If you have recorded many TV programs with Tivo and want to get them off the Tivo box for watching on Mac or other portable devices, here are two ways for you to enjoy Tivo recordings on Mac or TV.
Part I. Transfer Tivo recordings to Mac with TivoDecode Manager
TivoDecode Manager (TDM) is a free program to download Tivo recordings to your computer and decoding them into MPEG-2 or MPEG-4 files.
Step 1. Connect the Tivo box to network.
Please make sure that the Tivo is on your home network.
Step 2. Launch TivoDecode Manager
Run TivoDecode Manager and enter Tivo IP address in “Tivo IP Address” box. Then click on the button “Prefs” in bottom right corner and fill in the Media Access Key.
Step 3. Transfer Tivo recordings to Mac
Then you can see a list of videos on your Tivo in the “Now Playing” list.
Select the Tivo recordings you want to transfer to Mac, and click “Add Show to Queue.” And then click “Download Location” to set the folder where you want to save the Tivo video files.
Pick up an output format by clicking “Download Format” dropdown menu and select a format from “MPEG-2 (native),” “QuickTime MPEG-4 (iPod)” and “QuickTime MPEG-4 (Custom).”
Part II. Convert Tivo recordings to Mac with a Tivo converter
You can handle the downloaded Tivo recordings for further conversion or compression with a Tivo converter for Mac. Pavtube Video Converter for Mac can help convert and compress recorded Tivo videos as well as providing more output choices like AVI, MKV, and MOV than TivoDecode Manager.
Step 1. Launch Tivo Converter for Mac
Run this Mac Tivo converter and click “Option” button to switch to “Options” window. Click on “Tivo” tab and enter the Media Access Key.
Step 2. Import Tivo recordings
Click"Add video" icon to import recorded Tivo videos.
Step 3. Convert Tivo to MP4 or other formats
Choose an output format according to the device you own. MP4 is quite common and suitable for almost all devices. But you can still select other outputs as the target video format. As the new Samsung Galaxy Note 4 and iPhone 6 has been released, you can view recorded HD Tivo videos on them.
