Archive for March, 2008
Convert that .tivo file! Download, strip and rip part two.
Mar 25th
So now you have downloaded that .Tivo file from your tivo’s hidden web server… Now what?
Like we told you before your show is in there under a pseudo encryption based on your media access key. To perform our next trick we will be using a free tool called Direct Show Dump (DSD). This tiny 500k file will fix YOUR .TiVo files and quickly I might add.
I added the YOUR to the last sentence because I tried stripping my buddy’s .TiVo file ad that didn’t work i tried loading up the latest and greatest TiVo desktop but still no go. Looking back at Zatz site he said:
TiVo Desktop software installs software (a DirectShow DLL) which is needed to unlock your .tivo file.
I tried a .TiVo file from my own TiVo and Direct Show Dump stripped it for me in about 20 seconds. So it seems that you need TiVo desktop 2.4 or better loaded up with your media access key. (There is a second method that will work regardless of the TiVo desktop but it is harder and takes a bit longer)
Now that you have TiVo Desktop loaded up and downloaded DSD, we can get to ripping. Fire up the DSD application on your start menu and point it towards your .TiVo file and right click and convert.
When it’s done – you have a MPG file that you can use however you want! Burn a DVD, take the file with you on your Windows Mobile device or just save a backup to your favorite file server!
I am within my legal limits here right?
So if this is that easy I bet I could load shows onto my TiVo as well or maybe automate ripping shows for my mobile on the go! Stay tuned for the last part of our geeky TiVo goodness tomorrow!
Oh and lets try not to rip these files and put them on file sharing networks kids. Fair use is fair use but piracy is piracy ;) Another quote from Zatz Site:
TiVoToGo files, having the .tivo extension, are essentially encrypted and fingerprinted mpeg files. MPEG is a common video format. Your unique Media Access Key (MAK) is appended to all shows as text, and perhaps embedded as a watermark in other ways. The TiVo Desktop software includes a .dll that is used to decrypt, or unlock, your show using your MAK. TiVo files can be viewed, converted, edited, transferred, and/or burned.
Thanks Dave it seems like you have your DVR expertise down pat!
_TheTiVoMyWayAdmiN_
Why I hate Vista a little more each day.
Mar 24th
Can someone tell me how and why this makes sense?
You do not have permission to view the current permission settings for Properties, but you can make permission changes… WTF?
Access your Tivo’s hidden webserver! Download, strip and rip. Part One.
Mar 24th
After figuring out I could edit Blogger blog posts from my mobile I decided to see what I could do with my TiVo while I am away. I went online and did some research. I found this tid-bit from Dave Zatz (Sling Media) and gave it a shot.
Allow me to bring you kids up to speed. Essentially, TiVos are just nicely packaged Linux boxes with TV capture cards, hard drives, and a cutesy visual operating system that everyone has grown to love. It’s nice to know the open Linux spirit is in full swing at Tivo, because the developers at Tivo have happily included an already running, https, port 80 web server!
You heard me correctly, I did NOT stutter. As long as you enabled the transfer option from TiVo online you can access a web server built into your Tivo. To do this all you need to do is simply point your browser at your TiVo’s local IP address using https://…
The address bar would look like this:
https://192.168.0.3/
I simply entered this address into my browser and it prompted me for a username and password. The username to use is always tivo and the password is your Media Access Key.
Your media access key can be found via your tivo interface or on your TiVo.com account.
Now how can you use this information while you are away?
Point your router to forward port 80 and 443 to your TiVo, Now by typing in your routers external IP address from any where in the world you can download your .TIVO files.
I hear you all saying:
They are encrypted and all Admin what good is that? and How does this help me?
Well these .TIVO files are just MPEG2 files with a shiny restrictive layer of prohibitive crap. But, no worries lets get that file cracked open so you can burn it to DVD or move it around at your own will. TiVo to go lets you do some of this stuff but The Admin hates being restricted to, well, anything.
