In a 3-part series I’ll be reviewing the TIVO digital recorder and video on demand service launched last week by TVNZ and Telecom.
This post deals with the TIVO installation and set-up.
DVR war declared (finally)
So finally, a decade after time-shifting TV, ad-skipping and digital storage of TV programmes came to American homes via the TIVO box, New Zealanders can get their hands on the same service.
tivo boxWhile the TIVO brand is new to New Zealand, the concept of the digital video recorder is not – Sky’s successful MySky recorder was the first official box to employ an electronic programming guide, digital recording and intelligent services like series link, which allows you to set up recording of an ongoing TV show with one press of a button.
The TiVo is a wonderful box but it has a few things which aren’t officially documented anywhere.. (or are they ?)
These may or may not work with NZ’s TiVo but please let me know if they don’t work or there are anymore not listed here.
Note: Try at your own risk and if your new shiny $920 TiVo doesn’t work anymore after trying these don’t blame me.
Enabling/Disabling Remote Backlight – Press TiVo and Thumbs Down until the red light blinks 3 times. To Turn it back on Press the TiVo and thumbs Up until the red light blinks 3 times.
SELECT PLAY SELECT PAUSE SELECT (Quicker Display Hiding)
SELECT PLAY SELECT 9 SELECT (Enable/Disable Clock)
SELECT PLAY SELECT INSTANT-REPLAY SELECT (Input Debug mode?). You may have to reboot the TiVo to disable this?
Port 31339 – For remote/home automation so you can use an iphone app for example to change channels etc
Port 443 (SSL Port) – You can connect to your TiVo via your web browser. https://ipaddres_of_tivo and then the username is tivo and the password is your MAK
Today (Well I found out today but it was in the last day or so) TiVo released some new software for the Macintosh which works under Snow Leopard. Previous versions of the software did not work under newer versions of Macintosh Software (Snow Leopard). The latest vesion is 1.95 and can be downloaded from TiVo’s US Website.
It will allow you to transfer Music from iTunes (including playlists) and Photos from iPhoto. You cannot transfer videos with it between the TiVo and the Computer. Hopefully we see TiVo NZ having a local copy of this file.
The TiVo in New Zealand doesn’t come with any Macintosh Software so users without windows cannot transfer music/video/movies to the TiVo. But there is a third party piece of software called pyTiVoX which is open source software.
You can download it from http://code.google.com/p/pytivox/
It will allow you to transfer video to the TiVo. (To extract video from the Tivo, we’ll need to use tools like iTivo, once it works. Currently, due to some changes made to the codecs for the NZ units, iTivo currently doesn’t work properly)
From my testing of pyTivoX and Mac’s with NZ Tivo’s so far:
via it’s pyTivo component, allows “pull” transfers of video to the Tivo, from OS X. All content is transcoded by pyTivo/ffmpeg to MPEG2
via it’s pyTivo component, allows “push” transfers of video from OS X, to Tivo. MP4/H264 and reported WMV/VC1 content transfer natively. Divx, MKV, and anything else transcodes to MPEG2
via it’s StreamBaby component, streaming does not currently work
To get pull transfers to work:
Run pyTivoX
Add appropriate video shares. Don’t forget to choose Apply.
Under “Now Playing” on the Tivo, find your share names. They are probably near the bottom of the list.
Choose your video, and follow the prompts to download. Note that the video will be transcoded into MPEG2, and take a fair bit of HDD space. Videos can be played whilst being downloaded.
To get push transfers to work:
Run pyTivoX
Add appropriate video shares. Don’t forget to choose Apply.
In a browser, connect to http://localhost:9032. Choose Web Configuration
Under the “General Server Settings”
tivo_username – set to your username you login to http://www.mytivo.co.nz
tivo_password – set to your password for login to http://www.mytivo.co.nz
tivo_mind – set to nzmind.tivo.com:8181
tivo_mak – set to your MAK
Choose “Save Settings” from the Administration box
Once returned to the Settings screen, choose “Soft pyTivo rest”
Navigate back to http://localhost:9032
Select your video share
Select the files you wish to transfer, and choose “Send to Tivo”. After a few seconds, you should notice the blue LED appear on the Tivo, and the file should appear at the top of your Now Playing list. Files can be played whilst they are still downloading.
