"Couldn't Download <file name>" Error

[GoogleCodeExporter]

What Version of iTiVo? 1.7.6

What Version of MacOS X? 10.5.6

What download format did you select? Several: Quicktime h.264 3mbps, Mpeg-2 
1mbps, 
Handbrake Apple TV

What steps will reproduce the problem?
1. Choose a particular movie to download. Only one movie doing this! 
2. The movie in question does NOT have the yellow icon to the left of the video 
name like the 
other movies do.
3. Recorded this movie twice on TiVo with same results.
4. TiVo Transfer WILL transfer the movie ok. I can't get the comskip feature 
with that though.

Please provide any additional information below.

Original issue reported on code.google.com by jtim...@gmail.com on 8 May 2009 at 11:45

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Couldn't download (showname) it printed when *anything* causes the download to 
fail.
 You will need to look in the log (<user>/Library/Logs/iTiVo.log ) for more useful
info.  It's certainly possible that mencoder, comskip, tivodecode, or anything 
else
is failing to correctly process the file..  Can't tell from the single 'couldn't
download'

  The yellow icon is just a marker from the tivo to tell you things like the show is
about to expire...

  The most likely reason is a bad mpeg-2 file (the tivo sometimes generates those). 
You can usually use a different format (like 'decrypt') to avoid the heavy 
processing
which errors out on bad mpeg-2's, but then you don't get the format you want.   
Probably not much that I can do about this...

Original comment by yoav.yer...@gmail.com on 8 May 2009 at 3:43

• Changed state: Accepted

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Could this have something to do with foreign characters in the name? I just had 
the
same problem with a show called "Découverte," and I saw the logfile called it
"D%8Ecouverte."

Original comment by ytrott...@gmail.com on 12 Nov 2009 at 3:01

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I'm getting this error as well.  Would you like a copy of the log?  Should I 
open a separate issue?

Original comment by AlanGer...@gmail.com on 15 Jul 2011 at 7:45

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I am having the same issue with Michael Bublé Christmas Special.

Original comment by Schro...@gmail.com on 16 Dec 2011 at 2:11

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I have the same issue with downloading Jacques Pépin's cooking shows.  I 
download the same shows without any trouble using another program.  I'm sure 
the problem is the "é" in his name.

Original comment by toyunive...@gmail.com on 18 Dec 2011 at 12:13

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I have the same issue with downloading Les Miserable. I don't know how to write 
it with the accent over the e, but the accent is there in my list of shows. Has 
anybody found a workaround for this?

Original comment by kpan...@gmail.com on 7 Feb 2012 at 4:24

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I'm having the same issue with 3 shows from my queue without accents that I 
have downloaded a bunch of times before.  I do not have an itivo.log file or I 
would have attached it.

Original comment by Hellfish...@gmail.com on 20 Feb 2013 at 10:58

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This problem arose within the last week.  The file attempts to download but no 
data is transferred "Couldn't download 'File'."  No log files are produced 
either.  I've tried both the stable release and the beta versions of the 
software.  

Thanks for keeping this software running!  I hope you can patch up whatever 
Tivo did to stymie transfers. 

Original comment by jordan.f...@gmail.com on 22 Feb 2013 at 5:22

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[deleted comment]

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+1 to this suddenly showing up over the last week or so.  This is on Mountain 
Lion with the new 121212-beta.

Original comment by genecivi...@gmail.com on 23 Feb 2013 at 5:14

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The cookies.txt fix described in this thread worked for me!  Thanks!

Original comment by genecivi...@gmail.com on 23 Feb 2013 at 12:46

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I am having the same problem, with a setup that has worked very well for me in 
the past. This is on an older Mac running 10.6.8 with iTivo 1.7.6 (I can't get 
to run on my Mountain Lion machine even with the new build)

No matter what I try to download, I get the "Can't Download" error. I have 
tried restarting my TiVo. I can transfer programs directly by logging in with a 
browser.

Attached is an example log

Original comment by BobNoon...@gmail.com on 23 Feb 2013 at 7:04

Attachments:

• iTiVo.log

[GoogleCodeExporter]

I'm also having this problem.  New iMac with latest software.  Anyone know with 
the "cookies.txt." fix is mentioned above?  I don't see it anywhere on this 
thread.

Original comment by mrfusio...@gmail.com on 2 Mar 2013 at 5:09

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[deleted comment]

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The details for the cookies.txt fix is listed in another thread. Search for it 
and you should be able to find it quickly. It's a simple terminal command and 
some script alterations. Worked like a charm. 

Original comment by jordan.f...@gmail.com on 2 Mar 2013 at 8:45

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Here's the info about the cookies.txt.  Reposting it so that others on this 
thread can solve the problem without having to search around for the answer.   
This worked for me, hope it help everyone else.

