# kmttg vs Tivo Desktop and copy protection



## howards (Oct 31, 2007)

I have a new Tivo Premiere.

If I use Tivo Desktop to upload recordings to my PC, I can download them again with no problem.

If I use kmttg to upload recordings, and then try to download them using the pytivo server, I get the message on Premiere that says the show is copy protected and can't be copied. (The fact that I can successfully transfer the show back and forth with Tivo Desktop says that it isn't really copy protected.)

I have tried this multiple times to make sure that it wasn't just one file that got corrupted.

I can go back to just using Tivo Desktop, but I've sure gotten used to how nice kmttg/pytivo is, and I'll miss their functionality.

Anybody have any ideas on this?

Thank you.


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## moyekj (Jan 24, 2006)

If you use pyTivo push or TiVo Desktop auto transfers recordings on TiVo end up copy protected. If you initiate transfers from pyTivo from your TiVo (which is how you must be doing it with TiVo Desktop) then they will not be copy protected.


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## howards (Oct 31, 2007)

I am not using pyTivo push. I am not using auto transfers.

My workflow is:

1) Initiate upload from Tivo to PC using kmttg.
2) Attempt to download back to the Tivo using the pyTivo server.

As an experiment, I just tried copying a file uploaded using kmttg to the directory that Tivo Desktop Server points to. If I now go to the Tivo and try to download the file (using the Tivo Desktop server), it works fine.

So, there's not a problem with the file upload using kmttg. There's some problem with using pyTivo as the download server.

Thank you for your help.


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## howards (Oct 31, 2007)

Just tried another experiment, in which I used pyTivo to pull the recording to the PC.

This gets around the copy protection issue, but the resultant file that I download back to the Tivo has no closed captions. I can't find a pyTivo config command to enable the fast Tivo transfers.


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## ThAbtO (Apr 6, 2000)

Push is when you start a transfer from the computer to Tivo on the computer end, and that gets the copy protection.

On the other hand, when you initiate a transfer from the computer to the Tivo at the Tivo end, its call pull, it will not get protected.

KMTTG does not send shows back to the Tivo without the help of PyTivo Push feature.


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## wmcbrine (Aug 2, 2003)

howards, the files are of course not really copy-protected, but this message is the only way pyTivo has to indicate to the TiVo that a file can't be transferred. Usually that's because FFmpeg can't read the file. In your case, it sounds like it's because you've used transport streams -- the "fast transfer" mode. That shouldn't be a problem, except if you're using outdated versions of FFmpeg and/or pyTivo. Upgrade both to the latest available, and your problem should be fixed. (pyTivo will still not pull transport streams from the TiVo, but it will send them back.)

pyTivo has some additional transport stream support that you can enable with a config option, but if you're just using .TiVo files, it's not relevant.


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## howards (Oct 31, 2007)

ThAbtO said:


> Push is when you start a transfer from the computer to Tivo on the computer end, and that gets the copy protection.
> 
> On the other hand, when you initiate a transfer from the computer to the Tivo at the Tivo end, its call pull, it will not get protected.
> 
> KMTTG does not send shows back to the Tivo without the help of PyTivo Push feature.


I use kmttg to transfer files from the Tivo to the PC.

I initiate transfers to the Tivo on the Tivo by browsing pyTivo shares.

So, I'm not doing any transfers to the Tivo initiated on the computer end, therefore not doing pushes, as I asserted.


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## moyekj (Jan 24, 2006)

As wmcbrine pointed out you need to update your pyTivo installation and/or ffmpeg that your pyTivo setup is pointing to. Most recent wmcbrine pyTivo fork zip as of today is: here


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## howards (Oct 31, 2007)

wmcbrine said:


> howards, the files are of course not really copy-protected, but this message is the only way pyTivo has to indicate to the TiVo that a file can't be transferred. Usually that's because FFmpeg can't read the file. In your case, it sounds like it's because you've used transport streams -- the "fast transfer" mode. That shouldn't be a problem, except if you're using outdated versions of FFmpeg and/or pyTivo. Upgrade both to the latest available, and your problem should be fixed. (pyTivo will still not pull transport streams from the TiVo, but it will send them back.)
> 
> pyTivo has some additional transport stream support that you can enable with a config option, but if you're just using .TiVo files, it's not relevant.


Yes, I switched to using fast transfer mode because I lose closed captioning if I don't.

pyTivo doesn't seem to have a version number embedded, but I made sure I had the latest from your website. My ffmpeg was old (Nov. 2011), so I upgraded to a Windows build that was built on 1/14/13.

And now it works! Thank you very much for helping to figure this out.


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## mattack (Apr 9, 2001)

howards said:


> My workflow is:
> 
> 1) Initiate upload from Tivo to PC using kmttg.
> 2) Attempt to download back to the Tivo using the pyTivo server.


I'm not trying to be a jerk, but you using the wrong terminology just makes things confusing.

If you're at the computer and copying from the Tivo to the PC, you are DOWNLOADING it, not uploading it.

If you're at the TiVo and copying from the PC to the TiVo (through the Tivo UI), you are DOWNLOADING it to the Tivo.


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