# Publishing Video Files - Mac to TiVo



## Marconi (Sep 8, 2001)

In my TiVo Desktop 1.9.3 (Mac) I have enabled the "Video" tab and I can publish files to TiVo. My Mac shows up in Now Playing on my TiVo but when I try to play a video from my Mac, TiVo complains that it cannot find the listed file on the Mac. 

I suspect that TiVo does not like the file format. What file types are required to be able to play published videos from Mac to TiVo? Or is there some other trick to making this work?


----------



## Redux (Oct 19, 2004)

The mechanisms you're talking about are incredibly awkward, difficult, inflexible methods to time-shift over multi-room with your tivo. Last century less than state-of-the-art even then.

.ty files, an easily-accesible version of the programming you recieve OTA or have paid for via other means, are _very_ easy to handle via modern TV/computer consumer technology. I would search on that.


----------



## minckster (Aug 31, 2006)

This should help http://customersupport.tivo.com/TiVoCollection/4012D160-79C3-4238-96C8-A27B323D1413/ins_Content.html You'll want to see the table of formats at the bottom.


----------



## superdlux (Mar 20, 2003)

You can buy VisualHub (about $25, I think) and let it do all the converting for you (it has a TiVo button)


----------



## minckster (Aug 31, 2006)

superdlux said:


> You can buy VisualHub (about $25, I think) and let it do all the converting for you (it has a TiVo button)


 Thanks! I have VisualHub (to feed an AppleTV) and didn't know about that.


----------



## notaclone (Oct 28, 2003)

Marconi said:


> In my TiVo Desktop 1.9.3 (Mac) I have enabled the "Video" tab and I can publish files to TiVo. My Mac shows up in Now Playing on my TiVo but when I try to play a video from my Mac, TiVo complains that it cannot find the listed file on the Mac.


Other than .tivo files I pulled off my Tivo, I found that I could only transfer mpg files, with simple names, no spaces. EG: Dumbest_dog.mpg. At the time I did research what exact format to convert files to, such as from .mov. I can send you the sample dumb dog video (6mb) to test with.


----------



## minckster (Aug 31, 2006)

notaclone said:


> Other than .tivo files I pulled off my Tivo, I found that I could only transfer mpg files, with simple names, no spaces. EG: Dumbest_dog.mpg. At the time I did research what exact format to convert files to, such as from .mov. I can send you the sample dumb dog video (6mb) to test with.


 On a similar vein, note that from Macs you can name the recording and provide a description. I don't think that's possible from Windows.

After the TiVo recognizes that the MPEG file is there, TiVo Desktop will create a .properties file in the same folder as the MPEG (e.g., dumbest_dog.properties in notaclone's example). You can edit this file with Text Edit and provide a title ("The World's Dumbest Dog") and description ("long blah, blah, blah") on the appropriate, pre-labeled lines. If you're in a hurry, you can force your TiVo to recognize the presence of the MPEG files by stopping and re-starting TiVo Desktop in System Preferences. You can do so again after editing the .properties file so the TiVo knows the title and description have changed.

By the way, I haven't had problems with very long file names with spaces. My biggest problem has been forgetting to change the framerate from the typical value in online AVIs (24?) to TiVo's desired value (29.97).


----------



## Welshdog (Jan 4, 2005)

I have had problems getting the files configured and sized properly. I just bought VisualHub and it has helped. Well, it helped after I stopped messing with things. I converted a torrrented 16x9 avi/divx file by selecting the Tivo preset, but then I just couldn't help myself and had to screw with it and I raised the quality level. Pointless and stupid and of course the file would not transfer properly. I reconverted using the standard quality setting and Voila! episode 8 of Heroes is now on my Tivo. For some reason the SciFi channel did not air episode 8 when they recently had a marathon. Odd. 

Did you set the "Tivo Shows" folder as the destination for the output of VisualHub? If you don't do this the computer will not create the "properties" file that a Tivo needs to find things in that folder.


----------



## minckster (Aug 31, 2006)

Welshdog, if all you did was drag the quality slider higher, I'm _somewhat_ surprised that you had problems. You didn't go into advanced options, did you? I use the high quality setting in VisualHub for Apple TV as my default and have never had a problem. I used to use ffmpegX for TiVo and had problems all of the time. Grrr!

