I successfully transferred a one-hour (2.2 gig) program from my TiVo to my Mac using TiVo Transfer. I then clicked Toast It in the Tivo Transfer window, and TiVo launched, but nothing happened. Then, when I clicked the Burn button, I got this message:

"The movie cannot be decoded properly. Please make sure you have entered the correct Media Access Key (MAK) in your TiVo transfer application."

I checked and, yes, the MAK is correct.

I tried trashing the Toast plist and prefs files, but that didn't help.

Unfortunately, Roxio no longer seems to value its customers whose software is more than one version old, and it refuses to help me because I "only" have Toast 8, so I hope someone in this forum might have experienced the same issue and can suggest how I can fix this.

I'm running Toast 8.0.5 and OS X 10.5.7 with 4 gigs of RAM.

(Besides directing me to this forum, Roxio's suggested "solution" appears to be that I upgrade to Toast 10. Well, I used to be able to burn TiVo programs to DVDs just fine with Toast 8, so there's no reason it shouldn't still do so. In addition, I don't think Toast 10 offers enough new features for me and my needs to justify throwing another $80 at the company, especially when it apparently doesn't appreciate long-time customers who have no need for the latest and greatest.)

Can someone help?

Thank you.

I believe the process should be similar with other versions that have this capability. So I'm moving this to Roxio's TiVo for Mac forum where it'll get more attention from users who have TiVo.

Also, be sure you're following the steps described here and here.

Tsantee,

Thank you.

Yes, I found those pages and followed the instructions on them to the letter. The programs transferred from my TiVo to my Mac just fine. When I double-clicked on the file in in the Media Browser (when trying to burn them to a DVD), however, I got the error message I mentioned in my original post.

steve

Are you able to watch the transferred .tivo files using the Toast Video Player on your Macintosh?

To me, that would be a good place to start since the Toast Video Player will also need to use the Media Access Key to play the video.

- Bob

No, they would not play on Toast Video Player, either; instead, Toast gave me the same error message:

The movie cannot be decoded properly. Please make sure you have entered the correct Media Access Key in your TiVo transfer application.

Again, the MAK was correct. (I even double-checked it on TiVo's Web site.)

steve

Let's try a slightly different approach. I'm assuming that you have the TiVo Desktop for Mac OSX preference pane installed (if you don't, you will need to install it). Go to the System Preferences window and, while holding down the apple/command key, double-click on the TiVo Desktop preference pane (it's in the "Other" section)

This will expose the "hidden" videos tab that, when selected, will show you the Media Access Key that's in place on the computer. The Media Access Key should be comprised of exactly 10 digits (no letters or leading or trailing spaces). It also should match what's shown on the TiVo itself in the Media Access Key screen on the TiVo (rather than using the web site). Do not copy/paste from the web site as this can sometimes include invisible control characters which can cause trouble. It's best to key in the Media Access Key using the keyboard only.

You can re-key in the Media Access Key on the computer by using the field on the preference pane as well.

- Bob

Thanks, Bob.

I didn't have a TiVo Desktop preference pane -- hadn't even heard of it, in fact, until you mentioned it -- but finally found it on TiVo's Web site and downloaded and installed it. I copied the MAK number from my TiVo's settings screen and entered it in the hidden Videos tab. (The one there was the same number I've had all along, but I erased it and keyed it in anew.)

I closed the TiVo Desktop preference pane and quit System Preferences. I launched Toast and tried again to play the videos transferred from my TiVo, but got the same error message as before:

The movie cannot be decoded properly. Please make sure you have entered the correct Media Access Key in your TiVo transfer application.

I tried selecting one of the files and clicking the (red) record button, but then got a different message:

There is nothing to record. Please add some data and try this again.

Huh?

Then, just for the heck of it, I tried dragging a file to the Toast window, only to get a different message:

Couldn't complete the last command because there is a problem decrypting the file. In order to use TiVo files, you need to first enter your Media Access Key (MAK) in the preferences dialog of the TiVo to Go application. Result Code = -20000

I don't appear to have an application on my Mac called TiVo to Go. (I did a Spotlight search, and nothing came up.)

