Tivo to Zune

[gshacienda]

Greetings, I am regular at TivoCommunity and use Tivo'd video on my portable devices. Having owed 3 Windows CE based portables capable of video, I am familiar with how to do video conversion "the hard way". What I am interested in is advice/ confirmation of what the easiest/ most convenient way is for naive users. My difficulty is that I do not have a Zune right now so I can't confirm for myself. I have a Windows mobile 5 phone that plays video, and the Video iPod for playing kids shows in the car during their commute to school.

As some of you may know, Tivo provides a way to automatically move and convert videos onto portable devices. For example, I tell it to move anything from the series Barnie or Magic School Bus and convert it into H.264 320x240 suitable for playing on the iPod. In the morning, I add the folder where these conversions are deposited using iTunes, sync to iPod, and I am done. 4 or five clicks that are exactly the same. I can do that even in the most groggy monday morning daze with 4 kids screaming.

In Zune's case, it appears that I can get it down to the same simplicity, but there is an inefficiency that I have to generate two transcodes. Tivo's software TivoToGo is instructed to convert to H.264 and add the files automatically to Windows Media Player library. Presumambly since the ZUne application picks up stuff in the WMP library, it will see the H.264 and convert to WMV when it is told to sync up.

First off, I don't know for sure that it will actually work this way. The documentation indicates it will, but heck sometimes the hardware doesn't read docs, or understand them the way my puny brain does.

Could someone with a Zune confirm Tivo interoperability? Does it sound right in theory from the Zune Software side? How about practical tests? If you know someone who has a Tivo set up with TTG plus, then it would be possible to check out. It can be downloaded from Tivo at http://www.tivo.com/4.9.4.1.asp.

Thanks.

Originally Posted by JustinThyme

Greetings, I am regular at TivoCommunity and use Tivo'd video on my portable devices.ÂÂ*ÂÂ*Having owed 3 Windows CE based portables capable of video, I am familiar with how to do video conversion "the hard way".ÂÂ*ÂÂ*What I am interested in is advice/ confirmation of what the easiest/ most convenient way is for naive users.ÂÂ*ÂÂ*My difficulty is that I do not have a Zune right now so I can't confirm for myself.ÂÂ*ÂÂ*I have a Windows mobile 5 phone that plays video, and the Video iPod for playing kids shows in the car during their commute to school.ÂÂ*ÂÂ*

As some of you may know, Tivo provides a way to automatically move and convert videos onto portable devices.ÂÂ*ÂÂ*For example, I tell it to move anything from the series Barnie or Magic School Bus and convert it into H.264 320x240 suitable for playing on the iPod.ÂÂ*ÂÂ*In the morning, I add the folder where these conversions are deposited using iTunes, sync to iPod, and I am done.ÂÂ*ÂÂ*4 or five clicks that are exactly the same.ÂÂ*ÂÂ*I can do that even in the most groggy monday morning daze with 4 kids screaming.

In Zune's case, it appears that I can get it down to the same simplicity, but there is an inefficiency that I have to generate two transcodes.ÂÂ*ÂÂ*Tivo's software TivoToGo is instructed to convert to H.264 and add the files automatically to Windows Media Player library.ÂÂ*ÂÂ*Presumambly since the ZUne application picks up stuff in the WMP library, it will see the H.264 and convert to WMV when it is told to sync up.

First off, I don't know for sure that it will actually work this way.ÂÂ*ÂÂ*The documentation indicates it will, but heck sometimes the hardware doesn't read docs, or understand them the way my puny brain does.ÂÂ*ÂÂ*

Could someone with a Zune confirm Tivo interoperability?ÂÂ*ÂÂ*Does it sound right in theory from the Zune Software side?ÂÂ*ÂÂ*How about practical tests?ÂÂ*ÂÂ*If you know someone who has a Tivo set up with TTG plus, then it would be possible to check out.ÂÂ*ÂÂ*It can be downloaded from Tivo at http://www.tivo.com/4.9.4.1.asp.ÂÂ*ÂÂ*

Thanks.

