# Software to convert TIVO files to Mpeg



## phughes200 (Jul 24, 2014)

Any recommendations for a program to convert TIVO files to MPEG? Would prefer free and able to run on Windows.


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## BigJimOutlaw (Mar 21, 2004)

KMTTG is great. The interface has a small learning curve but it has lots of useful features.


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## ThAbtO (Apr 6, 2000)

TivoDecode is what is used by KMTTG. It can be used without by the included GUI program.


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## Teeps (Aug 16, 2001)

ThAbtO said:


> TivoDecode is what is used by KMTTG. It can be used without by the included GUI program.


Is there any advantage to first downloading the .tivo file to a PC.
Then as a second operation, use TivoDecode to decrypt?


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## lpwcomp (May 6, 2002)

Teeps said:


> Is there any advantage to first downloading the .tivo file to a PC.
> Then as a second operation, use TivoDecode to decrypt?


That's the usual procedure. kmttg (at least least 1.x) does have an option to combine download and tivodecode decrypt, but it's always been problematic and is not recommended.


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## phughes200 (Jul 24, 2014)

I have had problems with KTTMG. Can TivoDecode be run in Windows?


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## lpwcomp (May 6, 2002)

phughes200 said:


> I have had problems with KTTMG. Can TivoDecode be run in Windows?


Yes.

There's also tivolibre.

Exactly what problems have you had with kmttg?


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## phughes200 (Jul 24, 2014)

This is the error message I am getting:

C:\Users\phugh\Downloads\kmttg_v2.0s\tivodecode\tivodecode.exe --mak MAK --no-verify --out "D:\My TiVo Recordings\New folder\Unit One (Recorded Aug 2, 2015, WTVIDT2) (2).mpg" "D:\My TiVo Recordings\Unit One (Recorded Aug 2, 2015, WTVIDT2) (2).TiVo" 

tivodecode failed (exit code: 10 ) - check command: C:\Users\phugh\Downloads\kmttg_v2.0s\tivodecode\tivodecode.exe --mak MAK --no-verify --out "D:\My TiVo Recordings\New folder\Unit One (Recorded Aug 2, 2015, WTVIDT2) (2).mpg" "D:\My TiVo Recordings\Unit One (Recorded Aug 2, 2015, WTVIDT2) (2).TiVo" 

TiVo Private Data : Unmatched Stream ID: No error

ts_handle_tivo_private_data failed: No error

processing frame: No error

Encryption by QUALCOMM


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## Teeps (Aug 16, 2001)

lpwcomp said:


> That's the usual procedure. kmttg (at least least 1.x) does have an option to combine download and tivodecode decrypt, but it's always been problematic and is not recommended.


Problematic?
I'm using kmttg 2.0s in that very configuration, Decrypt and QSfix are both checked.

What problems have you encountered using download & decrypt routine?


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## moyekj (Jan 24, 2006)

phughes200 said:


> This is the error message I am getting:
> 
> C:\Users\phugh\Downloads\kmttg_v2.0s\tivodecode\tivodecode.exe --mak MAK --no-verify --out "D:\My TiVo Recordings\New folder\Unit One (Recorded Aug 2, 2015, WTVIDT2) (2).mpg" "D:\My TiVo Recordings\Unit One (Recorded Aug 2, 2015, WTVIDT2) (2).TiVo"
> 
> ...


 You're trying to use tivodecode with a TS .TiVo file is the problem here. You can configure kmttg to use tivolibre or DirectShow under config-Program Options for decryption instead and it will work fine.


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## justen_m (Jan 15, 2004)

Looks like your kmttg is downloading things in Transport Stream format? tivodecode doesn't work with TS format. I think you need to use PS format.

In kmttg, go to File->Configure->Program Options and uncheck Download TiVo files in Transport Stream format.


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## moyekj (Jan 24, 2006)

justen_m said:


> Looks like your kmttg is downloading things in Transport Stream format? tivodecode doesn't work with TS format. I think you need to use PS format.
> 
> In kmttg, go to File->Configure->Program Options and uncheck Download TiVo files in Transport Stream format.


 Alternatively with latest versions of kmttg you can just enable tivolibre for decrypt which works with either TS or PS .TiVo files.


