TiVoToGo now available for SA TiVOs

[gcutler]

Sorry if this belongs better in the DVR threads but didn't know whether to put it in the D* or E* sections.

http://www.tivo.com/4.9.19.asp

The long discussed TiVoToGo has been released. This allows the ability to officially sanctioned transfer Video files from your Series 2 SA TiVo to your PC and to DVD. IT involves downloading new TiVo Desktop SW and getting an access key that will only work with the SA Series 2 TiVos on your account. And the "Encrypted" files will be playable on the PCs running the Desktop SW and allow you to burn to DVD via a specialized version of Sonic MyDVD.


Some limitations are...

From the Website...

1) At this time DVD Recorders with TiVo (Humax, Pioneer and Toshiba models) do NOT have TiVoToGo capabilities. But this functionality is COMING SOON! So come back to TiVo.com often for updates.

2) Also, DIRECTV DVRs with TiVo are not TiVoToGo compatible.

3) The specialized Sonic MyDVD sw is not yet available

4) It seems (just from how I've read it) that you have to use the special version MyDVD in order to read the encrypted video files so you can burn them to DVD. So those of us who do not like MyDVD will be forced to use it to burn DVDs (I guess you can rip the DVD once it is created in MyDVD and reauthor it to your satisfaction?)



http://a423.g.akamai.net/7/423/1788/50d27246ab404f/www.tivo.com/i/4.0/4.9.19.mainleft.jpg

[djlong]

So long as the DVD you create is usable in *any* DVD palyer, this is a good thing.

[gcutler]

Oh, the non-hacking TiVo world is gonna love this. People on the TiVo forums are majorly salivating waiting for the special MyDVD sw so they can start burning. I still have a Series 1, already have a video capture device, and prefer to capture off my 508 due to the better PQ than the TiVo, and don't have my home network even close to that part of the house where the TiVo is (would have to run a cable or invest in Wireless) so having this feature really dosen't help me so much. But a majority of SA TiVo users are real happy right now (well except the Mac and Win98/ME users) ;)

[narnia777]

Reports on tivocommunity.com state that with the madia access key you can re-encode the video to standard mpeg and burn with any authoring program. I'm still waiting for 7.1 on my Tivo, it can be weeks before it's deployed to all of us.

Jim

[narnia777]

Got my 7.1 upgrade... transfering shows to the pc via the network is slow, prob due to the Tivo multitasking so much. Takes about 2 hours to transfer a 2gig 2 hour program recorded in "high" quality.

Once the .tivo video file is on the pc with the password you setup in Tivo Desktop you can play it with Windows Media Player . If you want to burn the program to a DVD you must first re-encode it with a program that supports MS's Directshow DRM codec. So far two that I have tried is Nero Vision Express and TMPGenc. Once the file is a standard mpeg2 then you can burn with any authoring program.

In total depending on how fast your computer is could take many hours to do all the converting.

Jim