Need help getting .ty/.ty+/.tmf files into new S3

[mr_zorg]

I've been playing with my new S3 and pyTivo (since tivoserver no longer works) and have some observations/questions I'm hoping people can help me with. Sorry if these have been addressed elsewhere, but I'm a noob to the S3 world and couldn't manage to find my answers.

• It seems pyTivo really only wants to work with .mpg or .tivo files. I've got a bunch of HD .ty/.ty+/.tmf files from an old HR10-250 TiVo I want to stream over to the S3.
• pyTivo attempts to scale/letterbox any .mpg files to a fixed size, unless they're already in a "tivo compatible" format. But, it doesn't seem to be S3 aware and won't handle .mpg files that are HD resolutions or framerates.
• I modified transcode.py to be aware of the HD resolutions and framerates, and now it will upload up an .mpg that I created with tytompg unmolested. BUT it doesn't playback smoothly. The original file played fine on my HR10-250, but when "converted" to .mpg and uploaded to the S3 it doesn't. It stutters and glitches. (It's a 1080i/60 file.) So I'm not sure that the ty -> mpg -> s3 is the best way to go.
• Is there any way to get a .ty/.ty+/.tmf file onto the S3 (without hacking it)? And/or, any way to convert a .ty/.ty+/.tmf file into a proper .tivo file?
• Oh, and what speed is the ethernet jack on an S3? Is it gigabit? I can't seem to find that anywhere. I've got it plugged into a 100Mbps switch, but would it benefit (upload or download) speeds to my computer if I had it on a gigabit switch (the computer is gigabit)?

I greatly appreciate any and all comments, suggestions, ideas, etc. I'm no noob to tivo hacking, just the S3 world...

Thanks!

[bcc]

pyTivo attempts to scale/letterbox any .mpg files to a fixed size, unless they're already in a "tivo compatible" format. But, it doesn't seem to be S3 aware and won't handle .mpg files that are HD resolutions or framerates.

Sounds like a pytivo problem, have you tried using tivo-to-comeback (TTCB) with tivodesktop?

Is there any way to get a .ty/.ty+/.tmf file onto the S3 (without hacking it)? And/or, any way to convert a .ty/.ty+/.tmf file into a proper .tivo file?

Yes, convert to .mpg and use tivodesktop. I haven't heard of anyone doing .mpg->.tivo conversion but with the .tivo cipher being fully cracked it would just be a small matter of programming. I suspect nobody has been motivated to add back tivo's proprietary DRM to recordings when TTCB can work with .mpg directly.

Oh, and what speed is the ethernet jack on an S3? Is it gigabit? I can't seem to find that anywhere. I've got it plugged into a 100Mbps switch, but would it benefit (upload or download) speeds to my computer if I had it on a gigabit switch (the computer is gigabit)?

The built in ethernet is only 100mbit. On a gig-e switch the port would still only negotiate to 100mbit. For gig-e, you could use the agigausb gig-e usb dongle if your box is hacked and you've installed jamie's kernel modules.

[Jamie]

Aren't hr10-250 SAT HD streams at an unusual HD resolution? Like 1280x1080 or something? Are we sure the S3 can play those back without transcoding to a legal HD resolution?

If someone has tried it, let us know.

[bcc]

Aren't hr10-250 SAT HD streams at an unusual HD resolution? Like 1280x1080 or something? Are we sure the S3 can play those back without transcoding to a legal HD resolution?

If someone has tried it, let us know.

Oh that's right, the 1080i streams from directv are often (usually?) 1280x1080i. Of course the OTA 1080i would always be 1920x1080i.

I just tried it with an old 1280x1080i recording, and it inserted onto my s3 just fine using tivodesktop. Aspect ratio and a/v sync were fine.

[Jamie]

Oh that's right, the 1080i streams from directv are often (usually?) 1280x1080i. Of course the OTA 1080i would always be 1920x1080i.

I just tried it with an old 1280x1080i recording, and it inserted onto my s3 just fine using tivodesktop. Aspect ratio and a/v sync were fine.

Does tivodesktop resize it? I suppose you could pull it back off and run s3tots over it to find out if it is still 1280x1080i after the transfer.

[bcc]

Does tivodesktop resize it? I suppose you could pull it back off and run s3tots over it to find out if it is still 1280x1080i after the transfer.

No, it wasn't resized. The recording maintained its full HD-lite glory.

For fun I extracted the TTCB recording and ran it thru s3tots. Result was a 1280x1080i .ts.

