Right, so you probably already know that TiVo's encryption has been cracked, allowing you to convert .tivo files to MPEG files on a Mac or Linux machine. But unless you have a deep love of the command line, you might be a little hard pressed to make use of this fact.Well, luckily our friend Dave Zatz has gone and made things a bit easier with a step by step tutorial for Mac users. For all the details, check out his fine post. But here's the nitty gritty:
- Download the TiVo Decode software.
- Make sure you have Xcode to compile the program (it's either in your install directory or on your installation disc for OS X).
- Go to www.tivo.com/manage, sign in and check to make sure transfers are allowed for Series2 TiVo. Then get your Media Access Key.
- Now, using a computer on your home LAN, open a web browser and go to https://[your TiVo's IP, as assigned by your home router].
- Sign on with the username tivo and the password is your Media Access Key.
- Download the videos you want to your computer
- And finally, you're ready to decrypt the files, converting them into MPEG-2 files. Right now there's no graphical user interface for TiVo Decode, so you'll wind up with something that looks like this: tivodecode-0.1.2/objects.dir/tivodecode -m ########## -o distraction.mpg distraction.tivo, where ########## is your Media Access Key. Check out Dave's post for instructions on building your own command line. Or wait a few days until someone comes out with a front end for the program.
1. How do I get the files off of a Series 3 HD Tivo? I understand that it doesn't yet support TV2Go.
darron.peace@gmail.com
Posted at 4:27PM on Dec 8th 2006 by Darron