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Tivo Source Code Released

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the way-to-go-GPL dept.

notsosilentbob writes " Philip's Tivo Linux changes are up on their website." I've been lusting over a tivo for quite some time now. Its super cool to see a big company make good on the GPL tho. Now I just got to buy one. (for those who don't know, the tivo is a digital VCR that runs linux and stores up to 30 hours of tv on an internal harddrive).

44 of 212 comments (clear)

  1. Nifty... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2

    I wonder how long it is before people start
    hacking/modifying their Tivo's...
    "Is that your tivo?"
    "Yeah...I added a couple of self modifications"
    "Like what?"
    "You can't get UPN anymore."
    "About time!"

    (Now, if there were enough good programs on TV
    to make this buyable...)

  2. Linux Infrared Remote Control by SEWilco · · Score: 2

    Well, now someone with the TIVO remote control has to create a configuration file for the Linux Infrared Remote Control program.

  3. Digital commercial deletion? by kramer · · Score: 3

    Okay, I've never played with the Tivo, but I've been thinking about the one feature that would make this thing perfect. Digital commercial deletion. I'd love to be able to watch my favorite shows with VCR automatically skipping commercials.

    I remember reading about a VCR that had this as a feature. It detected the commercials by the half second or so of blank screen that precedes the commercials. It kept track of these blanks, and those that were only a few minutes long were judged to be commercial breaks. These were auto fast forwared through by the VCR. I understand it worked pretty well except for the fact that it occasionally cut out the credits.

    Now the random access of the Tivo offers the oportunity of instantly skipping the commercials instead of waiting for the fast forward. Even better, the TIVO could delete the commercials and save on disk space.

    With the release of the code, I would think this would be a great open source project for someone to try. I might even consider buying a TIVO if someone got this feature working.

    1. Re:Digital commercial deletion? by SEWilco · · Score: 2
      Certainly, the TV networks send programming signals to their affiliates. And TV stations also have various scheduling systems. But the TV stations are not required to broadcast those cues, and if a device which uses them becomes widely available they'll certainly stop broadcasting them.

      Remember: it's free TV for you because the advertisers expect some of their commercials will be seen. If the advertisers know that a significant percent of the audience will never see the commercials, the advertisers will pay less and less money to make the shows will be available. There ain't no such thing as free TV.

    2. Re:Digital commercial deletion? by Twinky · · Score: 2

      A project to remove commercials from Video-recordings already exists. It has been a master thesis at the Fachhochschule Muenster in Germany. In issue 13/99 of the German Computermagazine c't they had an article about it.

      The article came complete with instructions on how to build a device to control the VCR over infrared signals.

      The software works by determining the logo that TV stations have to put on the screen. It is being switched off during the commercials, so you have a kind of indicator.

      You can get the GPL'd sourcecode for Windows 95 and Linux from their webpage: http://www.ktet.Fh-Muenster.DE/ina/

      Unfortunately, you have to know German.

    3. Re:Digital commercial deletion? by SlydeRule · · Score: 3
      I remember reading about a VCR that had this as a feature. It detected the commercials by the half second or so of blank screen that precedes the commercials. It kept track of these blanks, and those that were only a few minutes long were judged to be commercial breaks. These were auto fast forwared through by the VCR.

      I've got one, the Panasonic PVS-9670. It works pretty much like kramer says.

      During recording, it makes an internal note each time it thinks it detects a DC restoration signal. When recording is done, and it's got some free time, it rewinds the tape and marks the beginning and end of each commercial break. It does appear to use time spans to distinguish commercials from program; the short bits are the commercials. This marking process is time-consuming; for a 1-hour program recorded at SP, it takes about 15 minutes before the VCR finally shuts down.

      During playback, on encountering a "start commercial" marker, it goes into fast-forward to the next "end commercial" marker.

      There are setup menu options to turn off the marking on record, and to turn off the auto-skip on playback.

      The results are pretty good. I'd estimate it gets it right >80% of the time. It's most likely to mess up when there are a lot of commercials in a row, especially if your local station breaks in to run local spots. In that case, it tends to stop skipping early, leaving you watching the last couple of commercials.