As for the file location of VisualHub's output, the file has to get to your "TiVo Shows" folder somehow. Either drag it there or have VisualHub create it there. Using either the file extension ".mpeg" or ".mpg" works for me, but I'm nearly certain the TiVo requires one of those two.


----------



## Welshdog (Jan 4, 2005)

minckster said:


> As for the file location of VisualHub's output, the file has to get to your "TiVo Shows" folder somehow. Either drag it there or have VisualHub create it there. Using either the file extension ".mpeg" or ".mpg" works for me, but I'm nearly certain the TiVo requires one of those two.


Doesn't the Tivo require that there be a "properties" file in "Tivo Shows" folder? Mine look like this:

Heroes.S01E08.HDTV.XviD-LOL.mpg
Heroes.S01E08.HDTV.XviD-LOL.properties

Without that properties file my Tivos don't see the mpg files.


----------



## minckster (Aug 31, 2006)

TiVo (TiVo Desktop?) creates the .properties files, after the TiVo finds the .mpeg file. I make a point of never creating the .properties files on my own, although I'm not sure if it matters. If you delete that .properties file, stop TiVo Desktop, and restart it, you'll find another .properties file. (Or you could just wait 5-15 minutes for the TiVo to find the MPEG on its own, instead of stopping and re-starting TiVo Desktop.)


----------



## minckster (Aug 31, 2006)

Ahh! I think I see what you're doing. If you drag a new MPEG file into your "TiVo Shows" folder and run to your TiVo, the TiVo won't see the MPEG right away. You can either wait -- or stop and restart TiVo Desktop to force the issue. Once you do that, the .properties file will come into existence at the same time that your TiVo will list the MPEG file.


----------



## bedelman (Feb 26, 2001)

Why not just use TiVo.Net (check the "play any video" thread at the top of this forum)? It runs fine on a Macintosh and there's even an installer to do most of the work for you. It supports on-the-fly transcoding of most file types including .AVI


----------



## Marconi (Sep 8, 2001)

bedelman said:


> Why not just use TiVo.Net (check the "play any video" thread at the top of this forum)? It runs fine on a Macintosh and there's even an installer to do most of the work for you. It supports on-the-fly transcoding of most file types including .AVI


The only TiVo,net stuff I could find was the source and required Visual Studio to compile.


----------



## bedelman (Feb 26, 2001)

Marconi said:


> The only TiVo,net stuff I could find was the source and required Visual Studio to compile.


Here's a link to the post made by [email protected] where he made an installer that does the whole thing. It installs TiVoMono as well as a preference pane used to control it.

No need to fool around with the source code or compiling it.

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=4933927&&#post4933927


----------



## Welshdog (Jan 4, 2005)

Marconi said:


> The only TiVo,net stuff I could find was the source and required Visual Studio to compile.


Yeah this doesn't really seem like an easy to use or setup solution. Anything that requires compiling or use of the Terminal is not for me. Not exactly Mac like. VisualHub seems to work just fine and it was simple to install. Plus my computer is not fast enough to be doing on the fly encoding and tranfer! It's a 12" rev A Powerbook with a 867mhz cpu. Not speedy!


----------



## bedelman (Feb 26, 2001)

Welshdog said:


> Yeah this doesn't really seem like an easy to use or setup solution. Anything that requires compiling or use of the Terminal is not for me. Not exactly Mac like. ...


As mentioned earlier -- most of this is already done (no compiling or using Terminal needed). The installer places the components where they belong and the Preference Pane is fairly easily understood. The one downside is that you have to know how to enter a path for where your video files will be located (there is no "browse" button)


----------



## Welshdog (Jan 4, 2005)

bedelman said:


> As mentioned earlier -- most of this is already done (no compiling or using Terminal needed). The installer places the components where they belong and the Preference Pane is fairly easily understood. The one downside is that you have to know how to enter a path for where your video files will be located (there is no "browse" button)


I had installed it, and it apparently installed teh pref pane, but the read me that came with it had detailed instructions on how to set it up using terminal etc. I didn't want to do that so I tossed the files. I went back today and discovered it had already installed the pre pane and place the tivomono folder in root. I'm in the process of testing it, but this is why I don't like these freebie software packages, they often have lousy documentation and install procedures. If it works great, if not I'll remove it. Thanks for your help Bob.

