Tivo Native Video Compatibility

The following specific formats can be pushed to Series 3 TiVos natively (i.e. no transcoding) using pyTivo or streamed to Series 3 TiVos using streambaby. Note that pyTivo pulls support mpeg2 format only, so any other types will be transcoded on the fly.

NOTE 1: Audio sampling rates need to be either 44.1 KHz or 48 KHz and audio bit rates should not exceed 448 Kbps. Also, standard NTSC video frame rates of 23.976, 29.97 or 59.94 fps are highly recommended as other frame rates may not decode correctly.

NOTE 2: Not all encoders or decoders are capable of handling AC3 audio in mpeg4 container.

NOTE 3: TiVo decoder can only properly output stereo or 5.1 AC3 audio, so while > 2 channel AAC audio tracks are supported, they will not sound right as output by TiVo.

NOTE 4: See section below on encoding profile that works. Currently Tivo is very picky about specific format of wmv files.

• Streambaby does not currently support streaming of this format. It will be transcoded.

ffmpeg encoding H.264 mpeg4 with AC3 audio for Tivo (from mpeg2 source)

If you are encoding from an mpeg2 source with AC3 audio the following encoding profile using ffmpeg seems to work pretty well:

ffmpeg -y -i inputFile.mpg -vcodec libx264 -coder 0 -level 41 -sameq -g 300 -bufsize 14745k -b 5000k -maxrate 16000k -bug "+autodetect+ms" -me_method epzs -trellis 2 -mbd 1 -acodec copy -f mp4 outputFile.mp4

NOTE: In the above you can adjust bitrate (-b 5000k) to be higher or lower depending on quality desired. For HD encodes using a >= 5000k bitrate works pretty well.

Another ffmpeg recipe roughly equivalent to the Handbrake recipe posted below:

ffmpeg -y -i inputFile.mpg -acodec copy -vcodec libx264 -b 5000k -refs 3 -flags2 +mixed_refs+wpred+bpyramid+dct8x8-fastpskip -bf 3 -me_method umh -subq 9 -g 24 -keyint_min 2 -f mp4 ouputFile.mp4

NOTE: In the above you can adjust video bit rate (-b 5000k) to be higher or lower depending on quality desired, for example using -b 2000k for SD sources.

Handbrake encoding H.264 mpeg4 with AC3 audio for Tivo (from mpeg2 source)

(Thanks to txporter for contributing this one)

If you are encoding from an mpeg2 source with AC3 audio the following encoding profile using handbrake works very nicely:

handbrakeCLI -i inputFile.mpg -f mp4 -p -e x264 -b 5000 -a 1 -E ac3 -x ref=3:mixed-refs=1:bframes=3:b-pyramid=1:weightb=1:analyse=all:8x8dct=1:me=umh:subq=9:psy-rd=1,0.2:direct=auto:keyint=24:min-keyint=2:no-fast-pskip=1:no-dct-decimate=1 -v -o outputFile.mp4

NOTE: In the above you can adjust video bit rate (-b 5000) to be higher or lower depending on quality desired, for example using -b 2000 for SD sources.

Encoding VC-1 Advanced Profile using Windows Media Encoder 9

Starting with Tivo Series 3 software 11.x the VC-1 decoder is enabled which allows playback of Microsoft WMV files in ASF container with VC-1 Advanced Profile (know as wvc1) video and wma9 audio. Note that very few types of WMV files which actually work. It took a lot of experimentation, but I’ve determined the following custom encoding setup using Windows Media Encoder produces WMV files that can be streamed to Series 3 Tivos.

NOTE: Video must be VC-1 Advanced Profile (wvc1). L3 and L2 profiles are known to work.

NOTE: Audio must be 2-channel CBR wma2 (multi-channel audio does not seem to work)

Following is a summary of encoding profile that works:

• Install Windows Media Encoder 9 if you haven’t already
• Start the Encoder
• In New Session window choose Custom session
• Sources tab
• Set Source from: to File and browse to set source file
• Output tab
• Disable Pull from encoder and enable Encode to file
• Compression tab
• Destination = File download (computer playback)
• Video = High definition quality video (5 Mbps VBR) OR DVD quality video (2 Mbps VBR)
• Audio = High definition quality audio (VBR)
• Click on Edit… button
• Custom Encoding Settings window General tab:
• Change video codec to Windows Media Video 9 Advanced Profile
• Changed audio codec to Windows Media Audio 9.2
• Change audio Mode to CBR
• Click on other tab and set Video size = Same as video input
• OK
• Click on Apply button to apply all settings
• Click on Start Encoding

As an alternative better GUI for encoding you can now also use Microsoft Expression Encoder 3. As an example:

• Start Encoder
• File->Import... and select file you want to encode
• In Encode section set:
• Output Format = Windows Media
• Video = VC-1 Advanced
• Audio = WMA
• Expand Video and set the parameters you want, particularly:
• Frame Rate = Source
• Size Mode = Source
• Video Aspect Ratio = Source
• Expand Audio and make sure that mode is set to CBR & Stereo
• At the top in System area you can choose Encoding Quality such as Balanced or Best Quality, etc.
• Choose the Output tab to set the output file Directory, and you probably want to turn off Sub-folder by Job ID option.

pyTivo vs TiVo Desktop Plus 2.8 Pushes

This is a comparison of pushes of video types that TiVo can natively decode (no need to transcode). For TiVo Desktop this refers to video Auto Transfers from PC->TiVo.