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## lpwcomp (May 6, 2002)

Teeps said:


> Problematic?
> I'm using kmttg 2.0s in that very configuration, Decrypt and QSfix are both checked.
> 
> What problems have you encountered using download & decrypt routine?


Do you have the "Combine download and tivodecode decrypt" option checked?


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## Teeps (Aug 16, 2001)

lpwcomp said:


> Do you have the "Combine download and tivodecode decrypt" option checked?


Yes.

Again, it seems to work fine for me.
The files processed by kmttg come out as .mpg, I then use VideoRedo to edit the commercials.
Never had a problem, that I know of...


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## justen_m (Jan 15, 2004)

moyekj said:


> Alternatively with latest versions of kmttg you can just enable tivolibre for decrypt which works with either TS or PS .TiVo files.


tivolibre... is that the java version of tivodecode I saw mentioned somewhere? You incorporated it into kmttg? I am guessing yes because I just turned on TS download and tivolibre decrypt (kmttg v2.0s) and it works on my Linux box. Cool. The download is a real bottleneck and using TS over PS is significantly faster. Thanks.


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## phughes200 (Jul 24, 2014)

Somehow I screwed up my settings.

I use to be able to click on kmttg.jar to execute the kmttg program. Now that does not work. What program should I be using to execute this file?


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## moyekj (Jan 24, 2006)

justen_m said:


> tivolibre... is that the java version of tivodecode I saw mentioned somewhere? You incorporated it into kmttg? I am guessing yes because I just turned on TS download and tivolibre decrypt (kmttg v2.0s) and it works on my Linux box. Cool. The download is a real bottleneck and using TS over PS is significantly faster. Thanks.


Thanks to fflewddur and his Java port of TivoDecode


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## moyekj (Jan 24, 2006)

phughes200 said:


> Somehow I screwed up my settings.
> 
> I use to be able to click on kmttg.jar to execute the kmttg program. Now that does not work. What program should I be using to execute this file?


 You need latest Oracle Java 8 release installed.


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## lpwcomp (May 6, 2002)

Teeps said:


> Yes.
> 
> Again, it seems to work fine for me.
> The files processed by kmttg come out as .mpg, I then use VideoRedo to edit the commercials.
> Never had a problem, that I know of...


And you do _*not*_ have the "Decrypt using VideoRedo instead of tivodecode" option checked?


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## Teeps (Aug 16, 2001)

lpwcomp said:


> And you do _*not*_ have the "Decrypt using VideoRedo instead of tivodecode" option checked?


Correct. 
VideoRedo is not used to decrypt .tivo files.

kmttg:
On the videoredo tab, I have first and last boxes checked.
First box, enables videoredo
Last box, only allows 1 VDR operation at a time.

On the programs tab, all programs are default for kmttg 2.0s.
first line on the list is tivodecode = C:\kmttg\tivodecode\tivodecode.exe

I'm a very basic user of both kmttg and videoredo.
Off load tivo files, decrypt, edit commercials (manually.) 
I find the addcut (kmttg) and ad detective (videored) services totally lacking in their ability to accurately cut all the commercials out, not to mention taking a very very long time. 
I can edit a 60 min program in under 2 minutes manually.


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## phughes200 (Jul 24, 2014)

moyekj said:


> You need latest Oracle Java 8 release installed.


I have the latest release (1.8.0_60) installed. I also followed the install instructions and associated .jar to c:\Program Files\Java\jre1.8.0_60\bin\javaw.exe using the following commands:

assoc .jar=jarfile
ftype jarfile="C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.8.0_60\bin\javaw.exe" -jar "%1" %*

Double clicking kmttg.jar does nothing. Opening kmttg.jar with javaw.exe does nothing.

Could this be a Windows 10 problem?


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## phughes200 (Jul 24, 2014)

Thanks. Since the original question was answered I will start a new thread for my installation issues.


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## lpwcomp (May 6, 2002)

Teeps said:


> Correct.
> VideoRedo is not used to decrypt .tivo files.
> 
> kmttg:
> ...


