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I don't necessarily like having my personal information floating everwhere, but if you read their privacy policy, it doesn't seem to be such a bad thing.

You might want to do some research into Replay TV's business model then.

They have plans, among other things, to have banner ads when you press the pause button.

It is also quite likely that they will eventually offer a "premium" service that doesn't have ads.

They are totally not enlightened when it comes to hacking the box. TiVo is down with it as long as people don't try to steal the service.

Don't neglect that they (ReplayTV) hid behind the cloak of the SEC "Blackout Period" for a long time before ultimately cancelling their IPO. They wouldn't even talk about what features were going to be in/out upcoming releases. That's pretty weaselly, IMHO.

Lots and lots of people who have bought the Panasonic boxes returned them. Unlike other manufactureres, Panasonic chose to honor/interperet the Macrovision signal. TiVo and other Replay units pass the signal through but do not "honor" it. This means that the other units will be able to record Macrovision-enabled programs but not copy them. The Panasonic units will not even *record* them. Normally, this wouldn't be a problem. However, the Showstopper occasionally misinterperets a weak signal as Macrovision -- efectively stopping the show.

Lastly, don't forget that ReplayTV != TiVo. They have drastically different recording paradigms. Ultimately, you need to make your decision based on operational criteria.

For (a lot) more information, check out the TiVo and Replay TV forums at AVS Forum

--john

For a little over $300 ($500 when you include the programming), I wound up with a 91-hour capacity TiVo. In comparison, the largest commercial available TiVo is a 30-hour unit, with a 60-hour coming out Real Soon Now. The 30-hour unit also costs about $300 post rebate (checking the price on Amazon).

The breakdown:
14-hour Philips TiVo from Circuit City: $300
Circuit City rebate on 14-hour Tivo: -$100
Rebate from TiVo: -$100
60 gig Maxtor from 123cdc.com: $214

So for the "cost" of a voided warranty and a little extra shipping, I wound up with three times the capacity. And I had fun in the process. Furthermore, some of the people in the TiVo Underground managed to get Circuit City to pricematch Sears, resulting in a $200 TiVo with $200 in rebates (i.e. free). They also got staples.com (physical locations only -- their online site doesn't carry the 60 gig Maxtor) to pricematch 123cdc.com and then used a coupon code to knock another $50 off the price.

As DVD authoring advances, it will become easier and easier for the home user to add his / her own video to a DVD. Two or three years from now, I'm sure it will be about as easy as making a CD.

Now lets suppose I like Friends (I'm not saying that I do. Don't accuse me of it. I might though, but I'll never admit to it :-). I set up my TiVo to record every episode of Friends. Eventually, I will have very little room left to record other programmig. But, if I could connect to my TiVo from my PC or iMac (don't have one, I'm just saying) and copy all the episodes of Friends, I could burn my own DVD's of Friends.

I realize that the people that frequent the AVS TiVo Hack forum are working on this, but without an ethernet (or USB or Firewire) connection, this still seems like a lot of trouble. Anyone else interested?

Speculation has been that the primary purpose of this is to keep people from buying cheap TiVo units ($99 for a 14hour unit with rebates) and stripping them for parts.

The work-around to the locked drive involves moving the IDE connection from the TiVo to the PC with the drive powered up. Not for the faint of heart.

As to extracting the MPEG data, it's actively being worked on. To actually be useful, first we need some interface faster than the 115Kbps non-flow-control serial port on the TiVo.

I'm just about to start work on LinuxHTPC - a Debian GNU/Linux based Home Theatre PC distribution.

http://linuxhtpc.holbytla.org

Probably the best source of information is the AVScience HTPC forum:

http://www.avsforum.com/ubbcgi/forumdisplay.cgi?ac tion= topics&forum=Home+Theater+Computers&number=12&Days Prune=5&LastLogin=

Basically the hardware to go for at the moment is either an SBLive Value with digital out or a 24bit 96kHz audio card (such as Delta Dio 2496) and the Geforce2 Ultra. Some of the GeForce cards are able to handle HD material with their HVDP chipset, but NVidia admitted that some 1080i material wasn't performing too well and hence the Ultra.

