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cTiVo Changelog

What's new in cTiVo 3.6.1

Aug 18, 2023
  • Features:
  • Update to TheTVDB v4 API and rewrite with Swift Async. See notes
  • Hardware acceleration for M1 Macs with Handbrake See notes
  • Cutting commercials while using Handbrake
  • Improvements:
  • Latest version Handbrake (1.6.1) with support for hardware acceleration on M1 Macs
  • New standard Formats (HB HW Default and HB HW Small)
  • Latest version of ccextractor; not ffmpeg and comskip. See notes
  • Ventura compatibility: increased max widths, fix progress indicator width
  • Any connection problem w/ TiVo displays name in red.
  • Heartbeat process to detect any round-trip problems getting to TiVo
  • Add TiVo name to text drag/dropped into other apps from Program listing
  • Bug Fixes:
  • Turn off tivodecode's MAK verification (redundant check that blocked some PS shows from downloading)
  • Use Option-Tab instead of Cmd-Tab in Remote Control for ForwardSkip button
  • Fix for Remote control buttons scaling
  • Prevent import/Exports while editing formats
  • Edit TiVo screen cleanup (+/- button alignment); only change in final release

New in cTiVo 3.6 (Jul 20, 2023)

  • Features:
  • Update to TheTVDB v4 API and rewrite with Swift Async. See notes
  • Hardware acceleration for M1 Macs with Handbrake See notes
  • Cutting commercials while using Handbrake
  • Improvements:
  • Latest version Handbrake (1.6.1) with support for hardware acceleration on M1 Macs
  • New standard Formats (HB HW Default and HB HW Small)
  • Latest version of ccextractor; not ffmpeg and comskip. See notes
  • Ventura compatibility: increased max widths, fix progress indicator width
  • Any connection problem w/ TiVo displays name in red.
  • Heartbeat process to detect any round-trip problems getting to TiVo
  • Add TiVo name to text drag/dropped into other apps from Program listing
  • Bug Fixes:
  • Turn off tivodecode's MAK verification (redundant check that blocked some PS shows from downloading)
  • Use Option-Tab instead of Cmd-Tab in Remote Control for ForwardSkip button
  • Fix for Remote control buttons scaling
  • Prevent import/Exports while editing formats
  • Edit TiVo screen cleanup (+/- button alignment); only change in final release

New in cTiVo 3.6 Beta 2 (May 28, 2023)

  • Features:
  • Hardware acceleration for M1 Macs with Handbrake
  • Cutting commercials while using Handbrake
  • Improvements:
  • New standard Formats (HB HW Default and HB HW Small)
  • Latest version of ccextractor; not ffmpeg and comskip.
  • Any connection problem w/ TiVo displays name in red.
  • Heartbeat process to detect any round-trip problems getting to TiVo
  • Bug Fixes:
  • Prevent import/Exports while editing formats

New in cTiVo 3.6 Beta (Mar 10, 2023)

  • Features:
  • Update to TheTVDB v4 API and rewrite with Swift Async. See notes
  • Improvements:
  • Latest version Handbrake (1.6.1) with support for hardware acceleration on M1 Macs
  • Latest version of ccextractor and other subsidiary programs, except ffmpeg and comskip. See notes
  • Ventura compatibility: increased max widths, fix progress indicator width
  • Add TiVo name to text drag/dropped into other apps from Program listing
  • Bug Fixes:
  • Turn off tivodecode's MAK verification (redundant check that blocked some PS shows from downloading)
  • Use Option-Tab instead of Cmd-Tab in Remote Control for ForwardSkip button
  • Fix for Remote control buttons scaling
  • TheTVDB:
  • cTiVo uses TheTVDB to validate TiVo's season/episode info and provide alternative image choices. TheTVDB has moved to a new API (v4) that now requires a paid subscription, either by the app or the end user; however, cTiVo has arranged for a license that lets us access the API without that subscription. Our thanks go to theTVDB hosts for enabling this.
  • This was a complete rewrite of the very old TVDB code, and now uses Swift’s Async API. This code is faster and more reliable, but this release only works with macOS Catalina (10.15) or later. Much thanks to @talientinc (Steve Schmadeke) for doing a great job on this rewrite.
  • ffmpeg:
  • Unfortunately, ffmpeg and comskip are not updated in this release. Building the statically linked version of ffmpeg that cTiVo provides is very complicated, necessitating the use of a package manager such as Homebrew or MacPorts. Homebrew does not support generating a version that runs on older machines. MacPorts does, but they haven’t yet supported the v5 release, which the latest version of comskip uses.
  • If you do wish to use ffmpeg v5 for its improvements on M1 Macs, I recommend using Homebrew to install ffmpeg, then just Duplicate the Format you wish to use, but specify the executable as /opt/homebrew/bin/ffmpeg. See Edit Formats for more info.

New in cTiVo 3.5.3 (Jun 14, 2022)

  • New TiVo certificate; good through May 2024.
  • Also a mechanism to manually update certificate in the future:
  • Just put new cdata.p12 and cdata.password in ~/Library/Application Support/com.ctivo.ctivo

New in cTiVo 3.5.2 (May 18, 2022)

  • Same as 3.5.0, except with a corrected patch for a startup crash triggered by a problem at theTVdb.com.
  • While their data will still be inaccessible when this problem occurs, cTiVo will now log the problem, rather than crash.

New in cTiVo 3.5.1 (May 8, 2022)

  • Same as 3.5.0, except that with a patch for a startup crash triggered by a problem at theTVdb.com.
  • While their data will still be inaccessible when this problem occurs, cTiVo will now log the problem, rather than crash.

New in cTiVo 3.5 Beta (May 8, 2022)

  • Here's the beta version of a universal version. Please let me know of any problems and how your performance is going.
  • In terms of benchmarks, I ran a test on 18 shows for 23h:18m time, representing 42.2GB of H264 files on the TiVo, converted down to 21.1GB on the Mac, using the Default encoder (ffmpeg) as well as the HB Default encoder (Handbrake). Note these are start-to-finish numbers (downloading, commercial marking, re-encoding, and subtitling). Versus my old Intel MacBook Pro, I should also mention the blissful quiet and cool running of the M1. Foreground responsiveness during full load is also noticeably improved.
  • So far, the release looks very good. Only downside I've seen is that the universal version (having twice the code for the two architectures) uses almost twice the disk space as well.
  • Other minor changes:
  • Now allows Quit while asking for a missing disk in case an external disk is temporarily not present.
  • Different (hopefully better) test for Java presence for TiVoLibre.
  • Blue icons instead of Yellow to match newer TiVo style; still uses ! to indicate potential imminent deletion.
  • Folder with any recordings in progress now shows recording icon to match TiVo's style.