1. There have been reported problems with combining download and decrypt and it doesn't work for TS downloads, which are faster and

2. If you are going to run qsfix (definitely recommended), then you might as well not do it anyway because qsfix is what is used when you decrypt with VRD.

3. I find VRD ad detective to be a good starting point and it's not like I have nothing else to do while it is running. It's usually spot on for BBCA shows. But to each his own.


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## moyekj (Jan 24, 2006)

With tivolibre enabled you can now download/decrypt TS downloads, but I also prefer not to combine download/decrypt for reasons already given.


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

Teeps said:


> VideoRedo is not used to decrypt .tivo files.


That's true but one major difference is that VideoReDo uses the DirectShow filter included with TiVo Desktop to do the decryption, whereas kmttg uses tivodecode. tivodecode works fine for PS files but is not 100% for TS files. The DirectShow filter is 100% with both file types. So for Windows at least it's the best option.


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## phughes200 (Jul 24, 2014)

moyekj said:


> With tivolibre enabled you can now download/decrypt TS downloads, but I also prefer not to combine download/decrypt for reasons already given.


Thanks for helping those of us that are clueless. I got it to work based on your advice.


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## moyekj (Jan 24, 2006)

Dan203 said:


> That's true but one major difference is that VideoReDo uses the DirectShow filter included with TiVo Desktop to do the decryption, whereas kmttg uses tivodecode. tivodecode works fine for PS files but is not 100% for TS files. The DirectShow filter is 100% with both file types. So for Windows at least it's the best option.


 Dan, things have changed now with tivolibre which works great to decrypt TS files and doesn't need DirectShow and is platform independent, see a few posts up. Also, kmttg has option to use DirectShow directly or VideoRedo for decrypting as well, so there's lots of options for decrypting TS TiVo files.


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## lpwcomp (May 6, 2002)

Even if you aren't running qsfix, there is no need to decrypt. You can open a .tivo file with VRD. In fact, .tivo files are associatied with VRD, at least on my system.


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## Teeps (Aug 16, 2001)

lpwcomp said:


> 1. There have been reported problems with combining download and decrypt and it doesn't work for TS downloads, which are faster and
> 
> 2. If you are going to run qsfix (definitely recommended), then you might as well not do it anyway because qsfix is what is used when you decrypt with VRD.
> 
> 3. I find VRD ad detective to be a good starting point and it's not like I have nothing else to do while it is running. It's usually spot on for BBCA shows. But to each his own.


Ok, now I'm really confused... but, I will gladly try what others are doing.
I have videoredo ver 3.10.3.629 Nov. 2011. loaded on a PC with win7 sp1.

Ip, what settings do you use? 
Is there a consensus for "best practice" using kmttg?


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

Dan203 said:


> That's true but one major difference is that VideoReDo uses the DirectShow filter included with TiVo Desktop to do the decryption, whereas kmttg uses tivodecode. tivodecode works fine for PS files but is not 100% for TS files. The DirectShow filter is 100% with both file types. So for Windows at least it's the best option.


TS files are the fastest download right? That is all I use for transfers with KMTTG. Then I use the VideoReDo batch manager to convert the programs from .tivo to .mpg. I then use Nero to create a DVD from those mpg files for my GF.


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

aaronwt said:


> TS files are the fastest download right? That is all I use for transfers with KMTTG. Then I use the VideoReDo batch manager to convert the programs from .tivo to .mpg. I then use Nero to create a DVD from those mpg files for my GF.


Any reason you don't use VRD to make the DVD?


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## tomhorsley (Jul 22, 2010)

lpwcomp said:


> 1. There have been reported problems with combining download and decrypt and it doesn't work for TS downloads


In my scripts at home I always pipe the output from curl (doing the download) into tivodecode, and I've never noticed a problem doing that. I've even tried out the latest patched version of tivodecode with .ts files and so far my results have been very good.


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## ThAbtO (Apr 6, 2000)

Dan203 said:


> Any reason you don't use VRD to make the DVD?


One possible reason, its not VRD TVSuite.


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## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

aaronwt said:


> TS files are the fastest download right? That is all I use for transfers with KMTTG. Then I use the VideoReDo batch manager to convert the programs from .tivo to .mpg. I then use Nero to create a DVD from those mpg files for my GF.


