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HP MediaSmart Expander for TiVo Revealed

By on March 10, 2010 in Add-in News, Add-ins & Apps

If you’re a TiVo owner with a HP MediaSmart Server, get ready to bring the two devices together courtesy of the HP MediaSmart Expander for TiVo. Here’s what to expect:

Transfer TV Shows from TiVo to your MediaSmart Server

13 thumb HP MediaSmart Expander for TiVo Revealed 22 thumb HP MediaSmart Expander for TiVo Revealed

All transfers have to be initiated manually on the server or the TiVo – there are not automatic transfers available at this point in time (which would be a cool feature for the future).

Transfer TV Shows from the HP MediaSmart Server for Viewing on TiVo

7 thumb HP MediaSmart Expander for TiVo Revealed 8 thumb HP MediaSmart Expander for TiVo Revealed 9 thumb HP MediaSmart Expander for TiVo Revealed 10 thumb HP MediaSmart Expander for TiVo Revealed 11 thumb HP MediaSmart Expander for TiVo Revealed 12 thumb HP MediaSmart Expander for TiVo Revealed

Delete TV Shows From Your MediaSmart Server

14 thumb HP MediaSmart Expander for TiVo Revealed

More Info: HP.com | Download


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About Terry Walsh

Terry Walsh is the founding editor and owner of We Got Served. Since February 2007, the site has provided detailed coverage and analysis of the emerging home server category, and has subsequently grown into a trusted outlet for digital home news and reviews.
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  • Martin

    Now if I only had a TIVO…..

  • ToddLa

    Wow how lame, no way to automatically transfer. I like the part about the WHS showing up in the TiVo UI, but again you have to manually transfer a show (no streaming). this is just a crippled version of TiVo desktop running on WHS, sigh.

  • William C Bonner

    It looks like it only works if you've got the latest version of the HP Server OS.. If I'm wrong, I'd like to know. I've got my server loaded with three 1.5TB drives, and have been hesitant to buy and install the software upgrade with no simple backup of the entire system for recovery.

    • Steve

      Seems you're right. I tried to add it, but got a message about the add-in not being compatible with this version of my OS. Now if only HP would send me the3.0 disc I ordered two weeks ago…

  • Chad

    For anyone not using already, PyTivo is kind of fantastic. It's not absolutely easy to install/configure, but it works like a charm. It is not, however, in the form of an add-in… it's something that you need to install while actually logged in via RDC or something. It's weakness, however, is that you can't push from the Tivo to the server. I'm actually pretty thrilled about that functionality being included in this!

    (Proud owner of three operational Tivo's!)

  • Doug

    Sure wish there was something that was like this for non-HP owners. I have 3 TiVos in my house. The TiVo Publisher add-in causes nothing but problems with my current build, in addition to the fact that it's not compatible with the TiVo HD.

  • David B

    Presumably, this will be worthless for the very large number of Tivo Series3 / HD users where the cable company blocks transfers (google CCI byte) on nearly every channel. In the name of DRM.

  • Mytwocents

    I noticed that this add-in is only compatible with the latest version of the HP server (490, 495 and up). I just bought the Ex487 in January. Disappointing that HP wouldn't make it available to a base of existing customers that have purchased their servers in as recently as the past few months.

    Anyone buy the upgrade to the 3.0 software and successfully install the Tivo add-in on one of the EX48_ series HP servers?

    If so, did it automatically populate in your list of available add-ins, or did you have to download it separately from HP?

    I've installed pyTivo on my WHS, which has worked great. I'm not sure if the $30 to upgrade my my EX487 would be worth it even if the Tivo add-in would be available. I use Tivo Desktop to archive programs to my PC, and have moved many of them to the server if I'm trying to free up space. I also recently upgraded my Tivo HD to a 1TB drive. Haven't had any capacity issues since then, so the extra steps to transfer to PC then to the WHS are relatively rare occurrences and aren't a big issue for me. It would get old if I were doing it every day, but It's only once or twice a month.