      I've never seen it skip anything which wasn't a commercial.

      In any event, if it gets it wrong, the worst that happens is you have to grab the remote control and do it yourself, which is what you'd've had to have done anyway. No real loss.

    4. Re:Digital commercial deletion? by mmontour · · Score: 2

      Now that we're dealing with digital technology, it should be possible to create a signature of known commercials (i.e. you see a commercial, then press a button telling the unit to remember it and skip over that sequence in future). All you'd need is to store a few frames of each commercial in a database, then scan the video stream looking for matches. This could also be done in the background whenever the unit was not recording a program.

      Advertisers wouldn't like this of course, so it would be hard for a manufacturer to sell a unit with this feature. However, the advertisers could still use 'Truman Show'-style product placements to replace their beloved commercials.

    5. Re:Digital commercial deletion? by SpinyNorman · · Score: 2

      That's why the networks are scared shitless about TiVo and ReplayTV - they're losing control. If the guys at TiVo are smart, they'd start selling advertising themselves - they could guarantee that you're going to watch it (or at least that it will appear on the "channel" you're watching). What'd be a decent trade off would be if they added their own advertising, perhaps skipped network advertising when recording, and dropped the subscription fee.

    6. Re:Digital commercial deletion? by jonathanclark · · Score: 2

      I was thinking about a real-time version of this. Recall how "live" programs on TV and radio are cencored by using a 7 second delay? What if we did the same thing for commercials. Someone else watches your programs and sends live information on the internet ragarding when a commercial starts and ends. Most of the work could be done by looking for the blank screen.

      When a commercial comes on, your TV automatically mutes or switches to another channel.

      --
      -- Virtual Windows Project
    7. Re:Digital commercial deletion? by mindstrm · · Score: 2

      Yes. It's been done before, and there are several ways to do it.
      One is commercial blanks. Another is a signal used to cue commericlals.
      I believe the problem is the amount of friction the TV industry gives when someone announces a product like this! THEY THROW A FIT! They *HATE* the idea of people watching TV without commercials..... it's where their money comes from.

      Now.. I gotta say, though....
      Either 1) I pay for the TV I watch, therefore, I don't have to watch commercials, or
      2) I don't pay anything for the TV I watch, and I have to put up with commercials because that's how you make your money.

      As it stands now, they get you in both ends.

  4. E2fsprogs 1.06?!? by tytso · · Score: 2

    I pulled down the README and was very surprised to find out they're using e2fsrprogs based on version 1.06; that version dates back to October 7, 1996, and there have been a huge number of bug fixes since then, including some that prevent data loss when faced with certain "interesting" kinds of filesystem corruption.

    Given that they're using a 2.1 kernel, I don't know why they didn't bother to use a more recent version of e2fsprogs. Hopefully all of the programs are on a romfs, and the only thing on the data disks is data that on a powerhit you can just recover from by running mke2fs on the data partition. (After all, the data is just broadcast TV shows --- it can't be very valuable. :-)

    1. Re:E2fsprogs 1.06?!? by Michel · · Score: 2
      running mke2fs on the data partition

      One of the developers said (nluug conference, nov 4) that they are not using e2fs on the data disk, because of [something I forgot]. They use raw disks for the data...

  5. Is quality/price ratio good enough, yet? by dmorin · · Score: 3
    The only reason I didn't buy a Tivo for the folks this xmas is that I want to see the difference in quality of the recording. In the 14 hour version, you only get that much if you record at the lowest quality, which their chart shows as being good for "talking heads" whatever the hell that means. If you want to record "action" you're down to 4 hours, which is barely enough for 2 movies. Would that even hold an entire football game, ya think? The best use of this device is NOT, as they're marketing it, to be an "instant rewind" for when you go to the bathroom. The best feature is the idea of the preferences, and of smart recording. If every week I record Computer Chronicles and push the "thumbs up" button, then when PBS shows Triumph of the Nerds again, Tivo will *automatically* record it for me because it knows I like computer shows. And for that feature, it is important to have lots of disk space so that it can record a bunch of stuff for you.