Couldn't you run a process on her laptop/yours that would upload all those videos to her TiVos, and requiring less time/effort than the DVD creation?


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## lpwcomp (May 6, 2002)

aaronwt said:


> TS files are the fastest download right? That is all I use for transfers with KMTTG. Then I use the VideoReDo batch manager to convert the programs from .tivo to .mpg. I then use Nero to create a DVD from those mpg files for my GF.





krkaufman said:


> Couldn't you run a process on her laptop/yours that would upload all those videos to her TiVos, and requiring less time/effort than the DVD creation?


If the GF has a TiVo, he could.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

Dan203 said:


> Any reason you don't use VRD to make the DVD?


I'm not sure if I ever tried that. But Nero has dozens of themes to choose from for the dvd menus, so I typically choose a different one for each disc. I guess I'll need to try it with VideoReDo sometime.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

ThAbtO said:


> One possible reason, its not VRD TVSuite.


I think that is what I have. Or at least I did at one point.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

krkaufman said:


> Couldn't you run a process on her laptop/yours that would upload all those videos to her TiVos, and requiring less time/effort than the DVD creation?


She uses S3 (OLED) TiVos over wireless. So the transfer rates are slow. I've transferred the HD recordings in the past but it takes too long. I have her pc setup with a tivo login to do this. But in the end its quicker for me to burn them to disc.

Just last week was twenty hours of lifetime hd recordings. If I can ever get her to go to the Roamio and Mini then I will replace her router and use wireless Bridges. And with the faster transfer rates I would just use the PC to transfer the content.

But since the S3 boxes, with 5 platter, 1TB Hitachi drives are built like tanks, They have shown no issues during the last 8.5 years since I installed the drives. I'm still amazed they have lasted this long with 24/7/365 usage.


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## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

aaronwt said:


> I've transferred the HD recordings in the past but it takes too long. I have her pc setup with a tivo login to do this. But in the end its quicker for me to burn them to disc.


Yeah, I figured you'd been there, but I was curious as to what pushed you to go the disc route. Thanks for the feedback.


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## lpwcomp (May 6, 2002)

aaronwt said:


> She uses S3 (OLED) TiVos over wireless. So the transfer rates are slow. I've transferred the HD recordings in the past but it takes too long. I have her pc setup with a tivo login to do this. But in the end its quicker for me to burn them to disc.
> 
> Just last week was twenty hours of lifetime hd recordings. If I can ever get her to go to the Roamio and Mini then I will replace her router and use wireless Bridges. And with the faster transfer rates I would just use the PC to transfer the content.
> 
> But since the S3 boxes, with 5 platter, 1TB Hitachi drives are built like tanks, They have shown no issues during the last 8.5 years since I installed the drives. I'm still amazed they have lasted this long with 24/7/365 usage.


Have you considered converting them to mp4 to reduce the size and then pushing them to one of her TiVos?

Edit: I mean pushing them directly from your PC. Her's wouldn't even be involved.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

lpwcomp said:


> Have you considered converting them to mp4 to reduce the size and then pushing them to one of her TiVos?
> 
> Edit: I mean pushing them directly from your PC. Her's wouldn't even be involved.


That's still more effort than I want to deal with. I would still need to use her PC. To connect a USB drive so they could be transferred to the TiVos. Basically the same thing I did with the .tivo files. The file size might be smaller but the transfer rates are still slow.


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## lpwcomp (May 6, 2002)

aaronwt said:


> That's still more effort than I want to deal with. I would still need to use her PC. To connect a USB drive so they could be transferred to the TiVos. Basically the same thing I did with the .tivo files. The file size might be smaller but the transfer rates are still slow.


 I'm afraid I simply do not understand. Why can you not push them directly from _*your*_ computer to her TiVo? They do not have to be on the same LAN. They do not even have to be in the same state.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

lpwcomp said:


> I'm afraid I simply do not understand. Why can you not push them directly from your computer to her TiVo? They do not have to be on the same LAN. They do not even have to be in the same state.