On my systems, transcoding the file slows the file transfer down a fair bit – it’s much faster to push MP4’s natively, than to transcode to MPEG2 and transfer, even though the transcoding is on the fly.
Things I don’t own (in no particular order): An iPod. A digital camera. Broadband. Access to satellite television. A television remote control.
Beats me why, last week, I became the first journalist in the country to officially trial TiVo – an internet connected personal video recorder that lets you watch what you want, when you want.
Confused? Four words: Sex and the City. In season six, episode 76, TiVo was the device that got Steve and Miranda back together (it broke, he fixed it, they moved to Brooklyn, yada yada).
It has featured in South Park and The Simpsons scripts. Last year when David Letterman asked Hillary Clinton for the top 10 reasons she loved America, TiVo made the list.
Like MySky and MyFreeview, it will pause and rewind live television, allow you to programme a “season pass” so you never miss a favourite show, and watch one programme while recording two more. Unlike MySky and MyFreeview, it is a bona fide pop culture phenomenon. And on Friday, it arrived in New Zealand.
These images where kindly supplied by jofizz showing the unboxing of his Tivo he got today. It shows what you get.
His quote about the entire unboxing is:
“It’s not a particularly exciting product to unbox, but here are some pix. Please excuse the background mess!
Initial thoughts are – sweet! It looks great. Relieved there is a correct antenna adapting cable in the box! No HDMI cable of course, I have already purchased a new one.
So, so, so disappointed with the remote! It feels very very light (yes, with the batteries) and the overall quality feels very cheap.
The text on the buttons is a kind of dirty grey colour, the buttons themselves are just round rubber lumps”
So here we go…
The actual TiVo box. Great its a Holiday Edition but it is 320GB, HD and FreeviewHD Approved Read more…
Telecom organised this flashmob in the Auckland CBD that brightened up people’s days on their way to work and brought TiVo to life.
More highlights of the TiVo/Telecom Flash mob which was organised in Auckland just over a week ago. There are a few more on Youtube but this seems like the best one done at the Britomart downtown in Auckland.
Not technically a flashmob, but more of an organised publicity stunt with professional dancers. This video looks like it was professionally done compared to the previous “home/mobile phone” cameras and actually looks pretty good.
Wikipedia says this about a flashmob:
A flash mob (or flashmob) is a large group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place, perform an unusual action for a brief time, then quickly disperse. The term flash mob is generally applied only to gatherings organized via telecommunications, social media, or viral emails. The term is generally not applied to events organized by public relations firms or as publicity stunts.
HONG KONG – (BUSINESS WIRE) – TANDBERG Television, part of the Ericsson Group (NASDAQ:ERIC), today announced Hybrid Television Services (ANZ) Pty Limited, the exclusive licensee of TiVo products in Australia and New Zealand, is deploying a complete suite of TANDBERG Television software solutions to enable carrier class Video On-Demand to the television via broadband Internet.
Hybrid TV will give New Zealand customers access to a wide range of On-Demand movies and TV programming via their TiVo media device from November. CASPA On-Demand is the brand name for this world of broadband entertainment including new release movies, hit TV shows for the whole family as well as free music videos, artist interviews and music concerts. CASPA represents one of the first and largest implementations of true On-Demand to the television in Australasia.
OPINION: The launch of TiVo, which will go on sale on Friday, is a little underwhelming.
Being able to pause and rewind “live” television and record programmes straight to a hard drive without having to fork out for a monthly Sky TV subscription may appeal. But you can do that already with a Zinwell FreeviewHD digital video recorder (DVR) now on sale at Noel Leeming for $699.
At $920, TiVo will let consumers wirelessly shift pictures and movies between computers and their TV screens for viewing. But the real drawcard of TiVo is the ability (for Telecom customers) to download content and services through its broadband connection.
Welcome to the TiVoWorld NZ Website. We are not affiliated with TiVo at all but just a website for users of the TiVo in New Zealand. Free free to read/comment and post messages on the forum.
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