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Thoughts On An Open TiVo
Shiraz Kanga writes: "I think this article on suggested hacks for TiVo needs to be reviewed on Slashdot (especially the last section)" A humorous and intelligently written article on the problem with tivo, and why it comes so close to perfect. But also why it is flawed. Great article on the future of television, and digital VCRs.
Given the power and availability of off-the-shelf PC hardware technology, I'm surprised that PC assemblers haven't thought of such an idea. You don't need much in the way of proprietary technology to make the ultimate video recorder. Here is my modest proposal:
First of all, to get a compact form factor use a case and motherboard that employ the NLX form factor. Unlike ATX, this standard employs a 3-slot PCI riser card to allow a slimline design. It is also very serviceable--the motherboard could be removed and replaced without removing any cards, and many cases are built for such home-entertainment features as front infra-red ports and designs that compliment stereo systems. There are some very nice NLX cases out there that are the same size as most VCR's and would fit in your TV cabinet nicely.
Use video display/capture cards with TV in/out like ATI's all-in-wonder, and hardware DVD/MPEG decoders like Netstream 2000. Hardware DVD and MPEG decoders reduce the CPU requirements and have the added benefit of being "MPAA-approved" if you care about such things. This is a video recorder, so you don't need a screaming high-end machine or hugh 3D acceleration--money saved there can go towards a massive 40GB drive if you wish.
At this point you can go beyond TiVO: Add a DVD player and you can watch rented videos. Add a CD-RW, IOmega JAZZ or Castlewood ORB drive and you have removable media so you can tape the Olympic opening ceremonies and keep them and record over the copy on your hard drive. Alternatively, add FireWire and you could digitally transfer video to and from your miniDV camcorder
As for software: if Linux is good enough for TiVO it's good enough for me. Either GNOME or KDE-based environments could be used, with a window manager optimised for TV screens (the GNOME desktops look particularly nice). Someone could start an Open Source project at develop a standard XML application for TV Listings. The TV Listings could be made available via freenet or GNUtella. The advantage to such an open system, besides being free in all senses of the word, is that it doesn't rely on a corporation being around to provide the service. You risk your privacy since they can monitor your viewing habits, and if they lost out to a competitor and go out of business you could end up with the next Betamax VCR--unless someone deems their market share is large enough to take over the service or is generous enough to open the system up.
So get out there and build the ultimate video appliance!
--
No sig for you!!
They are running a contest right now. Write an essay and win a TiVo (14 hour model). A guy a work with wrote 100 words and got one. They pick 10 winners a day.
Click here
So, if you've wanted one, but are too cheap to get one, here's your chance.
If tits were wings it'd be flying around.
I'll derive further satisfaction from the fact that I'm screwing all my cable modem neighbors our of their fair share of the bandwith while I hog down 25 gigs a day to set me up with another evenings entertainment.
Does this make anyone else want to smash a 36 inch tube over Alan Blount's pointy head? "Me Me Me, and my all consuming need for mindless entertainment at your expense." What a rotten thing to advocate as Open. The superhighway analogies get beter all the time: SUV on the cable. Fortunately, cable modems will twart people like this, and they get the same bandwith anyone else has. Still, I'd like so see these boxes spewing chunks for their intentions. Anyone got a official crackTIVO site?
For you media addicts, just use a $40 VCR and $1.50 tapes to save all of those golden sitcom, reality, whatever, moments. It's cheaper, it lasts longer, it's easier than hacking the spy box. The net is just not up to this yet.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
- Local stations in particular usually insert their own advert for the evening news etc as the last "commercial" before going back to the show, and they very often insert a transition break before their ad. I don't think that's an accident, they probably do it deliberately to foil VCRs with commercial break detectors.
Not necessarily. This might be true if the station is automated, but if it's like the station I work for, where we have bonafide human operators, it simply takes a small amount of time to roll a break which translates on-air to an extra bit of black. Even with video servers like we use, the operator still has to fire the break and take it on-air. Heaven forbid the station is using a cart machine, or worse manually rolling each spot (believe it or not, some smaller stations still do this).I say this from experience switching our LPTV station, UPN30 WAPK-LP. I can also say with authority that we don't deliberately insert black in-between spots at any time. Now maybe the op is asleep at the board, or off taking a shit or something, but that's an entirely different story, one which I won't get into (do you wanna hear me rant?
You usually have five different types of breaks:
_______
Scott Jones
Newscast Director / ABC19 WKPT
FC Closer
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.
