Converting my HD DV movies to play on TiVo HD in high quality

[nashmarkt]

I want to convert my HD DV tapes to a file that I can play on TiVo.
What format can I convert them to so I preserve the quality of HD and still have reasonable file sizes.
I am not a total novice adn have done SD DV to DVD conversions and such but I have no idea what file format would preserve the HD quality AND if that file format is playable on TiVo HD. Please help.

Regards

[zoobie]

so you want to know what file formats Tivo supports?

[nashmarkt]

I like to know what file formats TiVo can playback that are of HD resolution. And what tools I can use to convert my HD DV tape to that format.

[racer-x]

What's an HD DV Tape.........or do you mean HDV recorded onto a mini-dv tape?

I don't own a Tivo........but assuming it can record HD content, it should have an HDMI input. Just hook up your HDV camera to it via HDMI and record directly to it. Otherwise you can maybe export a Tivo file and analyze it....?

[jman98]

I don't own Tivo, but this link might be useful to your purpose.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/galleon/

Of course I could be wrong, but I find it highly dubious that Tivo would allow recording via HDMI input. The whole purpose of HDMI was to COMPLETELY defeat any ability to record anything, ever. Hollywood would absolutely and completely flip the #@#$% out if Tivo allowed recording via HDMI input.

I just took a quick look at Tivo's current DVR product lines and the ONLY inputs allowed are the following:
The standard def Tivo allows input from composite video, S-video and coax cable.
The high def Tivo allows input from coax cable or coax antenna. That's it.

[nashmarkt]

No recording via HDMI on TiVo. I would like to convert my mini DV tapes to a file that I can put on my computer and transfer to TiVo. Or at least playback in iTunes in HD format.

[zoobie]

try asking here
www.tivocommunity.com

[nashmarkt]

Let me ask the question differently.
How can I convert my HD mini DV tapes to mpeg2 and preserve the quality to best possible?

[jman98]

Let me ask the question differently.
How can I convert my HD mini DV tapes to mpeg2 and preserve the quality to best possible?

I'd suggest using bit rates of AT LEAST 8000 Kbps. If your goal is get files that DVD video compatible, you'll need to be aware of DVD's upper limit on video bit rate which is somewhere around 9800 Kbps. If you don't care about DVD compatibility, then you could potentially use even higher bit rates. HCenc is an excellent quality and free MPEG-2 encoder you could use.

And your question as rephrased in no way touches on whether or not you can play these files on a Tivo. The link in my previous post might be useful to that or you can ask on some Tivo specific forum if it's even possible to transfer these files to a Tivo for playback.

[rallymax]

I want to do the same thing.
As best as I can tell there are two paths to sucess:

Both start the same way -
change the HD DV codec video into a format that TiVo understands. ie MPEG-2 or MPEG-4
maybe the free transcoder "Videora" will do that...
http://www.videora.com/en-us/Converter/TiVo/

Getting it on the TiVo:

1: Downloading it.
Simply drop the converted file into the TiVo Desktop folder and apply the patch to allow Video as well as Photo and Music sharing. (more info here... http://aldoblog.com/tivo/bittorrent-downloads/ in part 1.3)


3. Enable the hidden Video panel in the TiVo Desktop software.
By default, the TiVo Desktop preference pane and service only allow you to share music and photos with your TiVo.
You need to run a little utility application to enable the Video panel and transfer capability. The makers of VisualHub
provide a utility to do this, called TiVoGoBack Enabler, included in the VisualHub download. It’s a simple and
self-explanatory utility; run it, confirm you want to enable video transfers, and you’re done.





2: Stream it - if you have a Series 3 or TiVo HD
Use the Google Code project "streambaby" (http://code.google.com/p/streambaby/) to allow the files to be streamed to the TiVo just like the YouTube and NetFlix ones are.


Now the question still remains - what HD MPEG-4 formats are supported by the TiVo decoder and does Videroa just do it???

[edDV]

Let me ask the question differently.
How can I convert my HD mini DV tapes to mpeg2 and preserve the quality to best possible?

HDV is already MPeg2. File extension is *.m2t

Bit rate is 25Mb/s.

[minidv2dvd]

capture the files to the hard drive like you do with miniDV, except use HDVsplit. once you have the .mts file send it to the tivo and see if it plays.

[nashmarkt]

I will give HDVsplit a try this weekend.

[rallymax]

pls report back with your findings.
I just downloaded streambaby and it ran fine.. when I get home I'll fire it up again to see if my TiVo can see and play files in my stream'ed directory.
Sorry that I'd forgotten that HDV is MPEG2 recorded on miniDV (vs the DV codec for the original SD cameras).
I would be curious to find out if AVCHD/H.264/MPEG4 camcorders are a .MTS format that TiVo will decode without transcode.
I'll test that out tonight since I have some .MTS files from a friend's 1080i camcorder.

[rallymax]

I just found this on the TiVo website. it lists the supported formats that can be copied via the TiVo Desktop tool

http://www.tivo.com/assets/popups/popup_compatiblewebvideos.html

Compatible web videos
If you have downloaded videos from the Internet in any of the following formats, you can use TiVo Desktop Plus software for the PC to transfer them to your network-connected TiVo DVR to view them on your TV:

Windows Media Video (.wmv)
QuickTime Movie (.mov)
MPEG-4/H.264 (.mp4, .m4v, .mp4v)
MPEG-2 (.mpg, .mpeg, .mpe, .mp2, .mp2v, .mpv2)
DivX and Xvid (.avi, .divx)

[edDV]

pls report back with your findings.
I just downloaded streambaby and it ran fine.. when I get home I'll fire it up again to see if my TiVo can see and play files in my stream'ed directory.
Sorry that I'd forgotten that HDV is MPEG2 recorded on miniDV (vs the DV codec for the original SD cameras).
I would be curious to find out if AVCHD/H.264/MPEG4 camcorders are a .MTS format that TiVo will decode without transcode.
I'll test that out tonight since I have some .MTS files from a friend's 1080i camcorder.

