Virgin Media TiVo iPad app - Page 15

tommydub · 05-12-2011, 17:35

Great work I've been looking forward to this for ages!

I still haven't got it working though. I can see 3 tivos on the iPad app: 1 is the greyed out box saying its the wrong version - D746, one is DA59 the other VM DA59. Both of them will try to connect but then the app tells me they need to be restarted to be able to connect. Any ideas please?
I would love a slightly more detailed explanation of the whole process if anyone would be kind enough as I'm new to python.

sn00p · 05-12-2011, 18:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by tommydub

Great work I've been looking forward to this for ages!

I still haven't got it working though. I can see 3 tivos on the iPad app: 1 is the greyed out box saying its the wrong version - D746, one is DA59 the other VM DA59. Both of them will try to connect but then the app tells me they need to be restarted to be able to connect. Any ideas please?
I would love a slightly more detailed explanation of the whole process if anyone would be kind enough as I'm new to python.

I guess you've got 2 TiVo's in the house?

The script *should* find the VM TiVos (which are the ones listed at XXXX) and then create some fake mDNS entries which start with VM. The ones that start with VM are the ones which you should be able to connect to.

You may need to turn on remote control on the TV (it's in a setting menu somewhere) and then try connecting with the iPad.

The python zeroconf module is really really really flakey, sometimes it finds stuff, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes it registers stuff, sometimes it doesn't.

Just keep running it until it does its magic.

It looks like you're doing everything correctly, just double check the remote settings and try again.

cfwatcher · 05-12-2011, 21:00

Thanks all for the info in this thread - really useful! Have the iPad app working nicely.

Managed to gain access to the OS on my Iomega Home Media Network Drive and have installed everything there to avoid having the PC running all the time. It's running like a dream and seems pretty stable so far.

Thanks again!

tommydub · 05-12-2011, 23:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by sn00p

I guess you've got 2 TiVo's in the house?

The script *should* find the VM TiVos (which are the ones listed at XXXX) and then create some fake mDNS entries which start with VM. The ones that start with VM are the ones which you should be able to connect to.

You may need to turn on remote control on the TV (it's in a setting menu somewhere) and then try connecting with the iPad.

The python zeroconf module is really really really flakey, sometimes it finds stuff, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes it registers stuff, sometimes it doesn't.

Just keep running it until it does its magic.

It looks like you're doing everything correctly, just double check the remote settings and try again.

It works! Thank you very much indeed!

Hullk · 05-12-2011, 23:53

Thanks sn00p (and everyone else who contributed) for the instructions on how to get the app working.

It's quite easy if you have a basic understanding of programming, made even easier with a Mac. I used Dashcode to edit the files manually rather than the automated script and then just typed Python from a terminal session to paste the edited mdns-TiVo file. I got stuck for a while before realising that I had to start Python from the same directory where I had downloaded the files to.

It works fine most of the time with a few app crashes and also TiVo crashing. I can't wait for Virgin to release the official version.

mypalpop · 06-12-2011, 00:52

Got everything set up. But how the heck can you install the app if it's US only? I can't access the store or set up a US account.

Am I being thick?

zantarous · 06-12-2011, 07:31

Google how to creat a US iTunes account. It's quite a straightforward process and just follow the instructions.

CaptainChickenpa · 06-12-2011, 13:57

Anyone know if this has to be with Python 2.7?

I am considering trying this on my jailbroken Apple tv, as I don't fancy having to have my PC powered up constantly. However I think that the Apple TV only has support for Python 2.5.

I will have a look into it and let you know if I make any progress.

[edit]
By the way for people wanting to know how to get the app on their iPad without a US credit card.
Nice clear instructions here
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht2534

You will need to enter a US address, you could either make one up, or you could create an account at hop shop go, which will give you a US address that you can use for online shopping etc.
http://www.hopshopgo.com
[/edit]

sn00p · 07-12-2011, 07:13

I have written the code which uses apples bonjour SDK to discover the tivo boxes and then register the proxy mdns entries so that the iOS app can see the devices.

I can see all sorts of weirdness with that Zeroconf.py script, it is (as suspected) seriously flakey - I'm not at home until friday, so I've been using the script to create fake tivos so that I can duplicate those with my own app. Weirdly, the entries generated from Zeroconf.py don't show up on the mac bonjour browser until I register my fake ones from my application. This is not the behaviour I was seeing at home, so clearly something is "network" specific.

I can't test the code for real until the weekend, but it appears to do what it should and my iPhone can see my fake registered boxes, so it all looks promising.

Now the caveats:

- I've forgone the (tiny) amount of cleanup/memory management etc in the interests of getting it working.

- It doesn't (currently) deal with a TiVo box disappearing off the network.

- It's developed on a Mac, however, I use Qt for desktop software so it should compile and run on windows/linux. I did convert the dnssd.lib to dnssd.a at work during lunch.

- I'm only going to release the source, you'll have to compile it yourself. This isn't as scary as it sounds, I use QtCreator and you can download it for free, and one click will build and run the source. (I will include the dnssd.a and dnssd.h for windows as the import library is not the easiest thing in the world to generate).

- I shall (try) to upload it to gitorious tonight - if anybody wants to build and try it that'd be peachy, remember that I'm not at home so have only been able to verify that it looks like it's doing what it should by looking at the bonjour entries it has created.

