# Windows 7 (x64) help needed



## jessenj (Feb 22, 2002)

Let me first start by saying that I'm not a fan of Tivo Desktop. I'm a big fan of open-source and PD software. I recently upgraded to the RTM version of Windows 7 64bit and would like to know what the best option is for transferring videos from my pc to my Tivo 3? In the past, I used Galleon, but that was ages ago, and I looked into pyTivo but it seemed overly-complicated to get it to work. Is there any simple TivoToGoBack applications out there that can run under a 64bit version of Windows and also allow for subfolder support?


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## lrhorer (Aug 31, 2003)

For a basic setup, neither Galleon nor pyTivo are difficult to install. It only requires a few minutes of configuration with either to get one or two folders shared on the NPL.


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## moyekj (Jan 24, 2006)

pyTivo install is very, very easy to install in my opinion. If you need hand holding to install check out View Computer Videos section of bkdtv's excellent FAQ.
Item 3 under Windows has pyTivo installation instructions.


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## Rdian06 (Apr 12, 2008)

That and I specifically made the pyTivo Windows Installer x64 compatible like 6 months ago...


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## jessenj (Feb 22, 2002)

I'm pretty tech saavy but I'm really not a developer so trying to follow wiki's and repositories to piecemeal a 64bit solution together is stumping me. Do you have a step-by-step guide for what components I need to have installed prior to installing the pytivo in a 64bit environment? I want to use the 64bit ffmpeg and 64 python but I don't see any way to use these with the installer that is available? This could be my ignorance to what versions are checked in with the sourceforge versioning, but I don't see the 64-bit friendly base install of pytivo that will install with the 64bit versions of python.


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## Rdian06 (Apr 12, 2008)

Python is an interpreted language. That is programs are distributed as script code and compiled on the fly for execution by the Python runtime engine. (Think Perl.)

For the most part, the script code doesn't care whether it's running in a 32 bit runtime or a 64 bit runtime. Therefore pyTivo doesn't really care whether it's running inside a 32 bit or 64 bit runtime.

pyTivo also doesn't compile in any part of ffmpeg. Rather it just executes the ffmpeg binary when it needs to, screen scraps the console output, and pipes the binary output back into itself and from there out a network socket to your Tivo.

So this means you can mix and match the 64 bit Python runtime with a 32 bit ffmpeg binary. The pyTivo Windows installer includes one of my custom 32 bit ffmpeg compiles. I've patched an annoying 5.1 channel mapping audio issues that has never been fully fixed in the ffmpeg trunk. (And my newer ffmpeg compiles fix other issues related to AAC audio and handling files with funny timestamps.)

If you really want a 64 bit ffmpeg compile, you're going to have to hunt for it. And I have a feeling you're going to have to patch the ffmpeg trunk source and compile it yourself. Not to mention you'd have to get all the dependency libraries compiled as 64 bit also (it's hard enough getting these all working under 32 bit...)

Granted that a 64 bit ffmpeg might give better performance than a 32 bit ffmpeg, but for pyTivo all you really want is to be able to transcode HD slightly faster than realtime. Once you hit that point, how much faster than realtime is really irrelevant. The 32 bit ffmpeg is quite capable of transcoding 720P HD footage faster than realtime on a relatively decent machine. I run a Core2Quad Q6600 in my pyTivo box and it gets 1.4-1.8 x realtime.

So if you want an as 64 bit as possible pyTivo install without pulling your hair out, then:

1) Install Python 2.6.2 AMD64 (NOT 3.1.x, there are language changes that are not compatible with pyTivo)
http://www.python.org/ftp/python/2.6.2/python-2.6.2.amd64.msi

2) Install the current pyTivo Windows Installer: pyTivo-wmcbrine-2008.03.19-RC1 (The installer is smart and will select 64 bit Python if it is installed.)
http://pytivo.sourceforge.net/forum/updated-windows-installer-2009-03-21-t512.html#3957

3) (Optional) Upgrade the pyTivo Windows installer instance using the latest wmcbrine git. See:
http://pytivo.sourceforge.net/forum/updated-windows-installer-2009-03-21-t512-30.html#7536

That last part is optional. If you do it, you'll have the latest pyTivo available. It fixes some bugs but introduces others. It also updates to my latest ffmpeg compile and you get tivodecode for Pushing .tivo files. Overall it's a worthwhile upgrade until I find time to integrate those changes into the next version of the Windows Installer

If you do all 3, then the only 32 bit pieces will be ffmpeg and tivodecode.

However, there is a downside. pyTivo's photo capabilities depend on the Python Imaging Library (PIL) that is a mix of Python and natively compiled libraries. Right now, PIL is only available for 32 bit. So if you choose to install Python 64 bit, you cannot have PIL and consequently no pyTivo photo capabilities. If you want photo shares to work, then you'll need to stick with Python 32bit and install PIL (http://www.pythonware.com/products/pil/).


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## bmgoodman (Dec 20, 2000)

Not to hijack this thread, but I'm also moving to Win 7 x64 RTM (from XP). I still have lots of .tivo files, but I found that I rarely turn them into DVDs. I do want to keep them in .tivo format in case I should ever want to move them back to Tivo. 

What's the simplest way to view these .tivo files on my computer without installing Tivo desktop?


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## ggieseke (May 30, 2008)

Desktop has to be installed to get the DirectShow filter that decrypts .TiVo files. You could just delete the registry entries in the "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run" key that start the various TiVo processes if you never want to use it.

You can also try installing it, then running the standard uninstall (not the complete uninstall). It will leave behind the DirectShow filter but I'm not 100% sure that it will still work - I haven't tried it.


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## Rdian06 (Apr 12, 2008)

bmgoodman said:


> Not to hijack this thread, but I'm also moving to Win 7 x64 RTM (from XP). I still have lots of .tivo files, but I found that I rarely turn them into DVDs. I do want to keep them in .tivo format in case I should ever want to move them back to Tivo.
> 
> What's the simplest way to view these .tivo files on my computer without installing Tivo desktop?


.tivo files are just MPEG2 inside a DRM wrapper. You can use tivodecode to remove the DRM wrapper and then TivoDesktop and pyTivo can be used to send it back. And you get the added advantage of being able to play it back without needing the Tivo DirectShow filter.

If you're worried about losing the metadata, pyTivo includes support for grabbing all the metadata from the .tivo file with tdcat and sending it back with the unwrapped MPEG2. See:

http://pytivo.sourceforge.net/forum/tdcat-support-display-info-from-tivo-files-t896.html


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