for the heads up.



Yoav said:


> It's on the 'feature requests' list, but yeah it's not implemented (yet?).


----------



## stevencombs

Yoav said:


> Thanks! nice writeups...


Feel free to use the content to support the cause. Also open to helping with other content if you need it.
----------
Dr. Steven B. Combs
:: Give Us One Minute (GUOM)
:: giveusoneminute[dot]com


----------



## Yoav

PacoII said:


> This thread is getting a little long, so not sure if this has already been mentioned/requested. When iTiVo is downloading a show, I will sometimes experience some pretty noticeable UI slow-downs. So I was wondering if it were possible to include a time option for when shows in the queue are downloaded. Something like, only start downloads between time A and time B. That way I can make sure itivo only starts doing downloads after I've gone to bed


Ok it's in the new beta. (completely untested, so tell me if it's failing to do the right thing).

Keep in mind, if you computer goes to sleep while iTiVo is idle, I believe it will not wake up to process the queue... Although I'd be happy to be told otherwise.


----------



## ding01

Yoav said:


> Although I would prefer to figure out what the bug is...
> 
> Are you on a G4? G5? intel?.. running 10.5?
> 
> If you're only doing a decode and NO conversion, then nothing has changed between versions, and the audio blip is probably an issue with the source from the tivo... but if not, then I'd like to fix it..


I am having a similar problem when using the iPod/iPhone super-res format. When I watch the video I get an audio/video blip every so often. I have not experienced this using the iPhone or iPod format settings. I have an iMac Intel running 10.5.6 and using iTiVo 1.7.2


----------



## SoBelle0

WOW! Yoav, this is absolutely fantastic!! Thank you for the hard work you put into this software, and for your continued updates, responses, and listening to the users.

I just downloaded and synced my first two test shows (24 in HD) and they look AWESOME! and it seems like the commercials skips are in just exactly the right places. How? You're a magician!! Thank you!

I'm so excited to have such an easy way to be able to catch up on my shows at the gym, or when traveling, or when bored... Allow me to say again, You ROCK!


----------



## jaticker

If I have 30 shows on "what's playing" on my TIVO, only 20 or so make it to my Mac for transfer to Itunes. Basically not everything on the TIVO makes it to the Mac.Not sure why.
After a show is decoded it doesn't go straight to Itunes. Not a big, just curious why not. All I do is drag it to the Itunes on the dock.
Thanks


----------



## Yoav

jaticker said:


> If I have 30 shows on "what's playing" on my TIVO, only 20 or so make it to my Mac for transfer to Itunes. Basically not everything on the TIVO makes it to the Mac.Not sure why.
> After a show is decoded it doesn't go straight to Itunes. Not a big, just curious why not. All I do is drag it to the Itunes on the dock.
> Thanks


Does it get downloaded to the "Download Location" but then fails to make it to iTunes? what download format are you using? Is there any 'pattern' to which ones do not make it?


----------



## steinbch

I was wondering if I could also get some support! 

I have a TivoHD with MyDVR Expander, an iMac (2.4ghx w/10.5.6), and an AppleTV.
***Edit: I also have tried this with iTivo 1.7, 1.7.2, and 1.7.3b3***

I've tried to copy shows from my TivoHD to iTunes using iTivo's AppleTV Handbrake setting. For some reason, the files are repeatedly deleted from my desktop after the decoding. At first I thought this was due to having a user name with a space in it (a la an earlier post), but I've changed my user name and still have the same problem. Here is the log file after the last transfer: (added smiley face to allow me to post)

curl 'http://10.0.1.197:80/download/Vacancy.TiVo?Container=&#37;2FNowPlaying&id=1632062' -c /tmp/cookies.txt --retry 12 --retry-delay 10 --digest -u tivo:1638155167 -o /tmp/iTiVo-jiffy/iTiVoDLPipe --stderr /tmp/iTiVo-jiffy/iTiVoDL
/Applications/iTiVo.app/Contents/Resources/tivodecode -n -D -m 1638155167 -o /tmp/iTiVo-jiffy/iTiVoDLPipe2.mpg /tmp/iTiVo-jiffy/iTiVoDLPipe
Encryption by QUALCOMM 

End of File



/Applications/iTiVo.app/Contents/Resources/HandBrakeCLI -Z "AppleTV" -o /Users/jiffy/Desktop/Vacancy\ -\ 1632062.m4v -i /tmp/iTiVo-jiffy/iTiVoDLPipe2.mpg >/tmp/iTiVo-jiffy/iTiVoDL2 2>&1 < /dev/null


----------



## Flyinace2000

Alright, wierd problem. I am running iTivo on a G4 server runnign leopard with a 200gb drive for OS/Applications and a 2TB RAID5 for media storage. I want iTivo to grab and decrypt, but i have problems. To test it out i told it to download 1 episode last night. I have set the destination path for files to my RAID5, but after it completes it is no where to be found. Any ideas?

Also, what transcoding options woudl be the fastest to simply remove the DRM. I will be mostly watching ripped tivo shows on my boxee box.


----------



## Yoav

Flyinace2000 said:


> Alright, wierd problem. I am running iTivo on a G4 server runnign leopard with a 200gb drive for OS/Applications and a 2TB RAID5 for media storage. I want iTivo to grab and decrypt, but i have problems. To test it out i told it to download 1 episode last night. I have set the destination path for files to my RAID5, but after it completes it is no where to be found. Any ideas?
> 
> Also, what transcoding options woudl be the fastest to simply remove the DRM. I will be mostly watching ripped tivo shows on my boxee box.


Fastest = 'decrypt' (this will not remove commercials). decrypt/copy will allow you to use 'comskip', but unfortunately often leads to annoying video/audio sync issues.

As for where the download is, it should be in whatever download location you specified. Make sure iTiVo has no problems writing there. And then if you still don't see it at the END of the completed download, then you need to go to the advanced preferences, turn on log debugging output, and attach /tmp/iTiVo-<username>/iTiVo.log here so I can look at it. (or look at it yourself and see if you can identify any issues).


----------



## Yoav

steinbch said:


> I was wondering if I could also get some support!


Did you specify the 'create subdirectory for show' option? Turn it off. Also, do you have any options set under advanced prefs 'run command when download completes'? There should be a bunch more interesting stuff in the log AFTER the Handbrake invocation (where it does things like moving the file around some more, setting up metadata, etc).


----------



## steinbch

Yoav said:


> Did you specify the 'create subdirectory for show' option? Turn it off. Also, do you have any options set under advanced prefs 'run command when download completes'? There should be a bunch more interesting stuff in the log AFTER the Handbrake invocation (where it does things like moving the file around some more, setting up metadata, etc).


I'm in the middle of trying it now with your suggestions. I turned off the 'create subdirectory' and i got rid of some information that was listed after run command when download completes. I thought I had copied the text to the clipboard, but it is gone.

On another note, should it really take 5+ hours to transfer a hour and a half HD movie with the AppleTV Handbrake setting? Just want to make sure that everything is running normally.  Thanks for all your help!


----------



## Yoav

steinbch said:


> On another note, should it really take 5+ hours to transfer a hour and a half HD movie with the AppleTV Handbrake setting? Just want to make sure that everything is running normally.  Thanks for all your help!


(short version: 5 hours is within reason, read the faq)

long version:
the handbrake (yuck yuck) setting first downloads the file, then encodes it. You can see how long each part takes. Downloading time is a function of what type of tivo you have, how big the file is, and the network speed. On wired, S3, high-def, a 1:30 show is around the 12G mark, and probably takes about an hour and a half to download.

Then handbrake attempts to convert it. This is effectively doing a 900x500 (some really weird apple resolution from hell) encode using the x.264 encoder. This is entirely controlled by your computer's speed, but on a fast computer probably takes about 1 hour, and on a slow computer can take 2 days).

If you did it at full HD resolution (1920x1080), it would take about 4 times longer. (and be unplayable on an AppleTV). If you used a lower resolution (like the iPhone setting) it would similarly be faster. There are options that will let you trade some quality for a slightly faster encode, but the basic problem is that h.264 encodes are just REALLY REALLY complex. Hopefully in the near future one of the encoders will support the ATI/NVidia graphics chip to help make encodes run faster.

I'd suggest just leaving it overnight to do your encodes, or using a format that is faster to encode if 5 hours is too long for you.


----------



## Yoav

steinbch said:


> I'm in the middle of trying it now with your suggestions. I turned off the 'create subdirectory' and i got rid of some information that was listed after run command when download completes. I thought I had copied the text to the clipboard, but it is gone.


I'm curious... was the 'information that was listed after 'run command' something like "rm $filename" ?


----------



## Flyinace2000

Here are my log files. I have dbl checked the path in the prefs and the are set to the right spot. Here are the logs.


----------



## Yoav

Flyinace2000 said:


> Here are my log files. I have dbl checked the path in the prefs and the are set to the right spot. Here are the logs.


From the log it looks like mencoder is exitting on processing the file (re-encoding it) - it might be crashing or it might be a clean exit -- I'd guess it's crashing. But it's exitting after processing it for a very short time. Possibly the conversion is too much for it based on the source and target formats.

Can you try picking a simpler encoding format (like iPhone) and see what happens? This may just boil down to 'sorry, mencoder doesn't like you' answer which there's not much I can do about. Since it sounds like you're ok with 'fast encoding to mpeg-2' why not just use 'decrypt' as your format? That completely skips using mencoder.


----------



## steinbch

Yoav said:


> I'm curious... was the 'information that was listed after 'run command' something like "rm $filename" ?


That is exactly (OK, I'm pretty sure) what was listed. I'm assuming the 'rm' means remove.


----------



## steinbch

Yoav said:


> (short version: 5 hours is within reason, read the faq)
> 
> long version:
> the handbrake (yuck yuck) setting first downloads the file, then encodes it. You can see how long each part takes. Downloading time is a function of what type of tivo you have, how big the file is, and the network speed. On wired, S3, high-def, a 1:30 show is around the 12G mark, and probably takes about an hour and a half to download.


Since it seems that the standard AppleTV preset using mencoder is preferred, is there a way to mimic Handbrake's ability to create two audio tracks (1 being the stereo and 2 being the passthrough for 5.1)?

Have I mentioned how awesome you are?


----------



## Yoav

steinbch said:


> That is exactly (OK, I'm pretty sure) what was listed. I'm assuming the 'rm' means remove.


yep.. rm deletes the file. Usually you'd use that when itunes makes a copy of the file into its own library. Otherwise.. yeah you don't want it..


----------



## Yoav

steinbch said:


> Since it seems that the standard AppleTV preset using mencoder is preferred, is there a way to mimic Handbrake's ability to create two audio tracks (1 being the stereo and 2 being the passthrough for 5.1)?
> 
> Have I mentioned how awesome you are?


Sadly, not without some serious hacking of configs (I'm sure mencoder can do it, I just don't know the options ...)

so, yeah.. sorry.

Then again, what do you need the stereo track for?


----------



## steinbch

Yoav said:


> Then again, what do you need the stereo track for?


My understanding from my limited playing around with encoding videos for the AppleTV is that videos won't work on the AppleTV if they only have one audio track and it is 5.1. Things seem to work fine when the first audio track is AAC and the second is passthrough 5.1

On another note, and I didn't see this in the FAQ or the issues reported through the website, when encoding files, I've noticed that the time reported on the lower left side of the screen is not matching up with the time of the video file. I've also noticed that the blue status bar will move backwards and forwards during the encoding process.


----------



## Flyinace2000

For some reason it doesn't work at all now. The download never starts. Before it would at least download the file. I have tried using the decrypt only option and iphone. Can you take another look at the logs. Thanks


----------



## Yoav

steinbch said:


> On another note, and I didn't see this in the FAQ or the issues reported through the website, when encoding files, I've noticed that the time reported on the lower left side of the screen is not matching up with the time of the video file. I've also noticed that the blue status bar will move backwards and forwards during the encoding process.


The time is just a number being reported by mencoder. And I have also seen it be completely wrong (like starting at 10 mins, or freezing for a while). The same is true for estimates for how long until it completes.

The bar moving backwards is a seperate issue related to how progress is being determined. Especially during a long commercial cut, the progress measurements 'break'... Again, none of it will affect the actual underlying code.. it's just related to underlying tools, what they report, and how they are used.

(fwiw, you may also see time remaining estimates jump up to 200 mins, and the progress bouncing to 0 for a while). I *could* put in the effort to try and smooth all that information, but really it's very low priority for me.


----------



## Yoav

Flyinace2000 said:


> For some reason it doesn't work at all now. The download never starts. Before it would at least download the file. I have tried using the decrypt only option and iphone. Can you take another look at the logs. Thanks


I *think* you have a competing download going on from that tivo.
You may need to reboot the computer to make sure there's nothing hanging from a previous broken iTiVo. Also, make sure you do not have ANY other tools running (like tivo desktop) or the NowShowing widget.


----------



## Flyinace2000

I restarted and it still failed, but i looked at the logs and it said there was a permissinos error to the save target. Not sure why. I am running this as a local admin to the machine. Either way, i changed the save target to the admin's own Movies folder and it is downloading now. I will fix the permssion thing once i confirm the download/decrypt worked.

How does the comercial remover work?

-Will


----------



## Yoav

Flyinace2000 said:


> How does the comercial remover work?
> 
> -Will


MAGIC!!!!



It generally 'doesn't work' but it's a tool called comskip (look it up on google) which tries to figure out where there are commercials based on a LOT of tricks -- detailed on their homepage. However, since it ends up cutting your movie up, sometimes it can lead to audio/video sync issues. Try it first and see if it's worth it for you. A lot of people who care about commercial removal prefer to do it manually. It's worked fairly well for me when the source has been of high quality.


----------



## Flyinace2000

I might give it a shot. I repaired permissions on the folder and i am now able to save to the RAID. 

FYI: You can officially say that iTivo runs on 10.5.6 server (ppc).


----------



## steinbch

After playing around a little more, I'm even more confused!

1) While the Apple TV Handbrake preset creates two audio tracks, the second track (ac3 passthrough) seems to be 2.0 sound regardless of what the initial Tivo source is (originally an HD movie with 5.1). 

2)I currently am unable to get any video files to transfer to the AppleTV using the AppleTV Handbrake preset (tried both SD and HD files). They will all import into iTunes, but refuse to transfer over.

3) I tried just downloading the videos using the 'decrypt' preset in hopes of using handbrake manually to encode into an AppleTV 5.1 file. Unfortunately, it seems like the file I get from the 'decrypt' preset no longer has a 5.1 ac3 track and only has a 2.0 track.


----------



## Yoav

steinbch said:


> After playing around a little more, I'm even more confused!
> 
> 1) While the Apple TV Handbrake preset creates two audio tracks, the second track (ac3 passthrough) seems to be 2.0 sound regardless of what the initial Tivo source is (originally an HD movie with 5.1).
> 
> 2)I currently am unable to get any video files to transfer to the AppleTV using the AppleTV Handbrake preset (tried both SD and HD files). They will all import into iTunes, but refuse to transfer over.
> 
> 3) I tried just downloading the videos using the 'decrypt' preset in hopes of using handbrake manually to encode into an AppleTV 5.1 file. Unfortunately, it seems like the file I get from the 'decrypt' preset no longer has a 5.1 ac3 track and only has a 2.0 track.


The decrypt takes whatever the tivo provides and just removes the DRM. So if you ended up with a 2-channel audio, that is all there is in the original source.

That probably explains why you have 2 tracks of 2-channel audio from handbrake. One is probably aac 2-channel, and one is dolby digital 2-channel (the second one would be 5.1 channels if the source had 5.1, but it looks like it doesn't).

As for failing to transfer to the AppleTV. short version: <sigh>. AppleTV causes no end of headaches. I wish apple stopped making it or at least made it into a real device that can play REAL h.264 files at 1920x1080. Handbrake is doing its best. Look around on the web and you'll find tons of people having issues encoding for it, and some advice of things to try. You can completely control the handbrake or mencoder invocation through the advanced prefs options, but that's about all I can help with (don't own an AppleTV).


----------



## pmd

Yoav said:


> Then again, what do you need the stereo track for?


I believe it's required for 5.1 AC3 playback on AppleTV (as done by Handbrake):

http://support.apple.com/kb/TA25199


----------



## bohbot16

steinbch said:


> 2)I currently am unable to get any video files to transfer to the AppleTV using the AppleTV Handbrake preset (tried both SD and HD files). They will all import into iTunes, but refuse to transfer over.


Go to the Advanced tab in Prefs and change "encoder video options" from


Code:


-Z "AppleTV"

 to


Code:


-Z "AppleTV" --rate 29.97

That allowed me to create files that sync to the AppleTV.


----------



## roblight

First off, many thanks to Yoav for a great program!

So my question is when using Turbo.264 does iTiVo first transfer the show then encode? If so, is there a way to transfer and encode at the same time like when using mencoder? Thanks again!


----------



## Yoav

roblight said:


> First off, many thanks to Yoav for a great program!
> 
> So my question is when using Turbo.264 does iTiVo first transfer the show then encode? If so, is there a way to transfer and encode at the same time like when using mencoder? Thanks again!


Yes to transfer it first, No to can I do transfer and encode at the same time.

The documented method for encoding with the device involves providing a complete file to compress. So iTiVo first downloads it, removes the DRM and possibly commercials, and then puts all that data into a temporary file. It then calls the appropriate invocations to get their encoder to do the work.

If they had a documented method for providing an mpeg-2 stream instead of a file to encode, I'd be happy to try using it. I should point out though that I don't even have an turbostick, so the support is entirely based on documentation....

I should give you a heads up that people have complained that sometimes only the last file in a scheduled list gets saved, and the rest are not. I can't really debug this though .

The only encoder that I support downloading AND encoding at the same time from is mencoder. It is possible (though I haven't tried it) that ffmpeg will also happily accept a stream via a named pipe, in which case it would be possible to use ffmpeg... But I haven't tried that yet.


----------



## steinbch

bohbot16 said:


> Go to the Advanced tab in Prefs and change "encoder video options" from
> 
> 
> Code:
> 
> 
> -Z "AppleTV"
> 
> to
> 
> 
> Code:
> 
> 
> -Z "AppleTV" --rate 29.97
> 
> That allowed me to create files that sync to the AppleTV.


Thanks! Will try that tonight! Do you know offhand if that creates a 5.1 ac3 track as well? I noticed today as I tried to use handbrake on a DVD that the appletv preset defaulted to the 2.0 ac3 track for track 2.


----------



## fatespawn

Flyinace2000 said:


> I might give it a shot. I repaired permissions on the folder and i am now able to save to the RAID.
> 
> FYI: You can officially say that iTivo runs on 10.5.6 server (ppc).


Flyinace,

I have had very little luck getting my Dual G5 (tiger) to work seamlessly. Decrypt works like a champ, but mencoder is BRUTALLY slow. I use other tools to transcode the video once it's downloaded to my storage drive on the PC. Even with the previous (few pages back) mentioned changes to the compression quality, I get MUCH better results using VisualHub or ffmpegx to do the compression. I can't remove the commercials, but it's what I'm stuck with until my QUAD shows up... someday... 

-fate


----------



## bohbot16

steinbch said:


> Thanks! Will try that tonight! Do you know offhand if that creates a 5.1 ac3 track as well? I noticed today as I tried to use handbrake on a DVD that the appletv preset defaulted to the 2.0 ac3 track for track 2.


If your source is 2.0 ac3, then you'll end up with 2.0 ac3. If your source is 5.1 ac3, then you get 5.1 ac3.


----------



## steinbch

bohbot16 said:


> Go to the Advanced tab in Prefs and change "encoder video options"
> 
> 
> Code:
> 
> 
> -Z "AppleTV" --rate 29.97


That worked perfectly! Might I suggest that be implemented as part of the standard preset in iTivo?


----------



## Yoav

steinbch said:


> That worked perfectly! Might I suggest that be implemented as part of the standard preset in iTivo?


I'm really not 'ignoring' the suggestion. But I don't want to do this. The point of the handbrake 'appleTV' preset is to use the preset that the handbrake developers (who spent a lot more time over this) believe is 'correct' for appleTV. You *may* want to get in touch with the handbrake developers and tell them that for your specific video you had to add some flags.

The real problem is that while it seems to fix it for your particular input, I suspect it breaks it for others (notably 1280x720 video at 24fps (720p) will either look really bad or break). As such I'm glad you have a workaround, and I'm happy to add it to the FAQ, but I'd rather trust the handbrake developers opinion of what are the 'right' flags and have them put it into the preset...

Here is the link to the handbrake forum where all their encodings are discussed. It may also give you other ideas for more flags you may want to use too: http://forum.handbrake.fr/viewforum.php?f=7&sid=fea73cbbdbc87e146f1f032c4bfc9bc7

That said, if you *DO* prefer that to be a format that is available, you can go to the advanced prefs, make your edits and click the 'save format' button at the bottom. Call it something like "My Handbrake AppleTV", and from now on, you can select that as a format. I'm curious if it works fine for all the following inputs:
1) shows recorded in medium and best quality.
2) digital shows in SD resolution. (480i and 480p)
3) digital shows in HD 1080i
4) digital shows in HD 720p

If all those work fine and look as good as without the flag, I would probably be more amenable to making the changes to the default flags, although I *do* wonder why the handbrake developers didn't make that the default for appleTV.


----------



## bohbot16

Yoav,
I agree that it should just be added to the FAQ. I think that this workaround will be common for a lot of people using US HD cable. I wouldn't be surprised if the standard Handbrake AppleTV setting fixes this issue in their next release. The Handbrake guys would probably come up with a more elegant solution than forcing all video to 30fps.


----------



## Yoav

bohbot16 said:


> Yoav,
> I agree that it should just be added to the FAQ. I think that this workaround will be common for a lot of people using US HD cable. I wouldn't be surprised if the standard Handbrake AppleTV setting fixes this issue in their next release. The Handbrake guys would probably come up with a more elegant solution than forcing all video to 30fps.


Ok it's in the FAQ now. Hopefully that will be useful for people who have the same issues.


----------



## cmontyburns

iTiVo got a mention in a piece on Macworld.com today about transfers from TiVo to the iPhone.


----------



## Yoav

cmontyburns said:


> iTiVo got a mention in a piece on Macworld.com today about transfers from TiVo to the iPhone.


Ooh cool (and suck). Sounds like iTiVo wasn't working very well for him. But at least it is a mention


----------



## cmontyburns

Yoav said:


> Ooh cool (and suck). Sounds like iTiVo wasn't working very well for him. But at least it is a mention


Yeah, I posted a reply in the comments giving it some (deserved) love!


----------



## Yoav

Just uploaded version 1.7.3 which supports listing copyrighted shows (you can't select or download them), lets you disable AtomicParsley (some people were having issues with it) and which lets you select a time range for when automatic queue downloads would be initiated (presumably at night).


----------



## wdave

1.7.2: I converted a few shows and movies to my iPhone for a trip this weekend, first time using iTivo since upgrading to 1.7.2. Now my iPhone won't play anything. The video doesn't work, it just stays stuck on the first frame (I think it's the first frame), while the audio starts playing just fine. I can navigate to the middle and start playing with audio working fine, but the video stays frozen on that same frame.

Playing the same file on my MacBook Pro appears to work fine. That's what I used on the plane instead this time.

This all used to work before I upgraded. What happened?


----------



## Yoav

wdave said:


> 1.7.2: I converted a few shows and movies to my iPhone for a trip this weekend, first time using iTivo since upgrading to 1.7.2. Now my iPhone won't play anything. The video doesn't work, it just stays stuck on the first frame (I think it's the first frame), while the audio starts playing just fine. I can navigate to the middle and start playing with audio working fine, but the video stays frozen on that same frame.
> 
> Playing the same file on my MacBook Pro appears to work fine. That's what I used on the plane instead this time.
> 
> This all used to work before I upgraded. What happened?


Well, that's a very open ended question. Normally that would indicate that the file was encoded with some h.264 option that quicktime can play but that the iphone can't. However, nothing has changed in the iphone options since many versions ago, so I'm inclined to guess that maybe the source was a little 'funky'. Either it got copied to the iphone badly, or the iphone may have a bug triggered.

Is it a single file or all of them? Have you tried powering off the iphone (the full power off)? If you delete the file from the iphone and re-sync it?

If nothing else works, can you put the file somewhere so I can look at it? Also, did you change any of the advanced pref encoder options?


----------



## cmontyburns

Yoav said:


> Just uploaded version 1.7.3 ... which lets you select a time range for when automatic queue downloads would be initiated (presumably at night).


This is a useful feature. At some point, to cap it off, you might make like Handbrake and add an option to put the computer to sleep once all encoding is done.


----------



## Yoav

cmontyburns said:


> This is a useful feature. At some point, to cap it off, you might make like Handbrake and add an option to put the computer to sleep once all encoding is done.


Ok that's a really good idea. So good I made the tiny codechange necessary to support it and checked in 1.7.4 . If you have the option on, it will only put the computer to sleep after a queue download, not a manual download (so if you want to download just one show and have the computer sleep, add the show to the queue and 'download now').

yeah I know how much people love updating their programs every 5 minutes...


----------



## wdave

wdave said:


> 1.7.2: I converted a few shows and movies to my iPhone for a trip this weekend, first time using iTivo since upgrading to 1.7.2. Now my iPhone won't play anything. The video doesn't work, it just stays stuck on the first frame (I think it's the first frame), while the audio starts playing just fine. I can navigate to the middle and start playing with audio working fine, but the video stays frozen on that same frame.
> 
> Playing the same file on my MacBook Pro appears to work fine. That's what I used on the plane instead this time.
> 
> This all used to work before I upgraded. What happened?


Disregard this ... for now. I turned on my phone this morning and tried to play them again and it worked. 

It was 2 movies and 4 TV episodes that I had converted and loaded on the phone during the week in preparation for my trip. They all didn't work yesterday. They all do work today.

I'll let you know if the problem recurs. But from this evidence, I'd say you're off the hook.


----------



## Yoav

1.7.5 is out.

I added support for extracting subtitles from shows into .srt files. (using t2sami). You can enable it in Preferences under the Subtitles tab. Keep in mind that if you have commercial skip AND subtitles enabled, you may end up with video/audio/subtitle sync issues.


----------



## PacoII

Question about using iTivo: I came home the other day to find iTivo not able to connect to my TiVo. When I turned on my TV there was nothing but a purple screen. Rebooting the TiVo resolved the issue, but I was wondering if using programs like iTivo and pytivoX increase the likelihood of this occurring?


----------



## Yoav

PacoII said:


> Question about using iTivo: I came home the other day to find iTivo not able to connect to my TiVo. When I turned on my TV there was nothing but a purple screen. Rebooting the TiVo resolved the issue, but I was wondering if using programs like iTivo and pytivoX increase the likelihood of this occurring?


I have never seen a purple screen before (and I use both tools). It *may* indicate that your hard drive is dying though, and that would suck.

I doubt iTivo or pyTivoX are responsible (they use the same interface that TivoToGo uses, and I seriously doubt that there are issues like that). but like anything, it's all down to code on the tivo, and I can't guarantee anything.


----------



## PacoII

Thanks for the reply. I am still fairly new to the TiVo world, so wasn't sure if running these types of apps put extra 'strain' on the TiVo OS. I sure hope the drive isn't dying - it's only been in use for about 3 months.

One other small thing: I have iTivo set up as a startup/login item. The dialog box that comes up saying that the app is under active development, prevents anything from happening until you click ok. So iTivo sits there doing nothing until I remember to go back to my computer and click the ok button. Any chance you could present this message in a way that does not block iTivo from connecting and doing it's thing? Perhaps a different type of message window that allows iTivo to keep doing it's thing? It's running on a mac that acts as a server, so I frequently will just reboot and forget about it. Now I can't do that and have to wait until it reboots, click the ok, then I can leave it.

Thanks!!



Yoav said:


> I have never seen a purple screen before (and I use both tools). It *may* indicate that your hard drive is dying though, and that would suck.
> 
> I doubt iTivo or pyTivoX are responsible (they use the same interface that TivoToGo uses, and I seriously doubt that there are issues like that). but like anything, it's all down to code on the tivo, and I can't guarantee anything.


----------



## Yoav

PacoII said:


> Thanks for the reply. I am still fairly new to the TiVo world, so wasn't sure if running these types of apps put extra 'strain' on the TiVo OS. I sure hope the drive isn't dying - it's only been in use for about 3 months.
> 
> One other small thing: I have iTivo set up as a startup/login item. The dialog box that comes up saying that the app is under active development, prevents anything from happening until you click ok. So iTivo sits there doing nothing until I remember to go back to my computer and click the ok button. Any chance you could present this message in a way that does not block iTivo from connecting and doing it's thing? Perhaps a different type of message window that allows iTivo to keep doing it's thing? It's running on a mac that acts as a server, so I frequently will just reboot and forget about it. Now I can't do that and have to wait until it reboots, click the ok, then I can leave it.
> 
> Thanks!!


Unfortunately, as coded, there's no clean way to tell it to never prompt. I'm thinking of just removing that prompt since it seems more annoying than useful, BUT:

If you have a way of running a command BEFORE you launch iTiVo, you can do something like:



Code:


defaults write ~/Library/Preferences/com.iTiVo.iTiVo LaunchCount 1

(note that it's a tilde, not a minus sign up there). That will give you 99 launches before you get the prompt (and if you run that command, it will reset it again).

If you don't have any such thing, you can 'semi-fix' it by opening Tivo's 'advanced prefs' tab, and under 'run when download completes' put that command. As long as you complete at least one download before launching itivo 99 times, you should be golden.

Note that this may break in future releases of itivo, but most likely I'll just be getting rid of that prompt soon enough.


----------



## roblight

It just updated to the latest version this weekend and I'm getting a AppleScript Error (AppleEvent handler failed. (-10000)) after iTivo is launched and is sitting idle for a while. I assume it's trying to download a show. I'm using the AppleTV setting.

Is there a log file I can post?


----------



## MeStinkBAD

Have you considered trying this so the dialog will auto close? This is the code responsible for displaying that dialog on launch...



Code:


on launched theObject
	if LaunchCount > 100 or LaunchCount &#8804; 0 then
		display dialog¬
		 "This program is under active development. Some features may not work. *Do not distribute copyrighted material*" ¬
		 buttons {"OK"} default button "OK" attached to window "iTiVo"  giving up after 5 
		set LaunchCount to 0
	end if
	set LaunchCount to LaunchCount + 1
	setSettingsInUI()
	if canAutoConnect = true and shouldAutoConnect = true then
		my ConnectTiVo()
	end if
	setDrawers()
end launched


----------



## Yoav

MeStinkBAD said:


> Have you considered trying this so the dialog will auto close? This is the code responsible for displaying that dialog on launch...


Cool added, thanks 
(should be in whatever becomes the next release).


----------



## Yoav

roblight said:


> It just updated to the latest version this weekend and I'm getting a AppleScript Error (AppleEvent handler failed. (-10000)) after iTivo is launched and is sitting idle for a while. I assume it's trying to download a show. I'm using the AppleTV setting.
> 
> Is there a log file I can post?


The log is in /tmp/iTiVo-<username>/iTiVo.log

However, generally applescript errors do not log anything interesting in there, though it can't hurt to check. I've left an idle iTiVo running for a while and still no error though. Are you connected to the tivo? Do you have any subscriptions? Any interesting preferences set (scheduling related)?


----------



## reddfoxx

Hi,

I have been using this program for a few weeks now and it works extremely well. There is just one possible bug that I have noticed.

When doing a decrypt, when a file gets really large (10GB+) it seems that the progress does not update nearly as often as it does when the file is smaller. The file itself is still growing at the same rate according to an "ls" in the terminal.

Is this a known problem, or am I perhaps doing something incorrect?


----------



## Yoav

reddfoxx said:


> Is this a known problem, or am I perhaps doing something incorrect?


Hmm,
it's the first I've heard of this problem, but I don't have any shows over 10G to test with. I'll try and record a two hour HD thing, I think that should break the 10G marker.

My *guess*: iTiVo uses curl to fetch the show from the tivo. Curl reports on the progress, and it's possible that at the 10G marker, instead of reporting in megs it reports in gigs, which means 'progress' changes less often. I'll see if that's the case and if so I'll look for a workaround.


----------



## reddfoxx

Hi,

Last night's 24 was the first time I had noticed it. You are probably right that the progress is in GB units. Don't think it is something that people will run into often and it doesn't impede functionality, just wanted to point it out.


----------



## Yoav

reddfoxx said:


> Hi,
> 
> Last night's 24 was the first time I had noticed it. You are probably right that the progress is in GB units. Don't think it is something that people will run into often and it doesn't impede functionality, just wanted to point it out.


* edit *: Verified that at around the 9.5G mark, it swaps from reporting progress in megs to reporting progress in gigs. iTiVo should still successfully download, but yeah the progress will be jerkier as it is getting progress info in larger chunks. There may be a risk of it 'timing out' if it takes more than 5 minutes to fetch 0.1G of data... I'll go see if I can do something about it.


----------



## GKevinK

Hi Yoav,

Hey... how does iTiVo populate the drop down selection list for which TiVo to use? I recently relocated one of my TiVos and updated the name on the tivo website. My modified name has been populated to the machine (it's visible in the system settings there) but the dropdown list in iTiVo continues to display the old name. It is connecting fine to the TiVo and everything else appears normal... but in poking around I haven't discovered a way to persuade iTiVo to repopulate the names in the list. I've poked around a bunch of the plist files also and haven't noticed an obvious place where they are preserved.

Thanks for any insight.

Kevin


----------



## Yoav

GKevinK said:


> Hi Yoav,
> 
> Hey... how does iTiVo populate the drop down selection list for which TiVo to use?


It uses a network service discover protocol known as 'bonjour'. It basically broadcasts on the local network 'what tivos are here', and remembers the responses.

If you exit and restart iTivo, it will not have any of the values cached.. so if it's still showing an old tivo, somehow something on the network is responding with that name... (possibly your old tivo).

At the absolute worst, you can always ignore the name, and supply an IP address directly.


----------



## GKevinK

I've restarted iTiVo many times... I'm guessing that maybe the TiVo itself needs to be restarted... will report back.

Kevin


----------



## Yoav

GKevinK said:


> I've restarted iTiVo many times... I'm guessing that maybe the TiVo itself needs to be restarted... will report back.
> 
> Kevin


It's possible that the change doesn't take effect until after the tivo does a nightly download AND reboots.. I don't know.


----------



## GKevinK

Rebooting the TiVo did the trick. Even though the TiVo was reporting the new name in the system settings, apparently it continues to supply the old name in response to Bonjour queries until it has been restarted.

Thanks
Kevin


----------



## danm628

Yoav, 

I ran into a crash of iTiVo while converting an HD TV program to H.264 5 Mbps. I was converting the latest episode of Battlestar Galatica and ended up with an error dialog saying "The application Atomic Parsley quit unexpectedly". I've repeated this several times, both with and without commercial skip enabled. 

In iTiVoDL2.log there are these lines:
VDec: using Planar I420 as output csp (no 1)
Movie-Aspect is 1.78:1 - prescaling to correct movie aspect.

New video file has different resolution or colorspace than the previous one.
FATAL: Cannot initialize video driver.

I had already converted this show to iPhone format and imported it to iTunes with no errors.

Let me know what other log data you need and I'll post it.

Thanks for the great program. It does exactly what I want. This is the first error I've run into. 

- Dan


----------



## Yoav

danm628 said:


> Yoav,
> 
> I ran into a crash of iTiVo while converting an HD TV program to H.264 5 Mbps. I was converting the latest episode of Battlestar Galatica and ended up with an error dialog saying "The application Atomic Parsley quit unexpectedly". I've repeated this several times, both with and without commercial skip enabled.
> 
> In iTiVoDL2.log there are these lines:
> VDec: using Planar I420 as output csp (no 1)
> Movie-Aspect is 1.78:1 - prescaling to correct movie aspect.
> 
> New video file has different resolution or colorspace than the previous one.
> FATAL: Cannot initialize video driver.
> 
> I had already converted this show to iPhone format and imported it to iTunes with no errors.
> 
> Let me know what other log data you need and I'll post it.
> 
> Thanks for the great program. It does exactly what I want. This is the first error I've run into.
> 
> - Dan


Sadly there's not much I can do about this. As is mentioned in the FAQ, iTiVo relies on a bunch of underlying programs which I didn't write. And those programs sometimes crash. The errors from the log are warnings from mencoder, not atomicparsley. But I think the re-encode still continues, so you can ignore them.

An AtomicParsley crash should generally still finish downloading and converting the file for you.. So everything should still work (although some metadata will not be included in the file). If you're not seeing this, you can disable atomicparsely from the Prefs panel.


----------



## danm628

The generated files were bad when I get the error from Atomic Parsley. I started another DL with it disabled before leaving home this morning, I'll check it when I get home. Hopefully it will generate a good file.

- Dan


----------



## Yoav

danm628 said:


> The generated files were bad when I get the error from Atomic Parsley. I started another DL with it disabled before leaving home this morning, I'll check it when I get home. Hopefully it will generate a good file.
> 
> - Dan


There is also the possibility that AtomicParsley crashes because the encoded file it is given was bad. (if so, turning off AtomicParsley won't help much). If that's the case, I'd try choosing a different format (like Handbrake iphone instead of iphone, etc)..


----------



## danm628

Yoav said:


> There is also the possibility that AtomicParsley crashes because the encoded file it is given was bad. (if so, turning off AtomicParsley won't help much). If that's the case, I'd try choosing a different format (like Handbrake iphone instead of iphone, etc)..


Turning off AtomicParsley didn't help. The conversion to Quicktime H.264 3 Mbps or 5 Mbps fails in mencoder and does not generate a good output file. It does work when I select iPhone as the output format.

Tonight I'll try the Handbrake conversions or maybe ffmpeg. I'm just trying to get to an original resolution archival format (i.e. smaller than mpeg 2 and something that Quicktime can play), I don't really care which format it is in. I've been using 3 Mbps or 5 Mbps H.264 with no trouble till now.

- Dan


----------



## Yoav

danm628 said:


> Turning off AtomicParsley didn't help. The conversion to Quicktime H.264 3 Mbps or 5 Mbps fails in mencoder and does not generate a good output file. It does work when I select iPhone as the output format.
> 
> Tonight I'll try the Handbrake conversions or maybe ffmpeg. I'm just trying to get to an original resolution archival format (i.e. smaller than mpeg 2 and something that Quicktime can play), I don't really care which format it is in. I've been using 3 Mbps or 5 Mbps H.264 with no trouble till now.
> 
> - Dan


You may want to try something like selecting the 'HandBrake AppleTV' format, and then going to Prefs.. Advanced, and changing


Code:


 -Z "AppleTV"

to


Code:


-Z "QuickTime" -b 3000

(that will encode using the 'quicktime' settings with a bitrate of 3Mbps.) Lots of other options are documented on http://trac.handbrake.fr/wiki/CLIGuide


----------



## BigTechDaddy

I renamed my two out of my three TivoHDXL tuners, now when I go into iTivo, One TiVo works, but has the wrong name, I know it works as it shows the correct tv shows. The other comes back with an error msg wanting me to check my MAK - I can connect to both of them through my browser. Thanks for any help.


----------



## Yoav

BigTechDaddy said:


> I renamed my two out of my three TivoHDXL tuners, now when I go into iTivo, One TiVo works, but has the wrong name, I know it works as it shows the correct tv shows. The other comes back with an error msg wanting me to check my MAK - I can connect to both of them through my browser. Thanks for any help.


I think after you rename tivos, you need to make sure they do their nightly connection, and reboot them after (you can force a nightly connection to happen via the network settings). That should bring them up with their new names correctly.


----------



## BigTechDaddy

Yoav said:


> I think after you rename tivos, you need to make sure they do their nightly connection, and reboot them after (you can force a nightly connection to happen via the network settings). That should bring them up with their new names correctly.


