# convert avi to tivo to transfer from pc to tivo?



## bobster954 (Aug 15, 2011)

I have a lot of movies I would like to watch on the tv through tivo. They are on my computer.
Obviously mpegs, avi, etc are not recognized by the tivo desktop or other software.

I have been searching for an official tivo program and cannot find one to convert them..

anyone got any programs they use? (cannot believe tivo cannot play avi...lol)


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## ThAbtO (Apr 6, 2000)

You can use Tivo Desktop to transfer .mpg and .tivo files if they are in the "My TiVo Recordings" folder. To get .avi and other files, you would need to buy the $25 Tivo Desktop Plus.

I had been using TDP for some years but then it quit working. I now use PyTivo and get more file such as .mpg, .avi, .mkv transferred by pulling from the Tivo side, or pushing from the PC side.

You can benefit from PyTivo as well. Its free to use and not as buggy as TDP. PyTivo is unofficial program, but TDP is official, there are also others, such as KMTTG, PyTivoX for mac.


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## lrhorer (Aug 31, 2003)

bobster954 said:


> I have a lot of movies I would like to watch on the tv through tivo. They are on my computer.
> Obviously mpegs, avi, etc are not recognized by the tivo desktop or other software.


This is completely untrue. Galleon can transfer MPEG2 files including .mpg and .TiVo files. pyTivo can transfer a phenominal number of video formats to the TiVo. It does so by transcoding, when necessary, to MPEG2 on the fly. It can also push files as well as have them pulled, and in push mode it can transfer .mp4 files as well as .mpg files natively, or once again it can transcode on the fly. The progam vidmgr is an excellent plug-in for HME for Python that serves as a phenominal fornt end for pyTivo. On HD displays, it supports cover art and sports a display of up to 14 titles (vs 8 for the NPL) at once.



bobster954 said:


> I have been searching for an official tivo program and cannot find one to convert them..


Forget about anythng "official", (although the SDK is certainly officially supported). TiVoDeskTop is the only software sold by Tivo, but it is pathetic.



bobster954 said:


> anyone got any programs they use? (cannot believe tivo cannot play avi...lol)


I'm using Galleon, pyTivo, vidmgr, and kmttg. I'm using VideoRedo TV Suite version 4 to edit the videos and to recode them to .mp4 in many cases.


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## lpwcomp (May 6, 2002)

There are lots of free programs for doing video conversions. The one I use most of the time is "Videora TiVo Converter". It will convert to mpg, which other people have pointed can be seen by a TiVo via TiVo Desktop, even the free version.

(Don't tell me to use pyTiVo. I'm still on Win2K. While I would like to convert to Win 7, I currently have other priorities for my very limited disposable income)


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## steve614 (May 1, 2006)

The free version of Tivo Desktop will work just fine as long as the video files are .tivo or .mpg. In most cases, if you have .vob files you can manually change the extention to .mpg and the Tivo will recognize it.

For any other file types (.avi, .mp4, etc.) it's best to go with the 3rd party applications mentioned above.


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## jcthorne (Jan 28, 2002)

lpwcomp said:


> There are lots of free programs for doing video conversions. The one I use most of the time is "Videora TiVo Converter". It will convert to mpg, which other people have pointed can be seen by a TiVo via TiVo Desktop, even the free version.
> 
> (Don't tell me to use pyTiVo. I'm still on Win2K. While I would like to convert to Win 7, I currently have other priorities for my very limited disposable income)


pyTivo will run fine on a python installation in Win2k Pro. I ran it for years before moving to XP where I still am. pyTivo is free so no drain on your limited funds.


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## lpwcomp (May 6, 2002)

jcthorne said:


> pyTivo will run fine on a python installation in Win2k Pro. I ran it for years before moving to XP where I still am. pyTivo is free so no drain on your limited funds.


I went through the installation procedures, including installing Python 2.7. and this was the result:

I executed pyTivo.py from within windows. All I got was a brief flash of a command prompt window.

Tried to go to "http://localhost:9032/" and Firefox cannot establish a connection.

Opened a command prompt, changed to pyTivo directory, entered "pyTivo.py" and received the following:

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "C:\pyTivo\pyTivo.py", line 11, in <module>
import beacon
File "C:\pyTivo\beacon.py", line 12, in <module>
from plugin import GetPlugin
File "C:\pyTivo\plugin.py", line 9, in <module>
from Cheetah.Filters import Filter
ImportError: No module named Cheetah.Filters


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## lpwcomp (May 6, 2002)

Tried removing Python 2.7 and installing 2.4.4. Boy , was that a bad idea. When I executed pyTivo.py, I got a complaint about a missing dll that kept coming back and eventually hung the system. Took a couple of reboots before I got back up. At this point, I'm just gonna wait until I can afford to buy and install a copy of Win 7 before I try pyTivo again.