New in cTiVo 3.4.3 (Nov 21, 2020)

  • This release updates the certificate needed to talk to the TiVo using RPC (Remote control, SkipMode, some metadata). The existing certificate will expire in December. Incidentally it also adds % complete to downloading status display

New in cTiVo 3.4.2 (Nov 9, 2020)

  • Migration from Google Fabric to Firebase Crashlytics and Microsoft AppCenter*
  • Big Sur compatibility
  • Upgraded HandbrakeCLI (1.3.3)
  • Notes:
  • Google's Fabric Crashlytics, which notifies us of any issues, has been obsoleted; this release moves to a combination of Microsoft AppCenter and Firebase.
  • Due to the migration, this release is not compatible with MacOS 10.10 or 10.9
  • If you're using the cTV version, it will not auto-update. Let me know in the 3.4.2 beta issue if sandboxing is important to you.
  • No Changes from beta2
  • Fixes:
  • TiVos sometimes not appearing on startup on Catalina should be fixed
  • No more "Handbrake has exited" on preset list
  • Only warns about SkipMode interrupting TiVo once per session
  • Better help message while in waiting for TiVo mode
  • Extend Queue to 9999 in default Format to reduce Frames left on Queue failures

New in cTiVo 3.4.1 (Nov 28, 2019)

  • Get TiVo Info improvements:
  • Available in Main Window; reports on first TiVo you have
  • No double-click from Edit>TiVo Tables (was confusing with editing text)
  • On Mini, reports when in Screensaver mode; don't show "number of shows"
  • Allows resizing Remote Control window
  • Provides error on invalid Keyword in template
  • Upgrade all binaries and libraries
  • Fixes for no-name manual TiVos with and full Catalina compatibility
  • Fix for occasional missed subscription on startup
  • Marked as Version 1108 in About cTiVo or About cTV

New in cTiVo 3.4.0 (Oct 28, 2019)

  • 3.4.0 (Catalina compatibility and Sandboxing):
  • Sends videos to Apple's TV app due to obsolescence of iTunes.
  • Submits Audio-only downloads to Music app in Catalina.
  • Sandboxed cTV app also available.
  • New Get Info command for TiVos (disk space, network connectivity etc) in Edit Tivos and Remote Control
  • Known as 3.3.2 during beta testing.
  • Sandboxed cTV version:
  • The Mac App Store beta version (now called cTV) is also available. It is completely identical to cTiVo, except...
  • Now fully sandboxed, improving security of your Mac.
  • New name and icon (due to trademark concerns by Apple).
  • You can't change the temporary working directory (but you can change the Download directory).
  • Doesn't do its own updates nor moves to App directory, as these will be handled by App Store.
  • Although it is an otherwise identical product in terms of features, your help is needed to test out the sandboxing part. Just download and run the cTV app. cTV preferences and cache are migrated from cTIVo. cTiVo version 3.4.0 will reverse that migration, so you can alternate between these versions. (Although strangely, you'll need to wait a couple minutes between exiting cTV and then starting cTiVo; if not, you'll get a message asking you to do so.) For now, both versions will continue to be available.
  • Fixes:
  • Improved reliability for finding completed videos on desk.
  • Help files look better in Dark mode.
  • Better logging to diagnose occasional delays in SkipMode.
  • Misc minor fixes.

New in cTiVo 3.3.1 (May 24, 2019)

  • cTiVo will immediately notice now when a show has finished recording
  • If you have never used Mark before, 3.3.0 upgrade incorrectly turned it on
  • Correctly reports "memory buffer" in logs
  • Avoids obscure crash while searching for TiVos
  • Note: Handbrake CLI no longer compatible with 10.9 (workaround: don't use HB presets on 10.9)

New in cTiVo 3.3.0 (Mar 25, 2019)

  • Main new features:
  • SkipMode use:
  • Use TiVo's SkipMode Info when available for Marking/Cutting commercials
  • Hold off processing until SkipMode arrives (or doesn't)
  • Fallback to Comskip if SkipMode unavailable or fails
  • MPEG2 streams only download over a Transport Stream connection:
  • New Download column "Use TS". Set by channel's TS status initially, but changes automatically after bad download.
  • New Advanced Preference: Allow MPEG2 in Transport Streams (Regardless, will retry with Program Stream if MPEG2 fails encoding).
  • Each show now has a column for whether it is MPEG2 or H264 (measured by either actual download attempt OR by the channel).
  • Remote Control Window:
  • TiVo remote control emulation
  • Keystroke alternatives
  • Directly select streaming services
  • New TiVo menu:
  • Play on TiVo
  • Delete on TiVo
  • Stop Recording
  • Reload Information
  • Reboot TiVo
  • Redesigned contextual menus
  • Mojave Support:
  • Dark Mode in Mojave
  • iTunes permission check and AppleScript warnings for Mojave
  • "Hardened" Apple-notarized binary for increased security
  • Assorted compatibility fixes
  • Minor new features:
  • Mark chapters even when cutting commercials
  • Duplicate downloads now fully supported (e.g. high-res/low-res Format subscriptions)
  • Encrypted TiVo Format to download without decrypting
  • Time before download starts now tracked with progress bar
  • Contextual menus selection now behaves like Mail
  • Ability to limit subscriptions to a specific channel
  • Optional user script upon completion
  • Pushover integration via Applescript (see Pushover note below)
  • Delete after Download is now an option per Subscription/Download
  • Remote reboot of TiVo
  • New -noStereo flag on Default, and now copy AC3 over rather than regenerate
  • Moved "Export Metadata to pyTiVo" to Advanced Prefs.
  • Added "Allow Duplicate Downloads/Subscriptions" to Advanced Prefs.
  • Removed "Prefer TVDB's episode Info" option as TiVo's data is now accurate through RPC.
  • First-use defaults changed to enable more features; handles dual TiVos better.
  • All helper apps updated (ffmpeg, ccextractor, comskip, mencoder, HandBrakeCLI).

New in cTiVo 3.3.0 Beta 5 (Mar 11, 2019)

  • Main new feature:
  • By default, cTiVo now prevents downloading MPEG2 streams over a Transport Stream connection.
  • New Download column "Use TS". Set by channel's TS status initially, but changes automatically after bad download.
  • New Advanced Preference: Allow MPEG2 in Transport Streams (Regardless, will retry with Program Stream if MPEG2 fails encoding).
  • Each show now has a column for whether it is MPEG2 or H264 (measured by either actual download attempt OR by the channel).
  • Minor new features:
  • Delete after Download is now an option per Subscription/Download
  • Remote reboot of TiVo
  • New -noStereo flag on Default, and now copy AC3 over rather than regenerate
  • Moved "Export Metadata to pyTiVo" to Advanced Prefs.
  • Added "Allow Duplicate Downloads/Subscriptions" to Advanced Prefs.
  • Removed "Prefer TVDB's episode Info" option as TiVo's data is now accurate through RPC.
  • First-use defaults changed to enable more features; handles dual TiVos better.
  • All helper apps updated (ffmpeg, ccextractor, comskip, mencoder, HandBrakeCLI). (Some have had a huge increase in size).
  • Fixes:
  • No longer uses mencoder for TestPS due to occasionally inaccurate results.
  • Not using tvdb's thumbnail images for episodes, as they're not updating them.* Ignores all options when using Test PS
  • Fixes case where Test PS reports as Failed
  • Displays cSkip if comskip has run
  • Shows folders in bold when all shows are onDisk
  • Properly uses subdirectories in cache folder
  • Picks up HD devices on Bonjour
  • Not always labeling H264 files properly (Beta 2)
  • Occasionally, download would incorrectly wait for SkipMode.
  • Improved audio sync after crossing a commercial on Apple devices with Default Format.
  • TestPS now rejects options, e.g. Cut, Mark, Captions.
  • Test PS marks both H264/MP2 channels as success.
  • Allows skipMode retrieval during allowed hours even when TiVo is asleep (Unfortunately, also while streaming as no way to tell)
  • Delays launching download from subscription if no RPC data yet to get episode number correct.
  • Allow subscriptions restricted to channels or TiVos to co-exist even when no Dups allowed.
  • SkipMode now initially enable network affiliates
  • Enable RPC when mediaKey provided late

New in cTiVo 3.2.0 Beta 2 (Feb 19, 2019)

