As a road warrior, I have struggled forever with finding the best method for getting my recorded TV programs to travel with me. Here is the journey so far.ADHERER
The number one solution has always been to throw money at the problem. But I have tried desperately to avoid that solution. In the end, it may be the way to go. From what I can tell, it would be easy to get a Windows Media Center Edition PC (also called MCE, around $1,000 minimum for an MCE PC) and a compatible portable player ($200+). But there are reasons not to go that route, although it may prove to be the simplest. First, there is DRM associated with much of how MCE operates. The video formats are proprietary. The MCE-compatible players MUST be sync’ed through Media Center or Windows Media Player. I want to be able to easily control my viewing experience in both directions.
I have had an Archos product since the first media player they had, the Archos Jukebox Multimedia, which had a screen the size of a postage stamp. I moved up to the 4-series from there, and now I have the 80GB Archos 504. The best thing about the Archos players is that they appear as a drive on your PC so you can arrange files the way you want to. The worst thing has been how firmware updates seem to make a fully-charged battery appear to be almost empty. But the 504, so far, doesn’t seem to have that issue.
As for recording TV, well, MCE is notorious for only being able to record off of non-digital cable. If you have satellite or digital cable, you’re out of luck. But I think that may be changing with the Vista version of MCE, although I am not certain. So, I need a good way to record TV from satellite boxes that can also be used the way I want to use them (read: no DRM).
The Archos 504 has a DVR station that will basically turn it into a TiVo-like box itself, but come on. How stupid is that? How is my 504 supposed to be recording TV shows while it’s on the road with me? They need to make a DVR station that can record to any ol’ hard drive instead.
Many of you are screaming “TiVo!” But if I am not mistaken, pulling video off of a TiVo requires hacking the box or an additional fee. And the additional fee, if I am not mistaken, only gives you access to play the videos on a PC, not to re-encode them for placement on a portable player. I have heard conflicting stories on this, so I may be wrong. But it seems to me that if TiVo allowed you to download DRM-free, re-encodable videos off of their players, then the MPAA would sue them into oblivion.
I have to stress here, if anyone out there has a better solution or better ideas, please feel free to leave comments. I am always looking for ways to improve on this.
Okay, back to the story. So, I have my old ReplayTV, which has been a workhorse for me. It does cost $12.95 a month, unfortunately, but it doesn’t need a phone line to download it’s programming; it can get it straight from the internet. As well, the ReplayTV has a built-in sharing feature, which was what got them sued into near non-existence. The idea was that you could share programs with friends and family over the web or in other rooms of the house. Trouble is, underground networks popped up where people would request shows that they didn’t have the right to view from people they didn’t know.
But the nifty thing about ReplayTV is that there is an application called DVArchive that runs in Java and makes your PC appear to be a ReplayTV to your actual ReplayTVs so that videos can be downloaded. It’s a great application, albeit somewhat unstable on my PC.
The next step is to re-encode the video for moving to the Archos. The Archos can play the mpeg-2 files straight from the ReplayTV, but re-encoding them in divx keeps the size way down. For this, I had to find a scriptable encoder so that I could do the re-encoding automatically. For this, I turned to VirtualDUB.
VirtualDUB is well-known amongst video enthusiasts. I had to get the altered VirtualDUB that reads MPEG streams, though. The quasi-proprietary ReplayTV streams have the audio out-of-phase with the video by about 300ms, so I had to make those adjustments in my scripts as well.
Okay, so I have the videos coming off of the ReplayTV via DVArchive and a scripted job that runs daily and re-encodes all of the new videos to divx (I use the archive bit to tell whether a file has already be re-encoded, and it also allows me to easily set a video to be re-encoded again, should I lose the divx file or something). If anyone is interested, I can post the scripts and batch files for this.
So then how do I manage my shows on the Archos? Well, I use SyncBackSE, which is a backup utility, and a darn good one! I set it to sync my Archos when it is connected (SyncBackSE will detect the Archos being plugged in and will run the sync profile automatically). But I have it sync both ways. So, when I am done watching a show on the Archos, I can delete it right there (something an iPod can’t do). Then on the next sync, SyncBackSE will also delete the file from my PC. No muss, no fuss.
But you may wish to hold off, since there may be a better solution.
I just found out about iPodifier, which is a program that does essentially exactly what I am looking for. It watches folders for new files and then re-encodes them. Unfortunately, the re-encoding process is somewhat limited as it is designed to create video that is ready for a Video iPod. Well, I have one of those! It also adds the new videos into iTunes for you and creates playlists. As well, the 504 can play M4V files.
