# Watching your Tivo recordings on your iPad



## Dpordy99 (Nov 7, 2011)

To me the Tivo App needs to be more then being able to schedule recordings on the go. I'd like to be able to watch my shows on my iPad. Is there any app that will allow me to do this?


----------



## jshore (Aug 18, 2003)

Dpordy99 said:


> To me the Tivo App needs to be more then being able to schedule recordings on the go. I'd like to be able to watch my shows on my iPad. Is there any app that will allow me to do this?


I use iTivo to transfer shows to my iMac. Shows load into itunes where you can copy over to your iphone or ipad. Quality is limited by tivo, but still look decent. Watching Family Guy as i type.

ps hopefully shows in your area aren't copyright-protected by your cable company. Cox just lifted most of their copyright protections so pretty much any show we record can transfer to the ipad....


----------



## Dpordy99 (Nov 7, 2011)

jshore said:


> I use iTivo to transfer shows to my iMac. Shows load into itunes where you can copy over to your iphone or ipad. Quality is limited by tivo, but still look decent. Watching Family Guy as i type.
> 
> ps hopefully shows in your area aren't copyright-protected by your cable company. Cox just lifted most of their copyright protections so pretty much any show we record can transfer to the ipad....


So is it Tivo where the quality is limited or does the conversion process limit the quality?


----------



## shamilian (Mar 27, 2003)

Dpordy99 said:


> To me the Tivo App needs to be more then being able to schedule recordings on the go. I'd like to be able to watch my shows on my iPad. Is there any app that will allow me to do this?


It will likely happen in the future, once they allow streaming... I doubt they would allow downloads to the ipad...


----------



## bsd (Sep 30, 2002)

If you buy Tivo Desktop Plus, you can downloand shows from your Tivo to your computer and then convert them to an IPad accessible format. Once you download, it puts into iTunes and makes available for viewing on your iPad. Works pretty well.

-Brett


----------



## justen_m (Jan 15, 2004)

Does the iPad play mpeg-2 files, or just mpeg-4?


----------



## ThAbtO (Apr 6, 2000)

Get KMTTG download your shows and encode to ipad. Next, add to your itunes library and sync.

I have done this on the ipad 2.


----------



## dcooper2025 (Sep 28, 2008)

The quality on the iPad is limited to something like 320 pixels by TiVo due to licensing restrictions by content creators apparently.

kmttg (free) is definitely the way to go, optionally using VideoRedo TV Suite (not free but worth it).

With this combo, you can make 100% automated the processing of TiVo programs to:

- download, 
- decryption (of the .tivo files), 
- commercial detection, 
- commercial removal, 
- encoding to a h.264 .mp4 1280 X 720p iPad maximum resolution format

Check em out. After much trial and error, I have arrived at this as the best option.

Additionally, if you don't want to have to sync your iPad to copy these programs over from your computer, just stream it if you'll be somewhere remote where there is connectivity, so you automatically have full streaming access to all your recorded programs. For iOS devices, check out the "Air Video" and "StreamToMe" apps + server software (like $4.99 each). 

For Android devices, check out the "Qloud Server" and Android app. 

I run all three servers on my computer at home and I can use my Amazon Kindle Fire (Qloud app), iPad or iPhone (WiFi or 3G) to stream any program form any device from anywhere.


----------



## jbcheshire (Jun 6, 2006)

When you say 320 pixels what exactly do you mean?

I use the TivoToGo and it converts my tv shows as mp4 files with a frame size of 640x480. And they look great on my iPad when I sync them over to it.

As far as streaming, I would agree that Air Video is a good investment too.


----------



## dcooper2025 (Sep 28, 2008)

jbcheshire said:


> When you say 320 pixels what exactly do you mean?
> 
> I use the TivoToGo and it converts my tv shows as mp4 files with a frame size of 640x480. And they look great on my iPad when I sync them over to it.
> 
> As far as streaming, I would agree that Air Video is a good investment too.


Sorry, 640X480, you're correct.

If you think the TiVo Desktop-produced video for iPad look decent, you probably just haven't seen full 1280X720 video playing on it. Now when I watch anything at 640X480 on my iPad I can barely stand it.


----------



## jbcheshire (Jun 6, 2006)

Do you use kmttg or VideoRedo? What are your file sizes on these shows lets say for a typical hour long show before and after? I'm considering your options so these things are important since I have an older pc doing the conversions and storing this data...

Thanks!


----------



## JimboG (May 27, 2007)

dcooper2025 said:


> Sorry, 640X480, you're correct.
> 
> If you think the TiVo Desktop-produced video for iPad look decent, you probably just haven't seen full 1280X720 video playing on it. Now when I watch anything at 640X480 on my iPad I can barely stand it.


I assure you, you haven't seen 1280x720 video on your iPad. The current iPad only has a resolution of 1024x768. If you watch 16:9 content on your iPad without pan and scanning, you'll get 1024 by 576. That's only 64% of the resolution of 720p video.


----------



## Phantom Gremlin (Jun 20, 2002)

JimboG said:


> I assure you, you haven't seen 1280x720 video on your iPad.


How do you know? Maybe he's beta-testing an iPad 3?


----------



## JimboG (May 27, 2007)

Phantom Gremlin said:


> How do you know? Maybe he's beta-testing an iPad 3?


Because he says "encoding to a h.264 .mp4 1280 X 720p iPad maximum resolution format".

The iPad 3 has greater than 1920 by 1080p resolution. You might limit yourself to 720p videos on it for file size, but you should be able to play full 1080p on the rumored new 2048 by 1536 display.


----------



## dcooper2025 (Sep 28, 2008)

Yes, once again I stand corrected. I encode to 720 but my streaming server does auto-transcoding so it's all transparent to me. 

Regardless, video at fullest possible resolution for HD shows while maintaining the HD display ratio is fantastic, and once you see it, you'll definitely not want the TiVo Desktop limited rez output.


----------

