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Not only does it run linux, but you can get it to run the Tivo Web Project

I know this because a neighbour of mine runs one on his tivo box on his unsecured wireless network...

Thank you, Tivo Web Project, for providing me with an endless source of comedy. Just pressing the on/off button on the web remote control keeps me amused for hours.

One of these days I'll use the excellent DisplayText module to send a message to the screen .. "For advice on securing your wireless network, call ....."

What are you talking about?

My Sony TiVo has a couple hundred hours of recording capacity thanks to a 2nd hard drive that I added to it. I first put my new harddrive in a desktop computer and booted from one of the Linux boot CDs (I forgot which one, I think Dylan's) to configure it, then slapped it in to my TiVo and it was instantly available.

Adding a hard drive isn't good enough to count as 'hacking' even when it is seamlessly accepted by the interface? Okay, then add an Ethernet card to a 1st generation TiVo. After TiVo released there v3 software you don't even need to install drivers anymore for the most popular of the ethernet addons. What? Yes, you heard me: TiVo added built-in support for hacking your TiVo to have ethernet - even though they didn't announce support for ethernet officially until the Series 2 TiVos came with an external USB port. (There is a version with a built in wireless card too, called the airnet)

I even have a Cache Card in my TiVo. Talk about hack... Not only does it add an ethernet port, but it lets me add 512 megs of ram to cache the TiVo databases (which were large and slow on a tivo upgraded with so much recording capacity).

My TiVo is happily chugging along as expected. It didn't even mind when I added a web server to it, so that I could schedule recordings and modify my to-do list when I'm at work, even though I don't have a Series 2 unit that has that feature built-in.

You might want to check out the TiVo Community Forum (in particular the Upgrade Center and Underground sections) to see what the TiVo community is all about. There are utilities to display caller id info on screen, random pictures, the weather, stock tickers, instant messenger messages, and more. Oh, and before you say TiVo doesn't 'embrace' this community, search the postings - it shouldn't be too hard to find some posts from employees there.

Now if by "doesn't embrace" you mean "lets people trade files with reckless abandon on the internet" then yes, you are right. Everyone on that site 'plays fair'. Threads about decrypting/extracting the video files, hacking subscription information so you don't have to pay to get schedule listing updates, etc aren't allowed. Why bite the hand that feeds you? If we were to do things that got TiVo in trouble they wouldn't keep making sweet hardware for us to love!

You can download with Tivo and burn straight to SVCD or Divx for much cheaper than homebrew. Look into TurboNet and TivoWeb.

Not having to dedicate a power sucking ($$$) PC to catch tv shows is nice too.

This is a really cool project you might want to check out if you're interested in controlling the TiVo unit with a web browser rather than the standard remote control. i mean, sure the control is great and all, but i prefer a mouse :)

see here.

Just install the TiVo Web Project and use http gets to interact.

Once properly hacked you can telnet to your TiVo and purge the keystroke logs! (in /var/log, where else!?) Not to mention the other nifty capabilities, like web-based control and Video Extraction...

1. Take a stock Tivo image
2. Add a useful hack (e.g. TivoWeb) to make it more enticing
3. Add EvilCode(TM) of your choice
4. Distribute images to unsuspecting Tivo hackers
5. PROFIT!

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.

You apprantly have not been reading the same Tivo comments I have. The automatic downloaded is *hated* here, and many other aspects. Check your glasses perscription, something is really wrong.

Er - I didn't say it was a good thing, did I? I was just explaining what it did - sorry if you thought otherwise. I've got a series 1, and I'd be very unhappy if I couldn't use hacks like tivoweb :-)

How many add-ons does it have to have? Or how many more add-ons does it have to have? There's a TON out there already, from TiVo and from the hacking community.

mp3 and ogg decoding?

There's an addon available (for cost) that does mp3, but not ogg.

programmable from any computer?

The same addon as the mp3 ability does that, too. Or you can use the free, community-provided tool, that's been around for awhile.

hackable?

There is plenty of that going on .

How about a pop3 client? Or perhaps AIM on your TiVo? What about caller id? Plenty of other stuff, too.

Personally, I'm glad that they don't slap a recordable DVD drive in there. That would just jack the cost of the hardware. If it is that important, just throw the TiVo on your network and hit google for tivo video extraction. With the tools available, it is fairly trivial to extract the MPEG streams to your PC and record them to DVD, plus you get the benefit of using whatever video editing software you want (to do things like cut the commercials, etc), and whatever DVD recording software you like. If the functionality were on the TiVo, I'd doubt that you'd get much more than save to DVD, with no editing possible.

I'll keep my TiVo1 series box until DTV gets on the ball. When I can get these new features I'll buy two TiVo2 boxes!

Even then, I'm not so sure that HMO makes the upgrade to Series 2 worthwhile. I have a standalone Series 1 TiVo, and I don't plan on upgrading. My TiVo is connected to my network, and I've been ripping/archiving shows from it for nearly two years now. The software to enable this keeps getting better all the time...TyStudio is especially slick. Once it's set up, a few clicks are all it takes to extract an MPEG stream that you can burn directly to DVD or transcode to a lower bitrate for SVCD. (Info on transcoding/editing TiVo video is available here, but it's not yet been updated for TyStudio.) Remote scheduling is handled through TivoWeb, so that's covered...that's really the only HMO feature I'd find useful, as I have only one TiVo (making "multi-room viewing," as they've defined it, useless) and my DVD player plays MP3 CDs.

Maybe HMO is a bit easier to set up for the drooling masses, but you can still do more with a Series 1 TiVo...and it doesn't cost you anything (other than the cost of a NIC for your TiVo, and even that is cheaper than HMO).

