Weaknees Expands TiVo S3 Storage

30 hours of HD recording got you down? Weaknees is taking pre-orders for S3 units with expanded internal storage. I assume they’ll also offer hard drive upgrades to folks that have already made a purchase or want to get in on the Lifetime Service VIP dealio. Michael tells me he’ll have pricing info up later … Read more

Add Channel Logos To Your Harmony 880

I trust several savvy readers cashed in on those recent Harmony 880 remote deals… So here’s a nifty feature you may not have picked up on — the on-remote television listings feature has been replaced by icons of channels you frequently access. For some this might not be such a big deal, but I find … Read more

TiVo Converter Desktop 2.3 Hack Released

Todd Perlmutter responded to my request for a custom GUI and has delivered the TiVo Converter Wrapper. TCW allows you to choose an encoding profile and queue up .tivo shows for conversion. Unlike TiVo Desktop, you can transcode multiple shows on demand and irrespective of folder location (and without mucking around in XML and the … Read more

Desktop 2.3 Hack: Transcode To Higher Resolutions

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By default, the new TiVo Desktop software transcodes recordings to 320×240 for portable devices. According to TiVo VP Jim Denney this decision was made to limit potential piracy. However, there may be times when you’d prefer something a bit larger. For example the PSP (480×272), various PMCs (up to 640×480), various PDAs (up to 640×480), and (hopefully) future video-capable iPods all support higher resolutions. Additionally, if you’re interested in manipulating these files on a Mac with iMovie/iDVD why cripple your content? (For best results, do not transcode to a higher resolution than your source material.)

Step 1. Open up C:Program FilesTiVoDesktopSupportencodeprofiles.xml in Notepad and study the various tivotrans:Profile name entries (in quotes) to determine which method you’ll be using for your device. You can confirm your selection in the My TiVo Recordings for Portables subfolder. Within the relevant profile, edit the hrez and vrez variables to the desired dimensions. Before going down this path, it would be prudent to make a backup copy of encodeprofiles.xml.

Step 2. Use TiVo Desktop as you normally would and/or… To transcode immediately open a command window to C:Program FilesTiVoDesktop, type this, and hit enter: TiVoConverter.exe /profile=”xxxxxx” “C:yyyyyyzzzzzz.tivo” Substitute xxxxxx with what you researched above, yyyyyy with the TiVo Recordings directory path, and yyyyyy.tivo with the show you want to transcode.

Step 3. There is no Step 3.

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Desktop 2.3 Hack: Transcode Prior Downloads

One limitation of the new TiVo Desktop software is that it only allows you to transcode newly downloaded recordings for portable devices… Or so we thought! If you’re not scared of the Windows command line and perusing a small XML file, you can transcode any .tivo show on your system — new OR old. Step … Read more

TiVo’s Software Update Has a Secret…

TiVo’s KidZone software update (client & server components) includes a new feature to repair personal settings should they get out of whack. How would those settings lose sync, you ask? Hard drive upgrade. While it’s unofficial and unsupported, if you’ve opted in to KidZone or Guru Guides and upgrade your hard drive, TiVo will repopulate … Read more

SlingPlayer Virtualized in Mac OSX

Jim McMurry has reported success at running the SlingPlayer within Parallels, a free-during-beta virtualization software for Intel Macs. If you have a copy of XP lying around and can’t wait the 2 or 3 months until Slingbox natively supports OSX, you’ve got your solution. Jim’s Slingbox is controlling & streaming his Dish Network DVR 510 and he has enabled Parallels audio output.

Jim says: I decided to make a project out of getting Slingbox setup today. Not knowing for sure if it would work on OSX, I got everything setup using only OSX and Parallels VM running Windows XP. Overall the video is pretty awesome for a player running inside of a VM on Parallels. Full screen inside Parallels (not full screen Parallels, but Slingplayer fullscreen inside Parallels) works very as well.

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TiVoToGo Header Hack

Greg Burns has whipped up a clever little TiVoToGo app called TiVo Attach that reapplies header metadata after editing a show. Though this is just the first phase… over at the