Lets get you Downloading, Stripping and Ripping… (This is for your own access we are not teaching you to be nor advocating piracy…)
Tune back in for part two of our TiVo – download, strip and rip series tomorrow.
Quickly rename A LOT of files without a 3rd party program.
Mar 23rd
So a fellow writer on MakeUseOf – Tina put me to this quick Windows tip that I surprisingly never heard of before. I love things that cut out needing third party tools!
To rename a bunch of files with the same name and consecutively number them follow these steps:
- Open a folder with files you wish to rename.
- Select all the files you wish to rename.
- Right-click on the first file in the list and select “Rename” from the menu.
- Now enter the name you wish to give all of the files. Make sure you don’t remove the .filetype if it is shown. Enter a (1) (preceded by a space) as the final part of the name so that all files are numbered consecutively. (edit: you can use any number as a starting point)
So if you started with a bunch of files called DCIM1234.JPG through DCIM1599.JPG you can quickly convert them to AskTheAdminPics(1).jpg through AskTheAdminPics(365).
Good Tip! Thanks Tina.
Blogger Administration via Windows Mobile.
Mar 22nd
So am I the last one to know that you can do FULL out blogger administration via Windows Mobile 6? I had set up a post email account a while back that let me type an email send it off and it would be saved as a draft ( you can set it to post as well – but that’s a little too much uncertainty for Your Admin!)
I have been away from a real computer more times than not with my precious around. I would email my drafts (with images) and then edit and post them when I got back to home base.
Now after being away for more than a day in a clip, I wound up at the blogger page on my Dopod C730 and I logged in, I figured I would click on edit posts for shits and giggles…
Surprise Surprise!
It worked! I could do full out editing, posting and modifying the template (edit: except for uploading images directly). So my question is why didn’t anyone tell me about this?
Thanks guys! Did you know that you could do this?? What else do you do via your mobile – that makes people go… HUH?
Mac Question: Is there a way to view my IP address in OS X without logging on?
Mar 21st
AtA shows some Mac love this morning with our Question of The Day.
Apparently you can – and get your IP and some other semi-important information as well. We can have this tidbit show up on your login screen each and every time you login with a lil’ old hack from MacOsXtips.co.uk
When you start up your mac and the login window pops up, you have a big shiny apple logo and the words Mac OS X. Below these words you usually see the name of your mac, whatever that may be. For most people that isn’t very useful, as you have to have a lot of the same models knocking around to get confused between computers, and luckily since Mac OS X 10.4.3, this line has been made much more informative.
Since this version, you can click on the name of your mac to show different statistics about your machine. Each time you click, it will cycle through different bits of information that are particularly useful when troubleshooting problems.
The order of the statistics are as follows:
- One click: Your OS X version number (e.g. Version 10.4.7)
- Two clicks: Your OS X build number (e.g. Build 7M271)
- Three clicks: Your mac’s serial number (e.g. WN1554LGPWW)
- Four clicks: Your mac’s IP address (e.g. 192.168.1.2)
- Five clicks: The status of any networked account
- Six clicks: The date and time (e.g. Saturday, July 25 2007 4:20:00 AM GMT)
- Seven clicks: Back to where you started, the name of your computer.
So you click a few times and set the information line to your favourite thing, but next time you log in, it has changed back to the name of your mac. To change the bit of information that appears first, you need to do a bit of tinkering in the Terminal (Applications/Utilities). Open Terminal and type the following command:
defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.loginwindow AdminHostInfo info_nameDepending on which piece of information you want displayed, replace info_name with one of the following:
- SystemVersion
- SystemBuild
- SerialNumber
- IPAddress
- DSStatus
- Time
After doing this, hit return, and the next time you view your login window the information you chose will be displayed.
To change the info bar back to default, replace info_name with HostName [MacOSXtips]
Send us your Mac tips and while you are at it your Windows and Linux Tips as well. Email us your tips to asktheadmin dot com!
We will send you some swag if we publish your tip! Does that motivate you? Happy Saturday and we broke 1,000 RSS subscribers yesterday! Thanks guys!!