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## bobster954 (Aug 15, 2011)

jeebus...all this makes me feel like when we were trying to build a portable computer to play mp3s in the car back in 1998...what a trail and error pain.

I think I will just buy a wdtv to watch stuff I already own...insanity. So not worth it....yikes.


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## Wil (Sep 27, 2002)

bobster954 said:


> jeebus...all this makes me feel like when we were trying to build a portable computer to play mp3s in the car back in 1998...what a trail and error pain.
> 
> I think I will just buy a wdtv to watch stuff I already own...insanity. So not worth it....yikes.


I think I missed something.

You had a misunderstanding about playing movie files on a Tivo and you were corrected. Are you trying to say thank you in a kind of joking way?


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## jcthorne (Jan 28, 2002)

lpwcomp said:


> I went through the installation procedures, including installing Python 2.7. and this was the result:
> 
> I executed pyTivo.py from within windows. All I got was a brief flash of a command prompt window.
> 
> ...


I'll defer to others, perhaps you should post this in the pytivo forum. Looks like you are missing part of python or pytivo in your install. wmcbrine would recognize it quickly.


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## jcthorne (Jan 28, 2002)

bobster954 said:


> jeebus...all this makes me feel like when we were trying to build a portable computer to play mp3s in the car back in 1998...what a trail and error pain.
> 
> I think I will just buy a wdtv to watch stuff I already own...insanity. So not worth it....yikes.


Folks tried to give you information to allow you to accomplish what you asked. You said you were looking for software to transfer your existing mpegs and avis to tivo. pyTivo you were told would do exactly this.

If you think the wdtv is going to do a great job for you...please go get on and use it. Good luck with it recording any TV shows though...


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## chemosh6969 (Jan 7, 2007)

lpwcomp said:


> I executed pyTivo.py from within windows.


And that's not how you run the program. There's a readme file. You should read that.


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## lpwcomp (May 6, 2002)

Since I have read the README, and I must be doing something wrong, please provide me with the benefit of your vast experience and obviously superior knowledge.


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## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

chemosh6969 said:


> And that's not how you run the program. There's a readme file. You should read that.


 Gee... that works for me! (In a normal Windows Python install, the .py extension is associated with execution by Python.)


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## jcthorne (Jan 28, 2002)

Same here. I have a simple shortcut on my desktop that simply calls pytivo.py

It launches a cmd window with pytivo running in it. What readme are you referring to? The wiki also results in an executable .py extension. I do not use nor recommend the pytivo as a service method although it works for some.


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## bobster954 (Aug 15, 2011)

jcthorne said:


> Folks tried to give you information to allow you to accomplish what you asked. You said you were looking for software to transfer your existing mpegs and avis to tivo. pyTivo you were told would do exactly this.
> 
> If you think the wdtv is going to do a great job for you...please go get on and use it. Good luck with it recording any TV shows though...


really? That is what you got from my comment? Let me clarify for you so you are not offended and understand there is no insult...and clarify what wdtv is.

1- going through the fun of a new program like pytivo, setting it up and learning it...not fun for me.

2- having to take all of my movies and convert them to something tivo can read is not anything I would undertake.

3- I was simply asking about adding the .tivo container to the avi/mpeg/etc since the program I have takes it off in a few seconds. Figured there might be one that went the other way.

4- since tivo cannot read extra drives, nor understand my files, and I do not have enough room on the drives, I figured I would check out wdtv.

5- wdtv, as far as I can tell, is simply a player. You add your drives full of movies and it connects to your tv to view them...which is all I wanted to do in the first place..

so...go through all the re-rendering of multi gig files to temporarily move to tivo or just add a drive to a 80 dollar player.....

So I just said...jeebus, all that extra work and aggravation, I might just use the wdtv instead.

There was no insult. No 'I hate you' for telling me about software you use.

Hope that clears up your misunderstanding about my intent in saying I would maybe prefer going an easier, less technical, and extremely faster method....although the cost in money is more, the cost is time is way less. I ordered the wdtv after seeing someone use one.

WDTV is not a tivo...it is just a player of your files, outputting to a screen or tv, that is all. I do not think it records either...just a player.

let you know how it works when i get it.


