Slashdot Mirror
Excellent Hacks to the ReplayTV 4000
Hit the link below to find links to assorted hacks done to the extremely
cool ReplayTV 4000 PVR. Thanks to jptsetme for submitting links to hacks
like hard drive upgrades, software to download mpegs, edit the guide,
and systems under development to automate create of VCDs and DVDs
from Replay's. It's exciting seeing so much headway being made
so fast, and evidence that this is one heck of a machine.
"The Replay hackers at AVS forum have done an amazing job on the new ReplayTV 4000's. You can now do some very cool things with this new PVR.
You can increase recording space (by either replacing the existing drive, or adding an additional one.) This has, of course, been done with Tivos and older Replays in the past. Not only has this hack been adapted for the Replay4000 model (including custom sized photo partitions and preserving existing shows), but Replay has also recently released new software that removes the previous 137G per drive limitation, so you can now turn any ReplayTV4000 into a 320G model with a couple of 160G drives and a PC (Linux, Win2k, XP, or with a Linux boot disk on an x86 box with a good enough BIOS to recognize the drive size.)
http://rtvpatch.sourceforge.net/
But, you might decide you don't need to open the box at all, since you can now offload your shows to your PC and then serve them back to the ReplayTV4000 with your PC masquerading as another ReplayTV4000 on your local network, giving you nearly limitless storage capacity. [Note: this does not use the internet sharing feature, which is so slow over typical broadband as to be practically unusable. This is streaming the show in realtime from your PC back to your Replay4000, using the same mechanism two Replays use to stream shows back and forth over your local network.]
ReplayPC (C/C++, Windows, Linux, Mac. A simple text mode utility for extracting mpg files from ReplayTV4000 PVRs via TCP/IP)
http://replaypc.sourceforge.net/
Replayer (Pure Java. Java GUI utility allows you to extract mpg files from your ReplayTV 4000 to your PC)
http://www.forbesfield.com/replayer.html
Replay Server (built on PHP for Apache. Allows you to serve downloaded shows to a ReplayTV (on your LAN only) from your PC as if your PC was a ReplayTV)
http://206.124.140.12/rtv/
SwapDV (J++, windoze only. Allows you to download shows from your ReplayTV 4000, serve downloaded shows as if your box was a ReplayTV 4000, and edit the "guide" provided by your PC. i.e. capabilities of both Replayer and Replay Server, but only for Windows.)
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&a mp;threadid=116035
A number of users are also working on burning shows to VCD, SVCD, XSVCD and DVD, with moderate success.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&a mp;threadid=115338
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&a mp;threadid=106437
Lastly, there has also been a hack developed to remove macrovision from the old Panasonic Showstoppers (effectively transforming them into ReplayTV3xxx machines.)
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&a mp;threadid=118170."
You can increase recording space (by either replacing the existing drive, or adding an additional one.) This has, of course, been done with Tivos and older Replays in the past. Not only has this hack been adapted for the Replay4000 model (including custom sized photo partitions and preserving existing shows), but Replay has also recently released new software that removes the previous 137G per drive limitation, so you can now turn any ReplayTV4000 into a 320G model with a couple of 160G drives and a PC (Linux, Win2k, XP, or with a Linux boot disk on an x86 box with a good enough BIOS to recognize the drive size.)
http://rtvpatch.sourceforge.net/
But, you might decide you don't need to open the box at all, since you can now offload your shows to your PC and then serve them back to the ReplayTV4000 with your PC masquerading as another ReplayTV4000 on your local network, giving you nearly limitless storage capacity. [Note: this does not use the internet sharing feature, which is so slow over typical broadband as to be practically unusable. This is streaming the show in realtime from your PC back to your Replay4000, using the same mechanism two Replays use to stream shows back and forth over your local network.]
