# Transer Videos to external hard drive for Tivo playback?



## atomarchio (Sep 24, 2006)

I've been using an LX195 home server with Streambaby for kids videos which has worked fine.

However, would there be a way to remove the home server? Having a dedicated box for this purpose seems to be overkill for me. 

I was thinking about adding an external hard drive to the Premiere which my kids share. I have about 75 movies in MP4 which total about 150GB.

What's the fastest/easiest way to get them onto the Tivo? Can I put them on a harddrive and then just connect to the Tivo? Would the Tivo see the movies?

The other option would be to manually transfer them all but it could take several days at least. That process just from testing a movie seems quite slow.

Please let me know if you have any ideas. Thanks.


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## steve614 (May 1, 2006)

You cannot put movies on an external hard drive and plug it into the Tivo. It will not work. The external hard drive has to be paired with the Tivo.

The only external hard drive that works with Tivo is this one:
http://www.amazon.com/Book-Expander...Z60S/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1370821937&sr=8-1

That will increase the recording space.
In order to get the movies on your Tivo, you have to transfer them from the computer, and they have to be in .mpg format.
If you setup PyTivo on the computer, you will be able to 'push' (initiate transfer from computer) .mp4 files to the Tivo.


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## SNJpage1 (May 25, 2006)

If you connect the external drive to your computer and put the movies on that, you can play them on the computer and you can set up your TiVo to access the files when you want to watch them. Most wired and and wireless systems are fast enough to watch the movie as it is being transferred to the TiVo. Tivo desktop will allow you to set that up.


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## atomarchio (Sep 24, 2006)

SNJpage1 said:


> If you connect the external drive to your computer and put the movies on that, you can play them on the computer and you can set up your TiVo to access the files when you want to watch them. Most wired and and wireless systems are fast enough to watch the movie as it is being transferred to the TiVo. Tivo desktop will allow you to set that up.


What I am trying to is remove the need for Tivo Desktop and a dedicated PC always on 24/7.

I am trying to determine if I can plug an external hard drive into the Tivo directly or into my router via USB.

Is there a way to do that? (without a PC, just Tivo and external hard drive)


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## wmcbrine (Aug 2, 2003)

No. You can connect an external drive, but the TiVo can only use it by reformatting it to it own system, which you won't be able to use from the PC.


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## atomarchio (Sep 24, 2006)

wmcbrine said:


> No. You can connect an external drive, but the TiVo can only use it by reformatting it to it own system, which you won't be able to use from the PC.


Got it. Do you know the largest external hard drive that I could purchase for a Tivo?

And is there a single command to mass transfer 100 MP4 videos to the drive? Or would have to transfer one by one.


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## steve614 (May 1, 2006)

atomarchio said:


> Got it. Do you know the largest external hard drive that I could purchase for a Tivo?


From post #2...



steve614 said:


> The only external hard drive that works with Tivo is this one:
> http://www.amazon.com/Book-Expander...Z60S/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1370821937&sr=8-1


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## SNJpage1 (May 25, 2006)

I have a NAS connected to my router and I wasn't able to make it where I could store the TiVo videos using Desk top.


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## atomarchio (Sep 24, 2006)

SNJpage1 said:


> I have a NAS connected to my router and I wasn't able to make it where I could store the TiVo videos using Desk top.


Yeah I did not try the NAS as others have suggested in these forums because I knew I would have a tough time getting it to work.

I instead purchased an HP Slimline Desktop and Windows Pro to stream videos, photos and music.

Even if I could get the videos to work with NAS, what about the photos?

The only downside I see is having to keep the HP Slimline on all of the time.

How much more do you think I will pay to in electricity costs to run the desktop (220watt Power Supply) 24/7 as compared to the LX195 windows home server. (150watt power supply)

I am trying to figure out how to calculate electricity cost. My bill reads 6.27 cents per KWH.

Can someone help me do the math? How do calculate the monthly energy cost?


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## moyekj (Jan 24, 2006)

Monthly cost in cents = (Watts/1000)*30days*24hours/day*6.27 cents/KWH

So if computer for example is running @ 100 Watts you get:
(100/1000)*30*24*6.27 = 451 cents = $4.51/month


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## atomarchio (Sep 24, 2006)

moyekj said:


> Monthly cost in cents = (Watts/1000)*30days*24hours/day*6.27 cents/KWH
> 
> So if computer for example is running @ 100 Watts you get:
> (100/1000)*30*24*6.27 = 451 cents = $4.51/month


So in my example at 220 watts the cost would be $9.93 per month.

However, wouldn't this number be high because the computer is in idle mode most of the time drawing much less than the 220 watt power supply max.

How would I calculate what the idle mode power consumption would be?