  • Main new feature:
  • By default, cTiVo now prevents downloading MPEG2 streams over a Transport Stream connection.
  • New Download column "Use TS". Set by channel's TS status initially, but changes automatically after bad download.
  • New Advanced Preference: Allow MPEG2 in Transport Streams (Regardless, will retry with Program Stream if MPEG2 fails encoding).
  • Each show now has a column for whether it is MPEG2 or H264 (measured by either actual download attempt OR by the channel).
  • Minor new features:
  • Delete after Download is now an option per Subscription/Download
  • Remote reboot of TiVo
  • New -noStereo flag on Default, and now copy AC3 over rather than regenerate
  • Moved "Export Metadata to pyTiVo" to Advanced Prefs.
  • Added "Allow Duplicate Downloads/Subscriptions" to Advanced Prefs.
  • Removed "Prefer TVDB's episode Info" option as TiVo's data is now accurate through RPC.
  • First-use defaults changed to enable more features; handles dual TiVos better.
  • All helper apps updated (ffmpeg, ccextractor, comskip, mencoder, HandBrakeCLI). (Some have had a huge increase in size).
  • Fixed:
  • Occasionally, download would incorrectly wait for SkipMode.
  • Improved audio sync after crossing a commercial on Apple devices with Default Format.
  • TestPS now rejects options, e.g. Cut, Mark, Captions.
  • Test PS marks both H264/MP2 channels as success.
  • Allows skipMode retrieval during allowed hours even when TiVo is asleep (Unfortunately, also while streaming as no way to tell)
  • Delays launching download from subscription if no RPC data yet to get episode number correct.
  • Allow subscriptions restricted to channels or TiVos to co-exist even when no Dups allowed.
  • SkipMode now initially enable network affiliates
  • Enable RPC when mediaKey provided late

New in cTiVo 3.2.0 Build 976 Beta 1 (Sep 17, 2018)

  • This release takes advantage of TiVo's SkipMode for Marking or Cutting commercials. There are some issues to be aware of, so please see SkipMode note below (repeated with more detail in the help file in Preferences>General>Commercials>? ).
  • Due to the complexity of all the possible scenarios with SkipMode, cTivo's core flow has had a major refactoring. We have done extensive alpha testing, and it works well, but there may be corner cases that don't do what they're supposed to. Please report any problems from simple UI ones on up.
  • On the other hand, I should mention that there's a known problem in MacOS High Sierra that can cause a background freeze, and I believe this release provides a workaround for that OS problem, so if you ran into that with 3.1.2, you may see a significant increase in reliability in this release. (The symptom is that even if cTiVo is set to "Disable Sleep during downloads", that it will still appear to sleep after several hours, waking upon the next tap on the keyboard and continuing to process.)
  • Main new features:
  • SkipMode use:
  • Use TiVo's SkipMode Info when available for Marking/Cutting commercials
  • Hold off processing until SkipMode arrives (or doesn't)
  • Fallback to Comskip if SkipMode unavailable or fails
  • Remote Control Window:
  • TiVo remote emulation
  • Keystroke alternatives
  • Directly select streaming services
  • New TiVo menu:
  • Play on TiVo
  • Delete on TiVo
  • Stop Recording
  • Reload Information
  • Redesigned contextual menus
  • Mojave Support:
  • Dark Mode in Mojave
  • AppleScript warnings for Mojave
  • Assorted compatibility fixes
  • "Hardened" Apple-notarized binary for increased security
  • Minor new features:
  • Mark chapters even when cutting commercials
  • Duplicate downloads now fully supported (e.g. high-res/low-res Format subscriptions)
  • Encrypted TiVo Format to download without decrypting
  • Time before download starts now tracked with progress bar
  • Contextual menus selection now behaves like Mail
  • Ability to limit subscriptions to a specific channel
  • Optional user script upon completion
  • Pushover integration via Applescript (see note below)
  • Updated Binaries (Comskip, ffmpeg, Handbrake)
  • Bug fixes:
  • Avoid images disappearing from folders on refresh
  • Sorting shows within folders
  • Extra check for SSL block by antivirus
  • Detects High-Sierra OS freeze and recovers
  • Detects invalid HTML errors from TVDB
  • Undeleted shows matched up with pending downloads.
  • Paused label no longer interferes with selecting downloads behind it.
  • Change confusing Formats "Hide in User Interface" to "Show in")
  • Fix OnDisk problem for shows with accents
  • Better disk space testing under APFS
  • Removed experimental SubscriptionRelyOnDiskOnly option
  • Many process flow and status reporting fixes

New in cTiVo 3.1.2 Build 857 (Apr 18, 2018)

  • A small release to update the certificate used to communicate with TiVo's RPC mechanism, which otherwise would expire at the end of April.
  • Also, TVDB has frequently been unresponsive recently, causing cTiVo to be unstable. This fixes the latter part.

New in cTiVo 3.1.1 Build 852 (Feb 16, 2018)

  • For those of you using non-default download directories or temporary folders, this release makes a number of cleanups/improvements:
  • If either Download or Temporary drive is not available (when cTiVo launches or while running), cTiVo will pause and ask for a new directory (rather than assuming default).
  • However, if external drive then comes online (e.g. a slow-to-connect NAS, or mistakenly ejected external drive), cTiVo will recognize it and automatically continue on.
  • Similarly, if there's an error in download directory, say write-protection, then it will ask for new directory (or to correct existing problem), not assume default.
  • Changed confusing behavior: Download directory is now fixed at start of download process, not creation of download entry. So if you change download directories, all future downloads go to that directory, not just for newly created downloads.
  • Default is to now use system-provided user temporary folder rather than /tmp/ctivo to avoid problems with High Sierra.
  • Other Improvements:
  • Option in Adv Prefs for automatic deletion of show on TiVo after a successful download. This is for those of you just using your TiVo as a collection device.
  • Option in Adv Prefs to control number of simultaneous encoders. This was previously available as a Terminal option.
  • Documentation has been updated as well, particularly Configuration and Advanced Topics. Please let me know if you find any issues!
  • Options menu simplified.
  • Bug Fixes:
  • Contextual menu Delete from TiVo for a folder will now delete all shows in that folder (upon confirmation).
  • File menu commands Play Video and Show in Finder now work for Now Playing table (main one), not just for Download table.
  • More accurate information in logs about sleep prevention (when AppDelegate at Major or above).
  • Avoids spurious error about Drawer first responder in logs.
  • Antivirus warning during download as well as NowPlaying access.
  • Warns if no data received during NowPlaying access.
  • Avoids RPC crash if manual TiVo created with invalid IP address.
  • Plugged memory leak on Downloads

New in cTiVo 3.1.1 Build 846 Beta 2 (Feb 3, 2018)

  • New features:
  • Option for automatic deletion of show on TiVo after a successful download. (For those of you just using your TiVo as a collection device). In Adv Prefs.
  • Option to control number of simultaneous encoders (prev available as Terminal option, now in Adv Prefs)
  • Bug Fix:
  • Plugged Memory leak on Downloads

New in cTiVo 3.1.1 Build 839 Beta 1 (Jan 29, 2018)

  • For those of you using non-default download directories or temporary folders, this release makes a number of cleanups/improvements. Please experiment with these and try to break it:
  • If either Download or Temporary drive is not available (when cTiVo launches or while running), cTiVo will pause and ask for a new directory (rather than assuming default).
  • However, if external drive then comes online (e.g. a slow-to-connect NAS, or mistakenly ejected external drive), cTiVo will recognize it and automatically continue on.
  • Similarly, if there's an error in download directory, say write-protection, then it will ask for new directory (or correct existing problem), not assume default.
  • Changed confusing behavior: Download directory is now fixed at start of download process, not creation of download entry. So if you change download directories, all future downloads go to that directory, not just for newly created downloads.
  • Default is to now use system-provided user temporary folder rather than /tmp/ctivo to avoid problems with High Sierra
  • Other Fixes:
  • Contextual menu Delete from TiVo for a folder will now delete all shows in that folder (upon confirmation).
  • File menu commands Play Video and Show in Finder now work for Now Playing table (main one), not just for Download table.
  • More accurate information about sleep prevention (when AppDelegate at Major or above).
  • Avoids spurious error about Drawer first responder in logs.
  • Antivirus warning during download as well as NowPlaying access.
  • Warning if no data received during NowPlaying access.
  • Avoids RPC crash if manual TiVo created with invalid IP address.