The TiVo's are named correctly, but they are not showing up in iTivo with the correct IP addresses. For instance the correct numbers are below -

LivingRoomHDXL - 192.168.1.60
MBedroomHDXL - 192.168.1.7

These numbers show up on each of the DVRs.

However, in iTivo here is how they show up.

LivingRoomHDXL - 192.168.1.7
MBedroomHDXL - 192.168.1.60

When you connect to the MBedroomHDXL it shows programming from the LivingRoomHDXL, but when you attempt to connect to the LivingRoomHDXL it gives the error about a bad MAK key.

They have both been through the nightly processes. I am thinking that Bonjour is reporting them wrong, but I am not a codehead.

Thanks for all the work and support. Awesome program.

Brad


----------



## Yoav

BigTechDaddy said:


> The TiVo's are named correctly, but they are not showing up in iTivo with the correct IP addresses. For instance the correct numbers are below -
> 
> LivingRoomHDXL - 192.168.1.60
> MBedroomHDXL - 192.168.1.7
> 
> These numbers show up on each of the DVRs.
> 
> However, in iTivo here is how they show up.
> 
> LivingRoomHDXL - 192.168.1.7
> MBedroomHDXL - 192.168.1.60
> 
> When you connect to the MBedroomHDXL it shows programming from the LivingRoomHDXL, but when you attempt to connect to the LivingRoomHDXL it gives the error about a bad MAK key.
> 
> They have both been through the nightly processes. I am thinking that Bonjour is reporting them wrong, but I am not a codehead.
> 
> Thanks for all the work and support. Awesome program.
> 
> Brad


Quit fully out of iTiVo (menu.. quit), to clear out whatever bonjour information it has cached.

Then, when you start it, if it's STILL showing you the old associations, it's entirely your tivos doing it. The tivos MUST be rebooted after a name change (they don't update what they yell on the network even though the system information screen claims the change).

So basically, quit iTiVo, start it again, and go reboot your tivos. If you've done all that and it's still misbehaving, we can try debugging...


----------



## BigTechDaddy

Yoav said:


> Quit fully out of iTiVo (menu.. quit), to clear out whatever bonjour information it has cached.
> 
> Then, when you start it, if it's STILL showing you the old associations, it's entirely your tivos doing it. The tivos MUST be rebooted after a name change (they don't update what they yell on the network even though the system information screen claims the change).
> 
> So basically, quit iTiVo, start it again, and go reboot your tivos. If you've done all that and it's still misbehaving, we can try debugging...


Ok, the rebooting seems to have worked for the LivingroomHDXL - the MBedroomHDXL has the correct IP but still cannot connect.

Unfortunately, right now my wife and baby is sleeping in there so I can't troubleshoot it. I think I can figure things out.

Thanks again so much for your help and support. Is there a way to make a cash donation to you?

B


----------



## Yoav

BigTechDaddy said:


> Ok, the rebooting seems to have worked for the LivingroomHDXL - the MBedroomHDXL has the correct IP but still cannot connect.
> 
> Unfortunately, right now my wife and baby is sleeping in there so I can't troubleshoot it. I think I can figure things out.
> 
> Thanks again so much for your help and support. Is there a way to make a cash donation to you?
> 
> B


No donations  thank you though.

One thing you *can* try without going into that room:

open up a web browser, and try and connect to "https://(ip)/"
username is tivo, password is your MAK.

If that fails, then it's nothing to do with itivo, and you need to find out why your tivo is not allowing the connection. (it may think it's not activated for TTG, or it has the wrong MAK, or there's some network oddity preventing the connection).


----------



## BigTechDaddy

Yoav said:


> No donations  thank you though.
> 
> One thing you *can* try without going into that room:
> 
> open up a web browser, and try and connect to "https://(ip)/"
> username is tivo, password is your MAK.
> 
> If that fails, then it's nothing to do with itivo, and you need to find out why your tivo is not allowing the connection. (it may think it's not activated for TTG, or it has the wrong MAK, or there's some network oddity preventing the connection).


Ok, I get a Now Playing screen when I tried that. I did get a bunch of certificate warnings.

I am planning on changing the ip address tomorrow of that machine to a static one versus DHCP. I am hoping that will fix whatever the issue is.

Well, if you won't let me pay you then keep me in mind if you want or need someone to test software for you


----------



## NA9D

I posted this as an issue at the GoogleCode site for iTivo, but here it is here..

Two days in a row now I've gotten the following AppleScript error when trying to download/convert a bunch of shows:

Cant make "|" into type number. (-1700)

So not sure what this is or why. Never seen it before...


----------



## Yoav

NA9D said:


> I posted this as an issue at the GoogleCode site for iTivo, but here it is here..
> 
> Two days in a row now I've gotten the following AppleScript error when trying to download/convert a bunch of shows:
> 
> Can't make "|" into type number. (-1700)
> 
> So not sure what this is or why. Never seen it before...


Does it go away if you quit and restart itivo? Does it only happen on particular shows (and if so, full name of show and other metadata might help). Sounds like somewhere along the line it's expecting to see a number (like the episode ID) and is instead getting a '|' symbol... but that's all the error tells me). -- I haven't seen it here yet but if you can get me more info hopefully I can reproduce it.


----------



## NA9D

Yoav said:


> Does it go away if you quit and restart itivo? Does it only happen on particular shows (and if so, full name of show and other metadata might help). Sounds like somewhere along the line it's expecting to see a number (like the episode ID) and is instead getting a '|' symbol... but that's all the error tells me). -- I haven't seen it here yet but if you can get me more info hopefully I can reproduce it.


It does not appear to happen always on the same show. I have to quit and restart as the download queue basically stops at that point and I can't start it after that.

I've seen this twice in just the last few days. I'll keep an eye on it and let you know if I see it more. I have some shows that don't have episode names - could that be it?


----------



## Yoav

NA9D said:


> It does not appear to happen always on the same show. I have to quit and restart as the download queue basically stops at that point and I can't start it after that.
> 
> I've seen this twice in just the last few days. I'll keep an eye on it and let you know if I see it more. I have some shows that don't have episode names - could that be it?


If a show has no episode name, iTiVo should replace the episode name with the tivo ID of the show, which shouldn't have a '|' symbol in it. So I doubt it, but I can't be sure (Applescript is a pain in the butt). There is one situation where '|' symbols are introduced into data, for records read out of plist files... but the only places where plist files are used are for preferences and formats, and if that were the problem, it would happen on every show, not just random ones 

Don't have any good ideas yet on why this happens. If you notice a useful pattern to the errors tell me maybe I'll get some new ideas...


----------



## danm628

Yoav said:


> You may want to try something like selecting the 'HandBrake AppleTV' format, and then going to Prefs.. Advanced, and changing
> 
> (that will encode using the 'quicktime' settings with a bitrate of 3Mbps.) Lots of other options are documented on http://trac.handbrake.fr/wiki/CLIGuide


Thanks for the suggestions. Unfortunately they failed. I even tried ffmpeg.

It's odd that they work for iPhone format but not for the higher resolution modes. They all seem to fail at approximately the same spot in the video. (Not 100% sure of this since the video files generated can't be played.)

I suspect there is something wrong with the file from the TiVo. It plays fine there. I've scheduled the show again to get another capture. Hopefully I'll have better luck with it.

Thanks for the help. iTivo is a fantastic program.

- Dan


----------



## Yoav

danm628 said:


> Thanks for the suggestions. Unfortunately they failed. I even tried ffmpeg.
> 
> It's odd that they work for iPhone format but not for the higher resolution modes. They all seem to fail at approximately the same spot in the video. (Not 100% sure of this since the video files generated can't be played.)
> 
> I suspect there is something wrong with the file from the TiVo. It plays fine there. I've scheduled the show again to get another capture. Hopefully I'll have better luck with it.
> 
> Thanks for the help. iTivo is a fantastic program.
> 
> - Dan


I'm running out of ideas 

One thing to try though. Use the 'decrypt' mode to just fetch the contents of the mpeg-2 file from the tivo (no conversion/re-encoding will occur). Manually load up the resulting file into Handbrake and see if it's able to encode it that way? If that fails, then at least we know for sure that the source file is 'problematic' (and in theory, we would report this file to the ffmpeg team and see if they can fix their readers to not crash on this).

If it works though, then something else in the chain is causing stuff to break.

There is a tool on windows that attempts to 'fix' broken mpeg files from a tivo (apparently it's pretty common for tivo to create 'bad' mpegs). I think it ships with videoReDo, but I don't think they have a mac port of the tool


----------



## danm628

Yoav said:


> I'm running out of ideas
> 
> One thing to try though. Use the 'decrypt' mode to just fetch the contents of the mpeg-2 file from the tivo (no conversion/re-encoding will occur). Manually load up the resulting file into Handbrake and see if it's able to encode it that way? If that fails, then at least we know for sure that the source file is 'problematic' (and in theory, we would report this file to the ffmpeg team and see if they can fix their readers to not crash on this).


I'll give that I try. I already have a decrypt only copy of the file. When I started having issues I grabbed it as a backup. So I'll try HandBrake on the command line and see what happens.

- Dan


----------



## Yoav

danm628 said:


> I'll give that I try. I already have a decrypt only copy of the file. When I started having issues I grabbed it as a backup. So I'll try HandBrake on the command line and see what happens.
> 
> - Dan


You can use the handbrake gui. Internally it's the same program so it should also crash...


----------



## fatespawn

All,

I've made the plunge and bought myself an intel mac running leopard (switching from my old G5) and am starting to use the handbrake option of iTivo. I know it says "experimental" but has anyone had ~problems~ using the handbrake option to encode. I'm using the iphone preset for a bunch of low quality shows and was wondering if anyone had any comments on comparing "time to encode" and "final quality" comparisons to mencoder.

-fate

PS. now that I'm running 10.5 I can say the pytivox is a SWEET compliment to complete the cycle 'o video


----------



## danm628

Yoav said:


> You can use the handbrake gui. Internally it's the same program so it should also crash...


 I'm old fashioned. I like command lines. Long live sh or, for the youngsters, bash. I'll give the GUI a try though. They are easier for a lot of tasks.

I tried a convert with -Z "Television". The first attempt ran for 5 minutes or so and then printed "Terminated" on the command line and quit. I thought I might have hit a key in the terminal window so I restarted it. That one ran fine and produced a good file that VLC can playback. This morning I restarted it using -Z "QuickTime" and -b 3000. I checked the system about 10 minutes later and again it had printed "Terminated" and quit. I've restarted it and so far it is still running. (I work at home on Friday so I can squeeze in some extra testing today.)

Very odd.

- Dan


----------



## Yoav

Is it possible that it's running out of memory?


----------



## danm628

Yoav said:


> Is it possible that it's running out of memory?


Possible. I have 3 GB of RAM (plus swap) and about 100 Gig free on the system drive with /tmp. And 200+ Gig free on the destination drive. The Mpeg2 file from the TiVo is about 6 Gig.

The randomness looks like something outside the application. But why only this one show? Other HD shows that are 2+ hours long encode fine. This is only a 1 hour show and it fails? Maybe there is bad data that the TiVo MPEG chip ignores and the various encode programs all make the same mistake with causing them to allocate a huge amount of memory.

I recorded the show on the TiVo again last night. I'm going to see how encoding works on the new copy. If there are no problems then I'll blame it on the original file.

- Dan


----------



## philby85

Hi Yoav,

I have an issue with itivo as well I download one recording at a time when it gets to about 400mb it stops and starts again. I just tried it again with pytivo and not running it lasted longer.

I installed 10.5 on an external drive with just itivo same issue. If I used tivo transfer that comes with toast it transfers ok.

cheers

Phil


----------



## Yoav

philby85 said:


> Hi Yoav,
> 
> I have an issue with itivo as well I download one recording at a time when it gets to about 400mb it stops and starts again. I just tried it again with pytivo and not running it lasted longer.
> 
> I installed 10.5 on an external drive with just itivo same issue. If I used tivo transfer that comes with toast it transfers ok.
> 
> cheers
> 
> Phil


Let it retry up to 4 times. If it still fails on the 4th attempt, then we can look into it (some partial recordings lie about their size so itivo retries in case it can get a 'larger' copy, which never happens -- but the 4th attempt it'll just accept no matter how partial it is).


----------



## philby85

Yoav said:


> Let it retry up to 4 times. If it still fails on the 4th attempt, then we can look into it (some partial recordings lie about their size so itivo retries in case it can get a 'larger' copy, which never happens -- but the 4th attempt it'll just accept no matter how partial it is).


I thought that was the case in the end. It takes about 6 min to get to the stop point, so thats 24 mins its taking me all up.

in my searches last night I found a dashboard widget called now playing it sees the file as the same length as itivo but only downloads the once and that takes 7 mins. So I am using that at the moment. I love the features of itivo, it really is the best in that respect:up: Is there any way to force to do it just the once?

cheers

Phil


----------



## Yoav

philby85 said:


> I thought that was the case in the end. It takes about 6 min to get to the stop point, so thats 24 mins its taking me all up.
> 
> in my searches last night I found a dashboard widget called now playing it sees the file as the same length as itivo but only downloads the once and that takes 7 mins. So I am using that at the moment. I love the features of itivo, it really is the best in that respect:up: Is there any way to force to do it just the once?
> 
> cheers
> 
> Phil


Due to the fact that the tivo doesn't make a distinction between an error in the download or just an incomplete file on the tivo, I retry up to 4 times. It is possible to change that, but really this only happens for 'partial' files on your tivo. (And if I change it to allow those, then errors in the downloads that cause a partial transfer of a full show will also be accepted instead of retried).

Is this happening for ALL your files? Or just this particular one? There is a way to speed it up a bit if it's just for one or two files:

Start a download that you know will fail a few times, and run the following command:


Code:


 /Applications/iTiVo.app/Contents/Resources/killProcesses.pl

 This will make the download fail (you will see itivo realize this, and retry). Repeat the command another two times (wait for itivo to retry each time). Then let the fourth attempt finish on its own.

Also, if you do decide to go back to itivo instead of dashboard widget, make sure to FULLY remove it (it has been known to open up connections to the tivo, causing programs like iTiVo to lose their connection on downloads -- took quite a while to track that issue down). Otherwise, the widget is actually really cool for what it does, and if that's all you need, stick to it


----------



## fatespawn

Yoav said:


> * edit *: Verified that at around the 9.5G mark, it swaps from reporting progress in megs to reporting progress in gigs. iTiVo should still successfully download, but yeah the progress will be jerkier as it is getting progress info in larger chunks. There may be a risk of it 'timing out' if it takes more than 5 minutes to fetch 0.1G of data... I'll go see if I can do something about it.


Yoav,

Did you ever address this issue? I'm running 1.7.5 and just tried to download an 11+G file from the Tivo. It seemed to finish normally, but the video got chopped off at the end. It's a 1:30 video and at 1:22 it ends (about 10.5G worth) Anyway, I didn't know if this might be the same issue or not.


----------



## Yoav

fatespawn said:


> Yoav,
> 
> Did you ever address this issue? I'm running 1.7.5 and just tried to download an 11+G file from the Tivo. It seemed to finish normally, but the video got chopped off at the end. It's a 1:30 video and at 1:22 it ends (about 10.5G worth) Anyway, I didn't know if this might be the same issue or not.


The beta works around the issue. It doesn't time out as quickly once it gets to 9.5G. However, curl still reports progress in Gigs at that point, so the progress bar updates more jerkily at that point. Tell me if it's still failing for you.


----------



## fatespawn

The beta version seemed to fix the issue. Downloaded 11.9G without a hiccup. You're right about the progress bar. I happened to be sitting in front of it as it finished, and it was saying like 9min to completion for a few minutes, and then just finished - good news was it TRULY was finished.


----------



## philby85

Yoav said:


> Due to the fact that the tivo doesn't make a distinction between an error in the download or just an incomplete file on the tivo, I retry up to 4 times. It is possible to change that, but really this only happens for 'partial' files on your tivo. (And if I change it to allow those, then errors in the downloads that cause a partial transfer of a full show will also be accepted instead of retried).
> 
> Is this happening for ALL your files? Or just this particular one? There is a way to speed it up a bit if it's just for one or two files:
> 
> Start a download that you know will fail a few times, and run the following command:
> 
> 
> Code:
> 
> 
> /Applications/iTiVo.app/Contents/Resources/killProcesses.pl
> 
> This will make the download fail (you will see itivo realize this, and retry). Repeat the command another two times (wait for itivo to retry each time). Then let the fourth attempt finish on its own.
> 
> Also, if you do decide to go back to itivo instead of dashboard widget, make sure to FULLY remove it (it has been known to open up connections to the tivo, causing programs like iTiVo to lose their connection on downloads -- took quite a while to track that issue down). Otherwise, the widget is actually really cool for what it does, and if that's all you need, stick to it


Hi Yoav,

Looks like I am back with the itivo family! The widget worked well then just stopped working. I have uninstalled it as you said.

I downloaded a HD recording today I used the ps3 preset and it came out in 4:3 aspect ratio. If I do mpeg 2 HD its 16:9 not sure on that one.

I have been using the command you gave me earlier to get around the 4 tries issue. Works well. Is there any possibility to put a switch in the prefs to toggle it on and off?

cheers

Philby


----------



## moyekj

Yoav said:


> The beta works around the issue. It doesn't time out as quickly once it gets to 9.5G. However, curl still reports progress in Gigs at that point, so the progress bar updates more jerkily at that point. Tell me if it's still failing for you.


 FYI, another way to calculate progress without having to rely on curl output is just to poll the current output file size (that's what I do in kmttg).


----------



## Yoav

moyekj said:


> FYI, another way to calculate progress without having to rely on curl output is just to poll the current output file size (that's what I do in kmttg).


(itivo is a munged up piece of applescript inherited from tivodecodemanager. Features were added on top, but the core is the old code. As written, it can't look at the output file size because in the original scenario, the output is fed via a named pipe to tivodecode which feeds to mencoder... so the final output is an unrelated size, and you can't look at the temporary values ---

clearly the *right* fix would be a re-write, and that would allow for parallel downloads from multiple tivos etc.... but with the code as is, the file size is not available.. All that's available is what curl reports)


----------



## Yoav

philby85 said:


> I have been using the command you gave me earlier to get around the 4 tries issue. Works well. Is there any possibility to put a switch in the prefs to toggle it on and off?


Check out the latest beta. Under the advanced prefs there is a new value for 'number of retries'. If you set that to zero it will just accept whatever it gets with one download attempt (what you asked for).

However, if you set it to 0 and discover that downloads are teminating early for other reasons, you will probably want to raise it back.


----------



## fatespawn

Yoav,

I don't know if it's been mentioned, but I think I found a bug in the 1.7.6b3 beta. 1st of all, I tried setting iTivo as one of my Login items. It works, but each time it comes up with the message "Warning, use at your own risk etc. etc..." It's like the pref's are wiped out. In addition, my subscriptions get erased each time I log in like that. I've repeated that 3 times now. Logging out and logging back in recreate the snafu. 

-fate


----------



## Yoav

fatespawn said:


> Yoav,
> 
> I don't know if it's been mentioned, but I think I found a bug in the 1.7.6b3 beta. 1st of all, I tried setting iTivo as one of my Login items. It works, but each time it comes up with the message "Warning, use at your own risk etc. etc..." It's like the pref's are wiped out. In addition, my subscriptions get erased each time I log in like that. I've repeated that 3 times now. Logging out and logging back in recreate the snafu.
> 
> -fate


both the prefs AND the subscriptions are written out to <user>/Library/... Is it possible that iTiVo is having problems writing out to that location (which would explain why it resets each time)? I didnt make any code changes that should have impacted the preferences, so I'm surprised it's only happening with 1.7.6b3...

Is it only having problems when run as a Login item? (There may be some issue with write permissions for login items?).


----------



## fatespawn

Yes, only as a login item. To be a little more clear - it's not the actual preferences within iTivo that are being overwritten... Those stay the same - download location, iphone preset... etc. It's just that when the program launches it always prompts me "This program is under active development.." Like it's the first time I opened it. And, yes, all the subscriptions are wiped out. Strange. 

-fate

Oh, and as for writing to the user/library folder, I haven't moved it to another drive or anything... it's on the boot drive right in the OS X default location.


----------



## Yoav

fatespawn said:


> Yes, only as a login item. To be a little more clear - it's not the actual preferences within iTivo that are being overwritten... Those stay the same - download location, iphone preset... etc. It's just that when the program launches it always prompts me "This program is under active development.." Like it's the first time I opened it. And, yes, all the subscriptions are wiped out. Strange.
> 
> -fate
> 
> Oh, and as for writing to the user/library folder, I haven't moved it to another drive or anything... it's on the boot drive right in the OS X default location.


Ahh, there was a piece of code changed to automatically 'accept' that popup after 20 seconds of inactivity.. maybe that behaves 'oddly' when auto-launched? I'll look into it.


----------



## Yoav

Ok I think I see the problem with the popup. Basically, it doesn't record that you've seen the popup unless you do a clean exit from iTiVo at the end of your session, or you change some preferences setting. Since it sounds like you're running it in the background all the time, you probably only 'exit' it by rebooting and such.

If you go into


Code:


<user>/Library/Preferences/com.iTivo.iTiVo.plist

just find the Launchcount value, and change it to 1 or somesuch, and that should make the popup go away. (Or launch iTiVo by hand, set up your prefs as you like it, and do a clean exit).


----------



## philby85

Yoav said:


> Check out the latest beta. Under the advanced prefs there is a new value for 'number of retries'. If you set that to zero it will just accept whatever it gets with one download attempt (what you asked for).
> 
> However, if you set it to 0 and discover that downloads are teminating early for other reasons, you will probably want to raise it back.


Hi Yoav,

Thank you so much for this I really appreciate it!:up:

The files that I have the problem with are 10 min kids shows. I pad at the front by 1 min and at the end by 2 minutes. So I am not sure on why it thinks they are partial recordings. Could be the way that channel sets things up. It is the government run station here in Australia.

Is there any possibility in the future of separating the show lists into groups?

In regard to the ps3 setting that we chatted about. If i just decode the show using decrypt it's 16:9 If I use the Ps3 preset they are squished up.

With the show that I have just used the decode setting I can convert it to mp4 with streamclip and it stays 16:9.

Thanks again so much. i wish I could paypal you a donation?

regards

Phil


----------



## Yoav

philby85 said:


> Hi Yoav,
> The files that I have the problem with are 10 min kids shows. I pad at the front by 1 min and at the end by 2 minutes. So I am not sure on why it thinks they are partial recordings. Could be the way that channel sets things up. It is the government run station here in Australia.


I don't know why it thinks that they are incomplete, but the tivo is definitely reporting the file sizes as some value, but then only provides part of that size. Anyways, setting retries to 0 will avoid you problem.

All I can say about the PS3 setting is that when I tried it with an HD feed it was widescreen on my quicktime player and my VLC player. I'm really at a loss as to why it's not on yours.

There is always a 'possibility' of seperating the shows into groups, but it's a fairly large code change, and the applescript code there really isn't very pretty, so I'm more inclined to do a full re-write than making the code change, and neither of those are high on my priority list. However, you can at least get partway to what you want by clicking the word 'Show' above the names. That will sort all the programs by show-name instead of the tivo default sorting (you can click on any of the column names to pick those as the sort order).


----------



## fatespawn

Yoav said:


> just find the Launchcount value, and change it to 1 or somesuch, and that should make the popup go away. (Or launch iTiVo by hand, set up your prefs as you like it, and do a clean exit).


Thanks for the insight. I'm traveling right now and will try it when I get a chance. Do you think the "subscription issue" is related to this as well? I'll report back.


----------



## fatespawn

Well, I haven't got too far. found the com.itivo.itivo.plist file. I tried to edit it in textedit and it was gibberish. So I trashed the preference. But here's the kicker. now it's gone. And it doesn't come back when I open iTivo. But my "settings" are still in iTivo (download location, format etc.) 

Even after exiting iTivo "cleanly" I couldn't get it to work as a startup item. Each time the computer logs in, it prompts me with the popup, and the subscriptions get erased. If I enter a new subscription, and exit iTivo normally, restarting iTivo normally keeps the subscription. But, quitting, logging off, and logging back in with iTivo set as a startup item kills reprompts me and kills the subscriptions. 

Have you been able to duplicate this?


----------



## Yoav

fatespawn said:


> Well, I haven't got too far. found the com.itivo.itivo.plist file. I tried to edit it in textedit and it was gibberish. So I trashed the preference. But here's the kicker. now it's gone. And it doesn't come back when I open iTivo. But my "settings" are still in iTivo (download location, format etc.)
> 
> Even after exiting iTivo "cleanly" I couldn't get it to work as a startup item. Each time the computer logs in, it prompts me with the popup, and the subscriptions get erased. If I enter a new subscription, and exit iTivo normally, restarting iTivo normally keeps the subscription. But, quitting, logging off, and logging back in with iTivo set as a startup item kills reprompts me and kills the subscriptions.
> 
> Have you been able to duplicate this?


Let me see if I understood correctly: When you load up iTiVo, set up your preferences, and exit, there is NO com.itivo.itivo.plist file? If so, something is definitely 'odd' with your setup, and something is preventing itivo from writing things to <user>/Library/Preferences, and that would explain all the issues you're having. I'm not sure WHY this is happening though... Did you change permissions on the directories in there?


----------



## fatespawn

No, I've changed nothing. Actually, this mac is BRAND new. Just got it last week. To update, the plist file finally DID show up. I had to change a preference to make it appear. I though simply opening and closing would create a new preference. I guess only if you change something? In any case. It's back...

So, to test, I created a new administrator user. Logged in under that name and installed 1.7.5. I was able to create a com.itivo.itivo.plist file. So far so good. I added a subscription. I set itivo as a login item. exited normally. Logged out and back in. The prompt came up (interestingly, it didn't come up the first time I actually opened it under the new user name) and the subscription was erased.

To further troubleshoot, I tried the same process on my wife's iMac. Same result. pop up at each login and erased subscriptions. Have you tried this yourself?

Can I give you any more information?


----------



## fatespawn

Yoav,

I've made one more discovery. iTivo only behaves this way (the startup issue) when the "hide" checkbox is checked in the login items. My goal is to run iTivo in the background automatically downloading subscriptions. If I add iTivo to the login items and leave the checkbox empty, the program starts up normally. Any reason, the "hide" feature would wreak havoc with iTivo?


----------



## Yoav

fatespawn said:


> Yoav,
> 
> I've made one more discovery. iTivo only behaves this way (the startup issue) when the "hide" checkbox is checked in the login items. My goal is to run iTivo in the background automatically downloading subscriptions. If I add iTivo to the login items and leave the checkbox empty, the program starts up normally. Any reason, the "hide" feature would wreak havoc with iTivo?


I'm not entirely sure. iTiVo uses applescript calls to render things on the display. Although I *think* those still complete correctly when the display isn't there / is hidden, there might be a difference between 'hidden' after it launches and 'hidden' from the checkbox (it might completely skip rendering the visual in the first place, which may cause issues). I'm not finding anything useful in apple's documentation about the 'hide' checkbox..


----------



## fatespawn

:sigh:

Well, I thought I made some great progress with my desire to find a preset to passthrough ac3 to a high quality archive using comskip. I used a test .mpg decrypt file in the Handbrake GUI using the Quicktime preset (with the bitrate MUCH higher and ac3 passthrough enabled). The encode went fine and the transfer back to the tivo went seamlessly via pytivox (though the audio was out of sync if STREAMED but that's another thread). Transcoding back to mpeg 2 was no problem.

So, I plugged my Handbrake CLI options into iTivo and I think iTivo crashed. Here's the resulting log of the event. Any ideas? I'll try mencoder options, but the info that I've found on audio options are more cryptic and just using -oac copy seems to crash as well.




2009-04-06 00:32:27 is download complete 1 / 3
sh: line 1: 11717 Terminated /Applications/iTiVo.app/Contents/Resources/HandBrakeCLI -e x264 -b7000 -f mp4 -4 -2 -T -a 1,1 -E ac3,faac -B auto,160 -R auto,48 -6 auto,dpl2 -x ref=4:mixed-refs=1:bframes=3:weightb=1:direct=auto:me=umh:subq=6:analyse=all:8x8dct=1:trellis=1:no-fast-pskip=1: psy-rd=1,1:b-pyramid=1 -o /Volumes/Video/Tivo\ Shows/1test/Planet\ Earth\ -\ Fresh\ Water.m4v -i /tmp/iTiVo-Tom/iTiVoDLPipe2.mpg > /tmp/iTiVo-Tom/iTiVoDL2 2>&1 < /dev/null
2009-04-06 00:32:30 killed : HandBrakeCLI:11717 ,
2009-04-06 00:32:30 is download complete 1 / 3
2009-04-06 00:32:30 is download complete 1 / 3
2009-04-06 00:32:30 Complete=true , 85&#37; fullfilesize=4989.5 ; currentfilesize=5398
2009-04-06 00:32:30 perl /Applications/iTiVo.app/Contents/Resources/GetExtraInfo.pl 192.168.1.89


----------



## fatespawn

Yoav,

I tried the standard Quicktime 10mbps preset (with comskip) and the encoding fails. The download completes, comskip completes, then about half way through the encoding, the download starts all over again. Here is a piece of the log file.

2009-04-06 07:36:51 mencoder timeout: 70 download:1 timeRemaining: 200 timeOn:0 currentPercent: 0
2009-04-06 07:36:52 mencoder timeout: 71 download:1 timeRemaining: 200 timeOn:0 currentPercent: 0
2009-04-06 07:36:52 Download completed
2009-04-06 07:36:52 is download complete 1 / 3
2009-04-06 07:36:56 killed : 
2009-04-06 07:36:56 is download complete 1 / 3
2009-04-06 07:36:57 killed : 
2009-04-06 07:36:57 rm -f /tmp/iTiVo-Tom/iTiVoDLPipe* /tmp/iTiVo-Tom/iTiVoTDC* /tmp/iTiVo-Tom/iTiVoDLMeta*
2009-04-06 07:36:57 mkfifo /tmp/iTiVo-Tom/iTiVoDLPipe ; touch /tmp/iTiVo-Tom/iTiVoDLPipe{2,3}.mpg
2009-04-06 07:36:57 perl /Applications/iTiVo.app/Contents/Resources/http-fetcher.pl 192.168.1.89 1619892 Planet&#37;5C%20Earth xxxxxxxxxx /tmp/iTiVo-Tom/iTiVoDLPipe >> /tmp/iTiVo-Tom/iTiVo.log 2>&1 & echo $! ;exit 0
2009-04-06 07:36:57 perl /Applications/iTiVo.app/Contents/Resources/tivo-decoder.pl %2FApplications%2FiTiVo%2Eapp%2F xxxxxxxxxx >> /tmp/iTiVo-Tom/iTiVo.log 2>&1 & echo $! ;exit 0
curl 'http://192.168.1.89:80/download/Planet%5C%20Earth.TiVo?Container=%2FNowPlaying&id=1619892' -c /tmp/cookies.txt --retry 12 --retry-delay 10 --digest -u tivo:xxxxxxxxxx -o /tmp/iTiVo-Tom/iTiVoDLPipe --stderr /tmp/iTiVo-Tom/iTiVoDL
2009-04-06 07:36:57 Informing via Growl
2009-04-06 07:36:57 timeout: 0 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:5870
/Applications/iTiVo.app/Contents/Resources/tivodecode -n -D -m xxxxxxxxxx -o /tmp/iTiVo-Tom/iTiVoDLPipe2.mpg /tmp/iTiVo-Tom/iTiVoDLPipe
2009-04-06 07:36:58 timeout: 0 currentFileSize: 5398 fullFileSize:5870
2009-04-06 07:36:58 timeout: 1 currentFileSize: 2.95639038085938e-05 fullFileSize:5870
2009-04-06 07:36:59 timeout: 2 currentFileSize: 2.95639038085938e-05 fullFileSize:5870
2009-04-06 07:36:59 timeout: 3 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:5870
Encryption by QUALCOMM


----------



## Yoav

fatespawn said:


> So, I plugged my Handbrake CLI options into iTivo and I think iTivo crashed. Here's the resulting log of the event. Any ideas? I'll try mencoder options, but the info that I've found on audio options are more cryptic and just using -oac copy seems to crash as well.


so when I said "you're on your own" I wasn't kidding. As it encodes it writes out information in /tmp/iTiVo-<username>/iTiVoDL2 . You *may* want to look at that as it's encoding to see if anything else is logged in there (that's the direct output of Handbrake). Looks to me like Handbrake decided to exit early on that file, but I don't know why. Is it possible that it's just a bad mpeg-2? I'm told that sometimes the tivo makes bad files that cause encoders to crash...


----------



## Yoav

fatespawn said:


> Yoav,
> 
> I tried the standard Quicktime 10mbps preset (with comskip) and the encoding fails. The download completes, comskip completes, then about half way through the encoding, the download starts all over again. Here is a piece of the log file.


And this is on the same file that your handbrake encoding is failing on? Does it also fail when you use a very simple encoding like 'iphone'? If so, I'm leaning more strongly towards the 'bad mpeg-2 file theory' from my last post. (You may also want to disable comskip, since it might be generating a skip list that is wrong/confusing the encoder).

Btw there is a tool on windows that people use to 'fix' bad mpeg-2's which is part of the VideoReDo package. I do not believe anyone has written a similar tool for the mac though.


----------



## yargok

I have a question about how people manage their itunes libraries when using iTiVo. I know you can set your iphone to only sync the most recent 5 episodes, but i'd like to do something similar with itunes to save space. Is there a way in iTiVo or some other script to make sure there are only 5 episodes of a given show in the TV show library and delete the oldest ones?


----------



## Yoav

yargok said:


> I have a question about how people manage their itunes libraries when using iTiVo. I know you can set your iphone to only sync the most recent 5 episodes, but i'd like to do something similar with itunes to save space. Is there a way in iTiVo or some other script to make sure there are only 5 episodes of a given show in the TV show library and delete the oldest ones?


iTiVo will not delete shows from your iTunes library.

I looked around for itunes scripts that would do this for you, and so far have had no luck. Doug's applescripts page: http://dougscripts.com/itunes/usually has tons of useful stuff, but I guess there's sort of a 'worry' about deleting the wrong thing (also, i think itunes requires a popup to delete files no matter what).

If you have the script-know-how you can probably edit one of the deletion scripts he has to actually try and figure out how many episodes of a show are on disk, and see if you can sort those by time and expire the oldest...

OR a little manual work (this won't be automatic, but it's pretty easy and is what I do to delete old things): Click the "TV Shows" button. Make sure you're using the list view (the View with the horizontal lines). Now right-click or option-click the word 'Name' and choose 'Date Added'. Now you can see when each show as added. Left-click on the 'Date Added' name to sort everything by date added. Go to the bottom (oldest episodes), and click or shift-click to select all the episodes you want gone. Hit 'delete' and make sure to say "Move to trash".

So yeah, not automated.. sorry 
Maybe someone will have a better solution in a bit...


----------



## MacGuruTX

I've run into this on both release and beta versions.

1) Move a show from now playing to Download Queue
2) Select the Download Now
3) go back to my now playing and now add several more shows to the Download queue.
4) The download that was in progress now appears to be hung. as it never adds any more to the file.

5) Possibly related/unrelated. - Press the Cancel Download button. I expected it to clear out the file name and progress, but it doesn't do that?

downloading in "decrypt" mode


----------



## Yoav

MacGuruTX said:


> I've run into this on both release and beta versions.
> 
> 1) Move a show from now playing to Download Queue
> 2) Select the Download Now
> 3) go back to my now playing and now add several more shows to the Download queue.
> 4) The download that was in progress now appears to be hung. as it never adds any more to the file.
> 
> 5) Possibly related/unrelated. - Press the Cancel Download button. I expected it to clear out the file name and progress, but it doesn't do that?
> 
> downloading in "decrypt" mode


Odd I just tried those exact steps and it's working fine (the download of the file continues, the new files are added to the queue)... And hitting cancel cancels that download and moves on down the list to the next show...

It sounds like somehow when you add a show to the queue you are throwing it out of the 'downloading loop'. The only guess I can have as to why that would happen is if there's some error adding the new show to the queue. Anything 'special' about the new show you're adding?

If you can get it to happen again (it sounds like you can), can I get you to do the whole thing as described, and then attach the logfile: /tmp/iTiVo-<username>/iTiVo.log ? Hoping there might be something useful there...


----------



## danm628

Yoav,

I just got a Turbo 264 HD and have a minor problem with iTiVo. It does work for download and convert but it won't import to iTunes. When I look in the log I see:

osascript /Applications/iTiVo.app//Contents/Resources/Scripts/elgato.scpt /tmp/iTiVo-dlmoore/iTiVoDLPipe2.mpg /Volumes/Newertech\ miniStack\ V3/Movies/TiVo/Good\ Eats\ -\ Cuckoo\ for\ Coq\ au\ Vin.mp4 /tmp/iTiVo-dlmoore/iTiVoDL2 iPhone 2>&1

2009-04-12 09:12:07 mencoder timeout: 1 download:1 timeRemaining: 200 timeOn:0 currentPercent: 0
2009-04-12 09:12:08 mencoder timeout: 2 download:1 timeRemaining: 200 timeOn:0 currentPercent: 0
2009-04-12 09:12:08 mencoder timeout: 3 download:1 timeRemaining: 200 timeOn:0 currentPercent: 0
2009-04-12 09:12:09 mencoder timeout: 4 download:1 timeRemaining: 200 timeOn:0 currentPercent: 0
2009-04-12 09:12:09 mencoder timeout: 5 download:1 timeRemaining: 200 timeOn:0 currentPercent: 0
2009-04-12 09:12:10 mencoder timeout: 6 download:1 timeRemaining: 200 timeOn:0 currentPercent: 0
2009-04-12 09:12:10 mencoder timeout: 7 download:1 timeRemaining: 200 timeOn:0 currentPercent: 0
2009-04-12 09:12:11 mencoder timeout: 8 download:1 timeRemaining: 200 timeOn:0 currentPercent: 0
2009-04-12 09:12:11 mencoder timeout: 9 download:1 timeRemaining: 200 timeOn:0 currentPercent: 0
2009-04-12 09:12:12 mencoder timeout: 10 download:1 timeRemaining: 200 timeOn:0 currentPercent: 0
2009-04-12 09:12:13 mencoder timeout: 11 download:1 timeRemaining: 200 timeOn:0 currentPercent: 0
2009-04-12 09:12:13 mencoder timeout: 12 download:1 timeRemaining: 200 timeOn:0 currentPercent: 0
2009-04-12 09:12:14 mencoder timeout: 13 download:1 timeRemaining: 200 timeOn:0 currentPercent: 0
2009-04-12 09:12:14 mencoder timeout: 14 download:1 timeRemaining: 200 timeOn:0 currentPercent: 0
2009-04-12 09:12:15 mencoder timeout: 15 download:1 timeRemaining: 200 timeOn:0 currentPercent: 0
2009-04-12 09:12:15 mencoder timeout: 16 download:1 timeRemaining: 200 timeOn:0 currentPercent: 0
2009-04-12 09:12:16 mencoder timeout: 17 download:1 timeRemaining: 200 timeOn:0 currentPercent: 0
2009-04-12 09:12:16 mencoder timeout: 18 download:1 timeRemaining: 200 timeOn:0 currentPercent: 0
2009-04-12 09:12:17 mencoder timeout: 19 download:1 timeRemaining: 200 timeOn:0 currentPercent: 0
2009-04-12 09:12:17 mencoder timeout: 20 download:1 timeRemaining: 200 timeOn:0 currentPercent: 0
2009-04-12 09:12:18 mencoder timeout: 21 download:1 timeRemaining: 200 timeOn:0 currentPercent: 0
2009-04-12 09:12:18 mencoder timeout: 22 download:1 timeRemaining: 200 timeOn:0 currentPercent: 0
2009-04-12 09:12:19 mencoder timeout: 23 download:1 timeRemaining: 200 timeOn:0 currentPercent: 0
2009-04-12 09:12:20 mencoder timeout: 24 download:1 timeRemaining: 200 timeOn:0 currentPercent: 0
2009-04-12 09:12:20 mencoder timeout: 25 download:1 timeRemaining: 200 timeOn:0 currentPercent: 0
/Applications/iTiVo.app//Contents/Resources/Scripts/elgato.scpt: execution error: The variable date_diff is not defined. (-2753)
2009-04-12 09:12:21 mencoder timeout: 26 download:1 timeRemaining: 200 timeOn:0 currentPercent: 0
2009-04-12 09:12:21 Download completed
2009-04-12 09:12:23 killed :

It looks like the elgato applescript is using an undefined variable. I think this means the wait till idle applescript isn't running correctly. This may be an Elgato bug instead of iTiVo.