Edit:

I've just pushed the source to this repository:

https://gitorious.org/bonjourvm

- Mac only unless you have the mingw dnssd libraries. I will try to fix this at lunch.
- The second list box shouldn't be there, I'll create another column in the first one which tells you what that box was registered as.
- I'll add the ability to set the name of the box like my python modifications did.
- Anybody feel free to change/fix stuff.

tdenson · 07-12-2011, 13:47

I have been following this thread with extreme interest and would like to have a go at this myself. However, it's a bit difficult to see the wood for the trees as to where I start. I am on a Mac, have an iPad and also a US iTunes account. Also I have my network working as I run the Peanut Plus app. After downloading the various Python scripts, what do I do then ? It might be useful if the techies here could produce a soup to nuts README (pretty please).

Tony

CaptainChickenpa · 07-12-2011, 14:57

Awesome work sn00p. I have taken the liberty of putting together some instructions on checking out and building the code for the benefit of those who are not used to development.

Steps for compiling on windows
1) Download the portable git from http://code.google.com/p/msysgit/downloads/list?can=3
2) Rename the downloaded file PortableGit-1.7.8-preview20111206.7z to PortableGit-1.7.8-preview20111206.exe and run it, by default this will install git in C:\Program Files\Git
3) run the git-cmd.bat in the Git installation folder folder. This will open a command prompt that has been configured to use git
4) create a folder in which to download the source e.g. mkdir c:\work
5) change into that folder e.g. cd c:\work
6)download the source using git e.g.
git clone git://gitorious.org/bonjourvm/bonjourvm.git
This will create a folder bonjourvm with the source code for you to compile.
7) Install QT SDK from http://qt.nokia.com/
8) Launch QTCreator and Select File->Open File or Project. Browse to find the file BonjourVM.pro which will be in bonjourvm folder that was created when you get the source from Git
9) Click Build->Build All. This will (at the moment) give you some messages in the Build Issues window about dns_sd.h : No such file or directory.
This is because of the mingwdnssd libraries that sn00p mentioned in his post. I will update this with the rest of the build steps once sn00p has put the fix into Git (unless I figure out a way to fix it first, which is quite unlikely).

(Incidentally, I quite like the look of the Qt environment, I think I will have to have a play with it!).

---------- Post added at 14:57 ---------- Previous post was at 14:47 ----------

Quote:

Originally Posted by tdenson

I have been following this thread with extreme interest and would like to have a go at this myself. However, it's a bit difficult to see the wood for the trees as to where I start. I am on a Mac, have an iPad and also a US iTunes account. Also I have my network working as I run the Peanut Plus app. After downloading the various Python scripts, what do I do then ? It might be useful if the techies here could produce a soup to nuts README (pretty please).

Tony

Get the basic version of the scripts. from the tivofiles.zip.
Copy snoops modified files over the top of some of these (you will need to have a look in the files to see which ones.
Make sure you have python 2.7 installed
go to the file where the tivofiles are and run the mdns-tivo-forgery.py script.
It should locate your Tivo, and assign a fake name to it which you will use when you connect with the Tivo app.
Then launch the Tivo app on your iPad.
It should look for a Tivo and find the one that is exported by the python script.
Select that and it will ask for a media key.
Enter the key that can be found in your Tivo settings page.
That should then give you control.
Note that after a while my tivo seemed to stop responding to the iPad. The python scripts still located it but the app didn't I will poke around some more tonight to see if I can see what is up.

sn00p · 07-12-2011, 15:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by CaptainChickenpa

Awesome work sn00p. I have taken the liberty of putting together some instructions on checking out and building the code for the benefit of those who are not used to development.

Steps for compiling on windows
1) Download the portable git from http://code.google.com/p/msysgit/downloads/list?can=3
2) Rename the downloaded file PortableGit-1.7.8-preview20111206.7z to PortableGit-1.7.8-preview20111206.exe and run it, by default this will install git in C:\Program Files\Git
3) run the git-cmd.bat in the Git installation folder folder. This will open a command prompt that has been configured to use git
4) create a folder in which to download the source e.g. mkdir c:\work
5) change into that folder e.g. cd c:\work
6)download the source using git e.g.
git clone git://gitorious.org/bonjourvm/bonjourvm.git
This will create a folder bonjourvm with the source code for you to compile.
7) Install QT SDK from http://qt.nokia.com/
8) Launch QTCreator and Select File->Open File or Project. Browse to find the file BonjourVM.pro which will be in bonjourvm folder that was created when you get the source from Git
9) Click Build->Build All. This will (at the moment) give you some messages in the Build Issues window about dns_sd.h : No such file or directory.
This is because of the mingwdnssd libraries that sn00p mentioned in his post. I will update this with the rest of the build steps once sn00p has put the fix into Git (unless I figure out a way to fix it first, which is quite unlikely).

(Incidentally, I quite like the look of the Qt environment, I think I will have to have a play with it!).

Cool. Thanks for that.

I fixed the build for windows at lunchtime here, so when I get back to my laptop I'll push the changes into the source repository. If you wouldn't mind building it once I've pushed the changes and let me know if it works! (The fake tivo's do show up on my iPhone, but I'm not home till friday so somebody else is going to have to see if it actually works! I miss out on the fun part! lol)

CaptainChickenpa · 07-12-2011, 16:52

Will do.

sn00p · 07-12-2011, 17:45

I just pushed the changes which include the missing library & header for win32.

Let me know how you get on. I hope it compiles, I had to change back a couple of changes I made under windows which fixed a linker error. These changes broke the mac version. I have added the missing library which should hopefully mean that the win32 version still builds and works correctly.

CaptainChickenpa · 07-12-2011, 18:12

Yep that seems to work.

At the moment I need to run it from within QT Creator as otherwise it is missing some libraries (libgcc_s_dw2-1.dll). I will have a poke around after I have had my tea to see if I can see how to sort those out.