    What I hope to see by next xmas is several companies come out with these things. Possibly a standard or two. And a 30-50 hour version for about $400-$600, instead of $1000. Then, I'd buy one in a snap.

    I thought it would be cool to add a voice synthesizer. You come home from work, turn it on, and it tells you "Hello, Duane. Jenna Jameson was on Good Morning America this morning, and I thought you might like that so I recorded it."

    d

    --
    www.HearMySoulSpeak.com
  6. Re:do you have a tivo? comments please! by chchchain · · Score: 2

    I've been scoping them out for a while. Their competition just released a 20 hour version, so I can't imagine tivo being far behind. But tivo has a $100 rebate if you buy this year (clearing out the old drives???)

    Tivo is only $500 compared to ReplayTV's $700, but the scam is that tivo charges you for the "subscription" necessary to use their service - $10/month vs $200/lifetime - so the costs are really comparable.

    I think I read that the 30 hour tivo only gets 9.3 hours at the best compression rate, but many reviewers have said that the highest compression rate is usually acceptable. I think it's still better than VHS.

  7. Read The Fine README, everyone by Zach+Frey · · Score: 3

    Note to all who think they can convert their Linux PC into a TiVo now, please remember that the GPL requires Philips to release the changes they make to the Linux kernel and all GPL'ed untilities, but not to the TiVo application itself. (Although Philips are going above and beyond the call of duty here, by releasing changes to GPL'ed development tools which are not shipped as part of Tivo, something they are not obligated to do).

    From the README --

    This directory contains three different archives - "commands", "kernels", and "toolchain". The archives are in GNU "tar" format, and have been compressed using GNU Zip (.gz suffix) and BZIP2 (.bz2 suffix). The .gz and .bz2 versions of each archive are identical except for the compression format - you need only one version of each.

    If you're reading this README from our FTP site, and don't want to spend the time to download these archives via your Internet connection, you can receive a copy of the software on CD-ROM if you wish. A nominal copying-and-distribution charge applies if you order the CD-ROM. Please contact "webmaster@tivo.com" for information if you're interested in order a CD-ROM copy of this software.

    Please refer to the COPYING file in each directory for detailed information on the license and distribution terms which apply to each specific tool, utility, compiler, kernel, or whatever. Most of this software is under the GPL, while some of it (e.g. libraries) are under the LGPL.

    The "commands" archive contains the source code for all of the GPL-licensed programs which are included in the TiVo Personal Television System software. These versions are current as of the 1.2.0 and 1.2.1 versions of the TiVo software.

    total 17
    dr-xr-xr-x 10 dplatt root 3072 Oct 14 10:56 bash-2.02/
    dr-xr-xr-x 2 dplatt root 2048 Oct 14 10:56 cpio-2.4.2/
    dr-xr-xr-x 12 dplatt root 1024 Oct 14 10:56 e2fsprogs-1.06/
    dr-xr-xr-x 9 dplatt root 1024 Oct 14 10:56 fileutils-3.16/
    dr-xr-xr-x 8 dplatt root 1024 Oct 14 10:57 grep/
    dr-xr-xr-x 10 dplatt root 1024 Oct 14 10:57 gzip-1.2.4/
    dr-xr-xr-x 10 dplatt root 1024 Oct 14 11:00 modutils-2.1.85/
    dr-xr-xr-x 6 dplatt root 1024 Oct 14 11:00 net-tools-1.432/
    dr-xr-xr-x 5 dplatt root 1024 Oct 14 11:00 procps-1.2.9/
    dr-xr-xr-x 5 dplatt root 1024 Oct 14 11:00 ps/
    dr-xr-xr-x 11 dplatt root 1024 Oct 14 11:01 sh-utils-1.16/
    dr-xr-xr-x 3 dplatt root 1024 Oct 14 11:01 sysklogd-1.3.26/
    dr-xr-xr-x 10 dplatt root 1024 Oct 14 11:01 textutils/
    dr-xr-xr-x 2 dplatt root 1024 Oct 14 11:01 tnlited/