#8 fetchten...@gmail.com
I found a fix:
First, open Terminal and type in this command: curl -c cookies.txt -d 
"tivo:MAK" http://tivoip:80
(replace "MAK" with the Media Access Key and "tivoip" with the ip of your tivo)
Then cookies.txt will be placed in your home folder.
Open it, and change the value 1360972800 to whatever you want (it's the number 
of seconds past January 1, 1970 that the cookie will expire). I just changed 
the first 1 to a 2.
Then, save it to some folder out of the way (I just threw it in my Documents 
folder).
Then, go to iTivo in the Applications folder, right-click, and click "Show 
Package Contents". Go to Contents, then Resources, then right-click on 
http-fetcher.pl, and open it in Text-Edit. Once there, change "-c 
/tmp/cookies.txt" to "-b /Users/'home folder'/Documents/cookies.txt" (change 
'home folder' to the name of your user account). Then re-open iTivo and it 
should start working again!
Feb 17, 2013

Original comment by mrfusio...@gmail.com on 9 Mar 2013 at 4:46

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Thank you mrfusio...@gmail.  Your directions were perfect and I am working 
again.  Let me be the first to also thank you for not making assumptions that 
we all know how to do things that may be second nature for you and going step 
by step for the rest of us.

Original comment by richard...@gmail.com on 16 Mar 2013 at 4:42

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i tried the cookies.txt and it worked thanks.

i did better i changed 1360972800 to 9999999999  that is 316 years  we and our 
tivos and macs will be long gone by the time the cookie expires.

heck with the way content owners are getting more  and more aggressive over 
copyrights combined with the analog  sunset i wouldnt be surprised tivo uses 
content protection so this software will be useless

maybe in the next version a change to the script can check to make sure the 
cookies are fixed

Original comment by ejonesss...@gmail.com on 20 Mar 2013 at 12:19

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Simply amazing, the cookies.txt worked perfectly!  Thank you so much!

Original comment by jimdio...@gmail.com on 20 Mar 2013 at 10:08

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This fix was what solved my problem as well but I have a question:

if I have more than one tivo on my network, do I copy the line with the IP on 
it and duplicate it with the second tivo's IP?

Original comment by rjbe...@gmail.com on 4 Apr 2013 at 2:05

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Rjbe... 

Yes that's right. The unique IP and MAK addresses for your second TiVo will 
work with the same procedure. 

Original comment by jordan.f...@gmail.com on 4 Apr 2013 at 8:24

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#16, I dont know how you figure that kind of stuff out, but I appreciate it 
very much. GUI users like myself are grateful for your help.

Original comment by uash...@gmail.com on 21 Apr 2013 at 6:09

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MrFusio--

Thanks so much--now my tivo works and it's all because of you and your post.

Original comment by willmare...@gmail.com on 8 May 2013 at 4:35

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#16 mrfusion, thank you fro posting the entire fix, however I am perplexed.  I 
created the cookies.txt, edited it and put it in the documents folder.  Then 
you say "Then, go to iTivo in the Applications folder, right-click, and click 
"Show Package Contents". "  When I go to iTivo in the applications folder and 
right clicking, I don't have the choice you listed.  Could it be because I am 
right clicking on "iTivo-beta-20121212.dmg"  This was the version (with a fix) 
that let me transfer shows successfully in January 2013.  Should I be 
downloading a different version at this point.  I have the newest iMAC.  
Thanks, Sandy

Original comment by sandyk...@gmail.com on 31 May 2013 at 7:02

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Sandy,

You want to install iTivo so that you can right-click on iTivo.app.  iTivo.dmg 
is an installer image and useless for our purposes here.

Original comment by jordan.f...@gmail.com on 31 May 2013 at 12:40

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OK.  I finally managed to "show package contents" and resources and opened 
http-fetcher.  The problem is it would not let me edit it.  It said to unlock 
it to edit it.  When I tried to unlock it, it said that it cannot be unlocked, 
only duplicated.  So I created a duplicate file, but cannot save it to the 
right place and the iTivo is still using the old http-fetcher.  Suggestions??  
Thanks, Sandy

Original comment by sandyk...@gmail.com on 6 Jun 2013 at 2:49

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Are you logged in as an administrator?  Also, are you using time machine?  A 
quick google search found this: 
http://osxdaily.com/2012/01/24/turn-off-file-locking-in-os-x-lion/

Original comment by jordan.f...@gmail.com on 6 Jun 2013 at 2:54

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Time machine is "off" and has never been used.  I am the only user on this 
imac,  and I just verified that I have admin rights.  I just read 
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1528 which discusses setting up an all powerful 
root user.  The comments vary about it and some of them say it is dangerous to 
search the web on an admin account.   Do you think I am going to need to set up 
a root user?  Any other ideas?  I really appreciate it!

Original comment by sandyk...@gmail.com on 6 Jun 2013 at 3:46

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No, I don't think you need to set up a root user account.  The files are not 
stored above your User directory.  If you hit Get Info (Apple+I), is there a 
check mark next to "Locked?"

Original comment by jordan.f...@gmail.com on 7 Jun 2013 at 3:12

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Thanks  mrFusio. I am not a developer and your solution worked perfectly for me!

Original comment by sandyjas...@gmail.com on 8 Aug 2013 at 2:31