[mr_zorg]

Sounds like a pytivo problem, have you tried using tivo-to-comeback (TTCB) with tivodesktop?

I was not aware of that TTCB, all I knew was that the Mac client didn't have the video sharing on it. I'll give that a shot and report back.

The built in ethernet is only 100mbit. On a gig-e switch the port would still only negotiate to 100mbit. For gig-e, you could use the agigausb gig-e usb dongle if your box is hacked and you've installed jamie's kernel modules.

That's what I figured it was. I'm kind-of surprised they didn't include gig-e for the MRV stuff... I'd like to stick unhacked if possible, so I think I can live with 100mbit.

[mr_zorg]

Sounds like a pytivo problem, have you tried using tivo-to-comeback (TTCB) with tivodesktop?

Well, it looks like it's just my OTA HD recordings that have issues. They do play, but periodically (every few seconds) pause then fast forward a bit. Tytompg didn't report any issues, but I did try having it skip a few of the first few chunks just to see what happened. Same thing.

On the other hand, SD and HD content from satellite work just fine.

Any more advice?

[bcc]

Any more advice?

Ya, try tivodesktop to make sure pytivo isn't screwing things up by running your video thru ffmpeg. ffmpeg has trouble with some mpeg2 encodings including fox OTA. Your OTA isn't fox by chance?

[mr_zorg]

Ya, try tivodesktop to make sure pytivo isn't screwing things up by running your video thru ffmpeg. ffmpeg has trouble with some mpeg2 encodings including fox OTA. Your OTA isn't fox by chance?

Sorry if I wasn't clear, my last response was using tivodesktop. In this case, I've been trying Heroes (NBC) and The Office (also NBC). Those are the only OTA HD recordings I've been archiving... Though Torchwood (HDNet, SAT) works just fine.

[bcc]

There is a thread here:
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb...d.php?t=374868
including similar results to yours with OTA NBC recordings. My conclusion from that forum is that high-def TTCB was release before it was ready for prime time.
I did find an old hr10-250 OTA sample from NBC. I served it up to my s3 with tivodesktop and my s3 actually crashes trying to transfer it.
Lots of "unmarked discontinuity" errors logged in tvlog before the system crashes with an assertion failure "TmkAssertionFailure[xxx]: : (MakePes, line 142 ())".

With TTCB, the s3 system is trying to demux and remux to .ts on the tivo itself and it looks like their implementation is pretty fragile. Maybe a pass thru videoredo will help.

[bcc]

I was also able to reproduce the fast-forward behavior on OTA NBC recordings without crashing.
Then I ran my test recordings thru videoredo's quickstreamfix, and the fast-forward, errors and crashing issues went away. In my recordings, the resulting a/v sync is bad, but I'm not sure the a/v sync was correct to start with (may be broadcaster error).

So it looks like quickstream fix (or equivalent) is mandatory for TTCB for some recordings.

[mr_zorg]

Thank you. I'll try those out. Appreciate all the info, I'm finally getting comfortable with all this S3 TTG, TTCB, etc., stuff.

[mr_zorg]

Yep, VideoReDo's QuickStreamFix did the trick. Thanks! Unfortunately, it's a little bit of a pain since I have to run it in Parallels Desktop VM of Windows. Anyone know of a Mac or open source equivalent? At least I'll only have to do it once for all of my old recordings...

[bcc]

Yep, VideoReDo's QuickStreamFix did the trick. Thanks! Unfortunately, it's a little bit of a pain since I have to run it in Parallels Desktop VM of Windows. Anyone know of a Mac or open source equivalent? At least I'll only have to do it once for all of my old recordings...

I have code in tytompg that regenerates the timecodes instead of taking them from the source stream. The later is the mode tytompg was released with.

I took a recording that was exhibiting fast-forward behavior after TTCB, and when tytompg instead regenerates the timecodes the problem was solved.

Not surprising as this is basically all videoredo's quickstream fix is doing in this case.

I don't have this mode compiled as default as recordings with a/v holes would then be mishandled, and handling such holes was a goal for tytompg.

'course I can't build leopard binaries thanks to lack of support of Apple's build tools.

If you want open source there's always the ffmpeg/mplex based solutions. Ie remux with either of those, or a solution based upon them such as avidemux. You get what you pay for with them

I bet ProjectX would work as well.

Personally I'd just stick with HTPC playback once you've gone to all the trouble to pull recordings off the tivo.