The trouble for me here is that iPodifier is Windows only and my iTunes runs on my Mac. Well, no problem. Apparently (I haven’t tried this feature yet), iPodifier will create podcasts of your shows! If you have a web server (which doesn’t mean you have to have a website, just a server somewhere on your LAN), iPodifier will update the XML files appropriately. Then all you have to do is subscribe to that podcast in iTunes and voila! I can’t wait until the weekend when I am back home and can try this feature!
Epilogue: I also have a PC dedicated to recording video using Snapstream’s BeyondTV. It works quite well and can also automatically re-encode video to WMV or divx. The only problem is that it re-encodes to WMV9 (the Archos only reads WMV7) or divx with AC3 audio. I purchased the AC3 codec for the 504 and now those files work. The main trouble is that the PC tends to lock up periodically, maybe twice a month. So I can’t exactly rely on it as my sole source of entertainment. In the end, if I could get all the shows I like in download format, that would be my favorite solution.
And please, no one tell me about MythTV. I have tried three times to make a MythTV box work and have failed all three times.
You’re wrong on the tivo statement above “But if I am not mistaken, pulling video off of a TiVo requires hacking the box or an additional fee. And the additional fee, if I am not mistaken, only gives you access to play the videos on a PC, not to re-encode them for placement on a portable player.”
Tivo to go allows you to rip the file off of a non hacked tivo. I have then used a free utility from tvharmony.com to reencode the file to mpg or avi. It embeds the mak key of your tivo to give authorities the ability to track you down if you share the file, so thats probably why the mpaa is ok with it (for now at least). Works like a champ for when you want to take something with you while traveling, etc.
Yeah, after writing this I did some research and I found that it is possible in a variety of ways to pull TiVo files and re-encode them.
There is apparently a utility called DirectShowDump which can also be set to watch a directory for new files. It has command line functionality to be scripted from batch files and the like as well.
I also found that the latest TiVo update has a web interface which can be used to download videos.
I am definitely going to look into this. I always loved my TiVos. I gave my old Series1 away and my DirecTiVo has decided to stop working. But it may be time to get a new one.
Thanks for the info!
-Mike
I have a 504 80 GB which I use to catch up on my shows while commuting on the bus every day.
Mainly I watch TiVo files downloaded from my two units over my LAN using the TiVo2Go/Desktop software provided by TiVo. The desktop “Plus” version with the $24.95 fee includes an encoder that converts the files to a compatible format (I use H.264). I purchased a plugin from Archos to get this to work but now I am not totally certain it was necesary. If you have the room on the 504 you can also purchase a plugin that will read the unconverted MPEG 2 files that result from DirectShowDump removing the TiVo wrapper. Not sure how well this works as I opted to go for the smaller mp4 files.
The process is straightforward… you setup the automatic download feature in the desktop software to grab new shows after they finish recording. The files are then converted and placed in a folder of your choosing. You have the option of having the desktop software delete the original TiVo file when the conversion is completed.
Right now I manually move the files over to the Archos. I initially spent a lot of time trying to use MS’s Media Player to keep track of and sync the recordings but it was an utter failure. I gave up and now I just use the cut and paste method. I have been thinking about finding an autosyncing method and will check out SyncBackSE.
Another cool thing about the Plus version of the TiVo desktop software is that it also includes encoding of content back into MPEG 2 format for uploading to the TiVo. Although I have not yet tried it, I’m looking forward to being able to watch some internet content on my home TV’s.
– Steve
Steve, you just became my new best friend!
See, I don’t mind plunking down some cash if I know what I’m trying to do is going to work. I’d never heard that TiVoToGo was this open. And you have it going to an Archos like mine! That’s just the icing on the cake!
I guess I just assumed that the MPAA would have everything in a stranglehold.
Thanks! I am headed out to get a TiVo this weekend!
Yes, I encourage you to try SyncBackSE. Or there is a Microsoft “toy” called SyncToy that you may wish to try; it’s free. It’s nowhere near as feature-packed as SyncBackSE (which I also use for all my data backups), but it may do the trick. I love being able to delete things on my Archos and it just gets cleaned up automagically on my PC.
-Mike
I know how you feel. I spent the better part of a month futzing around with different setups that entailed multiple programs and folders to transform the files into the correct format… let alone trying to get Media Player to sync the files. It would have been nice to find someone who had documented what would work for the Archos.
