general

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A. 1.0    so what's tvitty?

tvitty is an add-in for Microsoft Windows Vista Media Center (TM) designed for your tv & remote. it lets you find download and watch videos distributed over the internet, right from your couch. tvitty currently supports bittorrent networks, and we're planning to add progressive download and streaming support. we use tvitty to distribute our own ad-supported content in certain regions, and promote free legal content worldwide.
tvitty runs on Microsoft Windows Vista editions that ship with Media Center ("Home Premium" and "Ultimate")

A. 1.1    how is this different from other bittorrent clients?

tvitty was designed for use on tv, and is controlled using a simple remote. it'll work with a mouse and keyboard too :) tvitty lets you to define content streams to be included in tvitty, so you don't have to use a browser. tvitty is also a distribution platform for legally-free and ad-supported content.

A. 1.2    how is this different from v.o.d.?

it isn't really :) a media center running tvitty is similar to a set-top box. the main difference is that you can now reach content distributed on the internet directly on your tv. you also don't get billed at the end of the month.

A. 1.3    is tvitty free?

yes, completely free for non-commercial use.

A. 1.4    how do i install tvitty?

download tvitty here, close media center if running, run installation, and launch media center. click on the tvitty shortcut in the tv+movies section.

A. 1.5    how do i run tvitty on my tv?

tvitty can run on any pc or laptop, but it's designed for use on your tv. you can connect your pc to the tv using a video cable (depending on your pc's output), or instead connect a media center extender. we run tests on our xbox360 which also doubles as a media center extender. the extender saves you the trouble of connecting a pc directly to the tv, but still requires you have a pc or laptop with media center somewhere on your home network.
more hardware setup options from microsoft.

A. 1.6    what content is available on tvitty?

we provide our own feeds to free ad-supported titles for which we have distribution rights (availability of content titles depends on your region). in addition, we pre-configured tvitty to provide video feeds for legally distributed content available today.

A. 1.7    can i add my own content feeds to tvitty?

yes. to support the growing number of legal content providers, we support user-configurable rss, xsl, python, and yahoo! pipes for content feeds and searches. see configuration and developers section for more details.

A. 1.8    how do you deliver ad-supported videos?

we encode the video files using Hiro's Positive DRM, which enables video downloaders to share and distribute video content freely and legally, via websites, P2P and social networks. the HIRO ad-insertion technology brings personalized, up-to-date, mid-roll ads for video downloads. we use bittorrent to distribute our content using our own trackers. check the HIRO codec section for more info.

A. 1.9    i can't find what i'm looking for using the search...

tvitty's search works by scanning all configured content feeds to provide results. by default tvitty is configured with our own index of videos, as well as some other selected legal content feeds such as legittorrents.info. to learn how to add your own search feeds, see configuration section.

A. 1.10    i'm the legal owner of distributable content, can you distribute my titles on tvitty?

we're always on the lookout for new titles to distribute. contact us at info@tvitty.com.

A. 1.11    how does the recommendation engine work?

tvitty uses social filtering ("people who watched THIS also watched THAT") to provide recommendations. for the privacy aware - we only store title names, not links to specific content, no ips either. the engine uses the registration info to maintain your personalized profile on our server.

A. 1.12    is tvitty bundled with a bittorrent client?

yes. tvitty downloads the selected titles using a built-in bittorrent client based on libtorrent. it supports most common functions of bittorrent clients today, and can be configured through settings. the bittorrent client will shutdown when media center is turned off, and can also be turned off via settings.

A. 1.13    why bittorrent?

peer-to-peer networks allow for distribution at lower costs, and are more suitable for distributing free content.

A. 1.14    do you plan to support other methods of video downloading?

yes. we are planning to support direct downloads over http as well as video streaming.

A. 1.15    at what stage of development is is tvitty?

tvitty is now in open alpha. we currently distribute ad-supported content in a few regions, and bugs are still out there. please help us by reporting them here

A. 1.16    is tvitty available on earlier versions of media center?

no. tvitty doesn not support XP version of media center (XP MCE).