    The "kernels" archive contains the source code for the Linux kernel in the TiVo Personal Television System software. The "linuxdist-2.1.24" source tree is configured for use on an Intel X86 development platform. The "linux-2.1" source tree is configured for use on the PowerPC-based hardware system on which the TiVo software actually runs.

    total 2
    dr-xr-xr-x 15 dplatt root 1024 Oct 14 10:58 linux-2.1/
    dr-xr-xr-x 15 dplatt root 1024 Oct 14 11:00 linuxdist-2.1.24/

    The "toolchains" archive contains the source code for various GNU software development tools and libraries used in the development of the PowerPC-based TiVo software releases. Although the compilers and development utilities are not shipped with the TiVo-based receivers, they are provided here as a courtesy to developers and other curious individuals.

    total 14
    dr-xr-xr-x 3 dplatt root 1024 Oct 14 11:01 binutils/
    dr-xr-xr-x 3 dplatt root 1024 Oct 14 11:03 gcc/
    dr-xr-xr-x 5 dplatt root 1024 Oct 14 11:09 gdb/
    dr-xr-xr-x 59 dplatt root 8192 Oct 14 11:13 libc/
    dr-xr-xr-x 2 dplatt root 1024 Oct 14 11:13 libc-ppc/
    dr-xr-xr-x 2 dplatt root 1024 Oct 14 11:13 tcdmem/
    dr-xr-xr-x 2 dplatt root 1024 Oct 14 11:13 xppcbt/

    1. Re:Read The Fine README, everyone by Basje · · Score: 2

      Of course they don't distribute the Tivo application: they don't have a patent for it!

      But seriously folks. These people put a lot of time (read: money) into the development of this thing. And they want to make money off it. As long as they do that in a decent way, which they seem to do, I can only applaud them for it.


      ----------------------------------------------

      --
      the pun is mightier than the sword
  8. No. by SEWilco · · Score: 3
    This looks to be just their modifications to GPL software. It's their changes to the kernel and some commands.

    Tivo obviously has a program which does copy-from-TV-signal-to-disk and play-from-disk-to-TV. I did not recognize that program, and if they wrote their own they do not have to publish it. With the Linux video interfaces it might not be technically difficult, but it sounds like they created a nice user interface and that's what is important (well, picture quality probably is most important..and a lot of Monday Night Football fans just found how important sound is to them when it failed).

  9. But can you open a shell on it? by CausticPuppy · · Score: 2

    Looking at the back of the TiVo box (on their site), it looks like there are only A/V connectors along with the serial remote. How would you go about getting a shell open on the TiVo and start tweaking? Via a remote session on the modem port (can it auto-answer) or rig up something via the infrared/serial connection?
    Once that's done, it seems like it would be easy to upgrade the hard drive inside and mount other volumes. And if we open the box up (voiding the warranty of course), maybe there's even a hidden PCI slot in there, for some 100BT ethernet action!
    Now I'm just speculating of course, without having read in-depth about the TiVo hardware...

    --
    -CausticPuppy "Of all the people I know, you're certainly one of them." -Somebody I don't know
    1. Re:But can you open a shell on it? by slim · · Score: 2

      I wouldn't be surprised if there was no shell as we know it. It may not even contain init -- everything but the kernel could be proprietary software.

      Wonder what you could build for the same price... you'd lose the rating features, the automated recording etc... you could implement the pause-live-TV... you could set stuff to record remotely... you could program your video using cron and at, rather than the nasty, nasty interfaces we usually have to suffer... you'd have random access... you could archive to CD...

      Hmmm...
      --

    2. Re:But can you open a shell on it? by mindstrm · · Score: 2

      Simple. You yank the drive and mount it on a different box so you can see how things are set up, and then change them to your own designs.

  10. Re:Totally offtopic... by Paul+Carver · · Score: 2

    The uptime message isn't all that useful because slashdot.org is made up of more than one machine. I don't know which machine the uptime message is taken from, but it's possible that the machine with a 60 day uptime went down and its responsibilities were moved to the machine with the 18 day uptime.

