Transferring PC Video to your TiVo

It is possible to take videos stored on your PCs hard drive and transfer them across to your TiVo. You will need a TiVo Series 2 DVR with a software version of 7.2 or later. Transferring PC video to your TiVo is not an incredibly complex task and only requires a basic technological understanding. You will need the following:

- Tivo Desktop installed on a Windows PC.
- Both your TiVo Series 2 DVR and your PC connected to a home network.
- Video files prepared in MPEG-2 meeting the requirements set out below. Third party video editing software may be needed if your videos are not in the correct format. Try searching on downloads.com or in google for video conversion, mpeg conversion, mpeg editing etc to find some good software. Nero video, Adobe Premiere or Sonic MyDVD editing software is generally very reliable.

Required Video Mpeg Settings

Resolutions that can be used:
720 x 480, 704 x 480 (D1), 544 x 480 (3/4 D1), 480 x 480 (2/3 D1), and 352 x 480 (1/2 D1). A higher resolution is better quality but takes up more space on your PC and DVR.

Bit Rate:
1 – 8 Mbps. The higher the bitrate the better quality but more space is used on your PC and DVr. 4 Mpbs is ample for high quality video.

Frame Rate:
29.97 (standard NTSC) is the only frame rate you should use.

Aspect Ratio:
4:3 (recommended) or 16:9

Audio:
MPEG-1 Layer 2 for TiVo Series 2 DVRs without a DVD
AC/3 (Dolby) for TiVo Series 2 DVRs with a DVD.

Final Steps:

Once you have the videos in the correct format then save them to the TiVo Recordings folder (usually MyDocuments > My TiVo Recordings) ready for transferring to your PC.

If your DVR is setup correctly to the home network you should see your PC listed at the bottom of the now playing screen. By selecting this you can browse your PCs content in the TiVo recordings folder and then transfer the videos direct to your DVR through your home network.