Convert TiVo Files for Playback on Android Tablet 

Date September 22, 2015 Author Catherine Category Video Tips

TiVo has finally decided to show some love to Android users with its TiVo app for Android tablets. Now you can do just about everything you can do with your TiVo remote control — find and explore shows, schedule recordings, control live TV and recorded shows, and more — from your Android tablet! 

Got an idea of transferring recorded TiVo files to Android tablets from PC? How did you successfully watch TiVo videos smoothly on Android tablet? If you got any problems there, in this tutorial, we are glad to show how to transfer TV shows from TiVo to Android devices so that you can take favorite TV shows when away from home. 

 

Part I. Transfer Tivo Shows to PC 

Before transferring Tivo videos to PC, please make sure that both your PC and Tivo box are connected to the same network. 

Step 1. Run Tivo Desktop for PC on your computer. 

Step 2. On “Tivo Desktop” screen, click “Pick Recordings to Transfer” and a window showing your TiVo box’s “Now Playing” or “My Shows” list appears. 

Step 3. Check the box next to the title of the Tivo show you want to transfer to PC. 

Step 4. Then click “Start Transfer.” And the transfer time depends on the duration of the Tivo show. 

Part II: Convert TiVo shows to Android friendly MP4 Video Format 

After transferring to computer the TV shows are saved as .tivo files. The .tivo format, however, is kind of protected MPEG-2 video. The Android based device, however, plays neither protected shows nor MPEG-2 video. That’s why you need to encode TiVo to MP4 video (720p or 1080p). See below how to convert TiVo shows to Android playable videos. 

Step 1. Download and install Pavtube Tivo Converter for Android to your PC. (Read Top 5 Best Video Converter Ultimate Review) Launch it and press “Option” button. Switch to “TiVo” tab in Option window, and enter TiVo Media Access Key. 

Tip: How to find your Media Access Key on TiVo: Go to “TiVo Central” menu >> “Messages and Set Up” “Account and System Information”, and your Media Access Key would be there. 

 

(Notice: There is another alternative Android Tivo Video Converter for Mac users called Pavtube Tivo to Android Converter for Mac) 

Step 2. Drag and drop TiVo shows to the main interface for converting. 

Step 3. Click “Format” and select an output profile for your Android device. There are optimized presets for Samsung, Kindle Fire HD, Google Nexus, Asus Transformer, Acer, Archos and more. Basically the “Common Video >> H.264 Video (*.mp4)” is an universal format for Android tablets and smartphones. 

 

Optimize the settings – The default settings may not satisfy you, and you can click the settings button to change the settings by yourself. Keep in mind that the file size and conversion quality is based more on bitrate than resolution (bitrate higher results in big file size, and lower visible quality loss, and vice versa). According to my experience, for watching videos on an Android phone or tablet, 720p with 1500~3000kbps (depends on what device you use) is just all right. 

Step 4. If you’re happy with the output videos, just press the “Convert” button to begin encoding and compressing TiVo shows to MP4 videos for transferring to Android tablets/phones. The preset will downsize a TiVo file to less than 4GB so as to meet the FAT32 file system that used on Android devices. 

Once the encoding task completes, you can transfer the converted videos to your Android tablet or phone for viewing on the move.