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TiVo File Encryption Cracked

Posted by kdawson on from the platform-equity dept.

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."

8 of 250 comments (clear)

  1. Yay fair use by spyder913 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    This is good news for people who are trying to use content they recorded, like they should be able to.

    1. Re:Yay fair use by Manchot · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Commercial skip: Still works on the Tivo, except now you have to push a six-button sequence every couple months to get it to work.
      Ads: Barely visible. They either appear on the bottom of the Now Playing screen, in which case they're optional, or it takes up an eighth of the screen during the commercial for the product being shown. In essence, the latter are only visible in the short time while you're fast-forwarding, showing you a stationary ad for a couple seconds. Those ads are exceedingly rare anyway. (I saw one for the Wii yesterday during primetime, but that's the first I've seen in weeks.)

      It seems to me that many people on Slashdot, the Richard Stallman crowd especially, act like Tivo is most evil company on the planet for a few very minor faults (especially when it comes to DRM). In reality, I like Tivo because while they do pay lip service to the likes of the RIAA and the MPAA, it is only lip service. They didn't actually remove the commerical-skip feature: they just put in an easy workaround to get it. They included DRM to prevent themselves from getting sued, but it is extremely minimal DRM that is easily circumvented by the owner of the Tivo with a single DirectShow filter. If ReplayTV had paid lip service, it might still be around.

      In fact, Tivo even does things that most Slashdotters would applaud, but are villainized nonetheless. Though they have a few patents, a lot of it is for innovative hardware. They aren't like some of the patent-whores who patent things invented fifteen years ago: they basically co-invented the DVR, and made a damn good one. 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. (Yes, Tivo subsidizes the cost of the hardware, but only because you are agreeing to pay for the service.)

    2. Re:Yay fair use by Jherek+Carnelian · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Commercial skip: Still works on the Tivo, except now you have to push a six-button sequence every couple months to get it to work.

      That's not commercial skip. That's 30-second skip.

      ReplayTV's commercial skip, like MythTV's commercial skip, figures out what portions of the recorded show are commercials and then automagically skips them on playback. Certain VCR's (I think JVC) had similar functionality, just not as nice since fast-forwarding tape is a lot clunkier than seeking on a file.

  2. i've been copying files for a while off mine by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    whats the news? i've been doing this for a while, they come to the pc in a proprietary format and then i use tshow to clean them up. I'm using a series 1.

  3. Re:No it hasn't. by pegr · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It hasn't been "cracked", since it still requires your Media Access Key to decode the video.
     
    Remember what Bruce says kids: In the classic encryption scenerio, A(lice) encrypts her message to B(ob) to protect it from C(harles). With DRM, Bob and Charles are the same person!

  4. Re:Possibility for series3 HD Tivo? by Macrat · · Score: 2, Insightful

    You've already paid for an expensive HD TV and the extra charges for the HD channels.

    Now you are going to cry over the cost of the HD Tivo?

  5. Re:Possibility for series3 HD Tivo? by jedidiah · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Yup. A HD TV isn't expensive really. Anymore HD is just a standard feature with any TV that's a decent large screen TV for watching movies. All of that progressive DVD content will be more than adequately cool. You don't even need to futz with the HD channels (payware or otherwise).

    Infact, when stacked up next to a nice progressive DVD those HD channels aren't that hot anyways. Even when not compared to good DVD's in a side by side comparison those HD channels aren't that impressive.

    Many people don't have the visual acuity to tell the difference.

    --
    A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
  6. Re:Why TiVo when you can MythTV? by Chuck+Messenger · · Score: 2, Insightful

    "Why TiVo when you can MythTV?"

    Why post on-topic when you can blatantly go off-topic and get modded up for it? This is a nuts and bolts Tivo article. It's not about considering one DVR solution over another.


    It's perfectly relevant to the discussion. After all, the discussion centers on an inconvenient aspect of TiVo. The assertion is made that by using MythTV, you avoid that inconvenience altogether. I find that interesting, in the context of the discussion.