I do get an output mp4 file in the correct directory on my external drive. The import to iTunes does not happen when it finishes.

The Turbo 264 HD also supports some new output formats including "HD 720p" and "HD 1080p". I haven't tried either yet.

- Dan


----------



## Yoav

Actually, I'd suspect that this is a problem with how I process elgato things (an iTiVo bug). as I've mentioned before, I don't own one of the devices, so can't really test things out and rely on you guys to help me out ...

Anyways, what seems to be happening is that iTiVo correctly invokes the 'process movie with elgato', and it supposed to be getting 'fake' progress info from it but isn't, so iTiVo times out and moves on..
While it times out, it stops dealing with it. After a few minutes, elgato finishes processing the movie and informs iTiVo (which no longer listens) that it's done. Which is why you have a converted file, but it's not imported into iTunes (iTiVo normally does that part).

I'll see if I can figure out why it's not giving 'fake progress info' to iTiVo.



danm628 said:


> Yoav,
> 
> I just got a Turbo 264 HD and have a minor problem with iTiVo. It does work for download and convert but it won't import to iTunes. When I look in the log I see:
> 
> osascript /Applications/iTiVo.app//Contents/Resources/Scripts/elgato.scpt /tmp/iTiVo-dlmoore/iTiVoDLPipe2.mpg /Volumes/Newertech\ miniStack\ V3/Movies/TiVo/Good\ Eats\ -\ Cuckoo\ for\ Coq\ au\ Vin.mp4 /tmp/iTiVo-dlmoore/iTiVoDL2 iPhone 2>&1
> 
> 2009-04-12 09:12:07 mencoder timeout: 1 download:1 timeRemaining: 200 timeOn:0 currentPercent: 0
> 2009-04-12 09:12:08 mencoder timeout: 2 download:1 timeRemaining: 200 timeOn:0 currentPercent: 0
> 2009-04-12 09:12:08 mencoder timeout: 3 download:1 timeRemaining: 200 timeOn:0 currentPercent: 0
> 2009-04-12 09:12:09 mencoder timeout: 4 download:1 timeRemaining: 200 timeOn:0 currentPercent: 0
> 2009-04-12 09:12:09 mencoder timeout: 5 download:1 timeRemaining: 200 timeOn:0 currentPercent: 0
> 2009-04-12 09:12:10 mencoder timeout: 6 download:1 timeRemaining: 200 timeOn:0 currentPercent: 0
> 2009-04-12 09:12:10 mencoder timeout: 7 download:1 timeRemaining: 200 timeOn:0 currentPercent: 0
> 2009-04-12 09:12:11 mencoder timeout: 8 download:1 timeRemaining: 200 timeOn:0 currentPercent: 0
> 2009-04-12 09:12:11 mencoder timeout: 9 download:1 timeRemaining: 200 timeOn:0 currentPercent: 0
> 2009-04-12 09:12:12 mencoder timeout: 10 download:1 timeRemaining: 200 timeOn:0 currentPercent: 0
> 2009-04-12 09:12:13 mencoder timeout: 11 download:1 timeRemaining: 200 timeOn:0 currentPercent: 0
> 2009-04-12 09:12:13 mencoder timeout: 12 download:1 timeRemaining: 200 timeOn:0 currentPercent: 0
> 2009-04-12 09:12:14 mencoder timeout: 13 download:1 timeRemaining: 200 timeOn:0 currentPercent: 0
> 2009-04-12 09:12:14 mencoder timeout: 14 download:1 timeRemaining: 200 timeOn:0 currentPercent: 0
> 2009-04-12 09:12:15 mencoder timeout: 15 download:1 timeRemaining: 200 timeOn:0 currentPercent: 0
> 2009-04-12 09:12:15 mencoder timeout: 16 download:1 timeRemaining: 200 timeOn:0 currentPercent: 0
> 2009-04-12 09:12:16 mencoder timeout: 17 download:1 timeRemaining: 200 timeOn:0 currentPercent: 0
> 2009-04-12 09:12:16 mencoder timeout: 18 download:1 timeRemaining: 200 timeOn:0 currentPercent: 0
> 2009-04-12 09:12:17 mencoder timeout: 19 download:1 timeRemaining: 200 timeOn:0 currentPercent: 0
> 2009-04-12 09:12:17 mencoder timeout: 20 download:1 timeRemaining: 200 timeOn:0 currentPercent: 0
> 2009-04-12 09:12:18 mencoder timeout: 21 download:1 timeRemaining: 200 timeOn:0 currentPercent: 0
> 2009-04-12 09:12:18 mencoder timeout: 22 download:1 timeRemaining: 200 timeOn:0 currentPercent: 0
> 2009-04-12 09:12:19 mencoder timeout: 23 download:1 timeRemaining: 200 timeOn:0 currentPercent: 0
> 2009-04-12 09:12:20 mencoder timeout: 24 download:1 timeRemaining: 200 timeOn:0 currentPercent: 0
> 2009-04-12 09:12:20 mencoder timeout: 25 download:1 timeRemaining: 200 timeOn:0 currentPercent: 0
> /Applications/iTiVo.app//Contents/Resources/Scripts/elgato.scpt: execution error: The variable date_diff is not defined. (-2753)
> 2009-04-12 09:12:21 mencoder timeout: 26 download:1 timeRemaining: 200 timeOn:0 currentPercent: 0
> 2009-04-12 09:12:21 Download completed
> 2009-04-12 09:12:23 killed :
> 
> It looks like the elgato applescript is using an undefined variable. I think this means the wait till idle applescript isn't running correctly. This may be an Elgato bug instead of iTiVo.
> 
> I do get an output mp4 file in the correct directory on my external drive. The import to iTunes does not happen when it finishes.
> 
> The Turbo 264 HD also supports some new output formats including "HD 720p" and "HD 1080p". I haven't tried either yet.
> 
> - Dan


----------



## Yoav

Yoav said:


> I'll see if I can figure out why it's not giving 'fake progress info' to iTiVo.


Ok, I see a situation where the date_diff variable can have no value set, which may have caused the problem you are seeing..

Building a new beta to fix it now. Can you install the beta (1.7.5b6) and tell me if it's working for you now?


----------



## danm628

New behavior. iTiVo does wait for the conversion to complete but still doesn't report any status. When the conversion is complete it loops back and starts the download again.

I switched to a different recording (SD, so it's smaller) for testing. Log shows:

2009-04-12 15:34:36 timeout: 0 currentFileSize: 867 fullFileSize:966
2009-04-12 15:34:37 timeout: 0 currentFileSize: 868 fullFileSize:966
2009-04-12 15:34:38 timeout: 1 currentFileSize: 868 fullFileSize:966
End of File

2009-04-12 15:34:38 timeout: 0 currentFileSize: 869 fullFileSize:966
2009-04-12 15:34:39 Running : touch /tmp/iTiVo-dlmoore/iTiVoDLPipe3.mpg
2009-04-12 15:34:39 is download complete 2 / 3
2009-04-12 15:34:39 is download complete 2 / 3
2009-04-12 15:34:39 Running : touch /tmp/iTiVo-dlmoore/iTiVoDLPipe3.mpg
2009-04-12 15:34:39 is download complete 2 / 3
2009-04-12 15:34:39 is download complete 2 / 3
2009-04-12 15:34:39 perl /Applications/iTiVo.app/Contents/Resources/re-encoder.pl %2FApplications%2FiTiVo%2Eapp%2F %2FVolumes%2FNewertech%5C%20miniStack%5C%20V3%2FMovies%2FTiVo%2F Torchwood%5C%20%2D%5C%20Day%5C%20One.mp4 'turbo.264' 'iPhone' ' ' ' ' >> /tmp/iTiVo-dlmoore/iTiVo.log 2>&1 & echo $! ;exit 0


osascript /Applications/iTiVo.app//Contents/Resources/Scripts/elgato.scpt /tmp/iTiVo-dlmoore/iTiVoDLPipe2.mpg /Volumes/Newertech\ miniStack\ V3/Movies/TiVo/Torchwood\ -\ Day\ One.mp4 /tmp/iTiVo-dlmoore/iTiVoDL2 iPhone 2>&1

2009-04-12 15:34:39 mencoder timeout: 0 download:1 timeRemaining: 200 timeOn:0.0 currentPercent: 0
2009-04-12 15:34:39 mencoder timeout: 1 download:1 timeRemaining: 200 timeOn:0 currentPercent: 0
2009-04-12 15:34:40 mencoder timeout: 2 download:1 timeRemaining: 200 timeOn:0 currentPercent: 0
2009-04-12 15:34:41 mencoder timeout: 3 download:1 timeRemaining: 200 timeOn:0 currentPercent: 0
2009-04-12 15:34:41 mencoder timeout: 4 download:1 timeRemaining: 200 timeOn:0 currentPercent: 0
2009-04-12 15:34:42 mencoder timeout: 5 download:1 timeRemaining: 200 timeOn:0 currentPercent: 0
2009-04-12 15:34:42 mencoder timeout: 6 download:1 timeRemaining: 200 timeOn:0 currentPercent: 0
2009-04-12 15:34:43 mencoder timeout: 7 download:1 timeRemaining: 200 timeOn:0 currentPercent: 0
2009-04-12 15:34:43 mencoder timeout: 8 download:1 timeRemaining: 200 timeOn:0 currentPercent: 0
... Many skipped lines ... 
2009-04-12 15:47:33 mencoder timeout: 972 download:1 timeRemaining: 200 timeOn:0 currentPercent: 0
2009-04-12 15:47:34 mencoder timeout: 973 download:1 timeRemaining: 200 timeOn:0 currentPercent: 0
2009-04-12 15:47:34 mencoder timeout: 974 download:1 timeRemaining: 200 timeOn:0 currentPercent: 0
2009-04-12 15:47:35 mencoder timeout: 975 download:1 timeRemaining: 200 timeOn:0 currentPercent: 0
2009-04-12 15:47:35 mencoder timeout: 976 download:1 timeRemaining: 200 timeOn:0 currentPercent: 0
2009-04-12 15:47:36 Download completed
2009-04-12 15:47:37 killed :
2009-04-12 15:47:37 is download complete 2 / 3
2009-04-12 15:47:39 killed :
2009-04-12 15:47:39 rm -f /tmp/iTiVo-dlmoore/iTiVoDLPipe* /tmp/iTiVo-dlmoore/iTiVoTDC* /tmp/iTiVo-dlmoore/iTiVoDLMeta*
2009-04-12 15:47:39 mkfifo /tmp/iTiVo-dlmoore/iTiVoDLPipe ; touch /tmp/iTiVo-dlmoore/iTiVoDLPipe{2,3}.mpg
2009-04-12 15:47:39 perl /Applications/iTiVo.app/Contents/Resources/http-fetcher.pl 192.168.0.4 1339715 Torchwood 8104017040 /tmp/iTiVo-dlmoore/iTiVoDLPipe >> /tmp/iTiVo-dlmoore/iTiVo.log 2>&1 & echo $! ;exit 0
curl 'http://192.168.0.4:80/download/Torchwood.TiVo?Container=%2FNowPlaying&id=1339715' -c /tmp/cookies.txt --retry 12 --retry-delay 10 --digest -u tivo:8104017040 -o /tmp/iTiVo-dlmoore/iTiVoDLPipe --stderr /tmp/iTiVo-dlmoore/iTiVoDL
2009-04-12 15:47:39 perl /Applications/iTiVo.app/Contents/Resources/tivo-decoder.pl %2FApplications%2FiTiVo%2Eapp%2F 8104017040 >> /tmp/iTiVo-dlmoore/iTiVo.log 2>&1 & echo $! ;exit 0
/Applications/iTiVo.app/Contents/Resources/tivodecode -n -D -m 8104017040 -o /tmp/iTiVo-dlmoore/iTiVoDLPipe2.mpg /tmp/iTiVo-dlmoore/iTiVoDLPipe
2009-04-12 15:47:39 timeout: 0 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:966
2009-04-12 15:47:39 timeout: 1 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:966
Encryption by QUALCOMM 

2009-04-12 15:47:40 timeout: 0 currentFileSize: 2.95639038085938e-05 fullFileSize:966
2009-04-12 15:47:40 timeout: 1 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:966
2009-04-12 15:47:41 timeout: 2 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:966
2009-04-12 15:47:41 timeout: 0 currentFileSize: 0.7509765625 fullFileSize:966
2009-04-12 15:47:42 timeout: 1 currentFileSize: 0.7509765625 fullFileSize:966
2009-04-12 15:47:42 timeout: 0 currentFileSize: 1.8271484375 fullFileSize:966
2009-04-12 15:47:43 timeout: 0 currentFileSize: 2.927734375 fullFileSize:966
2009-04-12 15:47:44 timeout: 1 currentFileSize: 2.927734375 fullFileSize:966
2009-04-12 15:47:44 timeout: 0 currentFileSize: 4.0703125 fullFileSize:966

- Dan


----------



## Yoav

danm628 said:


> New behavior.
> - Dan


Looks like the timeout is happening because the fake progress reporting isn't doing its thing.. let me change up the code a bit...

try the new beta 

(and sorry for the insane frequent updates)


----------



## danm628

I appreciate the insane update rate. A lot. iTiVo is a great program and I appreciate the effort you put in to it. 

I'll try the new beta and see what happens. It will be Monday night before you get any updates; I go to work really early.

Any additional debug info you need? I can always install Xcode on my system and grab the code. 

- Dan


----------



## Yoav

danm628 said:


> I appreciate the insane update rate. A lot. iTiVo is a great program and I appreciate the effort you put in to it.
> 
> I'll try the new beta and see what happens. It will be Monday night before you get any updates; I go to work really early.
> 
> Any additional debug info you need? I can always install Xcode on my system and grab the code.
> 
> - Dan


I don't think you'd need to install XCode, but if it still breaks I would appreciate if you did the following and tell me what happens:


Download the movie using the 'decrypt' format. Put it on the Desktop as 'movie.mpg'
Open up Terminal.app and run


Code:


osascript /Applications/iTiVo.app/Contents/Resources/elgato.scpt ~/Desktop/movie.mpg ~/Desktop/output.mp4 ~/Desktop/log.txt iPhone



Those are tilde '~' characters, not minus '-' characters in that invocation...

If I understand how the Elgato works, that should create an mp4 file in your desktop, and leave a log there called log.txt. If stuff is still breaking, can you attach the log.txt file here so I can look at it. I can't 'fake' simulate having the ElGato card, so I'm just going with how I *think* it should be working.. would love to know if it does...

Also if the script prints out any errors, tell me please...

And thank you for helping out with this


----------



## danm628

I just checked it before hitting the sack. iTiVo was redownloading the file and Elgato was finishing up the decrypt. I've started a download of a decrypted file, I'll run the applescript once it finishes.

- Dan


----------



## Yoav

danm628 said:


> I just checked it before hitting the sack. iTiVo was redownloading the file and Elgato was finishing up the decrypt. I've started a download of a decrypted file, I'll run the applescript once it finishes.
> 
> - Dan


Also, the script shouldn't 'finish' (return you to the shell prompt) until the encode finishes.. please tell me if the script seems to finish early...


----------



## danm628

Just got home and ran some tests with a few different shows (480i 30 and 60 minute shows, 3 hour 1080i show and a SD analog show off cable). The 480i and SD analog shows worked fine.

The 1080i show produced this error: /Applications/iTiVo.app/Contents/Resources/Scripts/elgato.scpt: execution error: Turbo.264 HD got an error: An error of type -208 has occurred. (-208)

Just to be sure, I dragged the 1080i file to the Elgato application and manually did a convert to iPhone format. That worked fine. 

If the Elgato Turbo.264 HD has already been started (i.e. application is sitting idle) when the script is started then it runs correctly with no error messages printed. When the script finishes Turbo.264 HD exits.

If the Elgato application has not already been started then the script prints:
/Applications/iTiVo.app/Contents/Resources/Scripts/elgato.scpt: execution error: Turbo.264 HD got an error: Cant get isEncoding. (-1728)
and exits. The Turbo.264 HD application does start, roughly at the same time the script exits. Running the script again at this point works.

The log file for the short run has this:
Monday, April 13, 2009 4:50:28 PM : Starting ElGato
0 -1 300 0
11 -1 300 0
21 -1 300 0
31 -1 300 0
41 -1 300 0
51 -1 300 0
61 -1 300 0
71 -1 300 0
81 -1 300 0
91 -1 300 0
101 -1 300 0
111 -1 300 0
121 -1 300 0
131 -1 300 0
141 -1 300 0
151 -1 300 0
161 -1 300 0
171 -1 300 0
181 -1 300 0
191 -1 300 0
201 -1 300 0
211 -1 300 0
221 -1 300 0
231 -1 300 0
241 -1 300 0
251 -1 300 0
261 -1 300 0
271 -1 300 0
281 -1 300 0
291 -1 300 0
301 -1 300 0
311 -1 300 0
321 -1 300 0
332 -1 300 0
342 -1 300 0
352 -1 300 0
362 -1 300 0
372 -1 300 0
382 -1 300 0
392 -1 300 0
402 -1 300 0
412 -1 300 0
422 -1 300 0
432 -1 300 0
432 100 0

The long run just has more lines and counts higher.

- Dan


----------



## Yoav

danm628 said:


> Just got home and ran some tests with a few


First of all.. Thank you thank you thank you!!
That's a REALLY helpful bug report .. I actually have a bunch of useful info to work with now.

I'll see what I can make out of this. It definitely looks like multiple bugs converging.. I'll see what I can do to fix them all (although I should point out that given the ElGato documentation, this may not be too easy).


----------



## Yoav

danm628 said:


> Just got home and ran some tests with a few different shows (480i 30 and 60 minute shows, 3 hour 1080i show and a SD analog show off cable).


Ok I'm gonna try launching the application first, then waiting 5 seconds before handing it a file to process. Hopefully that should get rid of the errors you are seeing..
( It wasn't clear to me if the error -208 also went away if elgato is running? )

I also better parse the elgato output to deal with errors from the encoder (don't think there are any here.. but at least I know what to do now).

Can you check out the *new* beta and tell me if it finally does the right thing?


----------



## danm628

After some additional testing I think the -208 error was due to operator error. I can't duplicate it. (Guess -- did I remember to rename the test file to movie.mpg before hitting return? Not sure. Will retest later to be sure.)

The new beta solves the Elgato startup problem. I can run the script and it correctly starts Turbo.264 HD, requests the encode and waits for the encode to complete. I've only done a full test with one of the 480i videos, it only takes a few minutes. I didn't let the 1080i encode finish, it takes longer and I wanted to test a full download, encode, import to iTunes cycle.

I did a quick test of the download and encode of the 480i video (since it is still on the TiVo). Download finished, Turbo.264 started, encoded video, finished. And then the download started again.

- Dan


----------



## Yoav

danm628 said:


> Download finished, Turbo.264 started, encoded video, finished. And then the download started again.
> 
> - Dan


Ok so now we're done to just making sure iTiVo thinks the download was successful and not a failure.. One more bugfix.. looking into it.


----------



## Yoav

danm628 said:


> Download finished, Turbo.264 started, encoded video, finished. And then the download started again.
> 
> - Dan


Can you run (in Terminal.app)



Code:


 grep -C 10 "Complete=" /tmp/iTiVo-*/iTiVo.log

I'm trying to figure out why it thinks the download was a failure and retries.
One possibility: does the Elgato encoder delete the original file when it's done converting?

*OR*

is the 480i video you are testing with a 'partial' recording? Partial recordings always cause 'retries' because the tivo doesn't send the whole file and iTiVo thinks there was an error. You can control the number of retries in the advanced settings.

(if it was, can you try with a full recording of something.... leave it overnight or something).


----------



## danm628

I'll look through the log file when I get home from work. 

The Elgato app doesn't delete the original file, at least when tested using your script. 

As far as I know the file is complete, when I looked at the converted video I saw the closing credits. I'll double check this just to be sure.

- Dan


----------



## Yoav

danm628 said:


> I'll look through the log file when I get home from work.
> 
> The Elgato app doesn't delete the original file, at least when tested using your script.
> 
> As far as I know the file is complete, when I looked at the converted video I saw the closing credits. I'll double check this just to be sure.
> 
> - Dan


I should have been more clear about the meaning of partial. The tivo does send the whole recording, but it claims that the whole recording is say 1 gig, but then only sends 200 megs (or whatever it actually has). So itivo assumes the transfer was a failure and tries again.

Anyways. don't know if that's the case. If you don't see anything obvious in the log, can you just zip it up and attach it here?


----------



## danm628

I changed it to 1 retry on download and let it run while I went to dinner. It did import to iTunes when done. It also downloaded twice. Abridged log below (deleted most of the status report lines in vim).

Looking at the curl reports it looks like the TiVo reported size is larger than the actual size. So I suspect this isn't an issue with Elgato.

If you need the full log let me know, I've dropped it on a memory stick to take to work. I'm going to download a couple of large shows and try importing them to iTunes. I'll let you know how that goes Wednesday night.

And thanks again for iTiVo. It is a great program.

- Dan

2009-04-14 16:37:49 Using Harrier:Applications:iTiVo.app:Contents:Resources:formats.plist
2009-04-14 16:37:49 Using format file : Harrier:Applications:iTiVo.app:Contents:Resources:formats.plist
2009-04-14 16:37:50 Using format file : Harrier:Users:dlmoore:Library:Application Support:iTiVo:formats:Elgato Turbo.264 HD - iPod Best.plist
2009-04-14 16:37:50 Using format file : Harrier:Users:dlmoore:Library:Application Support:iTiVo:formats:Handbrake H.264 3 Mbps.plist
2009-04-14 16:37:50 getFormatsNames
2009-04-14 16:37:50 Format is ElGato Turbo.264 iPhone
2009-04-14 16:37:50 using format : ElGato Turbo.264 iPhone
2009-04-14 16:37:53 killed : 
2009-04-14 16:37:53 perl /Applications/iTiVo.app/Contents/Resources/ParseXML.pl 192.168.0.4 8104017040
2009-04-14 16:38:52 fetching : http://chart.apis.google.com/chart?...300|FF3333|CC9900|33CC00|9900CC|00CC00|999999
2009-04-14 16:39:17 perl /Applications/iTiVo.app/Contents/Resources/ParseDetail.pl 192.168.0.4 8104017040 1297931
2009-04-14 16:39:19 getFormatsNames
2009-04-14 16:39:25 getFormatsNames
2009-04-14 16:39:27 write_settings
2009-04-14 16:39:31 downloadItem called: 0,1
2009-04-14 16:39:31 checkDL
2009-04-14 16:39:31 perl /Applications/iTiVo.app/Contents/Resources/ParseDetail.pl 192.168.0.4 8104017040 1297931
2009-04-14 16:39:31 CheckDLFile
2009-04-14 16:39:33 rm /tmp/iTiVo-dlmoore/iTiVoDL{,2,3}
2009-04-14 16:39:33 is download complete 0 / 1
2009-04-14 16:39:34 killed : 
2009-04-14 16:39:34 rm -f /tmp/iTiVo-dlmoore/iTiVoDLPipe* /tmp/iTiVo-dlmoore/iTiVoTDC* /tmp/iTiVo-dlmoore/iTiVoDLMeta*
2009-04-14 16:39:34 mkfifo /tmp/iTiVo-dlmoore/iTiVoDLPipe ; touch /tmp/iTiVo-dlmoore/iTiVoDLPipe{2,3}.mpg
2009-04-14 16:39:35 perl /Applications/iTiVo.app/Contents/Resources/http-fetcher.pl 192.168.0.4 1297931 Superman 8104017040 /tmp/iTiVo-dlmoore/iTiVoDLPipe >> /tmp/iTiVo-dlmoore/iTiVo.log 2>&1 & echo $! ;exit 0
curl 'http://192.168.0.4:80/download/Superman.TiVo?Container=%2FNowPlaying&id=1297931' -c /tmp/cookies.txt --retry 12 --retry-delay 10 --digest -u tivo:8104017040 -o /tmp/iTiVo-dlmoore/iTiVoDLPipe --stderr /tmp/iTiVo-dlmoore/iTiVoDL
2009-04-14 16:39:35 perl /Applications/iTiVo.app/Contents/Resources/tivo-decoder.pl %2FApplications%2FiTiVo%2Eapp%2F 8104017040 >> /tmp/iTiVo-dlmoore/iTiVo.log 2>&1 & echo $! ;exit 0
/Applications/iTiVo.app/Contents/Resources/tivodecode -n -D -m 8104017040 -o /tmp/iTiVo-dlmoore/iTiVoDLPipe2.mpg /tmp/iTiVo-dlmoore/iTiVoDLPipe
2009-04-14 16:39:35 curl++ timeout: 0 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:592
2009-04-14 16:39:35 curl++ timeout: 1 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:592
2009-04-14 16:39:36 curl++ timeout: 0 currentFileSize: 2.95639038085938e-05 fullFileSize:592
2009-04-14 16:39:37 curl++ timeout: 1 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:592
Encryption by QUALCOMM 

2009-04-14 16:39:37 curl++ timeout: 2 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:592
2009-04-14 16:39:38 curl++ timeout: 3 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:592
2009-04-14 16:39:38 curl++ timeout: 0 currentFileSize: 0.806640625 fullFileSize:592
...
2009-04-14 16:47:57 curl++ timeout: 0 currentFileSize: 510 fullFileSize:592
2009-04-14 16:47:58 curl++ timeout: 1 currentFileSize: 510 fullFileSize:592
2009-04-14 16:47:59 curl++ timeout: 0 currentFileSize: 511 fullFileSize:592
2009-04-14 16:47:59 curl++ timeout: 0 currentFileSize: 512 fullFileSize:592
2009-04-14 16:48:00 curl++ timeout: 1 currentFileSize: 512 fullFileSize:592
2009-04-14 16:48:00 curl++ timeout: 0 currentFileSize: 513 fullFileSize:592
2009-04-14 16:48:01 curl++ timeout: 1 currentFileSize: 513 fullFileSize:592
2009-04-14 16:48:01 curl++ timeout: 2 currentFileSize: 513 fullFileSize:592
2009-04-14 16:48:02 curl++ timeout: 3 currentFileSize: 513 fullFileSize:592
2009-04-14 16:48:02 curl++ timeout: 0 currentFileSize: 514 fullFileSize:592

End of File
2009-04-14 16:48:03 curl++ timeout: 1 currentFileSize: 514 fullFileSize:592
2009-04-14 16:48:04 Running : touch /tmp/iTiVo-dlmoore/iTiVoDLPipe3.mpg
2009-04-14 16:48:04 is download complete 1 / 1
2009-04-14 16:48:04 is download complete 1 / 1
2009-04-14 16:48:04 Running : touch /tmp/iTiVo-dlmoore/iTiVoDLPipe3.mpg
2009-04-14 16:48:04 is download complete 1 / 1
2009-04-14 16:48:04 is download complete 1 / 1
2009-04-14 16:48:04 perl /Applications/iTiVo.app/Contents/Resources/re-encoder.pl %2FApplications%2FiTiVo%2Eapp%2F %2FVolumes%2FNewertech%5C%20miniStack%5C%20V3%2FMovies%2FTiVo%2F Superman%5C%20%2D%5C%20Blasts%5C%20From%5C%20the%5C%20Past.mp4 'turbo.264' 'iPhone' ' ' ' ' >> /tmp/iTiVo-dlmoore/iTiVo.log 2>&1 & echo $! ;exit 0

osascript /Applications/iTiVo.app//Contents/Resources/Scripts/elgato.scpt /tmp/iTiVo-dlmoore/iTiVoDLPipe2.mpg /Volumes/Newertech\ miniStack\ V3/Movies/TiVo/Superman\ -\ Blasts\ From\ the\ Past.mp4 /tmp/iTiVo-dlmoore/iTiVoDL2 iPhone 2>&1

2009-04-14 16:48:04 Encoder timeout: 0 download:1 timeRemaining: 200 timeOn:0.0 currentPercent: 0
...
2009-04-14 16:53:57 Encoder timeout: 611 download:1 timeRemaining: 200 timeOn:0 currentPercent: 0
2009-04-14 16:53:58 probably downloading things right now
2009-04-14 16:53:58 Encoder timeout: 612 download:1 timeRemaining: 200 timeOn:0 currentPercent: 0
...
2009-04-14 16:55:04 Encoder timeout: 727 download:1 timeRemaining: 200 timeOn:0 currentPercent: 0
2009-04-14 16:55:04 Download completed
2009-04-14 16:55:06 killed : 
2009-04-14 16:55:06 is download complete 1 / 1
2009-04-14 16:55:07 killed : 
2009-04-14 16:55:07 rm -f /tmp/iTiVo-dlmoore/iTiVoDLPipe* /tmp/iTiVo-dlmoore/iTiVoTDC* /tmp/iTiVo-dlmoore/iTiVoDLMeta*
2009-04-14 16:55:07 mkfifo /tmp/iTiVo-dlmoore/iTiVoDLPipe ; touch /tmp/iTiVo-dlmoore/iTiVoDLPipe{2,3}.mpg
2009-04-14 16:55:07 perl /Applications/iTiVo.app/Contents/Resources/http-fetcher.pl 192.168.0.4 1297931 Superman 8104017040 /tmp/iTiVo-dlmoore/iTiVoDLPipe >> /tmp/iTiVo-dlmoore/iTiVo.log 2>&1 & echo $! ;exit 0
curl 'http://192.168.0.4:80/download/Superman.TiVo?Container=%2FNowPlaying&id=1297931' -c /tmp/cookies.txt --retry 12 --retry-delay 10 --digest -u tivo:8104017040 -o /tmp/iTiVo-dlmoore/iTiVoDLPipe --stderr /tmp/iTiVo-dlmoore/iTiVoDL
2009-04-14 16:55:07 perl /Applications/iTiVo.app/Contents/Resources/tivo-decoder.pl %2FApplications%2FiTiVo%2Eapp%2F 8104017040 >> /tmp/iTiVo-dlmoore/iTiVo.log 2>&1 & echo $! ;exit 0
/Applications/iTiVo.app/Contents/Resources/tivodecode -n -D -m 8104017040 -o /tmp/iTiVo-dlmoore/iTiVoDLPipe2.mpg /tmp/iTiVo-dlmoore/iTiVoDLPipe
2009-04-14 16:55:07 curl++ timeout: 0 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:592
2009-04-14 16:55:08 curl++ timeout: 1 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:592
Encryption by QUALCOMM 

2009-04-14 16:55:08 curl++ timeout: 0 currentFileSize: 2.95639038085938e-05 fullFileSize:592
2009-04-14 16:55:09 curl++ timeout: 1 currentFileSize: 0 fullFileSize:592
...
2009-04-14 17:02:37 curl++ timeout: 1 currentFileSize: 513 fullFileSize:592
End of File

2009-04-14 17:02:38 curl++ timeout: 0 currentFileSize: 514 fullFileSize:592
2009-04-14 17:02:38 Running : touch /tmp/iTiVo-dlmoore/iTiVoDLPipe3.mpg
2009-04-14 17:02:38 is download complete 2 / 1
2009-04-14 17:02:38 is download complete 2 / 1
2009-04-14 17:02:38 Running : touch /tmp/iTiVo-dlmoore/iTiVoDLPipe3.mpg
2009-04-14 17:02:38 is download complete 2 / 1
2009-04-14 17:02:38 is download complete 2 / 1
2009-04-14 17:02:38 perl /Applications/iTiVo.app/Contents/Resources/re-encoder.pl %2FApplications%2FiTiVo%2Eapp%2F %2FVolumes%2FNewertech%5C%20miniStack%5C%20V3%2FMovies%2FTiVo%2F Superman%5C%20%2D%5C%20Blasts%5C%20From%5C%20the%5C%20Past.mp4 'turbo.264' 'iPhone' ' ' ' ' >> /tmp/iTiVo-dlmoore/iTiVo.log 2>&1 & echo $! ;exit 0

osascript /Applications/iTiVo.app//Contents/Resources/Scripts/elgato.scpt /tmp/iTiVo-dlmoore/iTiVoDLPipe2.mpg /Volumes/Newertech\ miniStack\ V3/Movies/TiVo/Superman\ -\ Blasts\ From\ the\ Past.mp4 /tmp/iTiVo-dlmoore/iTiVoDL2 iPhone 2>&1

2009-04-14 17:02:38 Encoder timeout: 0 download:1 timeRemaining: 200 timeOn:0.0 currentPercent: 0
2009-04-14 17:02:39 Encoder timeout: 1 download:1 timeRemaining: 200 timeOn:0 currentPercent: 0
...
2009-04-14 17:08:58 Encoder timeout: 657 download:1 timeRemaining: 200 timeOn:0 currentPercent: 0
2009-04-14 17:08:58 probably downloading things right now
2009-04-14 17:08:58 Encoder timeout: 658 download:1 timeRemaining: 200 timeOn:0 currentPercent: 0
...
2009-04-14 17:08:59 Encoder timeout: 659 download:1 timeRemaining: 200 timeOn:0 currentPercent: 0
...
2009-04-14 17:09:39 Encoder timeout: 729 download:1 timeRemaining: 200 timeOn:0 currentPercent: 0
2009-04-14 17:09:39 Download completed
2009-04-14 17:09:41 killed : 
2009-04-14 17:09:41 is download complete 2 / 1
2009-04-14 17:09:41 is download complete 2 / 1
2009-04-14 17:09:41 Complete=true , 85% fullfilesize=503.2 ; currentfilesize=515
2009-04-14 17:09:41 perl /Applications/iTiVo.app/Contents/Resources/GetExtraInfo.pl 192.168.0.4 8104017040 1297931
2009-04-14 17:09:59 Moving to subdir
2009-04-14 17:09:59 Running: mkdir -p /Volumes/Newertech\ miniStack\ V3/Movies/TiVo/Superman; mv /Volumes/Newertech\ miniStack\ V3/Movies/TiVo/Superman\ -\ Blasts\ From\ the\ Past.mp4 /Volumes/Newertech\ miniStack\ V3/Movies/TiVo/Superman/Superman\ -\ Blasts\ From\ the\ Past.mp4
2009-04-14 17:09:59 Result: 
2009-04-14 17:09:59 Making tivo metadata
2009-04-14 17:10:00 Running: cp /tmp/iTiVo-dlmoore/iTiVoDLMeta.xml /Volumes/Newertech\ miniStack\ V3/Movies/TiVo/Superman/Superman\ -\ Blasts\ From\ the\ Past.xml
2009-04-14 17:10:00 Result: 
2009-04-14 17:10:00 Making Atomic Parsley metadata
2009-04-14 17:10:00 Running: /Applications/iTiVo.app/Contents/Resources/AtomicParsley /Volumes/Newertech\ miniStack\ V3/Movies/TiVo/Superman/Superman\ -\ Blasts\ From\ the\ Past.mp4 --title 'Blasts From the Past' --stik "TV Show" --TVShowName 'Superman' --TVEpisode 'Blasts From the Past' --TVEpisodeNum '14' --description 'Superman decides to release a Kryptonian criminal from the Phantom Zone.' --TVNetwork 'DXD' --overWrite 
2009-04-14 17:10:08 Doing iTunes-related work 
2009-04-14 17:10:12 post Process item /Volumes/Newertech miniStack V3/Movies/TiVo/Superman/Superman - Blasts From the Past.mp4 Superman Blasts From the Past 1297931 Superman decides to release a Kryptonian criminal from the Phantom Zone. 14 1997 Action Adventure, Animated, Kids 0:30
2009-04-14 17:10:12 Importing Superman into iTunes...
2009-04-14 17:10:21 itunes config done now syncing
2009-04-14 17:10:21 done with itunes
2009-04-14 17:23:58 perl /Applications/iTiVo.app/Contents/Resources/ParseXML.pl 192.168.0.4 8104017040
2009-04-14 17:24:54 fetching : http://chart.apis.google.com/chart?...300|FF3333|CC9900|33CC00|9900CC|00CC00|999999
2009-04-14 17:24:58 Checking if should download: false : 3600 : 62698 : 10800
2009-04-14 17:24:58 starting automated download
2009-04-14 17:24:58 starting queue download...
2009-04-14 17:38:58 perl /Applications/iTiVo.app/Contents/Resources/ParseXML.pl 192.168.0.4 8104017040
2009-04-14 17:39:56 fetching : http://chart.apis.google.com/chart?...300|FF3333|CC9900|33CC00|9900CC|00CC00|999999
2009-04-14 17:40:00 Checking if should download: false : 3600 : 63600 : 10800
2009-04-14 17:40:00 starting automated download
2009-04-14 17:40:00 starting queue download...
2009-04-14 17:53:58 perl /Applications/iTiVo.app/Contents/Resources/ParseXML.pl 192.168.0.4 8104017040
2009-04-14 17:54:56 fetching : http://chart.apis.google.com/chart?...300|FF3333|CC9900|33CC00|9900CC|00CC00|999999
2009-04-14 17:55:00 Checking if should download: false : 3600 : 64500 : 10800
2009-04-14 17:55:00 starting automated download
2009-04-14 17:55:00 starting queue download...
2009-04-14 18:08:58 perl /Applications/iTiVo.app/Contents/Resources/ParseXML.pl 192.168.0.4 8104017040
2009-04-14 18:09:59 fetching : http://chart.apis.google.com/chart?...300|FF3333|CC9900|33CC00|9900CC|00CC00|999999
2009-04-14 18:10:03 Checking if should download: false : 3600 : 65403 : 10800
2009-04-14 18:10:03 starting automated download
2009-04-14 18:10:03 starting queue download...
2009-04-14 18:23:58 perl /Applications/iTiVo.app/Contents/Resources/ParseXML.pl 192.168.0.4 8104017040
2009-04-14 18:24:52 fetching : http://chart.apis.google.com/chart?...300|FF3333|CC9900|33CC00|9900CC|00CC00|999999
2009-04-14 18:24:55 Checking if should download: false : 3600 : 66295 : 10800
2009-04-14 18:24:55 starting automated download
2009-04-14 18:24:55 starting queue download...
2009-04-14 18:38:58 perl /Applications/iTiVo.app/Contents/Resources/ParseXML.pl 192.168.0.4 8104017040
2009-04-14 18:39:48 fetching : http://chart.apis.google.com/chart?...300|FF3333|CC9900|33CC00|9900CC|00CC00|999999
2009-04-14 18:39:51 Checking if should download: false : 3600 : 67191 : 10800
2009-04-14 18:39:51 starting automated download
2009-04-14 18:39:51 starting queue download...
2009-04-14 18:53:58 perl /Applications/iTiVo.app/Contents/Resources/ParseXML.pl 192.168.0.4 8104017040
2009-04-14 18:54:48 fetching : http://chart.apis.google.com/chart?...300|FF3333|CC9900|33CC00|9900CC|00CC00|999999
2009-04-14 18:54:52 Checking if should download: false : 3600 : 68092 : 10800
2009-04-14 18:54:52 starting automated download
2009-04-14 18:54:52 starting queue download...
2009-04-14 19:08:58 perl /Applications/iTiVo.app/Contents/Resources/ParseXML.pl 192.168.0.4 8104017040
2009-04-14 19:09:49 fetching : http://chart.apis.google.com/chart?...300|FF3333|CC9900|33CC00|9900CC|00CC00|999999
2009-04-14 19:09:53 Checking if should download: false : 3600 : 68993 : 10800
2009-04-14 19:09:53 starting automated download
2009-04-14 19:09:53 starting queue download...


