Secret TiVo Tips and Tweaks

[DrewKaree]

*DISCLAIMER*

     If you DO know about these things -

I DON'T MUCH CARE, THEN THEY WEREN'T INTENDED FOR YOU MR. KNOWITALL!

With that out of the way, I'd like to help those who may not know it all by posting something I stumbled across that might make your TiVo experience a little cooler. 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/pcworld/121087;_ylt=AqnQ5QJ16AI4ArqOF0cscskDW7oF;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl

[Zakk]

Actually, that looks like a good link.  Tivo is one of those things I just haven't got around to figuring out yet.  I've seen one in action, but buddy was all "oh then you crack this and then you run an emulator on the memory and yank the stock hard drive and hook up the transendental morphizer, and bob's yer uncle". (or something like that).

Are they really 'all that', and if so what's the best hookup? (satellite, cable, digital feed?)

Well at least I'm not mister knowitall!!    More like knowitnothing!

[shmokes]

I already know about all this.  You suck.

[DrewKaree]

I already know about all this.  You suck.

Let me file this under "don't care"

Actually, that looks like a good link. Tivo is one of those things I just haven't got around to figuring out yet. I've seen one in action, but buddy was all "oh then you crack this and then you run an emulator on the memory and yank the stock hard drive and hook up the transendental morphizer, and bob's yer uncle". (or something like that).

Are they really 'all that', and if so what's the best hookup? (satellite, cable, digital feed?)

Well at least I'm not mister knowitall!! More like knowitnothing!

Zakk, one thing I'm CONFIDENT of is that you'll never be mistaken for a mister knowitall   I''ve built a PVR - now just have to add software, lather-rinse-repeat.  I wanted one after we were at a buddy's house playing cards during the NCAA's and we were pausing or replaying stuff we missed during a hand.  I'm sure you've already done so, but for everyone else:

          Rampy's site - www.byopvr.com

[ChadTower]

Eh, none of those apply to me, I blocked out updates to keep my series 1 Dtivo at 2.5.

[DemonBrew]

I''ve built a PVR - now just have to add software, lather-rinse-repeat.  I wanted one after we were at a buddy's house playing cards during the NCAA's and we were pausing or replaying stuff we missed during a hand.  I'm sure you've already done so, but for everyone else:

          Rampy's site - www.byopvr.com

I started out trying MythTV http://www.mythtv.org/ but I couldn't get Fedora Linux to recognize my wireless network card. So, I ended up with a WinXP box running BeyondTV http://snapstream.com/Products/beyondtv/default.asp

I got two hardware encoders, Athlon XP3200, gig of ram and 320 GB hard drive. All tied in to a miniATX case that looks like a stereo and a One For All remote http://www.ofausa.com/k_demo/index.html - can't say enough good stuff about it.

[clanggedin]

Thanks for the tips 

I think the inventor of Tivo should have been in the top 100 of the Greatest Americans. I always tell people I am a missionary for the Church of Tivo.

I'll have to check to see if these will work with the new update. (6.2 on DirecTivo units)

[ChadTower]

Heh, it's funny to see how far behind in version numbers my main Dtivo is.

[DrewKaree]

I''ve built a PVR - now just have to add software, lather-rinse-repeat.  I wanted one after we were at a buddy's house playing cards during the NCAA's and we were pausing or replaying stuff we missed during a hand.  I'm sure you've already done so, but for everyone else:

          Rampy's site - www.byopvr.com

I started out trying MythTV http://www.mythtv.org/ but I couldn't get Fedora Linux to recognize my wireless network card. So, I ended up with a WinXP box running BeyondTV http://snapstream.com/Products/beyondtv/default.asp

I got two hardware encoders, Athlon XP3200, gig of ram and 320 GB hard drive. All tied in to a miniATX case that looks like a stereo and a One For All remote http://www.ofausa.com/k_demo/index.html - can't say enough good stuff about it.

I couldn't wait through that tedious loading (dial-up) but I think I've seen the remote you're speaking of before.  I was gonna look at a Sony programmable one, but it's basically a programmable remote based on Palm software, and I've got a Palm III I hardly ever use anymore and I own the software...I may be giving that a shot, because it'll go with me EVERYWHERE and the wife won't be able to lose "use" it while I'm not home

Did you hear anything about other flavors of Linux being easier at recognizing your card?  I'm looking at doing the same thing, and I've got RedHat and a Caldera (I think, or Mandrake) disc I've never even looked at, and I'm seeing far more stability kudos with Linux once it's up and running.....although XP would be WAY easier for me to set up

Is TiVo's Linux just a special compile for them, or a whole new flavor not available to Joe Wannagetaroundthemonthlyfee?

[DemonBrew]

Did you hear anything about other flavors of Linux being easier at recognizing your card?  I'm looking at doing the same thing, and I've got RedHat and a Caldera (I think, or Mandrake) disc I've never even looked at, and I'm seeing far more stability kudos with Linux once it's up and running.....although XP would be WAY easier for me to set up

Is TiVo's Linux just a special compile for them, or a whole new flavor not available to Joe Wannagetaroundthemonthlyfee?

As far as Linux distros and network drivers go, I don't think it matters. The wireless card manufacturer doesn't publish Linux drivers. And, any linux distro says my card will work if I use the ndiswrapper software. I tried it with Fedora since there was a long HOWTO written for it http://wilsonet.com/mythtv/fcmyth.php. But, I also tried Mandrake and Knoppix just for kicks. Nothing worked. It saw my wireless network, but would never connect or get an IP address. After a few weeks, I gave up.

I'm not sure about Tivo's build. I would guess it's the linux kernel with their own tweaks and not published under the GPL.