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## bobster954 (Aug 15, 2011)

Wil said:


> I think I missed something.
> 
> You had a misunderstanding about playing movie files on a Tivo and you were corrected. Are you trying to say thank you in a kind of joking way?


no, just saying re-rendering all my movies just watch one on the tivo seemed like too much work. Reminds me of all the stuff we went through way back when to make a mp3 player for the car in 98...(only worked for a bit, got too hot..lol).

I was hoping there was a .tivo container program that would only take a second or two to add it....as kmttg strips the container in that quick a time.

Unfortunately, it looks like there are certain specs needed to be met and requires too much work for me to do it....so I am opting for an easier way without having to re-render or modify tons of very large files..

Was just tired of watching some shows on the computer screen...lol

thanks all. Sorry if you got offended or misunderstood my intent.

have fun.


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## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

bobster954 said:


> jeebus...all this makes me feel like when we were trying to build a portable computer to play mp3s in the car back in 1998...what a trail and error pain.
> 
> I think I will just buy a wdtv to watch stuff I already own...insanity. So not worth it....yikes.


Anyone who would build a computer to play mp3's should find setting up pyTivo a pleasant little diversion. Provided your current PC isn't from 1998 (i.e., doesn't get bogged down doing the on-the-fly transcoding) the functionality playing back your videos via pyTiVo should easily rival that of a WDTV, and $80 cheaper. Which approach is more hassle remains to be seen and depends a lot on luck and your abilities.


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## Wil (Sep 27, 2002)

bobster954 said:


> re-rendering all my movies ... too much work


You're still misunderstanding. There is no work. A little setup for the system as a whole, then it's just (from the user's point of view) playing the movies.


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## jcthorne (Jan 28, 2002)

Yes, pytivo does exactly what you asked for. Allows you to play all (or most) of your pc based media files on the tivo. The conversion is done on the fly if you wish. Its also far more flexible than the wdtv which is also very particular about the file formats that work well.


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## lpwcomp (May 6, 2002)

I started over with pyTivo and did things slightly differently on the extract and it is now working fine. Thanks jcthorne.:up:


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## jcthorne (Jan 28, 2002)

lpwcomp said:


> I started over with pyTivo and did things slightly differently on the extract and it is now working fine. Thanks jcthorne.:up:


GREAT!


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## lrhorer (Aug 31, 2003)

lpwcomp said:


> (Don't tell me to use pyTiVo. I'm still on Win2K. While I would like to convert to Win 7, I currently have other priorities for my very limited disposable income)


So do I, and I would never recommend Windows 7. I do, however, recommend pyTiVo. According to the wiki, Python 2.6 and even 2.7 will work on Win2K, so Win2K is not a barrier to running pyTivo. They should even run on Windows NT. Windows 95, 98, and ME are deprecated, but Win2K should be OK.

I do recommend that everyone get rid of Windows, and fortunately most distros of Linux will fit your budget - I presume you can afford $0.25 for a blank CD - as long as you have decent internet access. I expect that every app you have running on Win2K will run under wine in Linux. There's only 3 Windows apps I have to run regularly that don't run under wine or else have (usually much superior) Linux replacements: VideoRedo, Juniper's VPN product, and Windows Remote Desktop.

Edit: I see you got pyTivo working under Win2K. Good for you.


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## lrhorer (Aug 31, 2003)

bobster954 said:


> 1- going through the fun of a new program like pytivo, setting it up and learning it...not fun for me.


'A trivial 30 second process, done once for installation. Two minutes if one needs to customize. How un-fun can such an experience be?



bobster954 said:


> 2- having to take all of my movies and convert them to something tivo can read is not anything I would undertake.


It's not required for pyTivo. PyTivo is expressly designed to identify the video type, determine if the TiVo to which the file is being sent knows how to read the type of file being sent, and then transcode the file on the fly if it does not, adjusting frame rate, display size, container type, audio type, and just about anything else one can imagine so that it will play on the receiving TiVo, be it S2, S3, or S4. The user never sees any of this.



bobster954 said:


> 3- I was simply asking about adding the .tivo container to the avi/mpeg/etc since the program I have takes it off in a few seconds. Figured there might be one that went the other way.


There is little or no point in doing this. VideoRedo can certainly read and write .TiVo files, but there is little point in converting to a .TiVo file. If you are going to convert, then convert to .mpg or h.264 in an MPEG4 container.



bobster954 said:


> 4- since tivo cannot read extra drives, nor understand my files, and I do not have enough room on the drives, I figured I would check out wdtv.


