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

1. Download SHOUTcast server
2. Install SHOUTcast server using default options

Install Winamp

1. Download Winamp Lite
2. Install Winamp Lite using default options
   (You may not want to associate music files with Winamp and you may want to indefinitely skip registration...)
3. Close Winamp

Install DSP Plug-in

1. Download SHOUTcast DSP plug-in
2. Install plug-in using default options
3. Launch Winamp
4. Click Ctrl-P
5. Click DSP/Effect in left pane
6. Click Nullsoft SHOUTcast Source DSP in right pane

7. Click on the Input tab
8. Select Soundcard Input from the Input Device drop-down menu
9. Select 44100Hz, Stereo from the Input Settings drop-down menu
10. Click the Open Mixer button
11. If Stereo Mix isn't available on the audio Recording Control panel
    Click Options > Properties
    Check Stereo Mix
12. Under Stereo Mix check the Select box and raise the volume at least half way
13. Close Mixer windows
14. Click on the Encoder Tab
15. Select 128kbps, 44,100khz, Stereo from the drop-down menu

16. Click on the Output tab
17. Check Connect at Startup
18. Type the default password, changeme, in the Password box
19. Click on the Yellowpages button
20. Clear out the text boxes and uncheck Make this server public
21. Close Winamp

Create m3u file

1. Create a text file
2. Add these lines, substituting your PC's IP address but keeping the default SHOUTcast port of 8000:
   #EXTM3U
   #EXTINF:-1,01 - Sirius
   http://192.168.1.104:8000
3. If you don't know your IP,
   Go to Start > Run
   Type cmd and click OK
   Type ipconfig
4. Save your file as Sirius.m3u

Install Galleon

1. Download and install the TiVo Desktop if you're not already running it

2. Download Galleon
3. Install Galleon using default options
4. Check Launch configurator and click OK
5. Click File > New App
6. Select Playlists from Type drop-down menu
7. Click OK

8. Type Sirius Stream in Name field
9. Click the ellipse button and browse to sirius.m3u
10. Click Add
11. Click Apply
12. Close Galleon configuration utility

THE PAYOFF

1. Both Galleon and TiVo services should automatically start

2. Launch SHOUTcast DNAS
3. Launch Winamp
4. Log on to Sirius and choose your station
5. On TiVo Central, select Music, Photos, & More
6. Select Playlists

7. 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.

[(Unverified) Posted Feb 7th 2006 2:43PM]

Got an xbox? Get XBMC. This is a great solution for tivo, but XBMC is all that & kitchen sink.

[(Unverified) Posted Feb 7th 2006 2:44PM]

I suppose this is another great feature those of us with DirecTV TiVo units (such as the discontinued R10 unit) cannot take advantage of...RATS.

[(Unverified) Posted Feb 7th 2006 3:02PM]

Or, try using AudioFaucet, http://www.digitaldroplet.net/. Easy setup, uses iTunes playlist, pulls album art from the 'net. Worked great for me.

[(Unverified) Posted Feb 7th 2006 3:08PM]

I vote "Vaporware" the most over used term of the year. When a company shows off a working prototype of a product that seems to be a natural progression in their product line, not something completely radical, that product can hardly be described as "vaporware."

[(Unverified) Posted Feb 7th 2006 3:25PM]

#2 you can do this on your Directv TiVo. It doesn't do it out of the box but it can do so much more if you dedicate some time to it.

[(Unverified) Posted Feb 7th 2006 3:31PM]

I'd like to thank DirecTV for not giving us access out of the box to these terribly dull and boring features*





*dat dere be sarcasm.

[(Unverified) Posted Feb 7th 2006 4:03PM]

Another option is AudioFaucet, which makes your iTunes collection available for artist/genre/etc. selection via Tivo. It plays through your Tivo and is not dependent on the audio volume of your PC. Check it out here:
http://www.digitaldroplet.net/

[(Unverified) Posted Feb 7th 2006 5:12PM]

XBMC rocks!

[(Unverified) Posted Feb 7th 2006 5:21PM]

Another source of streamed content is the last.fm app available available from http://www.apps.tv

There is no need to download or run anything locally.

