TIVO Special for Telecom customers

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696 posts

Ultimate Geek

#391014 12-Oct-2010 16:28

ahmad: So how come you have it? I presume you were an early adopter and got one when it still came bundled? From my limited research I believe it was bundled in the past.

Yeah it was included with the package. I started using it again recently to transfer new downloaded TV shows the the TiVo automatically but I might stop as the picture quality is pretty bad.

I ever don't bother copying anything off the tivo.

DLS

timbosan

2159 posts

Uber Geek

#391023 12-Oct-2010 16:48

kiwi1971 - Just a question about the picture quality of transfered content - I have read in a couple of places that the recorded TV picture on a TIVO is 'excellant', but are you saying the content, when copied, is degraded?

AFAIK all that happens is the TIVO transcodes the DRM protected stream into a MPG(?) format as you copy it, which shouldn't result in much, if any, degredation.

If you look at this excellant information about tivo, and particularly the section 'Download Recordings from TiVo', it has HEAPS of info.

There is an excellant explanation of download speeds from TIVO to PC under the section 'Why do recordings download so slowly?'

allan

2044 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Lifetime subscriber

#391029 12-Oct-2010 16:57

robbyp: Prime at least won't allow them access. They blame the fact that they can't monitor viewership numbers on the tivo.

I don't get their argument is at all. If instead I am watching Prime directly on my TV via Freeview, how are they monitoring that?

Kiwi1971

696 posts

Ultimate Geek

#391032 12-Oct-2010 17:00

timbosan: kiwi1971 - Just a question about the picture quality of transfered content - I have read in a couple of places that the recorded TV picture on a TIVO is 'excellant', but are you saying the content, when copied, is degraded?

AFAIK all that happens is the TIVO transcodes the DRM protected stream into a MPG(?) format as you copy it, which shouldn't result in much, if any, degredation.

If you look at this excellant information about tivo, and particularly the section 'Download Recordings from TiVo', it has HEAPS of info.

There is an excellant explanation of download speeds from TIVO to PC under the section 'Why do recordings download so slowly?'

To clarify. Recorded TV is excellent in HD and SD on the TiVo.
The image quality of shows transferred from the TiVo to the PC are exactly the same quality as on the TiVo. They only lose qulity once they are converted for a protable device. But probably look ok on the specific device they are converted for.

Xvid and Divx files such as downloaded TV shows and films lose quality significantly when transferred from your PC to the TiVo.

They come out noticably blurrier than if they are watched through a PS3 or on the PC.

DLS

wallop

367 posts

Ultimate Geek

#391033 12-Oct-2010 17:02

I find the picture quality to be very good. Any shows copied to the Tivo will only be as good as the original file. So while 720p files look great your average quality xvid/divx don't look to good on a 50" plasma. But that's not the Tivo's fault. As for coping off I have only played with this but again it will depend on what you are transcoding them to.

But as said earlier you need a mak to copy from/to and that costs $129. Still at a total of $489 for a Tivo and mak it's not a bad buy at the moment. If you have multiple Tivo's you only need the one mak.

timbosan

2159 posts

Uber Geek

#391036 12-Oct-2010 17:06

Kiwi1971:
timbosan: kiwi1971 - Just a question about the picture quality of transfered content - I have read in a couple of places that the recorded TV picture on a TIVO is 'excellant', but are you saying the content, when copied, is degraded?

AFAIK all that happens is the TIVO transcodes the DRM protected stream into a MPG(?) format as you copy it, which shouldn't result in much, if any, degredation.

If you look at this excellant information about tivo, and particularly the section 'Download Recordings from TiVo', it has HEAPS of info.

There is an excellant explanation of download speeds from TIVO to PC under the section 'Why do recordings download so slowly?'

To clarify. Recorded TV is excellent in HD and SD on the TiVo.
The image quality of shows transferred from the TiVo to the PC are exactly the same quality as on the TiVo. They only lose qulity once they are converted for a protable device. But probably look ok on the specific device they are converted for.

Xvid and Divx files such as downloaded TV shows and films lose quality significantly when transferred from your PC to the TiVo.

They come out noticably blurrier than if they are watched through a PS3 or on the PC.

DLS

Ah! Thanks for the clarification!

Strange though that files UPLOADED to the TIVO loose so much quality... possibly to do with the slow CPU and the transcoding?

I haven't got my MAK yet, still wondering if it is worth it - I have a HTPC PC in the lounge and it has a full EPG (from satellite) and doesn't need $130 spending to get the content off it. If these two things where fixed I wouldn't hesitate in getting a TIVO for the lounge instead....

wallop

367 posts

Ultimate Geek

#391037 12-Oct-2010 17:11

The transcoding is done on the pc not on the Tivo. That's what controls it.

Sharesies

Trade NZ and US shares and funds with Sharesies (affiliate link).

ahmad

1937 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#391101 12-Oct-2010 22:07

Hi everyone :)

If you are recording an HD program, can you choose to record it in "SD" in order to conserve HDD space?

Also how easy is it to replace the HDD yourself voiding the warranty of course.

