View Full Version : Best way to get Revision3 HD to Tivo HD automatically
Danathar
05-27-2009, 03:30 PM
So...the video quality of Rev3 shows coming from TIVO proper is awful. Love the 720p stuff off of the revision3 website :)
Here is my setup.
1. TiVO HD connected to my home LAN.
2. Ubuntu 9.04 Loaded on an OLD system with about 100GB of space (2.2 Ghz single core) also conntected via LAN in another part of the apartment (away fron the TV)
3, I use my macBook pro in the living room for surfing when watching TV.
4. I have a Vista dual core MPC box work let me have and am using for gaming and misc stuff. Also not in the same room as the TV and TIVO.
I'd like to automatically download and transfer select Rev3 720p shows to my TIVO HD as they come out.
Currently I've been downloading them by hand and then using pytivoX on my mac to transfer or stream them, but that's a pain in the Ass. I'd much rather have an automatic experience so I can just look at my recorded shows and be able to just choose pre-transfered 720p shows to my TIVO HD.
thoughts?
What would you do? I'm not looking to build another media box or buy more hardware.
from the sounds of your setup, pytivo is probably the right approach. With the exception of the payware tivo desktop, that's the easiest way to get the native mp4 files across to the tivo w/o a costly re-encode. It's been a while since i've used it, and the site is down, but there should be a way to subscribe to an rss feed (either using pytivo itself, or some other aggregator that can drop the files into a folder that pytivo watches) and automate the processes. (might be a good task for the ubuntu box)
Danathar
05-27-2009, 04:49 PM
from the sounds of your setup, pytivo is probably the right approach. With the exception of the payware tivo desktop, that's the easiest way to get the native mp4 files across to the tivo w/o a costly re-encode. It's been a while since i've used it, and the site is down, but there should be a way to subscribe to an rss feed (either using pytivo itself, or some other aggregator that can drop the files into a folder that pytivo watches) and automate the processes. (might be a good task for the ubuntu box)
That would work, except that the shows are not transferred or transcoded until after pytivoX sees the folder and I select the shows from the tivo interface. Due to the rather sluggish speed of the TIVO HD network interface (which I'm told has more to do with the on the fly deccryption/encryption in the box to the HD) you can't really watch in realtime an H264 encoded 720p video file when using pytvoX's transfer option (you catch up to the transfer too quickly).
Now PyTivoX does have a new streaming option integrated into the software but it's limited to around a 1GB of data (which is MORE than enough for revision 3, but try streaming a big blue ray video and it fails after a while.
Thanks for the ideas. I'll post more back here if I get any more ideas or thoughts from others.
Due to the rather sluggish speed of the TIVO HD network interface (which I'm told has more to do with the on the fly deccryption/encryption in the box to the HD) you can't really watch in realtime an H264 encoded 720p video file when using pytvoX's transfer option (you catch up to the transfer too quickly).
Now PyTivoX does have a new streaming option integrated into the software but it's limited to around a 1GB of data (which is MORE than enough for revision 3, but try streaming a big blue ray video and it fails after a while.
if you're having a problem watching realtime, it sounds like it's doing an actual transcode. When it's tranfered natively, mp4s go real quick to the tivoHD. pytivoX i think rolled in streambaby, which is the app that will allow native streaming. From what i hear, they've gotten past the 1 gig limit with some nifty tricks. You can get to it by enabling it in pytivoX, and then going to music/photos/showcases (instead of now playing). that *should* allow for on-demand non-transcoded streaming of the hd.mp4 versions
Danathar
05-30-2009, 04:34 AM
if you're having a problem watching realtime, it sounds like it's doing an actual transcode. When it's tranfered natively, mp4s go real quick to the tivoHD. pytivoX i think rolled in streambaby, which is the app that will allow native streaming. From what i hear, they've gotten past the 1 gig limit with some nifty tricks. You can get to it by enabling it in pytivoX, and then going to music/photos/showcases (instead of now playing). that *should* allow for on-demand non-transcoded streaming of the hd.mp4 versions
Well, they "kinda" got rid of the 1gig limit. It basically starts a second file and when you get to the end of the 1GB barrier the video switches to the second file. It's not seemless, there is about a 1-2 second gap during the switch over.
The streaming option in PYtivoX works pretty well and you are right if it's done right it will stream (revision 3 encodes them right). Transfer is a whole nuther story. It transcodes them into MPEG2 at 30Mb/s and copies them over the network into the tivo. Tivo only is capable of about 10Mb/s max transfer rate (plus or minus a couple hundred megabit). So if you start to transfer something and then start to watch it as it's being transferred then you catch up to it.
but I'm repeating myself (it's late...and I'm just thinking out loud) :)
If I could use something OTHER than a TIVO (even a home myth box) with the comcast cable cards I'd ditch the TIVO HD and make my own DVR with internet capability but since home grown systems are not cable lab certified the only way you can connect a home grown box to get ALL the channels (you can get the unencrypted ones) is by using a component connector card. Of course there is only one output from the the cable box/tivo so you could only record one show at a time on a mythtv like box and you would be limited to whatever channel is currently being outputed to the component outs.
I'm also not sure if you can use the component out WHILE the HDMI is in use to the TV. If they are evil and disable it I suppose you would have to get a component splitter to go to the TV and new DVR/Recorder. Maybe I could get another Cable box and use that as the output to the MythTV system I'd build. If anybody has any comment on my ramblings or if they have done anything like this I'd be grateful for any experience you've had.
What a nightmare....DRM sucks!