----------



## Yoav

just a quick reply: the value in 'retry' is a little counter-intuitive. '1' means retry at least once. if you want just one try and no retries, set it to 0 (yeah.. sorry...).

It looks like it thinks it got enough data so it must be retrying for another reason.. I'll sit on the code and see if I can figure it out.

On an unrelated note, it probably would be easier to zip the log, and click the 'manage attachments' button below the editor, and just upload the zip file... (for future things). That way I can read the log without all this silly html parsing that the forums do.


----------



## Yoav

Well.. I *think* I see the problem. the Elgato doesn't give me any progress information, so I make up an 'amount of time remaining' for the progress display. And of course, when elgato finishes, I still claim there's 200 to go.. So the loop assumes that it finished too early and tries again 

I need to change it so that it claims 0 seconds to go when it's done... Gah I hate *faking* numbers. wish the elgato encoder actually gave real progress numbers.

*crossing fingers*

* edit:* Ok checked in the changes, can you try the latest beta and tell me how it's performing?


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## danm628

Yoav said:


> just a quick reply: the value in 'retry' is a little counter-intuitive. '1' means retry at least once. if you want just one try and no retries, set it to 0 (yeah.. sorry...).


It actually makes perfect sense to me. Doesn't everyone start counting things with 0? (Too many years of writing assembly and C.)



Yoav said:


> On an unrelated note, it probably would be easier to zip the log, and click the 'manage attachments' button below the editor, and just upload the zip file... (for future things). That way I can read the log without all this silly html parsing that the forums do.


Will do.

- Dan


----------



## danm628

I just tried a download, encode and import to iTunes using the Elgato with the latest beta version. This was the small 480i test video I've been using, same one the log data was from.

Everything worked perfectly. Single download from the TiVo. Single encode. Import to iTunes when done.

I'm going to try some larger 1080i shows to make sure they go through ok.

And then the scary test, commercial skip. I know it isn't always 100&#37; accurate, but it is a pain to skip commercials on the iPhone. 

Thank you. As others have pointed out you need a donation button. 

- Dan

Edit to add: 
Commercial skip works but the audio is bad. Mencoder seems to work better there. Oh well. I guess I'll have to skip commericials during playback.

Once again thanks.


----------



## Yoav

danm628 said:


> Edit to add:
> Commercial skip works but the audio is bad. Mencoder seems to work better there. Oh well. I guess I'll have to skip commericials during playback.
> 
> Once again thanks.


A) Thank you SOOO much for having the patience to help debug this  . Sounds like we're all good now?

B) Details about the commercial cutting: It *is* using mencoder to cut the commercials out, but it is 'passing through' the video and audio encodings. That creates a 'cut-up mpeg-2' which it hands to the elgato code. Unfortunately, cutting up the mpeg-2 like that causes no-end of grief and sync issues. (This is also how commercial cutting is done when using the Handbrake or ffmpeg encoders). As far as I know, ElGato, Handbrake, and ffmpeg do not accept a 'skip list' for areas to cut out. Only mencoder seems to support that.
If anyone has a 'better' way to suggest cutting it up, I'm happy to use it. I'm no expert here...


----------



## danm628

Yoav said:


> A) Thank you SOOO much for having the patience to help debug this  . Sounds like we're all good now?


Everything is great now.

I've been on the other side of this. Debugging a hardware/software problem when the person is on the other side of the country or even worse other side of the planet. It sucks. A lot. It's a little better for commercial products; at least then you have the option of flying to where ever you need to be. Of course airport security always looked at you odd when you had logic analyzers and spectrum analyzers as your carry on luggage. I haven't done that post 9/11, I'm pretty sure I don't want to.



Yoav said:


> B) Details about the commercial cutting: It *is* using mencoder to cut the commercials out, but it is 'passing through' the video and audio encodings. That creates a 'cut-up mpeg-2' which it hands to the elgato code. Unfortunately, cutting up the mpeg-2 like that causes no-end of grief and sync issues. (This is also how commercial cutting is done when using the Handbrake or ffmpeg encoders). As far as I know, ElGato, Handbrake, and ffmpeg do not accept a 'skip list' for areas to cut out. Only mencoder seems to support that.
> If anyone has a 'better' way to suggest cutting it up, I'm happy to use it. I'm no expert here...


Turbo.264 supports markers to allow skip portions of a video. They also state they will support Turbo.264 features via Applescript and to contact them if something isn't supported. Sounds like I need to email them and ask for this. (I'm not going to hold my breath for it to happen quickly though.)

Does iMovie '09 support skip lists via Applescript? It is supposed to be able to use the Turbo.264. That might be a way to do it. Of course I haven't purchased the latest iLife since I don't use it much.

- Dan


----------



## Yoav

danm628 said:


> Turbo.264 supports markers to allow skip portions of a video. They also state they will support Turbo.264 features via Applescript and to contact them if something isn't supported. Sounds like I need to email them and ask for this. (I'm not going to hold my breath for it to happen quickly though.)


my one and only interaction with elgato was when I coded up the scriptlet. I was trying to get information on how to do this, and instead they replied with the standard API code they already had on the website... So I hacked up the scriptlet and gave up asking them. The Applescript interface is documented there but there is nothing to allow specifying any edits (so the docs may be incomplete, or it may be unsupported)



> Does iMovie '09 support skip lists via Applescript? It is supposed to be able to use the Turbo.264. That might be a way to do it. Of course I haven't purchased the latest iLife since I don't use it much.


 I'm not sure if it does or doesn't, but I'm pretty sure iMovie is unable to read the mpeg-2 files that the tivo produces (imovie uses the same codecs that quicktime does).


----------



## froggie

Yoav,

Thanks for writing this marvelous front-end. You've saving me a tonne of time getting shows off my tivo to the various devices I use :up:

Froggie.


----------



## deandashl

Just downloaded "Welcome and the Basics" off my new TiVoHD to my ipod video.

AWESOME!!!

Thanks Yoav for a great free program.

It works pretty slick.

You should set yourself up for some donations.


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## aindik

Pardon me for posting without reading the entire thread. I just downloaded this last night to my MacBook running OS X 10.4 (Tiger). The first thing I did was set it to download a two hour HD movie (a 1080i recording from CBS). I set it to the "DVD" setting, as I want to use iDVD to burn this on a for a friend DVD.

It estimated 3 hours to download, so I set it to go and went to bed. This morning, I woke up and there is a 4.x GB file where it's supposed to be, but iDVD won't see it and Quicktime won't play it, telling me it's "not a movie file." Any idea why this may be, and what I might be able to try before downloading the thing again?

After I saw this, I downloaded an episode of the Daily Show (a 480i recording), on the "iPhone" setting, for use on my Blackberry Storm. That worked like a charm.


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## fatespawn

Is there a reason you want to use iDVD? Your best bet is to use the decrypt only selection and use Toast or "Burn" (donations accepted) to burn your .mpg file. The advantages here are maintaining as much quality prior to burning as well as keeping the soundtrack (ac3 if that's the case) intact. 

If you want to use Comskip, use the AppleTV preset. You will lose quality going from HD Mpeg to mp4 back to DVD mpeg, but not much more than you are going to lose anyway from going from HD to DVD. The advantage of going to mp4 is the ability to skip commercials easily if that's your goal. Plus iDVD should handle the mp4's easily if that's what you want to do.

-fate


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## Yoav

aindik said:


> It estimated 3 hours to download, so I set it to go and went to bed. This morning, I woke up and there is a 4.x GB file where it's supposed to be, but iDVD won't see it and Quicktime won't play it, telling me it's "not a movie file." Any idea why this may be, and what I might be able to try before downloading the thing again?


Oh it's a movie file. As it turns out, quicktime (and anything that uses the quicktime components, like iDVD, iMovie, etc), has an incomplete mpeg-2 codec. So it fails to read a lot of legal mpeg-2 files. That also means that iDVD will not correctly burn the file to DVD (although there are other tools that may, like BurnOSX.

You can also view the file to make sure it's correct with more complete media players, like MPlayer OSX or VLC. Both are free and will play a LOT more formats than quicktime can. This is all explained in the iTiVo FAQ btw.

Having said that though, my experience with making DVD-compatible files has been fairly negative. Mencoder often crashes while converting.

* edit: * I see fate already answered with a more useful suggestion...  yay.


----------



## aindik

fatespawn said:


> Is there a reason you want to use iDVD?


Because I already have it and don't want to pay for Toast if I don't have to.



fatespawn said:


> Your best bet is to use the decrypt only selection and use Toast or "Burn" (donations accepted) to burn your .mpg file. The advantages here are maintaining as much quality prior to burning as well as keeping the soundtrack (ac3 if that's the case) intact.


Can "Burn" do that conversion with the soundtrack intact?



fatespawn said:


> If you want to use Comskip, use the AppleTV preset. You will lose quality going from HD Mpeg to mp4 back to DVD mpeg, but not much more than you are going to lose anyway from going from HD to DVD. The advantage of going to mp4 is the ability to skip commercials easily if that's your goal. Plus iDVD should handle the mp4's easily if that's what you want to do.
> 
> -fate


No need to use comskip for this particular DVD, but I'm happy to know it's an option to do comskip and keep the thing in HD, thanks. Does this preserve the 5.1 soundtrack?


----------



## fatespawn

If you're trying to preserve the soundtrack by all means, use the DECRYPT only function. Any other method either yields unsynced audio or a conversion to AAC/mp3 etc... but you lose the ac3 if that's what you want. I've had no success finding a mencoder command line function that works with iTivo. 

I just tried Burn (for the first time myself...) and got a weird result. My DVD player said the resulting video was the wrong region. Strange. The only region setting is NTSC or PAL. Of course that doesn't help you....

Just try to decrypt it and then once the file is on your HD, you can do just about anything with it you want. If you have VisualHub on your machine (it's out of production) you can drop the mpeg into VH and select DVD. That'll yield a Video TS folder you can burn straight from the Finder.

The last alternative is to convert your mpeg into something iDVD can read. You can "decrypt only" and then use something like Handbrake to transcode to mp4. Again, use the appleTV preset, but alter the audio tab settings to AC3 passthrough. You don't need any other audio tracks if you don't want. Just remove the AAC option. Then the mp4 can be dropped into iDVD. That is about the most inelegant solution because it's 3 steps. Try Burn first. 

-fate

PS - if you do use VisualHub, be sure to open the advanced tab and in the audio "extra ffmpeg flags" dropdown box, be sure to click copy original soundtrack...


----------



## philby85

Hi Yoav,

I am having a problem with the no of retries preference. It defaults to 1. If I change that to 0 and save and then re open prefs it is set back to 1. Any ideas?
I am using the latest beta
Thanks again

Phil


----------



## Yoav

philby85 said:


> Hi Yoav,
> 
> I am having a problem with the no of retries preference. It defaults to 1. If I change that to 0 and save and then re open prefs it is set back to 1. Any ideas?
> I am using the latest beta
> Thanks again
> 
> Phil


Yeah after realizing that '0' for 1 try and 1 for two tries was counter-intuitive, I changed the code to be:
1) try downloading only once.
2) try downlading twice (1 retry).

If it sees you had a zero in there, it changes it to a 1 because '0' tries makes no sense 

So 1 is the new 0.. and things are as they should be


----------



## Yoav

aindik said:


> Can "Burn" do that conversion with the soundtrack intact?


I suspect Burn OSX is actually more likely to do the right thing with audio.
the DVD format in iTivo actually converts your audio to mp2. I don't think iDVD knows anything about AC-3 (dolby digital)... so I don't think it can save all original audio formats.

However, that's not a guarantee about Burn either. I know Burn relies on ffmpeg to convert things it's not familiar with. And ffmpeg has its own issues.
(yeah.. nothing is perfect in this world). I suspect if you can get away with 'decrypt' as the format in iTiVo and 'Burn OSX' accepts that, then you will come as close as you can to the original streams...


----------



## aindik

Yoav said:


> I suspect Burn OSX is actually more likely to do the right thing with audio.
> the DVD format in iTivo actually converts your audio to mp2. I don't think iDVD knows anything about AC-3 (dolby digital)... so I don't think it can save all original audio formats.
> 
> However, that's not a guarantee about Burn either. I know Burn relies on ffmpeg to convert things it's not familiar with. And ffmpeg has its own issues.
> (yeah.. nothing is perfect in this world). I suspect if you can get away with 'decrypt' as the format in iTiVo and 'Burn OSX' accepts that, then you will come as close as you can to the original streams...


I tried the "Decrypt and Copy" to do commercial skip. Didn't work in Burn or in iDVD. Then I used the Quicktime 10 Mbps setting. That worked, but there are lots and lots of jaggies. I went with it because I couldn't deal with downloading the 12 GB file again.


----------



## philby85

Yoav said:


> Yeah after realizing that '0' for 1 try and 1 for two tries was counter-intuitive, I changed the code to be:
> 1) try downloading only once.
> 2) try downlading twice (1 retry).
> 
> If it sees you had a zero in there, it changes it to a 1 because '0' tries makes no sense
> 
> So 1 is the new 0.. and things are as they should be


Makes perfect sense, however I have tried to download 6 shows this morning and they all fail on the first try and succeed on the second, so I can't make it try only the once anymore?

cheers

Philby


----------



## Yoav

philby85 said:


> Makes perfect sense, however I have tried to download 6 shows this morning and they all fail on the first try and succeed on the second, so I can't make it try only the once anymore?
> 
> cheers
> 
> Philby


Hmm. might be a bug with the code.. if it's set to 1 it shouldn't retry.. Let me look into it.

* edit : * And indeed you caught a bug! Thanks. Fixing now, I'll compile a new beta.

* second edit: * ok new iTiVo beta is up. Tell me if it's still borked.


----------



## philby85

Yoav said:


> Hmm. might be a bug with the code.. if it's set to 1 it shouldn't retry.. Let me look into it.
> 
> * edit : * And indeed you caught a bug! Thanks. Fixing now, I'll compile a new beta.
> 
> * second edit: * ok new iTiVo beta is up. Tell me if it's still borked.


Hi Yoav,

Bug well and truly squashed!! Thanks for the quick work:up:

cheers

Phil


----------



## Marconi

In iTivo's download Format selector, I would like to see '.tivo' to maintain the file in a format that can be uploaded with all its program info intact. Can iTivo (presently) be made to download the file and that's it -- no decoding or conversion whatever?

I need to move files off my TiVo so I can upgrade it and then return the recordings to the TiVo. I downloaded a .tivo file using Safari and later (after deleting the original from TiVo) uploaded the .tivo file using pyTiVoX and all the program data were still there (which would not be the case if I had converted to mpeg of some kind and then had to recreate a '.properties' file explaining what it is.)

Anyway, is there a way to configure/hack/trick iTiVo to make it just download the .tivo files and leave them as-is?


----------



## NA9D

Marconi said:


> In iTivo's download Format selector, I would like to see '.tivo' to maintain the file in a format that can be uploaded with all its program info intact. Can iTivo (presently) be made to download the file and that's it -- no decoding or conversion whatever?
> 
> I need to move files off my TiVo so I can upgrade it and then return the recordings to the TiVo. I downloaded a .tivo file using Safari and later (after deleting the original from TiVo) uploaded the .tivo file using pyTiVoX and all the program data were still there (which would not be the case if I had converted to mpeg of some kind and then had to recreate a '.properties' file explaining what it is.)
> 
> Anyway, is there a way to configure/hack/trick iTiVo to make it just download the .tivo files and leave them as-is?


Why use iTivo then? Instead just use the built in Tivo webserver and download the file that way.


----------



## Yoav

Marconi said:


> In iTivo's download Format selector, I would like to see '.tivo' to maintain the file in a format that can be uploaded with all its program info intact. Can iTivo (presently) be made to download the file and that's it -- no decoding or conversion whatever?
> 
> I need to move files off my TiVo so I can upgrade it and then return the recordings to the TiVo. I downloaded a .tivo file using Safari and later (after deleting the original from TiVo) uploaded the .tivo file using pyTiVoX and all the program data were still there (which would not be the case if I had converted to mpeg of some kind and then had to recreate a '.properties' file explaining what it is.)
> 
> Anyway, is there a way to configure/hack/trick iTiVo to make it just download the .tivo files and leave them as-is?


As NA9D mentioned, there's little point to using itivo if you want to do no conversions. Any web browser can be pointed to https://<tivoip>/ with username 'tivo' password <your MAK>. Just pull the tivo files and you're set. As such, I don't expect iTiVo to support it.

Now, if you *do* want to process it (for example to remove commercials, or save as a smaller file for future use) but like having all the 'metadata' information, you don't need to recreate the 'properties file'. Just select 'create pytivo metadata' (preferences) and save both the new .mp4 and the .txt file -- then when you use pyTivoX, it will use the .txt file to provide the original metadata.


----------



## Marconi

Yoav said:


> As NA9D mentioned, there's little point to using itivo if you want to do no conversions.


The point is to be able to queue up large numbers of files and have them transfer, unattended, to my Mac while I'm away or sleeping. The alternative is to watch over the process constantly, starting a new download manually each time the previous one completes. Not to mention having to make sure each file in a series is named uniquely so as not to overwrite one that was already downloaded.

If iTivo could simply download and not convert, it would be a BIG time saver. Not to mention that we could store TiVo recordings on another drive and transfer them back later, when, for example more space was available.

iTivo already does everything I need and then some. I just need it to do less. How hard can it be to add the ability to download and NOT convert?!?


----------



## aindik

Marconi said:


> The point is to be able to queue up large numbers of files and have them transfer, unattended, to my Mac while I'm away or sleeping. The alternative is to watch over the process constantly, starting a new download manually each time the previous one completes. Not to mention having to make sure each file in a series is named uniquely so as not to overwrite one that was already downloaded.
> 
> If iTivo could simply download and not convert, it would be a BIG time saver. Not to mention that we could store TiVo recordings on another drive and transfer them back later, when, for example more space was available.
> 
> iTivo already does everything I need and then some. I just need it to do less. How hard can it be to add the ability to download and NOT convert?!?


If you're using Safari or Firefox, that should queue up the files for you. What happens if you click on one, and then you click on another one?


----------



## Marconi

aindik said:


> If you're using Safari or Firefox, that should queue up the files for you. What happens if you click on one, and then you click on another one?


I tried an Automator action to download recordings from my TiVo; Automator tried to download every file at once. I know of no way to limit Automator to one file after another, one at a time.

Automator's action caused TiVo to stop each previous download as a new one was requested. The built-in TiVo web server would seem to support downloading only one recording at a time.

Manually starting a connection does the same thing. It starts the download immediately, cancelling the one in progress (inasmuch as the TiVo cannot do more than one at a time).


----------



## Yoav

Marconi said:


> The point is to be able to queue up large numbers of files and have them transfer, unattended, to my Mac while I'm away or sleeping. The alternative is to watch over the process constantly, starting a new download manually each time the previous one completes. Not to mention having to make sure each file in a series is named uniquely so as not to overwrite one that was already downloaded.
> 
> If iTivo could simply download and not convert, it would be a BIG time saver. Not to mention that we could store TiVo recordings on another drive and transfer them back later, when, for example more space was available.
> 
> iTivo already does everything I need and then some. I just need it to do less. How hard can it be to add the ability to download and NOT convert?!?


Well, to make firefox download them one at a time, you need to open

about:config

And set network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-server to 1. (obviously set it back to the old value when you're done). Or use a tool like 'wget' to issue one command to download the entire contents of your tivo.

I'm honestly not of the opinion that the 'avoid decrypting and bypass all the code that looks into the movie' is a useful option for iTiVo. I'm certainly willing to be convinced otherwise, but right now I think adding code for 'download but don't decode' seems like it's asking for more problems than it's worth. I *am* curious if your 'work path' involves 'download from tivo, upload to tivo via pytivo' why the 'decrypt' format with the pytivo metadata isn't good enough...


----------



## Marconi

Yoav said:


> Well, to make firefox download them one at a time, you need to open
> 
> about:config
> 
> And set network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-server to 1. (obviously set it back to the old value when you're done). Or use a tool like 'wget' to issue one command to download the entire contents of your tivo.


Of course, I'd still have to manually initiate hundreds of downloads. Not quite the same as a click, shift-click in the iTiVo queue.



Yoav said:


> I'm honestly not of the opinion that the 'avoid decrypting and bypass all the code that looks into the movie' is a useful option for iTiVo. I'm certainly willing to be convinced otherwise, but right now I think adding code for 'download but don't decode' seems like it's asking for more problems than it's worth. I *am* curious if your 'work path' involves 'download from tivo, upload to tivo via pytivo' why the 'decrypt' format with the pytivo metadata isn't good enough...


Inasmuch as I only came upon pytivoX yesterday, I'm not familiar with the 'decrypt' format with the pytivo metadata mode. I do fear that every decode/encode operation will degrade the video quality though.

Since the only use I wish to make of the .tivo files is to later upload them back to TiVo, it seemed like keeping them as native as possible was best. Can I achieve the same results -- being able to re-upload with all program meta data intact, and no loss of quality -- using pytivo metadata? If so, I guess I'll look into that and try it out. I just know I don't want to have to manually start each and every download by hand and babysit the download process. That's the kind of job just crying out for automation. And iTivo *seemed* like the perfect solution, if only it could be made to just downloaded .tivo files.

I have no idea what the inner workings of iTiVo look like, but it seems like it should not be all that difficult to skip the decode step and just write the native .tivo file to disk. But I defer to your judgement as to whether it would be more trouble than it's worth.

As for me, I think it would be a handy function to be able to off-load TiVo recordings and store them on a Mac when space ran low and, for example, some marathon you wanted was coming up. It would be like having greatly expanded storage for your DVR. Who wouldn't like that?

Maybe I can cobble together a shell script and use curl to download all the .tivo files.


----------



## Yoav

Marconi said:


> Inasmuch as I only came upon pytivoX yesterday, I'm not familiar with the 'decrypt' format with the pytivo metadata mode. I do fear that every decode/encode operation will degrade the video quality though.


 Decrypt does no encoding. It simply removes the annoying DRM that makes the mpeg-2 file useless on a mac (.tivo is basically an mpeg-2 file, metadata, and an 'encryption' using the MAK as a key). So you end up with the perfect original data from your tivo. The big difference is that the mpeg-2 doesn't have the metadata (solved by having a secondary .txt file that iTiVo will write for you if you ask for it), and the fact that your computer can actually DO stuff with the mpeg-2 file (like play it in VLC).



> Since the only use I wish to make of the .tivo files is to later upload them back to TiVo, it seemed like keeping them as native as possible was best.
> Can I achieve the same results -- being able to re-upload with all program meta data intact, and no loss of quality -- using pytivo metadata? If so, I guess I'll look into that and try it out. I just know I don't want to have to manually start each and every download by hand and babysit the download process. That's the kind of job just crying out for automation. And iTivo *seemed* like the perfect solution, if only it could be made to just downloaded .tivo files.


I believe that as long as you keep the .txt metadata file that iTiVo writes out, then when you send it back to the tivo it will be just as it was before (the big difference will be that you can also view it on your mac -- a feature you don't care about). quality and filesize will be exactly the same.



> I have no idea what the inner workings of iTiVo look like, but it seems like it should not be all that difficult to skip the decode step and just write the native .tivo file to disk. But I defer to your judgement as to whether it would be more trouble than it's worth.


 Changing the code is pretty easy. However, without changing the code, using 'decrypt' achieves what you want, without having an intermediate 'wtf' file on your computer. I also don't really view iTiVo as a 'backup your tivo' program, so it's not really a feature I care to support -- if I hear enough people asking for it, I'll probably change my mind.



> As for me, I think it would be a handy function to be able to off-load TiVo recordings and store them on a Mac when space ran low and, for example, some marathon you wanted was coming up. It would be like having greatly expanded storage for your DVR. Who wouldn't like that?


 I hear you. Try using 'decrypt'. Or if truly your only concern is 'expanding the storage for your DVR' why not just do that? An external hard drive is incredibly cheap nowadays. Your DVR will actually HAVE more storage, and you won't need to play some sort of 'shuffle' game to move movies around all the time. You can just store all of them on your DVR all the time.



> Maybe I can cobble together a shell script and use curl to download all the .tivo files.


You can. I don't know if wget is still causing corruptions, but if it's fixed, you can just run something like:


Code:


wget -r --verbose --no-check-certificate --user=tivo --password=<MAK> 'https://<TivoIP>/'

Every show that CAN be downloaded will be under <TivoIP>/downloads/. Test one before doing this because at least for a while there was some issue with wget corruption on files downloaded from tivo (which curl didn't have issues with -- but curl can't recurse). The filenames will be long and silly, but since you just plan on pushing them back to the tivo later, I don't think you care about the filenames?


----------



## Marconi

Yoav said:


> Decrypt does no encoding. It simply removes the annoying DRM that makes the mpeg-2 file useless on a mac (.tivo is basically an mpeg-2 file, metadata, and an 'encryption' using the MAK as a key). So you end up with the perfect original data from your tivo. The big difference is that the mpeg-2 doesn't have the metadata (solved by having a secondary .txt file that iTiVo will write for you if you ask for it),


I've tried this and the .txt files are empty, zero bytes. The metadata are in the xml file though. Makes me wonder what's supposed to be in the txt files...



Yoav said:


> I believe that as long as you keep the .txt metadata file that iTiVo writes out, then when you send it back to the tivo it will be just as it was before ... quality and filesize will be exactly the same.


Good to know. I'm trying this now.



Yoav said:


> Changing the code is pretty easy. However, without changing the code, using 'decrypt' achieves what you want, without having an intermediate 'wtf' file on your computer.


Instead I'll have multiple files for each recording instead of just one.



Yoav said:


> Try using 'decrypt'. Or if truly your only concern is 'expanding the storage for your DVR' why not just do that?


Actually, that's exactly what I'm trying to do. I tried to not clutter my original post with my motivation but, apparently, I need to relate that now.

The TiVo in question has two 120 GB drives. They're getting a bit long in the tooth. Time to replace them before they fail due to just plain old age. Given that PATA drive are becoming scarce, I'd hoped to replace the two drives with a single 1 TB SATA drive (using an appropriate bridge). Given that it's a Series 2, an external expander drive is not an option.

The problem is that none of the available Mac tools will allow me to copy the two old drives to one new one AND preserve recordings.

I've started transferring some recordings to other TiVos but I'd much rather transfer them to a single location -- like my Mac. I just need temporary storage until I get the S2 upgraded to 1 TB. I have other TiVo boxes that will need similar help in the future, so I'm looking for a way around the can't-copy-recordings-from-two-drives-to-one problem. I'm going to have to do this again with other DVRs.

The plan is to copy all the recordings elsewhere, do a backup | restore, using current Mac tools, to transfer all settings and such from the two current drives to one new drive and then transfer all the recordings back to the expanded DVR. It's imperative that metadata be preserved. If decrypt plus the xml metadata file will do that, then I have my solution.

Starting out, I knew only that .tivo files preserved the metadata, so I looked for a way to automate download of .tivo files.



Yoav said:


> ... you can just run something like:
> 
> 
> Code:
> 
> 
> wget -r --verbose --no-check-certificate --user=tivo --password=<MAK> 'https://<TivoIP>/'
> 
> Every show that CAN be downloaded will be under <TivoIP>/downloads/. Test one before doing this because at least for a while there was some issue with wget corruption on files downloaded from tivo (which curl didn't have issues with -- but curl can't recurse).


I've downloaded and installed wget. Right now, it may be unnecessary, inasmuch as decrypt with xml metadata will (apparently) do what I need.

Thanks for listening.


----------



## Yoav

Marconi said:


> I've downloaded and installed wget. Right now, it may be unnecessary, inasmuch as decrypt with xml metadata will (apparently) do what I need.


So, you need the .txt metadata file, not the .xml file (pytivo only accepts the txt files). It shouldn't be empty though. if your mac is a PPC mac, then you'll need to use the beta (there was a bug extracting the metadata on ppc machines that is fixed in the beta).

As to your original motivation, I *assume* none of your shows are marked copyright, as this plan just won't work .

but yeah, wget certainly seems to be what you want to use (assuming it's not still broken). It will be faster than 'skipping' tivodecode, since iTiVo still does a bunch of other crap when downloading that wget won't have to bother with. Alternatively, I'm sure there are many web crawler programs for the mac that come with a gui. You really don't care that it's a tivo file. You're simply trying to download the entire website...

Or, if you REALLY want to use iTiVo, here's the easiest hack:

 Download the attached zip file, and open it, to find a script named tivo-decoder.pl
 Copy the script (using Terminal.app) to /Applications/iTiVo.app/Contents/Resources/
 start iTiVo
 open preferences, select 'decrypt' as the format, then go to Advanced and select .tivo as the filename extension (instead of .mpg)
 Initiate a download and make sure it's doing what you want

(script basically replaces calls to 'tivodecode' with calls to 'cat')

*MAJOR DISCLAIMER*
Hack is not supported. Hack will break if you upgrade iTiVo. Hack may not do what you want. Be sure to re-install iTiVo if you ever do plan on using it the way it's supposed to be used.. the above hack will break it for all normal uses.


----------



## Marconi

Yoav said:


> ... I also don't really view iTiVo as a 'backup your tivo' program, so it's not really a feature I care to support -- if I hear enough people asking for it, I'll probably change my mind.


I cannot speak for others, but I have had HD failures that caused a loss of all the recordings on the affected DVR. If iTiVo is not a backup program, then how about a new program, using a subset of iTiVo's features to do just that -- back up one's TiVo?

Count me as the first one asking for it.


----------



## Yoav

Marconi said:


> I cannot speak for others, but I have had HD failures that caused a loss of all the recordings on the affected DVR. If iTiVo is not a backup program, then how about a new program, using a subset of iTiVo's features to do just that -- back up one's TiVo?
> 
> Count me as the first one asking for it.


As mentioned in the previous post, any webcrawler that archives a website will do what you asked for. So I suspect the tool is already out there...

Also, I provided in the long response a way for you to hack iTiVo to get what you wanted out of it... So.. ermm.... isn't that what you want?


----------



## Marconi

Yoav said:


> So, you need the .txt metadata file, not the .xml file (pytivo only accepts the txt files). It shouldn't be empty though. if your mac is a PPC mac, then you'll need to use the beta (there was a bug extracting the metadata on ppc machines that is fixed in the beta).


It's an Intel Mac Pro. And I have 14 such empty files (that's how many recordings iTiVo managed to download overnight.)

FYI, when I cancelled the downloads in progress in iTiVo, the tivodecode process crashed. Would you care for a crash report?



Yoav said:


> As to your original motivation, I *assume* none of your shows are marked copyright, as this plan just won't work .


Huh? These are shows recorded from network TV, of course they're copyrighted. What about the plan (which plan?) won't work? If you're making a joke, I'm not getting it.



Yoav said:


> Or, if you REALLY want to use iTiVo, here's the easiest hack:
> 
> Download the attached zip file, and open it, to find a script named tivo-decoder.pl
> Copy the script (using Terminal.app) to /Applications/iTiVo.app/Contents/Resources/
> start iTiVo
> open preferences, select 'decrypt' as the format, then go to Advanced and select .tivo as the filename extension (instead of .mpg)
> Initiate a download and make sure it's doing what you want
> 
> (script basically replaces calls to 'tivodecode' with calls to 'cat')
> 
> *MAJOR DISCLAIMER*
> Hack is not supported.


Thanks muchly.


----------



## Marconi

Yoav said:


> As mentioned in the previous post, any webcrawler that archives a website will do what you asked for. So I suspect the tool is already out there...


Provided such tools can be configured to limit themselves to one connection at a time, maybe. It's still not like having a program that can be scheduled to automatically connect and download... Shouldn't a good back-up program be automatic?



Yoav said:


> Also, I provided in the long response a way for you to hack iTiVo to get what you wanted out of it... So.. ermm.... isn't that what you want?


Yes, it is. I'll try it out and see if it works.


----------



## Yoav

Marconi said:


> It's an Intel Mac Pro. And I have 14 such empty files (that's how many recordings iTiVo managed to download overnight.)


 Gah... So that's a bug to fix . I wonder why it's empty for you and working for me. Do you still have the logfiles from iTiVo around?



> Huh? These are shows recorded from network TV, of course they're copyrighted. What about the plan (which plan?) won't work? If you're making a joke, I'm not getting it.


No it wasn't a joke. But I also didn't know it was 'network TV'. I believe digital cable can mark non-network shows 'copyright' and you can't download those (this may be on HD/S3 tivos only). Since that's not the case for you, ignore what I said.



> Thanks muchly.


You're welcome.


----------



## AquaX

Marconi said:


> Huh? These are shows recorded from network TV, of course they're copyrighted. What about the plan (which plan?) won't work? If you're making a joke, I'm not getting it.


I think he's referring to the copyright flag that a TiVo'd show can have on it which prevents the TiVo from allowing that show to be transferred to another device. The flags are usually set by your cable provider, and generally only show up on premium channels, like HBO, etc. However, some cable providers errantly (or purposefully) set those flags on random content, preventing transfers.


----------



## wmcbrine

The correct term would be "copy protected" (or more accurately, "copy prohibited" or "copy prevented"), not "copyright flagged", nor any other variation involving the word "copyright". A lot of people get this confused, but there really is no connection between copyright (a legal concept) and copy "protection" (a technical measure).

TiVo of course does not help matters with their inaccurate messages like "Transferring prohibited by the copyright holder" (when it's actually the default policy for TiVoCasts and other pushes).


----------



## Marconi

Yoav said:


> Gah... So that's a bug to fix . I wonder why it's empty for you and working for me. Do you still have the logfiles from iTiVo around?


I've opened console.log and found these are the last entries:
5/1/09 10:57:34 AM iTiVo[6763] "timeout: 5 currentFileSize: 727 fullFileSize:728" 
5/1/09 10:57:34 AM iTiVo[6763] "timeout: 0 currentFileSize: 728 fullFileSize:728" 
5/1/09 10:57:35 AM iTiVo[6763] "Running : touch /tmp/iTiVo-marconi/iTiVoDLPipe3.mpg" 
5/1/09 10:57:35 AM iTiVo[6763] "Running : touch /tmp/iTiVo-marconi/iTiVoDLPipe3.mpg" 
5/1/09 10:57:35 AM iTiVo[6763] "Download completed" 
5/1/09 10:57:37 AM iTiVo[6763] "killed : " 
5/1/09 10:57:37 AM iTiVo[6763] "Complete=true , 85% fullfilesize=618.8 ; currentfilesize=728" 
5/1/09 10:57:37 AM iTiVo[6763] "perl /Applications/Video\\ Utils/iTiVo.app/Contents/Resources/GetExtraInfo.pl 10.0.1.202 1234567890987654"

(MAK altered)
So GetExtraInfo.pl is being called. Where might it report any errors?


----------



## Yoav

just pushed out 1.7.6


----------



## Marconi

Yoav said:


> (turning this into the main questions forum page)
> 
> This is the place to ask questions that are not answered in the FAQ.


I hope this is also where we can make feature requests. I'd like to see iTiVo remember, from launch to launch, the queue items that it has not yet downloaded. That is, if I add lots of items to the queue, and iTiVo does not have time to download them all before I have to quit it, iTiVo should 'remember' those items not downloaded and begin downloading them the next time it is launched.

Example: I add 78 episodes of Dawson's Creek from my wife's TiVo to the queue. iTivo downloads half of them before something requires that I reboot, log out or otherwise quit iTivo. The next time I start iTiVo, I don't want to have to compare the list of episodes already downloaded to what's on her DVR and selectively add just the episodes not yet downloaded -- the episodes that were still in the queue when I quit iTiVo. I don't mind starting over the episode that was in progress when I quit but it is a nuisance to figure out which have not yet been downloaded and add just those episodes to the queue.

I'm guessing that this would require a separate queue file for each TiVo.


----------



## Yoav

Marconi said:


> I hope this is also where we can make feature requests.
> ...
> ...


So, there were two requests there 

It turns out remembering the queue between invocations isn't *that hard* for me to do, so I'll probably add that at some point (very low priority for me.. but hey).

Seperating the queues for each tivo would require 'real' multi-tivo support. The core of iTivo doesn't have that (hey I just added code to TDM!), so it would be a more major undertaking. That's currently very backburner (honestly I'd probably do a complete re-write in objective-c first.... applescript is such a pita). So odds of that happening are extremely low.

But noted (and actually already on the 'issues' tab on the itivo googlecode page).


----------



## AudioNutz

Why not just run two instances of iTiVo? Are the prefs stored in a single spot?


----------



## Yoav

AudioNutz said:


> Why not just run two instances of iTiVo? Are the prefs stored in a single spot?


Prefs are stored in a single spot. Furthermore, a bunch of the named pipes that iTiVo uses are keyed off username, but not tivo, so they would conflict.
iTiVo really is not an ideal solution if you plan on having parallel downloads from multiple tivos. It would require a significant amount of work to make it support that, and right now that's not high on my priority list. You can still select one tivo at a time and download from it.

If it's really important to you, you CAN create a seperate user account and launch itivo from both accounts, just make sure that they each talk to a different tivo (tivos randomly drop connections if multiple downloads are attempted).

Alternatively, there ARE other tools out there that work on the mac


----------



## Yoav

Marconi said:


> I hope this is also where we can make feature requests. I'd like to see iTiVo remember, from launch to launch, the queue items that it has not yet downloaded. That is, if I add lots of items to the queue, and iTiVo does not have time to download them all before I have to quit it, iTiVo should 'remember' those items not downloaded and begin downloading them the next time it is launched.


Ok feature is now in the 1.7.7b1 build (you'll need to download the beta).

It will save your queue after downloads and when you cleanly exit. When you start itivo up again, it will have the same queue. Keep in mind that if you wait long enough between invocations of iTiVo, items that are in the queue may no longer be on the tivo and will appear to be failed downloads.


----------



## Marconi

I've tried to figure out what the secondary sort parameter is in iTiVo's Now Playing. I'm stumped.

Suppose I sort by Show. The resulting episodes of that show seem to appear in no predictable order. They are not sorted by Episode name, nor by Date/time, nor ID... 

They do appear to consistently sort in the same order, I just cannot figure out what it is. I suspect it's related to the order in which the show listing is received from the TiVo. 

What is it?


----------



## Yoav

Marconi said:


> I've tried to figure out what the secondary sort parameter is in iTiVo's Now Playing. I'm stumped.


It is unspecified in the code. There is only a primary sort parameter. But when I sorted based on show title, the rest 'seemed' to be sorted based on episode title as secondary. I can't guarantee this is what will happen... it might be random for all I know...


----------



## AquaX

Speaking of sorting...
Would it be possible to have a per show folder view? I have a lot of shows, and one huge list is kinda tough. Having some folders would help me find what I want, then sort it by date/name/etc.


----------



## Yoav

AquaX said:


> Speaking of sorting...
> Would it be possible to have a per show folder view? I have a lot of shows, and one huge list is kinda tough. Having some folders would help me find what I want, then sort it by date/name/etc.


 That's been an enhancement request for a while... I still haven't gotten around to doing it though, so I wouldn't hold my breath...


----------



## Marconi

Yoav said:


> That's been an enhancement request for a while... I still haven't gotten around to doing it though, so I wouldn't hold my breath...


Alternately, instead of 'folderizing' the Now Playing list, how hard would it be to add a filter to iTiVo's Now Playing list?

With a filter applied, I could limit the Now Playing to just episodes of one show. The resulting filtered list could then be sorted by episode name or date.

With luck, when I added such a filtered list to the download queue, they'd be in the sort order so as to ensure, for example, that I downloaded the oldest episodes first, so I can watch them in order.


----------



## Yoav

Ok new beta up that will filter results based on a simple text search. Not ideal but it should get you partway there.