A. 1.17    is tvitty available on vista x64 (64 bit)?

yes, as of v0.9.4 tvitty works on both 32-bit and 64-bit flavors of Vista.

A. 1.18    do you have a changelog?

yup, right here

A. 1.19    i have more questions... where can i get more information or help using tvitty?

try our forums

configuration

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A. 2.0    how do i configure bittorrent bandwidth and options?

most configuration options are available through the settings->downloader menu. further tweaks are available in tvitty's configuration file, and are documented in the readme file.

A. 2.1    how do i register?

registration is required for personalized recommendations. you can reach the registration screen through the browse->recommended menu, or through settings->recommendations. email is only used for retrieving lost password and occasional newsletters with news and updates. no spam. promise.

A. 2.2    how do i add my own rss feed?

goto the feeds menu and click the "configure feeds" button, or the "feeds..." button from the settings menu. now click the "new..." button, select "rss feed", give it a name, and provide the urls. for search feed urls, add a '{0}' where the search-phrase should go.

A. 2.3    how do i add my own Yahoo! Pipes feed?

Yahoo! pipes are a really cool way for customizing feeds from many sources. with tvitty you can search for Yahoo! pipes and use them to feed tvitty with new content in the supported categories. when searching, tvitty will pass the text you type during search into the first Yahoo! pipe input field (commonly search). to configure, goto the feeds menu and click the "configure feeds" button, or the "feeds..." button from the settings menu, click "new..." and then "Yahoo! pipe". you can now search for pipes, select your favourites, and provide the category where it will be used.

A. 2.4    what are the xsl and python feeds?

some content sites do not provide rss feeds directly, or support alternative feed formats. xsl can be used to convert the information to rss format (including html), and python can be used to generate feeds from practically any source. the output of your xslt/python scripts should be rss, as specified here.

A. 2.5    how do i add a xsl feed?

place the xsl file under c:\ProgramData\tvitty\addins\xsl. through the settings menu, add a new xsl feed, select your xsl file and type the urls of the html pages you would like to process using the provided xsl file.

A. 2.6    how do i add a python feed?

place the python script file under c:\ProgramData\tvitty\addins\python. through the settings menu, add a new python feed and select your python file.

A. 2.7    how do i develop my own xsl or python feeds?

check out the developers section

A. 2.8    why are python feeds so slow?

python scripts are parsed using IronPython. it is very good for most purposes, but scripts based on beautifulsoup seem to run very slow. the IronPython team is aware of this issue. you can also vote for a fix here.

developers

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A. 3.0    what rss format do you support?

we support the standard rss 2.0 format with some additional fields for title's image, peers info, size, language, video quality, and audio quality. check out our popular titles rss for a sample. for rss feeds that do not contain tvitty namespace fields, tvitty attempts to extract the information from the title (quality, peers, language) and enclosure (size) fields.
note: the tvitty:inject field is used for promoting content, and only parsed for tvitty.com feeds or partner feeds.

A. 3.1    how do i develop my own xsl feed?

xsl (through xslt) is a quick way to transform xml documents to other types of output. tvitty supports xsl to transform output from user-configured urls into the rss format described in previous section. tvitty calls tidy before each xsl is called, which ensures all output from the provided urls comes out as a valid xml. this allows you to focus only on converting formats such as non-standard rss feeds and html pages. see c:\ProgramData\tvitty\addins\xsl\legittorrents.xsl for a documented example.

A. 3.2    how do i develop my own python feed?

python feeds are small python script programs that return rss results when called. these can be used to generate content information feeds from practically any source, and require some basic knowledge in python. for api description and example check out c:\ProgramData\tvitty\addins\python\legittorrents.py

HIRO codec

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A. 4.0    what is the HIRO codec?

the HIRO codec is free to download, install and use.
after installing the HIRO codec, users can view videos legally and for free. the HIRO codec is a plug-in to the Windows Media Player and Windows Media Center, that dynamically adds advertisements to videos, in real-time as they are being watched - just like in commercial TV.
the HIRO codec is not a spyware software: it does not add pop-ups or any type of advertisement outside the video itself - the only ads that the user will see are ads within the context of the video they are watching.
in addition, ads are personalized for each user according to the data he or she supplied during registration.
HIRO users can enjoy fast download speed, high quality and a secure environment (no fear of fake files or viruses).