The SBLive has a problem though - the digital out is not a true SP/DIF output and so has nothing in the way of voltage constraints. It is possible to damage an expensive receiver.

The Delta Dio 2496 (aka DCPro2496 at Digital Connection) provided both coaxial and optical inputs and outputs and RCA analogue outs. This is the one to go for, but I haven't been able to confirm the functionality of the current Alsa drivers, let alone save enough for the card yet.

Both audio cards can output Dolby Digital and DTS, but native 44.1kHz audio can only be handled by the Dio - the SBLive upsamples everything to 48kHz and hence introduces all sorts of jitter and artifact problems.

--
niall@holbytla.org

Obviously, the only legitmate need would be applications that use huge quantites of storage, such as video editing/storage.

Some may want them simply to stick in their TiVo to add 96 hours of capacity (see: TiVo Underground). Some would fill the space by not uninstalling no-longer-used software and by not deleting installation files. Neither example is a need, simply a luxury.

However, unless you need that much space, these drives are not ready for prime time. You can get reliable storage in the 30 to 45 GB range for around $4 per GB. The 75 GB 75GXP runs a bit under $6.80 per GB. (e.g. $508.28 from pcwonders.com)

However, everything needs to start somewhere. As larger drives become availale, and applications are developed to take advantage of the increased capacity of modern drives, these drives will drop into line with their smaller counterparts.

Feel free to interpret "applications are developed to take advantage of the increased capacity of modern drives" as "applications sacrifice storage efficiency for laziness and simplisity" ;)

I read this on tivocommunity.com a few days ago.
Bascially you start a ppp connection over the TiVo's serial port and this allows it to download programming information wihout using the phone line. You can read the whole message here. Very cool stuff.

Well, I'm sure many of you have been waiting for anything I might say about the "hacking" of TiVo, so let me put on my best Yoda voice, and see if I can spread some wisdom. First, let me give credit where credit is due. That was no easy task, and those guys are pretty stunning engineers to have gotten into the places they did in the first place.

Second, let me give a bit of warning -- more as a friend than a corporate entity. PLEASE BE CAREFUL. TiVo's are not designed to be opened. Anyone who has ever been inside a computer knows that power supplies for user-upgradeable equipment should be covered. TiVo's is not, because it is not designed to be user-upgradeable . I'm not worried about this from a legal perspective, because that little sticker that says "Risk of Electric Shock -- Do Not Open" covers me pretty well in the eyes of the law , but it would break my heart to hear of someone who hurt themselves going inside their TiVo.

Third, make backups. We already know of one thing that is going to affect you guys with the release of 2.0, and we would feel bad if we made your TiVo useless after we changed the software somehow, but we of course would take no financial responsibility for that. We want to keep you happy TiVo customers, but we will not risk relationships with partners or do any special testing to make sure hacked boxes work. The thing we will do that will affect you, that we already know about, is the same thing that makes 2x30 GB machines 60 hours instead of 72. In short, we have never created a box over 30 hours, and any receivers over 30 hours that are out there when we release our new software will have about 12 hours taken away. Any programs within that space will be deleted. Consider this fair warning.

Finally, please be cool about this. We have already taken down AVS with floods about the subject. You don't want to anger people and force them to take action about this.

By the way, as far as hacking goes, don't interfere with the TiVo service. Anyone who tries to steal it, copy it, or modify the way it works in a negative way will receive instant ramifications from TiVo. I don't mean to be a heavy, but that is what puts food on my family's table.

How is that for straight shooting? If you have questions, I will try to answer them here.

Cheers,
Richard Bullwinkle
TiVolutionary

how far are we from not needing the service?

What you propose is probably possible, but if you are getting program information from a separate source you would have to throw away the TiVo user interface completely. Most of the TiVo interface is built around the TV program's metadata (ie: actors, genre, when the program was made), which ClickTV may not be able to provide. Even if they could, it's not clear that you could easily map it (and maintain that map) to whatever TiVo's internal format is. So I would bet that you would have to abandon the TiVo's software and UI almost entirely, and substitute your own.

That would be a shame, because (1) TiVo designed an outstanding UI, and (2) most of the benefit of using TiVo (I've had one for a few months now) is in the interface and the TiVo service beyond the schedule information. Once it notices that you watch a lot of, e.g., Science Fiction shows, it starts recording other ones you might like in any free space it has. It makes suggestions based on what you've watched of other stuff you might like. It reminds you of recording conflicts when you schedule them, and does reasonably good priortization if you give it lots to record. Plus, it is a work in progress: it has an extremely active user community (check out the AVS Forum TiVo discussion group) that TiVo actually pays attention to, and it shows in the design. So if you are looking to hack it just to have a digital VCR, I'd wait, or get Replay instead (assuming *it* works in Canada). If you are interested in hacking it to avoid paying for the service, you'll be avoiding (IMHO) exactly what makes the device worth owning in the first place

well here is your chance to get ahold of a $199 Tivo to hack on....

Web on over to the Tivo Underground AVS Forum for the details:

14hr Tivo for $199 from Circuit City

I would suggest you use your Tivo for a few weeks before you hack it (to break it in).

Take some time to get a feel for it before you "crack the hood" :-) ....

Enjoy!

This whole story should be marked Redundant.......

Tivo Hacking is nothing new, Slashdot it recycling old news articles, man - what is with this place lately?!

A quick search of "Tivo + Hacking" found the following on slashdot (the June 22nd article is nearly a duplicate of this current one) *sigh*:

More Tivo Hacking by CmdrTaco on Friday August 04, @08:45AM EDT

Hacking The Tivo by CmdrTaco on Thursday June 22, @09:37AM EDT

Tivo Hacking? by Cliff on Monday April 24, @09:32AM EDT

I own a Tivo and LOVE it! I did not really truely understand nor appreciate the full benefit and goodness a Tivo can provide until I owned one myself (for nearly a year now). I would not want to watch TV again without it.

Buy one (*buy from a place that has a money back guarantee - I think Tivo may have a 30 day MBG) and see for yourself.

For those of you who want to know more about Tivo go here:
http://www.tivo.com/

and here:
http://www.avsforum.com/ubbcgitivo/Ultimate.cgi

You will find alot more useful information at these places than on /. [And that includes HACKING it]

Enjoy!

http://www.avsforum.com/ubb tivo/Forum6/HTML/000012.html

http://www.avsforum.com/ubb/For um6/HTML/004947.html

----

http://www.avsforum.com/ubb tivo/Forum6/HTML/000012.html

http://www.avsforum.com/ubb/For um6/HTML/004947.html

----

Here are some bonuses with the service...

• Semi-intelligently try and record programs you may like (based on movie and TV show preferences)
• Has a continuously updating program guide
• TiVomatic: you're watching a commercial preview for an upcoming show -- instead of fumbling to set the recording, TiVomatic encoded commercials will allow you to press a button on the remote to schedule recording of the show

Their upcoming 2.0 version will add additional bonuses (rumor says it's due around Halloween).
http://www.avsforum.com/ubb/For um6/HTML/002154.html

This is not to knock using a computer to do most of the functions of TiVo. Most home theater nuts already know that using a DVD equipped computer with appropriate hardware will outshine most dedicated DVD players. It's just that TiVo isn't about the hardware -- it's the service (which btw, you pay $10/mo for, or $199 for a lifetime subscription).

-Al

I'd say the best part of this is the how-to guide to getting a second HD in the unit. Something like 30GB of disk on the Tivo. http://www.avsforum.com/ubb/Forum 6/HTML/004437.html

I own a ReplayTV and it most certainly makes a local call.

OK, so it may be local for you, but it isn't local for everybody. Don't take my word for it... read some comments from actual ReplayTV users over at the AVS forum. One poster said it costs him $40-50 per month.

OK, don't take my word for it then... read some comments from actual ReplayTV users. One poster said it costs him $40-50 per month. It may not cost you anything if you're near one of their local numbers, but it apparantly does elsewhere.

(And don't forget about the DirecTV rebate!)

I'd also note is that TiVo has the best user interface I've yet seen on a piece of consumer video gear. And finally, the instruction manual is well-written and lavishly illustrated. My conclusion? TiVo Gets It.

-Phil

First they insult us Canucks by including the offensive "Blame Canada" in the oscars, then they refuse to sell TiVo here, what next, steal our top comedians and pass them off as Americans??

Ok, so I'm just jealous. I've looked at both ReplayTV and TiVo and want TiVo. It seems to have a slightly better feature set, and it runs Linux. Now I'm not saying that's a reason because I'm a rabid Linux fan, but that makes it much more likely that eventually:

1. Someone will be able to hack it, and so TiVO users might be able to customize it and get it to do all the things it doesn't currently do
2. TiVO may give away more of the source or open up more of the system
3. The Linux community will benefit from having Linux used in this interesting way, GPLed changes already exist, etc.

But I can't get TiVO here!!. At first the reasons TiVO gave why they weren't selling the units in Canada was the lack of available TV schedule information here and that some encryption built into the system made the things illegal to export. None of these reasons really seemed to hold up, so I recently asked again. Last I've heard they can't expand into new markets because they're having enough trouble keeping up with demand in current markets. Argh!

The good news is that Sony is apparently coming out with their own TiVO unit soon (April was the last date I've heard), which is supposed to be far cheaper than the current Philips TiVO units. This price competition should make it easier to get any of these units (ReplayTV or TiVO) and should drop the prices for all PTV products.

Anyhow, a good website for information on ReplayTV and TiVo is AV Science Forum (and yeah the flash intro sucks).

Anyhow, any other Canadians out there, eh? Do you want your TiVo, eh? Any ideas how we can get it, eh? Any rumours on when it'll arrive, eh?

Cost
You paid $699? Shame on you! We paid $515 + S/H for ours before the $100 rebate from DirecTV. We got ours through Pro Active Electronics which we found via Nextag. (Current price direct from ProActive is $575. If you go through Nextag you can certainly get a better deal.)

South Park
The quick and dirty fix to your South Park issue is to not delete the episode from your hard drive until the others have passed. I admit that it is a kludge but it works. Well, it works most of the time. If the episode numbers are wrong in the program info (the stuff you download every night and that Tivo buys from a third party, Tribune) are wrong then all bets are off.

The ultimate solution to this problem would be for TiVo to keep better track of what you've already watched. There's no reason for it to not keep a database of which shows you've watched recently. It should probably track TV shows for about a month and movies for 6 months or so.

A more common problem for us is that future episodes that should get recorded don't because Tribune reuses episode numbers when they should not. The support people at Tivo know all about this and have yelled at Tribune on my behalf on several occasions.

Power Puff Girls
This is definitely a problem. Version 2 will have a systematic way of prioritizing season passes. There's currently a workaround for this as well.

The Simpsons
I don't have a workaround for this. This, too, is supposed to be fixed in Version 2.0.

What you left out
One of the features that sold me on the whole thing was the automatic software updates. As part of your nightly phone call you receive patches to the Tivo software. Version 1.3 is currently being rolled out and should be coming to a Tivo near you in the next several weeks. (They don't give it to everybody at once in order to do load balancing.) Version 2.0 (big rewrite, lots o' fun stuff) is due out Q3.

Bottom Line
If you're serious about TiVo you need to read the TiVo forum at AVS Forum. There is a major TiVo community there; loads of user-to-user goodnes. Also, TiVo has a full-time rep who hangs out there and other places.

