# Encoding to avoid transcoding in PyTivo & Streambaby



## reneg (Jun 19, 2002)

If possible, how does one encode video with ffmpeg such that transcoding is avoided in both PyTivo & Streambaby when moving the video to TiVo? I'm trying to conserve disk space so mpeg2 is not an option. I encoded a couple shows with H.264/AAC in a MP4 file which I thought might do the trick but they were transcoded by PyTivo and took forever to transfer. 

Today, I typically take shows off the Tivo, edit out commericials with Videoredo, convert the mpeg2 files to xvid with Winff. Since the files are xvid, they get transcoded through both PyTivo & Streambaby. I'd like to encode so that I can remove the transcoding step on my PC for both PyTivo & Streambaby. I have Streambaby 0.25 & I just loaded the wmcbrine git of PyTivo from 4/14/09.


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## moyekj (Jan 24, 2006)

This Wiki page describes native Tivo video compatibility and gives sample encoding recipes for both ffmpeg & handbrake.
For Streambaby you are better off loading the latest version rather than the Featured 0.25 version as there has been lots of fixes related to mp4 support (plus a lot of enhancements).


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## Yoav (Jan 13, 2007)

reneg said:


> is avoided in both PyTivo & Streambaby


Actually, right now, there is no solution.

The normal (pull) operation of pyTivo *requires* an mpeg-2 format. So there is no mp4 setting that will avoid re-encoding. If space is an issue, you can re-encode to a smaller mpeg-2 file and avoid a re-encode when using pytivo (and I *believe* streambaby will stream that too without re-encoding).

What moyekj sent you above works for streambaby and pyTivo push.


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## reneg (Jun 19, 2002)

Thanks for the information. I'll try those settings referenced on the wiki page. It's too bad the Tivo can't "pull" mp4 files. I'm trying to find a sweet spot of video quality, file size, and quickness of transfer that works for me. I'm hoping to be able to increase video quality with H.264 without compromising file size or quickness of transfer.


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## Sicklybutsexy (May 5, 2007)

reneg said:


> Thanks for the information. I'll try those settings referenced on the wiki page. It's too bad the Tivo can't "pull" mp4 files. I'm trying to find a sweet spot of video quality, file size, and quickness of transfer that works for me. I'm hoping to be able to increase video quality with H.264 without compromising file size or quickness of transfer.


With the newest streambaby downloads you can at leas tell your computer to "push" files to the tivo...from the tivo.


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## noseph (Oct 13, 2003)

I have been using WinFF to convert my movie collection from mpg to mp4. I prefer to stream rather than copy to my TiVo S3.

http://winff.org/html/


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## cburbs (Jan 29, 2009)

noseph said:


> I have been using WinFF to convert my movie collection from mpg to mp4. I prefer to stream rather than copy to my TiVo S3.
> 
> http://winff.org/html/


Which setting do you prefer to use?


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