Note that this is only a 'visual' filter. That is, it filters what is displayed in the 'now playing' list. The pie chart of space used will include ALL shows (including those you have filtered out). Subscriptions will still be added and downloaded in the background even if you currently can't see them due to a filter. Etc...


----------



## Marconi

I've been downloading (decrypt, txt metadata) all the episodes of one show. Out of 78, I had 11 episodes to go when I quit so I could install the latest beta. 

Because I did not have a saved download queue, when I started the new beta, I added all episodes of the show to the queue so I could start downloading right away. The first listed episode was one I had yet to download, so I started the queue.

I then, in ones and twos, removed the episodes I already had downloaded from the queue. Some time during the process, the status stopped updating. It still shows "185 MB of 728 MB (25.4%) (29 minutes remaining)."

The first queue item download is complete but iTiVo still shows the outdated progress and has not moved on to create the txt metadata file for that first queue item. The 728 MB download is playable in VLC and it's all there. 

I can only conclude that removing items from the queue while the download was in progress somehow threw iTiVo off track. 

It's been a half hour now since the download completed in reality. I clicked the Cancel Download button and, while the button deactivated, the status did not change and after a few minutes of waiting for it to Cancel, I quit iTivo. That worked.

Happily, the saved queue was there when I restarted iTiVo and I was able to get started again without having to rebuild the download queue. (Thanks for adding the queue saving feature. And the Filter -- I'm playing with that when I can.)


----------



## NA9D

Yoav said:


> Ok new beta up that will filter results based on a simple text search. Not ideal but it should get you partway there.
> 
> Note that this is only a 'visual' filter. That is, it filters what is displayed in the 'now playing' list. The pie chart of space used will include ALL shows (including those you have filtered out). Subscriptions will still be added and downloaded in the background even if you currently can't see them due to a filter. Etc...


Can we get a filter to NOT show protected shows. I've got a bunch of pod casts on the box now that are all protected and it's annoying to see them taking up space that I have to wade through in the program list. I'd like to have a checkbox to simply not show them.


----------



## Marconi

I just encountered a bit of confusion (and a bug) with a two-part episode of a series. The two parts had the same synopsis and I thought I had a duplicate recording*. Examining the metadata in the recording.txt file showed the presence of partCount and partIndex parameters. When these parameters are encountered, can iTiVo include the "part $partIndex of $partCount" into the name of the mpg file and the metadata file?

*
The parts were on different TiVos and so I had downloaded the parts into different directories. I didn't discover the 'duplicate' until I merged these. For some reason, one of the two had a txt metadata file consisting solely of startTime and stopTime, and they were wrong for that recording. 

As a test, I put both parts on the same DVR (MRV transfer) then had iTiVo download both from the same queue. After the first one completed, the second started and it simply overwrote the first part that had downloaded. So this is a serious bug. When an episode has multiple parts, *something* needs to be done to distinguish each recording file from the other(s). 

Another place where naming could be improved is any series that one prefers to watch in order of air date. It would be really handy if the air date could be incorporated into the recording name.

Instead of:
Days of Our Lives - Bo and Hope have a picnic in the park.mpg
how about
Days of Our Lives - 2008-09-08.mpg
and, of course, Days of Our Lives - 2008-09-08.mpg.txt (if the metadata option is exercised)

(YYYY-MM-DD)

That would REALLY help with watching them in order and keeping track.

Perhaps a preference checkbox for 'Date Naming' could cause iTiVo to use the first 10 characters of the startTime metadatum instead of the episode title.


----------



## Fofer

NA9D said:


> Can we get a filter to NOT show protected shows. I've got a bunch of pod casts on the box now that are all protected and it's annoying to see them taking up space that I have to wade through in the program list. I'd like to have a checkbox to simply not show them.





Marconi said:


> Perhaps a preference checkbox for 'Date Naming' could cause iTiVo to use the first 10 characters of the startTime metadatum instead of the episode title.


I just wanted to chime in that these are both really great ideas. :up:


----------



## Marconi

Because free space was running low, some months ago I transferred (using TiVo's built-in Multi Room Viewing function) some episodes of a series from DVR-A to DVR-B (deleting them from A). I have since used iTiVo to download all the episodes from both DVR-A and DVR-B with the showname.txt metadata file option selected. 

For the episodes downloaded from DVR-B, the showname.txt files have only startTime and stopTime, and these appear to be the time of the transfer from DVR-A to DVR-B.

The episode title and synopsis are there on DVR-B -- I can see them in the Now Playing program info, but they did not get inserted into the metadata files. Perhaps after the transfer from DVR-A, these data are in a form that iTiVo does not recognize. (Or it may be that transferring from a TCD540040 to an older model, a TCD24080, is the problem. Maybe a TCD24080 does not properly recognize all the metadata from a TCD540040. (That does not explain why the episode title and synopsis, which the older TCD24080 obviously does understand, didn't get put into the files.)

I know that some metadata are lost when transferring from one DVR to another (that's been my experience). But I'd think that episode title and synopsis should still be available to iTiVo.

Would anyone who has multiple DVRs care to confirm this problem? use iTiVo to download a show with the optional showname.txt metadata file. Transfer that same show to another DVR and repeat the download. Rename the first downloaded files or download the second to a different directory so the first won't be overwritten by the second. Compare showname.txt files. I'd be interested in your results (include DVR models numbers).


----------



## AudioNutz

Marconi said:


> ...Would anyone who has multiple DVRs care to confirm this problem?


I can confirm. It's really rare, but I've had it happen 3 times. I seem to recall that it was with a TV series that was discontinued.



Marconi said:


> ...use iTiVo to download a show with the optional showname.txt metadata file. Transfer that same show to another DVR and repeat the download. Rename the first downloaded files or download the second to a different directory so the first won't be overwritten by the second. Compare showname.txt files. I'd be interested in your results (include DVR models numbers).


I've long since deleted these three problem shows, so I can't do your test.


----------



## Marconi

This is not a bug but annoying nonetheless. When iTivo starts and there is a saved queue (the 1.7.7 beta has this feature) then items cannot be removed from the queue until iTiVo connects -- the 'Remove' button will not activate after a show in the queue is clicked. 

Once a connection is initiated, then the queue items can be removed; the Remove button will activate when a queue item is clicked.


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## Marconi

AudioNutz said:


> I can confirm. It's really rare, but I've had it happen 3 times. I seem to recall that it was with a TV series that was discontinued.


What is curious is that the Info button in iTiVo does show the episode title and synopsis in the drawer off to the side. So, the data are there, iTiVo CAN read them, but fails to put them into the showname.txt file. Sounds like a (minor) bug.

Again, to replicate the bug: transfer a recording from one DVR to another. From that second DVR, download the show with iTiVo, including the .txt metadata file. The txt file will have only startTime and stopTime.


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## Yoav

NA9D said:


> Can we get a filter to NOT show protected shows. I've got a bunch of pod casts on the box now that are all protected and it's annoying to see them taking up space that I have to wade through in the program list. I'd like to have a checkbox to simply not show them.


copy-protected filter is in the latest beta.

As to the other feature requests: file naming is currently not supported by iTiVo. You certainly have the power to manually do it, or even automatically do it via the 'run after download' advanced option. However, for now, iTiVo doesn't support a 'pattern for filenames' nor options to mess with them. It may in the future, but it's very low priority for me.

Marconi: I don't really know what causes the bug you're complaining about. It's such a fringe use involving transfers among multiple-tivos that I seriously doubt anyone else has or will ever see this bug. I'd be happy to fix it if you can track down and debug what is going on, but I don't plan on buying another tivo to debug this.


----------



## aindik

I transfer the Daily Show to my phone every night. ComSkip works great most of the time, but it misses the "moment of zen" at the end of the show most nights. Last night, it missed the Dan Rather segment. It just cut that segment off early.

I post this not to criticize, but maybe it will help in the debugging to see exactly what type of things are being missed.


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## AquaX

I think it's more going to be a ComSkip problem than an iTiVo problem, but I as well, have noticed lots of ComSkip issues with the Daily Show in particular. Something about how ComSkip attempts to detect commercials gets messed up with the Daily Show.


----------



## aindik

AquaX said:


> I think it's more going to be a ComSkip problem than an iTiVo problem, but I as well, have noticed lots of ComSkip issues with the Daily Show in particular. Something about how ComSkip attempts to detect commercials gets messed up with the Daily Show.


Is ComSkip not written by Yoav as part of iTiVo? If not, then I apologize. No need to post what I did.


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## Fofer

yeah, that's not Yoav's code, he's using this: http://www.kaashoek.com/comskip/

perhaps direct that feedback to those folks... they have a support forum... and we can then hope they address it...


----------



## Yoav

Fofer said:


> yeah, that's not Yoav's code, he's using this: http://www.kaashoek.com/comskip/
> 
> perhaps direct that feedback to those folks... they have a support forum... and we can then hope they address it...


Yep indeed I just push out a comskip program with iTiVo (as well as mencoder and tivodecode and whatnot) .. I didn't write the programs nor do I support them.

a minor correction: the comskip in iTiVo is actually based on a fairly old release of comskip (http://code.google.com/p/etv-comskip/) that was nicely ported to the mac. The current comskip codebase doesnt build cleanly on macs, and depends on a lot of external libraries (to support stuff like closed caption detection, and processing h.264 video). It seems like the maintainer of etv-comskip hasn't made changes to his source code in several months.. so comskip may end up remaining 'the old one' for a while...

A bit more about comskip: it seems to work a LOT better if you have recorded at the best possible quality. Also, there are lots of values and settings that you can use to tweak it to perform differently. I currently use the recommended defaults. The problem with changing it is that while it will more successfully detect the 'end of the daily show' issue that you have, it will then become less successful at detecting other stuff... If you feel like you want to mess with it, you can find the configuration in


Code:


Applications/iTiVo.app/Contents/Resources/comskip.ini

. Make sure to back up your configuration AND if you find one you like, SAVE IT SOMEWHERE ELSE TOO!! (updates to iTiVo will wipe your config)


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## aindik

Yoav said:


> A bit more about comskip: it seems to work a LOT better if you have recorded at the best possible quality.


When everything is digital, there is only one quality. 

Thanks for all of your information and all of your hard work.


----------



## Marconi

I have a Series 2 TiVo DVR which has been expanded the maximum number of times it can be. It has two, small drives that I'd like to replace before they fail. The problem is, it has LOTS of recordings -- some going back years -- that need to be preserved. None of the current Mac tools permits me to upgrade these already expanded drives to larger ones or to upgrade to a single, larger drive AND preserve recordings. To upgrade this DVR I will have to remove the recordings, do the upgrade then put the recordings back.

My initial plan called for temporarily transferring all its recordings to other S2 TiVo DVRs. (I have others.) Then I came across a reference to "putting back" recordings with pyTiVoX and the plan changed. I started downloading episodes of various shows using iTiVo and put them back with pyTiVoX. It worked.

It is my intention to download all the files on that S2 DVR, upgrade it to a single, larger drive, then transfer back all the removed recordings.

In my tests, the only problem was that, in putting them back, the recordings took on the date of their download via iTiVo.

Per Yoav's advice, I am using "Decrypt" and adding the optional showname.txt metadata file. So I had the original air date, the date the recording was made by TiVo and all that. At first, then, I was hand editing the showname.txt file, adding the date of the recording to the episode name thus ensuring that my wife would know the proper order in which to watch the episodes of her soap opera.

For one series, I added the episode number to the episode title. Like adding the date, it was time intensive and when viewing the shows, you'd have to search the Now Playing list to find the next one to watch, since many recordings had the same date. Ideally, a better solution would be to put them back into TiVo in the correct order, and that would involve changing the creation date of the downloaded files on my Mac.

Since transferring back to the DVR via pyTiVoX gave the recording the date of the show's download by iTiVo, all I really needed to do was change the recordings' created/modified dates on my Mac before uploading it back to the DVR. I modified the creation date of a few recording files and, when transferred back to TiVo, the recordings showed the date of the original and were in the correct order as a result.

Now, many of you probably don't know how to change a file's creation / modification dates or don't have the tools. To do it by hand, as I did for the first few test recordings, would again be time intensive. So I used AppleScript to create a droplet application that will do it for me. It works like this...

Using, as I am, Decrypt to create a showname.mpg file, plus the optional showname.mpg.txt file, I have the date-of-recording datum. It's on the first line of the '.txt' file. So, all that is necessary is to select a showname.mpg file together with its matching showname.mpg.txt file and drag them to the droplet app. The script will read the recording date from the first line of the metadata text file and change the creation and modification dates of both dropped files to that date.

pyTiVoX will see that date and the recordings, once back on TiVo will sort into their proper order by date.

Another benefit: for some series, the episodes I have were not all recorded in the order of their original airing. Either the broadcaster showed them out of order or we missed one and had to get the missed episodes later. In either case, by adjusting the first line of the txt file for that episode, then dropping onto my droplet, I can put the episodes into the order in which they originally appeared.

Another datum in the txt file is "originalAirDate" so you may wonder why I am not using that date instead of the date of the recording by TiVo. The answer is that, sometimes, there are NO episode-specific data available. All info in the txt file is generic. When that happens, the originalAirDate parameter is the date of the series premier, and that date will be the same for every episode lacking episode-specific data -- not nearly as helpful as the date it was recorded. With the date of the recording, and comparing that to the episodes before and after, it's pretty easy to use TV.com and such to identify the actual episode. You can even change the txt file's generic description and episode title to contain the proper synopsis and such.

Anyway, the bottom line is this: Using iTiVo, my droplet and then pyTiVoX, I now have storage for my TiVos limited only by how many drives I want to buy. No need for an official "DVR Expander." I'm recording movies and saving them off line until I decide to watch them. I've set up Season Passes for a couple of series I'd like to see in their entirety. I'll store the episodes off-line until I have them all, then transfer them back as needed.

I could, of course, be doing this with just iTiVo and pyTiVoX (Thanks, Yoav!) but the droplet date changer makes the sorting problem go away. For those of you wishing to do something similar, here's the code for the date-changing droplet... (Watch out for line breaks.)


Code:


-- Droplet for Changing the Creation date of 
-- Dragged-on TiVo Recording Files

-- Save this as an application bundle in AppleScript Editor.

-- This droplet was designed to have an iTiVo mpg file plus its 
-- matching mpg.txt metadata file dragged onto it in pairs. 
--
-- When this is done, the date of the original recording is read 
-- from the text file and the creation/modification dates of both 
-- files are changed to that date. This ensures that when the 
-- recordings are transferred back to TiVo using pyTiVoX, the 
-- recording dates are correct.

-- Note that this was designed for this one, specific purpose and 
-- any other use of this droplet is bound to disappoint.
--
-- DISCLAIMER: No warranty is implied, use at your own risk, 
-- discontinue use if redness develops, etc. 

on open dropped_items
	set newdate to ""
	--choose the one which is the text file
	repeat with i from 1 to the count of dropped_items -- which ought to be 2
		set this_item to (item i of dropped_items)
		set the item_info to info for this_item
		set filename to name of item_info
		if filename ends with ".txt" then
			set fileData to read this_item
			set datetext to paragraph 1 of fileData
			-- line one looks like this: "time : YYYY-MM-DDTHH:mm:ssZ"
			set theyear to text 8 through 11 of (datetext)
			set themonth to text 13 through 14 of (datetext)
			set theday to text 16 through 17 of (datetext)
			set hh to text 19 through 20 of (datetext)
			set mm to text 22 through 23 of (datetext)
			set newdate to theyear & themonth & theday & hh & mm
			exit repeat -- found the date, no need to check the other dropped file
		end if
	end repeat
	if newdate is not "" then
		repeat with file_ in dropped_items
			set file_ to POSIX path of file_
			do shell script "touch -t " & newdate & " " & quoted form of file_
		end repeat
	else
		display dialog ("No date found in these files!")
	end if
end open

I presume that the droplet will work just as well for those of you not using "Decrypt" as the download format. If you're converting for iPhone, the recording date may be sufficient to keep them in order. Just be sure to also create the metadata txt file (see the iTiVo prefs) so you can use the droplet. But, just in case, I'm going to make a version of the droplet that will insert the recording date into the mpg file's name, changing:

Series Name - Episode name.mpg
Series Name - Episode name.mpg.txt
to
Series Name - date Episode name.mpg
Series Name - date Episode name.mpg.txt

I hope others find this useful.


----------



## Marconi

As promised, here's a droplet to add the date a recording was made by TiVo to a downloaded recording's file name. Note that it requires the metadata text file in order to work. 


Code:


-- Droplet for Adding the Recording Date to Names
-- of Dragged-on TiVo Recording Files
--
-- Save this as an application bundle in AppleScript Editor.
--
-- This droplet was designed to have an iTiVo mpg file plus its 
-- matching mpg.txt metadata file dragged onto it in pairs. 
--
-- When this is done, the date of the original recording is read 
-- from the text file and the date is inserted into the file names
-- of both files after the series name and before the Episode name.
-- This makes it easier to watch recordings in the right order.
--
-- Note that this was designed for this one, specific purpose and 
-- any other use of this droplet is bound to disappoint.
--
-- DISCLAIMER: No warranty is implied, use at your own risk. 
-- Consult a doctor if erection lasts for more than four hours. 

on open dropped_items
	set RecDate to ""
	--choose the one which is the text file
	repeat with i from 1 to the count of dropped_items -- which ought to be 2
		set this_item to (item i of dropped_items)
		set the item_info to info for this_item
		set filename to name of item_info
		if filename ends with ".txt" then
			set fileData to read this_item
			set datetext to paragraph 1 of fileData
			-- line one looks like this: "time : YYYY-MM-DDTHH:mm:ssZ"
			set RecDate to text 8 through 17 of (datetext) & " "
			exit repeat -- found the date, no need to check the other dropped file
		end if
	end repeat
	if RecDate is not "" then
		repeat with i from 1 to the count of dropped_items -- which still ought to be 2
			set this_item to (item i of dropped_items)
			set the item_info to info for this_item
			set original to name of item_info
			set foo to offset of "-" in original
			set changedname to text 1 through (foo + 1) of original & RecDate & text (foo + 2) through end of original
			-- 	display dialog ("Renaming " & original & " to " & changedname)
			tell application "Finder"
				set the name of the this_item to the changedname
			end tell
			
		end repeat
	else
		display dialog ("No date found in these files!")
	end if
end open


----------



## Marconi

iTiVo 1.7.7b3

In the txt metadata file, when created, some data use an equals sign as a delimiter:

seriesID = SH001189
displayMajorNumber = 12
callsign = KPNX

These all need to be colons.

Secondly, the "seriesId" parameter is case sensitive -- the 'd' needs to be lower case to have the parameter be recognized when passed back to a TiVo DVR by pyTiVoX. The "I" is the only upper-case character in this datum label.


----------



## Yoav

Marconi said:


> iTiVo 1.7.7b3
> 
> In the txt metadata file, when created, some data use an equals sign as a delimiter:
> 
> seriesID = SH001189
> displayMajorNumber = 12
> callsign = KPNX
> 
> These all need to be colons.
> 
> Secondly, the "seriesId" parameter is case sensitive -- the 'd' needs to be lower case to have the parameter be recognized when passed back to a TiVo DVR by pyTiVoX. The "I" is the only upper-case character in this datum label.


Oh hey, I suck...

Thanks for catching it ( the bug was a little more insidious -- seriesId was correctly set if present in the xml, but I tried to hack it in when it wasn't.. and that was where the '=' and uppercase cropped up..). Fixing and should make it into the next release...


----------



## Marconi

Yoav said:


> Oh hey, I suck...
> 
> Thanks for catching it


I'd bill you for the hours wasted figuring out what was wrong but then you'd probably bill me for the development time. ;-)

I'm good if you are...


----------



## Marconi

iTiVo 1.7.7b3, pyTiVoX 1.2

While downloading recordings with iTiVo and uploading some of those same recordings to other DVRs, I've noticed something interesting about the metadata txt file which iTiVo generates. If the recording is extended, either starting early or ending late, the metadata file will contain data on the programs preceding and / or following.

That is, if I start the recording of an episode early by, say, a minute (recording options on TiVo) then in the metadata file, there will be extraneous data about the show which preceded the recorded episode. Likewise, if I extend the recording, there will be data about the following show appended to the episode's actual metadata.

This wouldn't be a problem if it didn't screw up the show data sent to TiVo by pyTiVoX when the showname.txt file is used as-is. (It also screws up the show Info shown by iTiVo.)

Based on behaviors I've observed, here's what I think happens. iTiVo scans the metadata and uses the first version of any parameter it encounters. This is what it puts into the "Info" drawer off to the side. This makes for an interesting mix when, as I encountered, a soap opera is preceded by a news show. iTiVo shows Info that includes a genre of "News" with the first air date of that news program, together with the name of the news show, but then goes on to describe the soap opera episode accurately.

pyTiVoX, by contrast, seems to scan the metadata from the txt file and use the last version of any datum it encounters. So, if that same soap opera was followed by a movie, and the recording was extended two minutes, then when that soap's metadata are seen by the TiVo, the description shows a movie and assorted non-soap actors.

Now, I don't think TiVo should be including metadata for shows preceding and / or following, just because I extended a recording. But it happens, and it results in problems with iTiVo and pyTiVoX. So... what can be done about it?

I've been trimming the showname.txt files by hand to remove extraneous data. Might iTiVo be made to discard the extra stuff for us (for me)?

Just for fun, and because I have multiple Series 2 DVRs, I recorded the same show today five times so as to compare the resulting metadata when I download them and make them available for upload via pyTiVoX.

One recording started and stopped on time. This was my 'control' version. This should show me the normal, non-extended metadata.

The second recording started 1 minute early but stopped on time. Metadata for the show preceding it appears in the txt file before the proper data.

The third started on time but was extended one minute beyond normal. Metadata for the show following it are appended to the text file. (Actually, inserted before the end of the proper metadata.)

The fourth started one minute early and was extended by one minute. It has extra data both before and after the proper data.

The last started five minutes early and went 5 minutes long. Its metadata file is the same as the one extended by only one minute in each direction.

When the metadata file(s) generated by iTiVo are used, unedited, to provide data for the same recordings to go back to a DVR, it results in bad data -- especially if the recording was extended. In that case, the show is totally misrepresented by pyTiVoX, as shown on the receiving TiVo DVR.

I've put up a web page showing the metadata files for four of the recordings (the 5-minutes-before-and-after is essentially the same as the 1-minute-before-and-after). You can see the extra metadata and some images of the incorrect iTiVo and TiVo displays that result.

Clearly, the problem is with TiVo. Nonetheless, is there anything that can be done with our tools (iTiVo and pyTiVoX) to compensate?


----------



## Yoav

Marconi said:


> iTiVo 1.7.7b3, pyTiVoX 1.2
> 
> While downloading recordings with iTiVo and uploading some of those same recordings to other DVRs, I've noticed something interesting about the metadata txt file which iTiVo generates.
> ....


I've been scratching my head as to what to do about this. the pytivo data is simply ripped out of the xml file which comes out of the tivo file. If there's 'better logic' that can be applied, it needs to be done to the xslt processor: http://code.google.com/p/itivo/source/browse/trunk/pytivo_txt.xslt

However, it's not really clear what to do (it seems like time is always the first entry and is never repeated twice in a single show, so it might be possible to split things up based on that token I dunno).

anyways, it seems like you're hitting the 'maybe you should write a script to fix up these things' or 'don't record multiple shows into one file' -- although to be fair you do sometimes need to extend recordings by a few minutes.. sigh...

If you can figure out a 'correct' clean fix I'll be happy to take a code patch


----------



## wmcbrine

I've noticed data from multiple programs in .TiVo files as well. However, I don't think it happens if you view the Now Playing list XML. (Or does it?) Maybe that would be a better source?


----------



## Marconi

wmcbrine said:


> I've noticed data from multiple programs in .TiVo files as well. However, I don't think it happens if you view the Now Playing list XML. (Or does it?)


The extra metadata appear in the XML version as well.


----------



## Yoav

Marconi said:


> The extra metadata appear in the XML version as well.


I think he's referring to the now playing XML, not the xml from the .tivo file. I'm pretty sure it's not doubled in there, but I *think* that the xml there isn't complete..

anyways, you can look at it by looking (using the beta) in

<user>/Library/Caches/iTiVo/XMLCache-IP

I'll try and see if I can use that... but right now I have a bunch of other crap on my plate


----------



## mrowl

is 5 hours normal for 5GB of transfer via ethernet? Is there a faster app, or faster way to do this?


----------



## Yoav

mrowl said:


> is 5 hours normal for 5GB of transfer via ethernet? Is there a faster app, or faster way to do this?


 This question is answered in the iTiVo FAQ: http://code.google.com/p/itivo/wiki/FAQ

Short version. If you have a Series 3, then yes that's a bit slow. Try selecting a simpler format to convert to, and using a wired connection. If you have a Series 2, then that's probably about as fast as you'll get...


----------



## mrowl

Yoav said:


> This question is answered in the iTiVo FAQ: http://code.google.com/p/itivo/wiki/FAQ
> 
> Short version. If you have a Series 3, then yes that's a bit slow. Try selecting a simpler format to convert to, and using a wired connection. If you have a Series 2, then that's probably about as fast as you'll get...


thanks..

Any help with this error?

An invalid public movie atom was found in the movie.

its a quicktime error after a quicktime format transfer.


----------



## Yoav

mrowl said:


> thanks..
> 
> Any help with this error?
> 
> An invalid public movie atom was found in the movie.
> 
> its a quicktime error after a quicktime format transfer.


Is this happening for all your transfers or just one? It sounds like a bad mp4 file. Usually that only happens when the mp4 file was not written out completely (did you cancel a transfer partway through?)


----------



## mrowl

Yoav said:


> Is this happening for all your transfers or just one? It sounds like a bad mp4 file. Usually that only happens when the mp4 file was not written out completely (did you cancel a transfer partway through?)


that was the first transfer I tried (no cancel). I deleted the file and it is running again.


----------



## mrowl

now, atomicparsley crashes about 3 hours into the transfer...


----------



## Yoav

mrowl said:


> now, atomicparsley crashes about 3 hours into the transfer...


AtomicParsley is run once the file is fully converted. It has been known to fail on some files. Usually even if it fails the resulting file is still good. However, sometimes that is not the case. You can disable AtomicParsley in the Prefs window (the metadata section) to avoid this problem.


----------



## Marconi

iTiVo v 1.7.7b3

Why does a recording downloaded H.264, 10mbps show dimensions of 480 X 480 in QT Player and play at 480x480 but when played in iTunes, it shows the proper aspect ratio?

Is there some option to make these play at the proper 640x480 in QT Player?


----------



## Yoav

Marconi said:


> iTiVo v 1.7.7b3
> 
> Why does a recording downloaded H.264, 10mbps show dimensions of 480 X 480 in QT Player and play at 480x480 but when played in iTunes, it shows the proper aspect ratio?
> 
> Is there some option to make these play at the proper 640x480 in QT Player?


resolution and aspect ratio are two independent values.

are you sure it's not 480x480 with a PAR of 4:3 ?

you can look at it with ffmpeg -i <filename>

I suspect quicktime is ignoring the PAR.. you may want to view it with VLC or MplayerOSX Extended...
If that's the case though, I don't know of any way to force quicktime to an aspect ratio..


----------



## Marconi

Yoav said:


> resolution and aspect ratio are two independent values.
> 
> are you sure it's not 480x480 with a PAR of 4:3 ?


Hmmm..., I always thought aspect ratio was calculated from the pixel dimensions. So, during playback, a (proper) player will distort 480x480 into 640x480 to get the Aspect Ratio right?


Yoav said:


> I suspect quicktime is ignoring the PAR.. you may want to view it with VLC or MplayerOSX Extended...


I use QuickTime Player Pro because I can edit. I like to save clips on occasion. But I also like to play them back at the proper aspect ratio!

is 480x480 the native size for TiVo recordings?


----------



## Yoav

Marconi said:


> Hmmm..., I always thought aspect ratio was calculated from the pixel dimensions. So, during playback, a (proper) player will distort 480x480 into 640x480 to get the Aspect Ratio right?


Sort of, although it depends on the codec/container. In the case of mpeg-2 and mpeg-4, a 480x480 with a PAR of 4:3 will use up 640x480 pixels on a machine with square pixels. There are actually several aspect ratios encoded: The pixel aspec ratio will tell it what a pixel looks like. The display aspect ratio will tell it what the target display should be.


> I use QuickTime Player Pro because I can edit. I like to save clips on occasion. But I also like to play them back at the proper aspect ratio!
> 
> is 480x480 the native size for TiVo recordings?


I think it encodes at 480x480 if you use 'high' quality. I think 'best' quality uses 720x480, and 'low' uses something like 240x480 (you'll need to look it up for the actual numbers). If you record from a digital channel it will use whatever resolution it is given.


----------



## wmcbrine

The disparities aren't quite that wide. "Best" is, I think, 544x480 on most TiVos -- only the DVD models go to full 704x480 or 720x480 -- and nothing goes as low as 240x480; maybe 352x480?


----------



## Marconi

This is interesting... As noted previously, I use Multi-Room Viewing a lot. When I use the MRV feature to transfer a recording from one TiVo DVR to another, the recording, as seen in iTiVo, looking at the receiving DVR, shows a date/time corresponding to the time of the transfer, not the recording date.

Of course, the receiving TiVo itself still shows the correct date/time. Does iTiVo use the file modification date instead of the startTime/stopTime recording metadata?


----------



## Yoav

Marconi said:


> This is interesting... As noted previously, I use Multi-Room Viewing a lot. When I use the MRV feature to transfer a recording from one TiVo DVR to another, the recording, as seen in iTiVo, looking at the receiving DVR, shows a date/time corresponding to the time of the transfer, not the recording date.
> 
> Of course, the receiving TiVo itself still shows the correct date/time. Does iTiVo use the file modification date instead of the startTime/stopTime recording metadata?


For the main display, It uses whatever is enclosed in the CaptureDate tag.

For the metadata extraction air date, it uses the value in the originalAirDate tag.


----------



## Marconi

For back-up purposes, I have downloaded hundreds of episode of my wife's soap opera in decrypt format. Later I'll be uploading them again using pyTiVoX. 

Is it possible, from a terminal command line or such, to process these already downloaded files? I'd like to try converting some of them to iPhone format, running them through comskip in the process. 

Can anyone tell me how this might be done? Or would it be easier to just re-download them again from the original DVR, into the iPhone format, using comskip?


----------



## Igor

Marconi said:


> For back-up purposes, I have downloaded hundreds of episode of my wife's soap opera in decrypt format. Later I'll be uploading them again using pyTiVoX.
> 
> Is it possible, from a terminal command line or such, to process these already downloaded files? I'd like to try converting some of them to iPhone format, running them through comskip in the process.
> 
> Can anyone tell me how this might be done? Or would it be easier to just re-download them again from the original DVR, into the iPhone format, using comskip?


Yes, you can just run terminal commands to take cake of the processing for you.

The _comskip_ command below will mark commercials in a movie file at _movie-file-path_ and save them to an _movie-file-path.edl_ file:



Code:


/Applications/iTiVo.app/Contents/Resources/comskip --ini=/Applications/iTiVo.app/Contents/Resources/comskip.ini --playnice <movie-file-path>

The _mencoder_ command below will process the movie file at _movie-file-path_, skip parts indicated in the _movie-file-path.edl_ file, and write out a new movie file _movie-file-path-new_:



Code:


/Applications/iTiVo.app/Contents/Resources/mencoder really-quiet -edl <movie-file-path.edl> -ovc copy -of mpeg -mpegopts format=mpeg2:tsaf:muxrate=36000 -mc 1 -noskip -forceidx -oac copy -hr-edl-seek -o <movie-file-path-new> <movie-file-path>

You can read up on comskip and mencoder options on the web or simply copy arguments for mencoder out of the "Advanced" tab of the iTiVo preferences dialog. To convert forthe iPhone, set this up in iTivo, and then see what options you should pass to _mencoder_ yourself. You can also use _ffmpeg_ or any other conversion utility you have installed.

I found downloading without conversion fast and easy. iTiVo also tends to restart the whole process even if it fails on the last step. I simply cobbled a quick Perl script together to check directories for new files downloaded by iTiVo and then mark out commercials and process the files separately. If something fails, then I can fiddle with the already downloaded file as I wish.

If someone is interested in hacking the script, send me a message, and I'll reply with a copy. I am still fiddling with it a bit. Once I fee a bit more sure, I will release it.

Igor
itivo at ayradyss.org


----------



## GoHokies!

Dumb question that I haven't seen answered here or in the FAQ:

When you Subscribe to a show, should existing episodes of the show be added to the download queue, or should I have to go through and manually add each existing show to the d/l queue?

Apologies if this has been covered, and many thanks for an awesome program.


----------



## roblight

Is there a "Keep At Most" option when doing a season pass like on a real TiVo? If not, is it planned? Thanks!


----------



## Yoav

roblight said:


> Is there a "Keep At Most" option when doing a season pass like on a real TiVo? If not, is it planned? Thanks!


There is not. I currently do not plan to add support for iTiVo automatically deleting shows you have stored on your computer. I suppose if you feel brave enough you can write a folder action to delete old shows (depending on your definition of old).


----------



## Yoav

GoHokies! said:


> Dumb question that I haven't seen answered here or in the FAQ:
> 
> When you Subscribe to a show, should existing episodes of the show be added to the download queue, or should I have to go through and manually add each existing show to the d/l queue?
> 
> Apologies if this has been covered, and many thanks for an awesome program.


Actually it's covered in the description of a subscription .

But yeah, subscriptions only add 'future' episodes of shows, and only add them once (so if you delete it it won't be added again). Old ones already on the tivo will not be added.

I suspect you're trying to download a bunch of shows of a series already on your tivo. the easiest way to do this is to the word 'show' at the top of the column. This will sort all your tivo shows by name.. so then you can shift-click all the shows to add them to the queue...


----------



## GoHokies!

I read that over and over, but it was ambiguous (to be at least) how shows already on the Tivo were covered. My line of thinking was that shows that had never been transferred were "new" to iTivo and therefore may be transferred.

I'm trying to d/l a bunch of old series and then every new episode going forward, so I'll add the subscriptions and then manually add the existing episodes to the queue. Not difficult at all, I just wanted to make sure that the program was acting as intended.

Thanks again for the great program and great support!


----------



## Marconi

Are subscriptions from multiple TiVos supported? That is, if I connect to one TiVo and add a subscription, then connect to another TiVo and add a subscription, will iTiVo implode?

I don't know if the subscription mechanism stores info about which DVR a subscription is for. I'm guessing it doesn't.


----------



## Yoav

Marconi said:


> Are subscriptions from multiple TiVos supported? That is, if I connect to one TiVo and add a subscription, then connect to another TiVo and add a subscription, will iTiVo implode?
> 
> I don't know if the subscription mechanism stores info about which DVR a subscription is for. I'm guessing it doesn't.


It will implode 

support for multiple tivos is very rudimentary right now: You select a tivo, and then stick to it (if you change tivo while you have things in the queue, it will start trying to download the shows from the wrong tivo, etc). Specifically, if you have a subscription that exists on both tivos when you switch to the new tivo, it will try and pull 'new' shows from that tivo, but then when you switch back, it will probably miss some old episodes etc..

So yeah.. no big explosions etc, but you may end up missing episodes if you swap back and forth *AND* the show exists on both tivos. If multi-tivo subscription support is important to you, I would suggest you try out Tivo Butler or kmttg (which is now much easier to install on a mac). Their interface is more complex, but at the same time, the complexity buys you extra functionality/power...


----------



## europa00

Hello,

I get an applescript error when launching iTivo:

DNSService call failed
No matching processes belonging to you were found (1)

If I click OK, and then click on the Prefs button, I get an Applescript error:

Cant get item 1 of {}. (-1728)

I've tried reinstall, reboot, etc... Any ideas?

Thanks,

E


----------



## Yoav

europa00 said:


> Hello,
> 
> I get an applescript error when launching iTivo:


What version of MacOS are you using?


----------



## cptodd

So I did a little search for both "low volume" and "sound" but could not find anything that addresses my problem. For some reason when I use iTiVo to transfer shows the sound volume is quite low. Is there a way to fix this?


----------



## Yoav

cptodd said:


> So I did a little search for both "low volume" and "sound" but could not find anything that addresses my problem. For some reason when I use iTiVo to transfer shows the sound volume is quite low. Is there a way to fix this?


the conversion normally doesn't change the volume from source to destination. Except that for some devices, it was necessary to do as it was too low (example is the iphone conversion).

The downside to forcing volume 'up' is potential 'clipping' of the louder bits. But if you're certain that you want to up the volume, go to Prefs, select the download format you want. The rest of this instruction is assuming you pick a format that uses 'mencoder' as the encoder. If you're using a different encoder tell me and I'll see if I can figure out the correct options for it.

Go into 'advanced'. There, under 'audio options' ADD the following:


Code:


-af volume=13:1

Select ok, and try a new encode. If you like this you can save this as a new 'format' name for future use (otherwise, it will stay with that option until you change formats in the future)


----------



## solutionsetc

1.7.6 running on intel under 10.5.7. IS this normal? Files seem to be transferring ok other than constant messages to both console and system logs.



Code:


Jun  7 13:00:01 Work iTiVo[41195]: "curl++ timeout: 3   currentFileSize: 2262  fullFileSize:2680"
Jun  7 13:00:01 Work iTiVo[41195]: "curl++ timeout: 0   currentFileSize: 2263  fullFileSize:2680"
Jun  7 13:00:02 Work iTiVo[41195]: "curl++ timeout: 1   currentFileSize: 2263  fullFileSize:2680"
Jun  7 13:00:03 Work iTiVo[41195]: "curl++ timeout: 2   currentFileSize: 2263  fullFileSize:2680"
Jun  7 13:00:03 Work iTiVo[41195]: "curl++ timeout: 0   currentFileSize: 2264  fullFileSize:2680"
Jun  7 13:00:04 Work iTiVo[41195]: "curl++ timeout: 1   currentFileSize: 2264  fullFileSize:2680"
Jun  7 13:00:05 Work iTiVo[41195]: "curl++ timeout: 2   currentFileSize: 2264  fullFileSize:2680"
Jun  7 13:00:05 Work iTiVo[41195]: "curl++ timeout: 3   currentFileSize: 2264  fullFileSize:2680"
Jun  7 13:00:06 Work iTiVo[41195]: "curl++ timeout: 4   currentFileSize: 2264  fullFileSize:2680"
Jun  7 13:00:07 Work iTiVo[41195]: "curl++ timeout: 5   currentFileSize: 2264  fullFileSize:2680"
Jun  7 13:00:07 Work iTiVo[41195]: "curl++ timeout: 0   currentFileSize: 2265  fullFileSize:2680"
Jun  7 13:00:08 Work iTiVo[41195]: "curl++ timeout: 1   currentFileSize: 2265  fullFileSize:2680"
Jun  7 13:00:08 Work iTiVo[41195]: "curl++ timeout: 2   currentFileSize: 2265  fullFileSize:2680"
Jun  7 13:00:09 Work iTiVo[41195]: "curl++ timeout: 3   currentFileSize: 2265  fullFileSize:2680"
Jun  7 13:00:10 Work iTiVo[41195]: "curl++ timeout: 0   currentFileSize: 2266  fullFileSize:2680"
Jun  7 13:00:10 Work iTiVo[41195]: "curl++ timeout: 1   currentFileSize: 2266  fullFileSize:2680"
Jun  7 13:00:11 Work iTiVo[41195]: "curl++ timeout: 2   currentFileSize: 2266  fullFileSize:2680"
Jun  7 13:00:12 Work iTiVo[41195]: "curl++ timeout: 3   currentFileSize: 2266  fullFileSize:2680"


----------



## europa00

Yoav said:


> What version of MacOS are you using?


I'm running OS X Leopard with latest patches...


----------



## Yoav

solutionsetc said:


> 1.7.6 running on intel under 10.5.7. IS this normal? Files seem to be transferring ok other than constant messages to both console and system logs.