It looks like PVR capabilities will soon be added to DBS receivers and CATV set-top boxes. This will eliminate one box and solve the current kludges used to interface the PVR with the DBS/CATV box. The FCC has ordered the CATV industry to use open standards for digital cable set-top boxes, allowing you to buy the box from a regular electronics store and plug in a conditional access card provided by the CATV provider. This is currently being implemented but isn't available yet.
Mea navis aericumbens anguillis abundat
A company trying to make money! The nerve!
:)
Seriously, of Mr. Blount's goals, how many are realistic for a company trying to make a profit?
1) Not paying for the service. Buy the box, nothing more. ReplayTV likes to point out that they have no service fee. Their box is $200 more than a TiVo. A lifetime subscription to TiVo is $200. TiVo and ReplayTV aren't making money on the boxes, it's the service and the potential for advertising revenue.
2) Privacy. TiVo's privacy policy is pretty well defined on their web page ( http://www.tivo.com/care/privacy.html ). Yes, they sell info about what TiVo users are watching, but only at the zip code level. I'm comfortable with their privacy policy.
3) Network connection. I agree, this would be great, but again, is it realistic for a company trying to put a set-top box in every household? Remember, they aren't just trying to appeal to the geek market.
4) Skip all ads. ReplayTV took the approach of "screw the networks, we don't need 'em" and added a 30 second skip button. Since then, they've hired a former CBS exec and have realized that they will have to work with the networks in the future. The skip button is still there, but it is never advertised. TiVo decided early on that they would try to work with the networks and feature 3 levels of fast-forward, with auto correction (it backs up a bit when you hit play). Is it realistic for TiVo and ReplayTV to basically tell the networks "we don't care if no one sees the ads that make up your revenue stream"? NBC has invested in both companies BTW.
While there is still room for improvement, I don't understand all of the criticism towards TiVo. Yes there are features we would like to see but this is still a fairly new market. For a product that has only been available for less than two years or so, I think it's a very impressive device. Plus, you can upgrade 'em to 100 hours plus with relative ease.
What if the Hokey-Pokey really is what it's all about?
Fast are currently working on their TV Server which has some of these features. Among others it has connectivity like 100Mbit/s UTP, Firewire, USB, free 'EPG'. (Electronic Program Guide) Their page at http://www.tvserver.de is in German so you might need to use the Babelfish.
I can't wait for these to come out!
Greetings
Here is an excerpt from one of the posters regarding getting his TiVo to use the DSS port to communicate over Ethernet:
T u r b o writes on 08-17-2000 09:19 PM:
I got updates working over the DSS port. I currently have it setup like this:
TiVoPCLANROUTERINTERNET
Obviously, PPP is used between the TiVo and the workstation. I have IP Forwarding turned on on the PC, and the router is doing NAT and IP Masquerading. The connection to the internet is a wireless T-1, but could just as easily be a cable modem or DSL...
I copied /sbin/pppd to /tmp/custpppd. I start /tmp/custpppd in rc.sysinit instead of ppp, because when the TiVo tries to call out it, if it fails it kills pppd. Renaming it prevents it from being killed, so the TiVo can think that the call
is succeeding while PPP continues to run over the DSS port...
The default route is setup through the DSS port. Currently, the TiVo still tries to dial and connect to the TiVo service, but once the connection script returns 'OK' the TiVo actually uses the DSS PPP connection for the traffic, since a default route is already set.
I still have to replace the dialing script (tcphonehome.tcl, I think) with something that will always return 'OK' and not try to dial, but it's working well so far...
- Mike
As long as you don't _rebroadcast_ (redistribute on a mass basis) any TV show you recieve, the Audio Home Recording Act (extended to cover TV) covers you. Tivo is just a fancy VCR, and... though the MPAA fought those tooth and nail - they lost... VCR's are legal to use, and Videotape sales have been _highly_ profitable for the movie studios (i.e., MPAA members).
Digital TV recording _for private use_ will likely fall under the AHRA, just like VCRs. But... the crucial difference is that digital media are just... data. TV programs in digital form face the same grassroots distribution threat as music. So, the Napster case is real important and we'll see more rearguard lawsuits - this time from the broadcast media - regarding TV recording....
Why, oh, why did ReplayTV have to bend over for the TV stations and disable/remove the firewire ports on the back of their competing device?
= -=-=-=-=-=-=-
Here's what I want...someone make this, dammit!