The weird thing is that most of what I wanted to do should be similar if not the same for any portable device. The websites I found were very chaotic… mostly listing esoteric / hard to use programs that, in the end, would produce files unreadable by the 504. Of course, this was at a time that Archos was upgrading the firmware on a regular basis. For all I know the problems were with the 504. In the end having the TiVo desktop software do all the work for a one-time fee of $25 was the best solution. I even got a friend (very non technical) to use the same type of setup with his iPod. Since I only have a one or two files to move daily it isn’t too much trouble. Although, it would be nice to use a syncing program to not only keep my video files up to date but to backup my music and ever growing digital image archive.
Good luck with the new TiVo. The new 80 hour dual tuners are nice and should be available for about $100 after instant rebate and with a year (or more) subscription. Three years is the best deal and actually the same price as a two year subscription. Go figure. They also have a 180 hour unit for $200 but I found it better to upgrade the 80 hour myself with a 300 GB drive that gives me LOT more storage for only about $75.00 extra.
- Steve
I agree that the documentation on the Archos is very poor. Perhaps that is what is keeping it from being the best and most popular media player out there. Have you seen the new 704? Looks pretty sweet!
I considered the dual tuner TiVo, but if I am not mistaken, it won’t work with two receivers. It has to be one receiver (digital) and one analog connection (no receiver). So unless I have cable (I have DirecTV), it won’t work.
But in a related vein, can two TiVos work together to resolve conflicts? I know the ReplayTVs have an option, if another ReplayTV is detected on the network, to move conflicting scheduled recordings to another DVR.
As for the size of TiVo, does it really matter? I mean, if I will be pulling shows off of the machine automagically, won’t it stay pretty empty?
Then again, I will want to watch shows on the TiVo on the weekend (so far, no DVR can beat the playback responsiveness of the TiVo) so I may not delete them so quckly.
Thanks again for the info… I can’t wait to get this started!
-Mike
Ah… didn’t realize you had DTV. You might want to check to see if your DTV receiver has a serial port on the back. TiVo comes with two ways to work with satellite receivers/cable boxes. The first is the serial port which allows a quick and direct method for the TiVo box to change the channel. The other (less desirable) method is the IR blaster. This uses two IR emitters to send channel info to the box. If the IR emitters are set up correctly it should work fine. The main problem is that it is extremely slow for typical channel surfing.
I have my dual tuner set up with a cable box on one tuner and straight cable on the other. If I try to view digital/scrambled channels (by entering channel numbers of just surfing up or down) I have to be very careful to let each channel change to complete. If not, the box can end up on the wrong channel. In the end this is not a factor for me since I rarely channel surf and I can always use the standard cable tuner to do so.
As for two TiVo’s talking to each other to schedule shows… sorry, this is not an option. TiVo has gone to great lengths to keep you from altering a TiVo directly from a remote connection. For example, I can view and transfer my recordings from a remote TiVo onto the one I am using at that moment (must be on the same local network) but I cannot delete or schedule recordings on the remote TiVo through the network. Although… you can schedule recordings via the TiVo website (and soon via a fee based application on Verizon cell phones).
I do have a clarification on how fast your TiVo will fill up… Recording will not be deleted from the actual TiVo unit after they are downloaded to a PC for conversion to a portable device. You will need to do this manually on the TiVo unit or just let the unit fill up until it starts deleting the oldest recordings to make room for new ones. If you go the second route, you will need to make sure that your recordings are not set to “Keep until I delete” If you have your season passes set this way your TiVo will fill up and not allow any new shows to record.
Enjoy!
- Steve
Yes, it was the combination of DirecTV and the serial port that took me away from TiVo (Series1 didn’t have the serial port, or at least didn’t have my DTV receiver’s codes) and to the ReplayTV.
Again, thanks for the info! You da man!
-Mike
I think the trick with Mythtv is to do some homework first on what works, and buy things that others have reported success with – especially motherboard and tv cards, some new (and even some old) variants cannot be made to work unless you’re Einstein. Ibought a new Nvidia motherboard only to find that the wifi couldn’t currently be made to work.
I have a mac mini in the living room, talking over my network to a linux PC hidden away, a lovely harmony remote to control the mac mini frontend. The mini looks great and is as quiet as a mouse.
As well as delivering great video in the living room Mythweb allows the other PCs in the house to access the same recordings through Internet Explorer. Its sweet. There is apparently a way to get it to stream out over the web to you, like a slingbox, for when you’re on the road – haven’t got that working yet though.
Point well taken. The only thing is that my forays into the land of MythTV have been attempts to use existing hardware (which is kind of a Linux staple). If I am going to build a MythTV box from scratch, well then there’s no real reason that it HAS to be MythTV. Or even that it has to be PC-based (could be a TiVo, for instance, since I’m spending the money).
