Access the Hidden TiVo Web Server

Overview

All modern TiVos (Series 2 and Series 3 non-DirecTV) have a built-in web server. This server allows users to directly download SD and HD recordings to their computer. The TiVo Series3 will serve recordings at 12-15Mbps.

[The exception is DirecTV. They disable that functionality on their TiVos.]

Details

If you own a TiVo and haven't used this feature before, open https://<your_tivo_ip>/ in your web browser and use 'tivo' as the login and your Media Access Key as the password. The media access key can be found on the system information screen of your TiVo or by logging on your your account at Tivo.com

Advanced

If you want to access the recordings on your TiVo remotely over the web, you have to setup some fancy port forwarding on your router. For example:

WAN_IP:60080 -> TIVO_LAN_IP:80 WAN_IP:60443 -> TIVO_LAN_IP:443

That allows you to login remotely @ https://<WAN IP>:60443/nowplaying/index.html. It gets more complicated if you want to access multiple TiVos, because you've got to create separate port forwarding configurations for each TiVo.

You can grab the XML output from each TiVo with this link:

https://<your_tivo_ip>/TiVoConnect?Command=QueryContainer&Container=%2FNowPlaying&Recurse=Yes

The author of TiVoPlayList reformatted the XML information into simple UI, with a few simple enhancements, such as the ability to determine available disk capacity when you enter your TiVo's drive size.