# Tivo Desktop Linux



## kturcotte (Dec 9, 2002)

Is there a version of Tivo Desktop for Linux? Thinking about going to Linux, but I'd NEED a Tivo Desktop.


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## jmill (Feb 22, 2010)

no, there is no Linux version of "official" TiVo desktop.

There are several third party programs or you can always use web intereface to transfer recordings.


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## slowbiscuit (Sep 19, 2006)

<shrug> Get enough memory and run Windows in VirtualBox on Linux. But the third-party programs (pyTivo, kmttg) are far superior, albeit with a little more setup work. Both should work on Linux - pyTivo is python-based and kmttg is Java.


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## yuki-nagato (Nov 2, 2010)

ferrumpneuma said:


> I'm not sure if tivodesktop would run under wine in linux.


it won't I've tried.

https://theipaddressofthetivo

lists the files on the now playing list which are encoded in a modified MPEG2 format that needs to be converted to work otherwise it just skips a frakton of video under vlc/smplayer

btw. Suse isn't quite for newbies. I'd recommend Kubuntu or Linuxmint


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## Stormspace (Apr 13, 2004)

slowbiscuit said:


> <shrug> Get enough memory and run Windows in VirtualBox on Linux. But the third-party programs (pyTivo, kmttg) are far superior, albeit with a little more setup work. Both should work on Linux - pyTivo is python-based and kmttg is Java.


TiVo Desktop won't run in a virtual machine because the subnet of the VM is different than the LAN. At least with Virtual Box. You may be able to get around that with vmWare.


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## slowbiscuit (Sep 19, 2006)

I still don't get why people would want to bother with crappy Tivo Desktop on Linux when the alternatives are much better, support more formats, and work natively.


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## windracer (Jan 3, 2003)

Though showing its age, Galleon is still worth checking out as well ...


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## Stormspace (Apr 13, 2004)

windracer said:


> Though showing its age, Galleon is still worth checking out as well ...


I'm really bumming on these java clients. I wish someone would develop a native app for Linux or Windows that did what KMTTG does. The java app runs like a dog on my slower hardware and the screen refresh is atrocious.


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## slowbiscuit (Sep 19, 2006)

You've got a hardware problem, not a Java one. It ran fine on an old P4 1.6 w/512MB running XP that I used as a server before recently retiring it.


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## kturcotte (Dec 9, 2002)

I know this is old, but I'm about to do a Windows reinstall, and I think I'm going to try Kubuntu instead. Wondering about a few things though. Which version should I download? I see 11.04 & 10.04 LTS. I also see it recommends the 32 bit version. I do have a 64 bit processor. Should I still stick with the 32 bit version anyway? I have 6 GBs of RAM and want to utilize all of it.
I use my 1080p TV as my monitor. Any problems outputting a 1920x1080p signal in Linux (ATI Radeon 5870).
Any antivirus/spyware needed?
I use an IR receiver that came with my older computer. IT accepts commands from a remote and from my keyboard. Is this going to be a problem?
Any problems in general with my hardware?

Intel Core i7 920
6GBs DDR3 RAM
ATI Radeon HD5870
Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Champion Series Sound Card
Canon Printer
Intel PCI-E based NIC


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## justen_m (Jan 15, 2004)

I'm running Ubuntu 11.04 on two dual-boot machines (XP and Linux). It seems the main difference between 10.10 and 11.04 is the introduction of the new Unity 3D GUI (big difference). It came as a bit of a shock when it auto-upgraded on me. I don't think you'll have a problem with video (I run 1680x1050 on my workstation and 1024x600 on my netbook). Plus, 11.04 will come with newer versions of Firefox and who knows what else.

No anti-virus -spyware programs needed. Just don't log in as root all the time.  My only problems have been getting my webcam and microphone to work on my netbook so I need to boot Windows to Skype, and to run Tivo Desktop as mentioned in this thread. I also downloaded the MVFS(?) hosts file to avoid some bad websites.

