I have been a Tivo loyalist for several years now and LOVE the technology. Tivo is not just a DVR but truly an integrated multimedia service. It allows you to listen to the songs on your computer through your TV, view photos on your computer on your TV, buy movie tickets, check traffic and weather among other things. But my latest foray into the world of Tivo is to get my favorite new fall show "Pushing Daisies" onto my Windows enabled Samsung Blackjack (for tv on the go) Heres my new technical challenge...
1) I can easily get my favorite shows from the Tivo box to my laptop. A free utility called Tivo Desktop 2.5 easily allows that. (Although it takes about the same time as the length of the show approx. 1.58GB)
2) Now the hard part. Now I need to compress it into a format that fits onto my 1GB micro SD storage card on my phone. The options are...
a) Use Windows Media Player 11 to seamlessly transfer and compress 1.58GB file into a .wmv file. At the best quality it takes about 20 min. Not too bad considering the size. However although it compresses down to a measly 70MB file, the video quality is barely watchable. Although this is a seamless solution, it really doesn't work for me. I need to find how I can improve this process.
b) Use a program called Direct Show Dump which allows me to convert my .Tivo 1.58GB file into an .mpg 1.58GB file, so that I can use a program like Roxio, or Divx Converter to convert the file into a 256MB .avi file. The quality is perfect. However this adds 3 additional steps and time...converting to .mpg, converting to .avi, and then manually transferring it to my phone.
Ok I probably lost most everyone by now. But is all this effort really worth it? I say no. Even if I do these things while I eat and wash the dishes, it still takes time to monitor. AND although Pushing Daisies is my new favorite show of the season, I watch it live anyways, so why do I need it on my phone.
We will get there one day when we can easily watch our favorite shows from our cell phones. But were not yet there.
6 comments:
On a related TIVO note. Do you have the new HD Tivo or think it is worth the $299? Or is the DVR from Comcast a better deal?
Can you get a 2 gig SD card? hehe
Although I LOVE Tivo, I don't think I would go with the HD version for $299. I love quality but I also like my wallet. If you're itching for an hd dvr, I think the comcast one would work fine. As long as you keep your tivo for other stuff. :) Funny you mention the 2gb card. I could, but I also like to keep some mp3s on there too. Im hoping there is a compression codec in the middle that can integrate well with windows media player.
I love pushing daises!!!! hi kuya mike!
-jamie
OK, decided to get the comcast dvr which had HD and only costs $5 extra per month. Now that is better than $299! Also, I called to cancel Tivo for my parents because there Tivo broke. Since I was about to cancel, they gave me a free series 2 dual tuner just to keep us. SO, don't buy a new tivo if yours has problems!!!
Decided to get the Comcast DVR which is dual tuner And handles HD and only costs $5 extra per month. Also, called to cancel Tivo for my parents since their Tivo broke. Since I was going to cancel, Tivo offered to replace the broken machine for free - and upgraded it to a Series 2 dual tuner. Don't buy a new Tivo if yours is having problems!!!!!
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