TiVo Desktop Software hits version 2.8.1, adds folder view from PC, export for iPad, Pre & more
By Richard Lawler 
posted June 11th 2010 1:33PM
posted June 11th 2010 1:33PM
posted June 11th 2010 1:33PM
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Sounds good!
@Flipper5100 What a pointless comment...
Anyways...who is still buying TiVo's I don't get what their selling point is...now that you can just a DVR with TiVo software from most cable/satellite providers...who wants to pay double that fee monthly for TiVo and have to buy the box. SlingBox sucks too, same with Elgato's EyeTv...I'm hoping the Android Tv forces AppleTv to actually do something, other than allow you just buy content.
@nicholas1987ucsb
Actually I thought the same thing until I visited my brother this last weekend, who has both a Tivo HD and a Slingbox. I was pretty impressed with the Tivo (esp. with the Desktop software mentioned here) and his roommate is going to use the Slingbox to stream the World Cup games to his office or is HD2, which any way you slice it is pretty awesome. He can also access all the Tivo DVR content through the Slingbox.
@nicholas1987ucsb
stop being such a negative nancy
@thenutty1
Slinging Tivo content would be awesome, just would suck to pay that money and have two extra boxes, IMO.
@H264
It's a valid question really.
On one side you have the n00bs that have to be lead to water and thrown in. They are probably content with their provider DVR because they really don't know what to do with it.
On the other side, you have the the better informed enthusiasts that may find some fault with a Tivo when compared to many of the other options and may have no problems rolling their own.
Tivo is trapped between the apathetic willfully taking whatever their cable company feeds them or enthusiasts knowledgeable enough to demand more.
Then there is the fact that sattelite cable users can't even use an HD Tivo. Look around your neighborhood. Each of those dishies is a household that can't even use an HD Tivo.
I would be happy if any version would work; new features would be a bonus.
eztv.it
@j3ff Haven't used TiVo Desktop in a while since this lovely site was bookmarked!
Lovely!... cant wait to test this out on my Pre!
Until TWC decides to unflag some of the ~90% of my channels they've decided should be copy-protected, TiVo Desktop is nearly useless to me.
TIVO is actually quite fantastic. It quickly changed the way I thought about entertainment. It is so much more than a DVR these days. It is an entertainment aggregation agent that learns what you like.
Awesome to see some Palm love there too!
It's Droid only? Not just any Android device (or even any 2.1+ device)? You have to have a Droid?
I'm not a Droid owner nor a TiVo user, but I'd be more likely to buy a TiVo if I could record shows and put them on my Incredible...
So how does this work exactly? Why not create a free Android Market app to accompany this and use that to manage what gets put on the phone (even if you have to do a wired tether)? From a consumer standpoint that would make most sense, I'd think.
Or, if it simply creates a file that the Droid can play in its own media player, then shouldn't any Android device be able to play it?
mr88 - The files are meerly converted to a more "phone ready" format. If they are good for one android, they should work for about any of them. The only difference may be the quality that your handset supports vs the defacto quality of the TiVo converted image. One thing I don't like about TiVo Desktop is that there is no way to tweak those settings. You are stuck with the profiles that they define.
I am just happy they have finally updated the software. It has been at least a couple years since they have.
There is also third party software that can convert .tivo files but some are costly, or others are not exactly easy to use.
@(Unverified) Thank you for the information, I may have to look into this now. It sucks that you can't manage the settings, but it would just be nice to watch shows on my phone with relatively low hassle and free (at least on a per-episode basis).
@mr88 - I think you'll find that it is pretty easy. I have a Blackberry Storm 1 (9530?) and I have always just selected the iPhone conversion option and everything looks fine when I watch it on the BB.
@motionblurrr
Ah, the Storm 1. My former phone haha. Well thank you too for the information, I just wasn't clear on how exactly this worked, but you two have cleared it up for me.
@(Unverified) Directshowdump will convert .tivo files super easy and FREE http://www.dvd-ripping.biz/downloads/Dsd0.1.1424.0.msi
I just recently stopped using TiVo Desktop because it seemed to always get screwed up on auto-transfers. I opted for kmttg and have been pleased with it so far.
There is a file you can tweak as part of the tivo desktop install where you can change encoding parameters. Info is on TivoCommunity.
TiVo: Ditch the subscription fee, watch hardware sales go thru the roof. As long as you want us to pay another monthly bill, customers will stay away. Especially when that monthly bill looks an awful lot like the 'rental' fee for a craptacular Comcast DVR.
We all know TiVo is better, which is why we're willing to pay $500 or more for it. We are NOT willing to pay a huge monthly fee *per device* for a couple of megs of data per month.