New in cTiVo 3.1.0 Build 830 Pre-release (Jan 19, 2018)

  • Major changes:
  • Shows can now be grouped in series folders.
  • Advanced Preferences is no longer hidden behind Option key.
  • Preferences has simpler directory structure choices (e.g. Plex support)
  • Auto-relocation to Applications directory.
  • Minor Improvements:
  • File template string now reflects directory options.
  • Help button on each Preference screen.
  • Better warning and diagnostics on disk space (versus tmp space).
  • Improved Sleep log notices.
  • Allows longer TiVo names.
  • Support TiVo's ShowingStartTime (if after Capture date in XML).
  • Bug Fixes:
  • Significantly better handling of network failures/sleep for RPC.
  • Columns resizing believed to be finally fixed.
  • Avoid rounding time when scheduling next TiVo checkin.
  • Fix n typo in logs.
  • Avoid obscure crashes if missing episode information during RPC reference or resetting TVDB info or subscription.
  • Use one keychain reference across all TiVos.

New in cTiVo 3.1.0 Build 828 Beta 3 (Jan 11, 2018)

  • Option to group shows in folders (by series) in Program table.
  • Advanced Preferences is no longer hidden behind Opt-Cmd.
  • Rebuilt Preferences page to simplify directory structure choices.
  • Auto-relocation to Applications directory.
  • (Release named cTiVo Beta to avoid overwriting current copy)
  • Minor Improvements:
  • File template string now reflects directory options.
  • Help button on each Preference screen.
  • Better warning and diagnostics on disk space (versus tmp space).
  • Improved Sleep log notices.
  • Allow longer TiVo names.
  • Support TiVo's ShowingStartTime (if after Capture date in XML).
  • Bug Fixes:
  • Significantly better handling of network failures/sleep for RPC.
  • Columns resizing believed to be finally fixed.
  • Avoid rounding time when scheduling next TiVo checkin.
  • Fix n typo in logs.
  • Avoid obscure crashes if missing episode information during RPC reference or resetting TVDB info or subscription.
  • Use one keychain reference across all TiVos.

New in cTiVo 3.0.1 Build 800 (Nov 10, 2017)

  • Fixes some table formatting issues, and a crash in an obscure RPC scenario.

New in cTiVo 3.0 (Nov 10, 2017)

  • Artwork enhancements:
  • New Artwork column in Now Playing List.
  • Your choice of artwork from TiVo* or theTVDB (Series, Season, Episode, or Movie from theMovieDB).
  • Manual updates of artwork by drag/drop onto table.
  • Manual artwork updates apply to files already recorded as well.
  • Finder Icons now reflect artwork of file.
  • Real-time features:
  • TiVo now notifies cTiVo as the Now Playing list changes, so new shows are updated instantaneously.*
  • Ability to "Delete Show from TiVo" (in Edit menu and contextual menu).*
  • Ability to "Stop Recording show from TiVo" (in Edit menu and contextual menu).*
  • Season/Episode Information:
  • Much better matching with TVDB; enhanced statistic information.
  • Episode and Genre information from TiVo is now correct.*
  • Manually edit season/episode information in drawer if TiVo is incorrect.
  • Usage notes:
  • Thumbnails in Artwork column reflect images that will be added to the show when downloaded. You select which kind of artwork you want in Preferences. You can change the visual size of the image by changing the width of the column, which will increase the height of the row proportionately. If you would like to change it, find a better image and just drag it onto the image in the table. If you don't want any artwork for a particular show (or to reverse the manual choice), just drag the image to the trashcan. If the show has already been downloaded, cTiVo will even change the artwork in the file on disk.
  • As the Now Playing list should always be up to date, we no longer need to refresh regularly (historically every 15 minutes unless changed). For now, I've changed this to every 4 hours, just to make sure there's no sync issues. You can change this in Adv Preferences.
  • The RPC capabilities will also work remotely (over a WAN). In Edit>Edit TiVos, you have to set a third port on your router to point to 1413 on your TiVo.
  • *Starred items require RPC, real-time functionality, only available on TiVo Premiere or later (so not Series 3, HD, or HD XL)
  • Minor changes:
  • New default (0) for refresh times ( 240 minutes for RPC-enabled and 15 minutes for older devices).
  • Extended Subscription option (no GUI, set SubscriptionExpirationDays in Console).
  • Doesn't record Subscriptions if recording already on disk.
  • "Reload TVDB" contextual menu item.
  • Newest version of all executables: ffmpeg, mencoder, ccextractor, comskip, Handbrake.
  • Detects and avoids duplicate TiVos (e.g. WAN and local).
  • Warning message about disk space before downloads.
  • Larger program status icons when Art column is showing.
  • Shared caches between Remote and local cTiVos (ie if you move your laptop back and forth).
  • Moved artwork and TiVo detail information to Cache folder, where they belong.
  • Remove iTiVo migration and Growl support.
  • Bug Fixes:
  • Resets logging of Verbose mode to Major during startup (unless Control-Option held)
  • High Sierra compatibility issues: during launch, tmp directory, double window, drag/drop, and artwork processing
  • Remove From Queue contextual menu item working again
  • Tivos were sometimes not getting called during startup
  • Allows season zero (specials); formatted as S00Exx
  • Sorting by episode names now sorts series that have no episode information by Original Air Date
  • Change to .ts for unencoded files copied over Transport Stream (for compatibility with PyTiVo)
  • Non-"sticky" messages in notifications should disappear
  • Cleaned up contextual menus.
  • MPEG-4 Transition:
  • For those upgrading from 2.4 and earlier, you should be aware that cable companies are migrating from MPEG-2 compressed streams to MPEG-4 (aka H.264). They do this to reduce the size and improve the quality of their signals. They seem to be rolling this out slowly, one market at a time and even one channel at a time. Although this transition required many changes to cTiVo, they should be transparent in normal operation, except that older Formats may be incompatible.
  • Older OS and processors:
  • If you're still using 10.7 or 10.8, you'll need to use 2.5.1's 10.7 release. In addition, if you have an older processor, you may get an incompatibility warning which might also require that version. Due to the included binaries from other open-source efforts, it's impossible to support these older systems. The 2.5.1 release has the older binaries (such as mencoder, ffmpeg, ccextractor etc) but otherwise should run fine.
  • Older TiVos:
  • If you have a TiVo Series3 or older, then you may have received an offer to upgrade as it won't be compatible at all with the H.264 transition. In adddition, although TiVo HD and HD-XL do work with the MPEG-4 signals, they unfortunately will not properly transfer the files to the Mac, so they will become unusable with cTiVo for channels migrated to MP4. Furthermore, Series 3 and HDs do not support cTiVo's new real-time functionality so several features (starred above) will not operate, and the season/episode information should be retrieved from theTVDB instead.

New in cTiVo 3.0 Build 796 RC 2 (Oct 31, 2017)

  • Fixed a crash in 10.10.

New in cTiVo 3.0 Build 793 RC 1 (Oct 30, 2017)

  • Fixed problem with Columns not being saved between runs
  • Protected against crash from invalid data from TiVo on RPC.
  • Display Never rather than 1969 for subscriptions

New in cTiVo 3.0 Build 790 Beta 3 (Oct 21, 2017)

  • Fix for subscriptions occasionally re-downloading an episode
  • Fix for reordering queue entries
  • Wiki reflecting new features. Please use issue #277 to report any problems, suggestions, or even compliments!

