Sorry to offend. I'm not sure what you mean about TV listings not being free, however. It takes only a perl script to pull them down from any of the listing sites. It really isn't much work.
You're of course right that listings could be pulled through the serial port. I expect it won't be long before someone does this. But it's another matter to get any video/audio content through it.
I'm pretty familiar with current efforts. While I haven't done any hacking myself, I try to keep up with the TiVo hacker web pages.
I like TiVo! But the idea of running a phone line to it bugs me, especially when I have a 100baseT from my cable modem router sitting right next to it.
One of the more interesting possibilities with these devices is the feature that lets you tape all movies with a certain actor in them. If you're a Christopher Walken fan, for instance, (and who isn't) the box should auto-record all Walken films for you.
A few months ago some friends of mine and I decided that you shouldn't have to get a TIVO of a ReplayTV to get this functionality. We hacked up a website www.tvminder.com that sends you email whenever films with actors you like come on TV. It runs on Linux, written in Java and Python.
It would be fun to make this service available to the "Open TIVO" people that are rolling their own boxes. We'd send mail to your TIVO (if you ask it to), telling it what to record for you. Hmmm. It would need a good access control mechanisim so that you wouldn't get hacked, but it seems like a cool possibility.
Slashdot Mirror
Sorry to offend. I'm not sure what you mean about TV listings not being free, however. It takes only a perl script to pull them down from any of the listing sites. It really isn't much work.
You're of course right that listings could be pulled through the serial port. I expect it won't be long before someone does this. But it's another matter to get any video/audio content through it.
I'm pretty familiar with current efforts. While I haven't done any hacking myself, I try to keep up with the TiVo hacker web pages.
I like TiVo! But the idea of running a phone line to it bugs me, especially when I have a 100baseT from my cable modem router sitting right next to it.
Best regards,
Alan Blount
One of the more interesting possibilities with these devices is the feature that lets you tape all movies with a certain actor in them. If you're a Christopher Walken fan, for instance, (and who isn't) the box should auto-record all Walken films for you. A few months ago some friends of mine and I decided that you shouldn't have to get a TIVO of a ReplayTV to get this functionality. We hacked up a website www.tvminder.com that sends you email whenever films with actors you like come on TV. It runs on Linux, written in Java and Python. It would be fun to make this service available to the "Open TIVO" people that are rolling their own boxes. We'd send mail to your TIVO (if you ask it to), telling it what to record for you. Hmmm. It would need a good access control mechanisim so that you wouldn't get hacked, but it seems like a cool possibility.