Oh, can this run concurrently with Tivo desktop? I'm using the TivoShows folder to hold my files for both TivoDesktop and TivoMono


----------



## bedelman (Feb 26, 2001)

Welshdog said:


> Oh, can this run concurrently with Tivo desktop? I'm using the TivoShows folder to hold my files for both TivoDesktop and TivoMono


I use two separate folders so I'm not sure. I've named them "MonoShows" and "TiVoShows". One thing with TiVo.Net you'll need to know is that you have to stop/start it anytime you want it to pick up any changes to the folder -- it does not automatically reload itself.


----------



## bedelman (Feb 26, 2001)

Welshdog said:


> ...but this is why I don't like these freebie software packages, they often have lousy documentation and install procedures.


BTW -- If you're willing to put together some replacement documentation and/or procedures, I'm reasonably sure I can convince [email protected] to include them (he's my son  )


----------



## Welshdog (Jan 4, 2005)

bedelman said:


> BTW -- If you're willing to put together some replacement documentation and/or procedures, I'm reasonably sure I can convince [email protected] to include them (he's my son  )


I'll do it Bob, if I can get it to work. I think I must have the pathway wrong. I'm not seeing anything on my Tivos. ffmpeg is in the right place - is there anything else I need to turn on or activate?


----------



## bedelman (Feb 26, 2001)

Welshdog said:


> I'll do it Bob, if I can get it to work. I think I must have the pathway wrong. I'm not seeing anything on my Tivos. ffmpeg is in the right place - is there anything else I need to turn on or activate?


I tried this on a Macintosh where I hadn't installed anything previously and it looks like Mono for the Macintosh needs to be installed since I don't see "mono" in Activity Monitor on the new Macintosh I'm setting up

The installer for Mono for the Macintosh can be found at http://mac.softpedia.com/progDownlo...nload-7923.html

Once I installed that -- and started up the preference pane, mono appeared in the Activity Monitor and going to http://localhost:9033/ does respond. And the video I had in the folder I was pointing to did appear on my TiVo

There might be a more stripped down version of Mono for the Macintosh (this installer includes some developer stuff) -- but this one did do the trick

- Bob


----------



## Triple JW (Oct 18, 2004)

I've had a bit of a different problem. I have my Tivo Series 3 hooked up to an Airport Extreme 2 and have VisualHub and TivoGoBack Enabler installed. I am able to see my music and photos, but when I convert videos to a tivo format using VisualHub and place them in the "TivoShows" folder, the folder doesn't show up in the "Now Playing" list. It looks like my tivo is seeing the files because it is creating the .properties file but I can't get them to show up in my "Now Playing" list. Any ideas?

Thanks


----------



## bedelman (Feb 26, 2001)

Triple JW said:


> I've had a bit of a different problem. I have my Tivo Series 3 hooked up to an Airport Extreme 2 and have VisualHub and TivoGoBack Enabler installed. I am able to see my music and photos, but when I convert videos to a tivo format using VisualHub and place them in the "TivoShows" folder, the folder doesn't show up in the "Now Playing" list. It looks like my tivo is seeing the files because it is creating the .properties file but I can't get them to show up in my "Now Playing" list. Any ideas?
> 
> Thanks


None of the Multi-Room Viewing and TiVoToGo features are available on the Series 3 yet.


----------



## Welshdog (Jan 4, 2005)

bedelman said:


> I tried this on a Macintosh where I hadn't installed anything previously and it looks like Mono for the Macintosh needs to be installed since I don't see "mono" in Activity Monitor on the new Macintosh I'm setting up


Same here.


> The installer for Mono for the Macintosh can be found at http://mac.softpedia.com/progDownlo...nload-7923.html


I used the Universal binary version from here:
http://www.mono-project.com/Downloads
Mono appeared in the Activity Monitor when I started the TivoPref pane.



