TiVo to Mac Users: Buzz Off

jamie writes "Though TiVo's website still claims it's 'working hard to make the TiVoToGo feature' work on Macs, its CFO just admitted otherwise. Bringing your recordings to your Mac to watch, he said, seems unlikely 'unless we find a way to record it under the current platform, and I don't think that will happen in the next few years.' Translation: no DRM, no content. Fortunately for Mac users, there are alternatives..."

Comments

DRM

[dr00g911]

Well, I'd been sitting on this since I got my Tivo2Go update and figured it out in approximately fifteen minutes. It looks like Tivo's screwing all us Mac types now, so I've got no cause to keep it to myself anymore.

Fire up Safari and go to https:// or choose the tivo from your rendezvous/bonjour bar and change it to read https://

User name: tivo
Password: your tivo access key that you can get from your Tivo account online

From here, you can download encrypted files off of your Tivo to your Mac via a web interface. From there, it's a matter of scouring a few forums to find the correct command line tools to strip the DRM off of files and leave you with pristine, quicktime playable, Toast burnable .m2v files. In deference to the DMCA, I'll leave the forum scouring as an exercise to the reader. The terms 'tivo' 'demux' 'mac' and 'key' generally appear on the same page.

Re:DRM

[A Drake Man]

Not quite that simple. I just tried to download with a friend's Tivo and instead of downloading the file, it downloaded a text file that reads:

<h2>Bad Request</h2>
session id missing

btw mythtv .18 was released

[enrico_suave]

MythTV including support for the Plextor ConvertX (which has linux drivers as well as a Mac flavored version bundled with Elgato's EyeTV)

*shrug*

e.

Mac Users to TiVo: Will Do

[jeffehobbs]

This is probably as good a time as any to put in a plug for El Gato's products. They make some really excellent hardware and software that can do TiVo-style recording via Mac OS X. It works and works well, with no DRM whatsoever.

~jeff

Re:EyeTV?

[99BottlesOfBeerInMyF]

am I missing something here, or does EyeTV replicate everything that TiVO offers? Why would someone buy TiVo over EyeTV?

EyeTV is missing a number of features. First, you need a mac to interface with and control it. Next it does not have the concept of season passes. Third, it does not record suggestions in it's spare space. Fourth the UI is not quite as nice.

On the other hand, EyeTV has no DRM, a built in editor, burns VCDs and DVDs, has no monthly fee for scheduling, is much easier for hard drive upgrades, and can be used to rip your existing video collection.

I bought an EyeTV a year or so and am delighted with it. There are still some TiVo features I'd like, but all in all I prefer having control and easy archiving.

Another Mac Option: Center Stage

[Steve Cowan]

There is another promising open-source Mac alternative which is just getting off the ground.

Try ReplayTV

[TallGeek]

Get a ReplayTV instead. There are several Mac-friendly tools that can pull the MPEG-2 files off it over the network. You can even make your Mac/PC act like a networked ReplayTV and have the ReplayTV pull video from it and show it on your TV. You can play them using Apple's MPEG-2 codec for QuickTime (costs $20 or something) or VLC. With the QuickTime codec, you can convert the files to DV and then edit them in iMovie or Final Cut (Express) easily.

Note: I only have experience with the 4000 and 5000 models, so perhaps the newer ones break all this, but I don't think so.

Re:Try ReplayTV

[ab]

No kidding. Better yet, get some old ones that have Commercial Advance. TiVo people only think they skip commercials. Ninety-something percent of the time I don't see them at all. It's nice to just set down the remote and watch stuff commercial free.

Re:eyetv sucks compared to tivo

[Anonymous Coward]

This might be improved in the non-USB versions

g/might be/s//has been/

EyeTV 500 records uncompressed High-def signals over firewire. Very sweet.

So there you go.

Re:The Truth in the Troll

[mabhatter654]

in my opinion, apple has the least restrictive DRM in iTMS. It is so trivial to get your music out of iTunes...you don't even need third party programs to do it.. as far as I know iTunes is the only music service you get a real...playable CD out of. Everything else uses...Hyper-DRM... The brand of DRM Microsoft is selling is complete and total... every device from memory stick, to camera, to phone, to audio device, to pc & pda will be required to ONLY run MS brand of DRM. MS version means you can purchase from anybody...but loose the key file in a hard drive crash and you'll have to repurchase again. Apple's files can be burned DRM'd to any media...they just have to "phone home" to apple to get permission... Apple let's you "own" your copy...just like a CD... MS ensures you will only ever "rent" your copiesl....with experation dates.. forever.