I tried installing it on my parents' XP desktop (dual booting, again), but couldn't run the 3D interface as their cheap old computer doesn't seem to support Unity 3D, just Unity 2D or the classic interface. No hardware 3D acceleration. You can choose at login time. Unity 2D is a package to install (fairly small but not normally included with 11.04). I've only used the 32bit version, but I've only got 4GB of RAM in my workstation and 1GB in my netbook.


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## tomhorsley (Jul 22, 2010)

If you just use tivo desktop for getting the occasional program off of the tivo and onto disk (which is what I need). I've got a little script I use for that documented here:

http://home.comcast.net/~tomhorsley/software/tivo/wallpaper.html

(My primary use is extracting desktop wallpaper images from Mythbusters episodes .


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## wmcbrine (Aug 2, 2003)

I've been using 64-bit Ubuntu for like six years now. There was very little reason to bother with 32-bit back then (mainly Flash and Java), and AFAIK, there's no reason at all now. Linux is way ahead of Windows in this area.


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## justen_m (Jan 15, 2004)

tomhorsley said:


> http://home.comcast.net/~tomhorsley/software/tivo/wallpaper.html


Thanks Tom, that was easy. I just needed to install curl and configure and make tivodecode. Now I can download and watch my TiVo recordings under Linux. Previously, I was using TivoDesktop and VideoRedo on my XP machines.


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## PaJo (Dec 17, 2001)

After upgrading my kubuntu system to Natty, (11.4 amd 64) I have been having a lot of trouble with wine & cxoffice. Programs such as DVDFAB QT no longer work , but the pre QT versions of DVDFAB work OK. It's pretty early , I am sure it will be fixed. I suggest new people also look at Linux Mint 11 RC if you never used linux before. It's a very simple to use distribution and you can easily add kde if you so desire.

Linux Mint 11 "Katya" released!
http://www.linuxmint.com/

ON Edit: Another point of interest is I need to use cpulimit to keep the latest version of Handbrake,( compiled for Natty) , from hogging the cpu Once again, I am sure it will be fixed, aND have been fixed already but keep it in mind if you use these programs.


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## mvwhyatt (Oct 10, 2010)

Thanks Tom. Using curl, tivodecode, and your bash script worked for me.

:up:


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## justen_m (Jan 15, 2004)

mvwhyatt said:


> Thanks Tom. Using curl, tivodecode, and your bash script worked for me.
> 
> :up:


Another thanks. Still working for me too, Tom. Ubuntu 13.11. On four boxes.

I watched the A-Team movie while traveling for the holidays. Not sure if I should thank you for that.


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## alansh (Jan 3, 2003)

I'm using a variation on it:

```
#!/bin/bash
TITLE="The Simpsons"
# Tivo MAK
MAK=XXXXXXXXX
# Base program file name
progname=simpsons
# Tivo address
tivo=192.168.0.251
# Get current Now Playing XML
curl --anyauth --cookie-jar cookies.txt --output nowplaying.xml --user tivo:$MAK --insecure "https://$tivo/TiVoConnect?Command=QueryContainer&Container=%2FNowPlaying&Recurse=Yes"
# Find first program with matching title
url=$(xpath nowplaying.xml '(//Item/Details/Title[text()="'"$TITLE"'"])[1]/../..//Content/Url/text()')
# Fix &amp; to &
url2=$(echo "$url" | sed 's/\&amp;/\&/g'i)
# Get program .TIVO file
curl --anyauth --cookie "sid=abc" --output ${progname}.tivo --user tivo:$MAK "$url2"
# Convert to mpg file
tivodecode --mak $MAK --out ${progname}.mpg ${progname}.tivo
rm ${progname}.tivo
```
This requires Perl's XML::Xpath (for Fedora, it's in the perl-XML-XPath package) to provide xpath to parse the XML Now Showing file.

The advantage is that it gets the most recent episode by title, rather than you having to look up the URL. Xpath gurus could also filter on other criteria, and do stuff like include the program date in the filename.


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