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See this discussion entry over at TivoCommunity.Com

Backdoor is NOT necessary for this to work.
Code List

All SPS codes can be enabled via remote

TiVo has bigger problems than competition from cable companies. TiVo's have a serious cooling issue that is causing drive failures.

Search for "stuttering" on the TiVo community forum and you'll find scores of posts from recent TiVo purchases detailing the same problem. A lot of Series I owners don't seem to be having this issue, so perhaps it is unique to the Series II TiVo's. Anyhow, TiVo drive replacement kit sellers like weaknees are making an absolute killing.

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.ph p?s=&threadid=115194&perpage=20&pagenumber =1

Amen. I signed up through Expert, as well. $70, and now i've got a pure digital satellite signal that beats the shady analog cable in our area, as well as 2-tuner recording, so the tivo can record two things at once, while I'm watching a third!

But you can get it even cheaper-- go search the tivo community forum for somebody with an expert satellite referral number who is willing to give you a portion of their $65 referral credit back. I found a nice guy who gave me more than half of his credit back. Total price for me? ~$30, with a free DVD player, shipping, installation, tri-LNB dish, and directivo.

Worst case, the guy stiffs you and you pay the full $50. No worse off than you were before, but at least somebody got some cash out of it.

TiVo hasn't "nixed" anything. If you're referring to the 30-second jump feature, it's still there but you have to enable it, since they're using the button for a different feature now. 30-second skip isn't as great as you might think anyway, compared to the type of fast forward that TiVo uses.

There are many user-developed applications for TiVo, including caller ID displays, internet tools (ftp, ping, etc.), a webserver for remote programming, tools to extract videos, etc. Take a look at the TiVo Community Forum for starters. Notwithstanding the story about cease-and-desist orders for images of the drive, TiVo has been about the most open and tolerant of all the media-related company in business today.

I don't know where you got your information, but I don't believe it. I've never had a problem finding a DirecTiVo for purchase, and from what I've read, DirecTV is actually getting very close to releasing a high-definition DirecTiVo unit.

The objection to distribution of images is that image necessarily contain their proprietary userland code, which is decidely not GPL.

As well as certain video content which is also copyrighted by TiVo, such as the menu background video loops.

It has been made clear to the people at the AVS Forum website that offering drive images for download would be infringing and that no postings there would entertain such action. In not-so-recent history this appeared to become more lax. Apparently the hammer has come down.

Another issue is people installing Series2 standalone images on their USB-enabled DirecTiVo combination boxes so that they could run 4.0 on that platform. The installation apparently works. Any discussion of this is now forbidden on the aformentioned forum. Shutting down image providers will shut down people's ability to make the installation.

This may also however make it impossible to do the kernel monte hack to regain access to the software in face of the lockdowns in the firmware. Though it should be possible to hack together a monte-able image without including TiVo-proprietary code.

if you really need me to step through your yelling and ineffective spin point-by-point, let me know. i'd be happy to.

otherwise, pay attention here. the second link provides anecdotal proof that the first link works, even for the initial setup.

you're certainly no michael moore yet, but good luck on that.

love,
kcm

(p.s. you could also just schelp it over to a friend's house and borrow a phone, but i'm under the impression that's the more difficult option for you.)

You're brilliant!

From the second link:

• "It is possible to do the initial setup on a series 2 SA TiVo via Broadband without a landline."
  Do you know what SA means? Stand Alone. Did you miss all the times I referred to DirecTiVo? DirecTiVo != SA TiVo
• Same post: "You must use a supported USB to Ethernet adapter -- wireless broadband is not available until the TiVo updates its software to version 4 during one of the first calls following setup."
  So. You need to call on a phone line to get to v4. Hm. So, how does that get around the need for a land line, again?

Wow, simple. Thanks for posting.

sorry to interrupt your holier-than-thou-ness, but this indeed does work for the initial call.

granted, you need a Series 2 unit and a wired-Ethernet USB dongle (wireless would most likely work as well if the V4+ software is pre-loaded), but that's a fairly common setup for someone buying a new TiVo and planning to use a broadband connection for it.

perhaps the pharmacy has refilled your ritalin, I would give them a call.

I think the price decrease is across the board, as well--you might find Hughes units at 99 at Circuit City.

I'm not sure about your setup--I live in a condo, and hence the dishes I use are multi-dwelling units, and so my signal comes in via a single stacked and diplexed coax line. I need to destack it, re-diplex it, and then feed both the odd and even transponder signals to the DTivo.