Your point here escapes me. Buying a wdtv unit won't get you more space on your drives. Buying more drives will do that.



bobster954 said:


> so...go through all the re-rendering of multi gig files to temporarily move to tivo or just add a drive to a 80 dollar player.....


I'm not sure what it is you think has to be done, but from your response it bears little resemblance to reality. To be sure, learning the UI of any hardware or software player is going to take probably 50 - 100 times as long as figuring out pyTiVo, plus one is left having to constantly switch video feeds and UIs... all to save 30 seconds of your time, on a one time basis. It almost certainly will take you much longer to unpack and plug in a hardware player than to install pyTivo. Once installed, there is nothing else one necessarily needs to do with pyTivo itself. (PyTivo can also be used to transfer videos from the TiVo to the PC, but there are better applications for this purpose.)



bobster954 said:


> So I just said...jeebus, all that extra work and aggravation, I might just use the wdtv instead.


What extra work? I'm a fan of converting to h.264, because it saves space and transfers far, far more quickly than MPEG2, but it's certainly not required. With a program like VideoRedo TV Suite, one can select a vast number of files to transcode or recode and walk away. Indeed, I did just that. In less than 5 minutes, I had selected an entire directory containing 179 videos to fully recode from MPEG2 to h.264 in an MPG4 container and started the process. I then went on about my business doing other things. Several days later, VRD was done. Again, it wasn't required that I do it. I've been using pyTiVo for several years without it. It saved me about 30% in drive space though, and the resultant videos transfer more than 4x faster.

I also *want* to process all the videos through VRD, because I want to remove any commercials and any padding at the beginning and end of each program. Again, it is certainly not required in a general sense, for all that I personally demand it.



bobster954 said:


> Hope that clears up your misunderstanding about my intent in saying I would maybe prefer going an easier, less technical, and extremely faster method


The misunderstanding seems all to be on your end. It takes *ZERO* time, not even a microsecond, to learn to use pyTivo. It is a background application, essentially completely transparent to the user. Once set up, the videos automatically appear in the NPL of the TiVo, right along side the "regular" videos. Because of its vastly superior capabilities, I do definitely recommend running vidmgr, in which case the "NPL" appears in "Music, Photos, and Showplaces", rather than in "Now Playing" on the top menu, but it is otherwise extremely similar to the NPL, just much better.



bobster954 said:


> WDTV is not a tivo...it is just a player of your files, outputting to a screen or tv, that is all. I do not think it records either...just a player.


Which is what pyTivo is, a player that uses the TiVo interface on your TiVo, able to transfer almost any video to the TiVo to be played. It does have some additional features available from the web interface, but they are secondary. The only down side is that one does have to transfer the file, requiring an additional step, but one may then begin viewing the transferring file immediately, without ever leaving the TiVo UI or switching from one video source to another.

I think pictures are in order. Look at the following screenshot of my TiVo NPL. See the folders at the bottom? That's pyTivo, and yes, all my DVDs are on the TiVo, courtesy of pyTivo and the pyTivo DVD Plug-in.










Here are the first 8 folders on my video server, containing 27 of the more than 2000 videos on the server.










Here are the first 8 DVDs I have on the server.










And here is vidmgr. Because it is an HME app, it appears as an app under "Music, Photos, and Showplaces" (the fifth entry down on the TiVo main screen), but it still works entirely from the Tivo, as far as the user is concerned.


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## lrhorer (Aug 31, 2003)

jcthorne said:


> Same here. I have a simple shortcut on my desktop that simply calls pytivo.py
> 
> It launches a cmd window with pytivo running in it. What readme are you referring to? The wiki also results in an executable .py extension. I do not use nor recommend the pytivo as a service method although it works for some.


I definitely recommend running pyTivo as a server - which is somewhat different than what Windows calls a "service". I assisted in some development work on the pyTivo DVD plug-in a couple of months ago, which required me to re-start pyTivo a number of times, but barring that it has been running without a hiccough for well over 3 years. The only time the server is shut down is for hardware maintenance or a very rare kernel upgrade, or when an extended power outage occurs. The last one of those was nearly four months ago. Before that, the server was up for six months (kernel upgrade). PyTivo gets re-started whenever I download an upgrade, but that is it.


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## Phantom Gremlin (Jun 20, 2002)

lrhorer said:


> I think pictures are in order.


Thanks for posting all that. Quite often a picture is worth more than 1000 words. 

What you have posted demonstrates a nice setup, and clearly shows people what is possible.


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