New in cTiVo 3.0 Build 780 Beta 2 (Oct 16, 2017)

  • Artwork enhancements:
  • New Artwork column in Now Playing List.
  • Your choice of artwork from TiVo* or theTVDB (Series, Season, Episode, or Movie from theMovieDB).
  • Manual updates of artwork by drag/drop onto table.
  • Manual artwork updates apply to files already recorded as well.
  • Finder Icons now reflect artwork of file.
  • Real-time features:
  • TiVo now notifies cTiVo as the Now Playing list changes, so new shows are updated instantaneously.
  • Ability to "Delete Show from TiVo" (in Edit menu and contextual menu).
  • Ability to "Stop Recording show from TiVo" (in Edit menu and contextual menu).
  • Season/Episode Information:
  • Much better matching with TVDB; enhanced statistic information.
  • Episode and Genre information from TiVo is now correct.
  • Manually edit season/episode information in drawer if TiVo is incorrect.
  • Minor changes:
  • New default (0) for refresh times ( 240 minutes for RPC-enabled and 15 minutes for older devices).
  • Extended Subscription option (no GUI, set SubscriptionExpirationDays in Console).
  • Doesn't record Subscriptions if recording already on disk.
  • "Reload TVDB" contextual menu item.
  • Newest version of all executables: ffmpeg, mencoder, ccextractor, comskip, Handbrake.
  • Detects and avoids duplicate TiVos (e.g. WAN and local).
  • Warning message about disk space before downloads.
  • Larger program status icons when Art column is showing.
  • Shared caches between Remote and local cTiVos (ie if you move your laptop back and forth).
  • Moved artwork and TiVo detail information to Cache folder, where they belong.
  • Remove iTiVo migration and Growl support.
  • Bug Fixes:
  • Resets logging of Verbose mode to Major during startup (unless Control-Option held)
  • High Sierra compatibility issues: during launch, tmp directory, double window, drag/drop, and artwork processing
  • Remove From Queue contextual menu item working again
  • Tivos were sometimes not getting called during startup
  • Allows season zero (specials); formatted as S00Exx
  • Sorting by episode names now sorts series that have no episode information by Original Air Date
  • Change to .ts for unencoded files copied over Transport Stream (for compatibility with PyTiVo)
  • Non-"sticky" messages in notifications should disappear
  • Cleaned up contextual menus.

New in cTiVo 3.0 Build 773 Alpha 5 (Oct 13, 2017)

  • Fixes in Alpha 5:
  • Resets Verbose mode to Major during startup (unless Control-Option held)
  • Handle bugs due to changes in High Sierra during launch, tmp directory, double window, drag/drop, and artwork processing
  • Remove From Queue menu item now working
  • Better handling column resizing
  • Extra anti-virus check
  • Mask media keys from tivodecode launch
  • 3.0 Features:
  • New Artwork column in Now Playing List
  • Your choice of artwork from TiVo or theTVDB (Series, Season, Episode, or Movie from theMovieDB); let's just say this was tricky.
  • Manual selection of artwork by drag/drop onto table (even retroactively for shows already downloaded)
  • Migration from theTVDB older API (which expires in October)
  • Much better matching with TVDB; enhanced statistic information
  • Episode and Genre information from TiVo now correct
  • Minor changes:
  • Manually edit season/episode information in drawer if Tivo is incorrect, (or prefer TVDB info)
  • Extended Subscription option (no GUI, set SubscriptionExpirationDays in Console)
  • Don't record Subscriptions if already on disk
  • Reload TVDB contextual menu item
  • Newest version of HandBrakeCLI
  • Bug Fixes:
  • Fix problem of Tivos sometimes not getting called during startup
  • Allows season zero (specials); formatted as S00Exx
  • Sorting by Names now sorts series without episode information by Original Air Date
  • Change to .ts for unencoded files copied over Transport Stream (for compatibility with PyTiVo)
  • Internal changes:
  • Moved artwork and TiVo detail information to Cache folder, where they belong.
  • Remove iTiVo migration
  • Remove Growl support
  • Usage notes:
  • Thumbnails in Artwork column reflect images that will be added to the show when downloaded. You select which kind of artwork you want in Preferences. If you don't like the artwork for a particular show, you can drag a better one onto the artwork cell, and your manual one will be used instead. Note that this manual one will also be applied if you have already downloaded the show (and cTiVo can still see the file). If you don't want any artwork for a particular show (or to reverse the manual choice), just drag the image to the trashcan. You can change the size of the image by changing the width of the column, which will increase the height of the row accordingly.
  • Requires Mac OS 10.9 and up.

New in cTiVo 2.5.1 Build 714 (Feb 1, 2017)

  • Fixes:
  • Check for tivodecode usage leftover from beta test
  • Added Antivirus notification
  • Only warn if 70% complete (80% for PS)
  • Fully protect launch command
  • Warn if Invalid MAK while downloading, not just during recovery
  • Check for Access Forbidden error msg
  • Detect H.264 nonsimul failures when captioning
  • Update binaries for 10.9/10.10 compatibility

New in cTiVo 2.5.1 Build 711 Beta 3 (Jan 9, 2017)

  • If you're running 10.9 or 10.10, 2.5.0 has problems with running ffmpeg and comskip. Please try this version and let me know if there's still a problem.
  • Also fixes some uncommon crashes.

New in cTiVo 2.5.0 Build 704 (Dec 14, 2016)

  • Major Changes:
  • H.264 compatibility (new format for cable companies)
  • Autodetects H.264 transition by channel
  • Redesigned Formats (simpler, more compatible)
  • New Channels preference screen
  • Better handling for AC3 5.1 audio
  • Many bug fixes
  • New Formats:
  • New ffmpeg Formats
  • Higher Quality - 1080p
  • Default - iPhone/iPad
  • Faster - Smallest
  • Standard Def -
  • New HandBrake Formats (Old ones deprecated)
  • HB SuperHQ - HB 1080p
  • HB Default - HB Android
  • HB Tiny - HB Roku
  • HB XBox - HB Std Def
  • All mencoder-based Formats are now marked as "Not Recommended"; warned if used
  • Format Help command in Format menus to guide usage
  • Other significant changes versus 2.4.4:
  • Updated versions of all binaries. In particular, comskip should perform much better, and HandBrake has a large number of new presets
  • ffmpeg encoder included
  • New tivodecode-ng, as well as option for Java-based TiVoLibre
  • New Filename template keywords: Guests, StartTime, Format, and ExtraEpisode
  • Better Plex folder naming
  • Caption and commercial failures no longer fail download, just reports failure but continues
  • New "OnDisk" column in tables to sort by whether downloaded file already exists on disk
  • New "H.264" column in tables indicates whether a channel has migrated to H.264 yet
  • New Edit Channels preferenc page for H.264 status
  • Channels page can also specify "commercial-free" channels, such as PBS, to avoid running comskip
  • New "Waiting" status for the time between downloads required to allow TiVo to rest
  • Anonymously reports via Crashlytics which Formats are used, to inform future development
  • Changes needed for Rovi data transition
  • Lower CPU priority of background tasks to avoid swamping user interface
  • New ffmpeg script, which allows use of comskip and 5.1/AC3 audio with ffmpeg (contributed by Ryan Child)
  • Assistance in creating Handbrake preset-based Formats, including custom presets
  • Hidden feature: Allows "duplicate" downloads: more than one Download accessing the same show ( Requires defaults write AllowDups YES in Terminal. Use at your own risk for now, let us know of any problems.
  • Misc fixes:
  • Better handling if tmp directory is not available
  • Fix for Addressbook access in Sierra
  • Detect and warn TivoHD users that they can't do Transport Streams
  • Detect and warn when antivirus may be blocking server
  • Many crashing bug fixes

New in cTiVo 2.5 Build 696 Beta 5 (Dec 2, 2016)

  • Correctly capitalizes HandBrakeCLI, which caused a crash if you ran cTiVo from a case-sensitive hard drive. Apparently, it really is "sensitive".
  • No reason to upgrade from beta4 if you aren't using such a drive (default is case-insensitive).

