TiVo Desktop2.8.2

TiVo Desktop is a software application designed to help you publish and share music, images and TiVo recordings between your networked TiVo DVR and your computer. Plus, the program lets you view your photo and music collection on your TV screen.

User interface

The GUI is clean and intuitive giving you the freedom to easily switch between your TiVo recordings and shared music, photos and videos.

Managing TiVo recordings

TiVo Desktop offers you the possibility to select the desired TiVo DVR in your home network (if you have multiple ones) and check out the recordings. You can view extra information about any title in the list (program details as they appear on your TiVo DVR), such as title, episode, date when it was recorded, duration, and size.The transferring process may vary from file to file and this pretty much depends on the current program’s duration (i.e. up to one hour for one hour program). Additionally, the utility offers information about the file transfer, such as status and remaining time.

Setting up auto-transfer and watching recordings on your PC

What’s more, you can activate the Auto-Transfer feature if the tool is part of a series in order to automatically transfer each episode as soon as it has been recorded on your DVR.The recordings that you copied to the computer are listed in TiVo Desktop’s Now Playing List, and you can view them with the aid of your default media player. Plus, you are allowed to stop a transfer process.

Make music, photos and videos available to the TiVo DVR on your network

TiVo Desktop lets you use your TiVo DVR in order to play music, display photos stored in your computer or watch videos. The multi-tabbed layout helps you easily store and organize your music, images and videos.

Preferences and general configuration settings

The application allows you to enter your Media Access Key, use the fastest method available when transferring files from your TiVo DVR, and specify the file location where you want to transfer your TiVo recordings.What’s more, TiVo Desktop is able to automatically prepare each transferred TiVo recording to be used with portable devices by adding them to your media library. Plus, you can make the utility automatically add a new TV recording to your Windows Media Library.When it comes to audio settings, you can use Windows settings, stereo or surround sound speakers and adjust the gain level. The reset feature enables you to clear cached information, transfer status window, and auto-transfer list, as well as reset preferences to defaults.Last but not least, you are allowed to temporarily prevent TiVo DVR from accessing your published media items, start the TiVo server automatically when you log in to Windows, set the maximum cache size, and set up access control parameters for sharing data with everyone, only with your home network, or the selected DVRs.

Bottom line

All in all, TiVo Desktop combines ease of use with several handy features for helping you manage your TiVo recordings, as well as make music, photos and videos available to the TiVo DVR on your network.