Alternatives to cTivo for MacOS High Sierra- Convert Tivo on Mac

"Tivo is watching when you don't watch, and it tattles" make our daily TV shows watching more and more flexiable. Consequently, with the increasing numbers of Tivo users, the Mac users like you appeal to downloading live movies and TV shows from Tivo and transfer the video recordings to Mac, because when you got some TiVo recordings you found interesting and valuable, you can also watch these TiVo files on portable devices and media players, save them to DVD, or transfer TiVo files to Apple TV via iTunes for watching.

However, the TiVo encrypts your show with your Mac, making it unreadable, so it's rather complicated and tedious to move live video recordings directly from Tivo to Mac (including Tivo Roamio, Premiere, HD, S3 or S2 devices), especially for the unsupported Tivo files by iTunes on MacOS High Sierra 10.13 (such as MKV, AVI, VOB, MPG, TiVo, etc.), then what things can do the job to stream Tivo recording file to Mac as well as the convenience of Tivo time-shift recording highlights?

➤ Part 1: What's an alternative Tivo video converter to cTivo?

➤ Part 2: How to convert Tivo files on MacOS High Sierra?

➤ Part 3: How to transfer TiVo files to Mac and copy videos from MacOS High Sierra to Tivo

Part 1: What's an alternative Tivo video converter to cTivo?

Owning a TiVo is the difference between a dumb DVR & a machine that can learn about your viewing habits and make intelligent suggestions for shows to watch or record. Of course, if you're like me and would like to keep some of the shows or movies on TiVo, the choice used to be either keep it forever on TiVo and miss other programming or buy an external hard drive to add storage. Then I found out about cTiVo, which you could use this freeware to download TV shows to Mac.

Most will be happy enough just having a copy of your favorite TV shows, commercials and all, then in iTunes, you can go one step better and mark the commercials so they can be skipped. Sounds wonderful, huh? But it's said every coin has two sides, sometimes when you let cTivo run overnigh evry couple of days to download, decrypt and encode all TV shows you want to keep to your Mac, you got nothing after wake-up from the sweet dream, then how can you go on your plan to edit videos out all the commercials via iMovie. For instance, "I use cTivo on my Mac. This program (cTivo) downloads movies from my Tivo. The trouble I'm having is that I can not see my Tivo movies unless I turn off Web Shield. I've tried to put in the IP address of Tivo server in the setting/excluded servers. I also put in local. Please Help!".

Well, here is an easy and stable way to convert Tivo files on MacOS High Sierra/Sierra. At this stage, by using Dimo Video Converter Ultimate for Mac with the best-in-class user interface and ease of use, Tivo files to MacOS 10.13 conversion becomes a breeze! It can help you quickly and easily convert TiVo to any format like MKV, AVI, WMV, MOV, MPG, M4V, MP4, etc. Moreover, you can keep the original quality of your Tivo file without worring about audio/video insync and the converting process is so simple that even beginners can learn to use it in no time.

Besides, you can also perform the following operations with the help of this powerful video converter: trim large video files into small video segments, or clip the unwanted Tivo ads during movies recording and change video effect as a whole; rotate videos into other angles; render 3D effects. If you are running on PC, please turn to its equivalent windows version.

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Part 2: How to convert Tivo files on MacOS High Sierra

Step 1. Download and install the Tivo converter to import Tivo files

Go to the "Add File" to load Tivo files to the program, or drag & drop TiVo files you want to add.

Tips: When first loading, this TiVo Converter will ask you to input your Media Access Key. Simply enter your Media Access Key, and click "OK" to confirm. To get your Media Access Key on TiVo, please follow this path: Go to "TiVo Central" menu > "Messages and Set Up" "Account and System Information", and your Media Access Key would be there.

Step 2. Choose output Mac format

Tap "Select Format" bar and choose the right MP4/MOV video format from "Video"/"HD Video"/"MultiTrack" as the output file format for MacOS High Sierra 10.13.

Note: If you like, tap the "Setting" button, you can adjust Tivo video and audio parameters like codec, bit rate, frame rate, sample rate, etc., in that way, you can take charge of the size and quality of the output MP4/MOV files. Please keep in mind, the larger input values, the better output quality, but the corresponding larger file size, and vice versa.

Step 3: Start converting Tivo files to MacOS 10.13

Click "Strart" button to run Tivo converting . After the conversion, you can play your Tivo videos on your Mac by playlist on QuickTime/iTunes/Apple TV or edit them FCP X/7, Avid MC, Premiere Pro, Davinci Resolve, etc..

Part 3. How to transfer TiVo files to Mac and copy videos from MacOS High Sierra to Tivo

Section I. Guide to copy Tivo files to Mac:

Step 1. Connect your TiVo to network

1. Confirm that your TiVo has been connected to your home network. If it's not, refer to your TiVo manual to get it connected.

2. Set up an account at www.tivo.com.

3. Log in and click "DVR Preferences" in the left navigation bar.

4. Check the box for Allow Transfers and click "Save Preferences", but don't log out yet.

Note: Before log out, please click "Overview" > "Media Access Key" (MAK). The page that appears will appear your MAK. Write it down, or save it on your Mac for the future using.

Step 2. Keep your Mac on your network and launch TiVoDecode Manager

TiVoDecode Manager (TDM) is a free Applescript Studio interface (i.e. "wrapper") for the tivodecode program that automates the process of downloading of standalone TiVo Series 2 files to your computer and decoding into MPEG-2 or MPEG-4 files. It is not for Series 1 (ever), Series 3, or DirecTiVos (unhacked or hacked).

Step 3. Find your TiVo on your network

1. Enter your TiVo's IP address in the TiVo IP Address box. Or let the software find it for you by selecting your TiVo from the pull-down menu;

2. Click the "Update From TiVo" button;

3. Click the "Prefs" button in the lower-right corner. Input the Media Access Key box;

4. Click "Update From TiVo" again.

Step 4. Transfer TiVo videos to Mac

In the "Now Playing list", you will see a list of TiVo shows appeared.

1. Select the show and click "Add Show To Queue" which will appear in the Download Queue list.

2. Hit "Download" to choose where you want to save it on your Mac.

3. Choose the "Download Format" from the pull-down menu to pick a format at the bottom of the window, such as, MPEG-2 (native), QuickTime MPEG-4 (iPod) and custom MPEG-4 format. A list of videos on your TiVo will appear in the Now Playing list.

Section II. How to transfer MacOS High Sierra video to Tivo?

If you want to import the MP4/MOV from Mac to Tivo box, you will have to convert the videos into format of MPEG-2 by Dimo Video Converter Ultimate for Mac before uploading your video to Tivo because Your TiVo will not support any other video formats, even for MPEG-1 and MPEG-4.

And then, you could simply click "Media Server" of Dimo Video Converter Ultimate for Mac to streamlessly copy the video to your Tivo or mobile devices like iPhone/iPad/iPod/Apple TV wirelessly. Based on the advanced IP sharing technology, just "ONE CLICK" to finish the movies transferring task within minutes.

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