You know, I don't mind paying a couple additional fees if it means I can get program updates, etc. trhough the web rather than a phone line.

Add a TurboNet to your Series 1 TiVo (or one of the compatible USB Ethernet dongles to your Series 2), set up a DHCP server on your LAN, and change the dialing prefix (#,401 IIRC). Your TiVo will start grabbing its updates over whatever Internet access is on your LAN. TiVo doesn't know any differently since it doesn't maintain its own dial-up POPs. In fact, in addition to saving yourself some money if you ditch your POTS line, you'll also save TiVo some money by not using dial-up access.

You can also add TivoWeb to a Series 1 to add HTTP-based control of your TiVo. Open an SSH tunnel to your TiVo (something like ssh -L 80:tivo:80 -N -f me@myhome.org && mozilla http://localhost/) and you have secure access to your TiVo from anywhere. There are no fees associated with this, either.

http://tivo.lightn.org/

No add'l streams of revenue off us Tivo 1-model hackers. Heh heh heh. :)

Yeah...we can't view photos (boo hoo) and listen to MP3s (Apex DVD player anyone?) but we can extract shows, FTP, telnet, etc. into our Tivos...

Wonder if Tivo will now be disabling this "ability" with a new round of hacker "thwarts"?

Ok, there is a good amount of misinformation and ignorance in this post, I feel the need to respond.

Tivo is also owned by Phillips.
I'm pretty sure that is not the case. A few companies had large stakes in Tivo, but no one owns them.

Tivo willfully shares your Tivo data with others.
That is a pretty small story you linked to. And if you had read the full story you would know that customers have to specifically agree to be part of the Neilson program.

Tivo has violated their privacy agreement with you a number of times. They changed their privacy policy to allow them to share your data without notifying their customers. The link they provided in their manual still made you click through on about 3 or 4 links before actually getting to the policy. I know of many Tivo owners who were concerned about their privacy were in an absolute uproar about this.
There has been a number debates about Tivo's privacy policy, but I believe they have done a very good job. I don't know what event you are refering to, but I don't believe it to be true. If you could provide a link I could make an intelligent responce.

Replay TV refused to share your private information and were almost forced to do so. They paid lawyers to keep my information to themselves.
Yes, good for them. But to my knowledge Tivo has never shared personal viewing information with anyone. They do share aggregate data, and have always been up front about this.

Replay TV has allowed for me to access my Replay TV from anywhere with an internet connection. I have heard that Tivo has also adopted this. Not sure though.
Tivo currently doesn't provide this feature, but it looks like they are planning to do this in the future. However if you hack your Tivo, you can get TivoWeb, which I imagine has more capabilities than myreplaytv simply because of how it works.

Replay TV gave me the 30 second skip so that I can easily bypass commercials. I believe Tivo has also snagged this feature as well?
Yes, but you have to press a few buttons to active a backdoor to get this feature.

One thing that Tivo has over Replay is that it was the first to let you can hack it to add larger drives.
Yes, and a lot of other hacks too. ReplayTV does now too.

Overall, features on both are very similar, though the methodology to record shows is a little different. Replay gives you more pause time as it isn't just recording things it THINKS you MIGHT like. Replay makes you be specific about what you want to record, though they have theme recording channels. Tivo is programed to make certain assumptions about what you want it to record in addition to what you specifically specify.
This is a rather misleading statement. You have full control over what your tivo records. Although you can argue the merits of the different systems. The suggestions that tivo finds, only records to any extra space you have, and will never delete or preempt anything you have told it to record. And you can turn off suggestions if you want.

Bottom, line, do the math and find yourself the best deal. Even if one or both went out of business, we'd make a hack to grab the programing information anyway.
Agreed

Get a Tivo and install a Tivonet Install TivoWeb so you can programm the Tivo via the internet, and locate some video extractions software.

Don't get a Tivo Satellite combo, get a standalone unit so you can tell it to record in low quality (VHS quality), an hour of video is about a gigabyte.

Download the video over the net, or have your buddy burn them onto CD and mail them to you.

Funny, from miles away from my Tivo, I seem to have the distinct problem of not being able to add a Season Pass at the moment.

Sounds like you neeed a TurboNet (if you have a series 1 TiVo) or a USB Ethernet adapter (if you have a series II) and TiVoWeb. Then you can connect to your TiVo and program it from anywhere that has an Internet connection.

And yes, this WAS a blatant attempt of one who has both already to taunt those without. :-)

Ah, but what if one could operate Tivo *from* a PC? Or even better, from any internet-connected PC anywhere in the world? Check out the The Tivo Web Project. There, you can also find info on hacking your Tivo to get a ppp or ethernet connection.

Personally, I can't imagine living without Tivo, but I hear that they (much like Major League Baseball) are conspiring to take over the world by collecting all sorts of sinister marketing information about my viewing habits. . . Should I be afraid?

boobip boobip,
d.

OK, fine, I can do the same with my remote control, but Rube Goldberg would be so proud!

-Ray

I slobber uncontrollably when I think about a DVR that would let me archive shows to my file server.

You mean like a stand-alone Tivo with a network card added along with a web server running on it?&nbsp Then you can make an MPEG-2 file from the data stored on the Tivo.&nbsp The downside is that there currently isn't a way to get the data back to the Tivo for viewing.

The last time I posted on a tivo article the TCL branch wasn't released, and I haven't seen as many downloads as I would expect so far. So have fun. :)

Just wanted to plug my Tivo Web Project. It is designed to give you a web interface to you TiVo that is more powerful than the native interface. And look for a release supporting 2.0 soon.

I would like to take this opportunity to point people to my TiVo Web Project. I've been working on this for a while and it can do quite a lot.