Step 3: Setting Up Windows Media Player 10
As you may have noticed, the TiVo recording file in its unaltered state is over 2GB; this is too large to be practically played on your Pocket PC. In order to reduce the video file's size, you must tell Windows Media Player how transcode the video file.
In Windows Media Player 10, access the Options menu by clicking Tools > Options from the main menu bar. In the Options menu, click the Devices tab. This menu allows you to set options for content transfer to connected media. In this example, the connected media are the Dell Axim X50v Pocket PC and the 512MB SD card in the X50v's Secure Digital card slot.
We're going to transfer video directly to the SD card in our Dell Axim, so we select "SD Card" and click the Properties button.
In the Properties menu, you need to set up how you want video transcoded for use on your Pocket PC. Click the Quality tab. Here you can select the quality of the transcoded video. We recommend the third setting, which is 330kbps, or about 140MB per hour of video.
You can tweak this setting based on how much or how little space you have available on your Pocket PC's storage card or the desired quality of the video. The lower quality the video, the less storage space needed and vice versa.
Once you've made your selection, click Apply and OK. You're now ready to begin transferring video to your Pocket PC.
Step 4: Transfer Recorded TV to Your Pocket PC
You've transferred video from your TiVo to your PC and you've set Windows Media Player 10 based on your needs. Now you need to transcode the video to take up less space and get it on your Pocket PC.
The first step is to locate the downloaded video on your PC's hard drive. In Windows Media Player, click the Library tab.
Once in Library view, click the Add to Library button circled above. Select "Add File or Playlist" option. Using the Windows Explorer interface, navigate to the folder where TiVo Desktop stores transferred recordings (this location can be found or modified by clicking File > Preferences in the TiVo Desktop software). Highlight the file(s) you wish to copy to the Pocket PC and click Open.
This file will now show up in your Windows Media Player Library. When it does, right-click the file and select Add to > Sync List.
Now, select the Sync tab. You should see your program in the Sync List.
Click the Start Sync button. The transcoding and transfer process has now begun. All you have to do is wait.
When the Sync status reads "Complete," you're done!
Our test system was an AMD Athlon 64 3800+ with 2GB of PC3200 DDR RAM running Windows XP SP2. The conversion and transfer process took just under 17 minutes for a 2.49GB High Quality 1 Hour recording. This time will vary from system to system depending upon CPU power, installed memory, hard drive speed and USB connection speed (i.e. USB 1.1 v. USB 2.0).
The third and final part of this tutorial walks you through playing the video file on your Pocket PC.
Part 3 - TiVo Recordings on Your Pocket PC
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