A. 4.1    why should I use HIRO when I have other options to download videos, without ads?

HIRO is completely free, legal. and offers a faster and secure download. you may find other outlets to download videos, but at least one of those aspects would be compromised.

A. 4.2    can i uninstall the HIRO codec?

yes. go to Start >> All programs >> Hiro-Media >> uninstall

A. 4.3    isn't downloading movies on the internet a criminal act?

not with HIRO. our system is completely legal. copyrights are not infringed, and we work with close co-operation and with the blessing of content owners such as movie studios and TV networks.

A. 4.4    can I burn a video on a CD/DVD?

HIRO does not support that function.

A. 4.5    can i use the HIRO codec to watch videos encoded with other formats?

no. HIRO allows you to view a wide variety of videos, but the software will show only video which were coded for HIRO. you can find these in the websites of HIRO and of content companies related to it. you can also transfer HIRO videos between friends as long as HIRO software is installed on the computer. but HIRO does not legalize videos that were downloaded from other places.

A. 4.6    why should i register?

although users can view videos without registering to the system, it is recommended to register. registered users enjoy a greater level of personalization of content and promotional elements.

A. 4.7    does Hiro deliver the information i supply about myself to anyone else?

no. HIRO does not give out any detail or information relating to anyone of its users to anyone else.

A. 4.8    does the system have pop-ups / spyware?

no. the HIRO system inserts ads only in the context of HIRO's movies. the ads do not include pop-ups or any type of spyware.

A. 4.9    must I be online to view a video?

in general there is no need to be online when viewing a video. the HIRO software makes sure that your PC always holds the updated material needed for playing the videos.
nevertheless, there are some cases in which there is a need to be online in order to allow the PC to download the required files to play the videos.
if your PC was offline for a long time or went offline immediately after downloading, the software will need updating in order to play the videos, and for that reason the computer should be online.
it is strongly recommended to watch the videos on the PC that downloaded them, and to keep this PC online when possible.

A. 4.10    i am online but i still get the message that i need to be online in order to view the video or finish the installation. what's wrong?

it may be that your firewall blocks the HIRO software from contacting the Internet. in order to solve this issue try to do the following:
1. exit HIRO (using the icon on your system tray).
2. go to the Start menu >> All Programs, and open your firewall program.
3. go to "Exceptions list" and if HIRO is listed there, delete it.
4. restart HIRO. you will be prompted to allow or not allow HIRO to connect to the internet, select "Yes" or "Allow".

A. 4.11    i started viewing a video and than it stopped and I got the following message: "Sorry! Viewing will stop temporarily while HIRO updates some files. Please exit the Windows Media Player and try again in a few minutes" what does this mean?

you tried to view a video for which you did not have all the required files. the HIRO software is probably downloading the required files, and for some reason it takes some time . you should retry to view the movie a few minutes later.

A. 4.12    i cannot seek in the beginning of a video, why?

HIRO did not finish updating some crucial files, and therefore it does not allow you to perform seek. it will become available shortly.

A. 4.13    i downloaded a video and got a message saying i can't view the movie in my country - what can i do?

HIRO's distribution rights for some videos is limited to certain territories. users from other countries are not allowed to view these videos.
when downloading a video, check the title to see if it is limited to certain territories.

legal

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A. 5.0    what are tvitty's terms of use?

head over to term of use

A. 5.1    privacy policy?

right here

A. 5.2    how do i report copyright infringements?

please refer to the dmca section in the terms of use

contact info

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A. 6.0    how do i contact tvitty?

the forum is probably the best place to start. otherwise try us at info@tvitty.com

A. 6.1    tvitty is buggy - where can i find a solution or report it?

right here