Here is a quick list of steps to convert your recorded shows (Tivo Series 2 only!) to MPEG2. Then from there, you can convert it to pretty much anything else you want.

NOTE:

1. These instruction require that you have access to a PC running Windows 2000 or XP. Sorry! You might be able to use PC Emulation on your Mac, but I don't know, since I do not have a Mac to test with.

2. You also must already have your TiVo networking setup and are able to download your recorded shows from your TiVo to your PC/Mac.

If you don't meet both of the requirements, you are out-of-luck.

First: You must have a valid subscription to TiVo and a valid Key for your TiVo. This is important. Don't ask me how to get around this one. I will ignore your requests.

Second: Download DirectShow Dump (DSD) from http://prish.com/etivo/tbr.htm and install it. This is a util that converts your TiVo recorded shows to unencrypted MPEG2. Make sure you download version 0.1.1029.0 or newer!

Third: You should also have TiVo Desktop (version 2.2 or newer is recommended) installed and working. Use it to pick the shows you have recorded on your TiVo and d/l it to your local PC.

Fourth: Once the show(or shows) have been d/l on your local drive. Startup DSD, select where on your drive you want to put the decrypted shows (by entering it in the "Output files to:" box, or click on the "..." box next to that and select a drive with enough disk space. I put mine in "C:\Movies" because my C: drive is a 250GB SATA. Next, click on "Add Files..." button, browse to the folder on your hard drive where you have just d/l your shows (default folder name is My TiVo Recordings which is located in your My Documents folder). Normally, your d/l shows have .tivo extension. So in the file choser dialog, change the "Files of type:" from "WVC Files (.WVC)" to "TIVO Files (.tivo)". Now, you should see your downloaded shows. Select all shows that you want to decrypt, click on OK and DSD should start converting (decrypting) them.

Here I suggest that you check the "Delete source files after processing" box on DSD. Otherwise, you will end up with two copies of each show you d/l. One is the original in your My TiVo Recordings folder, and one in the destination folder that you selected in step above.

After DSD got done, you should now have decrypted, normal MPEG2 files. The default TiVo high quality mode is MPEG-2 stream, 480x480 resolution, 15000kb/s VBR, 29.97 frame rate (e.g. SVCD compatible format).

Use any number of tools to convert your MPEG2 files to another format. Such as Divx encoder, Quicktimes to convert to H.264, etc.

Rinse, lather, repeat....

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Last Updated: $Date: 2006/02/17 03:29:50 $