    • EnduroDriver

      I have an EX485 and ran into the same problem. I did order and have just installed the 3.0 upgrade on my WHS and the Tivo Expander add-in now installs. That being said it is basically Tivo desktop without the most useful feature Auto-Transfer. Overall you're going to get better functionality with pyTivo and TivoPublisher for WHS. I'm glad I bought the 3.0 upgrade for a number of other reasons but I wouldn't recommend it for the Tivo add-in only.

  • http://intensedebate.com/profiles/ridgehillinfo ridgehillinfo

    I installed the HP MediaSmart Expander for TiVo n my ex95 a few days ago I have a Sony series 2 Tivo also. Here is the biggest problem I have found. I copied a bunch of shows that I transfer from my Tivo using Tivo desktop to the \\\\HPSTORAGE\\Recorded TV\\Tivo directory which is where the HP MediaSmart Expander for TiVo stores transferred shows. But when I tried to play one of the shows on my TiVo it doesn’t show up in the list. I have copied both *.TiVo & *.mpeg files & none of them show up. It only shows the programs that the HP MediaSmart Expander for TiVo transferred. I tried to reboot the ex495 but that has not helped. The Tivo Desktop has no problems showing both *.tivo & *.mpeg files. Hopefully they will fix this because otherwise I like the software. I do not need or want auto transfer as some of the other say they need.

  • http://intensedebate.com/profiles/ridgehillinfo ridgehillinfo

    I installed the HP MediaSmart Expander for TiVo n my ex95 a few days ago I have a Sony series 2 Tivo also. Here is the biggest problem I have found. I copied a bunch of shows that I transfer from my Tivo using Tivo desktop to the \\\\HPSTORAGE\\Recorded TV\\Tivo directory which is where the HP MediaSmart Expander for TiVo stores transferred shows. But when I tried to play one of the shows on my TiVo it doesn’t show up in the list. I have copied both *.TiVo & *.mpeg files & none of them show up. It only shows the programs that the HP MediaSmart Expander for TiVo transferred. I tried to reboot the ex495 but that has not helped. The Tivo Desktop has no problems showing both *.tivo & *.mpeg files. Hopefully they will fix this because otherwise I like the software. I do not need or want auto transfer as some of the other say they need.

  • edarring

    I installed the MediaSmart Expander for Tivo on my 470, which has been upgraded with 2GB of memory (kind of required these days), and the $25 HP upgrade to Mediasmart 3.x. Works great with my two TiVo HDs. No complaints (ok, just one). Yes, it's not automatic, but I wasn't using any automatic TV backups anyway–I'm being more, um, selective. My complaint is the lack of folder support. All files exist in the "Recorded TVTivo" directory. Anything in a directory below that does not show up on the TiVo HD. I'd prefer to keep a series under a file folder, but no go. Everything in the same directory. Ugh. Directory support would be a great upgrade.

  • Ryan M

    I too got this to install on a 3.0 upgraded 470 and have transferred files to the WHS successfully. However they are in the .tivo format that no program on a PC or Mac seems to be able to play. Is there another program needed to make them into something playable?

  • Gregg R.

    For those who have installed the new add-in: Can you move shows flagged with DRM to your WHS? If yes, can they be played back on a Tivo different from the one that originally recorded the show?

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    When I stumble upon a really great blog post I go ahead and do a few things:1.Forward it to my relevant friends.2.save it in all of the common social sharing sites.3.Make sure to come back to the blog where I came accross the post.After reading this article I am seriously thinking of doing all of them…

  • Anonymous

    Do you know if this add-in is still being updated?  On the new Premier it only shows one screen worth of shows (the 16 most recently recorded shows) in the list.  No I don’t just need to scroll down to see more, there simply are no more showing.  I have un-installed and re-installed several times.  Rebooting the EX495, the TiVo, my desktop and nothing changes.
    Also, the shows that are on the TiVo do not report correctly if they are in a sub-directory (something that TiVo Desktop has supported for several versions)

    • Terry Walsh

      No, I don’t believe it is.