Yes, those are debug messages that are just reporting on the progress of the transfer. They are useful for when things go wrong so I can figure out what's the deal. Is the logging driving you nuts?


----------



## Yoav

europa00 said:


> Hello,
> 
> I get an applescript error when launching iTivo:
> 
> DNSService call failed
> No matching processes belonging to you were found (1)
> 
> If I click OK, and then click on the Prefs button, I get an Applescript error:
> 
> Cant get item 1 of {}. (-1728)
> 
> I've tried reinstall, reboot, etc... Any ideas?
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> E


At the top, is it seeing your tivos?
The first error makes it sound like it's failing to get your tivo information via bonjour, which then sets off a cascade of issues. You may have some more luck if you know your tivo IP address and can type it in (although correctly fixing this would involve figuring out why your home network is denying broadcast packets inside).


----------



## solutionsetc

Yoav said:


> Yes, those are debug messages... Is the logging driving you nuts?


It seems a bit excessive (of course better to have it than not have it when it comes time to troubleshoot an issue). Perhaps a pref or a plist string to turn it on/off might be a reasonable suggestion for the next build.


----------



## europa00

Yoav said:


> At the top, is it seeing your tivos?
> The first error makes it sound like it's failing to get your tivo information via bonjour, which then sets off a cascade of issues. You may have some more luck if you know your tivo IP address and can type it in (although correctly fixing this would involve figuring out why your home network is denying broadcast packets inside).


I did some looking and it looks like my D-link DIR-615 router may have problems with Bonjour. I can't find any posts anywhere that tells how to fix these problems though..


----------



## Yoav

europa00 said:


> I did some looking and it looks like my D-link DIR-615 router may have problems with Bonjour. I can't find any posts anywhere that tells how to fix these problems though..


Unfortunately I don't know.
However, have you tried just typing in the IP address of your tivo into the field at the top? does that work or does it still freak out?


----------



## europa00

yes, if i type in the address of the tivo, it doesn't work... i have no way of configuring the media access key.


----------



## jannlinder

Call me a cheater and a louse but I use the iTivo comskip from inside the package in my own perl script to trim commercials out of the SD programs I download (since i cannot find a Mac OSX-compiled comskip online). HD programs just do not get trimmed correctly ever and I just decided to check the source of iTivo so i could see the build of comskip you ship with it. 

Now, I know you disabled the comskip functionality in the interface of iTivo...but I was surprised to find no comskip -- either compiled or source -- in the checkout of your program from code.google.com.

What is the deal? I know comskip is not officially compiled for os x but since you ship it inside iTiVo, why is it not in the svn repository?

I love iTiVo but I hate that comskip does not work for my HD (Discovery Channel Mythbusters in particular...but many many HD programs...)

Is there a source for comskip that you download and somehow compile? If so, I would love to know from where.

In the latest release of iTiVo (v1.7.7b3), the comskip command-line app is reporting "Comskip 0.79.126" and that is all the way back on Mar 25, 2008. Is there a specific reason that you have not included a newer version? 

I know comskip is not your program but I would like to know these things and also know if there is a reason for the above questions I have.

Thanks!

addition: Today I changed detect_method=43 instead of 47 and it works now with ABC and CBS HD.

Jann


----------



## Yoav

jannlinder said:


> Call me a cheater and a louse but I use the iTivo comskip from inside the package in my own perl script to trim commercials out of the SD programs I download (since i cannot find a Mac OSX-compiled comskip online). HD programs just do not get trimmed correctly ever and I just decided to check the source of iTivo so i could see the build of comskip you ship with it.
> 
> Now, I know you disabled the comskip functionality in the interface of iTivo...but I was surprised to find no comskip -- either compiled or source -- in the checkout of your program from code.google.com.
> 
> What is the deal? I know comskip is not officially compiled for os x but since you ship it inside iTiVo, why is it not in the svn repository?
> 
> I love iTiVo but I hate that comskip does not work for my HD (Discovery Channel Mythbusters in particular...but many many HD programs...)
> 
> Is there a source for comskip that you download and somehow compile? If so, I would love to know from where.
> 
> In the latest release of iTiVo (v1.7.7b3), the comskip command-line app is reporting "Comskip 0.79.126" and that is all the way back on Mar 25, 2008. Is there a specific reason that you have not included a newer version?
> 
> I know comskip is not your program but I would like to know these things and also know if there is a reason for the above questions I have.
> 
> Thanks!
> 
> addition: Today I changed detect_method=43 instead of 47 and it works now with ABC and CBS HD.
> 
> Jann


A long time ago, a nice fellow (jon.christopher) took comskip, cleaned it up, and made it compile on macOSx, as part of his etv-comskip system. The front page of iTivo has the link to etv-comskip, but here it is anyways: http://code.google.com/p/etv-comskip/

There is a source tab there, from which you can get the source code that was used. As part of a package build I build that (and things like mplayer, and lots of other little thingies). I don't keep the source in my repository since I don't maintain those. Instead I provide a link to the official place I got them from on the iTiVo page.

I have tried using newer versions from kaashoek, and mostly have gone nuts. He has added a bunch of windows-dll dependencies and ffmpeg library dependencies and some stuff to mess with closed captioning. I pretty much gave up trying to get it to build the latest.

Unfortunately, it looks like etv-comskip has also abandoned trying to update to the latest code.

That said though, if changing settings for comskip is helpful, it shouldn't be too much work to add some sort mild gui-control for those settings. (probably not complete control, but something like 'aggressive, regular, permissive) as a pulldown might be enough. Alternatively, if you want to go all-advanced, just edit the file comskip.ini in iTiVo.app/Contents/Resources.... but make a backup of it somewhere as every update to iTiVo will overwrite it.


----------



## cptodd

Yoav said:


> the conversion normally doesn't change the volume from source to destination. Except that for some devices, it was necessary to do as it was too low (example is the iphone conversion).
> 
> The downside to forcing volume 'up' is potential 'clipping' of the louder bits. But if you're certain that you want to up the volume, go to Prefs, select the download format you want. The rest of this instruction is assuming you pick a format that uses 'mencoder' as the encoder. If you're using a different encoder tell me and I'll see if I can figure out the correct options for it.
> 
> Go into 'advanced'. There, under 'audio options' ADD the following:
> 
> 
> Code:
> 
> 
> -af volume=13:1
> 
> Select ok, and try a new encode. If you like this you can save this as a new 'format' name for future use (otherwise, it will stay with that option until you change formats in the future)


Yoav,

Thanks so much! I will try this out and let you know what happens!


----------



## UncaAndoo

Yoav said:


> iTiVo will not delete shows from your iTunes library.
> 
> I looked around for itunes scripts that would do this for you, and so far have had no luck. Doug's applescripts page: http://dougscripts.com/itunes/usually has tons of useful stuff, but I guess there's sort of a 'worry' about deleting the wrong thing (also, i think itunes requires a popup to delete files no matter what).
> 
> If you have the script-know-how you can probably edit one of the deletion scripts he has to actually try and figure out how many episodes of a show are on disk, and see if you can sort those by time and expire the oldest...
> 
> OR a little manual work (this won't be automatic, but it's pretty easy and is what I do to delete old things): Click the "TV Shows" button. Make sure you're using the list view (the View with the horizontal lines). Now right-click or option-click the word 'Name' and choose 'Date Added'. Now you can see when each show as added. Left-click on the 'Date Added' name to sort everything by date added. Go to the bottom (oldest episodes), and click or shift-click to select all the episodes you want gone. Hit 'delete' and make sure to say "Move to trash".
> 
> So yeah, not automated.. sorry
> Maybe someone will have a better solution in a bit...


The best solution is to buy Hazel, so maybe someone will have a cheaper solution in a bit.


----------



## psywzrd

I'm using the most recent version of iTivo to transfer a recording from my S3 Tivo my MacBook (using the Decrypt option to get the best possible quality). When I play the resulting mpgeg on my MacBook, I'm getting frequent audio dropouts that are not there when I watch the program on my Tivo. Any idea what could be causing this problem?


----------



## fatespawn

Is it 5.1 audio? Quicktime has issues with properly decoding 5.1. Try VLC and see if you get the same dropouts. 

-fate


----------



## psywzrd

Nope, it's not 5.1 and I am using VLC to view it on my computer.


----------



## Yoav

psywzrd said:


> Nope, it's not 5.1 and I am using VLC to view it on my computer.


Can you try playing it with Mplayer OSX Extended: http://mplayerosx.sttz.ch/

It's *possible* that there's some issue with vlc. It's also possible that the data on the tivo is mildly corrupt in such a way that the tivo can recover from it, but that when it turns it into an mpeg to hand over to your computer, the error becomes larger. Is this happening just to one file or everything?


----------



## psywzrd

Yoav said:


> Can you try playing it with Mplayer OSX Extended: http://mplayerosx.sttz.ch/
> 
> It's *possible* that there's some issue with vlc. It's also possible that the data on the tivo is mildly corrupt in such a way that the tivo can recover from it, but that when it turns it into an mpeg to hand over to your computer, the error becomes larger. Is this happening just to one file or everything?


This is weird. When I tried to play it with the program you linked to above, the audio was fine but the video was screwed up. I'm not sure what to make of this. I haven't tried any other files recently but I guess I could - it would just take a while to download them (this is just a 4 minute clip so it doesn't take long to download). I can send you the file if you want so you can try it on your end as well. If you want, PM me your email address and I'll email you a link so that you can download it (it's a little under 400MB).


----------



## thebizz

psywzrd said:


> This is weird. When I tried to play it with the program you linked to above, the audio was fine but the video was screwed up. I'm not sure what to make of this. I haven't tried any other files recently but I guess I could - it would just take a while to download them (this is just a 4 minute clip so it doesn't take long to download). I can send you the file if you want so you can try it on your end as well. If you want, PM me your email address and I'll email you a link so that you can download it (it's a little under 400MB).


psywzrd....please let us know what you find out, as I have had the exact same experience with a file I downloaded from my Tivo. I tried playing the file with Mplayer OSX Extended and also had choppy video...but it fixed the sound problem.


----------



## Yoav

psywzrd said:


> This is weird. When I tried to play it with the program you linked to above, the audio was fine but the video was screwed up. I'm not sure what to make of this. I haven't tried any other files recently but I guess I could - it would just take a while to download them (this is just a 4 minute clip so it doesn't take long to download). I can send you the file if you want so you can try it on your end as well. If you want, PM me your email address and I'll email you a link so that you can download it (it's a little under 400MB).


I suspect emailing me the file won't reveal anything new (I'm gonna have the same results as you do).. but if you put it up somewhere I'm happy to try it (just put up like the first 20 megs or so).

It's definitely looking like a corrupt file that is causing different players to react differently.... Out of interest, if you select a format other than decrypt -- like maybe iphone, (which will take a while to transcode it) do things seem to work?

It might need an mpeg 'fixer' to run on it, and the only one I'm aware of is on windows (part of the videoReDo suite).


----------



## psywzrd

Yoav said:


> I suspect emailing me the file won't reveal anything new (I'm gonna have the same results as you do).. but if you put it up somewhere I'm happy to try it (just put up like the first 20 megs or so).
> 
> It's definitely looking like a corrupt file that is causing different players to react differently.... Out of interest, if you select a format other than decrypt -- like maybe iphone, (which will take a while to transcode it) do things seem to work?
> 
> It might need an mpeg 'fixer' to run on it, and the only one I'm aware of is on windows (part of the videoReDo suite).


Just download the same video using the iphone option - now the audio and video are out of sync. Here's some additional information that may help you figure out the problem. This was a 2+ hour program that I recorded in its entirety; however, I didn't want the whole thing anymore (taking up too much space on my Tivo). There was basically a 4-minute portion of the program that I wanted, so I paused the recording right before the 4-minute portion that I wanted. I went to my other S3 Tivo and transferred the recording from the paused location (that's an option when you transfer a video). Once the video was transferred to my other S3, I deleted the original recording. After that, I transferred the recording back to my original S3 and stopped the transfer before it finished (this allowed me to cut off everything after the part that I wanted). Basically, I took a 2+ hour show and "edited" it down to about 4 minutes by transferring it back and forth. Do you think that's why I'm having these problems now?


----------



## Yoav

psywzrd said:


> Basically, I took a 2+ hour show and "edited" it down to about 4 minutes by transferring it back and forth. Do you think that's why I'm having these problems now?


Well, I can't say anything authoritative (I'm guessing as much as you are here), but if the tivo simply 'cuts' the clip when you do that, it can introduce errors that might result in what you're seeing. Clearly the standard media players are unhappy with the mpg file, so 'something' is off about it. It's also worth keeping in mind that TS mpeg formats actually seperate out the audio and video, and they are not always kept in sync in the bitstream, so if you cut it at a random location and start playing, it's pretty common to see audio/video sync issues...

But yeah, I don't really know for sure


----------



## jsb_hburg

Hello,

I have been trying out iTiVo and having some fun with it. I do have a question. This relates to 1.7.6. I notice lip sync issues when converting the file as H.264 at 10Mbps. The lip sync issues are worse at the start of a file but seem to improve about 10 to 15 seconds into the file. I am using either QuickTime on a MacBook or TiVo via pyTivoX on an Epson Home Cinema 720 to watch the file.

Is this a known issue? Am I missing a step to avoid this?


----------



## Sevenfeet

Hi Yoav,

I've been out of the discussions for iTivo/pTivoX for a little while but I'm coming back to it for hopefully a simple question. I've been using iTivo more and more as a replacement for Roxio's Tivo Transfer. Tivo Transfer does move shows off the Tivo S3 to my server ok, but I can't trust Toast 9 to transform the Mpeg-2 broadcasts to anything that I can easily control. I'm going on a family vacation soon and have been using iTivo to transfer and encode to MP4 several episodes of "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse" from Disney HD for my kids.

One thing that I remember discussing a while back (so I apologize if its been answered before) is whether or not it's possible keep the original AC3 soundtracks for encoded shows (an MKV file I think?) and have the Tivo understand them. I've been playing around with the Quicktime H.264 settings (5 and 3 Mbit/sec) and the encoded MP4s play really well streamed back to the Tivo, but the soundtracks are AAC which ends up being Dolby Pro Logic II in my home theater rig.

One more note. While encoding Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, I was frustrated that neither the 5 or 3 Mbit/sec encoding settings allowed the shows to play well on my black Macbook 2006 under 10.5.7 (my Core 2 Duo Macs didn't have this problem). There were lots and lots of dropouts..totally unwatchable. Then I booted to Snow Leopard and the new OS ever since the first releases past the WWDC release can play these files without issue. What I discovered was a couple of things. Mickey Mouse Clubhouse is a 720p show (all Disney Channel HD shows in HD are) which matches the resolution of my Macbook but this show is also 60 fps. Apparently Leopard 10.5.7 can't keep up with the framerate. Although Quicktime has been revamped, the key performance issue appears to be the graphics driver for the embedded Intel X3100 graphics chip. Snow Leopard's version is much better and allows a better "stuffing of the pipe" as it were.


----------



## psywzrd

Yoav said:


> Well, I can't say anything authoritative (I'm guessing as much as you are here), but if the tivo simply 'cuts' the clip when you do that, it can introduce errors that might result in what you're seeing. Clearly the standard media players are unhappy with the mpg file, so 'something' is off about it. It's also worth keeping in mind that TS mpeg formats actually seperate out the audio and video, and they are not always kept in sync in the bitstream, so if you cut it at a random location and start playing, it's pretty common to see audio/video sync issues...
> 
> But yeah, I don't really know for sure


Crap - I guess I shouldn't have deleted the original file, huh? I didn't think this would cause any problems but I guess I was wrong. I'll have to look online to try and find a good copy of the original then.


----------



## Yoav

Sevenfeet said:


> Hi Yoav,
> 
> One thing that I remember discussing a while back (so I apologize if its been answered before) is whether or not it's possible keep the original AC3 soundtracks for encoded shows (an MKV file I think?)


The simple answer is "if ffmpeg, mencoder, or handbrake can do it, then yes it can be done". In this case, you don't even need to use an mkv container, since newer mp4 specs support AC-3 audio instead of AAC, although older implementation may be unable to play it. And I'm pretty sure that the appleTV only accepts AC-3 audio if it's a second audio stream alongside a stereo aac stream or whatnot. (You may end up needing to toy around until things work).

The 'quick' way to not even re-encode audio is to open up iTiVo, select the format you like, and go to the Advanced tab. under the 'audio encoding options' just put in


Code:


-oac copy

. This will do no re-encoding of the audio at all and just accept whatever was in the original data stream (for an HD feed, that's going to be AC-3 audio. (This assumes your encoder is mencoder).

HOWEVER, if you re-encode the video but do not re-encode the audio, you are almost guaranteed to get audio/video sync issues. To re-encode the audio source to a 6-channel ac-3 audio stream, you can use something like:


Code:


 -channels 6 -oac lavc -lavcopts acodec=ac3:abitrate=384

Again I havent tried this, so you should test all this first. I do know that often re-encoding to ac-3 requires very specific inputs (for example 4-channel to 6-channel can't be done), so you may need to toy around with the flags...

There are similar options if you prefer to use ffmpeg or handbrake as your encoder.



> One more note. .... Snow Leopard's version is much better and allows a better "stuffing of the pipe" as it were.


Hey that's pretty cool .


----------



## Yoav

jsb_hburg said:


> Hello,
> 
> I have been trying out iTiVo and having some fun with it. I do have a question. This relates to 1.7.6. I notice lip sync issues when converting the file as H.264 at 10Mbps. The lip sync issues are worse at the start of a file but seem to improve about 10 to 15 seconds into the file. I am using either QuickTime on a MacBook or TiVo via pyTivoX on an Epson Home Cinema 720 to watch the file.
> 
> Is this a known issue? Am I missing a step to avoid this?


This is a 'known' issue. Basically, the video source from the tivo sometimes doesn't translate well to re-encoding. If you get a fixed 'offset' sync issue there are workarounds, but if it changes as the stream progresses then your only option might be to try a different encoder (some people have reported more luck with Handbrake as the encoder).

Just a quick point: If you're ok with huge files (which I assume you must be if you're using 10Mbps) your best bet may be to use the 'decrypt' format, which does no re-encoding at all and gives you the actual bits from the tivo. This will be the highest quality you can get, and is least likely to have A/V sync issues. You will have to use VLC or MPlayer OSX (extended) to view the movie though, since quicktime player can't understand the mpeg-2 file that is the result.


----------



## Sevenfeet

Yoav said:


> The simple answer is "if ffmpeg, mencoder, or handbrake can do it, then yes it can be done". In this case, you don't even need to use an mkv container, since newer mp4 specs support AC-3 audio instead of AAC, although older implementation may be unable to play it. And I'm pretty sure that the appleTV only accepts AC-3 audio if it's a second audio stream alongside a stereo aac stream or whatnot. (You may end up needing to toy around until things work).


OK, will a Tivo allow such a file (MP4 + AC3) to be played (streaming or download)?


----------



## NA9D

Sevenfeet said:


> OK, will a Tivo allow such a file (MP4 + AC3) to be played (streaming or download)?


Yes and no. 

It's been discovered recently that you can PUSH an MP4 file to a Tivo and have it play no problem. Such pushes can be accomplished in pyTivo (or pyTivoX) and also in Streambaby (part of pyTivoX). Trying to pull such a file from the Tivo directly will not work.

Alternatively, it's simpler IMHO, to simply let pyTivo(X) transcode the file to MPEG-2 as part of a normal pull sequence.


----------



## Sevenfeet

NA9D said:


> Yes and no.
> 
> It's been discovered recently that you can PUSH an MP4 file to a Tivo and have it play no problem. Such pushes can be accomplished in pyTivo (or pyTivoX) and also in Streambaby (part of pyTivoX). Trying to pull such a file from the Tivo directly will not work.
> 
> Alternatively, it's simpler IMHO, to simply let pyTivo(X) transcode the file to MPEG-2 as part of a normal pull sequence.


So streaming will work. File transfer and then play will not. Hmmmmm. Very strange.

Unfortunately on-the-fly transcoding won't work for me now since my Leopard Server is an ancient G4 Powermac that doesn't have enough horsepower, even with two processors. I'll have to replace the machine at some point when Snow Leopard server ships. Maybe I can get a Mac Mini for the job then.


----------



## NA9D

Sevenfeet said:


> So streaming will work. File transfer and then play will not. Hmmmmm. Very strange.
> 
> Unfortunately on-the-fly transcoding won't work for me now since my Leopard Server is an ancient G4 Powermac that doesn't have enough horsepower, even with two processors. I'll have to replace the machine at some point when Snow Leopard server ships. Maybe I can get a Mac Mini for the job then.


Transfer and play would probably technically work, but Tivo has just not enabled it as such yet. The Tivo will certainly play MPEG-4 files.

On the server side - you'll be sooo much happier if you get an Intel based machine...


----------



## Yoav

for what it's worth, try out push and see if you like it. (configure pyTivoX with your tivo.com username/password, hit apply, and then use streambaby to initiate a push instead of playing directly).

The one annoyance with mp4 pushes is that the tivo only actually plays *some* mp4s, not everything. moyekj wrote up a nice document on how to make valid 'mp4s' that the tivo should be able to play (his document is oriented around using ffmpeg, but you can derive the appropriate options for mencoder OR use ffmpeg if you like): http://code.google.com/p/streambaby/wiki/video_compatibility


----------



## Bombino

Hi there,

Today, my iTiVo install started marking all recorded programs as 'copyright' protected. This only just started on programs recorded SINCE today at 05:00, so all programs older than 7/28 appear with a valid ID and can be marked for downloading. The only thing that changed on my end was that I downloaded a few music choice videos a couple of days ago, which expectedly were marked as 'copyright'. Has anyone else on the west coast experienced this in recent days? I am in the TWC footprint.

Thanks


----------



## wmcbrine

Bombino said:


> I am in the TWC footprint.


More specifically, you're a TWC subscriber. It's not TiVo who's doing this.

There are several threads about this already; for example:

http://tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=429670


----------



## Yoav

Bombino said:


> Hi there,
> 
> Today, my iTiVo install started marking all recorded programs as 'copyright' protected. This only just started on programs recorded SINCE today at 05:00, so all programs older than 7/28 appear with a valid ID and can be marked for downloading. The only thing that changed on my end was that I downloaded a few music choice videos a couple of days ago, which expectedly were marked as 'copyright'. Has anyone else on the west coast experienced this in recent days? I am in the TWC footprint.
> 
> Thanks


* edit :* Looks like I'm just repeating what wmcbrine just said  oops

Someone else mentioned that recently TW in LA just turned on CCI flags for all non-broadcast channels. But yeah.. It's time warner. If you can switch to Verizon Fios, I highly recommend you do so and tell TWC why you're dropping them. And tell your friends to switch too.


----------



## Bombino

thanks for the replies, much appreciated.


----------



## tdm

Hi all,
I'm new to the forum hoping to solve a problem. I have been using iTivo with a Series 3 HD for several weeks on a Macbook Pro running Leopard. Awesome program with no issues. This seems to be the only thread about iTiVo and a forum search found nothing, so here goes...

Today I connected as usual and no shows are displayed at all. Hard Drive usage sidebar is accurate at 120 shows but not one is displayed. IP and MAK are correct and TiVo prefs are set to enable downloads. Tivo Transfer works fine and Tivo Decoder also sees all programs on the TiVo drive so it doesn't seem to be a protection issue. I deleted iTiVo app and reinstalled but no luck.

Any help??


----------



## tdm

Solved my issue. Instead of just deleting the app I went into the Home Library and searched for all the iTiVo files I could find and deleted them as well as the app. It seems that a .plist file was corrupted. After reinstalling iTiVo and connecting, all is fine.


----------



## chucky23

Yoav (or anyone else),

I love iTivo, and here's my query:

I'm trying to use Comskip with my TiVo files, using the "decrypt and copy" setting, and as you warned, I'm getting severe audio/video sync problems.

I'm wondering if there is any way around this.

I understand that the OS X version of Comskip is likely stuck in the past, however, I do have a VMWare Windows XP virtual machine available.

Basically, I wondering if I mess around with the newest versions of Comskip and Comclean on Windows, if I'd be able to get comskipped versions of the decrypted TiVo MPEG2 streams with audio/video sync intact.

(I'd just try it out instead of asking, but I'm a true Windows noob, so getting Comskip and Comclean up and running on that alien platform will take me a LOT of time. So I'd love to figure out ahead of time if it's there is sunshine at the end of that road.)

TIA for any advice.


----------



## Marconi

chucky23 said:


> Yoav (or anyone else),
> 
> I'm trying to use Comskip with my TiVo files, using the "decrypt and copy" setting, and as you warned, I'm getting severe audio/video sync problems.
> 
> I'm wondering if there is any way around this.


I have success by downloading with decrypt, then using KMTTG to do the comskip/comcut (which appear as Ad Detect and Ad Cut in the KMTTG interface).

I've done hundreds of files this way and have noted no synch problems.


----------



## chucky23

Marconi said:


> I have success by downloading with decrypt, then using KMTTG to do the comskip/comcut (which appear as Ad Detect and Ad Cut in the KMTTG interface). I've done hundreds of files this way and have noted no synch problems.


Oh, good lord. I had no idea KMTTG even existed.

Thank you very, very much, Marconi.

I've done only one file so far with KMTTG, but it has perfect A/V sync (along with perfect commercial detection and cutting).

Thanks again. You saved me from having to learn Windows.


----------



## UncaAndoo

First of all, thanks for a great tool. 

I don't know if I have a suggestion or I'm incompetent, but I'm wondering if the metadata isn't being applied appropriately. I want to sort by episode number/order in iTunes, but there isn't a field to do this. Clicking on Show Info for a few entries, it looks like the information in "Episode Number" should be in Episode ID, since the Episode ID info is a duplicate of the Name info (Which is where I think it should be.)

The "Season Number" and "Episode Number" fields should strictly be a number indicating what season the episode is from and what episode from that season it is, respectively. Whereas the Episode ID may be a number that combines the two or another code entirely.

This doesn't explain the length of the Episode ID field, of course, but it helps me, and isn't that what really matters?

Please tell me if I'm an idiot, I can use the help.


----------



## bbmertz

Yoav, will iTiVo be compatible with Snow Leopard? If not, how soon are you likely to release a compatible version? 

BTW, I started using iTiVo a few months ago and think it's a great application. Nice work!


----------



## Yoav

bbmertz said:


> Yoav, will iTiVo be compatible with Snow Leopard? If not, how soon are you likely to release a compatible version?
> 
> BTW, I started using iTiVo a few months ago and think it's a great application. Nice work!


There is nothing in the code that is designed to stop it working on snow leopard. However, as I do not have snow leopard installed I can't promise anything. I'll probably be picking it up soon and can verify for sure...


----------



## jannlinder

Yoav said:


> There is nothing in the code that is designed to stop it working on snow leopard. However, as I do not have snow leopard installed I can't promise anything. I'll probably be picking it up soon and can verify for sure...


Rest assured iTivo works! I can, as a developer with 10.6, validate that it has worked ever since I installed 10.6

Jann


----------



## bbmertz

Thanks for the quick responses! I'll let you know if I encounter any problems after installing the Snow Leopard OS tomorrow.


----------



## Marconi

Is Version 1.7.7b3 (1.7.7b3) still the latest beta available?


----------



## Yoav

Marconi said:


> Is Version 1.7.7b3 (1.7.7b3) still the latest beta available?


yeah.. I've been kinda doing other things and haven't put in any coding time on the programs.. Is there some feature you're waiting on?


----------



## Marconi

Yoav said:


> yeah.. I've been kinda doing other things and haven't put in any coding time on the programs.. Is there some feature you're waiting on?


Not really. There are the problems of the metadata file using equals signs for a few items instead of colons and the case problem of "seriesId" which I figured would be easy fixes with a new beta out shortly after the metadata problems were known. Not a problem though, I have a script in my text editor to fix these minor problems very quickly on multiple files at once, so it's no big deal. More like curiosity on my part, wondering if I'd missed a newer beta. That's all.

Oh, as long as I have your attention... The other day I queued up some recordings to transfer but did not Run the queue. When I came back a while later, downloads had begun. I guess that in the normal course of updating the Now Playing list, it also started the queue transferring, unbidden. Bug or "Feature?"


----------



## Yoav

Marconi said:


> Not really. There are the problems of the metadata file using equals signs for a few items instead of colons and the case problem of "seriesId" which I figured would be easy fixes with a new beta out shortly after the metadata problems were known. Not a problem though, I have a script in my text editor to fix these minor problems very quickly on multiple files at once, so it's no big deal. More like curiosity on my part, wondering if I'd missed a newer beta. That's all.
> 
> Oh, as long as I have your attention... The other day I queued up some recordings to transfer but did not Run the queue. When I came back a while later, downloads had begun. I guess that in the normal course of updating the Now Playing list, it also started the queue transferring, unbidden. Bug or "Feature?"


well, "intended feature" that may not be behaving the way you want. The queue is processed whenever you're idle for ermm 15 mins I think (which is how the automatic downloading does it too). So even if you never hit 'run queue'.. if you leave the program running it will start processing the queue at some point.


----------



## Marconi

Yoav said:


> ...The queue is processed whenever you're idle for ermm 15 mins I think... if you leave the program running it will start processing the queue at some point.


Now that I know it behaves that way, I know better than to queue things up before I'm ready to transfer them.

But, you talk about 'idle for 15 minutes' so I could queue them up then quit iTiVo until I'm ready to run the queue, correct?


----------



## Yoav

Marconi said:


> Now that I know it behaves that way, I know better than to queue things up before I'm ready to transfer them.
> 
> But, you talk about 'idle for 15 minutes' so I could queue them up then quit iTiVo until I'm ready to run the queue, correct?


yep.. that should work (it saves the queue between invocations)...


----------



## jenz

I'm hoping someone who knows more about connectivity than I will be able to help me out re iTivo transfer speeds. Somehow I'm no longer achieving the transfer speeds that I used to see, ie a 10gb iTivo transfer would take slightly under 10 hours. Now, the same transfer will take slightly less than 20 hours and so on and so forth, ie a 4gb transfer that used to take slightly less than 4 hours now takes a little less than 8 hours. Somehow I managed to go from 1:1 to 2:1 and can't figure out why. What other speeds are people getting themselves?

As for me, I have both the S3 and the MBP on wired connections into the same 4 port Netgear GbE switch. I encode my shows at h.264 QT 10mbps setting in iTivo, and the laptop is a Intel MBP running Snow Leopard. The home network itself is Fios Actiontec router -> Airport Extreme w/GbE (1 port free, Slingbox) -> Netgear GbE switch (S3, MBP, desktop, Slinglink) switch.

Maybe I'm an idiot but figured the best throughput would involve putting both devices on the same switch. Any ideas and definitely thanks in advance.


----------



## Yoav

jenz said:


> I'm hoping someone who knows more about connectivity than I will be able to help me out re iTivo transfer speeds. Somehow I'm no longer achieving the transfer speeds that I used to see, ie a 10gb iTivo transfer would take slightly under 10 hours. Now, the same transfer will take slightly less than 20 hours and so on and so forth, ie a 4gb transfer that used to take slightly less than 4 hours now takes a little less than 8 hours. Somehow I managed to go from 1:1 to 2:1 and can't figure out why. What other speeds are people getting themselves?
> 
> As for me, I have both the S3 and the MBP on wired connections into the same 4 port Netgear GbE switch. I encode my shows at h.264 QT 10mbps setting in iTivo, and the laptop is a Intel MBP running Snow Leopard. The home network itself is Fios Actiontec router -> Airport Extreme w/GbE (1 port free, Slingbox) -> Netgear GbE switch (S3, MBP, desktop, Slinglink) switch.
> 
> Maybe I'm an idiot but figured the best throughput would involve putting both devices on the same switch. Any ideas and definitely thanks in advance.


First thing you need to figure out is whether it's the transfer speed or encoding speed that got 'slower'. If you have no features like 'commercial' cutting enabled, then it will download and process in one pipeline (which is more efficient, but makes it harder to see what's slowing it down). Go into Prefs, Advanced, and select 'Download first, then encode'.

With that option on, you will see how long the transfer is taking, then how long the encode is taking.

Odds are high that if it went from 10 hours to 20 hours, the thing that got slower was the actual re-encoding, and not the 'transfer'. This probably indicates that your processor is busy (or running slower due to powersaving modes?). Make sure you're not running anything else that is using up CPU... easiest way to check that is via the 'Activity Monitor' in Applications/Utilities... Sometimes a reboot of your computer might help clean up some rogue left-over processes...

* edit *

oops looks like you're sure it's the transfer and not re-encode that got slower? In that case, I'd check to make sure that the tivo is not 'busy' doing other things (like recording shows, downloading things, etc). All those things slow down the transfer speed.


----------



## jenz

Thanks, Yoav, and by the way, *fantastic* work here on this program.

I think by way of replying to your message, I figured it out. What is AtomicParsley? I don't remember if I saw that on prior versions of iTivo and/or if I selected it before, but it was enabled. I just disabled it and tried a download, and while not complete, this 4Gb show is showing ~4 hours to download so am back to "fast" downloading.

I'll report back once it is finished but funny how that option (at least for me) was the culprit.

Is there any way to check on my prior downloads if I had AtomicParlsey enabled then?


----------



## Yoav

jenz said:


> Thanks, Yoav, and by the way, *fantastic* work here on this program.
> 
> Is there any way to check on my prior downloads if I had AtomicParlsey enabled then?


AtomicParsley has been in there for a LOONG time, so odds are high all your downloads had it. At some point like 6 months ago I added the ability to disable AtomicParsley as it was crashing on some files and leading to errors.

I have NO idea why having it enabled slows down your transfer time. AtomicParsley is generally run on the final .mp4 file after transfer/re-encode, and its job is to add 'tags' like the name of the show, actors, etc into the file. So it doesn't seem to make sense that it can slow down the transfer... But at least you have a workaround..


----------



## iamnotmad

Hi, thanks for the app. Just a potential bug report.

If I try to download a recording to my external FW drive it faails with just "couldn't download".

If I d/l to a local drive on the mac mini it works fine. Has anyone else run into this?

Thanks!


----------



## Yoav

iamnotmad said:


> Hi, thanks for the app. Just a potential bug report.
> 
> If I try to download a recording to my external FW drive it faails with just "couldn't download".
> 
> If I d/l to a local drive on the mac mini it works fine. Has anyone else run into this?
> 
> Thanks!


I've downloaded to an external (via USB) drive plenty of times with no issues. Is there anything special about this external drive? Is it an apple HFS+ filesystem? You may find some interesting info in <user>/Library/Logs/iTiVo.log that may help you figure out what went wrong...


----------



## iamnotmad

Yoav said:


> I've downloaded to an external (via USB) drive plenty of times with no issues. Is there anything special about this external drive? Is it an apple HFS+ filesystem? You may find some interesting info in <user>/Library/Logs/iTiVo.log that may help you figure out what went wrong...


Hey thanks for the response. I figured it out. It was my drive it had some issue. After a reboot it was fine. I couldn't write anything to it (I discovered after I posted).

Thanks again.


----------



## orinaccio

I'd like to thank the developer and the community here for supporting this application. I think you guys are amazing.

Ive been struggling with one particular aspect of iTivo and I'd like help figuring out if I'm doing something wrong.

This is the feature Im trying to use:


> Create subtitle files (.srt) from the closed caption info.


I have tried importing from both HD and standard recordings, and into many different formats, on two different computers. Each time it does not create subtitle files, and instead creates a ".srt" file that has zero KB (0 kb), which tells me it runs into some kind of problem or error just as it tries to create the subtitle file.

All of the recordings that are on my tivo do indeed contain captions (otherwise I wouldnt record them). I am using Series 3 HD tivo with Verizon Fios TV service if this helps any.

I would LOVE guidance/help from anyone that has successfully used this feature, or confirmation if this is a known issue/bug. I did a search before posting this and couldn't find any mention of anyone having issues with this feature anywhere.


----------



## Yoav

orinaccio said:


> I'd like to thank the developer and the community here for supporting this application. I think you guys are amazing.
> 
> Ive been struggling with one particular aspect of iTivo and I'd like help figuring out if I'm doing something wrong.
> 
> This is the feature Im trying to use:
> 
> I have tried importing from both HD and standard recordings, and into many different formats, on two different computers. Each time it does not create subtitle files, and instead creates a ".srt" file that has zero KB (0 kb), which tells me it runs into some kind of problem or error just as it tries to create the subtitle file.
> 
> All of the recordings that are on my tivo do indeed contain captions (otherwise I wouldnt record them). I am using Series 3 HD tivo with Verizon Fios TV service if this helps any.
> 
> I would LOVE guidance/help from anyone that has successfully used this feature, or confirmation if this is a known issue/bug. I did a search before posting this and couldn't find any mention of anyone having issues with this feature anywhere.


Well, the .srt is the subtitles file it's supposed to create, but I guess it must be hitting some error. It would help if you could look through <user>/Logs/iTiVo.log and see if there's any more useful info in there as to why it's failing?

I just tried downloading a show with subtitles enabled and it definitely did the right thing. I'm not aware of fios doing anything different for subtitles (I have Time Warner crapble).


----------



## akcorcoran

Hello - 

I am thrilled to have iTivo - before I discovered it, I was downloading on PC, converting and moving to my Mac. Ugh!

A relatively straightforward question (I think) - i searched FAQ and Help and couldn't seem to find it:

What are the specs for the final file produced by each download option? (Obviously this varies for the size of the original recording, but I'm hoping for the general Frame Size and Quality?)

Thank you so much!

Alexa

p.s. I'm assuming if you can use Handbreak, you can also use MPEG Streamclip as they are pretty interchangeable?


----------



## akcorcoran

Hi there - nevermind! I didn't see the little descriptions next to the download preferences. And, the file opened just fine in MPEG streamclip.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for changing my Tivo download life!


----------



## cweb

I have iTivo (1.7.7b3) and PyTivoX (1.3) installed on my Mac. For a long time I successfully used the ffmeg option to download and convert my shows. Since installing snow leopard all newly downloaded shows show a size of zero bytes. Shows will convert correctly if I use another option such as quicktime. 

It would be great if I could get the ffmeg functioning again as that was my preferred option. Any thoughts as to why it may no longer work?


----------



## orinaccio

Yoav said:


> Well, the .srt is the subtitles file it's supposed to create, but I guess it must be hitting some error. It would help if you could look through <user>/Logs/iTiVo.log and see if there's any more useful info in there as to why it's failing?
> 
> I just tried downloading a show with subtitles enabled and it definitely did the right thing. I'm not aware of fios doing anything different for subtitles (I have Time Warner crapble).


I do not see any log files for iTivo - is there an option to enable logging?

Oddly enough, i recently tried again and for the first time I successfully generated a .SRT file. I do not know if this has anything to do with it, but I installed XCode Developer Tools just prior to this attempt. Could it be that XCode is necessary for this feature to work?


----------



## Yoav

orinaccio said:


> I do not see any log files for iTivo - is there an option to enable logging?
> 
> Oddly enough, i recently tried again and for the first time I successfully generated a .SRT file. I do not know if this has anything to do with it, but I installed XCode Developer Tools just prior to this attempt. Could it be that XCode is necessary for this feature to work?


iTiVo should be logging in <user>/Library/Logs/iTiVo.log ... If it isn't then there's something *very* odd....

as far as I know, you don't need Xcode installed. It simple runs t2sami which is included as part of iTiVo, and I don't believe that has any dependencies on something that Xcode provides... However, I do have xcode installed so can't guarantee that it works without it..


----------



## jannlinder

Anyone seeing iTivo (on 1.7.6, btw) downloading the mpg file and naming it using the episode ID instead of episode name? (for instance: "Glee - 882598.mpg" instead of "Glee - Preggers.mpg")

I am getting really tired of guessing what the episode name is <grin>... Would be nice if iTivo had an option to set the time/date of the file to the recorded time/date instead of the time/date of the episode. I would use this. I know it is kinda counter intuitive..but it is easily added to the app, no?