For anyone who’s interested, Kevin Rose and Dan Huard did an episode of SYSTM that was all about building a MythTV box, and they listed the hardware they used. Go to http://revision3.com/systm/mythtv to see it.
As well, Cali Lewis at GeekBriefTV is in the midst of a similar project, which seems to have been put on hold for some reason, but they already listed the hardware they’re using. That can be found at http://geekbriefwp.podshow.com/
-Mike
(Original Steve from the beginning of this discussion.)
I enhanced my TiVo recording/viewing capabilities by adding a inexpensive tuner card to my PC (which is always running). I do not watch anything on this PC… I just use it to add another source/tuner to the mix. Since I don’t need a spiffy interface I use the rudimentary programming setup provided with the card. This allows me to schedule reoccurring programs that I am unable to schedule on my TiVo units due to ongoing conflicts. After that, all I need to do is access the programs on the PC through the TiVo LAN connection. Upload speeds are fast enough that I can watch without interruption.
I’ve toyed with idea of getting a more comprehensive piece of software (BeyondTV?) that provides guide data but it seems moot now that I have replaced a single tuner TiVo with a dual tuner TiVo unit.
- Steve (US)
Mike you mentioned TV a program from TV harmony that is free is it Auto Pilot? I read about that yesterday and don’t know if it works on Vista. But if buying the plus allows me to put a movie from my PC to Tivo and watch on my TV that would be cool. I guess I’ll buy the plus!!
My other question is I am getting the Archos new 650 WiFi coming out on 9/1. So when I convert my shows do I want to check the mpeg4 when I buy plus? Someone mentioned picking the H.264 which on my Tivo to go says is compatible with Ipod but anyways someone said they used that for there Archos but had to buy a plug in from Archos. I read about some 20 dollar plug in will I need that? Is H.264 better then Mpeg4. As long as it plays I don’t care. I want to watch movies I download and my Tivo shows on this thing.
And my last question if I know I am putting the show on my Archos should I record in Best quality will a low quality show still look ok?
Thanks, Rose
I can’t speak to the app that Mike uses, but I can probably answer most of your questions.
I do not move video from my PC to my TiVo, so I cannot speak to that capability. My aim was to get the TiVo programs off the TiVo so that I could take them with me on the road. I went for the Plus verion of TiVo’s software because it’s an all-in-one solution that gets the content and then re-encodes it.
I believe that a plugin for the Archos will be required. There are 2 that I know of, one for “podcasts” (which means AAC audio and h.264 video) and one for “Cinema” (which means AC3 audio and MPEG-2/VOB video). I believe standard MP4 video is supported out of the box (as is MPEG-1, divx, and xvid).
I checked the Archos.com website, and there are 3 plugins for the gen5 players, the two mentioned above and a web browser plugin.
Frankly, I think the plugins are a stupid move on Archos’ part. I mean, after all, they’re only $20 each, so it doesn’t seem like much when compared to the hundreds of dollars spent on the unit itself. Why not package them in to begin with?
In any case, your Archos should be ready to play MP4 files (watch the audio, though… the “iPod” setting probably uses AAC audio, which requires a plugin) out of the box. But if not, it’s only $20 more for the plugin.
As for the better codec, I understand that h.264 encodes smaller than standard MP4 (realize, h.264 is just a flavor of MP4) and looks better. But on the small Archos screen, you probably won’t notice the difference. If you find that you have to get the “podcast” plugin anyway, I would go ahead and use h.264 if I were you.
I actually have some files as MP4 and others as h.264 and both play great on my Archos 504 (I have both plugins).
As for TiVo quality… the main difference has to do with artifacting in high-motion programs. Sports programs and the like should be recorded at high quality, and other shows, such as sitcoms and such, can be set to medium or low quality. But realize, this won’t affect the quality on the Archos very much. The files will be re-encoded anyway. But I would caution that bad artifacting in the TiVo file that can result from lots of on-screen motion and too low a quality setting could affect how it looks on the Archos.
-Mike
Thanks so much for helping me!! I have Tivo Desktop 2.3a running on Windows Vista 32 bit. I am ordering the Archos on Saturday when it comes available. I know it said it will do Mpeg 4 out of the box and with Tivo Plus I can convert as Mpeg 4 that is one of the options. I am not sure difference between Mpeg 2 and 4 but I will get the browser plugin and If I need the other I will get it but If I can convert to Mpeg 4 with plus and it plays decent enough on my Archos then I am good.