  11. Voice Synthesis: by Craig+Maloney · · Score: 4
    Yeah, I can see it now:

    "I'm sorry Duane, but I cannot allow you to watch Regis and Kathy Lee today."

    "Let me see Regis, Hal"

    "I think you should sit back calmly, take an aspirin, and watch 'Meet the Press', Duane."

    "That does it"

    "Just what do you think you're doing, Duane. My memory is going. I can feel it... My mind is... LILO: Loading Linux........."

  12. Build a Tivo-ish System by giberti · · Score: 2

    Recipe for your own Tivo:
    Take one ATI All-in-Wonder video card
    1 40Gb HD
    Mix in a little Linux and for kicks an IR port so you can set up a remote (or PDA) to run it (for the couch potatos or geeks!) Anyone who would like to contribute source?

    --

    AF-Design, web development.
    1. Re:Build a Tivo-ish System by mmontour · · Score: 2

      If you're serious about this, I wouldn't mind joining a project to work on it. I've considered buying either a Tivo or a ReplayTV, but the main reason I haven't yet is this - control. I do not want Yet Another Sealed Box with a proprietary and cumbersome remote-control-navigated interface (such as my recently-purchased StarChoice DTH satellite dish). I do not want boxes that have to phone the central office at random hours (the StarChoice phones in to order pay-per-view movies, but is otherwise a stand-alone unit. It gets its programming information from the satellite signals). I want the ability to integrate my various units so I can (for example) program a week's worth of TV viewing from my desktop PC's web browser (or my Palm IIIx).

      I see a few problems with the DIY approach:

      - Noise, size, heat, and power consumption. A typical desktop PC is an offensive beast compared to an embedded-style unit. A Netwinder would be a nice base platform (it even has IR), except I don't believe its video hardware can handle full-motion video.

      - Hard drive contention - you may not be able to do the simultaneous record/playback without a special hard drive (but you could do it with two drives).

      - Compression ratio / compression speed. You need some serious CPU power unless your video card can do hardware compression. From their web page it looks like the ATI card doesn't ("Pentium III recommended for full resolution MPEG-2 capture"). The Matrox Marvel G400-TV has hardware MJPEG (Motion JPEG) compression, so it might be a better choice.

      - Hardware drivers and chipset programming information. The situation is improving, but I don't know if there's enough available for Linux yet.

      In the end, I don't know that a DIY solution would end up any cheaper than a Tivo/ReplayTV. It would certainly be larger and louder. However, it could easily be a superior product for the technically-inclined folks who want to take back control of their appliances.

  13. Its own telephone line by SEWilco · · Score: 2

    It's a tempting device, but I don't like its needing its own telephone line. I wish there were a 10BaseT connector so I could just let it use HTTP to chat with its server.

    1. Re:Its own telephone line by whoop · · Score: 2

      Let's see. How many people out there can plug a telephone jack into an outlet when that is the only socket like it? Even your worst idiot could do this with enough coaching. Now add in another socket that looks similar, but is a little bigger. Now you've got phone lines tied up with, "My telephone cord isn't staying in this thing. What's the matter with you people??" Or the person is able to figure out enough that the ethernet jack is for connecting to a computer. So they go to Best Buy and get a net card, hub, etc kit. Now you've got morons trying to figure out how to plug in a card, set up a network, assigning IP addresses, getting an ISP, setting up stuff for that ISP, and more to use their Tivo.

      The secret to Tivo's success is keeping it simple. If they lose a couple Slashdotters, oh well. You see, by just adding a tiny thing like an ethernet connection, you've just compounded the number of problems people will call with by 100 fold. :)

      This is like the yahoos that claim since Playstation (or whatever console) doesn't do everything a computer can do, it's worthless.

