How-to: Stream music through your TiVo
TiVo's rumored HD model seems almost as good as vaporware these days, so it's a good thing your existing Series 2 still has a few tricks left up it's sleeve. For example, your PC can broadcast audio from the Sirius web site and then stream it to your TiVo. The beauty of this hack is that you can actually transmit any audio playing on or through your PC, such as those DRM-encumbered tunes provided by Yahoo!, Napster, or other PlaysForSure services.
You'll need a few pieces of software to pull this off. Winamp will monitor your sound card and pass the audio to SHOUTcast server software. The SHOUTcast server then rebroadcasts the audio from your PC to TiVo. In theory, TiVo's Desktop software can stream MP3 broadcasts to your TiVo. In reality, TiVo's recorder isn't very fault tolerant and your TiVo server software may crash while attempting to pass networked streams. Therefore, you'll use Galleon's proxy to serve audio to the TiVo. Click to read the rest of this week's How-To!
THE SETUP
Install SHOUTcast Server
Download SHOUTcast server
Install SHOUTcast server using default options
Install Winamp
Download Winamp Lite
Install Winamp Lite using default options
(You may not want to associate music files with Winamp and you may want to indefinitely skip registration...)Close Winamp
Install DSP Plug-in
Download SHOUTcast DSP plug-in
Install plug-in using default options
Launch Winamp
Click Ctrl-P
Click DSP/Effect in left pane
Click Nullsoft SHOUTcast Source DSP in right pane
Click on the Input tab
Select Soundcard Input from the Input Device drop-down menu
Select 44100Hz, Stereo from the Input Settings drop-down menu
Click the Open Mixer button
If Stereo Mix isn't available on the audio Recording Control panel
Click Options > Properties
Check Stereo MixUnder Stereo Mix check the Select box and raise the volume at least half way
Close Mixer windows
Click on the Encoder Tab
Select 128kbps, 44,100khz, Stereo from the drop-down menu
Click on the Output tab
Check Connect at Startup
Type the default password, changeme, in the Password box
Click on the Yellowpages button
Clear out the text boxes and uncheck Make this server public
Close Winamp
Create m3u file
Create a text file
Add these lines, substituting your PC's IP address but keeping the default SHOUTcast port of 8000:
#EXTM3U
#EXTINF:-1,01 - Sirius
http://192.168.1.104:8000If you don't know your IP,
Go to Start > Run
Type cmd and click OK
Type ipconfigSave your file as Sirius.m3u
Install Galleon
Download and install the TiVo Desktop if you're not already running it
Download Galleon
Install Galleon using default options
Check Launch configurator and click OK
Click File > New App
Select Playlists from Type drop-down menu
Click OK
Type Sirius Stream in Name field
Click the ellipse button and browse to sirius.m3u
Click Add
Click Apply
Close Galleon configuration utility
THE PAYOFF
Both Galleon and TiVo services should automatically start
Launch SHOUTcast DNAS
Launch Winamp
Log on to Sirius and choose your station
On TiVo Central, select Music, Photos, & More
Select Playlists
Select Sirius Stream > Sirius > Play
Notes
If you run into problems, make sure your SHOUTcast and Galleon ports are available through any PC firewall software you may be running. Additionally, you may have to futz with the options in your sound card's Recording applet to pass the audio. If use the Voume Control applet to lower the sound on your PC, you'll also lower the volume on your TiVo. Therefore, you should lower the volume on your external speakers only. Eventually you may want to modify various SHOUTcast DNAS settings (C:\Program Files\SHOUTcast\sc_serv.ini), such as password and port, using the guide found here.
The software referenced in this tutorial is also available for OSX, so in theory it will work on your Mac... though we wouldn't count on it. We haven't forgotten the DirecTV TiVo owners in the house – if you've hacked your box, JavaHMO will stream audio in lieu of Galleon.
Those of you with XM subscriptions may want to check out XM Portal, a TiVo HME app under development for recording, playback, and channel control.