My problem now is instead of getting Plus I upgraded my basic Roxio Eascy CD Creator Basic 9 to Suite because it said you could convert Tivo files and burn to DVD. Putting on a portable media player is my main concern and I paid 50 bucks to upgrade and it doesn’t work. I try to convert and it says I need desktop 2.3 or higher and I am running 2.3a. Roxio said I need 2.5 cause it may have a codec that I am missing. Everyone all over the Tivo and Tivo Community forums says 2.5 wont work with 32 bit Vista keep 2.3 since it’s working. So now I will probably get a refund on the Roxio and go with plus.
I read there is a Direct Show Dump for free not exactally sure how it works or how easy it is. Lots of people say by Video Redo for 50 bucks easy and works. But I will probably just do the Tivo Desktop plus if my Roxio won’t work. I have posted all over there forums waiting for an answer.
But my last question is if I do desktop Plus and lets say convert a program to Mpeg then it should let me burn it to DVD if someone wanted it right. The basic Roxio that came with my computer should let me do that. I hope when I get rid of the suite I still have the basic that came with my pc. All this converting and having a DVD burner now it’s all new to me. I have never had a pvp before. Thanks so much for your help!!
Rose
Yeah, that was my first question: “TiVo Desktop works on Vista?” But it sounds like it does… sort of. I run it on XP, so I am not worried about that.
But on to your questions.
I haven’t played with burning DVDs very much. My experience has always been that most programs will take pretty much any video format (as long as you have the codec for it) but if it isn’t what it wants, then it re-encodes it. Realize that the more re-encoding you do, you lose quality.
But DVDs are basically MPEG-2. That being said, every time I have burned a DVD, even if the video is already in MPEG-2, it re-encodes. And that takes a LONG time. Probably not as bad these days, what with super fast processors (like I said, I haven’t done it in a while).
So, there are several formats for DVD video, all of which are MPEG-2. I am not sure of all the types, but they are essentially 720×480 and then there are different bitrates, representing different qualities. So if your video isn’t exactly what the program wants, it has to re-encode.
Now, there is a good alternative. Why are you making the DVDs? If it’s to play on your computer at a later date, then just burn the MP4 files to disc (CD or DVD) as files. There’s no need to make it playable in most DVD players. And if you want, a great many DVD players will also play divx, MP4, xvid, etc. So, that’s a great option if you have $70 or so to get a new DVD player. Yours may already do it.
Now if you are trying to make DVDs for other people, then check with them how they will watch it. If they are going to watch on a computer or if they have a newer DVD player that plays other formats, then just burn the file on the disc that way. Otherwise, you have to go through the pain (and I mean PAIN!) of creating and burning a standard DVD.
MP4 is generally smaller file sizes than MP2, so I would opt for the MP4 format where possible. However, if you have to burn standard DVDs, that process may be less painful if you use MP2.
I hope this helps. Let me know if you have any other questions and I will try to help.
-Mike
I am sorry thaks again. I wont be burning dvd’s I will be putting Tivo shows and other downloaded movies on my protable player. I trasnfer shows to my laptop and watch it sometimes but it’s too big to take everywhere that is where Archos player comes in. I Just wanted to make sure that if I convert my Tivo shows with plus as Mpeg4 they will play and I wont need that plug in. I don’t know if Tivo Plus has an Mpeg 2 option but anyway that don’t matter right now.
Thing is I downloaded a Tivo show to my laptop for a friend who was sick in the hospital and she missed this show last Sopranos. So I wanted to burn this one Tivo show to DVD and Roxio said I could do it with my Easy Creator Basic that came with my pc. It wouldn’t work. The program My Muhvee that you add the Tivo file to when you click burn now it always locks up. I don’t want to burn anything else unless I take one ofmy own DVD movies and convert it to watch on my player but I don’t even know if that is possible or how.
But anyway I just really wanted to burn this show for my friend. She said why should you bring me your laptop when I have my own laptop with a DVD player. So she just wanted to watch the episode on her DVD player on her laptop. I just wanted to burn that one show for her to watch. But everything else will go on my new player my Tivo shows a ocuple downloaded movies.
Thanks Again for all you help sorry ao long.. I am going to get a refund on my Roxio Suite and buy desktop plus. But yes 2.3a that I have works on 32 bit vista other people have it too. But the new 2.5 is actually suppose to be for Vista 2.3 isn’t supported but everyone says 2.5 only works on 64 bit not 32 bit so I won’t install it.
I jusy wish I could get my Roxio working
to convert and burn but it’s ok. Thanks, Rose