TIA

Jann


----------



## jfhaas

Just got my Tivo HD - 'upgraded' from the original pre-series 1! 

Love this app, particularly since the Tivo software doesn't work on Snow Leopard (yet). 

Conversions are downloading/ converting smoothly (set to Apple TV), and I can watch the mp4 on my computer. But when I drag the file to my iTunes library, it just disappears! The file never shows up in iTunes nor can I find the file in my library.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.


----------



## ellinj

Can anyone explain what the download first option does under advanced settings?


----------



## nasukaren

What a fantastic program! Please include a "Donate a Beer" button on your page so we can send you a few bucks for a pint!

I'm running it on my old G4 MacMini and my new MacBookPro. The G4 took *hours* to process a show until I remembered that I had a Turbo.264. Plugged that in and it now does 20 fps!

The MacBookPro is working fantastic too. I had trouble with the "delete files after encoding trick" (mv "$temp" etc. etc.) as the file would get deleted before getting passed off to the encoder. I think I'll try to play with a CSH script that waits a few hours before deleting the file.

EDIT: I don't think I'll actually need to write a script, I'm playing within this:
_ sleep 36000; /bin/mv "$file" ~/.Trash_
This should wait 10 hours before processing the delete command.

Karen


----------



## luvmytivo

Howdy - Love the program, by far the best looking and easiest TTG app available on any platform. That said, I've been stuck using KMTTG lately, as iTiVo is as near as makes no difference completely unresponsive for minutes at a time while connecting with the TiVo, and then takes several minutes after downloading the NPL before it responds to any clicks. 

I currently have over 600 shows on my HDXL, and I understand that getting the NPL off the box will take a little while - kmttg takes a minute to do this as well - but it seems as if iTiVo is doing more than just that. 

In addition to the minutes long episodes of hanginess after the NPL is displayed, when trying to search on a show it hangs and says 'connecting' again for a good 5 minutes - occasionally not even coming back with a complete list.

Soooo, any hope of me being able to use iTiVo with my huge NPL any time soon? I'll hit the 'donate beer' button a few times...


----------



## hassgocubs

jfhaas said:


> But when I drag the file to my iTunes library, it just disappears! The file never shows up in iTunes nor can I find the file in my library.
> 
> Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
> 
> Thanks.


Have you checked the "Recently Added" Playlist? See if the item you drag appears there. If it does, it may have a different tag (Movie, for example) that will have it appear in a different part of the library. If it appears there, you can single-click it in that list, press Command-I to get info, and change the tag under the Options tab next to "Media Type."


----------



## Fofer

A useful column to add: DATE ADDED

(Do this under View -> View Options)

Then you can just sort by that column...


----------



## solutionsetc

Yoav,

I have to ask you something. I have always noticed the iTivo interface to be remarkably unresponsive to clicks in the list, and the button enabling/disabling that should follow these events. Many times I need to click twice to select an item in the list. And I have seen a phantom action or multiple selection like mouse events are being queued up and then processed after a significant delay.

Originally I just chalked this up to a slow CS machine running a lot of processes. But after installing it on a 3 Ghz C2D I am seeing the same behavior and for the life of me can't figure out what is going on. Surely this isn't normal. Any thoughts as to why it is so unresponsive?


----------



## Fofer

I'm going to guess it's because it's written in AppleScript and AppleScript UI has never been all that responsive in my experience.


----------



## solutionsetc

Well I somewhat assumed it was an interpreted environment but what I am seeing here is pretty bad even for AppleScript, unless of course each click is triggering some kind of task that is being handled synchronously.

But even then it seems some clicks within the list are simply ignored, while the second click (after such an ignored event) works as expected.

Is this the same kind of behavior you're seeing?


----------



## fowak4

I downloaded iTiVo about 2 or 3 months ago and hadn't had any problems until recently. I haven't tried to download anything in a few weeks and I'm wondering if that is unacceptable. I got on to my iTiVo program and it is saying that it will not connect to my TiVo and to check my IP address and Media Access Key. Both are correct, but it will not connect to my TiVo... 

Please help!!!!


----------



## kingmob

I'm having the same problem as fowak4. kmttg connects fine with the same IP and MAK information.

Edit: Now kmttg isn't working either. I can't even connect via a browser.


----------



## roblight

What's the difference between decrypt/copy and just decrypt? Thanks in advance!!


----------



## Marconi

roblight said:


> What's the difference between decrypt/copy and just decrypt? Thanks in advance!!


I don't know, but when I tried decrypt/copy a while ago (because I too was curious) the resulting recording would not play. I went back to just decrypt.


----------



## roblight

Marconi said:


> I don't know, but when I tried decrypt/copy a while ago (because I too was curious) the resulting recording would not play. I went back to just decrypt.


Yeah when I tried using decrypt/copy mencoder kept crashing so now I just do decrypt. But I'd like to know what mencoder is actually doing in this case.


----------



## fatespawn

I think yoav added decrypt/copy as a trial method to attempt to remove commercials from the original mpeg2 files. Decrypt is a straight decrypt. Decrypt/copy allows you to "check" remove commercials - but it doesn't work because of the way mpeg2's mux audio and video together. Simply put, it's severely out of sync if you try to cut commercials without transcoding into a friendlier video format. 

-fate


----------



## js29tiv

Marconi said:


> Not really. There are the problems of the metadata file using equals signs for a few items instead of colons and the case problem of "seriesId" which I figured would be easy fixes with a new beta out shortly after the metadata problems were known. Not a problem though, I have a script in my text editor to fix these minor problems very quickly on multiple files at once, so it's no big deal. More like curiosity on my part, wondering if I'd missed a newer beta. That's all.


Hi Marconi:
The above quote is from a few months ago, but I thought I'd respond here instead of opening a new thread since my questions are directly related... I've been reviewing all of your posts because my usage model is identical to yours: I want to download all of my shows off of my (Series 2) Tivo (using iTivo on OS X 10.5.8) so that I can upgrade the harddrive (which has maxed out the partitions) and then re-upload all the files (using pyTivoX) with correct sorting/recording dates, etc. And I'd like to retain the downloads as a backup in case the Tivo dies. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that's roughly what you have mentioned as your goals.

So far I've finished all my downloads, but hitting some hiccups similar to you before I'm ready to re-upload. So I had a few questions for you (or anyone else who has thoughts on these topics) related to your postings on this thread:

1) I was wondering if you could make your text editor script available to fix the "seriesID =" issue until a new release of iTivo has the fix built-in? Does it require a special text editor, or something we already have on OS X?

2) Also, have you come up with any other scripts and/or refinements to the Droplets that you already provided on this thread? If so, could you post the updates?

3) Also, I've been noticing that roughly 50% of the shows on my Tivo don't have a seriesId at all (at least, nothing shows up in the seriesID(seriesId) field in the .txt file after iTivo downloads it). Have you come up with a general strategy (to deal with series that don't have a seriesId) when re-uploading the shows back to the Tivo (so that a given series gets sorted into its own folder)?


----------



## Marconi

js29tiv said:


> Hi Marconi:
> I've been reviewing all of your posts because my usage model is identical to yours: I want to download all of my shows off of my (Series 2) Tivo (using iTivo on OS X 10.5.8) so that I can upgrade the harddrive (which has maxed out the partitions) and then re-upload all the files (using pyTivoX) with correct sorting/recording dates, etc. And I'd like to retain the downloads as a backup in case the Tivo dies. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that's roughly what you have mentioned as your goals.


Exactly. It works well. Better, in fact, than transferring files to another TiVo and then back. The latter procedure loses all the original recording dates and recordings take on the date of the last transfer rather than the date it was recorded. See post #461. (I've reported this to TiVo as a bug.)

I'm in the process of backing up two Series 2 boxes right now, as I'm getting a pair of HDs for Christmas.



js29tiv said:


> So far I've finished all my downloads, but hitting some hiccups similar to you before I'm ready to re-upload. So I had a few questions for you (or anyone else who has thoughts on these topics) related to your postings on this thread:
> 
> 1) I was wondering if you could make your text editor script available to fix the "seriesID =" issue until a new release of iTivo has the fix built-in? Does it require a special text editor, or something we already have on OS X?


I use BBEdit (by Bare Bones Software)and the script is specifically for it. Bare Bones does provide the free Text Wrangler but I've not tried my scripts with it, though it is scriptable. Here's the script:


Code:


tell application "BBEdit"
	activate
	replace " = " using " : " saving yes searching in every text document options {search mode:grep, case sensitive:false, match words:false, extend selection:false, showing results:false}
	replace "seriesID" using "seriesId" saving yes searching in every text document options {search mode:grep, case sensitive:true, match words:false, extend selection:false, showing results:false}
end tell

You'll have to modify that 'tell' line containing "BBEdit."

Note too that I have it set to do batches -- I open a bunch of ...mpg.txt files at once and this script corrects all at once so don't have open any files that you don't want to change. Also, until you've confirmed that this works with Text Wrangler, you may want to try it on _copies_ of your mpg.txt files.



js29tiv said:


> 2) Also, have you come up with any other scripts and/or refinements to the Droplets that you already provided on this thread? If so, could you post the updates?


I do have one other droplet. It's my "Original Air Date" script. It also works on batches, if more than one file is dropped onto it. What it does is look for the "originalAirDate" meta datum within each dropped mpg.txt file, copy the month, day and year from it and changes the "time," "startTime" and "stopTime" meta data to reflect the original air date of the show. This makes it appear that the recording was made on the episode's original air date, thus, when transferred back to TiVo, episodic series are in the right order within Now Playing. (I've been advised that messing with the "time," "startTime" and "stopTime" meta data is dangerous, though I have not personally experienced any problems with it. But beware. Also, I would not advise using it on shows whose original air dates are earlier than 1970.)

Note that, once in the NPL, they will appear in the correct order (providing the metadata are accurate) but they will not appear in the right order within the listing provided by PyTiVoX unless you also use the droplet for changing the recording modification date on your Mac. (One of the two scripts I posted previously.) Therein lies a tale -- one that earned me the perpetual ire of several community members.

I know now, but did not realize at first, that the NPL would be in the correct order as long as the meta data reflected the correct original air dates. I was thrown by the fact that, despite correct meta data, the list of recordings offered by PyTiVo is by recording modification date, as shown in a Finder window. Thus they appear out of order in PyTiVo and I thought this meant they would likewise be out of order in NPL once transferred to TiVo.

I got it into my head that the recording file mod dates HAD to be changed or the NPL would not be in the correct order (because I was going by the ordering in PyTiVo's listing as seen when browsing a PyTiVo list on TiVo.)

Anyway, the droplet posted previously to change the file's mod date is not really necessary. You don't NEED to change the recordings' mod dates, but I do it anyway because it puts the recordings in the correct order in PyTiVo, which is handy. I don't always transfer all episodes of a show back right away. I have, for example, all the Sopranos episodes in my Mac-based archive, but I only have the next 5 at any one time on the TiVo. Having the recordings' mod dates changed to put them in the correct order as displayed by PyTiVo allows me to easily select the next one to transfer back as I watch them in order.

My "Original Air Date" Applescript uses a Perl script. The Applescript app bundle contains the Perl script. Rather than post the two here and require everyone to create the Perl code and bundle it into the script app bundle, if you PM me with your email address, I'll email the script to you zipped.

So, in order, here's what I do:

Select a batch of mpg.txt files downloaded from iTiVo and open them in BBEdit. 
Run the "Correct Meta Data" script within BBEdit. Close these files.
Drag the same bunch of mpg.txt files to my "Original Air Date" droplet. 
Drag each mpg.txt file (one at a time) with its corresponding recording file (.mpg file) to the "Change Create Date" droplet.

Move the recordings and their mpg.txt files to the PyTiVo shared directory. They're ready to go back.



js29tiv said:


> 3) ...Have you come up with a general strategy (to deal with series that don't have a seriesId) when re-uploading the shows back to the Tivo (so that a given series gets sorted into its own folder)?


I search on line for the seriesID and just add that meta datum myself. From somewhere, I got an Excel file with loads of series IDs. But, generally, Googling "seriedID [name of show]" works for me too.


----------



## js29tiv

Marconi said:


> I use BBEdit (by Bare Bones Software)and the script is specifically for it. Bare Bones does provide the free Text Wrangler but I've not tried my scripts with it, though it is scriptable.


Ah, cool. Yes, I have BBEdit. I'll give the script a try.



Marconi said:


> I do have one other droplet. It's my "Original Air Date" script. It also works on batches, if more than one file is dropped onto it. What it does is look for the "originalAirDate" meta datum within each dropped mpg.txt file, copy the month, day and year from it and changes the "time," "startTime" and "stopTime" meta data to reflect the original air date of the show. This makes it appear that the recording was made on the episode's original air date, thus, when transferred back to TiVo, episodic series are in the right order within Now Playing. (I've been advised that messing with the "time," "startTime" and "stopTime" meta data is dangerous, though I have not personally experienced any problems with it. But beware. Also, I would not advise using it on shows whose original air dates are earlier than 1970.)


Ok, yes, I'd be interested and will contact you on PM. Sounds like from the other thread that I posted to last night ("pyTivoX") that wmcbrine has enhanced pytivo to have File and OAD fields to accomplish the same thing without touching the time/startTime/stopTime. But until that is integrated into a new release of pyTivoX, I'll definitely use your script (assuming I don't encounter any issues per the warnings you apparently received).



Marconi said:


> I know now, but did not realize at first, that the NPL would be in the correct order as long as the meta data reflected the correct original air dates. I was thrown by the fact that, despite correct meta data, the list of recordings offered by PyTiVo is by recording modification date, as shown in a Finder window. Thus they appear out of order in PyTiVo and I thought this meant they would likewise be out of order in NPL once transferred to TiVo.


Yeah, I hadn't quite figured out how iTivo and pyTivoX sorted the files when displaying them. I was thinking it would be nice if the user could select which field to sort on (ie. include all forms of OriginalAirDate, Recording Date, local file system modification date, etc. as selections for viewing in the columns, and then simply click on the header of one column to sort by that column).

Anyway, thanks, that helps to know that the local file system file modification date is the way that pyTivoX sorts the files for display. But I also agree that I find it useful to sort by OriginalAirDate or RecordingDate, so that the sorting matches (roughly or precisely) what Tivo shows. So your script (already posted earlier in this thread) is something I will continue to use.



Marconi said:


> So, in order, here's what I do:
> 
> Select a batch of mpg.txt files downloaded from iTiVo and open them in BBEdit.
> Run the "Correct Meta Data" script within BBEdit. Close these files.
> Drag the same bunch of mpg.txt files to my "Original Air Date" droplet.
> Drag each mpg.txt file (one at a time) with its corresponding recording file (.mpg file) to the "Change Create Date" droplet.


Excellent, thanks! Hopefully the first few steps won't be necessary if/when pyTivoX is updated to the latest version of wmcbrine's pytivo, but meanwhile this flow sounds like it'll work great. And the last couple steps can then be tweaked to modify the File/OAD fields which apparently is less risky of corrupting Tivo playback.



Marconi said:


> I search on line for the seriesID and just add that meta datum myself. From somewhere, I got an Excel file with loads of series IDs. But, generally, Googling "seriedID [name of show]" works for me too.


Ok, thanks for all the help! And thanks to the pytivo and pyTivoX/iTivo authors as well for these awesome tools!


----------



## Marconi

js29tiv said:


> Hi Marconi:
> 
> 2) Also, have you come up with any other scripts and/or refinements to the Droplets that you already provided on this thread? If so, could you post the updates?


I do have one other Applescript droplet I use: RemoveNumerals. Movies and other shows that are not a series and do not have an episode title, get tagged by iTiVo with the recording's numerical designator when downloaded to Mac. You end up with:

Merry Madagascar - 1431274.mpg
Merry Madagascar - 1431274.mpg.txt

When the above files are dropped onto RemoveNumerals, guess what happens!



Code:


-- Droplet for removing the numerals from the Names
-- of Dragged-on TiVo Recording  and metadata Files
--
-- Save this as an application bundle in AppleScript Editor.
--
--
-- Note that this was designed for this one, specific purpose and 
-- any other use of this droplet is bound to disappoint.
--
-- DISCLAIMER: No warranty is implied, use at your own risk. 
-- Consult a doctor if erection lasts for more than four hours. 

on open dropped_items
	repeat with i from 1 to the count of dropped_items
		set this_item to (item i of dropped_items)
		set item_info to info for this_item
		set original to name of item_info
		set foo to offset of ".mpg" in original
		set newname to text 1 through (foo - 11) of original
		set suffix to text (foo) through end of original
		set changedname to newname & suffix
		tell application "Finder"
			set the name of this_item to changedname
		end tell
	end repeat
end open


----------



## tomgorman

I just installed iTiVo, entered my Media Key, but the iTiVo software doesn't show my TiVo in the drop down at the top of the screen. 

What am I doing wrong? I'm super excited about this software and want to get it working!

Thanks,

--tom


----------



## SnakeEyes

I just used iTiVo to begin converting a 720p HD video from my TiVo using the mpeg2 hd setting. The output looks really blocky. Is this normal and is there a better option?


----------



## chrisblackstone

Starting yesterday I am unable to connect to my TiVo. It is online because I can see it through my router. I have restarted it, confirmed the MAK in iTiVo, and the setting to share content is active on the TiVo.

Has anything changed with either TiVo or iToVo recently to disable remote connections?

thanks


----------



## roblight

Has anyone used iTiVo successfully with Plex?

I've tried setting up a "TV Show" source under Plex but it doesn't see the media. Do the filenames have to conform to the "S01E01" style of naming? Maybe this is a post for the Plex forum.

Thanks in advance.


----------



## solutionsetc

Am I missing something to turn off the console entries from iTivo. It seems a little excessive for anything other than a debug mode.

Appreciate any help you could offer.


----------



## roblight

roblight said:


> Has anyone used iTiVo successfully with Plex?
> I've tried setting up a "TV Show" source under Plex but it doesn't see the media. Do the filenames have to conform to the "S01E01" style of naming? Maybe this is a post for the Plex forum.


It turns out that currently Plex requires a "S01E01" naming convention per:

http://wiki.plexapp.com/index.php/Getting_Started#Naming_TV_Shows

But all is not lost if you employ this handy script:

http://xbmc.org/wiki/?title=MythSExx

Which will rename a media file with series/episode *numbers* given the series/episode *names*. Wooohooo!


----------



## zzgulu

Hi,
is it possible to set download path from a different location/source/directory other than Tivo itself? I've downloaded some of my original .tivo files previously to my external usb hdd and would like to use itivo for processing them

Thanks


----------



## SnakeEyes

I have a Turbo.264 HD. Can you make the HD's profiles possible, including the custom ones?


----------



## zzgulu

zzgulu said:


> Hi,
> is it possible to set download path from a different location/source/directory other than Tivo itself? I've downloaded some of my original .tivo files previously to my external usb hdd and would like to use itivo for processing them
> 
> Thanks


Every time that itivo produces an error (which is usually in comcut/subtitle phase in my experience) it starts downloading the entire show again. It'd be really great if itivo could process downloaded .tivo files (or even decrypted files) for ad removal purpose.

Thanks


----------



## SnakeEyes

Anyone have a problem with iTiVo getting stuck downloading a show? I've been trying for the last two days and it keeps stopping halfway through. The file is 20+ GB, really frustrating. As it get closer to halfway/toward the number of MB transferred will pause and it will say "waiting for TiVo" forever. Any suggestions? Eventually it will just start all over.


----------



## zzgulu

SnakeEyes said:


> Anyone have a problem with iTiVo getting stuck downloading a show? I've been trying for the last two days and it keeps stopping halfway through. The file is 20+ GB, really frustrating. As it get closer to halfway/toward the number of MB transferred will pause and it will say "waiting for TiVo" forever. Any suggestions? Eventually it will just start all over.


I had the same problem even with 3Gb shows and was wondering if itivo can process .tivo files that's been already transferred through other apps...


----------



## luvmytivo

Any chance of getting an update that handles large Now Playing Lists better? Mine currently has over 700 items in it, and the performance of iTiVo varies from very sluggish to completely frozen.


----------



## Outleradam

Hello, I am Adam Outler, author of MythSExx. I noticed that my program was mentioned in this thread.

I am working on a new program called mythicalLibrarian. This program currently uses the power of the MythTV database for even more accurate identification of recordings and renaming of movies. 

I am trying to get support for iTivo integrated into mythicalLibrarian. I need some example information files, the files which accompany the iTivo recordings. I need two of each of the following: Movies, Episodes, and News/Sports/generic guide data where the program id begins with SH .

Would someone be kind enough to help me out?


----------



## DaveTheNerd

What I want to do seems simple to me, yet I can't figure out the right moon-phase, knee-lift alignment to make it happen. ;-)

How do I decode to H.264 with full video quality (SD or HD, whichever it is) and full audio quality (2 channel or 6 channel, which ever it is)?


----------



## fatespawn

Dave,

This post from Yoav is as close as I've gotten to doing what your attempting.... and believe me, I'm waiting for the "holy grail" of compressing to mp4, cutting commercials, and KEEPING the 6 channel sound....

http://tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=7410204#post7410204

-fate


----------



## fatespawn

zzgulu said:


> Hi,
> is it possible to set download path from a different location/source/directory other than Tivo itself? I've downloaded some of my original .tivo files previously to my external usb hdd and would like to use itivo for processing them
> 
> Thanks


While you're waiting for a fix, why don't you send the back to the tivo and re-download them with iTivo?

cumbersome, but it should work.

fate


----------



## DaveTheNerd

fatespawn said:


> Dave,
> 
> This post from Yoav is as close as I've gotten to doing what your attempting.... and believe me, I'm waiting for the "holy grail" of compressing to mp4, cutting commercials, and KEEPING the 6 channel sound....
> 
> http://tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=7410204#post7410204
> 
> -fate


Awesome. Thanks, I'll try that! And while we're at it: my holy grail would be to compress to mp4, keep original video quality/resolution, and have TWO audio streams: one mixed to two channels, one at the full 6. Crazy, I know... ;-)


----------



## JeremyLaurenson

Hey all,

If I use 5MB/s H264 with Quicktime I get nasty interlacing.
If I use HandBrake I get great quality, but comskipper nukes the video/audio sync.

Anyone have the settings to do COmskip -> 5MBps H.264 under OSX 10.6?

J


----------



## stevemid

Yoav said:


> If you're ok with huge files (which I assume you must be if you're using 10Mbps) your best bet may be to use the 'decrypt' format, which does no re-encoding at all and gives you the actual bits from the tivo. This will be the highest quality you can get, and is least likely to have A/V sync issues. You will have to use VLC or MPlayer OSX (extended) to view the movie though, since quicktime player can't understand the mpeg-2 file that is the result.


Anyone know if files created by mencoder "decrypt" (mpg file type) setting will play back on the Tivo?


----------



## NA9D

stevemid said:


> Anyone know if files created by mencoder "decrypt" (mpg file type) setting will play back on the Tivo?


I do it all the time. Yes.


----------



## PacoII

Does anyone know if it is possible to control the outputted file name, possible via the advanced settings? I am transferring a whole season of a TV show, and want to know the order of the episodes via the file name. Using something like the show's date appended at the end in the file name would ideally be what I am looking to do.


----------



## codog24

Related question - my wife is a reporter and I want to extract several 2-minute clips out of 30 minute Tivo'd newscasts to compile a DVD of stories that she's done. I was planning on using iTivo to pull the clips onto my Mac using the H.264 5mbps setting, and then importing them into iMovie 09 to edit them (and ultimately burn a DVD using iDVD). However, when they open in iMovie, they're a squeezed square rather than a 4:3 video. Is there any way I can fix this?

Thanks!

Adam



Yoav said:


> resolution and aspect ratio are two independent values.
> 
> are you sure it's not 480x480 with a PAR of 4:3 ?
> 
> you can look at it with ffmpeg -i <filename>
> 
> I suspect quicktime is ignoring the PAR.. you may want to view it with VLC or MplayerOSX Extended...
> If that's the case though, I don't know of any way to force quicktime to an aspect ratio..


----------



## PanamaYellow

Can iTiVo be used with a DirecTiVo? I have a series2 that I've opened up with the 'zipper' and put on my network. So, I have access to it, but I don't find a MAK to use with iTiVo.

Thanks.

PY


----------



## codog24

Does anyone have any suggestions here?



codog24 said:


> Related question - my wife is a reporter and I want to extract several 2-minute clips out of 30 minute Tivo'd newscasts to compile a DVD of stories that she's done. I was planning on using iTivo to pull the clips onto my Mac using the H.264 5mbps setting, and then importing them into iMovie 09 to edit them (and ultimately burn a DVD using iDVD). However, when they open in iMovie, they're a squeezed square rather than a 4:3 video. Is there any way I can fix this?
> 
> Thanks!
> 
> Adam


----------



## anod

I just downloaded and started using itivo. It looks promising. However, after downloading three shows, I keep getting the messafge that mencoder has quit . Now That's all I get. It won't down load any more shows. What can I do to fix this? I haven't even gotten into palying with iTivo or weeing what all it can do. I just wanted to download a few shows first. Any suggestions?


----------



## mattack

I checked the FAQ & basic documentation page.. I hope I'm not missing the obvious.

What are the two rectangular green button-ish things above the download/conversion progress bar? The left one seems always green, but I can toggle the right one.. but they don't seem to do anything.

Also, I'm not quite sure how I can do as 'minimal' a conversion as possible. I mean, I know I can use 'decrypt only' to do the equivalent of just tivodecode.. But if I want it playable in Quicktime -- how can I get the audio & video to match the original? (Just remux them so QT works with it?)


----------



## mattack

ok, I guess the 'buttons' are really just showing which phase it's in (downloading/decoding). But it's confusing that you can click on the second one and toggle it.

My question about how to do as minimal a conversion as possible is still open.. Wow, on this 2 GHz Core Duo, it seems to take about real-time to reencode (I chose the non-HD MPEG-2 one for now).


----------



## psywzrd

I'm having trouble connecting to one of my 2 S3 Tivos. The IP address and MAK are correct and I tried rebooting the unit - still no luck. I have no problem connecting to the other S3 in my house and I have been able to connect to the troublesome Tivo in the past. Any ideas?


----------



## Phantom Gremlin

I have yet another flaky WD DVR expander. So I'd like to move some files off the TiVo HD, then replace the internal hard drive with a bigger one (and scrap the expander), then move the files back to the TiVo HD.

Is there an option in iTiVo to *only download* files? I don't need to decrypt or transcode (lots of CPU) because I will just push these files back to the TiVo.

Am I missing something obvious? The "Format" in the preferences doesn't seem to offer a "raw" download-only option.

Thanks

Edit: I just checked code.google.com and I see that someone has already asked for this capability as "Issue 125".


----------



## Marconi

Phantom Gremlin said:


> I have yet another flaky WD DVR expander. So I'd like to move some files off the TiVo HD, then replace the internal hard drive with a bigger one (and scrap the expander), then move the files back to the TiVo HD.
> 
> Is there an option in iTiVo to *only download* files? I don't need to decrypt or transcode (lots of CPU) because I will just push these files back to the TiVo....
> 
> Edit: I just checked code.google.com and I see that someone has already asked for this capability as "Issue 125".


The least processor-intensive solution is to use just decrypt. FWIW, I compared decrypt to just downloading ".tivo" files via web browser and I think network bandwidth is going to be the limiting factor here. You might save processor work by not decrypting but you won't save much time.


----------



## psywzrd

I'm having problems transferring a show from one of my Tivos to my Mac using iTivo. It's a 2hr program and it keep quitting after like an hour or so and I don't know why. Any idea why this would happen?


----------



## Phantom Gremlin

psywzrd said:


> I'm having problems transferring a show from one of my Tivos to my Mac using iTivo. It's a 2hr program and it keep quitting after like an hour or so and I don't know why. Any idea why this would happen?


Are you sure you aren't running out of disk space on your Mac? Also you aren't perchance trying to transfer to a FAT-32 formatted partition?


----------



## mattack

codog24 said:


> Does anyone have any suggestions here?


At least based upon my very little experience, you can edit them and *play* recordings that were made on digital channels fine in MPEG Streamclip, which is free. I seem to have very similar problems (wrong aspect ratio) of programs made on analog channels, and those only seem to play in VLC (usually wrong aspect ratio) or mPlayer (right aspect ratio but no editing capability whatsoever).

About iTivo -- what's the difference between "Decrypt" and "Decrypt/Copy"? I use the former to get the raw recordings off the Tivo...

And do any of these transfer programs (esp ones that work on a Mac) let you transfer FROM THE SAVED POINT? Esp since the portion I want to save is almost always the last section of a show, if I can only transfer 1/4 of it or whatever, that'd be better for me...


----------



## wmcbrine

mattack said:


> And do any of these transfer programs (esp ones that work on a Mac) let you transfer FROM THE SAVED POINT?


I don't think so. I tried a few ways to do it, but couldn't make it work. I think it's confined to MRV.


----------



## psywzrd

Phantom Gremlin said:


> Are you sure you aren't running out of disk space on your Mac? Also you aren't perchance trying to transfer to a FAT-32 formatted partition?


Tons of space avail on my Mac and its not FAT-32 - it's Mac OS Extended. It actually just stops transferring at different points - it's not just at the 1 hour mark.


----------



## Phantom Gremlin

psywzrd said:


> Tons of space avail on my Mac and its not FAT-32 - it's Mac OS Extended. It actually just stops transferring at different points - it's not just at the 1 hour mark.


I haven't looked at the iTiVo code, but it's kind of hard to imagine what the code could be doing to screw up a transfer in the middle. Your TiVo hardware might be flaky (i.e. disk failure looming).

Have you ever tried to do a transfer using the TiVo's web server? You browse to:

https://your_tivo_IP_address

Note https, not http. Use tivo as the name, your MAK as the password.

That method works for me, but it's less "user friendly" than programs like iTiVo or kmttg.


----------



## sfscott

1) What is the limiting variable in download and encoding from TiVo to the Mac? I was transferring 3 HD shows from my Tivo HD to my Mac formatted for AppleTV (looks great on the iPad), and it took literally all night to complete. My Tivo is connected via an AirportExtreme base station. Is processor speed the issue? Encoding format? What is the best encoding format for iPad and iPhone?

2) When HBO copy protects a show, is there any way to work around that? I don't get why it's ok to time-shift on the DVR but not place-shift. I have no interest in reselling or other unlawful uses. I just want to watch The Pacific at the gym or on a cross country flight!


----------



## fatespawn

sfscott,

Yes, it's going to take all night for 3 HD shows. The limiting factor is the processor because of some transcoding (perhaps the wrong word) that needs to be done before Tivo to Go works. The S3's are faster and I assume the XL's are too. Tivo to Tivo is the fastest because there is no "transcoding" (I know, that's probably the wrong word).

I have my Tivo hooked up to an airport express 802.11n (5GHz only). When I plug in my laptop to the ethernet of the airport express, I can connect to the internet at 22Mbit + (comcast) through over wifi. However, with the TivoHD, it takes slightly longer than real time for a heafty HD show. Some HD shows are more compressed than others. Most of the 1080i content I see on Comcast is around 5-6GB for an hour show. OTA broadcasts can be higher. I remember CBS 1080i were sometimes in the 7-8GB for an hour show. 

Encoding format is only limited by what format you choose and your processors. iTivo doesn't necessarily use the latest and greatest builds of these encoders either. For example, I use Handbrake64 for most of my encodes if I don't want to cut commercials. I just "decrypt" and drag all the files to the Handbrake Queue. It's much faster.

If you don't want the commercial cut (which is sketchy at times anyway) just choose decrypt and use the Handbrake presets for iPhone/AppleTV for your iDevice.

Regarding copy protection. Legally, you're out of luck. It's up to the copyright holder and HBO to flag it how they want. If it's copy protected, you can't legally "uncopyprotect it."

-fate


----------



## sfscott

What is the difference between Handbrake and iTivo? I downloaded iTivo and it works fine but for the slowness (that you addressed.)

Bummer about the copy protection. I figured there was some url out there about evil hackers that had posted code to defeat this...if someone wanted to look at the code for informational purposes.


----------



## mattack

Handbrake doesn't do the Tivo transferring (AFAIK).

Except that it doesn't do folders in the UI, I have been using iTivo more than the real downloading program.

The only problem is that iTivo often takes MANY minutes to actually connect to my Tivos, and often (but not always) shows an error saying that the Tivo disappeared, but it really hadn't, so I can then just start downloading shows at that point.

I'm not sure what info to provide, but I can provide useful info if it helps debug this.

Other than that, using iTivo is convenient, because I also get the extended show info files (for some reason I have it make both), and transfer them uncompressed (decode only), since as I said above, MPEG Streamclip lets me edit recordings (except for ones off of analog channels, which is a shame).


----------



## fatespawn

Yes, as mattack says, using iTivo you get the metadata along with the transcoded file for an mp4. iTivo makes nice folders that are navigable with pytivoX for streaming back to the Tivo. That's a great feature if you are archiving many episodes of... say... Dora the Explorer... not that I'd know anything about that!

The difference is if you don't care about the metadata. If your only intent is to transfer your show to a iDevice, you don't really care about the metadata. Using handbrake will be quicker overall. You can download the mpeg2 files (complete with metadata for transfer back to your Tivo if you want), but then drop them one by one into Handbrake's queue. 

Certainly iTivo will automate all this for your overnight, but if it's raw speed you're looking for, Handbrake64 with a dual/quad/hyperthreaded-enabled processor will kick iTivo's butt transcoding. The iTivo presets will suit you fine - and I use them too - if you want to convert for an iPhone/iPod. I'd use the appleTV preset for the iPad but I don't have one to try it on.

-fate


----------



## Marconi

mattack said:


> The only problem is that iTivo often takes MANY minutes to actually connect to my Tivos, and often (but not always) shows an error saying that the Tivo disappeared, but it really hadn't, so I can then just start downloading shows at that point.


I'm guessing that there are many, many items in the Now Playing List of the DVR involved. From experience, I can tell you that having just a few NPL items makes that initial connection by iTiVo much faster.


----------



## kfreeb

Not sure if this is where you put in request for enhancements to iTivo, (correct me there is a better place) but here goes!

I would like to see an enhancement to iTivo, where you can download only the meta data from a Tivo program, rather than having to download the entire show again, so iTivo can then create the meta data file again.

This would have saved me quite a bit of time, if this feature was there.


----------



## --phantom--

Just DL'd iTivo 1.7.6, installed, connected to Tivo HD, retrieved NPL w/ 324 items (mostly HD). However, selecting an item in the iTivo NPL is incredibly slow; I mean like literally 10 minutes, just to select it and get the Download show button active. E.g., when I click on an item in the list, nothing happens - the row is not selected/highlighted. Haven't even tried downloading a show yet. The list, and thus the app, is effectively unusable. 

I have a wired gigabit Ethernet connection, 3GHz iMac Core 2 duo 4G RAM OS X 10.6.3. 

What gives?

Thanks for any help.

Gordon


----------



## Marconi

--phantom-- said:


> Just DL'd iTivo 1.7.6, installed, connected to Tivo HD, retrieved NPL w/ 324 items (mostly HD). However, selecting an item in the iTivo NPL is incredibly slow;
> 
> I have a wired gigabit Ethernet connection, 3GHz iMac Core 2 duo 4G RAM OS X 10.6.3.
> 
> What gives?


It's that 324 items. The more NPL items you have the longer it takes. Still, 10 minutes seems like a bit much.

Once you select and download a recording (use 'decrypt only'), look in the DVR's network settings, diagnostics, recent transfers and see what kind of transfer speed you achieved "transfer to other devices" which would be your iMac. Let us know what that was. Maybe you have a network problem.


----------



## --phantom--

Marconi said:


> It's that 324 items. The more NPL items you have the longer it takes. Still, 10 minutes seems like a bit much.
> 
> Once you select and download a recording (use 'decrypt only'), look in the DVR's network settings, diagnostics, recent transfers and see what kind of transfer speed you achieved "transfer to other devices" which would be your iMac. Let us know what that was. Maybe you have a network problem.


Almost all of those 324 items are items that were recorded by the Tivo in its "Tivo suggestions" mode before we realized what it was doing and shut that mode off. It's daunting to think about deleting them one by one. Is there any kind of mass select/delete?

Back to iTivo, I finally got it to select one item to try a download. The file is 1980MB and is downloading at 1MB/second, so about 18 minutes for a gigabyte. I'll look at the Tivo's transfer speed per your suggestion in the morning, but based on the iTivo's download throughput display I think the network is performing well.

Gordon


----------



## Marconi

--phantom-- said:


> Almost all of those 324 items are items that were recorded by the Tivo in its "Tivo suggestions" mode before we realized what it was doing and shut that mode off. It's daunting to think about deleting them one by one. Is there any kind of mass select/delete?


None of which I'm aware.


----------



## adspguy

I was wondering if there could be support added for making a download format which would work to be inserted in a Series 1 tivo. There was a version off ffmpeg which was capable of making "ty" format outputs which would be capable of being mfs_ftp'd to a series 1 device. 

I now have an HD XL and a Series 3HD device which we use for most tv viewing, but I have a series 1 with lifetime in my exercise room. Once and awhile I would like to get a program from the HDs down to the series 1. 

I've been using iTivo to transfer programs to my iPhone and my kids ipod-touch devices, it would be cool to be able to get the files downloaded and converted for my series 1 using my fast mac pro computer. 

There seems to be plenty of programs/support for getting series 1 videos up to the series 2 or 3 devices, but not much for going back.

It looks like the version of ffmpeg in pyTivoX might be compatible with the ty patches. Any thoughts, ideas, suggestions?


----------



## Phantom Gremlin

--phantom-- said:


> Almost all of those 324 items are items that were recorded by the Tivo in its "Tivo suggestions" mode before we realized what it was doing and shut that mode off. It's daunting to think about deleting them one by one. Is there any kind of mass select/delete?


Here's something that might work, as long as you can find a long block of time during which you have at least one free tuner. E.g. I just created a 9.5 hr long manual recording.

Set the recording to repeat every day (with low priority so it doesn't conflict with other show). Set the "keep at most" to 1. Then over a period of days you should wind up with a large number of 9.5 hour recordings you will need to manually delete. But each of those should displace the equivalent of 19 shorter 0.5 hour recordings you no longer need to manually delete.

But TiVo's algorithm for keeping deleted programs isn't fully understood, and it has changed recently. So the above might not work. Let us know.


----------



## The Squeaky Whee

fatespawn said:


> Regarding copy protection. Legally, you're out of luck. It's up to the copyright holder and HBO to flag it how they want. If it's copy protected, you can't legally "uncopyprotect it."
> 
> -fate


my understanding is that HBO allows ONE dowload for copywright material.

If my understanding is correct, is there a way to directly stream that program from the tivo to the Mac via iTivo, thereby saving a copy to the Mac but not to the TiVo?

I'm guessing the answer is no, but would be a nice (and legal) workaround.


----------



## spaceleeb

--phantom-- said:


> Almost all of those 324 items are items that were recorded by the Tivo in its "Tivo suggestions" mode before we realized what it was doing and shut that mode off. It's daunting to think about deleting them one by one. Is there any kind of mass select/delete?
> ...
> Gordon


I stumbled across it on my Premiere... Can't you just navigate down to the TiVo suggestions folder, but instead of entering it, just hit Clear (lower left of the peanut) when it is highlighted and it will ask if you are sure... Again, took care of the whole folder on my Premiere.

Cheers
Lee


----------



## aindik

Can anyone recommend a setting for the iPad?


----------



## cmontyburns

aindik said:


> Can anyone recommend a setting for the iPad?


AppleTV works great.


