For some reason, TiVoGoBack isn’t enabled by default within the Mac version of TiVo Desktop . That being said, it’s not that hard to enable it so that your TiVo can playback videos that are stored on your Mac. The following set of screenshots will show you how to enable TiVoGoBack using the TiVoGoBack enabler that is included with every download of VisualHub (readme, PDF).
If you don’t already own a copy of VisualHub, I recommend that you get it. VisualHub is a great application which allows you to transcode video files into a number of different formats. If you don’t need VisualHub for it’s transcoding capability, you should at least download it so that you can enable TiVoGoBack.
The first thing you need to do is download TiVo Desktop from TiVo.com. The install is really easy. Simply open the disc image and double click on the installer….
Once TiVo Desktop is installed, you will see a new Preference Pane within System Preferences.
Clicking on the TiVo Desktop preference pane will bring up the following window. As you can see, TiVoGoBack isn’t enabled out of the box (there isn’t a “Videos” tab).
Once you start TiVo Desktop, you can listen to your music or view your photos on your TiVo.
To enable TiVoGoBack, all you have to do is open the VisualHub installer and double click on the TiVoGoBack enabler.
This small application will reconfigure TiVo Desktop so that TiVoGoBack is enabled.
Once it is enabled, the TiVo Desktop preference pane will include a Videos tab where you can configure TiVoGoBack on your Mac.
Next, you will need to transcode a video into a MPEG so that it is playable by your TiVo. VisualHub is great at transcoding videos into a TiVoGoBack friendly format. Notice the “TiVo” profile listed in the dropdown. It really doesn’t get any easier than this…
Conversion complete….
Now when I go to my TiVo’s Now Playing List, I see my Mac listed as a TiVoGoBack source.
Here’s the MPG that I just transcoded….
Thanks to VisualHub I am now able to playback my home movies using TiVoGoBack!
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As a side note, I would like to thank both James & Christian for putting me down as their TiVo rewards referrer. If you’d like to put me down as your referrer, all you need to do is enter my email address (raianoat AT gmail DOT com) when you activate your TiVo. Thanks James & Christian. It really is appreciated!
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