New in cTiVo 2.5 Build 695 Beta 4 (Nov 30, 2016)

  • Integration with Handbrake GUI preset editing
  • Requires somewhat recent Handbrake GUI "nightly version"
  • Any custom presets created in GUI will automatically be available in cTiVo's Format Editor
  • Note: New presets are only saved on exit by Handbrake and only read on startup by cTiVo
  • Allows "duplicate" downloads: more than one Download accessing the same show
  • Somewhat tested, use at your own risk for now, let me know of any problems.
  • Requires defaults write AllowDups YES in Terminal
  • Manual TiVos should have no problem with Transport Streams now
  • Handles copy/paste downloads better
  • Download notifications are now "sticky'
  • Avoids possible crash when rescheduling a Download

New in cTiVo 2.5 Build 690 Beta 3 (Nov 20, 2016)

  • Background on MPEG-4 Transition:
  • Comcast and other cable companies are in the process of converting from MPEG-2 compression to MPEG-4 (aka H.264) They do this to reduce the size and improve the quality of their signals. Comcast seem to be rolling this out slowly, one market at a time and changing over one channel at a time.
  • If you have a TiVo Series3 or older, then you may have received an offer to upgrade as it won't be compatible with this transition. Note that although TiVo HDs do work with the MPEG-4 signals, they unfortunately will not properly transfer the files to the Mac, so they will become unusable with cTiVo as channels migrate to MP4.
  • As a digression, there are some very confusing terms here. Video people talk about "Streams", the types of content inside a file or transmission such as a MPEG-2 video stream or an 5.1-channel AC3 audio stream, which are then stored in "Containers", a standardized file format, such as .AVI or .MPG . Particularly confusing is that the MPEG-4 standard defines both a compression algorithm for a stream (MPEG-4, aka H.264) and a container file format (.MP4). If you'd like to see what's inside a file, I've also posted a new version of the open-source MediaInfo program, which shows you the different streams and their formats for all known container types.
  • Transferring the file from your TiVo:
  • This H.264 change causes TiVo to move from Program Stream (PS) to Transport Stream (TS) transmission. After a channel converts to H.264, then accessing a show via PS no longer works. (Apparently just to be amusing, the TiVo still does send over a file on PS, but that file now only contains an audio channel.) The good news is that TS is significantly smaller than PS. Generally, TS does work with MPEG-2 video as well, so one could switch over completely, but there may sometimes be decryption problems. Thus, cTiVo still uses Program Streams by default, but will automatically detect when a channel has migrated to H.264 and switch to use Transport Streams on that channel from then on.
  • While this will happen automatically, there is a new Preference panel, Channels, which tells you the status of each channel. This panel will also let you ask cTiVo to test every channel that you currently have a recording for (including suggestions). These tests will run quite quickly as it only downloads enough of each show to test it. Thus, you should be able to test all your channels within a couple hours.
  • Encoding the file (Formats):
  • The mencoder program used for many of the original Formats (e.g. iPhone, AppleTV, iPod, H.264, DVD, QuickTime, PSP, YouTube) seems to be increasingly broken, with no active work going on to repair it. We've moved to ffmpeg as the primary converter, which means a lot of the existing Formats are deprecated. Existing subscriptions and queue items will still connect to the older Formats, but there'll be new ones recommended. FYI, some of the problems with mencoder are: multiple incompatibilities with the new H.264 streams; audio being dropped; doubling of video length, problems with commercial skipping, and many others.
  • mencoder-based Formats deprecated as "Not Recommended"; warned if used
  • Format help command in Format menus to guide usage
  • New HB Formats (Old ones deprecated)
  • Renamed older formats

New in cTiVo 2.5 Build 668 Beta 2 (Oct 18, 2016)

  • Miscellaneous bug fixes and performance tuneups.
  • New Format keyword for Filename Templates. Mostly for testing to track which video came out of which Format.
  • Detects and warns of antivirus blocking access to the server.
  • Detects TS-transition even with Decrypted Tivo downloads
  • Auto-deletes empty SRT files
  • Option to use comskip with ffmpeg without passing AC3 through

New in cTiVo 2.5 Build 657 Beta 1 (Sep 15, 2016)

  • New ffmpeg Format, which allows comskip and 5.1AC3 to be used with ffmpeg (contributed by Ryan Child)
  • New ffmpeg bash script can be used as a base for many interesting uses of ffmpeg
  • No need to confirm delete download if in Waiting mode
  • Initial changes for Rovi transition
  • avoid Rovi copyright msessages (and the *’s as well)
  • Avoid using Rovi numbers with theTVDB
  • Lower CPU priority of background tasks to avoid swamping user interface
  • New column H.264 indicates whether a channel has mgirated
  • Removed QuickTime MP1, MP2-HD, and Zune Formats (let me know if you want one of these)
  • During Detail debug mode in TaskChain, prints out full config and command line invocation of helper apps
  • Updated all binaries to latest version
  • Allow encoding despite caption/commercial failure
  • Warns of empty file after encoding
  • Fixes:
  • Much testing and fixes around certain Format configuration flows
  • Subscription information now being properly recorded for new users.
  • Pause Queue and Quit will now properly complete the current show (if requested)
  • Don’t crash if iTunes is Frozen
  • Fixes Play-Video crash in pre-Maverick systems

New in cTiVo 2.5 Build 602 Alpha 10 (Jul 14, 2016)

  • New "Waiting" status for the time between downloads

New in cTiVo 2.5 Build 600 Alpha 9 (Jul 11, 2016)

  • Updated versions of all binaries. Comskip, in particular, should perform better.
  • ccextractor 0.79
  • comskip 0.81.089
  • MEncoder SVN-r37561
  • HandBrake 0.10.1 (2015030800)
  • tivodecode w/o powerPC support
  • Addedffmpeg binary
  • Filename template keywords Guests, StartTime, and ExtraEpisode
  • Choosing comskip will now be remembered across runs
  • Better Plex folder naming
  • Caption failures will no longer fail download, just reported.
  • New "OnDisk" column in tables to sort by whether downloaded file already exists on disk
  • Channels page can now specify "commercial-free" channels which will then avoid running comskip

New in cTiVo 2.5 Build 591 Alpha 7 (Feb 27, 2016)