----------



## bjarne

I have used iTiVo to download all the World Cup 2010 soccer games from my TiVo HD to my iMac, and I am almost done, down to the last three. All the games from ESPN are about 28 GB each so it takes a while. I only download and decrypt as I use Handbrake for the transcoding into H.264.
My problem is that one of the games stops at 3 GB and says it is finished (no error). The game plays perfect on the TiVo but I noticed that there was an emergency test message from the station about where it stops. Has anybody seen this before and know of a way to get the program?


----------



## CharleySimmons

jannlinder said:


> Anyone seeing iTivo (on 1.7.6, btw) downloading the mpg file and naming it using the episode ID instead of episode name? (for instance: "Glee - 882598.mpg" instead of "Glee - Preggers.mpg")
> 
> I am getting really tired of guessing what the episode name is <grin>... Would be nice if iTivo had an option to set the time/date of the file to the recorded time/date instead of the time/date of the episode. I would use this. I know it is kinda counter intuitive..but it is easily added to the app, no?
> 
> TIA
> 
> Jann


I'm having the same issue. Any suggestions as to how to resolve it?

Regards,
Jason


----------



## Andy D

I have been using iTivo for several months without issue.

All of a sudden, tonight when I tried to download a TV episode I started getting an error "Memcoder has suddenly quit"

The only change is I updated to iTunes 10.0.1 since the last time I used iTivo.

Has anyone else been having similar problems? How to fix?

My Mac:

iMac Intel Spring 2009
Mac OS X 10.5.8
Quicktime 7.6.6
iTunes 10.0.1

Any help much appreciated.

Thanks,

Andy D


----------



## Monkfest

When I download an "HD" Tivo show into iTivo I get an error message when I open the mp4 file?

Am I not able to use iTivo with HD programming?


----------



## hurricane

cmontyburns said:


> AppleTV works great.


It does, but I think it leaves a little bit of resolution on the table. Does anyone know if I'm right about that?

Is there any way of setting up custom transcoding options in iTivo?


----------



## KevQuebb

I have been using iTivo to copy files from a Tivo HD and then transferring them using pyTivo to a Tivo Series 2 to watch in the bedroom. When I copy an HD program and play it on the series 2 it comes out letterboxed (resolution changed?) Both tvs are widescreen and the HD version doesn't have letterbox. Any thoughts or settings that I can use to get it to fill up the full screen on the series 2? I am using the iTivo version 1.7.6 and MPEG 2 - HD setting. Thanks!


----------



## Neenahboy

I'm having an issue trying to pull a recording of Oprah using iTiVo (H.264 3Mbps). It will download 1MB, then restart the download and repeat this cycle three times before failing completely. Other shows from this channel have been pulled successfully using these same settings. Could it be an errant copy flag that's stopping me in my tracks?

For reference, I'm running a MacBook Pro on 10.6.4 and an unmodded TiVo HD.


----------



## EUner

Everytime I try to download with iTivo I get the error message:
"Your download location is not valid. Please select a valid download location."
I'm using the default location. I've tried changing it to other local directories.
Always the same result. Google search didn't bring up anything on this issue.
Running OS 10.6.4
Can anyone help?


----------



## MT-Hand

I haven't seen anyone else with this issue, but I am hoping someone else can recommend settings for my situation.

I haven't shelled out for a HD TiVo yet, but I could part with $99 for a new AppleTV. I had been using Galleon to move programs between my Humax TiVo and my Mac, but now I want to transcode to H.264 in iTunes so I can stream them through the AppleTV (or copy to my iPhone 4).

So all my source material is SD, but much of it is letterboxed widescreen. The standard "AppleTV" (mencoder) setting in iTiVo does a great job -- fast, small file size, deinterlaced, great image quality (ironically BETTER than the source material). BUT... it doesn't crop the letterboxing.

I experimented with the HandBrake and FFmpeg encoder settings to get the auto-cropping, but HandBrake took over 3-hrs to encode a one hour program and had horrible interlacing artifacts.

Can anyone recommend what settings I should use for:
* SD -> H.264 (at good quality [for SD])
* Deinterlaced
* Auto-cropped IF letterboxed
* and reasonable transfer/encoding times (~ 1-2 hrs for a 1 hr program)?

PS: I should note that the Mac and TiVo are connected via WiFi-g.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions,

Todd


----------



## RangerOne

Neenahboy said:


> I'm having an issue trying to pull a recording of Oprah using iTiVo (H.264 3Mbps). It will download 1MB, then restart the download and repeat this cycle three times before failing completely. Other shows from this channel have been pulled successfully using these same settings. Could it be an errant copy flag that's stopping me in my tracks?
> 
> For reference, I'm running a MacBook Pro on 10.6.4 and an unmodded TiVo HD.


Interesting, I have been having a similar issue but it's with using ffmpeg; it gets no more than 3 MB downloaded and then resets. I am able to consistently download shows with H.264. The problem I have with H.264 is that the audio is a little out of sync; hence why I have been trying ffmpeg. Thoughts anyone?


----------



## pb732

Had been using itivo 1.176 (tried also with 1.177b3) for a while no problem but suddenly my downloads take very, very long, like 6 hours for a 1 hour hd download. All i can think is that i updated my utorrent and restarted my computer. Also tried restarting my tivo but no help. Router is airport extreme. Thanks.


----------



## UncaAndoo

Looks like yoav dropped the project. Too bad, I hope someone can pick it up. I'd love to see a version with the latest Handbrake (x64).


----------



## noone001

I am having the same problem of interminable downloads. It used to work fine, and on some shorter programs seems to be OK, but I have been trying to download a 2 hr movie that is taking upwards of 28 hours! I turned off comskip, but it didn't help.


----------



## aindik

Anyone know how to get iTiVo to leave the AC3 audio stream in the files it creates? Handbrake does this from DVDs. How can I get iTiVo to do it with these files?


----------



## psywzrd

I can't seem to get itivo to download an entire show for me from my s3 tivo. I'm using the "Decrypt" option and it seems to quit after downloading 4.29GB which is nowhere near the entire program (it's a football game). Any idea why it would be quitting like that?


----------



## psywzrd

psywzrd said:


> I can't seem to get itivo to download an entire show for me from my s3 tivo. I'm using the "Decrypt" option and it seems to quit after downloading 4.29GB which is nowhere near the entire program (it's a football game). Any idea why it would be quitting like that?


Bump. Please see above. Does anyone know what the problem could be? If not, any suggestions for another program that might do the same thing? I really don't use the feature enough to justify spending the money on Tivo's solution with Toast (plus it doesn't seem as elegant to me) but I guess I might have to bite the bullet if there aren't any other viable options.


----------



## Phantom Gremlin

psywzrd said:


> Bump. Please see above. Does anyone know what the problem could be?


First, I assume you're on a Mac (see title of this thread). If not, you might be downloading to a PC FAT partition, which can't go over 4 GB.

I tried iTiVo but found it unsuitable for a different reason, said reason ironically being that I didn't want to decrypt and there was no way to prevent that.

There are other programs discussed in this forum. E.g. I use kmttg to download to my Mac, and I use pyTivoX to send programs from my Mac to my TiVo. These programs are free, there is no need to pay TiVo or to buy Toast.


----------



## psywzrd

Phantom Gremlin said:


> First, I assume you're on a Mac (see title of this thread). If not, you might be downloading to a PC FAT partition, which can't go over 4 GB.
> 
> I tried iTiVo but found it unsuitable for a different reason, said reason ironically being that I didn't want to decrypt and there was no way to prevent that.
> 
> There are other programs discussed in this forum. E.g. I use kmttg to download to my Mac, and I use pyTivoX to send programs from my Mac to my TiVo. These programs are free, there is no need to pay TiVo or to buy Toast.


I am on a Mac but I'm actually trying to download to an external hard drive (connected via USB) that's FAT32. I'm starting to think that my wireless connection might be the problem though. Maybe it's just crapping out during the transfer and that is causing the transfer to stop. I'm thinking about running some cat5 or whatever to make it a wired connection from my Tivo to my wifi router.


----------



## wmcbrine

Like he just told you, FAT32 won't hold a file bigger than 4 GB. There is no need to speculate about alternative causes. That's it.

If you want that drive to be useful for holding TiVo recordings, you'll have to reformat it to HFS+ or something.


----------



## psywzrd

wmcbrine said:


> Like he just told you, FAT32 won't hold a file bigger than 4 GB. There is no need to speculate about alternative causes. That's it.
> 
> If you want that drive to be useful for holding TiVo recordings, you'll have to reformat it to HFS+ or something.


I understand that but the conversion has crapped out many times way before 4GB and I have also had it go as far as 4.29GB and that's obviously over 4GB. Either way I think I'm going to attempt to wire everything up because that will at least eliminate the wireless aspect as a possible cause.


----------



## wmcbrine

No, actually 4.29 = 4 in this case.  It's the difference between counting in multiples of 1000 (i.e., 4 * 1000 * 1000 * 1000), or multiples of 1024. Technically, the later should be a "gibibyte", abbreviated GiB instead of GB, but no one does that. 4 GiB (4 * 1024 * 1024 * 1024) is the true 32-bit limit; sometimes that will be reported in "true" gigabytes, which comes out as 4.29.


----------



## thenightfly42

So, I'm prepping to replace a failing hard drive, and I've transferred 180 GB to my Mac. And... I just realized that I didn't ask iTiVo transfer the metadata. D'oh!

Can anyone think of a quick way to get the metadata files for these transfers without having to fully redownload them?


----------



## AudioNutz

thenightfly42 said:


> Can anyone think of a quick way to get the metadata files for these transfers without having to fully redownload them?


Yup!
I use KMTTG for metadata downloads. (Among other things)


----------



## shelbel

Hi--

I had always been able to download shows with iTiVo, no problem. But sometime after I upgraded to Snow Leopard and TiVo HD, it all became a crapshoot (don't know when exactly b/c I didn't try to use iTiVo for a long time in between).

I have iTiVo 1.7.6, and I'm running Snow Leopard 10.6.7, and I've got a TiVo HD with a MyTiVo Expander hard drive. 

When I run iTiVo, I can connect to the TiVo, I can select programs and run the download/convert-to-iPod-format. The process takes around a half-hour for a one-hour non-HD show. iTiVo indicates that it's done its job, and Growl tells me the show has been downloaded. But the show doesn't appear in iTunes (as per the iTiVo settings), it doesn't appear in the--empty--program folder in my User/movies folder on my Mac. I've searched via Spotlight for the show name, the individual program name, even the number that appears after the show name in the iTiVo display. Nada. I've tried this dozens of times... and then once or twice the show has mysteriously appeared in iTunes.

Has anyone else experienced this, and was it fixable?


----------



## javabird

I have similar setup as you, and sometimes I've noticed a show gets put into the wrong library in iTunes. For example, a movie might go into the TV shows folder by mistake.


----------



## Marconi

Is iTiVo no longer under active development? Seems to me that not much is happening with it. I've been using v 1.7.7b3 for a couple of years or so.

Up until recently, I was running OS X 10.5.8 and using iTivo on my personal Mac. Things worked more or less well. Then, I updated to OS X 10.6.0 from the Snow Leo install DVD followed by the 10.6.8 combined updater. So, I made the leap from 10.5.8 to 10.6.8, following which iTiVo developed a glitch.

Now, when I queue up shows to be transferred, the download queue frequently fails to show the episode name in the "Episode" column of the Download Queue. If the titles are there, usually, following completion of the first download, when the queue updates, the Episode column becomes empty.

At the same time, because iTiVo loses track of the episode names, the recording files on Mac take the form ShowName - 1234567.mpg and ShowName - 1234567.mpg.txt as if there is no episode title. (I use decrypt and create the metadata ".mpg.txt" file as well.)

Is this a Java problem? Is there a fix?

As I understand it, iTiVo uses AppleScript. Is the source of the "iTiVo.scpt" within the application bundle available? The script itself was saved as run only so there's no modification possible. If iTiVo is no longer being updated by others, I'd like to be able to update and fix it myself.


----------



## JoeTaxpayer

Marconi said:


> At the same time, because iTiVo loses track of the episode names, the recording files on Mac take the form ShowName - 1234567.mpg and ShowName - 1234567.mpg.txt as if there is no episode title. (I use decrypt and create the metadata ".mpg.txt" file as well.)


This was just what I came to ask. The iTivo app has show name correct, but when added to iTunes, it gets lost, and the episode title appears.

If Yoav is planning any updates, I've love to see it show on iTunes as "MM-DD Show" so a listing will be chronological and easy to see on iPad. I now do this manually, not a big deal really. Great piece of SW.


----------



## Phantom Gremlin

JoeTaxpayer said:


> If Yoav is planning any updates


Yoav hasn't posted in TiVo Community since 2009. So I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for any updates.


----------



## herbman

I am *VERY* happy using iTiVo with my iPhone 4 running IOS 5. I now have subscriptions to some shows, and I have conversion to iPhone format, auto-adding to iTunes. With IOS 5 I have automatic wifi syncing, so basically, this means I can simply leave in the morning and there will be new shows on my phone without me doing a thing! Simply awesome.

Question:
Does anyone have a superior custom encoding setup for the iPhone 4, not just the normal iPhone? I would love to preserve HD programming as well as SD.


----------



## test drive

Has anyone else experienced the disappearance of the "download queue" window pane typically seen in the bottom half of the screen on Itivo app? I can no longer see the expected split screen and download queue lower half in the app's window, and it is not clear to me if it is simply a preference that I inadvertently triggered or something's gone wrong? It typically had worked great, and would be useful to see it again as otherwise, pending downloads are hard to track. Not sure if I have to reinstall app, or if there is a quick fix? 

Thanks for assistance.


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## Fofer

Click and drag up from the dot:


----------



## test drive

Fofer said:


> Click and drag up from the dot:


Perfect...I assumed it was some type of user error on my part...thank you!


----------



## hearncl

I am downloading a program called "Bluegrass Underground" (PBS, 30 minutes, HD) from a TiVo S3 to a Mac Pro running Lion. The video downloads perfectly, but the resulting .mp4 file has no audio. I'm using the Quicktime (H264 5Mbps) format, but other iTiVo formats give the same problem. Other iTiVo settings are the defaults.

Other programs recorded on the S3 (PBS and other channels) download with both video and audio. "Bluegrass Underground" plays perfectly on the S3 itself; based on my receiver's display, the audio appears to be 2-channel stereo.

Any explanations and/or suggestions will be appreciated.


----------



## Fofer

Does it play in VLC?

http://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-macosx.html


----------



## hearncl

Fofer said:


> Does it play in VLC?


Same problem--no audio at all. Same with Mpeg Streamclip. I also moved the .mp4 file into Handbrake, which shows that it has no audio.


----------



## hearncl

hearncl said:


> I am downloading a program called "Bluegrass Underground" (PBS, 30 minutes, HD) from a TiVo S3 to a Mac Pro running Lion. The video downloads perfectly, but the resulting .mp4 file has no audio. I'm using the Quicktime (H264 5Mbps) format, but other iTiVo formats give the same problem. Other iTiVo settings are the defaults.
> 
> Other programs recorded on the S3 (PBS and other channels) download with both video and audio. "Bluegrass Underground" plays perfectly on the S3 itself; based on my receiver's display, the audio appears to be 2-channel stereo.


I found that if I used the iTiVo FFmpeg (mpeg-2) format, the resulting .mpg file had the audio. A remaining problem is that the audio starts out in sync with the video, but becomes increasingly out of sync.


----------



## aindik

hearncl said:


> I found that if I used the iTiVo FFmpeg (mpeg-2) format, the resulting .mpg file had the audio. A remaining problem is that the audio starts out in sync with the video, but becomes increasingly out of sync.


I've had the best results using iTiVo just to download and decrypt, and then using Handbrake to convert to mp4. Obviously that's two steps instead of one, which is annoying, but I've found the results to be better.

On Handbrake I use the AppleTV 2 preset settings, which preserves the source resolution if 720p or lower, or downconverts to 720p if source is higher, and also preserves AC3 audio (5.1 surround).


----------



## Fofer

Is the AppleTV 2 preset in Handbrake better than the "Apple - Universal" preset?


----------



## Phantom Gremlin

Fofer said:


> Is the AppleTV 2 preset in Handbrake better than the "Apple - Universal" preset?


Yes it's much higher quality output, at least if you're starting with an HD source.

You can see this for yourself by selecting a source file in Handbrake, then toggling between various presets, and looking at what Handbrake says it will generate as output. E.g. on one 1080i TV show I just tried, Universal would generate 720x400 while AppleTV 2 would generate 1280x704.

The tradeoff is that the AppleTV 2 preset will generate much larger files than the Universal preset.


----------



## hearncl

hearncl said:


> I found that if I used the iTiVo FFmpeg (mpeg-2) format, the resulting .mpg file had the audio. A remaining problem is that the audio starts out in sync with the video, but becomes increasingly out of sync.


Thanks to the excellent suggestions following my original posts, I downloaded the program using the iTiVo "decrypt" setting. The download had the audio, and there was only a slight audio/video sync problem near the end (played in VLC). I used Handbrake to convert to .m4v using the the iPad preset, and trimmed the promotional messages from the beginning and end of the converted file using QuickTime player.


----------



## tony1athome

Hi,

I'm a new contributor to iTiVo and am helping out on maintenance issues.

Tony


----------



## Fofer

Sweet! Welcome, Tony!


----------



## thenightfly42

Tony, that is wonderful news.


----------



## Kazuri

Hi, I've been happily using iTivo with my Mac for years. Suddenly now I can't find downloaded shows in the usual download location. The iTivo pane says they've been downloaded, but they simply aren't there. I've checked "Preferences" and it still says to download to the same folder as before. Can anyone help? (Also, can anyone provide instructions on how to download from iTivo to iTunes? Many thanks!


----------



## myxpykalix

I am going to buy an Ipad to download and watch movies on as I travel, is the iTivo app appropriate to use to transfer movies from my tivo premiere to the ipad? How complicated is this process? Can i also load movies from my PC HD to the ipad?
(i apoligise, i did not read all pages in this thread as it was starting to make my hair hurt!) THanks!


----------



## adspguy

I routinely use iTivo to download shows from my TiVo 3hd devices to my iPad, iPhones, or just to watch on my Mac. It should work for you too. It is free give it a try.


----------



## SnakeEyes

Not working with mountain lion. anyone with a suggestion for getting decoded files?


----------



## Smurfslayer

SnakeEyes said:


> Not working with mountain lion. anyone with a suggestion for getting decoded files?


Nope. been googling for a couple hours now, tried a couple work arounds, its dead.

I tried using the tivodecode from iTivo via shell but that didnt work either.

Im rather tired of dealing with the PITA factor anyway. Is there a $$ solution that actually works and allows playing the videos on a computer, mac, idevice or other?


----------



## Fofer

TiVo Transfer that comes with Toast Titanium is one $$ solution.

kmttg also still works for me, and it's free.


----------



## ejonesss

yoav incase you dont read your pm

in your next version of itivo it would be nice to have a segmenter to chop the files into segments or just download the raw segments from the box without assembling


----------



## wmcbrine

ejonesss said:


> yoav incase you dont read your pm


Considering he hasn't been on since 2009, that seems likely.


----------



## mattack

Yeah, I suggest kmttg. It works MUCH better than iTivo, which is REALLY clunky. The only clunky thing about kmttg is the Java-ness, which means it has a funky catch all UI.

I originally used iTivo BTW.


----------



## lrhorer

mattack said:


> Yeah, I suggest kmttg. It works MUCH better than iTivo, which is REALLY clunky. The only clunky thing about kmttg is the Java-ness, which means it has a funky catch all UI.


Well, the Auto Transfer configuration is just a bit odd, if you ask me, but not difficult once one gets the idea. Otherwise, though, I tend to agree. It's still a terrific app, though.


----------



## javabird

A new update for iTivo has been posted

http://code.google.com/p/itivo/downloads/list


----------



## Fofer

javabird said:


> A new update for iTivo has been posted
> 
> http://code.google.com/p/itivo/downloads/list


WOO HOO!

Awesome holiday surprise! (I've figured this app wouldn't be seeing any updates.) This is great news as I vastly prefer the UI of iTiVo over kmttg.

iTiVo for my Mac and the TiVo app for iOS (working with TiVo Stream) for my iPad. I'm a happy camper.


----------



## wmcbrine

Fofer said:


> Awesome holiday surprise! (I've figured it was dead.)


I'd figured Yoav was dead.


----------



## tony1athome

Not dead. But he's given up. Some other folks are trying to pick up the slack.


----------



## javabird

It's still a beta, and has a few issues, but it seems to be working.


----------



## stratton

Macbook Air Mountain Lion user here. Also use Toast solely to get shows onto my iphone/ipad. Came here looking for help because my Toast 10 stopped seeing my TiVos after we changed cable providers in a move, although two other apple computers in the house could still see the DVRs. Roxio customer support is useless. I've tried itivo in the past and it hasn't worked. 

happy to say that Toast and iTivo are now no longer needed, because TiVo Stream allows you to download directly to your iphone or ipad when you are on your home network - thus skipping the download to computer, conversion, and sync with itunes. 

It's very single purpose - but it's the purpose I needed and I am very happy to not need Toast anymore.

I did try this release of itivo and it works sometimes. other times gets hung.


----------



## javabird

stratton said:


> Macbook Air Mountain Lion user here. Also use Toast solely to get shows onto my iphone/ipad. Came here looking for help because my Toast 10 stopped seeing my TiVos after we changed cable providers in a move, although two other apple computers in the house could still see the DVRs. Roxio customer support is useless. I've tried itivo in the past and it hasn't worked.
> 
> happy to say that Toast and iTivo are now no longer needed, because TiVo Stream allows you to download directly to your iphone or ipad when you are on your home network - thus skipping the download to computer, conversion, and sync with itunes.
> 
> It's very single purpose - but it's the purpose I needed and I am very happy to not need Toast anymore.
> 
> I did try this release of itivo and it works sometimes. other times gets hung.


Glad it's working for you. However, the Tivo Stream only works with a Premiere, so those of us with other Tivos (I have a TivoHD) aren't able to use it.


----------



## Marconi

I've been using iTiVo for years with minimal problems but suddenly, yesterday. it became impossible to download recordings. iTiVo is able to connect to any of my DVRs and get a listing of available recordings, but if I try to download anything, I get "Couldn't Download [name of recording]"

I've double-checked the MAK and it's good. I've tried using iTiVo on four separate Macs and all do the same thing.

In the past, I've encountered the same thing but rebooting my Ethernet switch always fixed it. This time, nothing fixes it. I shut down every TiVo, All WiFi routers, my MoCA adapters -- the entire network infrastructure, and then restarted everything but it did not solve the problem.

I *can* transfer between DVRs with MRV, just not to a Mac using iTivo.

I've tried iTiVo 1.7.7b3 and the newer beta of 2012-12-13 (which also claims to be 1.7.7b3).

Below is the iTiVo log file. To keep it as short as possible but still include all relevant info, I set the tries per download to 1, queued up a show to transfer, quit iTiVo and restarted it (to empty the log file) then hit Run Queue without the need to connect. So, here's the entire log from this attempt. (I've changed my MAK in the log.)



Code:


2013-02-16 10:03:54  =========== Starting ==========
2013-02-16 10:03:54 mDNS -B _tivo-videos._tcp local | colrm 1 74| grep -v 'Instance Name' |sort | uniq & 
sleep 2
killall mDNS
2013-02-16 10:03:56 read settings
2013-02-16 10:03:56 growlisrun: 0
2013-02-16 10:03:56 No Growl
2013-02-16 10:03:56 Using Homer:Applications:TiVoStuff:iTiVo.app:Contents:Resources:formats.plist
2013-02-16 10:03:56 Using format file : Homer:Applications:TiVoStuff:iTiVo.app:Contents:Resources:formats.plist
2013-02-16 10:03:56 getFormatsNames
2013-02-16 10:03:56 Format is Decrypt
2013-02-16 10:03:56 using format : Decrypt
2013-02-16 10:03:59 killed : 
2013-02-16 10:04:14 starting queue download...
2013-02-16 10:04:14 downloadItem called: 1,0
2013-02-16 10:04:15 checkDL
2013-02-16 10:04:15 perl /Applications/TiVoStuff/iTiVo.app/Contents/Resources/ParseDetail.pl 10.0.1.185 9999999999 6677038
2013-02-16 10:04:15 rm /tmp/iTiVo-marconi/iTiVoDL{,2,3}
2013-02-16 10:04:15 is download complete 0 / 0
2013-02-16 10:04:16 killed : 
2013-02-16 10:04:16 rm -f /tmp/iTiVo-marconi/iTiVoDLPipe* /tmp/iTiVo-marconi/iTiVoTDC* /tmp/iTiVo-marconi/iTiVoDLMeta*
2013-02-16 10:04:16 mkfifo /tmp/iTiVo-marconi/iTiVoDLPipe /tmp/iTiVo-marconi/iTiVoDLPipe2.mpg
2013-02-16 10:04:16 perl /Applications/TiVoStuff/iTiVo.app/Contents/Resources/http-fetcher.pl 10.0.1.185 6677038 Psych 9999999999 /tmp/iTiVo-marconi/iTiVoDLPipe >> ~/Library/Logs/iTiVo.log 2>&1 & echo $! ;exit 0
curl 'http://10.0.1.185:80/download/Psych.TiVo?Container=%2FNowPlaying&id=6677038' -c /tmp/cookies.txt --retry 12 --retry-delay 10 --digest -u tivo:9999999999 -o /tmp/iTiVo-marconi/iTiVoDLPipe --stderr /tmp/iTiVo-marconi/iTiVoDL
2013-02-16 10:04:16 perl /Applications/TiVoStuff/iTiVo.app/Contents/Resources/tivo-decoder.pl %2FApplications%2FTiVoStuff%2FiTiVo%2Eapp%2F 9999999999 >> ~/Library/Logs/iTiVo.log 2>&1 & echo $! ;exit 0
/Applications/TiVoStuff/iTiVo.app/Contents/Resources/tivodecode -n -D -m 9999999999 -o /tmp/iTiVo-marconi/iTiVoDLPipe2.mpg /tmp/iTiVo-marconi/iTiVoDLPipe
2013-02-16 10:04:16 perl /Applications/TiVoStuff/iTiVo.app/Contents/Resources/re-encoder.pl %2FApplications%2FTiVoStuff%2FiTiVo%2Eapp%2F %2FVolumes%2FLisa%2Fscratch%2Fincoming%2F Psych%5C%20%2D%5C%206677038.mpg 'cat' ' ' ' ' ' '  >> ~/Library/Logs/iTiVo.log 2>&1 & echo $! ;exit 0


cat -u       /tmp/iTiVo-marconi/iTiVoDLPipe2.mpg > /Volumes/Lisa/scratch/incoming/Psych\ -\ 6677038.mpg

2013-02-16 10:04:16 curl++ timeout: 0   currentFileSize: 0  fullFileSize:6648
Encryption by QUALCOMM ;)

read chunk data: Undefined error: 0

mv: rename chunk-01-0001.xml to /tmp/iTiVo-marconi/iTiVoDLMeta.xml: No such file or directory
2013-02-16 10:04:17 curl++ timeout: 1   currentFileSize: 0  fullFileSize:6648
2013-02-16 10:04:17 Running : touch /tmp/iTiVo-marconi/iTiVoDLPipe3.mpg
2013-02-16 10:04:18 is download complete 1 / 0
2013-02-16 10:04:18 is download complete 1 / 0
2013-02-16 10:04:18 Running : touch /tmp/iTiVo-marconi/iTiVoDLPipe3.mpg
2013-02-16 10:04:18 is download complete 1 / 0
2013-02-16 10:04:18 is download complete 1 / 0
2013-02-16 10:04:18 Download completed
2013-02-16 10:04:19 killed : 
2013-02-16 10:04:19 is download complete 1 / 0
2013-02-16 10:04:19 is download complete 1 / 0
2013-02-16 10:04:19 Complete=false  , 85% fullfilesize=5650.8 ;  currentfilesize=3.71932983398438e-05
2013-02-16 10:04:19 write_settings

Can anyone tell me what the problem is?


----------



## wmcbrine

Marconi said:


> Can anyone tell me what the problem is?


http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=9526322#post9526322

Everything is affected.


----------



## shack1108

Hey guys, I found a fix:

First, open Terminal and type in this command: 'curl -c cookies.txt -d "tivo:MAK" http:/ /tivoip:80'
(replace "MAK" with the Media Access Key and "tivoip" with the ip of your tivo) (and it won't let me post any "links" since it's my first post so remove the space between the first and second slash)
Then cookies.txt will be placed in your home folder.
Open it, and change the value 1360972800 to whatever you want (it's the number of seconds past January 1, 1970 that the cookie will expire). I just changed the first 1 to a 2.
Then, save it to some folder out of the way (I just threw it in my Documents folder).
Then, go to iTivo in the Applications folder, right-click, and click "Show Package Contents". Go to Contents, then Resources, then right-click on http-fetcher.pl, and open it in Text-Edit. Once there, change "-c /tmp/cookies.txt" to "-b /Users/'homefolder'/Documents/cookies.txt" (change 'homefolder' to the name of your user account). Then re-open iTivo and it should start working again!


----------



## javabird

shack1108 said:


> Hey guys, I found a fix:
> 
> First, open Terminal and type in this command: 'curl -c cookies.txt -d "tivo:MAK" http:/ /tivoip:80'
> (replace "MAK" with the Media Access Key and "tivoip" with the ip of your tivo) (and it won't let me post any "links" since it's my first post so remove the space between the first and second slash)
> Then cookies.txt will be placed in your home folder.
> Open it, and change the value 1360972800 to whatever you want (it's the number of seconds past January 1, 1970 that the cookie will expire). I just changed the first 1 to a 2.
> Then, save it to some folder out of the way (I just threw it in my Documents folder).
> Then, go to iTivo in the Applications folder, right-click, and click "Show Package Contents". Go to Contents, then Resources, then right-click on http-fetcher.pl, and open it in Text-Edit. Once there, change "-c /tmp/cookies.txt" to "-b /Users/'homefolder'/Documents/cookies.txt" (change 'homefolder' to the name of your user account). Then re-open iTivo and it should start working again!


Thank you for posting this. The fix is currently working for me.

BTW, when Tivo gets around to posting a fix for the issue, does this need to be changed in any way?


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## cautionespn

A different workaround:

Go to /Applications
Find iTivo, right click and choose "Duplicate"
Right click on the newly created iTivo Copy and choose "Show Package Contents"
Navigate to Contents > Resources and find http-fetcher.pl
Edit this in your favorite text editor 
On the line with:



Code:


$shellScript = "curl -q \'http://$tivoip\:80/download/$showNAME\.TiVo?Container=%2FNowPlaying&id=$showID\' -c /tmp/cookies.txt --retry 12 --retry-delay 10 --digest -u tivo:$MAK -o $target --stderr $TivoDir/iTiVoDL";


Change to:



Code:


$shellScript = "curl --cookie sid=abc -q \'http://$tivoip\:80/download/$showNAME\.TiVo?Container=%2FNowPlaying&id=$showID\' -c /tmp/cookies.txt --retry 12 --retry-delay 10 --digest -u tivo:$MAK -o $target --stderr $TivoDir/iTiVoDL";


Save and launch. Problem gone.


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## Graeber

If I am using multiple tivos, do I run this set of steps once per tivo?


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## Fofer

cautionespn said:


> A different workaround:


Thanks for this. Seems to be working fine on my iTiVo now!


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## Fofer

Graeber said:


> If I am using multiple tivos, do I run this set of steps once per tivo?


No, not sure about shack1108's solution, but at least if you follow cautionespn's easy instructions above, you only have to do it once, on that install of iTiVo on your Mac.


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## dcborn61

cautionespn said:


> A different workaround:
> 
> Go to /Applications
> Find iTivo, right click and choose "Duplicate"
> Right click on the newly created iTivo Copy and choose "Show Package Contents"
> Navigate to Contents > Resources and find http-fetcher.pl
> Edit this in your favorite text editor
> On the line with:
> 
> 
> 
> Code:
> 
> 
> $shellScript = "curl -q \'http://$tivoip\:80/download/$showNAME\.TiVo?Container=%2FNowPlaying&id=$showID\' -c /tmp/cookies.txt --retry 12 --retry-delay 10 --digest -u tivo:$MAK -o $target --stderr $TivoDir/iTiVoDL";
> 
> 
> Change to:
> 
> 
> 
> Code:
> 
> 
> $shellScript = "curl --cookie sid=abc -q \'http://$tivoip\:80/download/$showNAME\.TiVo?Container=%2FNowPlaying&id=$showID\' -c /tmp/cookies.txt --retry 12 --retry-delay 10 --digest -u tivo:$MAK -o $target --stderr $TivoDir/iTiVoDL";
> 
> 
> Save and launch. Problem gone.


I assume you then run the copy of iTivo and not the original application?


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## Fofer

Yeah, you're just working with the copy so in case something goes wrong you can revert to the original.

After your (modified) copy is confirmed to work, you can trash the original. At least, that's what I did


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## igirl

I've successfully enjoyed using iTivo to transfer many full HD shows in the past, but now I'm getting red circle © on everything from USA, TNT and TCM (probably others too).

Same thing on KMTTG - "This show is copy protected - cannot process"

We moved to another state and changed cable providers which may be partially the issue.

Any workaround? We need to clear up space on the Tivo HDD but not lose the shows just yet. :-/


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## bruiz

Like everyone else, I've been struggling to keep iTiVo running...

Recently, while searching for an answer to my iTiVo issues in Google, I came across another project on GoogleCode called "cTiVo" (code.google.com/p/ctivo).

The landing page says: _*cTiVo* is a Mac application to download shows from your TiVo Series 2, Series 3, TiVoHD, and Premiere device. Simple to set up and use, it will download shows to your mac, and convert them to many popular formats / devices. It is inspired by the great work done on iTivo, but written in Cocoa/Objective C for better performance / compatibility._

I asked the development team to add an encoder, and I have to say that they have been 1) Responsive, 2) Interested, 3) Enthusiastic!

They are in what they call "rapid development," and not all features are active, but I have to say that they have a working solution that is filling my iPad for my daily commute!

I recommend that interested users take a look.

R'grds - Ben.


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## Fofer

comskip doesn't work for me on iTiVo, it seems. The download/transfer just pauses.

Here's a link to cTiVo, thanks for the heads up, bruiz!

http://code.google.com/p/ctivo/


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## javabird

Fofer said:


> comskip doesn't work for me on iTiVo, it seems. The download/transfer just pauses.
> 
> Here's a link to cTiVo, thanks for the heads up, bruiz!
> 
> http://code.google.com/p/ctivo/


cTiVo looks promising, but I am having better results with com skip in iTivo.


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## Fofer

Odd. Last time I tried iTiVo with comskip enabled, it got stuck on that step.


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## javabird

I tried a couple of TV shows in both apps. The commercials were mostly still in the shows downloaded with cTivo, but when I used iTivo for the same shows iTivo had better results on cutting the commercials.


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## Fofer

Strange, considering (I think?) they both use the same "comskip" program to do the deed.


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## javabird

It is strange, I don't understand why it would make any difference.


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## Marconi

javabird said:


> It is strange, I don't understand why it would make any difference.


Check/compare comskip.ini in each.


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## sevenx7

I'll be giving this a try today! looks awesome thanks!


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## djsnyc

hello, thanks to cautionespn for the workaround, enabled me to start transferring file, previously"unable to download". BUT---it's been going on for 5 hours already, and still 1-1/2 hours away from finishing step 3 of 3. chose Mped-2 as file format; plan to view on my MacBook. Should i use one of the other file formats for a quicker transfer? thanks for the advice for this transfer newbie!


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## jerry7171

I'm fairly new to iTiVo and decided to give it a whirl. I've used KMTTG since last fall when I purchased my TiVo but being the foolhardy guy that I am, I thought I'd give iTiVo a try.

I like the interface, how thoughtfully it is designed and the polished appearance.

I carefully set iTiVo up as instructed to work around recent difficulties experienced by other users. To my delight but puzzlement, iTiVo came to life, but it immediately complained that it couldn't see my TiVo. I double-checked everything, tried again and just ignored the message and hit 'Okay.' 

My TiVo popped right up and after a moment, all the programming scrolled down. Excellent! I lined up a bunch of programming in queue, began the downloading and hardly had I sipped my Coke than I was told that the connection had been lost. I hit 'Okay' and it was back again, but now I had a "Waiting for TiVo" bubble and no way to dismiss it.

Yet a moment after that, the download began anew, but all the way from the beginning, essentially starting all over from scratch.

I don't have an option to plug a line in from my Mini to the TiVo Premiere across the house so I'm doing it wirelessly. I never had an issue with a wireless connection to download TiVo programming before. Is there something I'm overlooking or messing up?


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## mackworth

@javabird, in developing cTiVo, we did find a problem with our compilation of the 64bit version of comskip, which has been fixed. (Our first version was skipping commercials in the first 32MB of the file.)


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## javabird

mackworth said:


> @javabird, in developing cTiVo, we did find a problem with our compilation of the 64bit version of comskip, which has been fixed. (Our first version was skipping commercials in the first 32MB of the file.)


Aah, that explains it. I'll try the newest version again. Thanks.


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## misspinky

Love the sound of iTivo and would love to give it whirl. Is it available to Australian Tivo users?


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## mackworth

Both iTiVo and the newer cTiVo should work the same for the Australian TiVo; haven't heard of any differences in its support for offloading videos. Give it a try and let us know if you have a problem.


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## skyvue

cTivo sees my TivoHD on my network, while iTivo doesn't.

But 99% of the listed programs have the red C and are unavailable to me. (I'm a Time Warner Cable customer in NYC.)

Is there a workaround out there anywhere for this? I have no intention of illegally redistributing the programs or anything; I just want to watch them on my computer or iphone when traveling.


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## javabird

skyvue said:


> cTivo sees my TivoHD on my network, while iTivo doesn't.
> 
> But 99% of the listed programs have the red C and are unavailable to me. (I'm a Time Warner Cable customer in NYC.)
> 
> Is there a workaround out there anywhere for this? I have no intention of illegally redistributing the programs or anything; I just want to watch them on my computer or iphone when traveling.


iTivo works for me but there is a lag. You have to click Connect and then wait for it to load. cTivo is much faster.

Unfortunately, there isn't a solution for the red problem, unless you have a Tivo stream I guesss (I don't have one so can't vouch for that solution).


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## jimccjr

Two nights ago, (11/15/2013), Tivo pushed an update to my Tivo box. Since then, iTivo downloads pause at around 50%. Eventually, iTivo stops trying and the resulting file is incomplete. Anyone else having this issue?

Also, no one has posted to this forum in awhile. Is anyone still using iTivo? Has everyone switched to another application I don't know about?

Thanks!


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## Fofer

Try ctivo: https://code.google.com/p/ctivo/


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## jimccjr

Update: 

I have now tried iTivo, cTivo, and kmttg all with the exact same result.
Shows that are one hour in length (roughly 5000MG) only download to 50% (or 30 min). I have tried all three downloaders (above). I have power-cycled the Tivo, airport, etc. 

I did NOT have this issue until recently so I'm wondering if it has anything to do with the update that Tivo pushed out two nights ago (11/15). Is anyone else having this issue? Any thoughts? Suggestions?

Thanks!


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## jimccjr

Update 2: After further experimentation, this issue only happens with certain episodes and not all. I'm guessing it has to do with some glitch with the original file&#8230;or the way it was saved to my Tivo box. Hmmmm&#8230;.


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## Marconi

jimccjr said:


> Two nights ago, (11/15/2013),
> 
> ... Is anyone still using iTivo? Has everyone switched to another application I don't know about?
> 
> Thanks!


I'm still using iTivo but am considering a switch to kmttg, since the latter is still under development while iTiVo is not.

I had to downgrade the OS on one Mac to make iTiVo work better. I'm just guessing that KMTTG runs on the latest OS X Mavericks.


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## jimccjr

I have been using cTivo all day since Fofer recommended it to me earlier (scroll up). 

It works great! I've tried all three and cTivo is a lot more user friendly than kmttg in my opinion.


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