Kiwi1971

696 posts

Ultimate Geek

#391111 12-Oct-2010 22:31

wallop: I find the picture quality to be very good.? Any shows copied to the Tivo will only be as good as the original file.? So while 720p files look great your?average quality?xvid/divx don't look to good on a 50" plasma.? But that's not the Tivo's fault.

that's simply not true. I have watched the same divx file through the Ps3 media server and transferred to the tivo and the Ps3 played it with so much more sharpness. the file through the Tivo was very fuzzy, not close to being the same quality.

Kiwi1971

696 posts

Ultimate Geek

#391113 12-Oct-2010 22:33

ahmad: Hi everyone :)

If you are recording an HD program, can you choose to record it in "SD" in order to conserve HDD space?

Also how easy is it to replace the HDD yourself voiding the warranty of course.

No I have seen that on US Tivos but it its not a feature of the New Zealand models.

ahmad

1937 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#391181 13-Oct-2010 09:13

Questions keep coming up as I read more in the GZ archives...

Have they updated the TiVO yet so that you can find out how much space/time is remaining on the drive??

wallop

367 posts

Ultimate Geek

#391197 13-Oct-2010 09:54

Kiwi1971:
wallop: I find the picture quality to be very good.? Any shows copied to the Tivo will only be as good as the original file.? So while 720p files look great your?average quality?xvid/divx don't look to good on a 50" plasma.? But that's not the Tivo's fault.

that's simply not true. I have watched the same divx file through the Ps3 media server and transferred to the tivo and the Ps3 played it with so much more sharpness. the file through the Tivo was very fuzzy, not close to being the same quality.

Well that is your experience not mine, so try not to call me a liar. I have found crap in, crap out. As I have said 720p files are excellent. While all others are watchable some are worst than others, it all depends on the original encoding. If I play them on my pc I can notice a difference between files so of course there is a difference through the Tivo. Also I do use pytivo not the tivo desktop software to do the transcoding. Not sure what you use. I don't have a ps3 so can't compare that.

As for disk usage you need kmmtg for that.

Kiwi1971

696 posts

Ultimate Geek

#391215 13-Oct-2010 10:12

wallop:
Kiwi1971:
wallop: I find the picture quality to be very good.? Any shows copied to the Tivo will only be as good as the original file.? So while 720p files look great your?average quality?xvid/divx don't look to good on a 50" plasma.? But that's not the Tivo's fault.

that's simply not true. I have watched the same divx file through the Ps3 media server and transferred to the tivo and the Ps3 played it with so much more sharpness. the file through the Tivo was very fuzzy, not close to being the same quality.

Well that is your experience not mine, so try not to call me a liar. I have found crap in, crap out. As I have said 720p files are excellent. While all others are watchable some are worst than others, it all depends on the original encoding. If I play them on my pc I can notice a difference between files so of course there is a difference through the Tivo. Also I do use pytivo not the tivo desktop software to do the transcoding. Not sure what you use. I don't have a ps3 so can't compare that.

As for disk usage you need kmmtg for that.

I was suggesting you were were mistaken based on my own experiences, not a liar. [Touchy much?]
All I was saying was that watching the same Xvid file through a PS3 on a 43" Plasma and then comparing it to the exact same Xvid file after being transferred to the TiVo [through TiVo desktop] is like watching something on Blu Ray and then watching the same film on DVD while standing in your garden looking through a dirty window.
However, it has been pointed out by yourself and someone else that this is down to the TiVo desktop software rather than the TiVo itself. So I take back the part where I said your pants were on fire.
I was not aware that different transfer software gave different results as I didn't know that the files were converted before or during the transfer process.

I will experiment with pytivo. I had it on my old PC but haven't as yet put it on the netbook I use for these things.

DLS

catdog

107 posts

Master Geek

#391294 13-Oct-2010 12:20

ahmad: Hi everyone :)

If you are recording an HD program, can you choose to record it in "SD" in order to conserve HDD space?

Also how easy is it to replace the HDD yourself voiding the warranty of course.

1) Not for TV1 or TV2, but you can record TV3+1 (in SD) instead of TV3 (HD) if you really want SD quality.

2) See this page:
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=370784

It is pretty simple to replace the internal HDD using WinMFS. Note that you need to use winmfs_beta9_3g for Australian Tivos ("g" at end), and if you use a Western Digital drive (like I did), then also read the part about wdidle3.exe.

catdog

107 posts

Master Geek

#391300 13-Oct-2010 12:34

Since the Tivo hardware can only play MPEG2 or MPEG4 formats, any other format (divx etc) must be transcoded by the PC as it is copied to the Tivo. I highly recommend pytivo for this, and the use of pytivo/tivo desktop software might be the reason for the quality issue discussion above.

Unfortunately for HD content (MKV files), both pytivo and tivo desktop software will by default simply transcode to MPEG2. It is possible to copy H264 video from a MKV file to tivo without transcoding, but it is a slightly longer process:

1) extract the video and audio from the MKV container, then pack it back into a MPEG4 format
2) "push" the MPEG4 file to the Tivo from the PC using pytivo (as opposed to "pulling" it from the Tivo menu).

For more detail, see this link about mkv2tivomp4.bat: http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=448424

I use this approach since my PC cannot transcode HD video in real-time (extracting and repacking the video is much quicker), and there is no loss in quality due to transcoding (although for some files, the audio must be transcoded to a format suitable for Tivo which takes an extra ~5min).

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