If you choose the latter, to avoid any issues, cTiVo also removes the associated captions by recreating the subtitle file. If you choose to subscribe to a particular show, cTiVo automatically transfers each episode, and even syncs it to your iPhone or iPad.įor your convenience, cTiVo can mark the commercials to make them easier to skip during playback, or it can remove them altogether. In addition, cTiVo allows you to monitor the status of each download and offers you the possibility to keep an eye on your subscription. cTiVo allows you to specify the output folder, and the desired video format (Apple TV, Decrypted TiVo show, DVD, H.264, iPhone or iPod compatible, QuickTime, MPEG, and more). In the app’s main window, you can see the list of available content, and you can choose to download the data to your desktop computer. Easy to setup video manager that can connect to your TiVo device Moreover, via the cTiVo Preferences window you can connect to remote TiVos by providing the IP address. The app can work with various models, such as Roamio, Premiere, S3, S2, or HD. Upon launch, cTiVo scans your network in order to find compatible TiVo devices. In addition, the app can help you convert the video files to formats compatible with specific devices. I can't recommend it enough.CTiVo is a Mac app that automatically discovers the TiVo devices connected to your network by using the Bonjour protocol, and allows you to transfer the video captures to your Mac. In summary, cTivo takes the guesswork out of getting your favorite shows and movies off the Tivo and making them Mac-friendly for editing and/or archiving. I'm always telling fellow Mac users with Tivos about cTivo and I'm amazed that there are so few that seem to be aware of it. The recordings I'm able to save from Tivo via cTivo are as good as the originals from what I see on my 1080p TV, so no complaints here. You can have it mark commercials or even clip them out altogether if you're feeling more confident (I just have it mark them and I review them before clipping them out in Final Cut Pro X). It can convert the Tivo files into a wide range of different formats. There are a load of features hiding under the hood of cTivo that make it sing for anyone if they take the time to browse the wiki and play with it a little bit. It is stupid easy compared to what used to be available to Tivo owners who use Mac. If I used a wire instead, I suspect the download of the show (the longest part of the process) would speed up considerably. The only thing that slows cTivo down is that I'm grabbing my shows from my Tivo wirelessly. I can't begin to think of how many software titles out there that have been renamed but weren't functionally updated.ĬTivo worked with a minimum of fuss on my old 2008 dual quad core Mac Pro and works even faster on my current laptop, a 2012 i7 Intel Macbook Pro. I knew that it was based on the iTivo project so I didn't have high expectations. I was pleasantly surprised when I found out about cTivo and gave it a try. I had dabbled with iTivo but while the interface was much easier, functionally it was dead in the water for me. Even then, it was a slow, laborious process. I eventually came upon KMTTG and it took a while to figure it out and get the settings just right to work. The software that comes with Toast Titanium for working with Tivo was pathetically awful. I used to use KMTTG over a year ago when it was almost the only game in town. I'd love to shake the developer's hand and thank them profusely for helping me archive all my favorite shows. It is a system that works for me and I couldn't do it without cTiVo. I then edit out all the commercials on the weekends via iMovie and move the finished files to my Plex library. In my case, I just let cTiVo run overnight every couple of days to download, decrypt and encode all my shows I want to keep to my Mac. Most will be happy enough just having a copy of their shows, commercials and all, in iTunes, but you can go one step better and mark the commercials so they can be skipped. I can use this freeware to download my shows to my Mac. Then I found out about cTiVo.ĬTiVo is the best option of all for me. Of course, if you're like me and would like to keep some of the shows or movies on TiVo, the choice used to be either keep it forever on TiVo and miss other programming or buy an external hard drive to add storage. Owning a TiVo is the difference between a dumb DVR & a machine that can learn about your viewing habits and make intelligent suggestions for shows to watch or record.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |