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In a tivo you just have to solder a chip, and it only costs $16. These will set all the flags to 0x00 Copy freely. You can buy it from here. Well besides the chipsoldering you also have to load a different kernel, bu the point is that it works. Most satellite systems are also hacked. Encryption has not been hacked but the hardware has, and you can manipulate it to do things for you. And don't get me started on hardware cloning all you need is a JTAG.

Come on, Dr. Sheldon Cooper, we all know it's you behind the lame nickname !

(Great punchline to episode 18 though !)

I'm not sure if it's the same MuscleNerd or not, but the one I've seen on the 'tubes before predated The Big Bang Theory by several years. See, e.g., this thread on TiVo hacking.

*MIPS Debian
http://www.debian.org/ports/mipsel/

* An older thread on video sharing hacking with TIVO boxes
http://www.dealdatabase.com/forum/showthread.php?t=25139

* Knoppix MythTV
http://www.mysettopbox.tv/

Actually..I think the Tivo has been opened for a LONG time...

Do some reading on this forum, best one out for tivo hack stuff.

Just googling a bit..found this too: a related article for DRM off the tivo

Well, if you're using a Mac, you can use TivoTool.

Not sure what the Windows equivalent is, though you can probably still install vserver (from the site above) on your TiVo and pull programmes out that way. Check the TiVo hacking forums at Deal Database for more info.

The better way would be to run XBMC (XBox Media Center), and xbmcmythtv. It's not perfect yet, but it's definately getting there. It requires a modded xbox (which you have), and doesn't require installing/booting linux, so it's quicker. It's a bit tricky to get ahold of the programs, since the source is distributable, but the binaries are not (MS won't sign them [hence mod required], and the xbox SDK forbids the distribution of non-signed binaries). They can be found with some digging.

Here's some links that might help you out:

http://waltercedric.com/Mambo/index.php?option=com _content&task=view&id=58&Itemid=40
http://forums.designtechnica.com/archive/index.php /t-4278.html
http://www.xboxmediaplayer.de/cgi-bin/forums/ikonb oard.pl?act=ST;f=8;t=5934
http://hardware.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=05/07 /01/0353218&from=rss
http://www.dealdatabase.com/forum/archive/index.ph p/t-40168.html
http://www.xbins.org/

Actually, you can get it out of your DirectTivo. If its an earlier unit, you can get it out fairly easily. If its an R10, you need some soldering skills to change the PROM on the unit so you can change info on disk and have it work. Check out http://www.dealdatabase.com/forum/ there is plenty of good info on extraction. Once you have the machine setup to export, I use TivoTool (mac) from http://tivotool.com/ to extract, convert to ipod format and stick it right into iTunes for me. I've hacked both my original hughes and my R10 to do extraction, its great.

The only thing this does is close the loophole whereby vendors could technically release source code that runs on their device, but if anyone actually tried to exercise their rights under the GPL by modifying the code (i.e. the entire point of it being Free Software in the first place) the device would refuse to run the code because the checksum/key wouldn't match.

t's nice that it has Ethernet, but can you do anything useful with it or will it be heavily DRM'ed?

With current S2 TiVos you can do quite a bit with the ethernet -- play MP3s, slideshows, get weather/traffic/movie times and tickets/etc (the interface is open and extensible), transfer recordings to a PC and back (PC includes Windows, Mac, and Linux; although for the latter two you probably need to run Galleon), transfer MPEG2 video to the TiVo (and maybe MPEG4/H.264 w/ the Series3? It's not clear yet), and various other stuff.

As far as the video that's exported goes -- it's in a ".tivo" format which is a loosely containered MPEG2 video. It's completely trivial to strip off the outer layer and get to the real data beneath it. And it looks like the new TiVo Desktop software will even offer transcoding to a number of alternate (DRM'd) formats as well. But really, it's a joke to take off the TiVo DRM, or to just play it from a standard MPEG2 capable video player (it's designed to allow you to do that). Yes, you can play it in mplayer.

What about the data on the USB disk--is it encrypted or is it readable and usable MPEG files?

It's SATA, not USB, but that's a minor nit. The data is not in straight MPEG files -- it's on TiVo's proprietary FS. That was figured out long ago. But if you can simply download the stream to your PC, there's little reason to futz around with the drive -- especially since you cannot be assured that the entire video is stored on the external drive (it may be, but it may also cross drives; the article states this).

http://www.dealdatabase.com/forum - a tivo development forum

has everything needed to schedule playback or develop a custom kiosk interface (tivo's have a tcl interpreter that interfaces with the recording database, easy enough to port perl or php if that's your preference though)

As soon as there are SAT and Cable decoders that can be put into my home PC turned Myth box that allow me to record premium content the way I can with my hacked DTIVO I'll do it - in a heartbeat. However right now the best thing Myth seems to offer is OTA HD. Or maybe I could buy multiple cable\SAT decoder boxes and lash them to the Myth box with IRDA dongles? Umm, no thanks.

Myth is way cool, I LOVE the idea I really do. However it cannot give me what I *currently* have with the DTIVO being used in my home now. NO, *my* TIVO doesn't have this DRM code and *no* it won't have the code unless I allow it - and I'm not. I also do not see those FFWD commercials. I'm actually 2 revisions back with my DTIVO running software never meant for my box. (lol) I'll move to the 6.x code soon, really I will. But 7.2x can goto hell, I see no reason to run it and lots of reasons not to.

In any case, until I can get what I want out of MythTV I'm not wasting my time building one. OTA broadcast stuff I gave up years ago and I refuse to go back. The day they can decode my digital cable directly or attach to my SAT dish directly (as can be done in other countries apparently) I'll switch but not until then. If my TIVO suddenly stops working because they have blocked my hacks then I'll happily return it and my DIRECT subscription too.

P.S. Yes, I can do extraction, streaming, and other things on my box. http://www.dealdatabase.com/forum/ The funny thing is that I'm far from bleeding edge with what I've done on my machine!

I would strongly suggest you stop reading the TIVO Community Forums where such "gentleman's agreements" are held and instead head over to http://www.dealdatabase.com/forum/ instead. There you willfind all th einfo you need to hack a TIVO, including the latest software versions, how to prevent it from being "upgraded", and how to extract and insert video using about 3 different methods. ;-)

Forget the AV and TIVO supported forums if you want to REALLY delve into a TIVO. They will freak out if you mention video extraction and you're likely to be banned before getting nay answer. Instead head for http://www.dealdatabase.com/forum/ and get into the GUTS. Warning, they eat their young over there so do some research before daring to post. Also grit your teeth as more senior members are designated as "gods" by some of the more irritating.

That said - my S2 DTIVO is now running a 250+Gig HD, has a USB2 NIC attached, has encryption disabled, allows me to EASILY archive shows using MFSFTP (Etivo is looking interesting), and I'm running 4.x software that was designated for the SA versions of the TIVO but has features I wanted (folders!). I learned all about how to do that on DealDatabase and by doing research on the tools I heard about there. I honestly still am no "pro" with a TIVO but I've learned enough to make my TIVO more useful and that of a few others too. While that forum may be a bit hostile for the uninitiated it's about the best going for serious TIVO stuff and they won't ban you for daring to utter "extraction"!

I didn't learn anything new about TiVo/Linux/commodity hardware than I already knew from frequenting the TiVo forums at http://www.dealdatabase.com/forum/, except to maybe prove the point that anybody who is proud of having over a dozen webservers in their home probably doesn't have much of a social life.

Don't go ahead and get the non-HD DirecTiVo. The fuckers at DirecTV have crippled it so that it won't run the Home Media Option.

I don't know if you get email responses here, but see http://www.dealdatabase.com/forum/ about 'fixing' your DirecTivo. Many happy satellite subscribers using HMO and all that.

link

Look for the 4.x on RID stuff, and skip the RID steps. It will give you HMO and lots of other non-stock features.

If you don't know Linux, don't bother.

There are no drivers required to make TurboNet active (Tivo actually added TurboNet drives to their 3.x software) However ftp/telnet are not enabled by default. The easiest thing to do it is to follow directions for TurboNet install CD - it makes enabling ftp/telnet (as well as assigning a static IP for DHCP chalenged)a heck of a lot easier for average user - not to mention fully automated.

As for extraction, this generally requires extra software. Your best bet is reading a lot of forum postings. There are multiple ways to extract data, look up TyStudio, but there are other tools too.

Lastly, to extract from S1 DTivo, you will need to either disable encryption PRIOR to recording or use a kernel module that will decrypt video for you. See same forum for details.

I have a Hughes HDVR2 Series2 DirecTivo. It was cool and all, but what I really wanted was a way to get content off of it and watch it on a computer. No home media option for DirecTivo users though. Nice.

Yes, I do believe it is....they do a 2 kernel monte type trick to keep Tivo central from messing with your mods...you can do pretty much all you want with series 2 that you could do with series 1.

I've not done it yet as I want to get my Myth box running before I crack into the tivo case...but, I've read there is a cd iso you can burn that will do the hack work for you when you upgrade harddrives. I've gotten most all the info needed for hacking tivo, extracting video, etc from here Deal Database Forums

Take a look at http://www.dealdatabase.com/forum. All the info you need for getting shell on Tivo or video extraction is there (although may be difficult to find).

I completely agree with you on the problems with the DirecTV TiVo. When you compare the guide speed to one of the new free RCA boxes in the other room it is almost embarrassing. However, the ability to record two shows simultaneously and create DVDs of my favorite shows without commercials (thanks TyTool) makes it almost impossible to live without my TiVo. If they fix the speed of the UI I will only be a happier customer.

TiVo had shown a reference HDTV unit back at the CES show in January 2003. However, no manufacturers were interested in building it. The DVR market is still small, and HDTV is an even smaller piece of that.

As far as limitations on the HR10-250 unit, you can probably blame DIRECTV. Their Series2-derived DVRs have USB ports that can be used for HMO (Home Media Option) but DTV has chosen not to do so. If you can find 4.0, you can install it on your HDVR2 and enable HMO. So the missing HMO functionality is not a technology issue.

Putting a DVD burner in each unit would be handy, but would also increase the cost. DVRs still aren't in widespread use and keeping the price point high won't help.

Finally, TiVo did announce TiVoToGo, which will allow you to play content on your PC.

How about stepping into 2004? The two-card-monte method as applied to the Tivo Series 2 as long ago as February, 2003.

http://www.dealdatabase.com/forum/showthread.php?t =22154

Apparently a contest was made available first before a software exploit could be found. The HD TeAM group just happens to be the first to claim success. If their post:

"HD TeAm has a solution prepared and authorizes it's distribution via ddb once $1,000 has been collected. We request that all proceeds be donated to the EFF so that research of this nature remains legal in the future."

"It is our position that if the community, particularly the minority with the disposable income for hd-units, is unwilling to come together & donate this token sum to a worthy organization the hack is probably better kept private"

tivo may not support being hacked, but they are quite hackable. some people have already posted links to tivo hacking pages, but this is my favorite

Ok. This is a very interesting situation. I have been reading up on DirecTiVo "hacking" for some time now, and it seems as if your quandry falls right under the legal justification for what these sites are trying to do. According to them, their software/hacks/mods are for people in situations just like yours, and not those who are simply stealing satellite service (and therefore, would not want to connect the units to the phone. If its hooked to the phone then it has the ability to communicate two-way, if its not...then its just a one way connection) So, go to deal database and check out their forums. By downloading some linux images, and taking the drive out of your unit (voiding its warranty) flashing it with the downloaded image, you can disable the units ability to call out.

Or...just get a coupler, remember those, from the 1980's

Check out the DealDatabase TiVo extraction forum.

If anybody ever needed a reason to use a home-brew PC as a PVR as opposed to a TiVo, this is it.

It's not that hard to extract video from a TiVo. Certainly no harder than putting together a home-brew PC as a PVR. And if it's a DirecTV TiVo, the image quality is much better than you'll get from most cable systems, no matter how good your PC is.

No, no Series 2 hacks are in the book (from what I can tell... I haven't read it.) Series 2 hacks are out there. They just haven't become routine just yet.

As for BASH on a Series 2, the trick is to get a trusted kernel to boot, then have it run a hacked kernel. Yes, Tivo added some integrity checks on the Series 2. (Insert DMCA disclaimer.)

The author probably doesn't want to get into Series 2 machines because they are still in a state of flux, and he would be trafficing in a circumvention device if he did!

Some of the blogs out there specifically avoid hacks with DMCA implications, but others do not. If you can't find what you're looking for for your Series 2, keep looking. (Hint: Try this one first.)

Tivo Community Forum

Deal Database Forums

Tivo Web Project Home Page

There's a ton of info out there if you're willing to search, otherwise, I guess the 21 bucks is a decent price to pay, and you won't have to get flamed for asking a dumb question.

Well I am the author of the mfsstream tivoweb module (used to extract shows in .ty format directly from a web browser which can then be converted to .mpg).

see - http://www.dealdatabase.com/forum/showthread.php?t hreadid=8092

I have been asked to be a contributor to this book so it looks like they aren't shying away from the topic at all..

-gosquad

asdfasdfasdfasdf said:
The flipside is that the DirecTivos are more difficult to hack, and I don't think there's any easy way to Hack the HDVR2 (latest and 'greatest')

Not necessarily true. In fact, the DirecTiVos are just as easy to hack as the stand-alone TiVos, and most of the hacking work on the two types of boxes overlaps.

The TiVo hacking community is quite strong, and things have come a long way. If you haven't checked things out recently, then you owe it to yourself to do so. There are lots of cool hacks out there:

• FTP or HTTP extraction of MPEG2 video
• FTP or HTTP insertion of MPEG2 video
• complete and useable WUI
• sharing recordings between boxes
• on screen caller display
• on screen email/instant message notification
• much more...

asdfasdfasdfasdf said:
The DirecTV Tivos copy the satellite stream including Dolby digital as they come off the Sat-- so they are as "perfect" as the source-- which means for hi-bitrate channels like HBO, it's not DVD quality, but it's better than any cable I've seen.