  • Comcast is in the process of converting from MPEG-2 compression to MPEG-4 compression (aka H.264) They (and I assume others soon as well) do this to reduce the size and improve the quality of a channel. Comcast seem to be rolling this out slowly, one market at a time and changing over one channel at a time. So here in Portland, I've found SYFYHD, BBCAHD have converted. If you have an active older TiVo, then you may have received an offer to upgrade as it won't be compatible with this transition.
  • This change has implications, choices, and limitations on each phase of cTiVo's processing. The purpose of this alpha release is to allow more people to experiment with the different possibilities. As such, for now, you'll need to understand some of the current tradeoffs to successfully use the alpha. As I'll discuss below, if these changes work well for people, then I can hide some of the complexity while still maintaining the option for controlling the cTiVo's behavior as we traditionally have done.
  • As a digression, there are some very confusing terms here. Video people talk about "Streams", the different types of content that are inside a file or transmission such as a video stream in MPEG-2 compression or an audio stream in 5.1 AC3 format, as well as "Containers", the defined overall format for a file, such as .AVI or .MPG. The MPEG-4 standard, in particular, defines both a compression algorithm for a stream (MPEG-4, aka H.264) and a file format (.mp4). If you'd like to see what's inside a file, I've also posted a new version of the open-source MediaInfo program, which shows you the different streams and their formats for all known container types.
  • Step 1: Transferring the .tivo file:
  • Unfortunately, this change requires TiVo to move from Program Stream (PS) to Transport Stream (TS) transmission. After a channel changes over to MPEG-4, then accessing a show via PS no longer works. The TiVo still sends over a file, but that file only contains an audio channel, and cTiVo will warn that you have an incomplete or damaged file. This is a strong indication that you're running into this problem. In this alpha release, cTiVo now provides the option in Advanced Preferences (Cmd-Opt-Comma) to change to Transport Stream. Generally, TS does work with MPEG-2 video as well, so one could switch over completely, but .. keep reading. The good news is that TS is significantly faster than PS on transmission; the even better news is that the files themselves can be much smaller.
  • Step 2: Decrypting the .tivo file to an MPG file:
  • The .tivo files are encrypted with your Media Access Key (MAK), which is why cTiVo needs that key to download your shows. The old program "tivodecode" doesn't handle Transport Stream at all. Two new programs, tivodecode-ng and TivoLibre, do handle that as well as the H.264 compression format. So there is now a pulldown in Advance Preferences to choose which decryption to use. AFAIK, there should be no reason to continue to use tivodecode; we know of no cases where tivodecode works but these new ones don't, so I have shifted to tivodecode-ng as the default case. I have left tivodecode as an option just in case. (Specifically, if the new ones fail on a Program Stream download, and you want to try shifting back. Let me know if that occurs to you; we'd really want to get copies of the .tivo files that failed with tivodecode-ng, but worked with tivodecode.) There is an alternative, TiVoLibre, which seems to handle more cases, but requires Java runtime to be installed on your Mac, which Apple no longer recommends. So the plan is to make tivodecode-ng the default unless people run into problems with it.
  • The problem is that in my initial testing, a few MPEG2 files that transmitted via Transport Stream are trashed when converted with either program, and it's unclear at this point whether this is due to a problem with the decryption software or if the original file is broken. For better or worse, the same file sent over Program Stream works fine.
  • Step 3: Encoding the MP4:
  • One exciting possibility is that the video streams are now already in H.264 format, which would mean that we don't need to re-encode them, which is the longest (and most CPU-intensive) part of the downloading process. However the .MPG container doesn't permit storing other information. Thus we have provided an MP4 FFMpeg and MP4 AVConv Format, which simple "re-muxes" the audio and video streams into an MP4 format with very little overhead, operating at the full download speed. I've seen two problems with this: first, if you do this with an MP2 channel, the resulting file will not be playable with QuickTime Player (although VLC works fine). Second, with MP4 files, the resulting file is incompatible with iTunes (I believe because it is interlaced.) It has been reported that these files work well with Plex; let me know if you find otherwise. I'd also like to know if they work well with pyTiVo.
  • Formats:
  • So, you currently have the choice of "Decrypted TiVo Show", which decrypts the .tivo file into an .MPG file, essentially doing as few changes as possible. I believe the "MP4" formats (MP4 Avconv and MP4 FFMpeg) will be a better choice for most people. Few applications expect to see H.264 streams inside an MPG container, and the MP4 container lets us add all the other metadata, commercial marking and subtitle information. I've provided multiple versions to see if there's any difference between the compatibility; I will probably reduce to one in the beta version.
  • Other changes:
  • Updated versions of all binaries. Comskip, in particular, should perform better.
  • ccextractor 0.79
  • comskip 0.81.089
  • MEncoder SVN-r37561
  • tivodecode w/o powerPC support 2) Added avconv and ffmpeg binaries (may not remain for future releases) 3) Filename template keywords Guests, StartTime, and ExtraEpisode 4) Choosing comskip will now be remembered across runs 5) Better Plex folder naming 6) Caption failures will no longer fail download, just reported. 7) New "OnDisk" column in tables to sort by whether downloaded file already exists on disk

New in cTiVo 2.4.2 Build 560 (Nov 1, 2015)

  • Metadata Improvements:
  • New feature, in cooperation with William McBrine at pyTivo: Using the latest version of pyTiVo, then the .TXT metadata files are no longer necessary. Instead, cTiVo will embed the TiVo-specific data inside the MPEG files). So you can simply turn off the pyTiVo feature and not worry about having to track the .TXT files together with the video file. The pyTiVo version required has a metadata.py dated 10/12/15 or later. Note: This only works with newly created .MP4, M4V, and .MOV files
  • New metadata: starRating, ageRating, showingBits, writers.
  • Improved pyTivo compatibility with text metadata as well.
  • MP4 metadata generally cleaned up.
  • Pass director's name for movies to iTunes.
  • New columns for ageRating and starRating of shows.
  • Bug Fixes:
  • Allow editing of Format names.
  • Allow remote IP address to have 80 or 443.
  • Protection against confusing download directory and tmp directory.
  • No more mass deleting tmp files on startup from a user-specified tmp directory.
  • Repaired MPEG2-HD and MPEG2-1mbps Formats.
  • Prevent crash if deleting last TiVo in Manual TiVo Editor.
  • Avoid duplicate listings from "Streaming Movies" bug in TiVo
  • Realtime updating of "Last Recorded" column in Subscriptions

New in cTiVo 2.4.2 Build 559 Beta 1 (Oct 22, 2015)

  • Fixing some obscure crashes reported by Crashlytics
  • Updated version of Sparkle (to fix a crash)

New in cTiVo 2.4.1 Build 557 (Oct 18, 2015)

  • Metadata Improvements:
  • New feature, in cooperation with William McBrine at pyTivo: Using the latest version of pyTiVo, then the .TXT metadata files are no longer necessary. Instead, cTiVo will embed the TiVo-specific data inside the MPEG files). So you can simply turn off the pyTiVo feature and not worry about having to track the .TXT files together with the video file. The pyTiVo version required has a metadata.py dated 10/12/15 or later. Note: This only works with newly created .MP4, M4V, and .MOV files
  • New metadata: starRating, ageRating, showingBits, writers.
  • Improved pyTivo compatibility with text metadata as well.
  • MP4 metadata generally cleaned up.
  • Pass director's name for movies to iTunes.
  • New columns for ageRating and starRating of shows.
  • Bug Fixes:
  • Allow editing of Format names.
  • Allow remote IP address to have 80 or 443.
  • Protection against confusing download directory and tmp directory.
  • No more mass deleting tmp files on startup from a user-specified tmp directory.
  • Repaired MPEG2-HD and MPEG2-1mbps Formats.
  • Prevent crash if deleting last TiVo in Manual TiVo Editor.

New in cTiVo 2.4.1 Build 556 Beta 5 (Oct 14, 2015)

  • Nice new feature, in cooperation with William McBrine at pyTivo:
  • If you download the latest version of pyTiVo, then cTiVo will no longer need to generate the .TXT metafiles. Instead it will embed the data inside the MPEG files (only .MP4, M4V, and .MOV files).
  • So you can turn off the "PyTiVo" feature and not worry about keeping the .TXT files together with the .MP4 file.

