Just my opinion....MyDVD and Tivo.....terrible combo so far

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Archived from groups: alt.video.ptv.tivo (More info?)

The Sonic tech support is a waste of time. I have the programs loaded
on 2 computers and these are my experiences.
Upstairs:
1. Althought Tivo desktop has no problems locating my network and all
the recorded programs, the MyDVD module claims it is unable to find
any networked Tivos and there is nowhere you can input the IP to help
the dumb program out.
Tech support for this problem was useless.
2. The mudule to create a DVD from recorded programs started up OK and
I was able to see the programs I downloaded to my computer using
TIVO's Desktop program. After selecting a program to burn to DVD, it
started to do whatever it is designed to do (tranascode or whatever)
but then produced an error message that it was unable to create an
icon and I should check it the correct decoder is installed. Now why
would anyone charge so much money for a program and not have it be
intuitive enought to check for inappropriate CODECS and install the
necessary ones?
Tech support again was futile, suggesting that I uninstall BeyondTV.
Did that. Still no go. They suggested I then uninstalll all codecs on
my computer and re-install the program...what a pain in the ass.
Following the suggestion I read here, I tried Nero Express and low and
behold it was able to burn the same program to DVD without any
problems. Unfortunately, for what ever reason, this is a hit-or-miss,
take-all-night option per movie.
I am still not able to get the require icon before MyDVD will do
anything.
Downstairs:
I installed Tivo's Desktop and MyDVD and tried all of the above. Low
and behold, MyDVD was able to create the required Icon for the movie
but after choosing to burn it to disk and leaving it to do it's
business all night, I woke up to find a box claiming "cancelled by
user" even though the progress bar showed the entire program/movie had
been converted to the necessary format. There was no option to cancel
out of that erroneous message so i had to click OK. I hunted my hard
drive for the mpg file and did find one but was unable to view it with
media player as it was corrupt.
I looked around the menu options and found an option to export to an
ISO file and began the process again. many hours later I again
returned to the computer and found that the same poltergeist had
cancelled the the process at the very same point....at the completion
of the conversion as shown in the progress bar. Again, no option to
cancel the cancel which I never initiated.
So my conclusion so far, is this program is a waste of time FOR ME.
Again this is a subjective review and only my opinion.
I would suggest anyone thinking about purchasing this program to wait
until the next version at least. Right now it is both very cumbersome
and did I mention, SLOW as hell.

Arawak
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: alt.video.ptv.tivo (More info?)

"Arawak" <Fake.Address@citnews.com> wrote in message
news:kkpba1deulku08qdqqaehltd846i2se311@4ax.com...
> The Sonic tech support is a waste of time. I have the programs loaded
> on 2 computers and these are my experiences.
> Upstairs:
> 1. Althought Tivo desktop has no problems locating my network and all
> the recorded programs, the MyDVD module claims it is unable to find
> any networked Tivos and there is nowhere you can input the IP to help
> the dumb program out.
> Tech support for this problem was useless.
> 2. The mudule to create a DVD from recorded programs started up OK and
> I was able to see the programs I downloaded to my computer using
> TIVO's Desktop program. After selecting a program to burn to DVD, it
> started to do whatever it is designed to do (tranascode or whatever)
> but then produced an error message that it was unable to create an
> icon and I should check it the correct decoder is installed. Now why
> would anyone charge so much money for a program and not have it be
> intuitive enought to check for inappropriate CODECS and install the
> necessary ones?
> Tech support again was futile, suggesting that I uninstall BeyondTV.
> Did that. Still no go. They suggested I then uninstalll all codecs on
> my computer and re-install the program...what a pain in the ass.
> Following the suggestion I read here, I tried Nero Express and low and
> behold it was able to burn the same program to DVD without any
> problems. Unfortunately, for what ever reason, this is a hit-or-miss,
> take-all-night option per movie.
> I am still not able to get the require icon before MyDVD will do
> anything.
> Downstairs:
> I installed Tivo's Desktop and MyDVD and tried all of the above. Low
> and behold, MyDVD was able to create the required Icon for the movie
> but after choosing to burn it to disk and leaving it to do it's
> business all night, I woke up to find a box claiming "cancelled by
> user" even though the progress bar showed the entire program/movie had
> been converted to the necessary format. There was no option to cancel
> out of that erroneous message so i had to click OK. I hunted my hard
> drive for the mpg file and did find one but was unable to view it with
> media player as it was corrupt.
> I looked around the menu options and found an option to export to an
> ISO file and began the process again. many hours later I again
> returned to the computer and found that the same poltergeist had
> cancelled the the process at the very same point....at the completion
> of the conversion as shown in the progress bar. Again, no option to
> cancel the cancel which I never initiated.
> So my conclusion so far, is this program is a waste of time FOR ME.
> Again this is a subjective review and only my opinion.
> I would suggest anyone thinking about purchasing this program to wait
> until the next version at least. Right now it is both very cumbersome
> and did I mention, SLOW as hell.
>
> Arawak

If you were to review the history of postings about "MyDVD"
on the alt.video.dvd.???? NGs I think you would find that it has
gone from; bad to very bad, to a little better, to very bad again,
to a few saying they have no problems & most still avoiding it.

As for Nero VE, it has one extremely bad habit, for use as an
Authoring program, it will try and reencode anything it gets its
hands on. This is what makes its processing take so long. Even
if you feed it DVD Compliant MPEG, it will do a totally
unnecessary reencoding.

I understand that there are other programs available to convert
the Tivo files to DVD compliant MPEG, I would use one of those
and feed the MPEG to an Authoring program that doesn't insist
on reencoding; like DVDLab or my favorite TMPGEnc DVD
Author.