JoeShmoe's Modular Digital TV system:
1) The heart of the system would be a hub or switch. Gigabit ethernet or fiber.
2) To this hub, connect "Input Units". These input units would come in a variety of flavors. They would each have one analog input (RCA or coaxial or SVHS or composite), the hardware to do real-time video compression (MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 or MPEG-4) and a gigabit or fiber NIC to broadcast the stream over the the hub or switch from #1.
3) To this hub, connect "Storage Units". These storage units would come in a variety of flavors. Different size hard drives, removable media, etc. They would also have a gigabit or fiber NIC so that they could receive a stream from the input unit in #2 via the hub from #1
4) To this hub, connect "Output Units". These output units would come in a variety of flavors. They would each have one analog output (RCA or coaxial or SVHS or composite), the hardware to do real-time video decompression (MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 or MPEG-4) and a gigabit or fiber NIC to receive the stream from the input unit in #2 or the storage unit in #3.
5) Some kind of control unit that would allow you to route streams from one unit to another, either with an LCD interface or a connection to a computer via USB or serial.
~~~~~
So...how would this work? I buy the starter kit with one hub, one input unit (coaxial/MPEG-1), one storage unit (6GB hard drive), one output unit (RCA/MPEG-1) and the control unit.
I tell the control unit that at 5PM on Friday I want it to tune the input unit to channel 40 and send the stream for one hour to the storage unit. Repeat weekly.
Then, when I come home at 7PM...I tell the control unit to send the stream from the storage unit to the output unit which is connected to my television.
Oh! But what if there are two shows I want to watch and they are both at 5PM on Friday?
No problem! I buy another input unit (coaxial/MPEG-1) and tell the control unit that at 5PM on Friday, tune the new input unit to channel 13 and send the stream for one hour to the storage unit.
Oh! I'm running out of space! What do I do if I want to record a lot of shows?
No problem! I buy another storage unit and tell the control unit to store streams on whichever has the most space available.
Oh! My kid sister wants to watch Buffy while I watch Star Trek! How do I watch more than one show at a time?
No problem! I buy another output unit (RCA/MPEG-1), run CAT-5 or fiber to kid sister's room and tell control unit to send stream from storage unit to new output unit.
Now...do you get how absolutely wonderful a modular system like this would be? If you like to record lots of things, buy more input units. If you are a packrat who never wants to delete anything, buy more storage units or one with removable media. If you share a house with many roommates, give everyone their own control unit and output so you can all watch whatever you want at the same time.
This is the system that puts the consumer first, and television companies second! This is the ultimate evolution in personal media management! Cheapos can stick to MPEG-1 quality, videophiles can move to MPEG-2 and power users can try MPEG-4. People can add more storage anytime as they find they need it. Fancier control units with GUIs running on Linux can take over for the simple LCD models, and maybe add more scheduling and TiVoish features.
Now...please...please...please...can someone start a company before all the venture capital dries up and start pumping out high volumes of these specialized devices? Nothing I have said can't already be done with existing technology (except maybe realtime MPEG-4) if you are willing to spend a boatload of money and buy individual computers to act as "input", "storage", "output", and "control" units.
I don't want to buy a dozen G4 cubes just to get this type of functionality. But as long as companies like TiVo and ReplayTV keep selling out the the television studios...that looks like the only way I'm going to be able too.
- JoeShmoe
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-- I wonder which will go down in history as the bigger failure: the War on Drugs or the War on Filesharing
If I were designing a device I expected to make money on, had a corporation relying on or even wouldn't be able to anonymize myself and isolate myself from legal problems my design would be much the same.
No matter how strongly I feel that the MPAA should be carved up like the monopoly it is I can't afford to waste the time I'd spend in court or possibly even incarcerated, especially since it would most likely lead to me getting the boot from the U.S.
I don't mind companies like Tivo trying to control consumers' behaviour remotely and surreptitiously collect information from them.
However, nothing gives them the *right* to do so. If you manage to circumvent their BS, bad luck for them.
Now, some people will invoke the DMCA against circumvention.
This is exactly this kind of situations that are meant in the 2nd amendment and where we are encouraged to have the resolve to confront the MPAA, the RCAA and their corrupt puppets in Congress;
and to clarify that there is no need to abide by the law that was bought and paid for;
but instead, that we should recover the institutions of government for the people by the people;
by all means.
I'm ready to burn the Bastille in yet another Boston tea party!