What should I do now?

Thanks for your help,
steve

I would say that the Toast message referencing the application named "TiVoToGo" is mis-stating to enter it into the TiVo Transfer application instead -- but this should exactly match the Media Access Key shown in the TiVo Desktop preference pane

Perhaps the issue that it's having in decrypting the file is incorrectly being identified as a MAK mismatch? Perhaps the file is corrupted in some way? I've seen cases where a recording won't transfer fully if there are some video "glitches" in it -- do you notice any noticeable issues when watching it on the TiVo?

How about a different recording from the same TiVo? Are you able to download and watch it with the Toast Video Player application?

- Bob

I'll transfer another program from my TiVo to the Mac and try to watch it, and if that works, burn it to a disc, but I won't be able to do his until I get home from work this evening. I'll report the results later tonight.

A sidenote: The MAK entered in the TiVo Transfer preferences is correct.

Thanks again for your ongoing advice.

steve

I forgot to answer one of your questions. I watched the first 10 minutes of each recording on my TiVo and didn't notice any problems. I didn't watch the entire recordings, though. They appeared to transfer to my Mac without any difficulties.

steve



I would say that the Toast message referencing the application named "TiVoToGo" is mis-stating to enter it into the TiVo Transfer application instead -- but this should exactly match the Media Access Key shown in the TiVo Desktop preference pane

Perhaps the issue that it's having in decrypting the file is incorrectly being identified as a MAK mismatch? Perhaps the file is corrupted in some way? I've seen cases where a recording won't transfer fully if there are some video "glitches" in it -- do you notice any noticeable issues when watching it on the TiVo?

How about a different recording from the same TiVo? Are you able to download and watch it with the Toast Video Player application?

- Bob

I apologize for not responding last night. Tonight I transferred a different TiVo recording to my Mac, and, what do you know, it played back just fine on TiVo Video player. TiVo also appeared to burn it successfully to a DVD. It would not play on the freestanding DVD player in my living room (it kept asking me to insert a disc when there was already one in it), but the disc did mount — and play — on my Mac.

So, does that lead you to think that the TiVo files I've been having trouble with might be corrupted in some way? It seems like an unlikely coincidence that both files would be corrupted, but what do I know?

Just for the hell of it, I will attempt to transfer the same files from TiVo with which I've been having trouble to my Mac once again (deleting the original files) to see if I can successfully play — and burn — the newly transferred files. (Hope that makes sense.)

Any idea why the files I transferred tonight — and burned successfully to a DVD — were not recognized by my DVD player? I burned them twice, first re-encoding to PAL, and, when that wouldn't play, writing to NTSC (whatever that means). Neither DVD, however, were recognized by my DVD player. (The player is eight years old, though, if that might make a difference.)

steve

Don't worry about not replying last night -- it's not as if I "live" here (or work for Roxio) ;-)

PAL is a video format used in other countries outside of North America. It has a different video refresh rate among other things -- you need to use NTSC if you're working with any equipment for the North America market

Suspecting it might be the file itself that was causing you trouble was about the only thing remaining that it could be -- and it somewhat makes sense in that the MAK is used to decrypt the file and if the file is partly damaged, I guess it could trigger a MAK error. Trying it with a new transfer of the same recording will possibly narrow down whether the glitch is in the recording on the TiVo, or the data stream received by the computer (and written to a file)

Some of the older commercial DVD players have problems when using recordable DVD media. Some have found that some brands of media will work better than others for the DVD players they have. Rewriteable DVD media (ex. DVD-RW) has even less reflectivity than regular recordable media -- and some DVD players will have problems with rewriteable but not recordable DVD media (the same is true with older CD audio players as well). Especially with the older DVD players like you have, DVD-R is considered to be more compatible when compared to DVD+R media as well.

- Bob