--john

Cost
You paid $699? Shame on you! We paid $515 + S/H for ours before the $100 rebate from DirecTV. We got ours through Pro Active Electronics which we found via Nextag. (Current price direct from ProActive is $575. If you go through Nextag you can certainly get a better deal.)

South Park
The quick and dirty fix to your South Park issue is to not delete the episode from your hard drive until the others have passed. I admit that it is a kludge but it works. Well, it works most of the time. If the episode numbers are wrong in the program info (the stuff you download every night and that Tivo buys from a third party, Tribune) are wrong then all bets are off.

The ultimate solution to this problem would be for TiVo to keep better track of what you've already watched. There's no reason for it to not keep a database of which shows you've watched recently. It should probably track TV shows for about a month and movies for 6 months or so.

A more common problem for us is that future episodes that should get recorded don't because Tribune reuses episode numbers when they should not. The support people at Tivo know all about this and have yelled at Tribune on my behalf on several occasions.

Power Puff Girls
This is definitely a problem. Version 2 will have a systematic way of prioritizing season passes. There's currently a workaround for this as well.

The Simpsons
I don't have a workaround for this. This, too, is supposed to be fixed in Version 2.0.

What you left out
One of the features that sold me on the whole thing was the automatic software updates. As part of your nightly phone call you receive patches to the Tivo software. Version 1.3 is currently being rolled out and should be coming to a Tivo near you in the next several weeks. (They don't give it to everybody at once in order to do load balancing.) Version 2.0 (big rewrite, lots o' fun stuff) is due out Q3.

Bottom Line
If you're serious about TiVo you need to read the TiVo forum at AVS Forum. There is a major TiVo community there; loads of user-to-user goodnes. Also, TiVo has a full-time rep who hangs out there and other places.

--john

Cost
You paid $699? Shame on you! We paid $515 + S/H for ours before the $100 rebate from DirecTV. We got ours through Pro Active Electronics which we found via Nextag. (Current price direct from ProActive is $575. If you go through Nextag you can certainly get a better deal.)

South Park
The quick and dirty fix to your South Park issue is to not delete the episode from your hard drive until the others have passed. I admit that it is a kludge but it works. Well, it works most of the time. If the episode numbers are wrong in the program info (the stuff you download every night and that Tivo buys from a third party, Tribune) are wrong then all bets are off.

The ultimate solution to this problem would be for TiVo to keep better track of what you've already watched. There's no reason for it to not keep a database of which shows you've watched recently. It should probably track TV shows for about a month and movies for 6 months or so.

A more common problem for us is that future episodes that should get recorded don't because Tribune reuses episode numbers when they should not. The support people at Tivo know all about this and have yelled at Tribune on my behalf on several occasions.

Power Puff Girls
This is definitely a problem. Version 2 will have a systematic way of prioritizing season passes. There's currently a workaround for this as well.

The Simpsons
I don't have a workaround for this. This, too, is supposed to be fixed in Version 2.0.

What you left out
One of the features that sold me on the whole thing was the automatic software updates. As part of your nightly phone call you receive patches to the Tivo software. Version 1.3 is currently being rolled out and should be coming to a Tivo near you in the next several weeks. (They don't give it to everybody at once in order to do load balancing.) Version 2.0 (big rewrite, lots o' fun stuff) is due out Q3.

Bottom Line
If you're serious about TiVo you need to read the TiVo forum at AVS Forum. There is a major TiVo community there; loads of user-to-user goodnes. Also, TiVo has a full-time rep who hangs out there and other places.

--john

Tivo records in MPEG-2, at three different quality levels.

According to the Tivo AV forum many people even find the lowest quality (1GB/hr) quite acceptable.

There's a new DirectTV + Tivo box coming out soon that will record raw DirectTV (MPEG-2) downloads, and thus be indistinguisable from DirectTV.