Playitsam version 1: Play, Edit & Export TiVo TyStreams

Download version 1.83, and read the full README for version 1.83.
Download the tyserver.exe for Windows, thanks to Grant Stockley.
Download the vsplit.exe for Windows.
Here are copies of old versions of Playitsam.
See details of the problems of editing tystreams.

This program allows you to edit a recording made on a 1.3 or 2.5.1 Standalone TiVo, and to export the edited stream to an external storage. From there you can either play back the recording on the TiVo, or split the recording into MPEG audio and video streams.

Features

• Streams can be edited either on the TiVo itself, or on a separate Linux/Unix machine.
• Only the edited portion of the stream needs to be exported from the TiVo; you don't need to extract the whole recording to edit it.
• Streams can be played back from the TiVo MFS (native) area, from a Unix file (both TiVo and Linux/Unix), or from a remote `tystream' server over TCP.
• Streams can be exported to a Unix file, or to a remote `tystream' server.
• The tystream server can be a Unix/Linux machine or a TiVo. This means that you can play a recording made by one TiVo back on another, as long as they both have Ethernet connections.
• Edits are done on Group of Picture (GOP) boundaries. This means that the edited tystream can then be manipulated with TcConvert, tyc or vsplit to produce valid MPEG-2 files.
• There is on-screen (i.e on TV) user feedback of the editing process.

Differences from Earlier Versions

The main differences from Playitsam v1.74 and this version are:

• Playitsam now (nearly) gets the audio editing correct.
• There is a new ttyserver which runs on the TiVo and acts like tyserver, except that it can send arbitrary chunks.
• Vsplit now also helps to keep the audio in sync. You will find that the extracted audio is IN SYNC, and there is no need for video or audio offset delays.
• MyWorld is not restarted, as it only worked in version 1.3. The -M and -n options are gone; so too is input from stdin.
• There are a few extra tools and scripts.

Acknowledgements

Playitsam is based on the vplay program written by Andrew Tridgell; in fact, I have converted his MFS routines into a library. Because of this, Playitsam is released under the GPL license. The on-screen display routines come from tivovbi by Embeem. David Gerdes provided lots of useful feedback, and the code to link libmpeg2dec into Playitsam.

The program was inspired by an executable-only program called Playback which was released by `the Doctor' in the Dealdatabase TiVo Hacks Forum. I wanted an open-source version, so I wrote Playitsam.