  14. It's great! by Therlin · · Score: 3

    I have a 14hr Tivo. It's amazing! 14 hrs is plenty, I have yet to complain about recording space. I love the suggestions it makes. It's great to come home to find out that Tivo recorded The Simpsons for you without having to tell it. The GUI is easy to use and it works without a problem. It's hard to watch TV without Tivo. When I go to a friend's place and watch TV I always want to pause or rewind, or to get the program summary, or to see what's playing next, but I can't because they don't have one. It's addictive. I don't work for Tivo or anything, I just have one and I couldn't live without it.

  15. my experience with the recording qualities by Therlin · · Score: 2

    In my experience, low quality is only good for talking heads, just like Tivo says. But the medium quality is good for just anything else. I record everything in medium quality and you can never tell if you are watching TV or Tivo. Even during action scenes. I have recorded a couple things in high quality, but I was never able to see a difference big enough to justify using it.

  16. Translation by FreeUser · · Score: 2

    www.ktet.Fh-Muenster.de/ina/:

    The "Initiative No Advertise" has the goal of preventing the recording of commercial blocks when a program is recorded on a VCR.

    Subsections:
    [...]
    Download the Linux Software:

    Here are the current results of Thorsten Janke's and Markus Koppers' Thesis. An application has been developed which runs on Linux using the KDE Desktop. Like most applications under Linux, the installation is thankfully very simple: 1) download, 2) untar, 3) configure, 4) make, and 5) make install (as root). The program requires access to the video4linux device /dev/video and the remote controll device /dev/ttyS*.

    202104 Sep 30 13:07 noad2-0.1.tar.gz

    The Thesis is available online (No, I'm not gonna translate their thesis) :-)

    --
    The Future of Human Evolution: Autonomy
    1. Re:Translation by FreeUser · · Score: 2

      The "Initiative No Advertise" project has the goal of preventing the recording of commercial blocks when a program is recorded on a VCR.

      Argh! I even proofread it twice and still overlooked that! I need to get some coffee...

      --
      The Future of Human Evolution: Autonomy
  17. Re:Why Would I want to Pause Television? by mstra · · Score: 3

    I don't think that the pause feature is included for "freeze frame" analysis of Kramer's entrance into Jerry's apartment.

    Rather, it is intended to allow a person to "pause" the playback of live TV to answer the telephone, get the door, grab a snack, or otherwise engage in normal, non-TV behavior.

    I myself have a Tivo, and have used the Pause feature to make it much easier to skip commercials. I simply pause the show for the first five or ten minutes (depending on the show length), do something else, and then start it up. This allows me to keep a buffer behind the show to skip the commercials.

    Actually, I've discovered a couple things from having my Tivo. Number one, I have NO idea when shows are on anymore. I set the box to record X-Files, the Simpsons, Drew Carey, and various others, and just watch them when convenient (usually around 10 PM when I'm going to bed). I also saw that even after only having the box for two weeks, it has spoiled me. I was at a friend's house on Sunday, and was very irritated that I couldn't fast-forward through the commercials during Futurama.

    Another nice feature of the Tivo is the three-second rewind after you stop the fast forward. When fast-forwarding through the commercials, one tends to hit "play" after two-three seconds of program playback have passed...this buffer is pretty much dead-on. It's one of my favorite features.

    The only real drawback I've seen so far is that it has a slight error in my programming lineup - it has the wrong channel number for my local cable's BBC America channel, which meant I couldn't record the French and Saunders marathon the other day.

    And speaking to recording quality...I don't use this thing to tape movies, so the second-highest recording quality gives me more than enough recording space and the quality still kicks the crap out of VHS.

    m.

    --
    Photography, technology, and my dog Scout - http://mattstratton.com
  18. That thing sounds fantastic by slim · · Score: 2

    A couple of considerations:

    1) Recording stuff based on what you've enjoyed in the past is all well and good -- but won't your viewing get more and more homogenous? Maybe they could build communities, so that people could recommend stuff to each other, or something -- some human element to keep it from getting too samey.

