Playing .tivo files?

[EwanG]

The .tivo files that you can DL off your Tivo using the TivoToGo software are semi-protected MPEG-2 formatted files. I've tried to get them added to the Videos listing, but GB-PVR doesn't recognize .tivo as a valid extension, and changing the filename to .mpg means that the TivoDirectShow.dll doesn't get called so the video can't be viewed.

Is there a trick that should make this work, or am I going to have to plan on recording the same shows from GB-PVR if I want to watch them anywhere else?

[reven]

you could try and use them with "my videos", it allows you to define which file extensions to show as video files, just add ".tivo" to the list.

[EwanG]

Well, setting that up (and I think I followed all the directions) I get an "Object Reference" error. Not sure if that's a TiVO issue or a plugin issue...

Any ideas?

[reven]

what skin are you using? when does the error occur? what does it say in the gbpvr.exe.log ? also can you paste the myvideos section of the config.xml.

[EwanG]

Using the blue skin. FWIW, I just tried it with a "regular" .mpeg file and that worked fine. So I am a little suspicious of it being an issue of the .tivo file calling the dll properly...

As far as the config.xml:

<MyVideosPlugin>
<DVDReader>D</DVDReader>
<DVDWriter>D</DVDWriter>
<DVDDecrypterLocation>C:\Program Files\DVD Decrypter\DVDDecrypter.exe</DVDDecrypterLocation>
<VideoFileExtensions>mpg|mpeg|tivo</VideoFileExtensions>
<TempDVDDirectory>C:\Temp\</TempDVDDirectory>
<DVDDirectory>C:\DVDs\</DVDDirectory>
<RemoveFolderName>false</RemoveFolderName>
<AutoPlayDVDs>false</AutoPlayDVDs>
<OnEnterShowInfo>true</OnEnterShowInfo>
<PinOnDelete>false</PinOnDelete>
<MasterPIN>R1nN76QBoodrrH3CoSss31M0cWKcUiU=</MasterPIN>
<MaxDescLength>300</MaxDescLength>
<PinLength>4</PinLength>
<DVDAuthor>C:\</DVDAuthor>
<HideBatchWindows>false</HideBatchWindows>
<ConvertFiles>true</ConvertFiles>
<ShowUnseen>true</ShowUnseen>
<DatabaseConnectionString>Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0; Data Source="C:\Program Files\devnz\gbpvr\MyDatabase.mdb"</DatabaseConnectionString>
<VirtualRoot>Drive N~HDD~N:\|Tivos~HDD~J:\T_Videos\|</VirtualRoot>
</MyVideosPlugin>

FWIW,
Ewan

[reven]

oh i thought that you were getting a error on loading it or something, not actually playing the file.  

try pushing "play" to launch the tivo file, there is a known (and fixed in the next release) bug where if the show doesnt have a poster and you enter the "info screen" it will cause gbpvr to crash.  play just plays the file, without the info screen.

[EwanG]

Well, that at least gives me a different error. Hitting the "Play" button gives me "Error: Failure Playing Back File".

I can play these back in WMP, but I don't know if that really proves anything :-)

FWIW...

[reven]

WMP plays videos different than GBPVR, in gbpvr you need a directshow filter for videos to work, try searching for a tivo directshow filter, best chance is probably on www.sourceforge.net

[darrin75]

Trust me this is my area of work. These are ty files which most regular mpeg encoders will not play them they have to be made into a regular mpeg, i have done this many times. I hacked my tivo a long time ago, go here http://www.dealdatabase.com/forum search for tytools...

[darrin75]

Have trouble pm me i can walk you the rest of the way. Tytools can also do frame cuts for cutting commericals etc...