When you say your basement only has one input, does that mean just one coax drop? If so, you'll either want to run another length of cable down, or stack the odd and even transponder signals on the one line (and destack after it comes out. Since stackers run in the hundred+ dollar range, I think the extra cabling would be a more cost effective option.

If, however, you're already using a Sony B-55 DirecTV receiver (what I believe is known as a wideband receiver) down there, you might already have a stacked signal going down to the basement, and all you'd need is a destacker and a signal splitter.

Otherwise, you might look into putting the Basement TiVo with your living room setup and using something like a remote and video sender combination or something that to get reception in the basement...

This thread at the Tivo community forum was most helpful in figuring out my problem with the stackers and destackers.

Hope this helps...

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.

> Despite what some say, you have to have a Series 2
> to use serial channel change support. There is a
> port on Series 1, but it won't work - and you will
> just be sending IR without a blaster.

Untrue. If you search the tivo lists, you'll see a link to what's now known as "Embeem's patch" for enabling the code on Series 1 Tivos for seeing Serial Channel Changing in the menus. I've been changing channels via serial cable for at least 3 months now on my Series 1 Tivo.

Look here for the code

I know about the internal IR blaster. This is not it.

I have a Tivo DVR and love it. However, I think people are getting a little bit too much into it. We must be getting close to the apocalypse when there is finally a convention for people that refuse to watch live television and feel the need to discuss it while gambling and eating at buffets. I don't think I will be hanging out in Vegas that week. Makes you wish that terrorism futures market was still running. Damn you, Poindexter!

Check out the TiVo community forum...
Every single feature you just described is available in some form or another. I know it supports YAC.

PS: As for sorting the "now playing" list, my brother has a stand alone TiVo that let's you do that, but he has software version 4.0, so I'm guessing us DirecTiVo users will get it in the next software version update.

>As long as the information is only used in the aggregate

Well, as of now Tivo data is zipcode specific. It wasn't like this last year? Why? Tivo is hurting for dollars. I wonder how much more specific they'll get as they continue to lose money?

Also, don't overestimate the tivo userbase. Its nothing close to the Neilson system and Tivo simply can't make any money selling this info because Tivo users are far from average. Enough expendable income to own a tivo + cable/satellite and you're a semi-early adopter? This demographic is pretty predicatable already. Tivo has nothing on the Neilsons and the networks agree.

Here's how to opt-out of Tivo information collection.

DirecTivo owners will have to call 1-800-DIRECTV

Because it looks like they're liquidating their software company. Hehehehehe

I wish I could say I was surprised, but I'm not.

Good thing... since this has been known since day 1 and is fairly obvious in their EULA.

I'd like to see it for myself, too. I'd like to know just what they're tracking

So go to the TiVo Forums, look in the Underground, and find the references to what TiVo is uploading. It's all done completely confidentially - the viewing information is sent as a separate log file, is not sent at all if you opt-out, and contains no personally identifying information (yeah, there's the TiVo service number that's inherent in the transaction, but TiVo has stated that it is not stored with the aggregate data. Individuals who have worked for TiVo have said the same thing too).

how the reports look for the ad agencies buying this stuff

Then I suggest that you either get a job at an ad agency, get a friend at one, or become one yourself... that's what they're selling you know. Giving it away for free defeats the purpose.

I wonder if TiVo includes any data like

No, but other geographic databases do. Any ad agency worth its fee will have a bunch of these and tie the data together appropriately.

Is there an opt-out feature?

Yes. As I recall, it's even in the EULA which you didn't even glance at.

Patches for the S2 EEPROM/PROM were released last November. For those without a way to reprogram the PROM, a version of (two-kernel) monte has also been released. With monte-mips, you can reload any kernel you want by launching it from one of their "secure" kernels with known vulnerabilities. So there are numerous ways to get into the box. It's just these ways aren't as user-friendly as before.

I agree... For those of you who don't know how to do this you can look here...

http://tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?po stid=205706#post205706

Tivo 2 ppl...
S-P-S-3-0-S (1.3, also 2.5, not 2.0 or 2.01) - Toggles 30 second skip mode. This turns the Skip to End button into a 30 second skip button. This was removed in 2.0x, but added back in 2.5.

I don't know why Tivo is concerned with video extraction on the Standalone (normal) Tivos since the signal is being endoded digitally from an analog signal inside the Tivo. So it isn't a perfect digital copy and is exactly what you can do with a PC with a TV tuner/Video In/MPEG encoder card.

However, the DirecTivos (DirecTV/Tivo combo boxes) store the digital signal straight off the satellite. Therefore you are getting a high quality pure digital signal encoded for you by DirecTV and therefore I can see why DirecTV is concerned about it with respect to the DMCA.