Even though she could get Comcast or FiOS Internet service, she stills clings to her 1.2Mbps DSL Internet connection. If she had FiOS I would have setup a VPN a long time ago. But her DSL is just too slow for anything like that


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## lpwcomp (May 6, 2002)

aaronwt said:


> Even though she could get Comcast or FiOS Internet service, she stills clings to her 1.2Mbps DSL Internet connection. If she had FiOS I would have setup a VPN a long time ago. But her DSL is just too slow for anything like that


Yeah, I can see that might be a problem. Usually, the limiting factor is the upload speed of the sender. I usually get between 1.27 to 1.35 mb/s* xfer rate when pushing to a remote TiV0.

BTW, if configured to do so, pyTivo is perfectly happy to push to a remote TiVo. No need for a VPN.

*Slow, I know. But it beats sneaker net all to hell on the convernience factor alone.


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## RVH (Dec 19, 2006)

Bumping this thread to see if there are some current thoughts over the past three years.

I've tried KMTTG and the files it outputs are corrupted. First I downloaded them with the Tivo Desktop windows program which went fine. Then I located the file on my PC and imported it into KMTTG and ran a simple conversion. It took several hours and seemed to work but the file was unviewable.

I've researched Tivodecode and this is what the "Help" file says. I'm not a developer and this is gibberish to me.

tivodecode (c) 2006, Jeremy Drake
Version 0.1.4
See COPYING for license terms.

To build on a *NIX platform, first check the Makefile, setting CC, CFLAGS and
LDFLAGS as appropriate for your platform. If your platform has a different way
of building with large file support, correct the DEFINES variable for your
platform. Then run 'make'.

To build on Windows, a Visual C++ Express 2005 solution file is included. If
you have a working installation of this compiler, building should be as simple
as opening this solution file and building the tivodecode project.

If you are using the Windows binary download, you may need the Visual Studio
2005 Redisributables from Microsoft, if you do not already have MSVCR80.DLL
installed from some other software.

You now have the option to, rather than specifying the MAK on the command line
every time, to specify it in a config file in your home directory. Simply put
your MAK in a file called ~/.tivodecode_mak and it will be automatically used
if a MAK is not specified on the command line. On Windows, the file should be
in your %USERPROFILE% directory, or in c:\ if there is no %USERPROFILE% set.

The parameters (from --help) are documented below.

Usage: ./objects.dir/tivodecode [--help] [--verbose|-v] [--no-verify|-n] {--mak|-m} mak [{--out|-o} outfile] <tivofile>

--mak, -m media access key (required)
--out, -o output file (default stdout)
--verbose, -v verbose
--no-verify, -n do not verify MAK while decoding
--help print this help and exit

The file names specified for the output file or the tivo file may be -, which
means stdout or stdin respectively


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## wmcbrine (Aug 2, 2003)

That version of tivodecode is outdated... indeed, it was already outdated in 2007, when 0.2pre4 was the last release by the original author. Currently, I'm maintaining tivodecode-ng, which is meant to be a fork of tivodecode to add support for transport streams. But, it's only part-way there -- IME, it works well for h.264 transport streams, but not yet for MPEG-2 transport streams. For those, you probably want tivolibre.

tivodecode[-ng] and tivolibre are command-line tools. If you don't know how to use the command line, there are various GUI front-ends for them.

You might explain more about exactly what steps you took to convert the file, and how you tried to view it. But I can tell you that simply decrypting .TiVo files to .mpg or .ts takes seconds, not hours. (It sounds like you also reencoded.)


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## Teeps (Aug 16, 2001)

RVH said:


> <SNIP>
> Bumping this thread to see if there are some current thoughts over the past three years.
> 
> I've tried KMTTG and the files it outputs are corrupted.
> First I downloaded them with the Tivo Desktop windows program which went fine.


Not sure where the question was in the long version of the post above... And not sure why you are using tivo desktop, as that is the purpose of kmttg.
That said: I've used kmttg to IMPORT .tivo files from 3 different tivos for many years now. I use the decrypt and QS FIX options, and save the files to .mpg format.
My experience with kmttg is if it is able to complete the off load of a .tivo file.
I am able to play the file with any windows viewer or VLC.
I also use videoredo to cut commercials and save the file as a .TS formate (don't ask.)