Another program that is a great aid when working with MPEG
is VideoReDo. It includes a frame accurate cut&join function
along with features to make the MPEG more DVD compliant and
deal with audio sync issues. The new release can use inputs from
some satellite systems, and I seem to remember some discussion
indicating that both Tivo and DirecTiVo streams were to be
included soon. You might want to check the current status at
www.VideoReDo.com in the forums.

Luck;
Ken
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: alt.video.ptv.tivo (More info?)

On Tue, 7 Jun 2005 15:12:12 -0500, "Ken Maltby"
<kmaltby@sbcglobal.net> wrote:

>
>"Arawak" <Fake.Address@citnews.com> wrote in message
>news:kkpba1deulku08qdqqaehltd846i2se311@4ax.com...
>> The Sonic tech support is a waste of time. I have the programs loaded
>> on 2 computers and these are my experiences.
>> Upstairs:
>> 1. Althought Tivo desktop has no problems locating my network and all
>> the recorded programs, the MyDVD module claims it is unable to find
>> any networked Tivos and there is nowhere you can input the IP to help
>> the dumb program out.
>> Tech support for this problem was useless.
>> 2. The mudule to create a DVD from recorded programs started up OK and
>> I was able to see the programs I downloaded to my computer using
>> TIVO's Desktop program. After selecting a program to burn to DVD, it
>> started to do whatever it is designed to do (tranascode or whatever)
>> but then produced an error message that it was unable to create an
>> icon and I should check it the correct decoder is installed. Now why
>> would anyone charge so much money for a program and not have it be
>> intuitive enought to check for inappropriate CODECS and install the
>> necessary ones?
>> Tech support again was futile, suggesting that I uninstall BeyondTV.
>> Did that. Still no go. They suggested I then uninstalll all codecs on
>> my computer and re-install the program...what a pain in the ass.
>> Following the suggestion I read here, I tried Nero Express and low and
>> behold it was able to burn the same program to DVD without any
>> problems. Unfortunately, for what ever reason, this is a hit-or-miss,
>> take-all-night option per movie.
>> I am still not able to get the require icon before MyDVD will do
>> anything.
>> Downstairs:
>> I installed Tivo's Desktop and MyDVD and tried all of the above. Low
>> and behold, MyDVD was able to create the required Icon for the movie
>> but after choosing to burn it to disk and leaving it to do it's
>> business all night, I woke up to find a box claiming "cancelled by
>> user" even though the progress bar showed the entire program/movie had
>> been converted to the necessary format. There was no option to cancel
>> out of that erroneous message so i had to click OK. I hunted my hard
>> drive for the mpg file and did find one but was unable to view it with
>> media player as it was corrupt.
>> I looked around the menu options and found an option to export to an
>> ISO file and began the process again. many hours later I again
>> returned to the computer and found that the same poltergeist had
>> cancelled the the process at the very same point....at the completion
>> of the conversion as shown in the progress bar. Again, no option to
>> cancel the cancel which I never initiated.
>> So my conclusion so far, is this program is a waste of time FOR ME.
>> Again this is a subjective review and only my opinion.
>> I would suggest anyone thinking about purchasing this program to wait
>> until the next version at least. Right now it is both very cumbersome
>> and did I mention, SLOW as hell.
>>
>> Arawak
>
> If you were to review the history of postings about "MyDVD"
>on the alt.video.dvd.???? NGs I think you would find that it has
>gone from; bad to very bad, to a little better, to very bad again,
>to a few saying they have no problems & most still avoiding it.
>
> As for Nero VE, it has one extremely bad habit, for use as an
>Authoring program, it will try and reencode anything it gets its
>hands on. This is what makes its processing take so long. Even
>if you feed it DVD Compliant MPEG, it will do a totally
>unnecessary reencoding.
>
> I understand that there are other programs available to convert
>the Tivo files to DVD compliant MPEG, I would use one of those
>and feed the MPEG to an Authoring program that doesn't insist
>on reencoding; like DVDLab or my favorite TMPGEnc DVD
>Author.
>
> Another program that is a great aid when working with MPEG
>is VideoReDo. It includes a frame accurate cut&join function
>along with features to make the MPEG more DVD compliant and
>deal with audio sync issues. The new release can use inputs from
>some satellite systems, and I seem to remember some discussion
>indicating that both Tivo and DirecTiVo streams were to be
>included soon. You might want to check the current status at
>www.VideoReDo.com in the forums.
>
>Luck;
> Ken
I have all the necessary editing programs you mentioned but none can
import or recognize Tivo files. I ahve also heard that there are such
programs but so far I have not come across any names for these
programs. I have used google to search but so far nothing I have come
across mentions the name of any product.
I appreciate the response and will continue my hunt with fingers
crossed.
Cheers,
Arawak
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: alt.video.ptv.tivo (More info?)

I have had luck so far using the AutoDVRConvert program to convert .tivo
files to .mpg. Then, any dvd authoring software at all should work with
the files. See

http://the8thsign.blogsome.com/2005/04/19/automated-tivo-to-go-to-mpeg2decrypting/

- Jerry


Arawak wrote:

>
> I have all the necessary editing programs you mentioned but none can
> import or recognize Tivo files. I ahve also heard that there are such
> programs but so far I have not come across any names for these
> programs. I have used google to search but so far nothing I have come
> across mentions the name of any product.
> I appreciate the response and will continue my hunt with fingers
> crossed.
> Cheers,
> Arawak
>