> Once I installed that -- and started up the preference pane, mono appeared in the Activity Monitor and going to http://localhost:9033/ does respond. And the video I had in the folder I was pointing to did appear on my TiVo


The local host admin worked - a little. It works sometimes and others seems to hang. When it did work I was able to see the files I placed in my folder - so I guess the path is okay. But why won't the folder show up in my NPL? Or am I looking in the wrong place?

Thanks Bob


----------



## notaclone (Oct 28, 2003)

Triple JW said:


> It looks like my tivo is seeing the files because it is creating the .properties file but I can't get them to show up in my "Now Playing" list. Thanks


And Thank you! I can't help with your problem, but you resolved my issue: I was looking for my TivoShows in the wrong place.


----------



## bedelman (Feb 26, 2001)

Welshdog said:


> The local host admin worked - a little. It works sometimes and others seems to hang. When it did work I was able to see the files I placed in my folder - so I guess the path is okay. But why won't the folder show up in my NPL? Or am I looking in the wrong place?
> 
> Thanks Bob


The web interface does hang -- which is one reason why [email protected] wrote the preference pane (or you can edit the XML file directly instead)

If you instead enable the "video" tab in the TiVo Desktop for Mac OSX Preference Pane and enable the publishing of videos, does that appear on your Now Playing List? If not, there might be an issue of your TiVo being able to reach your Macintosh -- and a firewall or something blocking Bonjour would be the likely suspects (unless the TiVo and Macintosh are on different network subnets)

(enable the "video" tab by holding down the Apple key when you click on the TiVo Desktop Preference Pane)


----------



## GrumpyGuy (Mar 24, 2002)

Marconi said:


> In my TiVo Desktop 1.9.3 (Mac) I have enabled the "Video" tab and I can publish files to TiVo. My Mac shows up in Now Playing on my TiVo but when I try to play a video from my Mac, TiVo complains that it cannot find the listed file on the Mac.
> 
> I suspect that TiVo does not like the file format. What file types are required to be able to play published videos from Mac to TiVo? Or is there some other trick to making this work?


Where is the "Video" tab? I don't see it on mine. I only see music and photo.


----------



## GrumpyGuy (Mar 24, 2002)

I found the command line to enable the video tab hack but when I enable publish video, the tivo does not find the server. If I uncheck publish video, the tivo only sees the photo and music servers.


----------



## Welshdog (Jan 4, 2005)

bedelman said:


> The web interface does hang -- which is one reason why [email protected] wrote the preference pane (or you can edit the XML file directly instead)
> 
> If you instead enable the "video" tab in the TiVo Desktop for Mac OSX Preference Pane and enable the publishing of videos, does that appear on your Now Playing List? If not, there might be an issue of your TiVo being able to reach your Macintosh -- and a firewall or something blocking Bonjour would be the likely suspects (unless the TiVo and Macintosh are on different network subnets)
> 
> (enable the "video" tab by holding down the Apple key when you click on the TiVo Desktop Preference Pane)


TivoDesktop (Tivo Come Back) works fine for me and has for a long time. And this is with the firewall on, but Tivo Desktop traffic allowed. I turned off my firewall (the internal Mac firewall) and my designated TivoMono folder popped up on the Tivos. Yay! Tivo.net is working! I transferred files last night and 4 out of 5 came through just fine.

Any thoughts Bob on what port I might need to open? I tried opening the 9033 TCP port with no UDP port specified. When the firewall was reactivated the folders disappeared from the Tivos.

I have to say this is pretty nice. What we need now is an installer that puts everything in the proper place and has detailed setup instructions.


----------



## bedelman (Feb 26, 2001)

Welshdog said:


> TivoDesktop (Tivo Come Back) works fine for me and has for a long time. And this is with the firewall on, but Tivo Desktop traffic allowed. I turned off my firewall (the internal Mac firewall) and my designated TivoMono folder popped up on the Tivos. Yay! Tivo.net is working! I transferred files last night and 4 out of 5 came through just fine.
> 
> Any thoughts Bob on what port I might need to open? I tried opening the 9033 TCP port with no UDP port specified. When the firewall was reactivated the folders disappeared from the Tivos.