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## ggieseke (May 30, 2008)

Buy or borrow a kill-a-watt meter. That's the only way you'll really know how much it's drawing. My PC has a 1175W power supply but it rarely draws more than 200W even with 2 quad-core Xeon processors, 7 drives, and all power management features disabled.


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## atomarchio (Sep 24, 2006)

ggieseke said:


> Buy or borrow a kill-a-watt meter. That's the only way you'll really know how much it's drawing. My PC has a 1175W power supply but it rarely draws more than 200W even with 2 quad-core Xeon processors, 7 drives, and all power management features disabled.


I will do that. Will the meter still work even if it's plugged into a UPS?


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## stark (Dec 31, 2003)

I've got a Roku XS and I have an external USB harddrive attached to it with MP4 files.

I'm sure that it draws less power than a full-blown PC.


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## ggieseke (May 30, 2008)

atomarchio said:


> I will do that. Will the meter still work even if it's plugged into a UPS?


Yeah, as long as it's between the device and the UPS.


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## jcthorne (Jan 28, 2002)

Wish I could buy power at 6.27c per KWH. Paying 10.5 here in Houston and I know the CA guys pay much more than that.


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## jcthorne (Jan 28, 2002)

stark said:


> I've got a Roku XS and I have an external USB harddrive attached to it with MP4 files.
> 
> I'm sure that it draws less power than a full-blown PC.


Desktop, yes but many recent laptops are very efficient. My Dell 6520 that I use for 24/7 home media functions uses less than 20 watts at idle and seldom uses much more. Only has a 70w power supply. Newer ones are even better, that machine is a run of the mill i5 processor.


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## atomarchio (Sep 24, 2006)

If I buy an 1TB external hard drive and connect to Tivo, how many MP4 movies (2-3GB) do you think it would hold?


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## jrtroo (Feb 4, 2008)

Remember, an external drive connected to a Tivo is also drawing power. Not much, but it does impact the marginal increase for having a pc on 24/7. If you had it shut down overnight it would decrease the overall consumption greatly.


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## moyekj (Jan 24, 2006)

jcthorne said:


> Wish I could buy power at 6.27c per KWH. Paying 10.5 here in Houston and I know the CA guys pay much more than that.


 Yup, and it's a tiered system here too - different rates as you progress through 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th tiers of consumption and different rates depending on if it is winter or summer. It's hard to predict what the bill will be but just for my small house we routinely pay upwards of $150/month for electric alone.


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## atomarchio (Sep 24, 2006)

I am leaving the PC on 24/7 as it's the basement and seems too much of a pain to turn on and off every night. Even with remote desktop feature.

Can I push MP4 movies from PC to Tivo using a new folder that I create?

I would still think the external drive on Tivo is much more efficient that keeping a dedciated PC with 220 watt power supply running 24/7, right?


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## unitron (Apr 28, 2006)

atomarchio said:


> I am leaving the PC on 24/7 as it's the basement and seems too much of a pain to turn on and off every night. Even with remote desktop feature.
> 
> Can I push MP4 movies from PC to Tivo using a new folder that I create?
> 
> I would still think the external drive on Tivo is much more efficient that keeping a dedciated PC with 220 watt power supply running 24/7, right?


Better to put a 2TB drive in the TiVo than to attach an external.

And as far as I know, you can only have the TiVo pull from the computer but cannot push to the TiVo.


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## unitron (Apr 28, 2006)

I have a PC that's basically a Tivo Desktop dedicated 24/7 machine.

If I put a shortcut to a Buffalo LinkStation Pro in the "My TiVo Recordings" folder, I can see it, and pull shows from it, on the TiVos.

Maybe this has to do with the way the LinkStation software "presents" the LS to the PC.


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## atomarchio (Sep 24, 2006)

unitron said:


> I have a PC that's basically a Tivo Desktop dedicated 24/7 machine.
> 
> If I put a shortcut to a Buffalo LinkStation Pro in the "My TiVo Recordings" folder, I can see it, and pull shows from it, on the TiVos.
> 
> Maybe this has to do with the way the LinkStation software "presents" the LS to the PC.


Yes but you need the PC on for the folder to appear on the Tivo, right?


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## atomarchio (Sep 24, 2006)

What I am looking for is an external drive which the Tivo could access my MP4 movies without having a PC on also. Any ideas?


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## jrtroo (Feb 4, 2008)

No such thing connected to a Tivo.

So, you need to think network device. A NAS/server or (what I would investigate) even a quick-booting laptop/nettop with attached storage that you can power down/up quickly and stick in a closet/under the couch. NASs are great as they can backup your PCs 24/7 and not have any marginal increase of power to use with Tivo. 

I use WHS and never looked back, too bad its no longer supported...


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## wmcbrine (Aug 2, 2003)

unitron said:


> And as far as I know, you can only have the TiVo pull from the computer but cannot push to the TiVo.


Certainly you can push. (Haven't we had this discussion before?)


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