I think I want to document how I get certain things done with regards to movies
Hardware
TiVo Series 3 with external eSata drive
powerline ethernet adapters (at router, and near TiVo)
PC with a big display
Software
Womble MPEG Video Wizard DVD ... for cutting/slicing/splicing. Also for converting files to iPod-compatible formats
DirectShowDump ... for converting .tivo files into plain .mpg files (source?)
TivoToGo ... for transferring .tivo files between Tivo and computer, but mostly to enable playback of .Tivo files. (source?)
Air Server ... iPod media server with on-the-fly conversion (source?)
pyTivo ... serves files for TiVo, with on-the-fly conversion (for files that need conversion). The pyTivo wiki is here.
(to ipod converters) ... various pieces of software to convert DVDs and other movies to iPod format
Techniques
Transferrring a show from a Tivo to a computer using a web browser. Find out the IP address and the MAK (media access key ... long number) of your Tivo from somewhere in the Settings menu of the Tivo. From your PC, browse to https://192.168.1.110/nowplaying/index.html ... using your own local address for the Tivo, of coruse. Note that this is HTTPS, not HTTP. When prompted, fill in the userID and password. The userID is "tivo" (without the quotes), and the password is the MAK. You should be shown a list of groups and shows. Pick a show, right-click the link, and save the .Tivo file to your PC. Speed of transfer will be limited by : your network configuration, your model of Tivo, and what the Tivo is currently doing. To send a file to a PC, the Tivo must combine separate internal files to a combined file. Some Tivos have more powerful processors, others, not so powerful. Meanwhile, if a show is being watched and/or recorded during the transfer, the transfer will be further slowed-down.
Converting a .tivo file to a .mpg (mpeg) file. Most video-editing software will not touch .Tivo files ... so convert them to un-encrypted .MPG files. Run DirectShowDump, select a .Tivo file to convert. You must have TivoToGo already installed, since it provides the software to decrypt the .Tivo file.
Editing a show ... I use Womble DVD Wizard to trim shows down. Open the file, browse (?) the movie, mark in and out points, transfer the clip to the working area (hotkey G), repeat for other clips (if necessary) and export the working area to a .MPG file. Womble is neat in that it will stream copy the export whenever it can, instead of re-encoding it. Fast ... and no loss of quality. Edit: exporting in "custom", the selecting MPEG-2 Transport (instead of MPEG-2 Program) may avoid the problem mentioned below.
Fixing a .mpg exported from Womble ... Tools, MPEG Format Converter, choose input file, leave default of MPEG-2 Program Stream option, choose output file (or use default), and click Convert. I don't know why this step seems to be necessary. One symptom of a "broken" file is that VLC won't play it, but Media Player will (more or less)
Transferring files to the Tivo (using python server) ... (need to write up where/how to configure pyTivo)
Watching files on an iPod via Air Server ... (write something up)
Converting a file for playback on an iPod ... (need to actually do this)
Converting a file for playback on an iPad
Copying a movie to an iPod/iPad ... (via iTunes, I think)
Trimming a TV show ... transfer the show to the PC using TiVoToGo, or a web browser. Convert the .Tivo file to .MPG using DSD. Edit the show and export as .MPG (perhaps using Womble). Fix the .MPG (if necessary). Bring the show back to the Tivo using pyTivo (or the paid version of TivoToGo)