ReplayPC (C/C++, Windows, Linux, Mac. A simple text mode utility for extracting mpg files from ReplayTV4000 PVRs via TCP/IP)
http://replaypc.sourceforge.net/
Replayer (Pure Java. Java GUI utility allows you to extract mpg files from your ReplayTV 4000 to your PC)
http://www.forbesfield.com/replayer.html
Replay Server (built on PHP for Apache. Allows you to serve downloaded shows to a ReplayTV (on your LAN only) from your PC as if your PC was a ReplayTV)
http://206.124.140.12/rtv/
SwapDV (J++, windoze only. Allows you to download shows from your ReplayTV 4000, serve downloaded shows as if your box was a ReplayTV 4000, and edit the "guide" provided by your PC. i.e. capabilities of both Replayer and Replay Server, but only for Windows.)
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&a mp;threadid=116035
A number of users are also working on burning shows to VCD, SVCD, XSVCD and DVD, with moderate success.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&a mp;threadid=115338
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&a mp;threadid=106437
Lastly, there has also been a hack developed to remove macrovision from the old Panasonic Showstoppers (effectively transforming them into ReplayTV3xxx machines.)
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&a mp;threadid=118170."
a beo-... Ehhhh. Too easy.
Can you imagine a Beowulf cluster of MPAA Nazis descending upon this?
Is there a hack to keep it from ratting out my preferences to replay Brittney Spears commercials. That would be a truly useful hack. Until then I think I'll stick with my 1/2 inch tape VCR. Upgrading the storage capacity is easy with it's modular cartridge accaptance port. And programming what I want to watch costs me nothing.
There are several products out there which allow you to use your PC as a TVR and record directly to VCD. Just one example: Hauppauge WinTV-PVR (no affiliation, yadda, yadda).
Anyone tried this product or others like it? Experiences: Good, bad, indifferent?
And remember kids: Never trust a computer you can actually lift.
Ok, I have just one request. Someone hack these things to support Canada. It still boggles the mind that while TIVO supports the UK, they ignore Canada. I mean, it's more than just igloos and hockey up here, eh?
In all seriousness, this is the machine (more so than the TIVO) that seems to be the perfect machine to "fake" guide support on. Unlike the TIVO which dials up and grabs guides from TIVO, the ReplayTV can use your broadband connection. If someone could figure out the host (ideally the hostname) that it connects to, we could trick it into going to a substitute host, grabbing the listing there.
Yeah, I'm simplifying it slightly. For one, who knows what format the data is in. And whether it uses some sort of encryption. However, unlike TIVO, ReplayTV doesn't sell subscriptions, so they'd have no financial interest in protecting the guide format.
(By the way, if anyone can confirm this, my theory about the lack of TIVO and ReplayTV support in Canada is that it's due to the rather strict Canadian privacy laws, and rules around Canadian Content.)
----------------- "I have a bone to pick, and a few to break." - Refused -------------------
- Neither unit forces you to pay for service (with the Tivo, just
load 2.5xtreme and turn on "SubTest"). However, the Replay units are sold
at a significant markup and the Tivo units are sold below cost. I'm no
market analysist, but three guesses which one is better for consumers?
- Tivo can't update the software without notice, unless you're dumb
enough to plug the unit into your phone line. Replay requires that you
maintain a connection to their servers so they can tamper with your
property after purchase.
- The Tivo has a 30 second commercial skip feature too, contrary to
popular opinion. SELECT-PLAY-SELECT-3-0-SELECT.
- The Tivo runs Linux, meaning that you can cross-compile anything
to run on it, short of MS Office and IE. What can you run on the Replay?
Next to nothing.
- The Tivo has a programmer-friendly interface. It has native tcl
support and provides easy ways to access the system database, called MFS.
Does Replay offer this? I think not.
- The Tivo gets its guide data off the air; the Replay needs to connect
to a central server to get it. What happens when Replay goes bankrupt?
You got it - no more guide data.
For these reasons and many usability reasons, I will be returning my Replay unit before the 30-day exchange period expires. It's just an overpriced piece of crap.freebsd guy
Lest us not forget the site that lets all of us ReplayTV 4000 users find new 'friends' to share shows with. With over 100 members and 1200 shows, its not a bad place to start to find that lost episode of The Tick.
Planet Replay
People think Microsoft is the answer. Microsoft is just the question, "No" is the answer.
I really like the internet sharing feature of this box. I understand that a lot of people have capped upstream bandwidth from home, and that because of this it would take forever to send a show to someone... But hopefully these draconian restrictions will be lifted... When we all have decent broadband, which might happen in the not-so-distant future, this will be a really cool feature.