MTS isn't a format, just a wrapper. I can't find anything on the TIVO site about playing anything but broadcast formats (all MPeg2 for ATSC or cable). Sat HD is MPeg4 but not h.264.

Where are you seeing that the HD TIVO plays external files?

[rallymax]

I've hunted in my history but can't find the page that talked about because of YouTube support within TiVo that TiVo Series 3 and HD now have MPEG4 VC1 support (since YouTube streams H.264).

...Anyhow that streaming technology is leveraged in the "streambaby" project...

http://code.google.com/p/streambaby/

there are good pictures of it all working here...
http://code.google.com/p/streambaby/wiki/getting_started

which is based on "tivostream"
http://code.google.com/p/tivostream/

that projects notes:

INTRODUCTION
A Java HME streaming video server for Tivos which lets you stream video (mpeg2/h.264 mpeg4) to your series 3 Tivos from your computer(s). Unlike Tivo To Come Back (TTCB) a copy of the source video is not made on your Tivo. Some advantages over TTCB are:
No copy is made on the Tivo, so you don't have to worry about deleting it after watching
You can organize your videos in any structure you like on your computer to make them easy to find rather than having to copy them to Tivo and live with very limited organization capabilities of the Tivo.
You can store your video files in multiple places across multiple file volumes and give friendly names to the shares you wish tivostream to see. All the shares you configure are then available in one place in the initial tivostream screen with names of your choice.
For mpeg4/h.264 videos you can watch them in their native format without having to transcode to mpeg2 on the fly as Tivo Desktop (or other TTCB applications) currently does.
Since the HME server is in complete control of remote control functions it's possible to define further navigation options than is possible with normal Tivo video playback such as arbitrary skip n minutes back or forwards and other interesting ideas.

[rallymax]

MTS isn't a format, just a wrapper. I can't find anything on the TIVO site about playing anything but broadcast formats (all MPeg2 for ATSC or cable). Sat HD is MPeg4 but not h.264.

Yes you're absolutely right. I meant - I'll test to see if TiVo understands the MTS container witch has a 1080i/60 AVCHD video stream in it.

[edDV]

Ill follow your progress. I'm curious about the new Tivos.

They just signed a distribution deal with Best Buy.
http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20090709-707216.html
http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2009/07/10/can-cable-finally-innovate.aspx

Also, Tivo is in a big fight with Dish.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124654731747286401.html

[rallymax]

TiVo seems to be lacking good management. It's as though they are afraid to get on a plane...
I live only a mile or so away from them (Silicon Valley) and their partnerships are only with companies that are here too - Nero, Netflix, Google (YouTube). I'm surprised they got on the plane to go to Seattle to do the Amazon deal.

Back on topic, I fired up streambaby last night but was unable to get the TiVo to see it. I sniffed the network but have not figured out what's going on yet. My TiVo HD is version 11.xxxx so I'm wondering if they have changed HME (Home Media Engine) and broken that support (which was for 9.xxxx).
I'll do more playing today and get back to you all.

FYI: TiVo HME details:
http://tivohme.sourceforge.net/

[The old guy]

First, you have to have the Tivo Desktop Plus Software and an active Plus key on your computer.

Second, just give this a try from the Tivo Support files:

How do I transfer web videos to my TiVo DVR?

1. Move or save video files to the My TiVo Recordings folder within the My Documents folder on your PC. If you already have video files in different folders, create shortcuts to the these folders and place them in the My TiVo Recordings folder.
2. Select your computer from the DVR's Now Playing List.
3. Highlight a video in the list and press SELECT. Choose Watch on this TV to start the transfer.
4. When the transfer starts, you have the option of watching the video immediately or continuing to browse for additional videos to transfer.

Yah I know it says WEB videos.... ignore that name. A video is a video, irregardless of its origin.

NOW, I don't know if this will work with HD files. It does work with SD and I have a .TS file I converted using TMPGenc 4 Express to Xvid .avi and it plays back both files. In fact the HD files shows 720p on the front of the Tivo. And it looks pretty good on my 720p TV.

If the HD files does not show up in the Now Playing List you'll then know you need to convert it to one of aforementioned formats.

And if this works... standby to lose some major space on the Tivo. I put a 46 MB .WMV from my computer and it shows 650 MB on the TIVO. And the HD file is 990 MB on my computer and 3680 MB on the TIVO.

Oh and I have the S3 HD with the 1TB external drive if that matters.

Scotty

[nashmarkt]

I used HDVsplit to import DV tape to my computer. I am running PyTivo on my Mac and streaming video to my TiVo HD or copy/converting them to TiVo. The resulted m2t files are not streamed (streambaby) but can be copied to TiVo. THe playback quality is not bad.

[rallymax]

Can you confirm that you're saying that to get streambaby to work you need to also have TiVo desktop installed (to somehow make the HME come alive)????

thx,

[nashmarkt]

I do not have TiVo Desktop running. I used to but I am not running it anymore. I installed the latest pyTiVo build for Mac which includes Streambaby. I am running this on iMac (Leopard).

[rallymax]

i got streambaby to work on Windows 7 and used the batch file in ./extras/service/win.... to install it as a service. Streambaby now starts each time the pc turns on automatically. I can see it on my TiVo in the Photos,Music etc folder as "Stream, Baby Stream". It works great. btw it's using the libAV* libraries to convert the format on the fly so pretty much any video file will play auto-magically.