Unfortunately,
an HD TiVo was too expensive for me in 2007, and none of my friends or relatives ponied up the cash to get me one as a gift this holiday season, so I'm forced to settle with the extremely inferior
Comcast HD DVR box. But for you TiVo owners, here's an awesome plugin to easily and stylishly connect your TiVo with your Mac.
Showcase is a dashboard widget that, given your TiVo's IP and MAK, will not only show you what your TiVo is up to, but also let you download and decode shows directly from there on to your Mac.
TiVoToGo was
shipped almost exactly a year ago for Mac, but Showcase seemingly does almost everything TTG does, and is available
in simple widget form for the low, low price of free. A few users say it's a little slow (not surprising, given that it's doing all of this stuff from a widget interface, not a full application), but if, unlike me, you did have people who loved you enough to get you a TiVo HD this year, it's definitely worth a download.
Thanks, Dave!
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
1-01-2008 @ 5:45PM
JohnK said...
The download link on the referenced page doesn't work. It can't be downloaded from Apple's site either.
Reply
1-01-2008 @ 5:47PM
Ed said...
Sounds cool, wish I had a tivo to try it out with...
Also, I think you mean MAC, not MAK.
Reply
1-01-2008 @ 5:49PM
maybesew said...
Nope, its MAK, media access key. its a tivo thing.
1-01-2008 @ 5:49PM
Erik Sagen said...
He's referring to the MAK, or Media Access Key, which is a layer of security for media transfers.
1-01-2008 @ 5:56PM
Ed said...
Oh, silly me. Thought it was mac as in networking.
1-01-2008 @ 5:57PM
David said...
Let's get it running straight to the iPod Touch and iPhone and we're in business! That'd be sweet!
Reply
1-01-2008 @ 11:46PM
Dave said...
I wanted the same thing and what I found that works well for not only fixing the files not playing in quicktime problem and getting them to play on a iPhone/touch is iSquint. You just drag the file into iSquint and it converts it to mp4 and in ipod format.
1-01-2008 @ 6:11PM
Simon said...
The widget connects easily to my tivo, but after downloading a show, quicktime tells me that the .mpg file is not a movie file. What am I doing wrong???
(Macbook with Leopard 10.5.1)
Reply
1-01-2008 @ 6:27PM
Josh said...
Try playing the file with VLC. In order to get the file to play inside QuickTime, you might need to install the Quicktime MPEG-2 plug in.
1-01-2008 @ 6:29PM
Roger Price said...
Nice widget! I just wish it would toggle between tivos easier.
Tivo Decode Manager (as well as the more costly Toast) will convert the files to m4v and pop them into iTunes for you.
http://tdm.sourceforge.net/
(it hasn't been updated in a year or so, but still works well)
The decoded MPEG-2 files from the Tivo aren't compatible with Quicktime with or without the plugin. VLC plays them fine.
Reply
1-01-2008 @ 6:34PM
Josh said...
FWIW, I can confirm that video files extracted from a *hacked* TiVo (or DirecTiVo) play fine inside QuickTime Player, with the MPEG-2 plug-in installed.
1-01-2008 @ 6:30PM
Josh said...
This widget has been out for more than a year, even before TTG for Mac was released, I believe. It doesn't seem to work with Series 3 TiVos and the latest software, however. I use Roxio Toast Deluxe instead. For another free alternative, check out TiVo Decode Manager:
http://tdm.sourceforge.net/downloads.html
Reply
1-02-2008 @ 11:08AM
eric f. said...
It does work with series 3. I just tried it on an HD program from the CW (don't judge me on that one).
You might not be using the newest version, or you may have tried it on a program that is transfer restricted.
1-01-2008 @ 7:00PM
ben said...
so is there DRM on the content (say for broadcast network content and then for content from HBO - HD) that gets downloaded to a computer; if so, is it easily strippable?
Reply
1-02-2008 @ 11:10AM
eric f. said...
No there is no DRM. Tivo files are in a .Tivo format normally, which will play without conversion in Toast video player. f you want it to play on something else, it can be converted.
1-02-2008 @ 11:12AM
eric f. said...
HD content will play fine without conversion using VLC.
1-01-2008 @ 7:14PM
Simon said...
Thanks for your help everybody. I downloaded VLC, and the files now play fine. Awesome!
Reply
1-01-2008 @ 7:32PM
John Hopper said...
Glad you guys like the widget... A newer version with better Series3 compatibility will be released sometime soon. And yes, you need VLC or mplayer to play the files.
Reply
1-01-2008 @ 10:01PM
DJ said...
I downloaded the widget, entered my IP & MAK and saw my TiVo 3 HD now playing list. Woohoo! But, when trying to download, it says "0% done" then immediately goes to "download complete". I get a 0 sized file. I'm running OS X 10.5.1 and my TiVo is running the 9.2a update. Any thoughts/help?
Reply
1-02-2008 @ 11:06AM
eric f. said...
That is most likely because the program you chose has copy protection on it. I have Toast Titanium, and in Tivo to Go you can see the red circle with a slash through it, meaning "cannot be transferred". Showcase does not show the symbol, but when I tried it on one of those files that I know are restricted, I got the immediate "file complete" with a 0k file. that's all it is.