    2) I'd be interested to know how cheap/easy a tivo-alike would be to build. I'd love to have a direct-to-disk VCR which I could control remotely: if I could check its status from work, ask it to record a program via email (or via an SMS->email gateway), that would be so cool.
    --

    1. Re:That thing sounds fantastic by GeorgeH · · Score: 2
      1) Recording stuff based on what you've enjoyed in the past is all well and good -- but won't your viewing get more and more homogenous? Maybe they could build communities, so that people could recommend stuff to each other, or something -- some human element to keep it from getting too samey.
      What you want is called "collaborative filtering." Imagine if the TiVo kept track of what you watch, and submitted it to their central database, along with everyone else's watching habits. They could then look for patterns, such as you watch the Tom Green show and you watch Space Ghost: Coast to Coast. Then it could match your patterns against other people's patterns, ie most people who watch Tom Green and Space Ghost also tune in to the Daily Show. The TiVo could then suggest watching the Daily Show.

      If people use it to plan events to watch, it could even notice that people who watch Space Ghost and Tom Green have programmed their TiVo's to record the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy on PBS, and ask you if you want to do the same. Privacy concerns aside, this would be welcomed by most people, but wouldn't prevent homogeny in their TV viewing. Then again, most people don't mind homogeny, they even encourage it.

      BTW, if this all sounds familiar, think back to the days of yore and Firefly.
      --

      --
      Why can't I moderate something "Wrong" or at least "Grossly Misinformed"?
  19. TIVO Rebates by Quack1701 · · Score: 2

    Anyone interested in purchasing a TIVO, I know of four different rebates out there.

    1) $100 christmas rebate. Buy unit between dec 15 and dec 31 and you qualify!

    2) $100 DirecTV rebate. You have DirecTV? Then you get $100 back.

    3) Referral. $50 for you, $50 for existing customer. Anyone want me to refer them, send me (steven-tivorebate@evatt.com) some email and we can each make $50!

    4) $20 rebate if you get the lifetime membership. I didn't do this, so I don't know the details. Check out www.tivo.com for more info.

    I don't know about all the rebates, but I do know that the Christmas rebate can be used with any other rebate with upto $500 in total rebates.

    I love the TIVO and would highly suggest it to anyone with a dish or more than basic cable.

    Quack


  20. Filesystems by volsung · · Score: 2
    Hmm, I did some poking around in the kernel source they provide, and I found their MFS (stands for Media File System) in the x86 kernel tree which looks like a hacked up version of NFS. In fact, their README describes it:
    The kernel portion is simple and straightforward. It was created by cloning the kernel's MFS[sic, they mean NFS] client, locking it in small room in the East Tower, and turning Meenie Eenie loose with a sharp meat-cleaver.
    It does NFS without TCP/IP (I guess that means no Ethernet in there!). I haven't found the server. They say it's in userspace, so they may not have chosen to provide it.

    In the PPC kernel tree, the only new filesystem (at least for me) was bext2, a cut-and-paste version of ext2 that stores all of the data on disk in big-endian order so you don't have to cpu_to_le32()/le32_to_cpu() all of your int's. That certainly would make the filesystem incompatible with normal kernels, but it's a trivial change. Does anyone know if they even use this filesystem?

    Does anyone have anymore information about their method to prevent the files from being transferred to the PC? bext2 can't be it; it's too simple a change.

    1. Re:Filesystems by slim · · Score: 2

      I'm guessing they've licensed or written some proprietary filesystem designed for very low fragmentation (after all, fragmentation would be a disaster for real time video). Implementing an interface for userspace filesystems is nice, though. People could use that for all sorts of neat tricks -- akin to the /proc filesystem, but not in the kernel.
      --

  21. Re:do you have a tivo? comments please! by mkgray · · Score: 2

    I have a 14 hour Tivo. I record everything on the highest compression rate, and while I notice the MPEG artifacts especially in high action scenes, unless you're a real videophile, it doesn't detract from most programs. So, I get 14 hours
    of video on it.

    Additionally, 14 hours is plenty unless you want to use it to record lots of movies and then be able to sit down whenever you want and pick one.

    Despite my original skepticism, the recommendation feature is outstanding. Having the disk always full with programs I generally like is very cool.

    Overall, it's a great device, well worth it.