New in cTiVo 2.4.1 Build 555 Beta 4 (Oct 9, 2015)

  • Guards against a couple of crashes seen in the wild that can't happen, but did.
  • Upgrade to Crashlytics latest release

New in cTiVo 2.4.1 Build 554 Beta 3 (Oct 1, 2015)

  • Minor release:
  • Now Beta 3 runs on El Capitan.
  • Apple now enforcing ATS (Application Transport Security), a higher level of network security, which TiVo's don't support. While old binaries such as 2.4.0 are grandfathered, 2.4.1 beta 3 now works by the sophisticated technique of disabling ATS for cTiVo.
  • Metadata Improvements:
  • New keys: starRating, ageRating, showingBits, writers
  • Improved pytivo compatibility with both text and MP4 metadata
  • MP4 metadata generally cleaned up
  • Pass director's name for movies to iTunes
  • New columns for ageRating and starRating of shows
  • Bug Fixes:
  • Allow editing of Format names
  • Allow remote IP address to have 80 or 443
  • Protection against confusing download directory and tmp directory
  • No more mass deleting on startup from user-specified tmp directory.
  • Repaired MPEG2-HD and MPEG2-1mbps Formats
  • Prevent crash if deleting last TiVo in Manual TiVo Editor

New in cTiVo 2.4.0 Build 547 (Jul 8, 2015)

  • UI Improvements:
  • Performance monitoring.
  • While cTiVo is processing, it will display the current throughput and estimate the time left to finish all files.
  • In addition, if you hover over a show in process, it will show you the throughput/estimated time for that particular show.
  • Simplified top bar of window
  • Put download controls (Directory and Format) on right
  • Put display controls (TiVos and Find) on left
  • Added TiVo logo
  • New Drag/Drop option
  • Text list of show names (tab separated) from both NowPlaying list or Download
  • Text version of subscriptions from Subscription Table
  • Accepts text subscriptions back again, e.g. after editing subscription as text
  • cut/copy/paste equivalents of drag/drop
  • From NowPlaying or Downloads to Downloads
  • From NowPlaying, Downloads, or Text to Subscriptions
  • New Status column for Download table DL Stage to allow sorting by stage of downloads
  • Remember prior manual queue start/stop between runs
  • Artwork Improvements:
  • Added access to TheMovieDB posters for movies
  • Option to choose to “trust” TVDB’s episode numbers over TiVo's
  • Better background transfer management and Rate limiting for TVDB
  • Move downloaded art below user thumbnails in priority
  • Logging Improvements:
  • Added "Help>Show Logs in Finder" menu command
  • Log files now dated, named ".log" to open in Console
  • Better logging for authentication challenges and saving log files after failure
  • Masking MAK in logging
  • Changed levels of several msgs to be more helpful
  • Removed highly repetitive warnings
  • Other Improvements:
  • Significantly smaller memory usage, especially when running unattended.
  • Added crash tracking with Crashlytics (opt-out in Advanced Preferences)
  • For hackers, added MaxNumberEncoders and MaxProgressDelay (in seconds) as user Prefs (no GUI)
  • Supplying 0 (zero) in Adv Preferences>TiVo Refresh time means "manual refresh only".
  • Update to latest versions of Handbrake, Sparkle, and ccExtractor
  • Bug Fixes:
  • Prevent possible crash during enabling scheduled times.
  • Protect against TiVo returning less shows than it says it has
  • Updated DVD Format to be compatible with current encoder
  • Fix for length field not appearing in Downloads
  • Long-standing bug that if encoder crashed, it took down cTiVo as well; rewrote to lower-level file routines, so now the download should simply fail instead.
  • Caption/pyTiVo files are moved to iTunes folder IF Delete after iTunes is enabled
  • Manual TiVos will now coming online after recovery from network failure.
  • No longer tries to download deleted TiVo shows
  • Will now find series with embedded season names in theTVDB (e.g. Spartacus: War of the Damned)
  • Supports vibrancy in Yosemite
  • Fixed rare startup crash in Lumberjack logging module
  • Sorting Channel column numerically instead of alphabetically
  • Filter out TiVo Desktop
  • Removed delay after two encodes finish
  • Pickup foreign language titles from theTVDB
  • Adding error checking to catToFile "encoder"
  • Corrected PS3 encoder description to "resolution unchanged"
  • Checks for progress regex if needed
  • Major internally restructuring to avoid sporadic crashes during downloads
  • Doesn't allow selecting cTiVo's Download folder as its Temporary folder

New in cTiVo 2.4.0 Build 545 Beta 11 (Jun 5, 2015)

  • Fixing one feature too quickly broke another. Beta 10 broke "Decrypted TiVo Show" and Elgato downloads. 11 fixes that.

New in cTiVo 2.4.0 Build 544 Beta 10 (Jun 4, 2015)

  • The new feature of remembering Queue status on/off introduced a possible crash if you turned on scheduling without setting a scheduled start/stop, so this release fixes that problem. (The default schedule is now between 1-6AM rather than Now-to-Now).

New in cTiVo 2.4.0 Build 543 Beta 9 (Jun 1, 2015)

  • New Features:
  • Added access to TheMovieDB
  • Remember prior manual queue start/stop between runs
  • Better background mgmt and Rate limiting for TVDB
  • Move downloaded art after user thumbnails in priority
  • Bug Fixes:
  • Protect against TiVo returning less shows than it says it has
  • Updated DVD Format to be compatible with current encoder
  • Fix for length field not appearing in Downloads

New in cTiVo 2.4.0 Build 537 Beta 8 (May 19, 2015)

  • After a ridiculous amount of debugging, I found an obscure threading problem that may very well be the Yosemite issue. Please let me know in the above 2.4.0 alpha issue if you still have any problems. A couple of folks got beta8 (536) early; this (537) is different from that version!
  • For the internally-oriented, while downloading a show's details in the background, we updated the season/episode information, which via Cocoa bindings were linked to updating the UI on the background thread, a no-no that could randomly lead to the issues we've seen
  • Minor New Features:
  • Better logging for authentication challenges and saving log files after failure
  • Masking MAK in tivo list
  • Doesn't allow selecting cTiVo's Download folder as its Temporary folder

New in cTiVo 2.4.0 Build 534 Beta7 (Apr 21, 2015)

  • New Features:
  • Significantly smaller memory usage, especially when running unattended.
  • Drag/Drop text list of show names (tab separated) from both NowPlaying list or Download
  • Drag/Drop text version subscriptions from Subscription Table (AND accept back again, e.g. after editing)
  • Added copy command to NowPlaying list
  • Added cut/copy/paste (from NowPlaying or Downloads) to Downloads (same functionality as drag/drop)
  • Added cut/copy/paste (from NowPlaying, Downloads, or text) to Subscriptions (same as drag/drop)
  • Caption/pytivo files are moved to iTunes folder IF Delete after iTunes is enabled
  • Updated to Handbrake version 0.10.0
  • Supplying Zero in Adv Preferences>TiVo Refresh time means "manual refresh only".
  • Bug Fixes:
  • Fixed long-standing bug that if encoder crashed, it took down cTiVo as well; rewrote to lower-level file routines, so now the download should simply fail instead.
  • A possible fix for Yosemite infinite loop problem. UI doesn't respond, but not shown as crashed in process list. If that sounds uncertain, it is, because I still don't have a reproducible case at this point. So, if you have the problem with this version in Yosemite 10.10.2, let me know.
  • Fixed manual TiVos not coming online after network failure.
  • No longer tries to download deleted TiVo shows
  • Speed estimates now only take into account network/encoding speeds, not much faster later stages.

New in cTiVo 2.3.1 Build 468 (Apr 21, 2015)

  • Ability to specify output filename and structure - similar to kmttg
  • New retina-compatible graphics - thanks Patrick
  • Bugs fixed on manual TiVos and MAK on initial setup
  • Support for OS X Keychain
  • Quicktime formats now use constant quality instead of constant bit rate
  • Full screen command and support