The DirecTiVo saves video at 480x480, standard 29.97 fps, with some channels coming in at 720x480. This is less then HDTV at its best (1920x1080), roughly the same quality as DVD (720x480), better than standard broadcast (~460x360), and much better than VHS (~300x360).

Jeff

TivoApp is buggy and slow, and doesn't decode/demux the streams for you automatically like TyTool does. It also doesn't require a zillion hacks to get it working.

The tyStream->MPEG conversion in TyTool is superior, but the TiVo-resident daemon TyTool uses for extraction has issues...it tends to wedge my TiVo after two or three extractions. I'd recommend telnetting into the TiVo and using mfs_stream and netcat to rip the stream. You can then use TyTool to convert the stream once it's on your Win2K box (WinXP sucks, NT 4 is behind the times (no DirectX >3), and Win9x doesn't support files >2GB).

(You might also want to follow this DealDatabase thread about a demuxer that'll build under at least Win32, Linux, and Mac OS X. As it stands now, it chokes on streams >2GB, but it works great on smaller streams. I think that bit has been fixed, but not released yet because the author also wants to fix some issues related to decoding DirecTiVo streams before releasing a new version.)

FYI, there's a much better tool out there for video extraction on the Tivo called TyTool. TivoApp is buggy and slow, and doesn't decode/demux the streams for you automatically like TyTool does. It also doesn't require a zillion hacks to get it working.

Actually, it's even easier than that. The guide data comes down from the satellite, not over the phone. If you can find a way to make the DirecTivo think it has lifetime service, it just works.

Actualy if you go search around some old posts of hacking developments on dealdatabase, you will find we can listen to MP3's, and as somebody who is assisting in the development of these hacks, I would imagine that viewing photos on an S1 SA or Dtivo isn't far off :)

Check the forums

Can a TiVo permemantly archive shows to CDR in VCD format?

http://www.dealdatabase.com/forum/forumdisplay.php ?s=&forumid=23


Can a TiVo stream shows to different computers all over your house?

I am working on it. Video can be exported and converted to mpeg, it is just a matter of automating it on the other computers. Check http://www.corruptdb.com/


Can a TiVo run BitchX?

AFAIK, Nobody has compiled it, but I'm sure it can. The Tivo runs Linux, you can compile pretty much anything that runs on Linux to run on the Tivo. Gaim is available and also several other communication programs (POP3 clients, etc.).

Or play MP3s?

Yes.

Or play DVDs?

Not yet :) Although if you did rip the DVD to MPEG it is trivial to pipe it directly to the Tivo's MPEG decoder chip.


As for the cost, most geeks have at least one spare computer laying around. Pick up a better tuner card and a good sound card and you are good to go.

My plans include having low-powered diskless computers serving as "dumb Tivos" to playback the video that is originally captured by my Tivo. Most of the processing will happen on my server, but I also plan to implement Tivo to Tivo and Tivo to Computer streaming for video on demand anywhere on my network. The Tivo will be used as the main capture station because none of the currently available software even comes close to the functionality of the Tivo for selecting programs to record.

SVCD is 480x480, and DVD (though it supports a few others) is generally 720x480.

Some players are happy to play 480x480 MPEG-2 video in DVD format. Others will show the video on 3/4 of the screen.

I've authored quite a few DVDs with 480x480 video from SVCD or DirecTivo, and they play fine in my Philips DVD711 standalone.

The only authoring software that I've used for this is SpruceUp - not available for purchase anymore but easily found on the net.

You'll need DVDPatcher to patch the first header of the MPEG to 720x480 before importing the videos - Spruce will crash at the end, just re-patch the header to 480x480 and import again.

More info on this trick is available at the DirecTivo Hacking forums or VCDhelp.

• Acquire guide data over broadband, rather than over the phone line
• Allow most of the user interface, including scheduling of programs, to be run via a web interface that runs on the box.
• Allow the MPEG data to be transfered directly from the hard drive. With some tweaks, you can direct the TiVo to record 720x480 video, which is directly DVD compatible! (See the forums). In the case of a DirecTiVo, the MPEG data is that which was stored directly off of the satellite...).

Good think I have my fully hacked DirecTV Tivo's where I can grab all the content I want of of them with now quality loss (Check out the forums at dealdatabase to see how)

It is quite possible to pull MPEG-2 streams off a TiVo and put them on your PC's hard drive.

here,

here,

and here

--noah

here,

here,

and here

--noah

here,

here,

and here

--noah

I'd love to avoid all this work, and get the TV programs I want on DVD, but they're mostly old series that will never come out on DVD anyway...

The obvious fix for this problem is to buy a DirecTivo and install Extreme 2.5 with the subscription fix so your box never phones home. See the forums at DealDatabase for more info - do a search on SubTest.

-sting3r