I want to have files on my comp show up on my Tivo's browser sorted into groups, not as a flat list.
January 5, 2007 9:48 AM   Subscribe

I want to have files on my PC or Mac show up on my Tivo's browser sorted into groups, not all as one flat list like they seem to do by default.

So I have a Macintosh running Tivo Desktop 1.9.3 (with the Video tab enabled) configured for a folder of properly mpg'd videos to show up for transfer in the Now Playing list of my Tivos. This works very well and displays/copies/plays just fine... except that I have literally hundreds of files in there and they all show up in one massive (and very very slow to load page by page) list. I would instead like to have it show up sorted into subfolders, so I can select first a series, and THEN see every episode for that series, rather than have to navigate through very slow pages of, say, 29 years of Doctor Who episodes everytime I want to copy over something that starts with L.

I have tried just putting them in folders on the Mac, and this does not work. Another thing I tried, is that the Tivo Desktop software creates .properties files that I can edit that are in the format

#Fri Jan 05 02:38:10 EST 2007
description=
title=filename.mpg

and, while changing the title or description works as one would expect, trying to add "group=SeriesName" or guesses like that had no effect. (Should be noted these were tried on the Mac version. If TivoDesktop for Windows supports folders or editing these files better, please let me know, I can pull one of my old PCs out of storage, but my failed Google searches implied it did not.)

(As a side note, I don't care if they 'group up' once actually copied to the Tivo, as I'll likely only import a few at a time, only how they appear when I am browsing the computer from the Tivo.)

I am not adverse to using a third party program (though hacking my TiVo is not an option), and the fact that programs such as Galleon offer this grouping feature shows it is not something blocked by Tivo for whatever reason, but unfortunately Galleon itself has tons of other bugs that made it more trouble than it was worth in this regard.

So, I ask you, fellow mefites, is there a way to make this work? Does TivoDesktop for Windows support this? Can I edit the properties file to add a group? Is there a third party program for Mac (Best) / Linux (Good) / Windows (If Need Be) that will do this? I can't be the only one with large collections of files served to my Tivo who is driven nuts by this, can I?
posted by John Kenneth Fisher to Computers & Internet (2 answers total)
 
I suggest a network media player of some sort rather than trying to make the TiVo do that. I have an Elgato EyeHome (which they don't sell anymore, but you can find them on eBay occasionally) which will actually stream Divx over the network. You could also use one of the Windows-oriented media players with the TwonkyVision server on your Mac. Or a Divx DVD player if you don't mind moving bits physically.
posted by kindall at 10:34 AM on January 5, 2007


Response by poster: For my own purposes and my own room, I wouldn't mind, but my parents - I'm amazed they figured out their new christmas tivo at all, and want to piggyback this onto that for that reason rather than add complexity - if it's a whole different system, they won't bother with it at all, i'd bet.
posted by John Kenneth Fisher at 10:54 AM on January 5, 2007


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