TiVo Desktop is probably working with the Mac OSX firewall on because it adds the exception to the firewall list.

Using the Mac OSX network utility, I can see that both ports 9032 and 9033 are open on a Macintosh running TiVo.net -- so try both and see.


Welshdog said:


> I have to say this is pretty nice. What we need now is an installer that puts everything in the proper place and has detailed setup instructions.


I've thought it works well (other than the folder bug that TiVo appears to have introduced) -- and I've been using this for quite a while now. Along with Handbrake, I can easily convert DVD tracks to .mp4 which I can now use on either my TiVo or my iPod.

There _might_ an issue bundling a single installer that combines what [email protected]'s installer does and the Mono installer -- since Mono is sponsored by Novel and perhaps the Mono open source project needs to be the only provider of installers? (I know it was this way with Adobe Acrobat Reader in the past -- that you legally had to use the installer from Adobe and could not alter it).

I can probably get my hands on the source/script of [email protected]'s installer (after all, he's my son) -- and perhaps we can work together in making it better...


----------



## dizziness (May 8, 2006)

bedelman said:


> TiVo Desktop is probably working with the Mac OSX firewall on because it adds the exception to the firewall list.
> 
> I can probably get my hands on the source/script of [email protected]'s installer (after all, he's my son) -- and perhaps we can work together in making it better...


Bob,

I'm having issues with getting TivoMono to pop up on my Tivo. I have tried restarting, [email protected]'s installer, and such with no luck. Mono is running, server started manually scans and waits. I can't access via web admin, it stalls. Any ideas? It sounds like you simply installed Mono and used [email protected]'s installer and all was well. Bizarre.


----------



## dizziness (May 8, 2006)

Here's the error message I am encountering after running --verbose --nodetails:

Error starting service: No such host is known - at (cut off due to restriction on forum for URLs.)


----------



## bedelman (Feb 26, 2001)

dizziness said:


> Bob,
> 
> I'm having issues with getting TivoMono to pop up on my Tivo. I have tried restarting, [email protected]'s installer, and such with no luck. Mono is running, server started manually scans and waits. I can't access via web admin, it stalls. Any ideas? It sounds like you simply installed Mono and used [email protected]'s installer and all was well. Bizarre.


Actually, I think the last time I used [email protected]'s installer and then installed Mono after that -- but then I might have re-run [email protected]'s installer again.

The web admin does hang -- after the first try or two at it. Don't know why, but I don't use it either. Do you have the paths in the preference pane set to a valid path for the video directory? For example, I use /users/bedelman/MonoShows which is a folder named "MonoShows" on the desktop of my user account.


----------



## dizziness (May 8, 2006)

Gave up on TivoMono and got pyTivo working properly. Armoo's pyTivo site is updated with new Mac OSX instructions. Actually, the revisions on compiling ffmpeg may fix TivoMono but since its development is dead, I'm sticking with pyTivo.


----------



## winniel (Jan 8, 2009)

VisualHub has been discountinued, and no upgrade any more.
to send Videos To and From a TiVo on Mac, You'll need to convert your videos into MPEG-2 format first. Your TiVo will not properly recognize any other video formats, including MPEG-1 and MPEG-4. 
*iSkysoft all-in-one DVD Ripper and Video Converter for Mac* can help you do it.
iskysoft.com/article/how-to-send-videos-tivo-mac.html#119


----------



## JoeTaxpayer (Dec 23, 2008)

winniel said:


> VisualHub has been discountinued, and no upgrade any more.
> *iSkysoft all-in-one DVD Ripper and Video Converter for Mac* can help you do it.
> iskysoft.com/article/how-to-send-videos-tivo-mac.html#119


Somehow, Visualhub worked fine until I got a better Mac. I went from a 4 core Pro to 12, and just put my boot drive in the new Mac. I flipped through over 50 software titles, and only Visual Hub broke. The iSkysoft converter was on sale for $30 and it was worth it, to not bang my head against the wall.


----------

