TiVo File Encryption Cracked

An anonymous reader writes "TiVo file encryption has been cracked. Details on the project can be found on the wiki. Mac and Linux users rejoice!" The project page says, "The conversion still requires the valid MAK of the TiVo which recorded the file, so it cannot be used to circumvent their protection, simply to provide the same level of access as is already available on Windows."

Comments

Re:Why TiVo when you can MythTV?

[garcia]

If you can show me a TiVo with lifetime subscription for $60, I'll be amazed.

Your MythTV didn't cost you $60. Just because someone donated the computer to you doesn't mean it was free. There's that and there's the time it cost you to put it all together and get it working. To me, even though I have an above average background with Linux, wasting all that time getting it working just wasn't worth the hassle to have yet another computer in my home.

My DirecTivo was "donated" to me by DirecTV because they fucked up my regular TiVo with their screensaver "upgrade" over a year ago. I demanded that they give me a DirecTivo (which was not affected by their "upgrade" and a year's receiver fee free). Now that my free time is up with my receiver fee, I am not going to claim my TiVo is totally free because of that (BTW it is now a $5/month receiver fee which I would pay anyway with DirecTV regardless if I had the Tivo or not).

Technically you should be amazed by my DirecTivo. Are you?

Re:Hi there, Lumpy!

[Lumpy]

You know you are famous when you start attracting wierdows that have nothing better to do than troll you.

Thanks! It's making my day that I finally entered the top of the Slashdot Elite by getting my first personal troll.

I look forward to your future attempts. Please show me how entertaining you can be!

Cloud of smug? nope that's pride your's smelling!

You're way off

[Mr2001]

In fact, Tivo even does things that most Slashdotters would applaud, but are villainized nonetheless.

Gee, why could that be? Could it be because they're following the letter of the GPL while simultaneously pissing all over the spirit of the GPL?

They even use Linux and released their code under the GPL. And yet, we still hear Stallman complaining about the fact that the Tivo hardware locks you out from changing the software. What he (and many others) apparently miss is that when you buy a Tivo, you're not buying a general purpose computer: you're buying a DVR. I mean, God forbid that they prevent users from running them out of business by buying the hardware for far less than it costs Tivo to make it and loading MythTV onto it.

You might have a point here if that were the only reason to hack TiVo, or even a significant reason - but it isn't. People are willing to go to great lengths to change the software on their TiVos (check the dealdatabase forums), but I've never seen anyone try to replace the software entirely.

No. The main reason people want to hack their TiVos is to add features that aren't there in the base software, like running a web server to control their recordings remotely, adding caller ID display, extracting video without using the painfully slow TivoToGo feature, reinserting video that has previously been extracted... and so on. They don't want to run MythTV, they want to run the TiVo software with improvements. They don't want to avoid paying TiVo, they just want to get the most out of the box and the service they're paying for.

Releasing the code under the GPL is fine and good, but they're really just using it as a loophole. The code they've released is essentially useless to everyone except those with modified firmware (a delicate hardware mod that few people have the skill to perform) or old units that didn't require the hardware hack, because no one cares about running TiVo's code on another system.