AltEPG

I remember this subject was really taboo on tother site and as I never had a network card I never really looked at it, however I do now

I've looked into it a bit but TBH all this talk of TY streams and the likes does errrr confuse me

Before I get carried away I think I need to ask the simples questions

1) Can we actually talk about it ?
2) Can it be done fairly easily
3) Presumably the format TiVo records stuff isnt .....well user friendly

If the answer to 1) is no then ignore the other questions and I'll go back too doing stuff the old fashioned way of re-playing recordings back into a media center PC ....yuk but it works

You can always call in at the forum of database deals although it does look a bit quiet there.

It is fairly easy once you have a networked Tivo.
You can be up and running with the basics in no time.
The files are pretty big.
Best to do it with a proper network cable rather than wireless or via powerlink adapters.

I used to copy video from my TiVo regularly a few years ago. The main things to use were:

1. TyTool, runs on Windows - a way of copy the video which is then stored as a .TY file.
2. TSERVER, comes with TyTool and runs on the TiVo.
3. MPlayer - a media player that would play .TY files under Linux, Windows or Mac OS
4. MENCODER - coverts to AVI
5. TyStudio - edits TY files

There were a few other methods, but the above progs were the ones I eventually stuck with. The most I've done in the past year or two is just stream using VSERVER and the TyShow DirectShow codec (with Media Player Classic), but all the above should still work with AltEPG. Google for the names of the progs and it seems most are still available.

Hope that helps get you going!

Cheers for your help, I will investigate and come back if I need further assitance

These days VLC (videolan client) plays ty files native so you don't need to download that many tools.
You can make a DVD image from start to finish including editing and a menu using just tytool. The advantage of doing it that way is that there is zero re-encoding of the video from ty file all the way to VOB. The audio is transcoded from 32kHz to 48kHz for DVD, using the Tytool route means the audio is kept perfectly in sync with the video which isn't being re-encoded. Then burn the DVD image to a DVD with Imgburn or nero etc being careful not to let nero re-encode which would undo all the hard work!

Tytool can be a bit fiddly, so to gain from all the work that went into it you need to be accept a learning curve, and put the effort in yourself to experiment with it. Dealdatabase has a very good search function Good luck!

mrtickle wrote:You can make a DVD image from start to finish including editing and a menu using just tytool. The advantage of doing it that way is that there is zero re-encoding of the video from ty file all the way to VOB.

Some DVD players used to be a bit picky about Tivo's normal horizontal resolution (540?) not being one of the official DVD horizontal resolutions. It is quite some time since I was fiddling with all that so don't know if that is still an issue.

drgeoff wrote:

mrtickle wrote:You can make a DVD image from start to finish including editing and a menu using just tytool. The advantage of doing it that way is that there is zero re-encoding of the video from ty file all the way to VOB.

Some DVD players used to be a bit picky about Tivo's normal horizontal resolution (540?) not being one of the official DVD horizontal resolutions. It is quite some time since I was fiddling with all that so don't know if that is still an issue.

Yes of course, if you were to use that non-standard resolution it wouldn't be a pukka DVD. Unhacked tivo:
Best=mode4, 544x576
High=mode2, 480x576
Medium and Basic = mode1, 352x576

So only Medium and Basic are valid DVD resolutions.

The mode 0 hack (replacing the fpga7114.o file so that the PAL settings for mode0 weren't way off screen, and it was useable) enables you to use mode 0, 720x576, which most people then set for Best and High.

A mode 0 recording run through the tytool process end-to-end provides the highest possible video and audio quality. On my setup it's better than watching on the tivo, since the tivo video circuitry introduces noise, which my dvd player doesn't. And for those unlucky enough to have white flashes on their mode0 output, the flashes aren't in the recording or on the DVD.

I still have to run DVDpatcher over the Tytool output to choose 16:9 aspect ratio before burning to DVD for widescreen programmes because Tytool/Tivo flags everything as 4:3. Is this still the case or am I not keeping up?

johalareewi wrote:I still have to run DVDpatcher over the Tytool output to choose 16:9 aspect ratio before burning to DVD for widescreen programmes because Tytool/Tivo flags everything as 4:3. Is this still the case or am I not keeping up?

Yep, that's the case AFAIK. I used to use PGCEdit to change the Titlesets on the finished DVDimage after tytool had created it just before burning (If you set the flags as widescreen it doesn't matter what the embedded ratio in the VOB was). However, I found that using DVDpatcher on the VOBs once processed (ie adverts cut etc) but before the last tytool process (menu creation) was neater (as you then get a menu stating one AR and the VOB matches, so the DVD is more valid) and easier (as DVD patcher is quick and less fiddly!). The dvdauthor creation stage detects the widescreen AR correctly and uses it to make a tytool DVD with the ARs set correctly.