The steps to extract video is almost exactly the same for both Tivos and DirecTivos, so you can't talk about doing it for one without pretty much telling you how to do it for the other. Therefore it is a forboden topic on the most popular Tivo hacking site www.tivocommunity.com and often someone asks why it is forbidden to talk about extraction there quite often. Bottom line is that the owners of that forum (AVS Forum) don't want to get in trouble so they don't allow it.

I don't know why Tivo is concerned with video extraction on the Standalone (normal) Tivos since the signal is being endoded digitally from an analog signal inside the Tivo. So it isn't a perfect digital copy and is exactly what you can do with a PC with a TV tuner/Video In/MPEG encoder card.

However, the DirecTivos (DirecTV/Tivo combo boxes) store the digital signal straight off the satellite. Therefore you are getting a high quality pure digital signal encoded for you by DirecTV and therefore I can see why DirecTV is concerned about it with respect to the DMCA.

The steps to extract video is almost exactly the same for both Tivos and DirecTivos, so you can't talk about doing it for one without pretty much telling you how to do it for the other. Therefore it is a forboden topic on the most popular Tivo hacking site www.tivocommunity.com and often someone asks why it is forbidden to talk about extraction there quite often. Bottom line is that the owners of that forum (AVS Forum) don't want to get in trouble so they don't allow it.

I don't really, since I rarely use anything other than High. I think I can get 35-40 hours at high with the 120GB hard drive I put in, so I imagine Best will probably get about 25-30 or so. A search at tivocommunity should give you a more definitive answer, but the search is turned off right now (probably because of load trouble they've had lately).

My recommendation is to get the 40 hour unit and then upgrade it with a 120GB drive. The upgrade is extremely well documented and if you've tinkered with the inside of a computer much at all you should be able to handle it.

The Software Release 4.0 due out soon (which is immediate if you also purchase Home Media Option), will increase the support and allow setup of a wifi 802.11b USB connector (which is what I'm waiting for!!!)

If a vendor implements DRM in a Linux kernel so that the kernel only allows signed executables to run, that's relatively easy to work around.

What is scarier is what TiVo did on their Series 2 machines, which is similar to how Microsoft locked down the XBox. The TiVo will only boot if the kernel and startup scripts match a signature in its ROM. In effect, you can't compile your own kernel to run on the TiVo or change the startup scripts, even though TiVo publishes its kernel source code.

The TiVo was harder to crack, but eventually someone figured it out.

It is entirely possible to violate the spirit of the GPL using DRM.

That's great. So, can I have some of the time you have?

It's well worth it for me to have the best device invented since the car FREE MY TIME and no longer FORCE ME TO BE A SLAVE to the TV programming gods.

$4.99 a month and all I had to do was plug it in, connect three cables and turn it on. Kick ass. Count me in.

As for being a more open platform, check out:

Tivo Forums

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.

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.

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.

And, of course, let's not forget that you can use an external modem on TiVo's as well.

The OP was too clueless to look up any of this himself though, so I suspect he'll just continue bitching.

Found this link on another posting that didn't get modded up yet. Seriously, folks - bug the hell out of DirecTV and let them know that you want this (if you actually do)

The long-awaited TiVo HDTV is on it's way.

You can view the press release here:
TiVo HDTV DVR press release

I'd also recommend checking out the various forums at the TiVo Community Forums, where discussion about the HDTV models has been underway. There are some very knowledgeable folks there.

You might want to check your sources, they have said quite the opposite!

Here is a thread from TiVoCommunity.com that talks about it.

Yeah this really pissed me off. I bought a DirecTiVo Series 2 box in anticipation of the new HMO features. Now my roommate is going to have a better TiVo than me! (Damn him!)

I can't really blame TiVo, though, it was DirecTV's decision not to offer the feature. TiVo gave complete control of the DirecTiVo featureset to DirecTV some time back.

If you're in the same boat as me, there's an online petition here. From the tone of the DirecTV VP that made the announcement, it looks like if there's enough demand, they might change thier minds and release it anyway. So please do us all a favor and slashdot the petition!

All I wanted was to dump the crappy built-in modem that has died twice in 3 years and use my internet link to get the guide information.

Tivo has a history of supporting reasonable hacks, and as a result the hack forums (such as Tivo Underground) generally support Tivo. Most of the forums strictly forbid discussions that revolve around attempts to copy Tivo content to removable media.

I love my DirecTiVo too. But did you know that DirecTV is totally screwing their DirecTiVo customers by deciding not to offer the TiVo Home Media Option? Sign the petition here.