  22. Nomenclatura Nitpickinae by timothy · · Score: 2

    Isn't it time we came up with an appropriate TLA for devices like the TIVO?

    Digital VCR is an OK analogy, but since that means "Video Cassette Recorder," it's a little silly to describe a device based on a hard drive. "VR" unforuntunately has other connotations already, and besides would not be very descriptive. "Video Recorder" is all that would be left.

    How about "DVR"? (Digital Video Recorder)
    Or "CFT"? (Cool Toy)

    timothy

    --
    jrnl: http://tinyurl.com/c2l8yr / foes: http://tinyurl.com/ckjno5
  23. Re:Why Would I want to Pause Television? by Thomas+Charron · · Score: 3

    I answer the phone, I pause the playback, not missing a beat.

    I *REALLY* need to goto the bathroom, I pause playback.

    DAMNED, the kids where screaming, what the heck did I miss? *rewind*

    I'm in commercial, and need to check dinner. I come back, and it's 1 minute into the show again.. *Rewind*. On next commercial, *FF* to catchup with the live broadcast.

    I can think of many, and by testimony of other users, it's a VERY handy and addictive feature..

    --
    -- I'm the root of all that's evil, but you can call me cookie..
  24. Multiple Servers (Was: Re:Uptime) by MenTaLguY · · Score: 2

    I believe there are now multiple servers.

    --

    DNA just wants to be free...
  25. TiVO Expansion by gsfprez · · Score: 2

    I emailed TiVO a long time ago.... and got one of their tech geeks responding..

    he said that the things that are planned for TiVO next were built-in DSS/pay cable decoding (thus no longer requiring a separate box) and Firewire to allow for not only expansion.. but transport..

    "Dood, i recorded X-Files last night... should i ring it by?"
    "Yeah, and put a copy of Unreal Tourney on there, would ya? @Home crashed on me again so i couldn't download it."

    --
    guns kill people like spoons make Rosie O'Donnell fat.
  26. Re:linux-2.1? Old devel tree? by HamNRye · · Score: 2

    Yes, they probably are using an old devel tree. In set-top boxes you don't worry about upgrading to the latest greatest, you make sure it works. With the amount of time that the Tivo has been out, it would seem that they were very early adopters of 2.1. Matter of fact, they probably started R&D with the devel model 2.0.

    BTW, the 2.1 devel tree would be a prerelease of 2.2 anyway and the 2.4 is not yet stable.

    ~Jason

  27. You're missing the most important part. by HamNRye · · Score: 2

    One of the biggest stumbling blocks to such a thing would be the lack of the Tivo service. The station listings and keyword database. The most impressive feature of the Tivo service is the "record what you might like" scenario, and you would need up to date station listings and a cross referenced database that would know the shows by type.

    The recording and playback of video is not new, and could still be done even without the GPL additions of Phillips. It is the service that is exciting and original. Perhaps some entrepenuer out there will offer the service with some basic hardware options and distribute it as a downloadable prog.

    And to reply to some of the later posts after this, the 2 hard drive solution would not be as practical as a good cacheing scheme. Of course you will want the box SCSI, not IDE, and there should be no problem streaming out and in with video. And yes, compression tech would be a pain to implement. (Gee, you mean we're actually paying Phillips for having a decent product??)

    ~Jason

  28. Re:do you have a tivo? comments please! by HamNRye · · Score: 2

    There have been some comments made about the "High Quality" (HQ) vs. "Low Quality" (LQ) recording. the LQ recording is fine for most things, and you do indeed get 14 hours. A few small visual defects, but for watching "Meet the Press" or "Babylon 5" it's fine. HQ is great for recording something you plan to "port" to VCR. You get about 4 hours with this mode. There is also an in-between quality that would be good for movies you don't want to move to VCR, but you still want fairly sharp. This comes in at about 8 hours. The Matrix comes to mind.

    Naturally, double these for the 30 hour version.

    There are still alot of desirable features that are not included in the Tivo, so if you are cautious, I'd wait. They'll have bigger drives to work with in a year, cheaper, and competition will drive them to include more features.

    ~Jason