Now:
Me: Dude, I missed Futurama last night! Can you capture it, encode it, and then put it on your server so I can grab it?
Friend: "I guess..."
The Future:
Me: "Dude, I missed Futurama last night!"
Friend: "No problem... " hits a couple of buttons.. "You'll have it in an hour."
After looking in on Rob's journal this morning, this comes up. Is there a coincidence how things get broken at Rob's? Kathleen are you reading this? ;)
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
http://davedina.apestaart.org
With a couple of friends we are trying to make a linux based home entertainment system. Eventually we want te be able to:
- play mp3's and serve them on our lan. (works)
- have a nifty audio database with webinterface (almost works)
- serve a webcam (works)
- play dvd's (works)
- rip dvd's (kinda works)
- play divx-cd's (works)
- watch tv (works) and decode pay-tv
- record from tv (works, but no automated TV-guide)
- serve recorded DVD's and TV-shows on lan (works)
- burn recorded stuff onto cd's
- play games (works)
- create a nice interface so we can control it with a normal and simpel remote.
We can still use some help. If you're interested go to our site, read the faq and download what we already have.
we're trying to do this
although far from finished you can download what we already have at:
http://davedina.apestaart.org
I have found this program ShowShifter to work 10x better then SnapStream. With showshifter you can pause live TV, and pick up where you left off (No rewind though). And (A plus over SnapStream) you can watch as you record. It (like SnapStream) offers timed recordings, however can not currently download tv listings. The "trial" version ShowShifter is also less naggy, and more functional then the trial version of snapstream. Check it out. (Also only Windows).
101010b 2Ah 52o
If you've ever used a DirecTV system, you would realize that DTV provides about two weeks of guide data no matter what receiver you use. Meaning that Tivo's "service" gives you ... surprise! nothing you're not already paying for.
TiVo takes the guide data and indexes it into a format that allows for you to find and record shows quickly and easily. It allows you to tell TiVo to record 24 on Fox every week, and it does it. The guide data comes from DirecTV, but the massive sorting and indexing is done by TiVo. This is what you pay for. To use TiVo, you are required to have a subcription, bar none. If you are using the service without paying for it, you are stealing.
It is true that xtreme does not, in and of itself, steal DirecTV. However, if someone where trying to steal DirecTV on a DirecTiVo, it is a component, since it allows the daily calls to be disabled.
"The guide is definitive, reality is frequently inaccurate."
If I recall, HDTV is 1.5 Gbps uncompressed</snip>
Uncompressed NTSC video (720x480) would use about 237mbit/second (720x480x24x29.97 (drop frame)), but we don't record that uncompressed. Instead we compress it before we transmit or store it digitally and in the case of DSS/Tivo combo boxes the units store the compressed stream exactly as it is received. IIRC most HDTV programs are broadcast using a 18Mbit/sec stream. This isn't exactly tiny but in a day of 160GB harddrives its manageable. In fact DV uses a M-JPEG like codec that consumes about 25Mbit/sec for standard NTSC video and current consumer PC technologies are up to the task of handling it. Storing an exact copy of a HDTV broadcast is quite acheivable given current consumer level equipment.
So the problem is political rather than technological. Media companies view the move to HDTV and digital video in general as their chance to correct the "mistakes" they made with previous copiable formats. These companies do not want their content to fall under the previous fair use controls and they are draging their feet while they frantically search for a way to control every aspect of their content even if it impinges on the consumers fair use ability. This is evident in the vast array of manuevers going on behind the scenes to get DRM in place before the consumer HDTV explosion happens.
Late in the game, hardware manufacturers jumped to using encrypted streams over IEEE1394 (Firewire/i.Link) to the display device. So if you purchased a HDTV decoder 1-2 years ago there is the possibility/probability you may not be able to use whatever the standard format of choice for recording content is without buying a new decoder or additional hardware.
The simple fact is that the powerhouses behind the scenes don't want us timeshifting their prescious HDTV content until they can control every aspect of how we use it.
-- Button up, your ignorance is showing