[(Unverified) Posted Feb 7th 2006 6:35PM]

#5, you can't do this on all directv tivos, such as the R10 he mentioned.

[(Unverified) Posted Feb 7th 2006 9:47PM]

... unless, of course, you have a Mac.
What's taking so long, TiVo? You haven't updated TiVo Desktop for the Mac in years.

[(Unverified) Posted Feb 8th 2006 12:38AM]

I've been searching for a solution to play my .wav or mp3 files on my computer through my Dish Network DVR. I noticed there're solutions for DirectTV, anyone know of one for Dish?

[(Unverified) Posted Feb 8th 2006 1:09PM]

Cool article. Unfortunately I hae a comacst/motorolla DVR (POS with 1 tuner, but still better than nothing). I just got the Buffalo Link theater for Christmas and it is a great solution for accessing mp3, video and pictures from multiple PCs. The interface is a bit clunky, but it works well. Mt wife is pumped that she can now play all the mp3s, videos and pictures thu the entertainment center with little more than a couple of remote control button presses. I just thought I would mention it for hte rest of us that are stuck with a limited cable/sat co provided DVR.

[(Unverified) Posted Feb 8th 2006 2:01PM]

Well lets all broadcast Sirius satellite radio H.Stern show from satellite all over the place for free:)) When a company shows off a working prototype of a product that seems to be a natural progression in their product line, not something completely radical, that product can hardly be described as "hardware."

[(Unverified) Posted Feb 8th 2006 11:01PM]

How would you make this work for Pandora?

[(Unverified) Posted Feb 10th 2006 9:27PM]

Mac users rejoice!
Click on the Sirius channel on shoutcast.com -> it opens in iTunes. Drop the radio stream into your Radio playlist and then go find it on the TiVo Music and Photos menu. MUCH easier than all that Windows nonsense.

Here's the secret: TiVo Desktop 1.9 actually works on Mac OS X Tiger (10.4). Don't worry about the wonky install. Download the AppleScript to run the mDNS Bonjour beacon (find it on the TiVo forum) and trash the prefs if it ever misbehaves. Yeah, almost like having to use Windows. Think of the experience as educational. ;-)

[(Unverified) Posted Feb 13th 2006 11:05PM]

The best solution on the market for this is Control4. I use it for (1) music distribution (2) lighting control and (3) home theater control. Very cool stuff.

[(Unverified) Posted Feb 15th 2006 7:35PM]

You could also use J River's Media Center http://www.jrmediacenter.com/. It's not free, but it does a great job, and will convert the format of your files while streaming to a format tivo can understand.

[(Unverified) Posted Nov 5th 2006 12:19PM]

For a really good way to mod your DirecTivo Series 2 (non R10) to enable networked features, check out "The Zipper" method at www.tivocommunity.com in the Underground forum.

The topic title is "Hacking your Series 2 DTivo just got a WHOLE lot easier..." and here is a shortcut to it: http://tinyurl.com/chbkb

[(Unverified) Posted Nov 25th 2007 9:39AM]

I have followed this closely and checked firewalls, but I am still not able to hear the stream through Tivo (I do hear a voice saying "this stream is not available"). When I look at the Shoutcast Server, I see the following two lines:

[dest: xxx.xxx.xx.xxx] starting stream (UID: 0)[L: 1]{A: WinampMPEG/5.0}(P: 0)
[dest: xxx.xxx.xx.xxx] starting stream (UID: 1)[L: 2]{A: WinampMPEG/5.0}(P: 1)
[dest: xxx.xxx.xx.xxx] connection closed (0 seconds) (UID: 1)[L: 1]{Bytes: 172032}(P: 1)

Any ideas on how to fix this?

Thanks!

Paul

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 28th 2007 5:22PM]

Try to restart your Galleon service under Services - Admin tools on your computer, I had a similar problem and it started working once I restarted the Galleon service.

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 10th 2008 12:17PM]

Thanks for your help. Still have some of the issues where it is connecting and it connects from 1-10seconds and disconnects (however, I don't hear the sound through Tivo)...Very strange. I decided to try playing it through my playlist option on tivo (not through Galleon) and it shows connected but again no sound, but at least it is not disconnecting. So close, but yet, so far. ;-)