The TiVo hacking community would be quite capable of "unlocking" the box, or getting it to download alternate program guide information if it came to that. They have not so far because they have no desire to piss TiVo off, but would rather peacefully coexist. TiVo has been generally supportive of the hacking community and will probably continue to be, so long as no attempt is made to deprive them of their main source of revenue (subscriptions, not hardware). I'd venture to say that Tivo's support has probably gone a long way in helping promote their product.

The TiVo community forum is a great resource for all thing TiVo. Having just got a Directv Tivo box (which is awesome, by the way), I intend to be spending alot of time there, learning as much as possible.

By the way, if anyone's interested more in this PROM stuff, the thread to read is here.

If you're that concerned, you can connect a dumb terminal to the serial port of the Tivo and check just what data it's including in the upload batches. People in this forum would be able to help you further.

I think Phillips will be quite pleased with this news. I don't see the huge demand for the Streamium at this point. What a better way to boost sales for a marginal seller. Look what Hack-ability has done for another of their Products, Tivo. I Know I Wouldn't have bought one if I knew I couldn't hack at it.

This is new? I thought I already had one called Tivo.

According to another thread in the TiVo UK forum, the BBC cocked up. TiVo is NOT pulling our of the UK, just Thompson who make the UK version of the TiVo (though I guess this leaves the UK without a TiVo manufacturer for a while).

According to the thread this is not the first time this mistake has been made.

The only drawback to this idea is that it sounds pricey...

I've had a DirecTivo for nearly two years, and bought a second one a few months back. If you have DirecTV, this will allow you to record two shows at once (which is a godsend). Even better, is that it's recording an already compressed stream, so you don't have to worry about losing any signal quality (other than the already heavily compressed streams of some DTV channels).

The unit will set you back about $350 and do about 35 hours of video. The good news is that on the Sony models that I've bought, I've already been able to add a 80 gig drive vs the original 40 (and it even has an extra power plug and bracket if you just want to double your drives).

I've also talked to some people who have networked these machines, and I'm personally going to investigate installing either a removeable HD or perhaps even a DVD-R.

Great resource for things like this is the TivoCommunity

Dr. Wu

How could they if you don't plug it into a phone and you don't want the subscription? Assuming your parinoid enough to buy the stand alone tivo not the directv one (the directv one is useless for anything else anyway, because it doesn't have an encoder, since directv is broadcast in digital. But I would much rather have the DirecTiVo anyday over a stand alone even if it doesn't have an encoder.

Or, if you are worried and do subscribe anyway, just use Tiger's TiVo tools and make a backup image and save it on your PC or on a CD or something.

If your not subscribed, the worst part is that you will have a lot of emails/messages that say "need programming data, dial in soon" that you have to delete. Probably the result of a cron job...

You are correct sir, I read what someone else wrote, but didn't actually check the release myself. When reading the actual release, it says nothing about the DVD-R, except that they've already released a box with a HD and DVD-R that doesn't have Tivo. Checking the Tivo Community, this was an eyewitness to the prototype box at the show:

"Well, the newest entry to the TiVo product family is the new Toshiba media server unit, which includes a DVD player and a TiVo in one unit. It should be available this fall in the $500-$600 price range. It has component outputs coupled with its progressive-scan DVD player so this TiVo may be one of the best PQ units yet. The DVD player functionality is integrated in the TiVo UI with a "Play DVD" option on TiVo Central (not the exact wording, but something similar). The physical looks of this unit has got to be the best looking TiVo yet as well. Otherwise though, it will be a standard 4.0 Series 2 with an 80GB HDD. An excellent purchase if someone is looking to get rid of another box, or have something very stylish on their TV instead of the current look of TiVos."

My apologies for not double checking the info. A combo DVD-R+Tivo is a great idea, but I guess one they are afraid to explore.

TiVo has the capability to use serial control of the Motorola box, bypassing all the IR headaches, but they removed this feature from general release with the 3.0 software release, owing to a deal that grants AT&T a period of exclusivity for the AT&T branded TiVo. This fact only emerged after much discussion on the TiVo forum. Many people are really pissed off. To read the whole depressing mess, read the Official Serial Cable Support Request Thread

It appears that DirecTV has finally decided to relax the Firewire restriction, and you'll be able to see HD DirecTV receviers with Firewire support. (Which will kick ass... My TV has Firewire.)

No clue what connections will come on the HD DirecTivo, but I sure hope to see them with Component Out, DVI, and Firewire, supporting both early adopters (Component In only), and both digital interfaces.

(I'd like DVI to die a horrible death, but I recognize that most HDTV buyers can olny get one, or the other, and there's no reason they (the people with DVI) should be left out on the cold.)