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## bellbm (Dec 16, 2003)

Having some issues with downloading files:

Many are downloading the audio only, and no video. I think my cable company switched to H.264 for some channels, and that seems to be where I'm having the problem. Channels that are still mpeg 2 are still downloading shows fine (and converting them ok).

Any thoughts?

I'm not using TS downloads. Is there something else I need to set for H.264 channels?

Thanks


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

You can see the coding in Help, Account & System Info, Diagnostics. Scroll down for each channel. Check Video PID.


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## bellbm (Dec 16, 2003)

Thanks, it appears for h.264 I need to use TS downloads. Is there any way in KMTTG to see what type of files are on the box? Some channels are still Mpeg2 (Wish all were), some are H.264.


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

bellbm said:


> Thanks, it appears for h.264 I need to use TS downloads. Is there any way in KMTTG to see what type of files are on the box? Some channels are still Mpeg2 (Wish all were), some are H.264.


I'm not sure, but h.264 programs should be much smaller. While highlighting the program, move right. If Info shows, hit it on the remote. Scroll to the end for size.


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## bellbm (Dec 16, 2003)

JoeKustra said:


> I'm not sure, but h.264 programs should be much smaller. While highlighting the program, move right. If Info shows, hit it on the remote. Scroll to the end for size.


Thanks - I definitely noticed smaller sizes since my cable company moved to H.264. I guess the good news is I can store more on my Tivo.

I can now get these files to download and decrpyt as mpg files, but when I try to open them in Studio to edit, I can't get them to open.


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## ThAbtO (Apr 6, 2000)

JoeKustra said:


> I'm not sure, but h.264 programs should be much smaller. While highlighting the program, move right. If Info shows, hit it on the remote. Scroll to the end for size.


Move right? KMTTG shows the size in one of the columns.

To set for TS downloads, it's in the config. TS works for both PS and TS.


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## mattack (Apr 9, 2001)

ThAbtO said:


> Move right? KMTTG shows the size in one of the columns.
> 
> To set for TS downloads, it's in the config. TS works for both PS and TS.


Though TS downloads *can be corrupted* (and it happens fairly frequently), so I would suggest do PS downloads except when TS downloads are absolutely necessary.

Though for me, there are some shows, e.g. CNN HD recordings, that do not download successfully for me even as TS.. they still show up as audio-only. I discussed it a bit more in the kmttg thread.

MPEG 2 is likely to be all of your broadcast stations AND any SD channels -- which are likely under 100 (for me they go up a bit above 100, for some of the CSPANs -- there may be a few higher that I don't care about).. AND the HD versions of your broadcast stations.

Other than that, for me, I think everything else is h264 nowadays.. on comcast.


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## bellbm (Dec 16, 2003)

I played around with it more. I can get the TS shows to download fine, just can't do much with them except play them on my computer. I tried using a program to convert from TS to PS, but that wouldn't work. I haven't yet tried converting to MP4 with handbrake. They play fine through Plex. Between RCN moving to H.264 for most of their HD channels, and Tivo removing the ability to transfer shows BACK to the box with hydra, it's becoming apparent that saving recordings and transferring back is really becoming a thing of the past.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

bellbm said:


> I played around with it more. I can get the TS shows to download fine, just can't do much with them except play them on my computer. I tried using a program to convert from TS to PS, but that wouldn't work. I haven't yet tried converting to MP4 with handbrake. They play fine through Plex. Between RCN moving to H.264 for most of their HD channels, and Tivo removing the ability to transfer shows BACK to the box with hydra, it's becoming apparent that saving recordings and transferring back is really becoming a thing of the past.


No transferring back but I can stream them fine. My shows get automatically transferred using kmttg. Then it automatically converts it to mpg and puts it in a folder for Plex. Then Plex automatically aggregates the content. And I can then stream that content to dozens of devices(including TiVos), anywhere I am.


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## ThAbtO (Apr 6, 2000)

Tivo TS downloads when decrypted is TS/MPEG4. Use VideoReDo h.264 version to edit.



aaronwt said:


> Then it automatically converts it to mpg and puts it in a folder for Plex.


Curious to know how do you convert from MPEG4 to MPEG2.