Tivo episodes I have tested with my Zune converted and worked fine. I simply added them to my library (like you're doing) and Synced them.
Unfortunately the conversion process is a bit long, but it does work.

It won't be an instant process, but it *should* (has for me) work without a problem.

It would be easier to have the file in WMV format, but H. 264 is supported. :-D

[gshacienda]

Great.ÂÂ*ÂÂ*I have a followup question.

If this were a Portable Windows Media Center or Windows Mobile device, then WMP sync would convert the .Tivo file in the WMP library directly to WMV and send it to the portable device.ÂÂ*ÂÂ*It would be nice if it worked because the free version of TivoToGo supports those portable devices at no additional fee.ÂÂ*ÂÂ* (The plus version I specified in my procedure contains licensed codecs so Tivo has to charge $24 extra for that version).ÂÂ*ÂÂ*

I am wondering if the zune software won't do the same to a .Tivo file in the WMP library.ÂÂ*ÂÂ*If it is a fork of WMP, or shares the transcode subsystem code, then it very well could.ÂÂ*ÂÂ*

Could anyone verify that? If you have a Zune and know someone with a Tivo and a computer, it's easy to verify. Just install the Free TivoToGo software at the Tivo site (link above) and transfer something small (eg tell tivo to record something for a minute, then stop the recording. Transfering and transcoding such a test file will be rapid. Anyhow, check the box to store in WMP library and do the transfer. Then go into Zune and sync it to see if it recognizes that the .Tivo is eligible for .WMV transcoding to the Zune.

If this doesn't work and we really must do the double transcode steps I outlined above, then I have a second question. It is plausible that some transcodes would be a lot faster than others due to similarities between their MPEG4 structuring and WMV's MPEG4 encoding.ÂÂ*ÂÂ*Is one TivoTransfer output file any faster for WMV conversion than others?ÂÂ*ÂÂ*Is any of them higher fidelity?

Sorry for pummeling you folks with questions.ÂÂ*ÂÂ*If I had one of these for about a half hour I could verify all this myself, but frankly, I have too many gizmos in the house as is and I just don't have room for a Zune until one of the others breaks.

You can't directly conver the .tivo file in the Zune software.
Although the Zune software is based off of WMP 11, it doesn't support the same codecs. The codec support is unfortunately very limited.

I'm not sure about the second part.
Sorry. :-(

[gshacienda]

Originally Posted by RYS

You can't directly conver the .tivo file in the Zune software.
Although the Zune software is based off of WMP 11, it doesn't support the same codecs. The codec support is unfortunately very limited.

I'm not sure about the second part.
Sorry. :-(

OK. Theoretically, a codec installation issue could also create your situation. Just curious- on the machine running the Zune software, are you able to play the .tivo file on your screen with WMP? Or better, have you ever used WMP to successfully convert directly from a .tivo into a WMV on your machine?

Originally Posted by JustinThyme

OK.ÂÂ*ÂÂ*Theoretically, a codec installation issue could also create your situation.ÂÂ*ÂÂ*Just curious- on the machine running the Zune software, are you able to play the .tivo file on your screen with WMP?ÂÂ*ÂÂ*Or better, have you ever used WMP to successfully convert directly from a .tivo into a WMV on your machine?

I know I've played .tivo files on my computer before, but I don't remember if it was on WMP.
Attach a .tivo file to your next post and I'll test it.
I don't have one on my computer, so I can't tell you right now.

[gshacienda]

Sorry. I finally generated a test file small enough for the upload limit, bu but then learned that this board does not allow .tivo. Renamed to .Mpg- not allowed. Renamed to .jpg and upload failed- wrong format or something like that.

[ScottTS]

So can or can't you go from tivo to zune? We just got Tivo a few days ago, I have 3 tivo files on my laptop. What do i do next? do I need the tivo togo + to do this or what? If someone can confirm that'd be great. I guess the thing is once I have the file dl'd to the tivo desktop, what goes on from there if in fact it can play on the zune. help would be great, thanks!