Software Archives - Page 46 of 53

Interesting News Dave Hasn’t Covered

Never enough time… in Canada! DVD versus download. (CNN Money) ATI releases Avivo video converter for portables and DivX. (ATI) Comcast buys digital media services company. (GigaOm) Slingbox celebrates first birthday. (Sling Community) Malaysia gets first DVR. (NextNews)

SlingCorder Gets New Name, Features

Applian’s SlingCorder has been updated and renamed (at Sling’s request) as the At-Large Recorder. Feature enhancements include repeating scheduled recordings, an updated interface, and the ability to automatically launch the SlingPlayer. It’s a neat little app and does what it says, though my TiVo already does a decent job handling my scheduled recordings. ;) As … 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

Details On ReplayTV Software Emerge (Overpriced)

Tonight, at Digital Experience, ReplayTV will debut their software-only DVR product. I’m skipping the event, but perhaps my Engadget or Gizmodo buddies will take the new software for a spin and report back. ReplayTV is expected to ship this fall for $100. I hope that includes the referenced Hauppage tuner card, otherwise it’s horribly overpriced … Read more

Desktop 2.3 Hack: Transcode To Higher Resolutions

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.

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 VP Jim Denney talks Desktop 2.3

I had the opportunity to talk with TiVo Product Marketing VP Jim Denney last night regarding the updated features of TiVoToGo via the new 2.3 Desktop. Check out the details over on Engadget. Mr. Denney mentioned his family uses TiVoToGo to burn DVDs for a portable player and to move content onto his Treo. Apparently … Read more

TiVo Desktop 2.3 Released!

First announced in November, TiVo Desktop 2.3 has finally been released! This software update is notable for two major enhancements (maybe they should have versioned it 3.0). First, the Desktop software adds support for scheduling of downloads in a Season Pass-esque fashion. Second, if you upgrade to Desktop Plus (at a cost of $24.95) you gain access to TiVo-licensed codecs for MPEG-4 conversion. The PSP and iPod are supported, as they both play MPEG-4s out of the box. Additionally, the licensing fee includes an MPEG-2 codec for PC playback if you happen to need one. You could overpay foreign hackers to slap a custom GUI on ffmpeg, or you could pay TiVo less for more. Support for Windows portable devices (phone, PDA, PMC) is still present and free of charge.

Stay tuned as I dig around in the new software… I’m interested in discovering if previous (unsupported) conversion methods still work, what sort of quality and speed we can expect with the new conversion tool, find out what (if any) changes have been made under the hood, etc.

UPDATE: Some new info…