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## mattack (Apr 9, 2001)

that requires very computationally intensive reencoding.

why do you need it to be mpeg 2?

what exactly are you trying to do? you can play them on the computer, as you said. You can transfer back by running pytivo on the computer and then pulling the shows with the tivo ui. or use streambaby and stream them (with slightly inferior UI, such as no quickplay).


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## bellbm (Dec 16, 2003)

mattack said:


> that requires very computationally intensive reencoding.
> 
> why do you need it to be mpeg 2?
> 
> what exactly are you trying to do? you can play them on the computer, as you said. You can transfer back by running pytivo on the computer and then pulling the shows with the tivo ui. or use streambaby and stream them (with slightly inferior UI, such as no quickplay).


I want my files in mpeg 2 as if I download and want to "save" a show, I want to be able to edit the commercials out, etc. I can't do that with mpeg-TS files.


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## ggieseke (May 30, 2008)

VideoReDo works fine with TS files. It requires a minimal installation of the old TiVo Desktop software to work directly with .TiVo files, but you can do the initial decryption with kmttg or pyTivo if you want to go through a few extra steps.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

ThAbtO said:


> Tivo TS downloads when decrypted is TS/MPEG4. Use VideoReDo h.264 version to edit.
> 
> Curious to know how do you convert from MPEG4 to MPEG2.


Why would I convert to H.264 to mpeg2? I can do the same editing to an H.264 file as I can an mpeg2 file. I have no problems transferring h.264 content from my Bolts to my kmttg PC. And then streaming them to a TiVo or other device also has no issue playing back the h.264 stream.


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## bellbm (Dec 16, 2003)

aaronwt said:


> Why would I convert to H.264 to mpeg2? I can do the same editing to an H.264 file as I can an mpeg2 file. I have no problems transferring h.264 content from my Bolts to my kmttg PC. And then streaming them to a TiVo or other device also has no issue playing back the h.264 stream.


When you download with kmttg, what settings are you using? Maybe there is a way to download an h.264 file, versus mpeg2-TS??


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

bellbm said:


> When you download with kmttg, what settings are you using? Maybe there is a way to download an h.264 file, versus mpeg2-TS??


Off hand I don't know if I have different settings. I remember testing it awhile ago from H.264 FiOS channels and it worked the same as from their MPEG2 channels.


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## mattack (Apr 9, 2001)

bellbm said:


> I want my files in mpeg 2 as if I download and want to "save" a show, I want to be able to edit the commercials out, etc. I can't do that with mpeg-TS files.


Heh, the tools used to be better on Windows for this apparently.. but Quicktime Player on the Mac will let you edit and do the minimal trimming just fine with the decoded mpeg4 files. also e.g. VLC will work on both platforms too.


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## sw10025 (May 16, 2000)

Hi all, I'm hoping someone can help me figure out how to use KTTMG (I found this thread while looking for freeware that edits tivo programs), because I've got it mostly done and set up, but I've been reading the HTTMG wiki and I'm missing something about how this works. Possibly a couple of things.

Here's my set up. I have a very old Series 2 Tivo. I've been downloading Tivo recordings via Tivo Desktop Plus and up to a couple of days ago, I was using VideoRedo TVSuite 4 to cut commercials and convert the tivo file to a .mpg file. I then used Womble DVD to burn the files to a DVD. Unfortunately, a couple of days ago after years of working, VRD partially stopped working, and for no apparent reason. I can open files, edit them, create a project, but if I click on the "save as" button, the program crashes within a few seconds. I can't save to new files. I contacted their support, and pretty much as I expected, they said because the program was old and depricated, they weren't in any position to offer support. They suggested I try the trial version of TVSuite 5, and it too worked for a couple of hours, and then stopped working just like Version 4 (VRD4 started working again about a day later for a few hours, and then stopped working, too). So I was looking for something else to do the edits and convert the files to MPG format so Womble can resize them and burn them to DVDs. (Since the budget is nil, I'm confined to freeware.)

I've successfully installed KTTMG and configured it (I think). I've downloaded a program, so that's a good backup if Tivo Desktop Plus acts up or becomes inoperative. Now, if I understood the instructions properly, and configured it properly, what it said it could do was use VRD to do the editing (it said VRD was better than its own editing capabilities) and then save the changes to a project file, and then, if I understood properly, you close VRD and it does something further to create the MPG file. Well, I got to the point where it ran the QF, and it opened VRD to edit the file, which I then saved, and closed and then I closed VRD and nothing more happened. Did I misunderstand and it needs me to use VRD to convert the file to MPG? (If so, that won't work because VRD has stopped working at that point, it now crashes.) Or did I just not check all the right boxes? (I chose QS fix, ad detect and ad cut.) Should I have chosen decrypt as well? As for the encoding profile, I'm not sure which category to select to have it converted to a MPG file so Womble DVD can burn the files to a DVD (Womble doesn't read Tivo files.)

Any helpful information re what I need to do or did wrong is, as always, greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.


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## ThAbtO (Apr 6, 2000)

sw10025 said:


> I was using VideoRedo TVSuite 4 to cut commercials and convert the tivo file to a .mpg file. I then used Womble DVD to burn the files to a DVD.


VideoReDo TVSuite burns the video to DVD, so you do not need to use Womble.

Since you now have KMTTG, check decrypt when you download from Tivo or for the FILES tab, to decode from .TiVo files, which will be either .MPG (from PS downloads), or .TS (from TS downloads, need to switch to Tivo Libre for decode.) {Provided the Media Access Key is set in KMTTG.}


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## sw10025 (May 16, 2000)

ThAbtO said:


> VideoReDo TVSuite burns the video to DVD, so you do not need to use Womble.


Actually, I *do* need to use Womble to burn the DVDs. When I first purchased VRD, I had to download a third party freeware burning program (Img Burn) because the VRD program didn't work completely and they couldn't figure out why it wasn't working with my computer setup. IIRC, for a while I then had periodic problems with VRD forgetting or refusing to accept my registration key, again, we couldn't figure out why, and they had to send me a few new ones to get it working again. That finally stopped happening, but a number of years ago, the portion of VRD that prepares the video files for burning stopped working and again, we couldn't figure out what the problem was much less fix it, so I came here to the Tivo community forum and asked for alternatives, and someone here recommended Womble, which has worked perfectly without any problems for years. Unfortunately, Womble only does the portion of the process such as setting up menus and file descriptions and resizing the video files to be burned on DVD (when necessary), but it does need .mpg files, and doesn't read .tivo files, and it doesn't have a video editing ability. For a number of years now, I've only been using VideoReDo for the limited purpose of editing the videos and converting them to .mpg so I could then use Womble to prepare them for burning to DVD.



> Since you now have KMTTG, check decrypt when you download from Tivo or for the FILES tab, to decode from .TiVo files, which will be either .MPG (from PS downloads), or .TS (from TS downloads, need to switch to Tivo Libre for decode.) {Provided the Media Access Key is set in KMTTG.}


I have added the Media Access Key to KTTMG, so that part is taken care of. I didn't check decrypt though because the start of this thread indicated that sometimes there are problems, or more chances of problems, if the files are converted to .mpg during the download (or immediately after it, whichever KTTMG does) and I figured with my luck, I'd be one of the people who had problems, so I erred on the side of caution and just skipped it. I also need to figure out how to do it post download because I have a large backlog of video files I've previously downloaded via Tivo Desktop and haven't editted and converted yet, so I have to go back and work on all those downloaded files to get them ready to burn to DVD.

Update on KTTMG: I think part of my confusion was because KTTMG didn't say it was doing anything, but apparently even though it didn't indicate it was doing or had done it, it did in fact create a mpg version of the file I was trying to edit, as well as two other files (one being a _cut file), but when I opened the mpg file, it didn't include the edits I had made. I'm not quite sure whether I did something wrong or whether I was supposed to open and use one of the other files it created instead, so I'm still trying to figure out where I'm not understanding the steps properly (and unfortunately the wiki is intended for people with more technical skill and know how than I possess, and doesn't give step by step instructions).


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## ThAbtO (Apr 6, 2000)

KMTTG does decrypt after download, but it can also do decrypt during the download, just do not select that option as that can cause issues.


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